A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be u ...

boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on i ...

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels. ...

and also a flat-bottomed boat with a simple sail for transporting wine.

Naval vessels

* Mediterranean, (16th–17th centuries) : Historically, a galiot was a type of ship with oars, also known as a half-galley, then, from the 17th century forward, a ship with sails and oars. As used by the

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. This area was known in Europe ...

against the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia ...

, a galiot had two masts and about 16 pairs of oars. Warships of the type typically carried between two and ten

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s of small caliber, and between 50 and 150 men. It was a Barbary galiot, captained by Barbarossa I, that captured two Papal vessels in 1504. * North Sea (17th–19th centuries) : A galiot was a type of Dutch or German merchant ship of 20 to 400 tons ( bm), similar to a

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

, with a rounded fore and aft like a

fluyt A fluyt (archaic Dutch: ''fluijt'' "flute"; ) is a Dutch type of sailing vessel originally designed by the shipwrights of Hoorn as a dedicated cargo vessel. Originating in the Dutch Republic in the 16th century, the vessel was designed to faci ...

. Galiots had nearly flat bottoms to sail in shallow waters. These ships were especially favored for coastal navigation in the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and Baltic seas. To avoid excessive leeway, or

leeward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

drift due to their flat bottoms, smaller vessels were usually fitted with leeboards. After 1830, a modernised type of galiot was developed that featured a sharper bow similar to a

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

. These vessels rarely had leeboards. * Naval ships (17th–19th centuries) : A galiote (or galiot) was a French type of naval warship that might have two masts with

lateen A lateen (from French ''latine'', meaning "Latin") or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same ...

sails and a bank of oars. It might also be relatively small with only one mast, and be little more than a large ''chaloupe'' or launch.Winfield and Roberts (2015), p.41. ::A ''galiote a bombes'' was a French term for a galiote armed with a mortar and functioning as a bomb vessel, i.e., a vessel armed to shell coastal forts, towns, and the like.

Canal and river boats

*A galiote was a horse-drawn barge pulled along canals or rivers banks, which were popular in France from the mid-17th century through the 19th century. Scute transportant du vin sur la Loire XVIIIe s

Scute transportant du vin sur la Loire XVIIIe s

*A galiote, or ''scute'', also was a type of flat-bottomed boat with a simple sail that traveled French rivers transporting wine in the

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duke ...

region as far as

Les Ponts-de-Cé Les Ponts-de-Cé () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. Les Ponts-de-Cé is a suburb of Angers. History In September 1432, during the Hundred Years' War, the routiers of Rodrigo de Villandrando, in the pay of Geo ...

.Poitrineau (1989), pp. 21-26.

Citations, and references

;Citations ;References *Carse, Philip (1959) ''The Age of Piracy''. (Hale). * *Poitrineau, Abel (1989) ''La Loire – les peuples du fleuve''. (Ed. Horvath, Saint-Etienne). *Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 - 1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates''. (Seaforth Publishing).

External links

Pictures of a 1738 Baltic Sea galiot model
High resolution photos {{Authority control Ship types Sailing ship types Sailboat types Age of Sail ships Tall ships

Naval vessels

Canal and river boats

See also

Citations, and references

External links