Sloop

Definition

A single-masted, fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel of relatively shallow draught, typically of fifty to a hundred tons displacement and mounting six to twelve guns. The Caribbean sloop was the workhorse of Golden Age piracy: fast under most points of sail, able to navigate the shallows of the Bahamas and the Florida Keys where larger vessels could not pursue, and small enough to careen on a remote cay without major shore infrastructure. Most pirate captains of the period commanded a sloop at one point in their career, even if their final flagship was something larger.