Comment by chained_bear, 6 months ago

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:58:22 +0000

"'So that is a schooner,' said Martin... 'How can you tell?'

"'It has two masts...'

"'But brigs, ketches, bilanders, galliots, and doggers also have two masts. What is the difference?'

"'Curlews and whimbrels have a general similarity, and both have two wings; yet to any but the most superficial observer there is an evident difference.'

"'There is the difference of size, eye-stripe, and voice.'

"'...The accustomed eye... at once distinguishes the equivalent of eye-stripes, wing-bars, and semi-palmated feet.'

"'Perhaps I shall come to it in time... But there are also luggers, bean-cods and herring-busses.'"
--Patrick O'Brian, The Letter of Marque, 70

Comment by reesetee, 10 months ago

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:10:54 +0000

A small European merchant ship with two masts, used in the Netherlands for coast and canal traffic. Sometimes seen in the North Sea but more frequently in the Mediterranean Sea.

Wordie: Bilander: Comments

Comment by chained_bear, 6 months ago

Comment by reesetee, 10 months ago