Boats & ships

[buggernuts]

What is the difference between a boat and a ship and for that matter a yacht, as yachts can be small boats or large ships?

[Quizmonster]

It always used to be said that "You can get a boat on a ship but you can't get a ship on a boat" on the basis that boats were invariably smaller and that ships actually carried boats such as �lifeboats' as part of their equipment. However, that is no longer true. A couple of years ago a Royal Navy vessel - definitely a 'ship' - ran aground off Australia and it was carried back to the UK on a civilian salvage vessel which would certainly qualify as a 'boat'. So, we've now seen "a ship on a boat".

All Royal Navy and foreign military vessels are called 'ships'...except for submarines, which are always - in Britain at least - called 'boats'! The same applies to British shipping lines. Ex-employees of Castle Lines invariably speak of their time on "the Castle boats" and - with obviously appropriate changes, so do those from Cunard, P & O etc. Another aspect which makes it clear that �size' alone is not a major factor.

In modern usage, there is no real difference in the meanings of the words, when speaking of large vessels. Of course, the little thing you row on the lake in the park will always be a boat and the grey naval cruiser will always be a ship.

[heathfield]

The father of a school friend was a shipwright at a yard in Scotland. He said he knew the difference, but it was a secret that he'd let us know - sometime! After many years, he told us.

'Ships have more than one deck.' And that's it. A boat will have either only one deck or no deck.

Before you all go screaming off about that not being right, let me explain that in the past, by tradition, marine and naval architects went out of their way to comply with this rule. There may appear to be several decks on a vessel called 'a boat', but if you consulted the plans you'd see that they weren't called 'decks', but something else. My earliest experience of this was visiting the lower 'deck' on a motor torpedo boat, when I was told off that it wasn't a 'deck', it was the 'tanktops'.

On cargo vessels, any deck only qualifies as a true deck if there are watertight bulkheads beneath it.

These days, sadly, that 'boat v ship' rule seems to have been forgotten. I've seen the 'levels' on older oilfield supply vessels become 'decks' on the newer vessels. Maybe the old-timers should have been less secretive about the difference between 'boat' and 'ship', to ensure that the tradition continued.

[buggernuts]

Thanks quizmonster & heathfield. I was once told that ships had hatches whilst boats didn't, which of course, ties in with the deck theory.

[Quizmonster]

As I pointed out in my earlier answer, huge vessels such as Cunard's Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary were called 'boats' by the men and women who crewed them. They would have been quite astonished to learn that they had only one deck!

[heathfield]

I should think that those crews will be fully aware that they are on board a ship!
The use of the word 'boat' by the crews of ocean liners and cruise ships can perhaps be explained as being an affectionate term for the vessel, or as a result of the naval tradition of wry understatement.
I know for a fact that Cunard will never actively encourage the use of the word 'boat' with reference to any of their vessels.
Whatever. In my experience the 'deck' definition has held true in the past, and I'm sorry to see it has been forgotten about these days.

[Quizmonster]

H, I have never in my life heard or seen the word 'ferry-ship'; such vessels are invariably called 'ferry-boats'. Many of them are of vast tonnage and multi-decked....and aboard them the decks are called decks.
I have been debating here how the words 'ship' and 'boat' are actually used by people who work or travel on them rather than some obscure supposed naval architectural 'rule' or 'definition'.
That one-deck definition you seek to apply is not supported by The Oxford English Dictionary...the 'bible' of English word meanings. In current, everyday English usage there is no difference between 'boat' and 'ship' when referring to large civilian vessels. That remains true whatever sadness may be involved in passing traditions.
And there I'll leave it...we must just agree to disagree, I'm afraid. Cheers

[heathfield]

QM Of course it's obscure and isn't in the Oxford Dictionary - it's a secret !

Anyway...Let's go and differ on some other questions. lol