The largest boat that usually accompanies a ship is the long-boat, _chaloupe_, which is generally furnished with a mast and sails: those which are fitted for men of war, may be occasionally decked, armed, and equipped, for cruising short distances against merchant-ships of the enemy, or smugglers, or for impressing seamen, &c. The barges are next in order, which are longer, slighter, and narrower: they are employed to carry the principal sea-officers, as admirals, and captains of ships of war, and are very unfit for sea. See the article BARGE. Pinnaces exactly resemble barges, only that they are somewhat smaller, and never row more than eight oars; whereas a barge properly never rows less than ten. These are for the accommodation of the lieutenants, &c. Cutters of a ship, _bateaux_, are broader, deeper, and shorter than the barges and pinnaces; they are fitter for sailing, and are commonly employed in carrying stores, provisions, passengers, &c. to and from the ship. In the structure of this sort of boats, the lower-edge of every plank in the side over-lays the upper-edge of the plank below, which is called by shipwrights clinch-work. Yawls, _canots_, are something less than cutters, nearly of the same form, and used for similar services; they are generally rowed with six oars. The above boats more particularly belong to men of war; as merchant-ships seldom have more than two, viz. a long-boat and yawl: when they have a third, it is generally calculated for the countries to which they trade, and varies in its construction accordingly. Merchant-ships employed in the Mediterranean find it more convenient to use a lanch, which is longer, more flat-bottomed, and better adapted every way to the harbours of that sea than a long-boat. See LANCH. A wherry, _diligence_, is a light sharp boat, used in a river or harbour for carrying passengers from place to place. Punts, _flette_, are a sort of oblong flat-bottomed boats, nearly resembling floating stages; they are used by shipwrights and caulkers, for breaming, caulking, or repairing a ship’s bottom. A moses is a very flat broad boat, used by merchant-ships amongst the Caribbee-islands, to bring hogsheads of sugar off from the sea-beach to the shipping which are anchored in the roads. A felucca is a strong passage-boat used in the Mediterranean, from ten to sixteen banks of oars. The natives of Barbary often employ boats of this sort as cruisers. For the larger sort of boats, see the articles CRAFT, CUTTER, PERIAGUA, and SHALLOP. Of all the small boats, a Norway yawl seems to be the best calculated for a high sea, as it will often venture out to a great distance from the coast of that country, when a stout ship can hardly carry any sail. _Trim the_ BOAT! _barque-droit!_ the order to sit in the boat in such a manner as that she shall float upright in the water, without leaning to either side. _To bale the_ BOAT, is to throw out the water which remains in her bottom or the well-room.