"Bart" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 20, 1:09 pm, "Capt. JG" wrote:
"Bart" wrote in message

ps.com...



If it falls and you catch it, it's a ketch!
If it falls, on a yawl, y'all go get it.

A good way to remember the difference
between a yawl and a ketch. It
helps people remember, and it is a lot
easy to explain than a complicated
discussion how a yawl has it's mast
behind the rudder post and is typically
1/2 the height of the main mast, while
on a ketch the mizzen mast is about
2/3 the height of the main mast and is
located ahead of the rudder post.

Anyone know where the word
mizzen comes from?

Here's a reference... it's uncertain at best...

http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Etymology/Mizzen.htm

--
"j" ganz

I read that mizzen comes from the Arabic word
missan with means to balance.


A balancing sail, the mizzen, spelled mizen in the 1700s, is the aftermost
mast and its sails and gear on a two or three masted vessel, the third mast
on a vessel with more than three masts (the exceptions being brigs and two
masted schooners). The term comes from the Middle English "mesan" and goes
back to Italian mazzane, Latn medianus (middle or mid-size) and apparently
is of Arabic origin, misan (balance).

See Steel's Elements and Practice of Rigging, and Seamanship, 1794