All these vessels belong rather to the category of merchant ships and will be described in the next chapter.
Among the types imitated from abroad there may be mentioned the Fregat (frigate), and later the Brik (brig), the Schooner and the Bark.
II.
MERCHANT VESSELS.
A) For over seas navigation.
The oldest merchant ship was the cog “Koggeschip”, from which are descended the “Hulken” and “Krayers”. The planking of these ships is clinker laid. Then vessels were built with more nearly rounded bottoms and the carvel-built side appeared in the second half of the XVth century. The resulting type was the Barge or “Baertze”.
Meanwhile, the construction of castles was begun on these ships, just as on the old cogs. These castles became gradually more important, imitating what had been done on the Spanish, Portuguese and Genoese ships. A type of vessel which, in accordance with the Spanish model, carried large castles was the Carack or Galleon (“Kraak”)·
This vessel disappeared from our country in the course of the XVIth century, at the end of which appeared the flyboats (“Vlie or Vlietbooten”) called later Flutes (“fluiten”).
These vessels departed from the preceding types by having a marked tumble in of the topsides. Hence the hull was full and the deck was narrow. The flutes were the merchantmen “par excellence” up to the beginning of the XIXth century.
The “Spiegelschip” also appeared toward the end of the XVIth century; it acted as a merchantman in the same way as the similar vessel of the Mediterranean. This vessel was called, at the beginning of the XVIIth century, Pinnace (“Pinasschip”).
The Pinnace became more rounded in the second half of the XVIIth century; it carried also a more nearly vertical stern and a smaller beakhead. From it came the East India Company’s ship (“Oost-Indisch Compagnie Schip”).