How to Identify “Rated” Ships

The popularity of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Master and Commander” can introduce the novice mariner or historian alike to a bewildering array of ships types and classes. A sloop, for example, in the 18th century was more of a single-mast schooner that could stretch 90 feet rather than the 25-foot jib-sailed boat many think of as a sloop. A brig was also a ship type, along with snow, cutter, barque and barkentine. The British Royal Navy formally classed its vessels in the 1750s although navies gave larger ships rates since the 1660s. Navies “rated” or classed their ships based on the number of gundecks and the number of cannon a boat carried. The rating also determined a ship’s place in – or out – of the line of battle. The lower the rating, the less likely a ship would fight as part of the cannonball-hurling parallel lines of sailing ships that characterized naval warfare of the period.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Spyglass
• Cutlass (if pirate)
• Escape plan (if you're the French fleet)

1. Take a good look at the boat in front of you and check to see if it has 1, 2 or 3 gundecks. You can tell how many gundecks a warship has by simply counting the rows of cannon sticking out of the side. The largest ships in a fleet were the ships of the line. These were the massive 2- and 3-decked, 3-masted warships. The ships of the line were the boats that sailed broadside to broadside, slugging it out with one another.
2. The largest ship of the line was a first-rate. A first-rate had 3 gundecks and carried 100 cannon or more. The heaviest guns, 24- and 32-pounders, were on the lowest decks. The second deck housed 18- to 12-pounders, while the top deck had 8- and 6-pounders.
3. Second-rate ships were only slightly smaller than first-raters. A second-rate carried anywhere from 90 to 98 guns. The upper 2 gundecks carried somewhat lighter ordnance than first-raters.
4. Third-rate ships were pretty much the smallest of the line-of-battle warships. Third-raters had two gundecks and carried anywhere from 60 to 84 guns. The Royal Navy experimented with several varieties of third-rate ships before it finally adopted a standardized 74-gun third-rate in the 1780s.
5. Fourth-rate warships sometimes had 2 decks, sometimes 1. They could carry from 50 to 60 guns. During the Seven Years War, fourth-raters served in the line of battle. By the time of the American Revolution, fourth-raters were no longer popular and the Royal Navy especially consigned them to far-off stations such as Ceylon or India.
6. Fifth-raters were the racehorse warships of their. These were the frigates, the fast, sleek boats every captain dreamed of commanding. Carrying from 32 to 48 guns on a single deck, frigates were the cruisers of their day. They did everything from escorting convoys to scouting ahead of large fleets to chasing pirates and privateers alike.
7. The smallest of the rated vessels were the sixth-rates. Also frigates, sixth-rates carried 20 to 30 guns and spent most of their time on scouting and escort duty.
8. Non-rated vessels. These vessels encompassed a small armada of ship types, from 2-masted 20-gun brigs, to schooners, to bomb ships to transports. Brigs and schooners were favorite ship types of pirates and privateers.

Tips & Warnings

• While all navies of the period used rating systems, they used different standards, especially in the number of guns, that would make up a first-rate or second-rate and so on.

Who Can Help: