This work is a comprehensive history of the development of the schooner from its emergence in Holland in the early years of the 17th century, right up to the present when the rig is experiencing a renaissance with luxury charter vessels. Though cargo-carrying was the main use to which schooners were put in Britain, America and Canada, there were also fishing schooners, pilot boats, Baltimore clippers, shallops, colonial schooners, naval schooners and yachts. The book describes the design and development of each of these variations of schooner, using plans and illustrations.