As you can see above, the main parts of a ship are labeled. But two of the most important ship parts you need to know are not up there, the Bow and the Stern. The Bow is just another name for the front of the ship. The Stern, as you could probably guess, is the back of the ship. Every part of the ship is important. The Hull is important for keeping the ship afloat, a ship just isn't a ship if it doesn't have a Hull, there's no question there. The Main Mast and the Main sail are there to keep the ship going, if there was no Main Mast or Main Sail, the Fore Mast and the Fore Sail could probably get a little bit of speed but the Main Mast ans Sail are the the ones that really accelerate a ship. The Rudder is probably the most important part of a ship, the Rudder is the device that steers the ship, not that wheel (Helm) you see on the deck. That Helm operates the Rudder which directs which way the ship is going. If a ship didn't have a Rudder, the ship would wreck either with another ship or on some island or port. The Fore Mast and Fore Sail are basicly the back-ups for the Main Mast and Sail. The Fore Mast and Sail are also there to give the ship a little bit more speed. In some emergency situations, the Captain will order his crew to chop down to Main Mast, that is another reason to have the Fore Mast and Sail. Captains have their own way of telling when an emergency situation appears to know wether or not to cut down their Main Mast and Sail.
The Schooner
Beautiful and elegant, these were among the fastest ships. Clippers, which came later, were modified schooners. Schooners had such a shallow draft that they could out run their targets and the effectively hide almost anywhere. Schooners were especially used in the Atlantic and the Caribbean after the Americas were colonized. They did come with a drawback: with such a shallow draft, the hold could not hold as much booty.
The Sloop
During the late 1600s, these ships were extremely popular. They had shallow draft (but not so shallow as a schooner) and was very fast. It was also extremely maneuverable. It was easy for a sloop to get away from a warship because it was fast, light, and could make sudden moves.
The Galley
The Barbary corsairs favored galleys as their pirate ships. This ship was long and slender. It was fast and could hold a fair amount of spoil. The famous Captain Kidd had a galley called the Adventure built for him in 1695.
The Brigantine
These ships are larger than sloops or schooners. They were ideal for holding more guns and fighters, making them more suitable for sea battles than many other types of pirate ship. These ships were popular in the Mediterranean, where trade had flourished for thousands of years, the loot was grand, and usually better protected.
