West Indiaman was a general name for any

merchantman A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are us ...

sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...

making runs from the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by th ...

to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

and the east coast of the Americas. These ships were generally strong ocean-going ships capable of handling storms in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. The term was used to refer to vessels belonging to the Danish (e.g. ), Dutch, English, and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

(e.g. ) West India companies. Similarly, at the time (18th and 19th centuries) people also referred to

East Indiamen East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

(ships trading with the East Indies), Guineamen (

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast i ...

s), or Greenlandmen ( whalers in the North Seas whale fishery). British West Indiamen tended to be London-built and to sail directly from England (generally London), to the West Indies. Guineamen tended to be built (or owned) in Bristol and Liverpool, and to sail from Bristol or Liverpool via West Africa in what is now often referred to as the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset ...

in enslaved people. There were London-based Guineamen, (for example ), and Liverpool-based West Indiamen, (for example and ). Often the same vessel would move between roles and routes over the course of her career as entrepreneurial owners chased profitability. Thus started and finished as a West Indiaman, but in between made a voyage for the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

(EIC) as an

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

and two voyages as a Guineaman. made one voyage as an East Indiaman for the EIC, then several as a Greenlandman, and ended up a West Indiaman.

Citations and references

Citations References * Age of Sail merchant ships of England African slave trade Whaling ships Ship types Whaling Tall ships {{Water-transport-stub

See also

Citations and references