This is a list of the world's longest wooden ships. The vessels are sorted by ship length including

bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay A bobstay is a part of the rigging of a sailing boat or ship. Its purpose is to counteract the upward tensio ...

, if known. Finding the world's longest wooden ship is not straightforward since there are several contenders, depending on which definitions are used. For example, some of these ships benefited from substantial iron or even steel components since the flexing of wood members can lead to significant leaking as the wood members become longer. Some of these ships were not very seaworthy, and a few sank either immediately after launch or soon thereafter. Some of the more recent large ships were never able or intended to leave their berths, and function as floating museums. Finally, not all of the claims to the title of the world's longest wooden ship are credible or verifiable. A further problem is that especially wooden ships have more than one "length". The most used measure in length for registering a ship is the "length of the topmost deck" – the "length on deck" (LOD) – 'measured from leading edge of stem post to trailing edge of stern post on deck level' or the "length between perpendiculars" (LPP, LBP) – 'measured from leading edge of stem post to trailing edge of stern post in the construction waterline (CWL)'. In this method of measuring bowsprit including

jibboom A jibboom (also spelt jib-boom) is a spar used to extend the length of a bowsprit on sailing ships. It can itself be extended further by a flying jib-boom. The heel (i.e. rear and lower) end of the flying jib-boom is attached to the jib-boom, and ...

and out-board part of

spanker Spanker can refer to: * One who administers a spanking * Spanker (horse), a famous 18th-century thoroughbred race horse * Spanker, Ohio, an unincorporated community * ''SS-17 Spanker'', the NATO reporting name for the MR-UR-100 Sotka intercont ...

boom if any have both no effect on the ship's length. The longest length for comparing ships, the total "

overall Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

" length (LOA) based on sparred length, should be given if known. The longest wooden ship ever built, the six-masted New England

gaff Gaff may refer to: Ankle-worn devices * Spurs in variations of cockfighting * Climbing spikes used to ascend wood poles, such as utility poles Arts and entertainment * A character in the ''Blade Runner'' film franchise * Penny gaff, a 19th- ...

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

''Wyoming'', had a "total length" of (measured from tip of jibboom (30 metres) to tip of spanker boom (27 metres) and a "length on deck" of . The -difference is due to her extremely long jibboom of her out-board length being .

Longest known wooden ships

Over 100 meters (328 feet)

100–90 meters (328–295 feet)

89-80 meters (291-262 feet)

79–70 meters (259–230 feet)

69–60 meters (226–197 feet)

59–56 meters (193–184 feet)

Longest wooden ships by ensign

Claimed but poorly documented

Longest still in existence

Over 56 meters (184 feet)

56–40 meters (184–131 feet)

40–30 meters (128–98 feet)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wooden Ships, Longest Lists of ships Ships, wooden Longest wooden ships Ships, wooden