A koff is a historical type of sailing vessel that was used for coastal shipping off Belgium, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

in the 18th and 19th centuries. A typical koff had one and a half masts with a

gaff rig Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and s ...

ged main sail and

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 interco ...

and one or two square sails in the main top. The hull was plump with a flat bottom and a heavily rounded, raised

bow Bow often refers to: * Bow and arrow, a weapon * Bowing, bending the upper body as a social gesture * An ornamental knot made of ribbon Bow may also refer to: * Bow (watercraft), the foremost part of a ship or boat * Bow (position), the rower ...

and

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

. Smaller koffs could be equipped with

leeboard A leeboard is a form of pivoting keel used by a sailboat largely and very often in lieu of a fixed keel. Typically mounted in pairs on each side of a hull, leeboards function much like a centreboard, allowing shallow-draft craft to ply waters f ...

s. Due to the shallow

draught Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

, koffs were especially suited for inshore shipping in shallow waters. The koff had been developed in the late 17th century in the Netherlands. Smaller than the

fluyt A fluyt (archaic Dutch: ''fluijt'' "flute"; ) is a Dutch type of sailing vessel originally designed by the shipwrights of Hoorn as a dedicated cargo vessel. Originating in the Dutch Republic in the 16th century, the vessel was designed to faci ...

, its rounded bow and stern provided however for more storage on board. This made it a popular type that saw increasing service. Koffs were often counted among the

galiot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a flat ...

s by contemporary sources because the differences are very subtle: the galiot was considered more slender and therefore more elegant. On the koff, a deckhouse could be installed between the two masts which would provide shelter for up to twelve crew men. The typical dimensions have been reported as "80 feet long, 21 feet wide and 11 feet deep". Later versions could have a

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 ...

galeas A galeas is a type of small trade vessel that was common in the Baltic Sea and North Sea from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. The characteristics of the ships depend somewhat from where the ship originated. Swedish variants had two masts and ...

rig.

References

;Notes ;General references * Merchant sailing ship types {{ship-type-stub