the.com/windjammer
a tall ship so absurdly large it bullied the wind itself into surrender
means A large sailing ship, especially one of the big iron- or steel-hulled merchant vessels with multiple masts that carried cargo in the late age of sail.
from From English 'wind' plus 'jammer,' from 'jam' — the idea being a ship that crams or jams along driven by the wind. The term began as sailors' slang, reportedly a bit dismissive at first, the way steamship crews might needle the old sail-driven hulks. As often happens with sea slang, the mockery weathered into pride, and 'windjammer' became the affectionate name for those magnificent commercial square-riggers.
- name origin
- a sneer from steamship crews mocking sailing ships
- biggest ever
- Preussen carried five masts and forty-seven sails
- the cargo
- hauled coal, nitrate, and grain across oceans
- final stand
- outlasted steam on the brutal Cape Horn route
- crew size
- a few dozen managed acres of canvas
cutty sark — scottish clipper ship launched 1869, fastest tea clipper of her era, now a museum in greenwich
star of india — british iron barque launched 1863, still sails in san diego as the world's oldest active sailing ship
kruzenshtern — german-built four-masted barque from 1926, now russian training ship, largest square-rigged sailing vessel still in operation