Pink (ship)

Danish three-masted ship and Spanish pink (right), byAntoine Roux.

Apink(French:pinque) is asailing shipwith a very narrowstern.The term was applied to two different types of ship.

The first was a small, flat-bottomed ship with a narrow stern; the name derived from the Italian wordpinco.It was used primarily in theMediterranean Seaas a cargo ship.

In theAtlantic Oceanthe word pink was used to describe any small ship with a narrow stern, having derived from the Dutch wordpinckemeaning pinched. They had a large cargo capacity, and were generallysquare rigged.Their flat bottoms (and resulting shallow draught) made them more useful in shallow waters than some similar classes of ship. They were most often used for short-range missions in protectedchannels,as bothmerchantmenandwarships.A number saw service in the English Navy during the second half of the 17th century. In the 1730s pinks were used in cross-Atlantic voyages to bringPalatinateimmigrants to America.

This model of ship was often used in the Mediterranean because it could be sailed in shallow waters and through coral reefs. It could also be maneuvered up rivers and streams. Pinks were quite fast and flexible.

There is a reference to "pink" in its maritime sense in the State Papers ofCharles IIunder 1 February 1672, with diaristSamuel Pepysnotified about one offered for sale: "Col.Bullen ReymestoSamuel Pepes (Pepys).Offering to sell a pink now atWeymouthwhich can be brought round toPortsmouthand examined byCommissioner Tippetts,or by whom else they please, or to let her by the month, if they will not buy her. "[S.P. Dom., Car. II. 322, No. 88.]

External links

• Media related toPinksat Wikimedia Commons