Ketch mizzen sheet. So on a ketch, the dual purpose of the mizzen sail is to both propel and balance the vessel, while on a yawl, the smaller mizzen mainly serves the purpose of trim or balance. Yawls tend to have mainsails almost as large as those of comparable sloops. A ketch may be distinguished from a cutter or a sloop by virtue of having two masts rather than one, though a ketch with two foresails is sometimes called a "cutter-rigged ketch". Both the ketch and the yawl differ from the two-masted schooner, whose aft mainmast is taller than the foremast.
Irene (ketch) Irene (ketch) Irene is a 100-foot ketch built in Bridgwater in 1907, the last ship built in the docks and the only ketch built in the West Country still sailing. It was built by FJ Carver and Son and launched in May 1907. The Blake Museum in Bridgwater opened an exhibit about the ship in 2010. She was first owned by Symons of Bridgwater and named after Irene Symons. For 53 years the ship was a trading vessel for bricks, tiles and other goods, mainly in the Severn estuary and to Ireland. She was owned by the Bridgwater Brick and