Sail plan the helm and capable of driving the boat. The ketch is a classic small cargo boat. A fore-and-aft rig having at least two masts, with a foremast that is usually smaller than the other masts. Schooners have traditionally been gaff-rigged and in small craft are generally two-masted, however many have been built with marconi rigs (and even junk rigs) rather than gaffs and in the golden age of sail, vessels were built with as many as seven masts. One of the easiest types to sail, but performs poorly to windward without gaff topsails. The extra sails and ease of the
15,000 Miles in a Ketch and Indian seas to outside Melbourne Harbour in July 1909. The voyage totalled a distance of 15,000 miles, which is where the name of the novel originates. Although du Baty's native language was French, 15,000 Miles in a Ketch was first published in English. It was later translated to and published in French in 1991 by Ed. maritimes et d'outre-mer under the title, Aventures aux Kerguelen. Since Francis Drake went round the world in the Golden Hind there has perhaps been no voyage quite so venturesome as that in a little French fishing ketch, of forty-five tons, called the J.B.