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.
Bomb vessel ketch, which he commands for several weeks until it is blown out of the water and sunk by a young Colonel of artillery named Buonaparte. Bomb vessel A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons (long guns or carronades)—although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence—but mortars mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in a ballistic arc. Explosive shells (also called "bombs" at the time) or carcasses were employed rather than solid shot. Bomb