Ketch ketch and the yawl have two masts, with the main mast foremost; the distinction usually being that a ketch has the mizzen mast forward of the rudder post, whereas on a yawl, it is aft of the rudder post. But the balance of sail area can be an overriding characteristic. If 20% or more of the sail area is in the mizzen sail the rig would be termed a ketch. This is particularly true on center cockpit yachts. Compared to a ketch, a similar size yawl's mizzen sail is much smaller than the main, because of the limitations of the
Jack Ketch in 1828. He is mentioned in the Charles Dickens novels "Oliver Twist", "The Pickwick Papers" and "David Copperfield" and in the C. M. Kornbluth science fiction story "The Marching Morons" (1951). More recently, Jack Ketch plays a role in Neal Stephenson's 2003 and 2004 volumes "Quicksilver" and "The System of the World", the first and last volumes, respectively, in his "The Baroque Cycle" series (though the last volume is set in 1714, well after the death of the historical Jack Ketch.) A Jack Ketch character appears in Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book". Jack Ketch is featured as a non-speaking character