A type of sailing ship with three or more masts, where only the front mast is square-rigged and the others are fore-and-aft rigged.
From 'barque' (a sailing ship, from Spanish 'barca') combined with 'brigantine' (another ship type). This hybrid design emerged in the 18th century as a compromise between efficiency and cargo capacity.
Barkentines were the 'Swiss Army knives' of sailing ships—they were faster than full barques but cheaper to operate because they needed fewer sailors to manage the rigging, making them perfect for long trading voyages.
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