A small, light rowboat or dinghy, especially one used to transport people between ships or to shore.
Possibly from cock (small, spirited thing) combined with boat, or from the French word 'coque' (shell/hull). Small boats of this type were essential in harbor work from at least the 16th century onward.
Cockboats were the 'taxis' of the maritime world—sailors relied on these fragile little vessels for everything from sneaking ashore to ferrying officers. Many sailors learned their first sea legs in cockboats, not grand sailing ships.
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