The Oiseau was one of many Merchant payload Barks used during the 17th century
- "Me ship was a tidy little schooner name of Cobra. We were sailin’ in waters north of Bermuda, on our way back from an encounter we'd had with a Frenchy barque. Took a nice haul, we did."
- ―Hector Barbossa to assembled pirates at the Great Chamber
A barque, barc, or bark, is a type of sailing vessel with three masts. They were not very commonly used for merchant ships in the 18th century, and even less commonly as naval warships.
Rigging[]
Barques, although uncommon in the 18th century, were very maneuverable vessels. Their foremast and mainmast are square rigged, sometimes carrying staysails, while the mizzenmast has only one very large gaff sail, and a gaff topsail. This kind of rig is not anything special when the ship is sailing with the wind, but does a bit better when it's at beam-reach (wind coming directly from one of the sides of the ship). The large gaff sails on the mizzenmast allow for very quick turning when unfurled.