A xebec, also spelled zebec, was a Mediterraneansailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, used almost exclusively in the Mediterranean Sea.
Description
Xebecs were similar to galleys used by Algerian corsairs and Barbary pirates having both lateen sails and oars for propulsion. Early xebecs had two masts; later ones three. Xebecs featured a distinctive hull with pronounced overhanging bow and stern, and rarely displaced more than 200 tons, making them slightly smaller and with slightly fewer guns than frigates of the period. Some victorious xebecs of the Spanish Navy, about 1770 :
Andaluz, 30 guns
Africa, 18 guns
Atrevido, 20 guns
Aventurero, 30 guns
Murciano, 16 guns, 4 pedreros
San Antonio
Notable xebecs of the French Navy include four launched in 1750:
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a large polacre-xebec carried a square rig on the foremast, lateen sails on the other masts, a bowsprit, and two headsails. The square sail distinguished this form of a xebec from that of a felucca which is equipped solely with lateen sails. The last of the xebecs in use by European navies were fully square-rigged and were termed xebec-frigates. The British brig-sloop Speedy's defeat of the Spanish xebec-frigate El Gamo on 6 May 1801 is generally regarded as one of the most remarkable single-ship actions in naval history. It was the foundation of the legendary reputation of the Speedys commander, Lord Cochrane, which has in turn provided the inspiration for sea fiction such as Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander. Sea-going Mediterranean peoples greatly favoured xebecs as corsairs. The corsairs built their xebecs with a narrow floor to achieve a higher speed than their victims, but with a considerable beam in order to enable them to carry an extensive sail-plan. The lateen rig of the xebec allowed the ship to sailclose hauled to the wind, something that often give it an advantage in pursuit or escape. The use of oars or sweeps allowed the xebec to approach vessels who were becalmed. When used as corsairs, the xebecs carried a crew of 300 to 400 men and mounted perhaps 16 to 40 guns according to size. In peacetime operations, the xebec could transport merchandise.
Xebec is also written as xebeck, xebeque, zebec, zebecque, chebec, shebeck ; from. Words similar in form and meaning to xebec occur in Catalan, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic and Turkish. The Online Etymology Dictionary regards the Arabic shabbak as the source form, however the Arabic root means 'a net', implying the word originally referred to a fishing boat. The Spanish jabeque had only lateen sails, as portrayed in the Cazador. The Spanish Crown built Cazador in the mid-eighteenth century to fight Algerian corsairs in the Mediterranean. Algerian corsairs also used three-lateen-sail xebecs in their raids on Mediterranean trade.
