In the age of sail, the boats were an essential part of any ship's equipment. They moved stores, towed the ship in calms and in confined water, and, for warships, were an extention of their armament. Over the centuries there were almost countless sizes, hull forms and rigs employed, so the exact details have always been a problem to modelmakers, marine artists and even those building replicas. This book, originally published by the National Maritime Museum in 1974, is a study of the whole history of this neglected topic. Now revised, expanded and much more thoroughly illustrated, it covers the boat 'establishments' (the sixes and types of boat formally allocated), the methods of hoisting and stowing them aboard ship, the design and construction of the boats themselves, their fittings, rigs and armament - guns, howitzers, and even Congreve rockets. Although primarily devoted to the age of sail, coverage extends to the steam boats of the late nineteenth century.