Originally, a small, sharp-built vessel, with two masts
   and fore-and-aft rig. Sometimes it carried square topsails on one or
   both masts and was called a topsail schooner. About 1840, longer
   vessels with three masts, fore-and-aft rigged, came into use, and since
   that time vessels with four masts and even with six masts, so rigged,
   are built. Schooners with more than two masts are designated
   three-masted schooners, four-masted schooners, etc. See Illustration in
   Appendix.