What Is The Difference Between A Boat And A Ship? | .uk

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David McCann, Finstown Scotland

• A ship can carry a boat. A boat cannot carry a ship.

  Peter Brooke, By Kinmuck, Scotland

• A ship is large enough to have boats hanging along its sides. However, ferries are always boats but nowadays are often as large as cruise ships and carry lifeboats.

  David Hattams, Plaka, Vamos, Crete, Greece

• As with many things it's to do with size. A ship can carry a boat but a boat cannot carry a ship.

  William Gosling, Niederkorn, Luxembourg

• One answer is that a ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship. Another is that a ship's captain gets annoyed if you refer to his vessel as a boat, but a boat's captain does not get annoyed if you refer to his vessel as a ship.

  Brian Robinson, Brentwood, Essex

• A boat is a ship when it is so big that you can put a boat on it! Royal Navy submarines are, however, always termed boats.

  Chris Nutt, Cambridge, Cambs

• There are two explanations given for this, the first is "A boat is a craft that can be hoisted aboard a ship"; as early submarines could. The other is "A vessel with only one deck is a boat, more than one - it's a ship"; although large modern subs (I imagine) have more than one deck.

  Keith Pettitt, Crewe, Cheshire

• Simplistically, a ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship. But you could debate this for a long time. I have done. To quote a friend (and Ship Science graduate) that I have posed this question to in the past: "There's no right answer because there are always exceptions. The ship carrying a boat thing works a bit but not for a fishing boat, for example. A ship is generally an ocean going vessel but then that doesn't work for submarines which are always boats. Or over 500t, always exceptions to that too! A sailing ship is one that has 3 or more masts with yards crossing them - but i don't suppose that helps much!"

  Vicki Franks, Cambridge, UK

• A ship can carry boats but a boat cannot carry ships. Please note, a submarine is always referred to as a boat.

  Clive Palmer, Yeovil, Somerset

• You can put a boat on a ship but you can't put a ship on a boat.

  J. Owens, London, UK

• None of the forgegoing answers account for the fact that a "skiff" (a small boat) is etymologically the same as "ship", and can be hoisted aboard many larger vessels. The precise (and pedantic) definition of a ship is a vessel with no fewer than three masts, all of which carry square-rigged sails. All other vessels are separately defined. Most of the vessels we would nowadays designate as "ships" are correctly "Motor Vessels". (My answer doesn't account for the naming of most vessels of the Royal Navy "HMS", although this is a relatively modern convention; the RN used to refer to "His/Her Majesty's Sloop So-and-so" and "His/Her Majesty's Frigate Such-and-such". The Royal yacht Britannia, now moored at Leith, is "HMY".)

  Paul Thompson, Perth, Scotland

• Nothing to do with size .. its all to do with function. The function of a boat happens on its deck, the function of a ship happens inside it!

  ian Buchan, Glasgow UK

• I believe, traditionally according to the UK Royal Navy, that a ship floats on the water whilst a boat is underwater, i.e a submarine. Hence the movie Das Boot.

  William Peters, Vienna, Austria

• Taken from Wisegeek.com "It's common lore that a ship rolls outboard in a turn while a boat rolls inboard. I don't think whether one fits into another has anything to do with it" There is a more technical definition: "On a boat the centre of gravity is below the freeboard, on a ship it is above. In practice this means a boat, such as a submarine, will lean into a curve when turning while a ship will lean out." "The difference between a ship and a boat is which way they heel or skid, when turning. A ship will heel outward during a turn, a boat will turn inward during a turn. In other terms, a motorcycle will lean inward during a turn, a car, truck, etc. will lean outward. Same concept for ship vs. boat."

  Neil, Plymouth United Kingdom

• I am even more confused now. Although, I do like the 'function' explanation - boat on deck, ship below deck.

  Eve, sydney Australia

• A ship weighs more than 150 gross tons - ergo a boat is anything smaller!

  CJ, barlby UK

• I was led to believe that no formal qualification was needed to sail or operate a boat as in speed boat but in order to be in charge of a ship a formal captains creditation must be obtained and all ships must carry a bona fide qualified captain,who then has the powers to perform wedding ceremonies, sea burials and the power of imprisonment whilst on board a ship. it seems that these things cannot be carried out on a boat. I look forward to people's views on this response.

  chris, swansea west glam

• A boat leans into a turn a ship leans out. This answer from ny nephew who just graduated from the Royal Navy College.

  Sandman, St. Louis USA

• There are different definitions, one being that a ship (sailing) must be full rigged and have a minimum of 3 masts. Another is that a ship has a through fitted deck, whereas a boat has an at least partly open cockpit and may be completely open. It is for this reason that submarines, which have no through decks because they are divided into compartments by bulkheads, are always referred to as boats, not because they used to be carried on ships or that American ones are built by the Electric Boat Company. Size and what can be carried on what is irrelevant.

  johnboy, Cardiff UK

• a ship is a surface vessel whereas a boat is a submarine

  connor woolrich, truro england

• The two vessels react differently when turning, one swings into the curve of the motion, the other out of the curve. This is the Royal Navy definiton of the two vessel types.

  Keith baker, Waalre, Brabant

• Boats can't carry the capacity of a ships! Much larger too!

  Marsha Young, Columbus, Ohio USA

• A ship can carry a boat but a boat cannot carry a ship

  Isaac Owusu Sarpong , Ejura Ashanti, Ghana

• Glad that's been cleared up!

  Willie Eckerslike, Stainforth, UK

• A boat can be lifted out of water for repairs but a ship spends all its life in water the only time a ship leaves the water is when its decommissioned and cut up.

  Pete Murphy, Heywood, England

• A boat only carries a small quantity of goods but a ship carries a large quantity of goods.

  Libin, Nagercoil, India

• You can row a boat, you cant row a ship!!!

  Andrew McFarlane, Bridport United Kingdom

• Would you class a canoe as a boat? I have been having this argument with my boss for a few days now he thinks a canoe is not a boat, I disagree, any thoughts anyone? I agree with the carry a boat on a ship argument.

  Peter, Grafton Australia

• This goes to show that it's better to know a good question than a good answer.

  Guy Benians, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, UK

• In the navy a ship is a vessel and a submarine is a boat.

  Ben, Trembath uk

• A ship can carry a boat and a boat cannot carry a ship. The USS COLE is a ship...no doubt. It was carried by the blue marlin to Mississippi from Yemen. I guess the blue marlin is a super ship. It's a ship if it is designated by a government or governing authority as a ship. All boats are privately owned. Submarines as ships...They are designated as USS...United States Ship.

  john, hawaiian navy usa

• Boat can not sink, but ship can. That is the only difference.

  Leszek Kunc, Melbourne Australia

• Ship are used to make people cross far distances but boats are used to make people cross smaller distances

  Nishith Puranik, Hyderabad India

• The main difference is the SPELLING....Doh

  Pirate, Brisbane Australia

• A ship has curtains.

  John noble, Scotland

• YOU CAN ROW A BOAT, YOU TRY ROWING A SHIP!

  Steve Hart, Bexley Kent

• A Ship is a vessel that's ocean going. A boat is a vessel that's inshore/coastal.

  Roy Pearson, Castleford West Yorks

• In general, size is what distinguishes the two, boats being smaller than ships, but the words' usage is more complicated than any one simple rule of absolute size can describe. The US Navy generally follows the "boats are smaller" rule, referring to its smaller vessels as boats and its larger ones as ships. (This notwithstanding that the designation USS stands for "United States Ship" and that some US Navy submarines are built, as least partly, by the General Dynamics Electric Boat Division-- the Newport News Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. also builds US Navy submarines, in whole or in part.) Also, the "three plus square-rigged masts" rule for sailing ships is, in practice, consistent with "boats are smaller" because small sailing vessels wouldn't benefit from three or more square-rigged masts-- other arrangements can work as well or better. Indeed, small sailing vessels would suffer from the weight and complexity of so many masts with so much rigging. Large sailing vessels, on the other hand, need the sail area such masts and rigging can provide in order to move, and the masts' and rigging's weight can be a much smaller proportion of a large vessel's total weight, while a large vessel can accommodate sufficient crew to handle the rigging's complexity. Vessels intended for navigation of coastal and inland waters are generally called boats, while ocean-going vessels are generally called ships. However, the former are also generally smaller than the latter. What it boils down to is the same issue one is confronted with when hearing of "jumbo shrimp" or "tiny whales". Provided that both terms refer to living (or formerly living) animals, one would hardly expect a jumbo shrimp to be larger than, or, for that matter, anything other than much smaller than a tiny whale. Use of words that attribute size-- small and large, big and little, jumbo and tiny, as well as many others-- is context-relative: one can confidently assume that a small watermelon is much larger than a large grape. The same is true of words that imply size, words such a boat and ship. The fact that perhaps not all boats are so small and not all ships so large that any ship could reasonably carry any boat is irrelevant. So is the fact that some boats are so large that trying to propel them only with oars might be no more effective than trying to propel a typical ship the same way. Categorically, boats are smaller than ships, in spite of the fact that the two categories overlap considerably. It's been suggested that the difference between a boat and a ship is that a boat's captain would not be offended to hear the boat referred to as a ship, while a ship's captain would be offended to hear the ship referred to as a boat. This may be true, but it's unlikely to be useful in determining which word to use in a given situation, since so few people have ready access to sufficient numbers of captains (of sufficient varieties of boats and ships) that they are willing to risk offending.

  grosbach, Saint Petersburg, Florida US

• Simple, when a ship sinks you get in a boat, when a boat sinks you get in the water.

  Rick, Jupiter USA

• You do not call a cruise ship a cruise boat, right?! I hate it when news reporters call liners, cruise ships, Tankers, car carriers, bulk carriers, and many other classes of ships - boats. Like it is, you can't put a ship on a boat generally. A boat can be carried by a ship. However with modern day vessel constructions, you can put a ship on a ship, depending on its size and gross tonnage, and you can put a boat on a boat, like yacht carriers. I always thought it was a cut off on what the size and gross tonnage of the vessel when it goes from boat to ship classifications. The USCG will have the distinction of classifications I am sure.

  Scott keller, Scarborough, Maine USA

• It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean. Stop talking ship.

  Kate, Kuala Lumpar Malaysia

• Ship is bigger, than boat

  Edgar, Yerevan Armenia

• A ship has more than one through deck ABOVE the water line.

  Matt, Liverpool UK

• Handling a ship is work, handling a boat is fun.

  Ray Murphy, Horsham, Victoria Australia

• Hi all, I think a ship is like the old days when an old sail ship would need ballast to go from 1 place to the other? But a boat could do it as it was without ballast? as for a sub?

  Pine, Clyde Argyll

• A boat heels the direction of its turn. A ship heels away from the direction of its turn.

  Jack, Philadelphia USA

• I suggest that a ship has a bridge, wheras a boat would either have a wheelhouse, cockpit or coning tower

  Drew Mc Gookin, Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland

• A ship is any vessel over 100 feet in length.

  Neil, Sydney Australia

• A boat will work the waterways. A ship will ply the waterways.

  Z Edge, Jurien Bay, Australia

• So if you put a boat on a boat on a ship does the middle one become a ship too or stay a boat?

  Grathan Lingod, Aberkenfig Wales

• In the officers mess it is said "A ship, gentlemen is what we are in, a boat, is what the gravy comes in"

  Der Murphy, Waterford, Ireland