Windjammer

A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts, however rigged. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam during the 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary records the term "wind jammer" with reference to a ship from 1878 and nautical use of "windjamming" from 1886. The word has evolved to include passenger cruise ships.

The word "windjammer" has a variety of associations, both nautical and not. In the late 19th century the term was pejorative, as used by sailors aboard steamships.

Any of the following ships may be called a "windjammer":

Windjammers have figured prominently in both historical and fictional literature. Some examples include: