A schooner 's a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being shorter or the same height as the rear masts. Schooners were first used by the Dutch in the 16th or 17th century, and further developed in North America from the early 18th century onwards. Etymology According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, the first ship called a schooner was built by builder Andrew Robinson and launched in 1713 from Gloucester, Mass… (More on Schooner)