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Apink (French:pinque) is asailing ship with a very narrowstern.[1] The term was applied to two different types of ship.
The first was a small, flat-bottomed ship with a narrow stern; the name derived from the Italian wordpinco. It was used primarily in theMediterranean Sea as a cargo ship.
In theAtlantic Ocean the word pink was used to describe any small ship with a narrow stern, having derived from the Dutch wordpincke meaning pinched. They had a large cargo capacity, and were generallysquare rigged. Their flat bottoms (and resulting shallow draught) made them more useful in shallow waters than some similar classes of ship. They were most often used for short-range missions in protectedchannels, as bothmerchantmen andwarships. A number saw service in the English Navy during the second half of the 17th century. In the 1730s pinks were used in cross-Atlantic voyages to bringPalatinate immigrants to America.[2]
This model of ship was often used in the Mediterranean because it could be sailed in shallow waters and through coral reefs. It could also be maneuvered up rivers and streams. Pinks were quite fast and flexible.
There is a reference to "pink" in its maritime sense in the State Papers ofCharles II under 1 February 1672, with diaristSamuel Pepys notified about one offered for sale: "Col.Bullen Reymes toSamuel Pepes (Pepys). Offering to sell a pink now atWeymouth which can be brought round toPortsmouth and examined byCommissioner Tippetts, or by whom else they please, or to let her by the month, if they will not buy her." [S.P. Dom., Car. II. 322, No. 88.][3]
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