Periagua

Periagua (from Spanish piragua, in turn derived from the Carib language word for dugout) is the term formerly used in the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard of North America for a range of small craft including canoes and small sailing vessels, used in fishing and coastal and inter-island commerce. The term periagua overlaps, but is not synonymous with, pirogue, derived through the French language from piragua.

18th century half galley or periagua.

Athe end of the 17th century periaguas came to mean a type of galley or half galley, used by both privateers and pirates around the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispaniola. Periaguas could be rowed against the wind, useful for approaching potential victims or escaping from pursuers. Benjamin Hornigold and Sam Bellamy began their careers as pirate captains operating from periaguas.^[1]

Characteristics

Periaguas were flat-bottomed galleys of variable size, moved by both rows and sails. Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin described guarda costa periaguas as being crewed by up to 120 men and two masts and 36-46 rows. They were usually 30 feet long, 16-18 feet wide, and 4-5 feet draft, armed with one cannon and four swivel guns. The masts could be dismounted in disfavorable winds or to help them go unnoticed.^[2]

History of the term

The original periaguas or piraguas were the dugout canoes encountered by the Spanish in the Caribbean. Small craft of greater capacity were created by splitting a dugout and inserting a plank bottom, while the freeboard was increased for sea voyages by adding planks on the sides. By the 18th century the term periagua was being applied to flat-bottomed boats, which could be 30 feet (10 m) or more long and carry up to 30 men, with one or two masts, which could also be rowed. Later in the 18th century periagua became the name for a specific type of sailing rig, with gaff rigged sails on two masts that could be easily struck, commonly with the foremast raked forward and the main mast raked back. The "periagua rig" was used on U. S. Navy gunboats on the Chesapeake Bay in the early 19th century. The term periagua was also applied to rowing scows similar to a john boat.^[3]