They did not employ any sort of measuring device to assess the width, length, and depth of the vessels and then calculate the size of the ships. The fluyt was square rigged with two or three masts. When rigged with three masts, the fore and main (front two) masts were square rigged, with the mizzen (rearmost) mast often rigged with a triangular lateen sail, as pictured above. Masts were much higher than those of galleons to allow for greater speed. At times fluyts were also armed and served as auxiliary vessels, which was a common practice in the Baltic Sea. The Swan In 2003, Martin Mattenik and Deep Sea Productions, using side scanning sonar, discovered a shipwreck lying on the floor of the Baltic Sea. The wreck was visited five times between 2003 and 2010. The Baltic is unusual in that there is a thick layer of fresh water inhospitable to saltwater-loving shipworms and shipwrecks are protected from the ravages of shipworms. The top of the wreck's rudder is decorated with three flowers which is typical of Dutch-built ships of the era. This ship is believed to be named the Swan due to the sculpted body of a swan found in the wreckage. At the time it was customary to attach a figure depicting the name of the ship to the transom. Dutch fluyts were built and used in the 16th and 17th centuries as a contract-for-hire vessel. England had not yet established its own large-scale shipbuilding industry and the Dutch dominated the market. During the 17th Century, English companies leased ships like the Swan to carry colonists to America. Replicas The Hector, constructed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and launched in 2000, is a replica of an early 18th-century fluyt which, in the summer of 1773 carried 189 Scottish immigrants to Nova Scotia. The replica was constructed according to line drawings from the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, and built using traditional shipbuilding techniques. As of 2017, the Hector is operated by the Hector Quay Society and is open to the public. The Mayflower II is a replica of the original Mayflower, which transported the Pilgrims to Plymouth in modern-day Massachusetts - and is a fluyt design. See also Flyboat References Merchant sailing ship types Dutch inventions Ship designs of the Dutch Republic Ships attacked and captured by pirates 16th-century ships 17th-century ships 18th-century ships Fluyts