roundships

Updated: July 15, 2026

There were longships, propelled, for the most part, by oars, and used generally as warships; and there were roundships, or dromonds, propelled by sails, and used as a rule for the carriage of freight. The dromond, in war-time, was sometimes converted into a warship, by the addition of fighting-castles fore and aft.

John Masefield - On the Spanish Main: Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien.