{{Short description|Type of ship used in the 17th–19th centuries}} {{About|the sailing vessel|the Polish dance|polonaise (dance)|the town in Arizona|Polacca, Arizona}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2009}} A '''polacca''' (or ''polacre'') is a type of seventeenth- to nineteenth-century sailing vessel.
== Structure == thumb|right|Sail plan for a polacre.
The name is the feminine of "Polish" in the Italian language. The polacca was frequently seen in the Mediterranean. It had two or three single-pole masts, the three-masted vessels often with a lateen hoisted on the foremast (which was slanted forward to accommodate the large lateen yard) and a gaff or lateen on the mizzen mast. The mainmast was square-rigged after the European style.
== History ==
Special polaccas were used by Murat Reis, whose ships had lateen sails in front and fore-and-aft rig behind.
Some polacca pictures show what appears to be a ship-rigged vessel (sometimes with a lateen on the mizzen) with a galley-like hull and single-pole masts. Thus, the term "polacca" seems to refer primarily to the masting and possibly the hull type as opposed to the type of rig used for the sails. Two-masted polaccas were referred to as brig-polaccas with square sails on both masts. Three-masted polaccas were called ship-polaccas or polacca-settees.<ref name=king343>{{cite book|last1=King|first1=Dean|title=A Sea of Words|date=2000|publisher=Henry Holt|isbn=978-0-8050-6615-9|pages=343|edition=3}}</ref>
Captain Jack Aubrey in HMS ''Sophie'' captures a French polacre laden with corn and general merchandise in Patrick O'Brian's first Aubrey-Maturin novel, ''Master and Commander'' (1969).
=== Mughal Empire ===
"Great Mogul" emperor's fleet of Polacca ships were harboured at seaports like Calicut and Pulicat, it was a fleet that controlled Cape Comorin.
== Gallery == <gallery> Image:Oluf Eigilsson Murat Reis 1627-1628.jpg|Polacca of Murat Reis the Younger File:Polacre San Nicolo-Antoine Roux-p17.jpg|The Greek polacca ''San Nicolo'', by Antoine Roux File:Antoine Roux sailing ship at Marseille.jpg|The Greek polacca ''Bella Aurora '', by Antoine Roux File:Chebec Mistic-IMG 8860.jpg|Squared-rigged Polacca of the 1780-1815 period.
</gallery>
== See also == * Ganj-i-Sawai
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.navegar-es-preciso.com/news/polacras/ Polacras] (Spanish)
{{EB1911 Poster|Polacca}}
{{Sailing Vessels and Rigs}} Category:17th-century ships category:18th-century ships category:19th-century ships Category:Tall ships Category:Merchant ships Category:Pirate ships Category:Age of Sail ships