Bombarda

A Mediterranean two-masted bomb vessel adapted to carry one or two heavy mortars for shore bombardment during sieges and port blockades. Broader in the beam than a brig, it set a square-rigged mainmast stepped near amidships and a smaller gaff-rigged mizzen, with the mortars mounted between the mainmast and the forecastle so their recoil bore on reinforced beams. The Italian and Spanish bombarda parallels the French galiote a bombes and the English bomb ketch, all built to lob explosive shells over fortifications rather than fight ship to ship.