Hoy

A hoy is a small single-masted coasting and harbor vessel of the 16th to 18th centuries, sloop- or smack-rigged with a large fore-and-aft mainsail, used around English and Dutch coasts and the Thames Estuary to carry passengers and goods on short runs. The word also named a regular packet service, the ‘Margate hoy’ that ran between London and Kent. By the 19th century the type was largely displaced by the spritsail Thames barge and by steam.