Xebec

A small, fast Mediterranean sailing vessel of two or three masts carrying lateen sails, sometimes with a square topsail on the foremast for running before the wind. Developed from earlier galley-derived craft in the western Mediterranean by the 17th century, the xebec had a long overhanging beakhead, low freeboard, and narrow hull that gave speed under sail and oars. The Barbary corsairs of Algiers and the Spanish navy used armed xebecs of 16 to 40 guns as corsairs and coastal cruisers against shipping.