The Dutch “Cat” is one of the most famous cargo ship of that enlightment era, practicing deep sea shipping as cabotage in northern Europe.

Postcard of the Enlightment serie, on a contemporary background mercator map.

If in the seventeenth century Holland fought incessant wars against Great Britain, the low countries gradually lost its supremacy over world maritime trade in the next. however the creative genius of its engineers and craftsmen still made the reputation of its building sites. Originally the creators of a large number of European cargo ships, the Dutch invented the “Cat”, “Kat” originally. This term appeared in the Middle Ages to designate an intermediary between the nave and the galley, often a mixed ship of more than 200 rowers per board. However this name was also applied to a totally different ship built by the Dutch to find a good compromise between the Flute and the Boyer. Rigged with two masts, she is a modest ship, devoted to the transport of coal or wood. However she evolved in the eighteenth century in a three-masted form. Her rounded transom, barge-like, and shallow draught gave way to a straight deck, and the Cat could be confused with other cargo ships including the Indiaman, but was strongly differentiated by its riverine capabilities and characteristics as well as low artillery embarked.