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An American-looking gaff cutter with a genoa jib set
French cutter
Crabcutter, Neuharlingersiel, Germany
When used in a nautical sense, a cutter is:
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Traditionally the sloop rig was a rig with a single mast located forward of 70% of the length of the sailplan. In this traditional definition a sloop could have multiple jibs on a fixed bowsprit. Cutters had a rig with a single mast more centrally located, which could vary from 50% to 70% of the length of the sailplan, with multiple headsails and a reeving bowsprit. A mast located aft of 50% would be considered a mast aft rig.
Somewhere in the 1950s or 1960s there was a shift in these definitions such that a sloop only flew one headsail and a cutter had multiple headsails and mast position became irrelevant. In this modern idiom, then, a cutter is a sailing vessel with more than one head sail and one mast. In a traditional vessel there would normally be also, a bowsprit to carry a jib set flying from the bowsprit end via a traveller (to preserve the ability to reef the bowsprit), while in modern vessels the jib is set from a topmast forestay permanently fixed to the end of a fixed (non-reeving) bowsprit, or directly to the stem fitting of the bow itself. (The sloop carries only one head sail, properly called a foresail though nowadays usually called a jib.) Correctly speaking, a jib is set on the topmast forestay.
The term is English in origin and refers to a specific type of vessel, namely, "a small, decked ship with one mast and bowsprit, traditionally with a gaff mainsail, though not invariably so. The foot of the mainsail would normally be laced to a boom and the head to a gaff above which a gaff topsail would be set in suitable conditions. There would also be a foresail and jib and possibly a flying jib set above the jib."[citation needed]
The open cutter carried aboard naval vessels in the 18th Century was rowed by pairs of men sitting side-by-side on benches. The cutter, with its transom, was broader in proportion compared to the longboat, which had finer lines.
The Watermen of London used similar boats in the 18th Century often decorated as depicted in historical prints and pictures of the River Thames in the 17th & 18th Centuries. The modern Waterman’s Cutter is based on drawings of these boats. They are 34 feet long with a beam of 4ft 6ins. They can have up to six oarsmen either rowing or sculling and can carry a cox and passengers. The organisers of the Great River Race developed the modern version in the 1980’s and now many of the fleet of 24 compete annually in this "Marathon of the River". Watermen’s Cutters also compete annually in the Port of London Challenge, and the Port Admirals’ Challenge. Cutter races are also to be found at various town rowing and skiffing regattas. In addition the cutters perform the role of ceremonial Livery Barges with the canopies and armorial flags flying on special occasions. http://www.traditionalrowing.com/ Thames Traditional Rowing Association
In the past ten years Cutters have successfully broken the record times for sculling the English Channel (2hrs 42mins) and sculling non-stop from London to Paris (4days 15minutes).
A pulling cutter was a boat carried by sailing ships for work in fairly sheltered water in which load-carrying capacity was needed, for example in laying a kedge. This operation was the placing a relatively light anchor at a distance from the ship so as to be able to haul her off in its direction. The oars were double-banked. That is, there were two oarsmen on each thwart. In a seaway, the longboat was preferred to the cutter as the finer lines of the stern of the former meant that it was less likely to broach to in a following sea. In the Royal Navy the cutters were replaced by 25 and 32 foot motor cutters. However, the cutters\' traditional work had grown beyond the capacity of a boat as ships became larger. Though primarily a pulling boat, this cutter could also be rigged for sailing.
Historically, a cutter is any seaworthy vessel used in law enforcement duties of Great Britain\'s Royal Customs Service, known less formally, as \'The Revenue\'. The case is similar with the United States Department of the Treasury\'s Revenue Cutter Service and in the fleets of other countries.
In America, they were commonly schooners or brigs. In Britain, they were usually rigged as defined under Sailing (above). The Revenue did use other vessels as hulks moored in such places as coastal streams from which officers worked in boats. This is how HMS Beagle ended her days.
Today the Coast Guard officially uses the term cutter for any vessel which has a permanently assigned crew and accommodations for the extended support of that crew, although informally this is held to mean any vessel of 65 feet or more in length.USCG Regulations. Chapter 10. Accessed November 25, 2007.
Larger cutters, over 180 feet (55 m) in length, are under control of area commands (Atlantic area or Pacific area). Cutters at or under 180 feet in length come under control of district commands. Cutters usually have a motor surf boat and/or a rigid hull inflatable boat on board. Polar Class icebreakers also carry an Arctic survey boat (ASB) and landing craft.
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