Barque

nings now are not the same. Well before the nineteenth century a barge had become interpreted as a small vessel of coastal or inland waters. Somewhat later, a bark became a sailing vessel of a distinctive rig as detailed below. In Britain, by the mid-nineteenth century, the spelling had taken on the French form of barque. Throughout the period of sail, the word was used also as a shortening of the barca-longa of the Mediterranean Sea. The usual convention is that spelling barque refers to a ship and bark to tree hide, to distinguish the homophones. See also Barque of Peter (ship as an image/symbol of the Catholic Church) for religious usage of the term. Bark (ship)
In the eighteenth century, the British Royal Navy used the term bark for a nondescript vessel that did not fit any of its usual categories. Thus, when the British Admiralty purchased a collier for use by James Cook in his journey of exploration, she was registered as HM Bark Endeavour to distinguish her from another Endeavour, a sloop already in service at the time. She happened to be a ship-rigged sailing vessel with a plain bluff bow and a full stern with windows.