Quote Originally Posted by Mendip View Post
Nah, I don't know why people generally use 'boat' rather than 'ship' for this work, but they do.
Just catching up on your excellent thread. Very interesting for those of us who have never been involved in offshore work. Interesting, although not really making me wish I was there.

I don't know the specific differences between boats and ships, I suppose Google has an answer. The one thing I do remember is that many years ago for reasons lost to history I had a trip in a Royal Navy minesweeper. It was not particularly big and it is possible I called it a boat. The officers on board explained to me that the Royal Navy only has ships. This was stated in terms that suggested I should commit the fact to memory. So I did.