Boatnerd Discussion Forum

It was mostly for aesthetics. Depending on the vessel, booms could be attached to them and packaged cargo could be loaded and unloaded. After 1904/1905 it seems that the "turreted" pilothouse design and the mast through the deckhouses fell off and they were placed right at the aft bulkhead separating the hold and the coal bunker. Mast placement for a short time was used to tell the length of the ship, but that was supplanted by the forward mast's navigation lights.

On older vessels, those with cabins forward and aft, the masts at the stern were sometimes placed in front of the stack while in other cases behind the stack. It appears that the most common practice was to have the mast ahead of the stack. Was there any particular reason for the mast placement? Was it influenced by the ship's internal arrangement, stability, powerplant, or other design considerations or was it merely for aesthetic reasons? Those placed aft of the stack would invariably pick up soot from the stack so those that were not painted completely black were normally painted black beginning at the height of the stack and to their tips.