Ship types can generally be categorized into either military or commercial vessels. For military use, the frigate was one of the most common designs and could see many sub-divisions or classifications. Schooners and sloops ranked among the primary merchant vessels. As military vessels were designed for firepower, schooners and sloops were built to carry freight or merchandise. Brigantines were another form of merchant vessel that was used. The speed and maneuverability of certain merchant vessels were also ideal qualities for smuggling operations in some cases.
By the 18th century, British, Canadian and American ships were all involved in whaling. However it would not be until the period between 1820 and 1840 that whaling efforts would reach their zenith. This was a truly dangerous business. Along the principal ship, whalers would mount either canoes or "skin-ships" for the actual confrontation with the whale. Men would pile into them with lances and spears and go out to meet their quarry, often with dangerous, if not deadly, results. Later, in the 19th century, a young Herman Melville would spend time aboard a whaler before penning his masterpiece of fiction "Moby Dick."
Military engagements in the Americas in the 18th century typically involved three major players: the British, Spanish and French. Americans became active only in the last two decades. Ships of the line were the primary Men of War, although they were classed by different rankings based principally on the amount of cannon, decks and crew members they could boast. Despite British domination of the waves through much of the period, American independence was made possible in part due to the sweeping French victory over the British in Chesapeake Bay in 1781 under the Comte Degrasse. This victory, coupled with the win at Yorktown, forced British forces to surrender unconditionally; in effect, ending the war.
In order to facilitate agriculture and other labors, vast numbers of slaves were brought from Africa aboard slave ships in the 18th century. This was especially the case after cotton joined sugar and tobacco as a truly sustainable and lucrative crop. Slave ships were equipped with specially-designed lower compartments that were packed with as many enslaved persons as possible -- a practice that led to the most deplorable and incomprehensible of hygienic conditions. Many slaves perished on the ocean voyage due to these factors. Due largely to the efforts of abolitionist thinkers and activists, British ships attempted a world-wide stoppage to the slave trade beginning in 1807.