Largest sailing vessel (ever)

The largest "pure" sailing vessel ever was the France II, which measured 146.5 m (480 ft) in length and had a gross tonnage of 5,633. France II was built at Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde in Bordeaux, France, and launched on 9 November 1912. Originally she had a pair of 900-hp diesel engines, driving twin propellors, but these were removed in 1919 as a cost-saving measure. Her tenure as the largest sailing ship was short-lived, however, as she ran aground in a storm off the coast of New Caledonia on 12 July 1922.

The largest vessel to have been designed and built as a pure sailing ship was the Thomas W. Lawson, a seven-masted schooner that measured 145 m (475 ft) in length, and had a gross tonnage of 5,218. She was commissioned in 1901 by her namesake, a mining magnate and yatching enthusiast who had funded several Americas' Cup campaigns. It was hoped that the Thomas W. Lawson would demonstrate the continued viability of sailing vessels in the age of steam, but this was not the case. Encumbered by the mass of her hull below the waterline, she was awkward and difficult to maneuver, and her cargo capacity was never as high as initially planned. She was lost in a storm off the Isles of Scilly on 14 December 1907