Noun
A merchant.
A trading vessel; a ship employed in the transportation of goods, as, distinguished from a man-of-war.
Source: Webster's dictionarythey did much of their overseas trade in foreign bottoms Source: Internet
Elizabeth 's gifts arrived in a large 27-gun merchantman ship that Mehmed personally inspected, a clear display of English maritime strength that would prompt him to build up his fleet over the following years of his reign. Source: Internet
Fremont-Barnes, Gregory The Wars of the Barbary States, London: Osprey, 2006 page 14. : July The Tripolitan warship Tripolino takes the American merchantman Catherine and enslaves the crew. Source: Internet
Early uses In the 1670s, HMS Kingfisher (1675) was specially designed to counter the attacks of Algerine corsairs or pirates in the Mediterranean by masquerading as a merchantman, hiding her armament behind false bulkheads. Source: Internet
A red bar on the flag meant a hostile warship, a white one a merchantman. Source: Internet
However, through the periscope of looked every bit like an armed merchantman and therefore fair game. Source: Internet