She was certainly no warship, but appeared to be a small merchantman.

Then Colibri captured 10 small merchantmen, most of them American.

On the night of 7 October, she made radar contact with what she thought was a "small merchantman" and closed in for a surface attack.

The little small squat merchantman with two masts?

Acasta took or sank numerous small, unarmed merchantmen as well.

The Penumbra was only a small merchantman.

"There are plenty of small merchantmen and local schooners and droghers - they're being captured all the time."

The second pirate ship had grappled one of the smaller merchantmen.

The men the galley left behind aboard the small merchantman quickly cleared her deck of pirates, then boarded the pirate ship alongside.

"If we find only a small merchantman, perhaps we can capture it," said Khraishamo.