Picket Boat

Definition

(Noun) alternative spelling 'Picquet' from the French.
Within the Royal Navy steam pinnaces were often referred to as picket boats as a result of their activities as a picket patrolling the capital ship anchorage. The combination of speed and quick firing ability made the steam picket boat a formidable defence against to the torpedo boat threat of the late 1800s and early 1900s. In addition to the Hotchkiss gun, the picket boat would have carried a light Maxim machine gun on the cabin roof and a number of rifles stowed in the aft cockpit.

Steam picket boats were also, on occasions, fitted with two torpedoes carried in racks on either side of the hull.

The last survivor of a RN Boat is at Portmouth, part of the RN Museum.

The US Coast Guard also had PBs but they were totally different.