- An iron ship with a box- or clipper-like stern and a sharp bow.
- The solid iron stem is straight or slightly rounded under the rubbing strike.
- The bulwark usually falls inward in the bow, causing the 'broken nose'.
- In the stern, the bulwark is vertical or falls slightly inwards; sometimes it falls out.
The name Kraak is used for two types of inland vessels from the Netherlands: a wooden type from the 17th century and an iron type from the 19th century. The two types have little affinity with each other, even less with the 15th and 16th century seafaring carrack or the Moluccan rowed carrack, the kora-kora.
The wooden Kraak from the 17th to the 19th century had the characteristics of a Tjalk and is mentioned in old writings in the same breath as eikers and ferries. This type was usually rigged with a reefable mizzen, a jib and a yankee. Sometimes a sprit sail was added.
The iron Kraak of the 19th century has a 'broken' nose: a kinked inward nose above the straight prow. It has a swept bow: from the side one sees a wide s-shaped curvature in the underwater hull at the rear; a clipper ass. The iron Kraak actually has nothing in common with its wooden namesake: with the bow related to the Steilsteven and the stern of a Clipper, it looks more like a Sailingkast.
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