Armed merchantman

An armed merchantman is kind of like a big ship that's used to transport things like goods and supplies from one place to another, but it has guns to protect itself from bad guys who might try to take its cargo or hurt the people on board.

So you know how sometimes your parents go to the store to buy things like food and toys? Well, imagine if they had to take a really big boat to get to the store, but there were pirates out on the water who wanted to steal their stuff. That's where the armed merchantman comes in.

The ship has big guns that can shoot at the pirates to scare them away or stop them from attacking. So it's like the boat has its own army to protect it and keep everything and everyone safe.