Here's a bunch of versions of the word "smuggler's boat". Please tell me which one is best or normal

Question

As we English learners do, I fed words to google to find the most popular variation. This is what I ended up with:

     Word:              Result count:
A    "smuggle boat"     56
B    "smuggle ship"     94
C    "smuggler boat"    35,500 
D    "smuggler ship"    40,900 
E    "smuggler's boat"  31,900 
F    "smuggler's ship"  11,800 
G    "smugglers boat"   16,200 
H    "smugglers ship"   34,400 
I    "smuggling boat"   28,500 
J    "smuggling ship"   27,000 

After that my reasoning is as such:

• A and B is out. I'm guessing it's because here "smuggle" is in verb-form. I rack my brain for other "verb compound words" (or whatever you want to call them!) but I can't come up with anything good.
• I think either of the other variations (C-J) would be fine? I found the result dip in F peculiar, but I figure that "smugglers" and "smuggler's" is actually the same thing and if you add those results together it evens out.
• Are there any better words to describe a smuggler's ship? All of those results seems low to me.
• The nuance between ship and boat is almost synonymous here, correct? The impressions I get is that "ship" might hint of something larger? (sorry if this is a different question!)

Please correct any of my faulty reasoning above! Which one sounds most normal, or is it all the same?

I think my native language "bleeds in", and smuggle ship feels natural to me, even though I now believe it to be wrong. Perhaps I've just read too much Harry Potter - Muggle this, smuggle that!

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

C-F are all correct with shades of meaning and context.

A boat is smaller than a ship, so a smuggler's boat probably stays near the coast, while a smuggler's ship might be seaworthy. The two could work together, a larger ship that stays offshore storing contraband and a small boat (tender) that ferries it to shore. A ship generally needs a proper dock, but a boat might be able to land on any beach. There is no clear difference that separates boat and ship so they are often interchangeable.

Replace "smuggler" with "pirate" and it breaks down into similar forms. A pirate ship is a generic vessel used in piracy, while a pirate's ship is a specific vessel owned by a pirate.

G-H suggest a boat or ship filled with smugglers, the way a cargo ship is filled with cargo. The high Google ranking might be because the apostrophe in smuggler's or smugglers' has been omitted. This phrase would be accurate in certain sentences, but it would be less common.

I-J are awkward in the same way that A-B are. They suggest a vessel that was created for the purpose of smuggling, possibly so specialized that would not be useful as a regular vessel.

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in response to comments, an example of "smuggling boat" is here:

^{A lancha carrying three crewmen and 700 lbs. of cocaine is boarded by the Coast Guard several hundred miles off Mexico Sept. 6, 2017. Coast Guard video image.}

Coast Guard hunts new generation ‘low-profile’ drug smuggling boats

in contrast to a "smuggler's boat" which is here:

^{The super yacht Equanimity approaches the Boustead Cruise Centre in Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia, on Tuesday.
Photo: Joshua Paul/Bloomberg News}

Corruption Currents: Malaysia Takes Hold of Seized Yacht

One is used for the purpose of smuggling, the other is a trophy of the ill-gotten gains.

Answer 2

Feeding words into google is not the best way to go here.

A smuggler is a person who brings goods into a country illegally.

A boat is a watercraft.

Therefore, a smuggler's boat is a boat used by a smuggler or that belongs to a smuggler to carry out that activity.

A possessive using an apostrophe s means possession or ownership.

The boat of a smuggler=a smuggler's boat.

This is just a case of simple possession. Like: a juggler's hat, or a dancer's shoes.

Please note: ship would just mean something bigger than a boat.

[No, this is not a muggle's boat. Ha ha.]

In terms of the google hits:

A "smuggle boat" 56 [non-standard]
B "smuggle ship" 94 [non-standard]
C "smuggler boat" 35,500 [non-standard,implies it is a "type" of boat]
D "smuggler ship" 40,900 [same as above]
E "smuggler's boat" 31,900 [correct, one that belongs to a smuggler]
F "smuggler's ship" 11,800 [correct, one that belongs to a smuggler]
G "smugglers boat" 16,200 [sub-standard grammar, no apostrophe]
H "smugglers ship" 34,400 [same as above]
I "smuggling boat" 28,500 [OK, a boat used for smuggling activities]
J "smuggling ship" 27,000 [OK, same as above]

Boats can be identified by type of the activity performed on them: fishing boat, sailing boat, pearling boat so smuggling boat is OK. The style and design of boats varies widely, however, and not every fishing boat was specifically designed for fishing. It could be a dingy and still be called a fishing boat.