Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message was not possible or safe or as quick. Dispatch boats, which performed their dispatch-carrying duties only on a temporary basis, should not be confused with Packet ships—sometimes called packetboats or paquetbots—which were cargo ships which also routinely carried the mail from port to port.