Brig

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Brig

In nautical terms

Glossary of nautical terms

This is a glossary of nautical terms; some remain current, many date from the 17th-19th century. See also Wiktionary:Category:Nautical and :Category:Nautical terms....
, a brig is a vessel with two square-rigged

Square rig

Square rig is a generic type of Sail-plan in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or , to the keel of the vessel and to the masts....
masts. During the Age of Sail

Age of Sail

The Age of Sail was the period in which international trade and naval warfare were dominated by sailing ships, lasting from the 16th to the mid 19th century....
, brigs were seen as fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Brigs fell our of use with the arrival of the steam ship because they required a relatively large crew for their small size and were difficult to sail into the wind. They are not to be confused with a brigantine

Brigantine

In sailing, a brigantine is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.Originally the brigantine was a small ship carrying both oars and sails....
which has different rigging.

a class="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m860006",this)' onMouseout='hide("m860006")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Sailing">sailing

Sailing

Sailing is the art of controlling a boat with large pieces of canvas cloth called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and dagger or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to change the direction and speed of a boat....
, a full-rigged brig is a vessel with two square rig

Square rig

Square rig is a generic type of Sail-plan in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or , to the keel of the vessel and to the masts....
ged masts

Mast (sailing)

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In nautical terms

Glossary of nautical terms

Square rig

Age of Sail

Brigantine

Rigging

In sailing

Sailing

Square rig

Square rig is a generic type of Sail-plan in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or , to the keel of the vessel and to the masts....
ged masts

Mast (sailing)

The mast of a sailing ship is a tall, vertical, or near vertical, spar, or arrangement of spars, which supports the sails. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship....
(fore and main). The main mast of a brig is the aft one. To improve maneuverability, the mainmast carries a small fore-and-aft sail (also called a gaff

Gaff rig

Gaff rig is a sailing rig in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its Parts of a sail#Non-triangular fore and aft sails and, usually, its entire Parts of a sail#Non-triangular fore and aft sails by a spar called the gaff....
sail).

Brig sails are named after the masts to which they are attached: the mainsail

Mainsail

A mainsail is the most important sail raised from the main mast of a sailing vessel.On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast....
; above that the main topsail

Topsail

A topsail is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails....
; above that the main topgallant sail

Topgallant sail

On a square rigged sailing vessel, a topgallant sail is the square-rigged sail or sails immediately above the topsail or topsails. It is also known as a gallant or garrant sail....
; and occasionally a very small sail, called the royal, is above that. Behind the main sail there is a small fore-and-aft sail called the boom

Boom (sailing)

In sailing, a boom is a spar , along the Parts of a sail#The edges of a fore and aft rigged sail, that greatly improves control of the angle and shape of the sail....
mainsail (it is similar to the main sail of a schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing ship characterized by the use of fore-and-aft rig sails on two or more mast s. Schooners were first used by the Netherlands in the 16th or 17th century, and further developed in North America from the early 18th century onwards....
). On the foremast is a similar sail, called the trysail

Trysail

A trysail is small fore-and-aft sail used in very high winds or in storms to maintain control, to avoid ship damage, and to keep the bow to the wind....
. Attached to the respective yard

Yard (sailing)

A yard is a spar on a mast from which sails are set. It may be constructed of timber, steel, or from more modern materials, like aluminum or carbon fiber....
s of square-rigged ships are smaller spars, which can be extended, thus lengthening the yard, thus receiving an additional sailing wing on each side. These are called studding sail

Studding sail

A studding sail or studsail is a sail used to increase the sail area of a square rigged vessel in light winds. Traditionally pronounced stuns'l....
s, and are used with fair and light wind only. The wings are named after the sails to which they are fastened, i.e. the main studding sails, main top studding sails, and the main top gallant studding sails, etc.

The brig’s foremast is smaller than the main mast. The fore mast holds a fore sail, fore top sail, fore top gallant sail, and fore royal. Between the fore mast and the bowsprit

Bowsprit

The bowsprit, or boltsprit, of a sailing vessel is a pole extending forward from the vessel's prow. It provides an anchor point for the forestay, allowing the mast to be stepped further forward on the hull....
are the fore staysail

Staysail

A staysail is a fore-and-aft rigged sail whose Parts of a sail can be affixed to a stays running forward from a mast to the deck , the bowsprit or to another mast....
, jib

Jib

A jib is a triangular staysail set ahead of the foremost mast of a sailing boat. Its Tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bow , or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast....
, and flying jib. All the yards are manipulated by a complicated arrangement of cordage named the running rigging

Running rigging

Running rigging is the term for the rigging of a sailing that is used for raising, lowering and controlling the sails - as opposed to the standing rigging, which supports the Mast and other spars....
. This is opposed to the standing rigging

Standing rigging

On a sailing boat, standing rigging generally refers to lines, wires, or rods which are more or less fixed in position while the boat is under sail....
which is fixed, and keeps mast and other things rigid.

Hull material

A brig is “generally built on a larger scale than the schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing ship characterized by the use of fore-and-aft rig sails on two or more mast s. Schooners were first used by the Netherlands in the 16th or 17th century, and further developed in North America from the early 18th century onwards....
, and often approaches in magnitude to the full-sized, three-masted ship

Ship

A ship is a large watercraft that floats on water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size. Ships may be found on lakes, seas, and rivers and they allow for a variety of activities, such as the ferry or cargo ships, fishing, cruise ship, Coast guard, and warship....
.” Brigs vary in length between 75 and 165 ft (23–50 m) with tonnages up to 480. Historically most brigs were made of wood, although some latter brigs were built with hulls and masts of steel or iron (such as the brig Bob Allen). A brig made of pine in the nineteenth century was designed to last for about twenty years (many lasted longer).

Development of the brig

The word "brig" has been used in the past as an abbreviation of brigantine

Brigantine

In sailing, a brigantine is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.Originally the brigantine was a small ship carrying both oars and sails....
(which is the name for a principally fore-and-aft two-masted rig with a square rigged foremast). The brig actually developed as a variant of the brigantine. By re-rigging a brigantine with two square sails instead of one it gained greater sailing power. The square-rigged brig's advantage over the fore-and-aft rigged brigantine was "that the sails, being smaller and more numerous, are more easily managed, and require fewer men or 'hands' to work them." The variant was so popular that the term "brig" came to exclusively signify a ship with this type of rigging. By the 1600s the British royal navy defined "brig" as having two square rigged masts.

Historic usage

Brigs were used as small warships carrying about 10 to 18 guns. Due to their speed and maneuverability they were popular among pirates (though they were rare among American and Caribbean pirates). While their use stretches back before the 1600s, one of the most famous periods for the brig was during the 1800s when they were involved in famous naval battles such as the Battle of Lake Erie

Battle of Lake Erie

The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September, 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812....
. In the early 1800s the brig was a standard cargo ship. It was seen as "fast and well sailing", but required a large crew to handle its rigging. While brigs could not sail into the wind as easily as fore and aft rigged vessels such as schooners, a trait is common to all square-rigged ships, a skilled birg captain could "maneuver it with ease and elegance; a brig could for instance turn around almost on the spot". The need for large crews in relation to their relaitvely small size led to the decline of the production of brigs. They were replaced in commercial traffic by gaffsail schooners (which needed fewer personnel) and steam boats (which did not have the windward performance problems of square rigged ships).

The Telos, built in Bangor, Maine

Bangor, Maine

Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine....
in 1883, was reportedly the last brig to join the American merchant marine, and was "considered to be the finest vessel of her class ever constructed in Maine". She was wrecked on Aves Island, off Bonaire

Bonaire

The Island Territory of Bonaire is one of five islands of the Netherlands Antilles of the Netherlands Antilles, consisting of the main island of Bonaire and, nestled in its western crescent, the uninhabited islet of Klein Bonaire....
in the Caribbean, in 1900.

Historic examples

The brig USS Argus
USS Argus (1803)

The first USS Argus was a brig in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.Argus was laid down as Merrimack on 12 May 1803 at Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, by Edmund Hartt; renamed Argus on 4 June 1803; and launched on 21 August 1803....
used during the First Barbary War
First Barbary War

The First Barbary War , also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War, was the first of two Barbary Wars fought between the United States and the North African states known collectively as the Barbary States....
and the War of 1812
War of 1812

The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , was fought from 1812 to 1815.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S....
.
The brig USS Oneida
USS Oneida (1810)

The first USS Oneida was a brig in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Oneida was built at Oswego, New York 1808?1809, under contract awarded by her first commanding officer, Lieutenant Melancthon Taylor Woolsey, to Henry Eckford and Christian Bergh....
used during the War of 1812
War of 1812

The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , was fought from 1812 to 1815.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S....
. James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular United States writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novel who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo....
was a midshipman aboard the Oneida while under construction.
The cargo hauling brig owned by George Washington
George Washington

George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States of Americas ....
.
The cargo hauling brig .
The brig Leonora of Captain Bully Hayes
Bully Hayes

BiographyWilliam Henry "Bully" Hayes was a South Sea pirate born in Cleveland, Ohio, and is sometimes referred to as "the last of the Buccaneers"....
.
The brig USS Niagara
USS Niagara (1813)

The first USS Niagara, also known as US Brig Niagara, was a brig in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Niagara was built at Erie, Pennsylvania, along with her sister ship, the USS Lawrence , by Adam Brown and Noah Brown under the supervision of Sailing Master Daniel Dobbins and Master Commandant Oliver Hazard...
captained by commander Oliver Hazard Perry
Oliver Hazard Perry

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was an officer in the United States Navy. He served in the War of 1812 against United Kingdom and earned the sobriquet "Hero of Lake Erie" for leading American forces in a decisive naval victory at the Battle of Lake Erie....
in the Battle of Lake Erie
Battle of Lake Erie

The Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September, 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812....
, a pivotal victory for the United States in the War of 1812
War of 1812

The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , was fought from 1812 to 1815.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S....
.
The brig USS Oregon used in the U.S. Exploring Expedition.
The cargo brig Pilgrim
Pilgrim (brig)

The Pilgrim was a sailing brig engaged in the California hide trade of the early 19th century. Although just one among many other ships engaged in the business, the Pilgrim was immortalized by one of her sailors, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., who wrote the classic account Two Years Before the Mast about its 1834 voyage between Boston and...
, whose 1834 trading voyage from Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the State capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region, and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England." Boston city proper had a 2007 est...
to California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
is described in the book Two Years Before the Mast
Two Years Before the Mast

Two Years Before the Mast is a book by the United States author Richard Henry Dana, Jr., written after a two-year sea voyage starting in 1834 and published in 1840....
.
The brig Rebecca captained by Robert Jenkins whose boarding triggered the War of Jenkins' Ear
War of Jenkins' Ear

The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Kingdom of Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1742. Its unusual name relates to Robert Jenkins , captain of a British merchant ship, who exhibited his severed ear in Parliament of the United Kingdom following the boarding of his vessel by Spanish coast guards in 1731....
.
The brig USS Reprisal
USS Reprisal (1776)

USS Reprisal, 18, was the first ship of what was to become the United States Navy to be given the name promising hostile action in response to an offence....
that fought in the American Revolution
American Revolution

The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America....
.
The brig USS Somers
USS Somers (1842)

The second USS Somers was a brig in the United States Navy during the Mexican-American War, infamous for being the only U.S. Navy ship to undergo a mutiny which led to executions....
, sunk in the Mexican-American War.
HMS Beagle
HMS Beagle

HMS Beagle was a Cherokee class brig-sloop 10-gun sloop-of-war#Rigging of the Royal Navy, named after the beagle, a breed of dog. She was ship naming and launching on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of ?7,803....
was built as a brig (1820) for the Royal Navy. She was deployed as a survey vessel to survey the coasts of South America, Australia, and Africa. A mizzen mast was added prior to the 5 year voyage with Charles Darwin to increase the maneuverability in the shallow coastal waters that she would explore.

Note that while the famous ghost ship

Ghost ship

In modern English language, the term ghost ship has come to denote at least one of three separate definitions, all of which involving, in one respect or other, unexplained circumstances....
Mary Celeste
Mary Celeste

The Mary Celeste was a brigantine merchant ship famously discovered in early December 1872 in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned, yet the weather was fine and all crew had been experienced and able seamen....
is sometimes called a brig, she was probably a brigantine.

Brigs in fiction

The brig Lightning in Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad

Joseph Conrad was a Polish novelist, writing in English. Many critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in the English language, despite his not having learned to speak English fluently until he was in his twenties ....
's “The Rescue”
The brig Sea Hawk in "The Pirate of the Mediterranean" by William Henry Giles Kingston
William Henry Giles Kingston

William Henry Giles Kingston , writer of tales for boys, was born in London, but spent much of his youth in Oporto, where his father was a merchant....
.
The brig Interceptor in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (portrayed by the brig Lady Washington
Lady Washington

The original Lady Washington was a 90-ton merchant sloop. She sailed around Cape Horn and participated in the fur and pelt trade with the coastal Indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Pacific Northwest and in tea and porcelain across the Pacific Ocean in China....
).
The brig Enterprise in the film Star Trek Generations (also portrayed by the brig Lady Washington
Lady Washington

The original Lady Washington was a 90-ton merchant sloop. She sailed around Cape Horn and participated in the fur and pelt trade with the coastal Indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Pacific Northwest and in tea and porcelain across the Pacific Ocean in China....
).
The brigs Porta Coeli and Amélie appear in the Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower

Admiral of the Fleet Horatio Hornblower, 1st Baron Hornblower, Order of the Bath, is a fictional protagonist of a series of novels by C. S. Forester, and later the subject of films and television programs....
series by C. S. Forester
C. S. Forester

Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith , an England novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades....
(which was later adapted to films and television).
The brig HMS Sophie in Master and Commander
Master and Commander

Master and Commander is an historical naval novel by Patrick O'Brian. First published in 1970, it is first in the Aubrey-Maturin series of stories of Captain Jack Aubrey and the naval surgeon Stephen Maturin....
by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian

Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire was an England novelist and translation, best known for his Aubrey?Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen Maturin....
.
The brig Molly Swash, in James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular United States writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novel who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo....
’s book “Jack Tier”.
The brig Hellebore in the Nathaniel Drinkwater
Nathaniel Drinkwater

Nathaniel Drinkwater is a fictional character, the protagonist of a series of novels by Richard Woodman. In the series, he is an officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars....
series by Richard Woodman
Richard Woodman

Richard Woodman is an England novelist and naval historian who retired in 1997 from a 37 year nautical career, mainly working for Trinity House, to write full time....
.
The brig Isle of Skye in Iain Lawrence
Iain Lawrence

Iain Lawrence is a bestselling author for children and young adults. He studied journalism at Vancouver Community College, and spent the next ten years working for newspapers in northern BC....
's “The Wreckers (High Seas Trilogy)”.
The brig Seahawk in Avi
Avi

Avi may refer to:* Avi , the pen name of children's author Edward Irving WortisAVI may refer to:* Audio Video Interleave, a multimedia container format...
's novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a novel by Avi , first published in 1990 by Scholastic Press. The book is a recipient of the Newbery Honor award....
The brig Blue Bird in Evert Taube
Evert Taube

was a Sweden author, artist, composer and singer. He was born in Gothenburg, and brought up on the island of Vinga , V?sterg?tland, where his father, Carl Gunnar Taube, a ship's captain, was the lighthouse keeper....
's song "Balladen om briggen Blue Bird av Hull".
The brig Grampus in Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, Short story writer, Editing and Literary criticism, and is considered part of the American Romanticism. Best known for his tales of Mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the Detective fiction genre....
's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is the only complete novel written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe.The work relates the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym who stows away aboard a whaling ship called Grampus....
.
The pirate ship of Captain Hook
Captain Hook

File:DuMaurier.jpgCaptain James Hook is a fictional character and the antagonist of J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and its various adaptations....
, the brig Jolly Roger
Jolly Roger

The Jolly Roger is the name given to any of various flags flown to identify a ship's crew as piracys. The flag most usually identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, being a flag consisting of a skull above two long bones set in an x mark arrangement on a black field....
from James M. Barrie's Peter Pan
Peter Pan

Peter Pan is a character created by Scotland novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to aging, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys , interacting with Mermaid, Native_Americans_in_the_United_States, f...
.

The pirate ship, the brig Speedy from Jules Verne
Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a France author who helped pioneer the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth , From the Earth to the Moon , Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , and Around the World in Eighty Days ....
's The Mysterious Island
The Mysterious Island

The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874 in literature. The original edition, published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules F?rat....
.

Modern recreations

The brig Lady Washington
Lady Washington

The original Lady Washington was a 90-ton merchant sloop. She sailed around Cape Horn and participated in the fur and pelt trade with the coastal Indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Pacific Northwest and in tea and porcelain across the Pacific Ocean in China....
The brig Bob Allen
The brig Tre Kronor
The U.S. Brig Niagara (replica)
The brig Lady Nelson
Lady Nelson

The Lady Nelson was a vessel used in the exploration of the coast of Australia in the early years of the 19th century. It was the first vessel to sail eastward through Bass Strait, the first to sail along the entire eastern coastline of Australia, as well as the first to enter Port Phillip Bay....
The brig TS Royalist
TS Royalist

TS Royalist is a brig owned and operated as a sail training ship by the Sea Cadet Corps of the United Kingdom....
The brig Pilgrim
Pilgrim (brig)

The Pilgrim was a sailing brig engaged in the California hide trade of the early 19th century. Although just one among many other ships engaged in the business, the Pilgrim was immortalized by one of her sailors, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., who wrote the classic account Two Years Before the Mast about its 1834 voyage between Boston and...
The brig
The brigs

External links

, an online directory of maritime history resources in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in the northwest of North America . There are several partially overlapping definitions but the term Pacific Northwest should not be confused with the Northwest Territory or the Northwest Territories of Canada....
.