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In nautical terms, a 'brig' is a vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. While their use stretches back before the 1600s the most famous period of the brig was during the 1800s when they were involved in famous naval battles such as the Battle of Lake Erie. Because they required a relatively large crew and the difficulty of sailing into the wind (a trait common to all square-rigged ships), brigs were phased out of use by the arrival of the steam boat. They are not to be confused with a brigantine which has different rigging.

Contents

Rigging

Hull material

Development of the brig

Historic usage

Historic examples

Brigs in fiction

Modern recreations

See also

External links

References

Rigging

In sailing, a full-rigged 'brig' is a vessel with two square rigged masts (fore and main).^[1] 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 sail).^[2]
Brig sails are named after the masts to which they are attached: the mainsail; above that the main topsail; above that the main topgallant 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 boommainsail (it is similar to the main sail of a schooner). On the foremast is a similar sail, called the trysail. Attached to the respective yards 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 sails, 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.^[3]
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 are the fore staysail, jib, and flying jib. All the yards are manipulated by a complicated arrangement of cordage named the running rigging. This is opposed to the standing rigging which is fixed, and keeps mast and other things rigid.

Hull material

A brig is “generally built on a larger scale than the schooner, and often approaches in magnitude to the full-sized, three-masted ship.”^[3] Brigs vary in length between 75 and 165 ft (23-50 m) with tonnages up to 480.^[5] 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''^[6]). 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 (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" became to exclusively signify a ship with this type of rigging.^[7] By the 1600s the British royal navy defined "brig" as having two square rigged masts.^[8]

Historic usage

Brigs were used as small warships carrying about 10 to 18 guns. Due to their speed and maneuverability were popular among pirates (though they were rare among American and Caribbean pirates). In the 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.^[9]
A skilled captain on a brig could "maneuver it with ease and elegance; a brig could for instance turn around almost on the spot".^[10] The need for large crews is what caused the decline of the production of brigs. They were replaced in commercial traffic by gaffsail schooners (which needed less personnel) and steam boats (which did not have the windward performance problems of square rigged ships).

Historic examples

Painting of the brig USS Niagara in the Battle of Lake Erie.

★ The brig USS ''Argus'' used during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.

★ The brig USS ''Oneida'' used during the War of 1812. James Fenimore Cooper was a midshipman aboard the ''Oneida'' while under construction.

★ The cargo hauling brig ''Farmer'' owned by George Washington.

★ The cargo hauling brig ''Fleetwing''.

★ The brig ''Leonora'' of Captain Bully Hayes.

★ The brig USS ''Niagara'' captained by commander Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie, a pivotal victory for the United States in the War of 1812.

★ The brig USS ''Oregon'' used in the U.S. Exploring Expedition.

★ The cargo brig ''Pilgrim'', whose 1834 trading voyage from Boston, Massachusetts to California is described in the book ''Two Years Before the Mast''

★ The brig ''Rebecca'' captained by Robert Jenkins whose boarding triggered the War of Jenkins' Ear.

★ The brig USS ''Reprisal'' that fought in the American Revolution.

★ The brig USS ''Somers'', sunk in the Mexican-American War.
Note that while the famous ghost ship ''Mary Celeste'' is sometimes called a brig, she was probably a brigantine.

Brigs in fiction

★ The brig ''Lightning'' in Joseph Conrad's “''The Rescue''”

★ The brig ''Sea Hawk'' in "''The Pirate of the Mediterranean''" by William Henry Giles Kingston.

★ The brig ''Interceptor'' in the film '' (portrayed by the brig ''Lady Washington'').

★ The brig ''Enterprise'' in the film '' (also portrayed by the brig ''Lady Washington'').

★ The brigs ''Porta Coeli'' and ''Amélie'' appear in the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester (which was later adapted to films and television).

★ The brig ''HMS Sophie'' in ''Master and Commander'' by Patrick O'Brian.

★ The brig ''Molly Swash'', in James Fenimore Cooper’s book “''Jack Tier''”.

★ The brig ''Hellebore'' in the ''Nathaniel Drinkwater'' series by Richard Woodman.

★ The brig ''Isle of Skye'' in Iain Lawrence's “''The Wreckers (High Seas Trilogy)''”.
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Modern recreations

The recreation of the the brig USS Niagara

★ The brig ''Lady Washington''.

★ The brig ''Bob Allen''.

★ The brig ''Tre Kronor''.

★ The U.S. Brig Niagara (replica)

★ The brig ''Lady Nelson''

★ The brig TS Royalist

★ The brig ''Pilgrim''

★ The brig ''Unicorn''

★ The brigs ''Stavros S Niarchos'' and ''Prince William''
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See also

★ brigantine

★ brig sloop

★ Snow (ship)

External links

★ Comparison of rigging on different sailing vessels

★ The brig ''Niagara'' museum

★ The modern brig ''Lady Washington''

★ The American Sail Training Association

★ Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority

★ Maritime Heritage Network, an online directory of maritime history resources in the Pacific Northwest.

References

1. Schooner In The Sand Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
2. Sailing ships Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
3. Man on the Ocean R.M. Ballantyne Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
4. Man on the Ocean R.M. Ballantyne Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
5. The Texas Navies Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
6. Bob Allen Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
7. Pirate Ships Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
8. Brig or Brigantine Retrieved on Jan. 13, 2007
9. The "Stockholm Brig" Tre Kronor Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007
10. Brig Retrieved on Jan. 12, 2007