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For other uses, see Brig (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Brigantine.

The South Shields collier brig Mary, painted by John Scott in 1855, showing two
views of the same vessel. A Bentinck boom is fitted to the foot of the fore-course
as a labour saving device when tacking.

A small trading brig entering the Bristol Avon, painted by Joseph Walter
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both
square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a
common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part
of the 19th century. In commercial use, they were gradually replaced by fore-and-
aft rigged vessels such as schooners, as owners sought to reduce crew costs by
having rigs that could be handled by fewer men. In Royal Navy use, brigs were
retained for training use when the battle fleets consisted almost entirely of iron-
hulled steamships.

Brigs were prominent in the coasting coal trade of British waters. 4,395 voyages to
London with coal were recorded in 1795. With an average of eight or nine trips per
year for one vessel, that is a fleet of over 500 colliers trading to London alone.
Other ports and coastal communities were also served by colliers trading to
Britain's coal ports. In the first half of the 19th century, the vast majority were
rigged as brigs, and that rig was retained for longer in the northeast of England.
[1]: 49

The snow brig Niagara

Rigging

A typical brig sail plan

In sailing, a full-rigged brig is a vessel with two square rigged masts (fore and
main).[2] The main mast of a brig is the aft one. To improve maneuverability, the
mainmast carries a (gaff rigged) fore-and-aft sail.[3]

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 spanker or boom mainsail (it is somewhat 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.[4]

A 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 objects
rigid.[4]

Hull material
A brig is "generally built on a larger scale than a schooner, and may approach the
magnitude of a full-sized, three-masted ship."[4] Brigs vary in length between 75
and 165 ft (23 and 50 m) with tonnages up to 480.[5] A notable exception being the
famous designer Colin Mudie's 'Little Brigs'[6] (TS Bob Allen and TS Caroline
Allen), which are only 10m long and weigh only 8 tonnes.[7] Historically, most
brigs were made of wood, although some later brigs were built with hulls and masts
of steel or iron.[3] A brig made of pine in the 19th century was designed to last
for about twenty years (many lasted longer).[3][better source needed]

Development of the brig

The word brig has been used in the past as an abbreviation of brigantine (which is
the name for a two-masted vessel with foremast fully square rigged and her mainmast
rigged with both a fore-and-aft mainsail, square topsails and possibly topgallant
sails). The brig actually developed as a variant of the brigantine. Re-rigging a
brigantine with two square-rigged masts instead of one gave it 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."[4] The variant was so popular that the
term brig came to exclusively signify a ship with this type of rigging.[8] By the
17th century the British Royal Navy defined "brig" as having two square rigged
masts.[9]

Historic usage

Rimac, a brig built by Brocklebank in Whitehaven in 1834 for trade between Peru and
Liverpool[1]: 75
Brigs were used as small warships carrying about 10 to 18 guns.[5] Due to their
speed and maneuverability they were popular among pirates (though they were rare
among American and Caribbean pirates).[4][8] While their use stretches back before
the 17th century, one of the most famous periods for the brig was during the 19th
century when they were involved in famous naval battles such as the Battle of Lake
Erie. In the early 19th century the brig was a standard cargo ship. It was seen as
"fast and well sailing", but required a large crew to handle its rigging.[10]

The opium clipper Lanrick with the main topsail aback (to reduce speed)
Brigs were seen as more manoeuvrable than schooners. James Cook requested the
conversion of the schooner HMS Grenfell to a brig, with the justification of the
better control that he would have with a brig versus a schooner. The ability to
stop the ship quickly (by backing sails) was particularly important for a vessel
doing survey work.[11]: 82 The windward ability of brigs (which depends as much on
hull shape as the rig) could be comparable to or better than contemporary
schooners. The author and naval officer Frederick Marryat characterised brigs as
having superior windward performance to the schooners of that time. Marryat is
considered, by maritime historians, to be an authoritative source on such matters.
[12]

A brig's square-rig also had the advantage over a fore-and-aft–rigged vessel when
travelling offshore, in the trade winds, where vessels sailed down wind for
extended distances and where "the danger of a sudden jibe was the large schooner-
captain's nightmare".[13] This trait later led to the evolution of the barquentine.
The need for large crews in relation to their relatively 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.
Historic examples

Painting of the brig USS Niagara in the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie.

Brig "Mercury" Attacked by Two Turkish Ships, Ivan Aivazovsky, oil on canvas, 1892
HMS Pilot, a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1807. While commanded by John
Toup Nicholas off southern Italy in 1810–1812, Pilot participated in the capture or
destruction of over 130 enemy vessels. In 1815 she fought the last naval engagement
of the Napoleonic Wars, fighting to a draw the French frigate Légère.
USS Argus used during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.
Archer, a vessel of the Second Texas Navy.
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[14] owned by George Washington.
The cargo-hauling brig Fleetwing.[15]
The Bonanza of Liverpool, built as a barquentine in 1830 and converted to a brig in
1841.[1]: 79–80 The first ship to bring a cargo of Peruvian guano to the UK, in
1841, setting off decades of a lucrative export trade.[16]
Leonora of Captain Bully Hayes.
Mercury (Russian: Меркурий) An 1819 Russian navy 18 gun brig painted twice by Ivan
Aivazovsky. On May 14, 1829, Mercury engaged in an uneven battle against 2 Turkish
ships of the line, Selimiye (110 guns) and Real-Bei (74 guns) and emerged
victorious from that battle, damaging both Turkish sufficiently to be not able to
chase Mercury and disengaging the battle.
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.
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.
Potomac, a vessel of the Second Texas Navy
Rebecca, captained by Robert Jenkins, whose boarding triggered the War of Jenkins'
Ear.
USS Reprisal, fought in the American Revolution.
USS Somers, sunk in the Mexican–American War.
HMS Beagle was built as a brig in 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
manoeuvrability in the shallow coastal waters that she would explore.
Jean Lafitte's pirate brig, the Pride from 1815 to 1816.
HMS Badger, the future Admiral Horatio Nelson's first command as a young
lieutenant.
Wharton, one of the vessels of the Second Texas Navy, which participated in the
Naval Battle of Campeche, which is the only historical example of a steam navy
having been defeated by a sail navy.[citation needed]
Joel Root as supercargo sailed out of New Haven harbor in 1802 on the brig Huron to
begin his journey around the world on a sealing expedition.
Rover was a privateer brig out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia known for several bold
battles in the Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Temeraire, "The Great Brig", an ironclad launched in 1876, the largest ship to
sail with a brig rig.
NMS Mircea was a brig of the Romanian Navy, built in London in 1882 and sunk by
aircraft in April 1944.
The Telos, built in Bangor, 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 in the
Caribbean, in 1900.[17]
Industry, a whaler found to have been sunk in the Gulf of Mexico.
The famous mystery ship Mary Celeste, while sometimes called a brig, was clearly a
brigantine.

In fiction
Arkham in H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.
Aquila in the game Assassin's Creed III.
Beneficence in Gary R. Bush's "Sail Into Treachery"
Blue Bird in Evert Taube's song "Balladen om briggen Blue Bird av Hull".
Charlotta in Vilhelm Moberg's The Emigrants
Constanzia from Jules Verne's A Drama in Mexico.
Covenant in Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped (novel).
Duncan from Jules Verne's In Search of the Castaways.
Enterprise in the film Star Trek Generations (portrayed by the brig Lady
Washington).
Forward from Jules Verne's The Adventures of Captain Hatteras.
Grampus in Edgar Allan Poe's novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Hellebore in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series by Richard Woodman.
HMS Sophie in Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.
HMS Wolverine in L.A. Meyer's Under the Jolly Roger.
Interceptor in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
(portrayed by the brig Lady Washington).
Isle of Skye in Iain Lawrence's The Wreckers (High Seas Trilogy).
Jackdaw in the game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
Jolly Roger, a pirate ship of Captain Hook from James M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
Lightning in Joseph Conrad's The Rescue and the brig "Bonito" in Conrad's "Freya of
the Seven Isles".
Molly Swash, in James Fenimore Cooper's book Jack Tier.
Morrigan in the game Assassin's Creed Rogue, which was a brig-sloop.
Porta Coeli, Flame and Amélie appear in the Horatio Hornblower series of books by
C. S. Forester (later adapted to films and television).
RattlesnakeThe 18-guner commanded by Commander Terence O'Brien in Frederick
Marryat's Peter Simple.
Sea Hawk in The Pirate of the Mediterranean by William Henry Giles Kingston.
Seahawk in Avi's novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
Speedy a pirate ship from Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island.
Triton in Ramage and the Freebooters and Governor Ramage R.N. by Dudley Pope.
Poison Orchid in Scott Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies.
Lady Caroline in Eddie Price's Rebels Abroad."
Modern brigs

The brig Lady Washington

Lady Washington
Tre Kronor[10][18]
Niagara
Morgenster
Lady Nelson
TS Royalist
Pilgrim
Stavros S Niarchos and Prince William[19]
Roald Amundsen[20]
La Grace
The 'Little Brigs' TS Bob Allen and TS Caroline Allen[21]
Mercedes
Fryderyk Chopin
See also
Brig sloop
Cruizer-class brig-sloop
Gun-brig
Snow (ship)
References
MacGregor, David R (1984). Merchant Sailing Ships 1815-1850 Supremacy of Sail.
London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-294-3.
"Schooner In The Sand" (PDF). January 2002. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
"Sailing ships". Archived from the original on 2007-01-13. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
R.M. Ballantyne. "Man on the Ocean". Archived from the original on 2006-10-11.
Retrieved 2007-01-12.
"The Texas Navies" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-25.
Retrieved 2007-01-12.
"Colin Mudie". tallshipstock.com. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
"The Little Brig Sailing Trust - Sail with Us". www.littlebrig.org. Archived from
the original on 2017-02-26. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
"Pirate Ships". Archived from the original on 2007-11-11. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
"Brig or Brigantine". Archived from the original on 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2007-01-
13.
"The "Stockholm Brig" Tre Kronor". Retrieved 2007-01-12.
Beaglehole, J C (1974). The Life of Captain James Cook. London: A and C Black.
ISBN 9780713613827.
Batchvarov, Kroum (3 July 2021). "The Merchant Ship in the British Atlantic, 1600–
1800: Continuity and Innovation in a Key Technology". International Journal of
Nautical Archaeology. 50 (2): 403–406. doi:10.1080/10572414.2021.1987716.
Chapelle: The History Of American Sailing Ships, 1935, p.209
"American Memory from the Library of Congress". memory.loc.gov. Archived from the
original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
"Fleetwing (brig, built by Richard Jones at Borth y Gest, in 1874)". Archived from
the original on 2007-03-01. Retrieved 2007-01-13.
"Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1841". archive.org. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
New York Times June 17, 1900, p. 10
"The "Stockholm Brig" Tre Kronor Homepage". Retrieved 2008-06-17.
"Tall Ships Youth Trust". 26 June 2007. Archived from the original on 26 June
2007.
Stielau, Alexander. "Mitsegeln auf der Roald Amundsen : Homepage".
www.sailtraining.de.
"The Little Brig Sailing Trust - About us". www.littlebrig.org. Retrieved 2017-02-
25.
External links

Look up brig in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brigs.

"Sailing Ship Rigs" Infosheet Guide to Classic Sailing Rigs Maritime Museum of the
Atlantic Comparison of rigging on different sailing vessels
The brig Niagara at the Erie Maritime Museum
The American Sail Training Association Archived 2019-04-28 at the Wayback Machine
Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority
Maritime Heritage Network, an online directory of maritime history resources in the
Pacific Northwest.
vte
Early Modern rating system of the Royal Navy
vte
Types of sailing vessels and rigs
vte
Naval ships and warships in the late modern period
Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata
Categories: Sailing rigs and riggingBrigsMerchant sailing ship typesTall
shipsPirate ships
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