TheSouth Shieldscollier brigMary, painted by John Scott in 1855, showing two views of the same vessel. ABentinck boom is fitted to the foot of the fore-course as a labour saving device whentacking.A small trading brig entering theBristol Avon, painted by Joseph Walter
Abrig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are bothsquare-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 byfore-and-aft rigged vessels such asschooners, as owners sought to reduce crew costs by having rigs that could be handled by fewer men. InRoyal Navy use, brigs were retained for training use when the battle fleets consisted almost entirely of iron-hulled steamships.
Brigs were prominent in the coastal 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 500colliers 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
Brig sails are named after the masts to which they are attached: themainsail; above that the maintopsail; above that the maintopgallant sail; and occasionally a very small sail, called theroyal, is above that. Behind the main sail there is a small fore-and-aft sail called thespanker orboom mainsail (it is somewhat similar to the main sail of aschooner). On theforemast is a similar sail, called thetrysail. Attached to the respectiveyards 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 calledstudding 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 thebowsprit are the forestaysail,jib, andflying jib. All the yards are manipulated by a complicated arrangement of cordage named the "running rigging". This is opposed to thestanding rigging which is fixed, and keeps mast and other objects rigid.[4]
A brig is "generally built on a larger scale than aschooner, and may approach the magnitude of a full-sized, three-mastedship."[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 designerColin Mudie's 'Little Brigs'[6] (TS Bob Allen andTS Caroline Allen), which are only 30 ft (9 m) 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]
The wordbrig has been used in the past as an abbreviation ofbrigantine (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 termbrig 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]
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 theBattle 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 clipperLanrick with the main topsail aback (to reduce speed)
Brigs were seen as more manoeuvrable than schooners.James Cook requested the conversion of the schooner HMSGrenfell 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 officerFrederick 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 suddenjibe was the large schooner-captain's nightmare".[13] This trait later led to the evolution of thebarquentine. 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) andsteam boats.
HMSPilot, aCruizer-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 frigateLégère.
TheBonanza 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]
Mercury (Russian: Меркурий) An 1819 Russian navy 18 gun brig painted twice byIvan 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.
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 withCharles Darwin to increase manoeuvrability in the shallow coastal waters that she would explore.
Joel Root assupercargo sailed out of New Haven harbor in 1802 on the brigHuron 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.
HMSTemeraire, "The Great Brig", anironclad launched in 1876, the largest ship to sail with a brig rig.
NMSMircea was a brig of theRomanian Navy, built in London in 1882 and sunk by aircraft in April 1944.
TheTelos, built inBangor, 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, offBonaire in the Caribbean, in 1900.[17]
Industry, awhaler found to have been sunk in the Gulf of Mexico.
The famous mystery shipMary Celeste, while sometimes called a brig, was clearly abrigantine.
^Beaglehole, J C (1974).The Life of Captain James Cook. London: A and C Black.ISBN9780713613827.
^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.Bibcode:2021IJNAr..50..403B.doi:10.1080/10572414.2021.1987716.
^Chapelle: The History Of American Sailing Ships, 1935, p.209
