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.
17-421: USS Boxer may refer to: USS Boxer (1815) , was a 14-gun brig constructed by C. and D. Churchill of Middletown, Connecticut, and commissioned in 1815 under Lt. John Porter. USS Boxer (1831) , was a 10-gun schooner commissioned in 1832. USS Boxer (1865) , was originally the blockade runner Tristram Shandy , captured during
34-562: A sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow . The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays . The bowsprit’s purpose is to create anchor points for the sails that extend beyond the vessel’s bow, increasing the size of sail that may be held taut. The word bowsprit is thought to originate from the Middle Low German word bōchsprēt – bōch meaning "bow" and sprēt meaning "pole". On some square-rigged ships
51-404: 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." The variant was so popular that the term brig came to exclusively signify a ship with this type of rigging. By
68-600: Is "generally built on a larger scale than a schooner , and may approach the magnitude of a full-sized, three-masted ship ." Brigs vary in length between 75 and 165 ft (23 and 50 m) with tonnages up to 480. A notable exception being the famous designer Colin Mudie 's 'Little Brigs' ( TS Bob Allen and TS Caroline Allen) , which are only 30 ft (9 m) long and weigh only 8 tonnes. Historically, most brigs were made of wood, although some later brigs were built with hulls and masts of steel or iron. A brig made of pine in
85-425: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Brig 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 500 colliers trading to London alone. Other ports and coastal communities were also served by colliers trading to Britain's coal ports. In
102-417: 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. A brig
119-464: The 17th century the British Royal Navy defined "brig" as having two square rigged masts. 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 17th century, one of the most famous periods for the brig was during
136-420: The 19th century was designed to last for about twenty years (many lasted longer). 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
153-461: 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. 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
170-481: The Civil War on 15 May 1864. USS Boxer (1905) , was a training brigantine commissioned on 11 May 1905. USS Boxer (CV-21) , was an aircraft carrier launched on 14 December 1944 and commissioned on 16 April 1945. USS Boxer (LHD-4) , is an amphibious assault ship commissioned on 11 February 1995 and currently on active duty. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] List of ships with
187-438: 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. 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
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#1732854959763204-404: 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 . The famous mystery ship Mary Celeste , while sometimes called a brig, was clearly a brigantine . Bowsprit The bowsprit of
221-401: 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. In sailing , a full-rigged brig is a vessel with two square rigged masts (fore and main). The main mast of a brig is the aft one. To improve maneuverability, the mainmast carries a ( gaff rigged ) fore-and-aft sail. Brig sails are named after
238-420: 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
255-435: 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. A brig's foremast
272-517: The same or similar names This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Boxer&oldid=1045480842 " Categories : Set index articles on ships United States Navy ship names Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
289-413: The schooners of that time. Marryat is considered, by maritime historians, to be an authoritative source on such matters. 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". This trait later led to
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