A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Brigantines would often be called “brigs” for short, but were different from the brig, a type of ship that was a variation of the brigantine.
History[]
In the first half of the 18th century, the word “brigantine” referred the particular style of rigging rather than a kind of ship. Brigantines were the second most popular ship in the British colonies in North America prior to 1775. The most popular type of vessel was the sloop. The brigantine was swifter and easier to maneuver than a sloop or schooner, and thus was used for piracy, espionage and reconnoitering. Brigantines could also be used as an outlying attendant for large ships, or for supply or landing purposes in a fleet.
Brigantines could be various sizes, weighing between 50 and 200 tons. They were generally larger than sloops or schooners, but smaller than brigs.
Woodes Rogers captained the Lion, a brigantine in his second fleet.
Trivia[]
- Jack Rackham calls the Lion a brig, but he is likely using it as an abbreviation, for it is rigged as a brigantine.
- The real-life Ranger captained by Charles Vane was a brigantine, instead of the three-masted vessel shown in the series.