Advancing step by step in our investigation of the peculiar rig and
build of ships, we come to the _brig_. This species of craft is
usually, but not necessarily, larger than those that have been
described; it is generally built on a larger scale than the schooner,
and often approaches in magnitude to the full-sized, three-masted ship.
The distinctive features of the brig are, that it has _two_ masts, both
of which are _square-rigged_. It is a particularly serviceable species
of craft, and, when of large size, is much used in foreign trade.
The advantage of the square-rig over the fore-and-aft rig is, that the
sails, being smaller and more numerous, are more easily managed, and
require fewer men or "hands" to work them. Thus, as we increase the
size of our vessel, the more necessity is there that it should be
square-rigged. The huge main-sail of the sloop and schooner could not
be applied to large vessels; so that when men came to construct ships of
several hundred tons burden, they were compelled to increase the
_number_ of masts and sails, and diminish the size of them; hence,
probably, brigs were devised _after_ schooners. The main-mast of a brig
is the aft one.
The sails are named after the masts to which they are fastened,--namely,
the _main-sail_; above that the _main-top-sail_; above that the
_main-top-gallant-sail_; and sometimes a very small sail, named the
_royal_, is spread above all. Behind the main-sail there is a small
fore-and-aft sail similar to the main-sail of a schooner, which is
called the _boom-main-sail_. On the fore-mast is a similar sail, which
is called the _try-sail_. Attached to the respective yards of
square-rigged ships there are smaller poles or arms, which can be pushed
out at pleasure, and the yard lengthened, in order to receive an
additional little sailor wing on each side. These wings are called
_studding-sails_ or _stun-sails_, and are used only when the wind is
fair and light. They are named after the sails to which they
are fastened; thus there are the _main-stun-sails_, the
_main-top-stun-sails_, and the _main-top-gallant-stun-sails_, etcetera.
The fore-mast of a brig is smaller than the main-mast. It carries a
_fore-sail_, _fore-top-sail_, _fore-top-gallant-sail_, and _fore-royal_.
Between it and the bowsprit are the _fore-stay-sail_, _jib_, and
_flying-jib_. The three last sails are nearly similar in _all_ vessels.
All the yards, etcetera, are hoisted and shifted, and held in their
position, by a complicated arrangement of cordage, which in the mass is
called the running-rigging, in contradistinction to the
standing-rigging, which, as we have said, is _fixed_, and keeps the
masts, etcetera, immovably in position. Yet every rope, in what seems
to a landsman's eye a bewildering mass of confusion, has its distinctive
name and specific purpose.
Brigs and schooners, being light and handy craft, are generally used by
pirates and smugglers in the prosecution of their lawless pursuits, and
many a deed of bloodshed and horror has been done on board such craft by
those miscreants.