page_title: Brig
section_title: Historic examples
hierarchical_section_title: Brig / Historic examples
context_page_description: A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Brigs fell out of use with the arrival of the steam ship because they required a relatively large crew for their small size and were difficult to sail into the wind. Their rigging differs from that of a brigantine which has a gaff-rigged mainsail, while a brig has a square mainsail with an additional gaff-rigged spanker behind the mainsail.
context_section_description: 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 owned by George Washington.
  The cargo-hauling brig Fleetwing.
  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.
  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.
  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.
  The famous mystery ship Mary Celeste, while sometimes called a brig, was clearly a brigantine.
caption: Brig "Mercury" Attacked by Two Turkish Ships, Ivan Aivazovsky, Oil-on-canvas, 1892
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