If your ancestors were sea-faring men then you may find they served on various types of sailing ship such as Brigs, Barques, Schooners etc. What was the difference? In this quick guide I've described the various types of merchant sailing ships you'll encounter in your family history research.
Sailing ships were classified according to their masts and rigging; their sail arrangement. Their hulls were pretty much the same across all designs.
Snows, Brigantines and Brigs formed the mainstay of the Northern European coastal trade. All three types were 2-masted vessels - the foremast with the mainmast behind it – but had slightly different rigs.
Both the Snow and the Brigantine had arrived in Northern Europe from the Mediterranean during the 1600’s. The name ‘Snow’ comes from the old Dutch 'Snauw' meaning ‘Beak’. A reference, lost in the ages, to a vessel with a sharp bow. The Brigantine was so-called because it was developed from a type of vessel originally used by ‘Brigands’ or pirates.
‘Brig’ was originally used simply as a diminutive of ‘Brigantine’. But during the 1700’s it developed into a separate design in its own right.
Although a ship was classified by its type of rig, this was fluid. The rig could be changed and, for example, a Brigantine could be re-rigged as a Snow during its lifetime.
There were two basic types of sail. ‘Square rigged’ sails hung side-to-side across the deck. This was the most efficient arrangement for generating speed. ‘Fore-and-aft’ sails hung lengthways on the ship. These provided manoeuvrability. The working of ‘Square rigged’ sails was labour intensive, so more crew needed to be carried. The combination of ‘Square’ and ‘Fore-and-aft’ sails being carried was therefore a compromise to get the best solution for the type of voyages being undertaken.
The Brigantine (above) had full ‘square rigged’ sails on its Fore-mast. However, its Main-mast had ‘square-rigged’ top-sails, but a ‘fore-and-aft’ rigged ‘Gaff Mainsail’. ‘Fore-and-aft’ rigged ‘Stay-sails’ further improved manoeuvrability.
The ‘Snow’ (above) was very similar to a Brigantine. However, it had an additional half-mast, the Snow-Mast, from which the ‘Gaff Mainsail’ hung. Splitting the sail arrangement in this way between the Main and Snow-masts eased the handling of the ship.
After arriving in Europe, the type was developed further. During the 1700’s, the free-hanging bottom of the ‘Gaff Mainsail’ was attached to a separate ‘yard’, the ‘Boom’, to further improve handling. A ‘square-rigged’ mainsail was also added to improve the type’s speed and the ‘Gaff Mainsail’ reduced in size to a ‘Spanker’. This had the effect of making the Snow more resemble a Brig than a Brigantine.
The Brigantine went through the same development process as the Snow, but it this case it evolved into a new design, the Brig (above). This had full ‘square rigged’ sails on both its masts, and a ‘fore-and-aft’ rigged ‘Spanker’ behind the mainmast.
For longer, oceanic voyages, ships carried as much sail as possible to minimise transit times. This meant that such ships were fitted with 3, 4, or even 5 masts. The most efficient design was a fully ‘Square-rigged’ vessel which was known, confusingly, as a Ship (see below).
Cost was always a consideration and an alternative design was the Barque (see below). This had ‘Square-rigged’ sails on all its masts except the stern-most. Which was fully ‘Fore-and-aft’ rigged’. Barques needed smaller crews than a Ship and the saving was made with little drop in overall speed as a Barque performed better when sailing against the wind. In addition, the ‘Fore-and-ft’ rig itself was cheaper. The type therefore became the workhorse of the so-called ‘Golden Age of Sail’ in the first half of the 1800’s.
A vessel where only the bow-most mast was ‘Square-rigged’ and all the others were ‘Fore-and-aft’ rigged was known as a Barquentine (see below).
A vessel where all the masts were ‘Fore-and-aft’ rigged was a Schooner (see below).
