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 A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. Square rig On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a typically trapezoidal shaped sail rigged above the course sail and ...

and a

gaff sail Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and sha ...

mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Older usages are looser; in addition to the rigorous definition above (attested from 1695), the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' has about 1525 definitions of "a small vessel equipped both for sailing and rowing, swifter and more easily manœuvred than larger ships" and "(loosely) various kinds of foreign sailing and rowing vessels, as the galleon, galliot, etc." Modern American definitions include vessels without the square sails on the main mast.

Mediterranean brigantines

In the Mediterranean Basin during the 13th century, a brigantine referred to a sail- and oar-driven war vessel. It was lateen rigged on two masts and had between eight and twelve oars on each side. Its speed, maneuverability, and ease of handling made it a favourite of Mediterranean pirates. Its name is derived from the Italian word ', which in turn is derived from ' "

brigand Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery.Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded us ...

". Other than in names, this vessel has no relation to the later brigantines developed in Northern Europe.

17th century and onwards

By the 17th century, the term was adopted by Atlantic maritime nations. The vessel had no lateen sails, but was instead square-rigged on the foremast and had a gaff-rigged mainsail with square rig above it on the mainmast. The mainmast of a brigantine is the aft one. By the first half of the 18th century, the word had evolved to refer not to a kind of vessel, but rather to a particular type of rigging: two-masted, with her foremast fully

square-rigged Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called ''yards'' and ...

and her mainmast rigged with both a fore-and-aft mainsail (a

) and square

s and possibly topgallant sails. The brigantine was the second-most popular rig for ships built in the British colonies in North America before 1775 The most popular type of vessel was the sloop. The brigantine was swifter and more easily maneuvered than a sloop or schooner, hence was employed for piracy, espionage, and reconnoitering, and as an outlying attendant upon large ships for protecting a ship, or for supply or landing purposes in a fleet. The brigantine could be of various sizes, ranging from 30 to 150 tons burden. The brigantine was generally larger than a sloop or schooner, but smaller than a brig. The last sailing true brigantine in the world is the ''

Eye of the Wind ''Eye of the Wind'' is a brigantine built in 1911 at the C. H. Lühring shipyard in Brake, Lower Saxony, Brake, Germany, originally as a topsail schooner named ''Friedrich''. History ''Friedrich'' was initially used as a schooner for the South ...

''.

Modern terminology

The definition given above describes the international usage of the term brigantine. In modern American terminology, the term brigantine now usually means a vessel with the foremast square rigged and the mainmast fore-and-aft rigged, without any square sails. Historically, this rig used was called a schooner brig' or hermaphrodite brig. In Europe, the distinction is typically still made. The training ship ''Zebu'', which circumnavigated the Earth as part of Operation Raleigh, is an example of a schooner brig.

Differences from brig

The word brig is an 18th-century shortening of the word brigantine, but came to mean a different type of rigging. The gaff-rigged mainsail on a brigantine distinguishes it from the brig, which is principally square-rigged on both masts. In addition to the different sail configuration, the brigantine's mainmast is made from two parts and equal to that of a schooner, a quite long mast and a top mast. The mainmast of a brig is made from three parts and equal to that of a fully rigged ship - a mast, topmast, and topgallant mast. With the advent of modern (metal) pole masts, this last difference typically no longer exists.

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