1.
Brig
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A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and they were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Brigs fell out of use with the arrival of the ship because they required a relatively large crew for their small size and were difficult to sail into the wind. They are not to be confused with a brigantine, which has different rigging, in sailing, a full-rigged brig is a vessel with two square rigged masts. The main mast of a brig is the aft one, to improve maneuverability, the mainmast carries a small fore-and-aft sail. Behind the main sail there is a small fore-and-aft sail called the spanker or boom mainsail, on the foremast is a similar sail, called the trysail. Attached to the yards of square-rigged ships are smaller spars. These are called studding sails, and are used with fair, the wings are named after the sails to which they are fastened, i. e. the main studding sails, main top studding sails, and the main top gallant studding sails, etc. The brig’s foremast is smaller than the main mast, the fore mast holds a fore sail, fore top sail, fore top gallant sail, and fore royal. Between the fore mast and the bowsprit are the fore staysail, jib, all the yards are manipulated by a complicated arrangement of cordage named the running rigging. This is opposed to the rigging which is fixed, and keeps mast. A brig is generally built on a scale than a schooner. Brigs vary in length between 75 and 165 ft with tonnages up to 480, a notable exception being the famous designer Colin Mudies Little Brigs, which are only 10m long and weigh only 8 tonnes. Historically, most brigs were made of wood, although some later brigs were built with hulls, a brig made of pine in the 19th century was designed to last for about twenty years. The word brig has been used in the past as an abbreviation of brigantine, the brig actually developed as a variant of the brigantine. Re-rigging a brigantine with two square-rigged masts instead of one gave it greater sailing power, the square-rigged brigs advantage over the fore-and-aft rigged brigantine was that the sails, being smaller and more numerous, are more easily managed, and require fewer men or hands to work them. The variant was so popular that the term came to exclusively signify a ship with this type of rigging. By the 17th century the British Royal Navy defined brig as having two square rigged masts, Brigs were used as small warships carrying about 10 to 18 guns
2.
House of Braganza
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The house came to rule the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves following the successful deposition of the Philippine Dynasty by John IV of Portugal, in 1640. The Braganzas were deposed from their thrones at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when Emperor Pedro II was deposed in Brazil, in 1889, and when King Manuel II was deposed in Portugal, in 1910. The Constitutional branch died out with the death of King Manuel II in 1932, passing its claim to the Portuguese throne to the Miguelist Branch, by way of Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza. The House of Braganza originated with Afonso I, an son of King John I of Portugal, founder of the House of Aviz. With his newly consolidated place in the nobility of Portugal, Afonso commenced what would be a successful political and social career. In 1415 he took part in the Conquest of Ceuta, alongside his father, his brothers, by the time of his fathers death in 1433, Afonso had won favour with his brother, King Duarte I and the rest of high Portuguese society. The Duke of Coimbras regency, however, soon proved unpopular, afonsos elevation to the dukedom, the highest level of nobility, marked the foundation of the House of Braganza, which was to become a key family in Portuguese history. As a result of the work and success of Afonso I, his children all secured successful positions. He was a diplomat, and served as the kings representative at the Council of Basel in 1436. In 1451, the Count of Ourém was made Marquis of Valença and escorted Infanta Leonor of Portugal to her husband Frederick III, later, in 1458, he participated in the capture and conquest of Alcácer-Ceguer. The Marquis of Valença, however, died in 1460, one year before his father, Afonso Is first daughter, Isabel of Braganza, married Infante João, Lord of Reguengos de Monsaraz, thus relinking the House of Braganza to the Royal House of Portugal. Isabels strategic marriage proved successful, and produced four children, whose descendants would be some of the most important in Iberian history, Afonso Is last child and successor, Fernando I, Duke of Braganza, continued his legacy of prominence in the military and society. When Fernando I was born, in 1403, his grandfather, Nuno Álvares Pereira, Fernando became an accomplished military man, participating in various Portuguese imperial campaigns. Fernando Is children, by his wife, Joana de Castro, Lady of Cadaval, of his nine children, all six who survived to adulthood established themselves either through positions or marriages, though the actions of King João II would seek to weaken their influence. Fernando Is first son and successor, Fernando II, was initially a bright and popular nobleman, but his conflict with King João II would see his and the Houses downfall. His second son, João of Braganza, 1st Marquis of Montemor-o-Novo, was a military man and was made Constable of Portugal. Fernandos third son, Afonso of Braganza, became a nobleman of society and was made 1st Count of Faro. The Dukes fourth son, Álvaro of Braganza, inherited the fiefs of his mother, becoming the 5th Lord of Ferreira, 4th Lord of Cadaval, fernandos eldest surviving daughter, Beatriz of Braganza, married Pedro de Meneses, 1st Marquis of Vila Real
3.
Brigandine
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A brigandine is a form of body armour from the Middle Ages. It is a garment, generally canvas or leather, lined with small oblong steel plates riveted to the fabric. Medieval brigandines were essentially a refinement of the coat of plates. The Asian-originated armour reached Europe after the Mongol invasion in 1240 that destroyed the Kievan Rus, the brigandine has been confused with the haubergeon, while the name is often confused with the brigantine, a swift small sea vessel. The form of the brigandine is essentially the same as the civilian doublet, however, depictions of brigandine armour with sleeves are known. The small armour plates were riveted between two layers of stout cloth, or just to an outer layer. Unlike armour for the torso made from large plates, the brigandine was flexible, many brigandines appear to have had larger, somewhat L-shaped plates over the central chest area. The rivets, or nails, attaching the plates to the fabric were often decorated, being gilt, or of latten, the rivets were also often grouped to produce a repeating decorative pattern. In more expensive brigandines the outer layer of cloth was usually of velvet, the contrast between a richly dyed velvet cloth and gilded rivet heads must have been impressive and, unsurprisingly, such armour was popular with high status individuals. Modern flak jackets and ballistic vests are based on the same principle and it was commonly worn over a gambeson and mail shirt and it was not long before this form of protection was commonly used by soldiers ranging in rank from archers to knights. It was most commonly used by Men-at-arms and these wore brigandine, along with plate arm and leg protection, as well as a helmet. Even with the gambeson and the shirt, a wearer was not as well protected as when wearing plate armour. However, the brigandine was probably favored by soldiers who preferred the greater degree of mobility this armour afforded, Brigandines were simple enough in design for a soldier to make and repair his own armour without needing the high skill of an armourer. A common myth is that brigandines were so-named because they were a choice of protection for bandits. Originally the term referred to a foot soldier. A brigandine was simply a type of armour worn by a foot soldier and it had nothing to do with its alleged ability to be concealed by bandits. In fact, brigandines were highly fashionable and were displayed by wealthy aristocrats both in European and in Asian courts. A similar type of armour was the jack of plates or coat of plates and this type of armour was used by common Medieval European soldiers and the rebel peasants known as Jacquerie
4.
Square rig
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These spars are called yards and their tips, beyond the last stay, are called the yardarms. A ship mainly so rigged is called a square-rigger, the square rig is aerodynamically the most efficient running rig, and stayed popular on ocean-going sailing ships until the end of the Age of Sail. The last commercial sailing ships, windjammers, were usually square-rigged four-masted barques, square-rigged masts may also have triangular staysails that are deployed fore-and-aft between masts. Square-rigged is also used for the uniform of a rating in the Royal Navy since 1857 and it is slang and refers to anyone wearing the famous blue square collar on the shoulders and bell-bottomed trousers. The name perhaps reflects the fact that it was men who managed the square-rigged sails. The peaked cap worn by Senior Ratings and Officers is known colloquially as fore-and-aft rig. A mast is considered square-rigged if its lowest sail or course is square-rigged, if the course is fore-and-aft, square topsails can still be carried in front of the mast. In their heyday, square-rigged vessels ranged in size from small boats to full rigged ships, but this rig fell from favour to fore-and-aft gaff rigs and bermuda rigs after the development of steam power and new materials. Ocean-going sailing ships stayed mostly square-rigged, Square rigs allowed the fitting of many small sails to create a large total sail area to drive large ships. 18th century warships would often achieve speeds of 12–13 knots. Some clipper ships that had square rigs and for speed was critical could be much faster. The late windjammers were as fast as the clippers, being much bigger, not only could a smaller sail be managed by a smaller crew but also these smaller sails constrained the impact of weapons on them. A hole from a cannonball affected only one area, whilst a hole in a large sail would eventually tear the whole larger area. This reduced running costs and also enlarged the space available in the ship for profitable cargoes, new materials also changed sail designs, particularly on hybrid vessels carrying some square-rigged sails. The low aspect ratio of square-rigged sails produces much drag for the lift produced, so they have poor performance to windward compared to modern yachts, the Bermuda rig is the undisputed champion of windward performance in soft sails, due to its very low drag and high lift-to-drag ratio. One advantage of square rigs is that they are efficient when running, where the high lift to drag is irrelevant. Square-rigged sails are also prone to broaching when running than Bermuda rigs. Ocean-going vessels take advantage of e. g. the trade winds, on a square-rigged mast the sails had names which indicated their vertical position on the mast
5.
Topsail
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A topsail is a sail set above another sail, on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails. On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a sail rigged above the course sail. A full rigged ship has either single or double topsails on all masts, the single or lower topsail being the second sail above the deck, the bottom edge of the topsail, like that of other square sails, is slightly concave. Although topsails of a kind were used at least as early as Roman times, they first came into use in Europe some time in the 15th century. It was quite common for a ship to sail with topsails and jibs alone, the larger topsails were difficult and dangerous to handle in strong winds. Sometime in the 1680s, reef-bands were introduced to tie up part of the sail, with topsails eventually getting four of these, and reefing the sails became a regular occupation of sailors. In the mid 19th century, topsails of merchant vessels were split into upper and lower topsails that could be managed separately. Competing versions of the double topsail were invented by Robert Bennet Forbes, although Forbes strove to defend his rig, the Howe rig dominated. In the Forbes rig, both topsail yards are fixed vertically, in the Howe rig, the upper topsail yard slides on the topmast so it can be lowered in a few seconds to close reef the upper topsail. Howe had the foot of the upper topsail closely attached to the lower topsail yard, in 1865 the British clipper Ariel introduced a gap there. Forbes first tried his rig in the topsail schooner Midas in 1844. The clipper Climax built in 1853 under the supervision of Howes was the first ship with Howe rig, gaff topsails, like gaff rigs in general, may still be seen at Tall Ships gatherings. The gaff rig has been superseded by the Bermuda rig. On a gaff-rigged sailing boat, topsails may take a few different forms, a gaff-rigged vessel might have a gaff topsail above any or all of its gaff sails. A yard topsail is similar, but set on a yard, early 19th-century topsail yards were set almost horizontally, but gradually increased in angle until they became almost vertical extension of the topmast. A jack-yard topsail instead has its lower edge extended out beyond the end of the gaff with a short yard, a jack-yard topsail may also have the aforementioned vertical yard, although this makes for a very large topsail. A cornish topsail is a triangular sail having its luff extended well above the masthead by being laced to a yard hoisted by a halyard rove through a sheave fitted diagonally in the mast. The heel of the yard fits immediately about the gaff and is kept in place by a called a timminoggy. A square topsail is a sail, carried above the foresail only
6.
Gaff rig
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Gaff rig is a sailing rig in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar called the gaff. Because of the size and shape of the sail, a gaff rig will have running backstays rather than permanent backstays, the gaff enables a fore and aft sail to be four sided, rather than triangular. A gaff rig typically carries 25 percent more sail than an equivalent bermudian rig for a hull design. A sail hoisted from a gaff is called a gaff-rigged sail, gaff rig remains the most popular fore-aft rig for schooner and barquentine mainsails and other course sails, and spanker sails on a square rigged vessel are always gaff rigged. The gaff is hoisted by two halyards, The throat halyard hoists the throat of the sail at the end of the gaff and bears the main weight of the sail. The peak halyard lifts aft end of the gaff and bears the leech tension. Small craft attach the peak halyard to the gaff with a span with eyes at both ends looped around the gaff and held in place with small wooden chocks, larger craft have more than one span. Peak halyards pull upwards, approaching the gaff at right angles, additionally, a gaff vang may be fitted. It is an attached to the end of the gaff which prevents the gaff from sagging downwind. Gaff vangs are difficult to rig on the aft-most sail, so are only found on schooners or ketches. A triangular fore-and-aft sail called a jib-headed topsail may be carried between the gaff and the mast. Gunter-rigged boats are similar, smaller vessels on which a spar popularly but incorrectly called the gaff is raised until it is vertical, parallel to the mast. Topsails are never carried on gunter rigs, the Spritsail is another rig with a four-sided fore-aft sail. Unlike the gaff rig where the head hangs from a spar along its edge, the forward end of the sprit is attached to the mast but bisects the face of the sail, with the after end of the sprit attaching to the peak and/or the clew of the sail. For a given sail area a gaff rig has a shorter mast than a bermudian rig, because of its low aspect ratio, the gaff rig is less prone to stalling if oversheeted than something taller and narrower. Whilst reaching, the CE being set back, will encourage a small craft to bear up into the wind. The boat builder can compensate for this at design stage, e. g. by shifting the keel slightly aft, the gaff-cutter is in fact a very popular sailplan for small craft. The helmsman can reduce weather helm significantly, simply by sheeting out the mainsail, sheeting out may appear to create an inefficient belly in the sail, but it is often a pragmatic alternative to having a heavy helm
7.
Lateen
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A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. Dating back to Roman navigation, the lateen became the sail of the Age of Discovery. It is common in the Mediterranean, the upper Nile River, and the parts of the Indian Ocean. The lateen is used today in a different form on small recreational boats like the Sailfish and Sunfish. The earliest fore-and-aft rig was the spritsail, appearing in the 2nd century BC in the Aegean Sea on small Greek craft, one theory is that the lateen sail originated during the early Roman empire in the Mediterranean Sea. It evolved out of the dominant square rig by setting the sails more fore-and-aft – along the line of the keel – rather than athwartship, while tailoring the luff and leech. The theory of Roman origin for lateen was begun with Lynn White, John M. H. Brindley.25 The original passage cited from Caesarus is, according to Brindley, no more than an allusion, ‘tres naves, quas Latenas vocant, majores, plenas tritico direxerunt’. The assumption is that labelling these three wheat ships ‘latines’ means that they had lateen sails, there is also reason to doubt Sottas’s interpretation of Procopius’ claim – that three ships of Justinian’s fleet in 533 deployed lateen sails. That the triangular sails refer to triangular top sails, which were standard gear on Roman square-rigged ships after 50 ad’, second, White’s claim that the lateen sail was deployed on a European ship in 880 is problematic. We know that the Persians were sailing to India and beyond via the Persian Gulf from the third, and by the mid-seventh century the Muslims were sailing the length of the Indian Ocean. But even if the Romans had invented the lateen sail, it is important to note that after 50 ce there is no evidence of refinement or further development of sails and rigging. Based on this theory, the lateen sail originated in the Near East, most likely in Persia or Arabia and these sailors were likely responsible for introducing the lateen sails and large three-masted merchant vessels to the Mediterranean. According to the Belgian maritime historian Basch, the earliest true lateen rig appears as early as the 1st century BC, in a Hellenistic wall painting found in a Hypogeum in Alexandria. The earliest archaeologically excavated lateen-rigged ship, the Yassi Ada II, dates to ca.400 AD, the Kelenderis ship mosaic and the Kellia ship graffito from the early 7th century complement the picture. By the 6th century, the lateen sail had largely replaced the square throughout the Mediterranean. It became the standard rig of the Byzantine dromon war galley and was also employed by Belisarius flagship in the 532 AD invasion of the Vandal kingdom. This is also indicated by the terminology of the lateen among Mediterranean Arabs and it has been suggested that the lateen sail was brought to the Indian Ocean by the Alexandrian merchants who sailed the Red Sea in Roman and later Byzantine and Arab times. Such theories have been superseded by unequivocal depictions of lateen-rigged Mediterranean sailing vessels which pre-date the Arab invasion, searches for lateen sails in India were inconclusive
8.
Brigandage
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Brigandage refers to the life and practice of brigands, highway robbery and plunder. A brigand is a person who lives in a gang and lives by pillage. The brigand is supposed to derive his name from the Old French brigand, which is a form of the Italian brigante, there can be no doubt as to the origin of the word bandit, which has the same meaning. Towards the end of wars, irreconcilables may refuse to accept the loss of their cause, in certain conditions the brigand has not been a mere malefactor. It is you who are the thieves, was the defence of the Calabrian who was tried as a brigand by a French court-martial during the reign of Joachim Murat in Naples. Brigandage may be, and not infrequently has been, the last resource of a subject to invasion. In the Balkan peninsula, under Ottoman rule, the brigands had some claim to believe themselves the representatives of their people against oppressors. The only approach to an attempt to order was the permission given to part of the population to carry arms in order to repress the klephts. In fact the armatole tended to act more as allies than enemies of the klephts, the conditions which favour the development of brigandage may be summed up as bad administration and to a lesser degree, terrain that permits easy escape from the incumbents. The Scottish Marches supplied a theatre for the gentlemen reivers, after the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, policing the Scottish moss-troopers tied up many English soldiers of the occupying New Model Army. Their contemporaries in Ireland became known as tories, rapparees, Irish guerrillas of a later generation, fought for King James II after the Revolution of 1688 and on his defeat degenerated into brigands. The forests of England gave cover to the outlaws, who were portrayed in the ballads of Robin Hood. The dense Maquis shrubland and hills of Corsica gave the Corsican brigand many advantages, the Apennines, the mountains of Calabria, the Sierras of Spain, were the homes of the Italian banditos, and the Spanish bandoleros and salteadores. The great haunts of brigands in Europe have been central and southern Italy, the Gubbings infested Devonshire for a generation from their headquarters near Brent Tor, on the edge of Dartmoor. In France there were there Écorcheurs, or Skinners, in the 15th century, the first were large bands of discharged mercenary soldiers who pillaged the country. The second were ruffians who forced their victims to pay ransom by holding their feet in fires, the salt monopoly and the excessive preservation of the game were so oppressive that the peasantry were provoked to violent resistance and to brigandage. The offenders enjoyed a measure of public sympathy, and were warned or concealed by the population. The brigand is always a hero to at least one faction of Corsicans
9.
Sloop
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A sloop is a sailing boat with a single mast and a fore-and-aft rig. A sloop has only one head-sail, if a vessel has two or more head-sails, the cutter is used, and its mast may be set further aft than on a sloop. The most common rig of modern sailboats is the Bermuda-rigged sloop, typically, a modern sloop carries a mainsail on a boom aft of the mast, with a single loose-footed head-sail forward of the mast. Sloops are either masthead-rigged or fractional-rigged, on a masthead-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches at the top of the mast. The mainsail may be smaller than the headsail, which is called a genoa jib. On a fractional-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches to the mast at a point below the top, typically 3/4 of the way to top, or perhaps 7/8 or some other fraction. The mast of a fractional-rigged sloop may be placed forward, compared to a masthead-rigged sloop. After the cat rig, which has only a mainsail, the rig is one of the simpler sailing rig configurations. A sloop typically has two sails, a mainsail and a headsail, while the cutter has a mainsail and two or more headsails, next in complexity are the ketch, the yawl and the schooner, each of which has two masts and a minimum of three sails. A sloop has a system of mast rigging — a forestay. By having only two sails, the sails of a sloop are larger than those of an equivalent cutter. Until the advent of lightweight sailcloth and modern sail-handling systems, the sails of a sloop could be a handful. So, until the 1950s, sailboats over 10 metres Length Over All would typically use a rig or a two-mast rig. After the advent of modern winches and light sailcloth, the became the dominant sailing rig type for all. No rig type is perfect for all conditions, sloops, with their paucity of spars and control lines tend to impart less aerodynamic drag. Compared to other rigs, sloops tend to very well when sailing close hauled to windward. Cutters, ketches and yawls are often preferred to sloops when venturing far offshore, because it is easier to reef small sails as the wind increases, while still keeping the boat balanced. To maximize the amount of sail carried, the classic sloop may use a bowsprit, for downwind sailing, the typical foresail may be replaced by larger curved sails known as spinnakers or gennakers
10.
Schooner
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A schooner /ˈskuːnər/ is a type of sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts, the foremast being shorter than the main and no taller than the mizzen if there is one. While the schooner was originally gaff-rigged, modern schooners typically carry a Bermuda rig, such vessels were first used by the Dutch in the 16th or 17th century. They were further developed in North America from the early 18th century, the most common type, with two masts, were popular in trades requiring speed and windward ability, such as slaving, privateering, blockade running, and offshore fishing. In the Chesapeake Bay area several distinctive schooner types evolved, including the Baltimore clipper, bugeye, schooners were also popular among pirates in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy, for their speed and agility. They could also sail in shallow waters, and while being smaller than other ships of the time period. Schooners first evolved in the late 17th century from a variety of small two-masted gaff-rigged vessels used in the coast, most were working craft but some pleasure yachts with schooner rigs were built for wealthy merchants and Dutch nobility. Following the arrival of the Dutch monarch William of Orange on the British throne and this vessel, captured in a detailed Admiralty model, is the earliest fully documented schooner. Royal Transport was quickly noted for its speed and ease of handling, North American shipbuilders quickly developed a variety of schooner forms for trading, fishing and privateering. According to the language scholar Walter William Skeat, the term comes from scoon. The Dutch word schoone means nice, good looking, robinson replied, A schooner let her be. The launch is variously described as being in 1713 or 1745, naval architects such as Howard Chapelle have dismissed this invention story as a childish fable, but some language scholars feel that the legend may support a Gloucester origin of the word. Other sources state the etymology as unknown and uncertain, the first detailed definition of a schooner, describing the vessel as two-masted vessel with fore and aft gaff-rigged sails appeared in 1769 in William Falconers, Universal Dictionary of the Marine. Although a schooner may have up to four masts, the schooner has only two, with the foremast shorter than the mainmast. There may be a bowsprit to help balance the rig, the principal issue with a schooner sail plan is how to fill the space between the two masts most effectively. Traditional schooners were rigged, and the trapezoid shape of the foresail occupied the inter-mast space to good effect, with a useful sail area. A Bermuda rigged schooner typically has four sails, a mainsail, a main staysail abaft the foremast, plus a forestaysail. An advantage of the schooner is that it is easily handled and reefed by a small crew. The main staysail will not overlap the mainsail, and so little to prepare the wind for the mainsail
