Brigantine

A brigantine is a two-masted vessel carrying a square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft mainmast, a configuration common in eighteenth and nineteenth-century coastal and short-sea trade. The rig combined the driving power of square sails with the handiness and small crew of fore-and-aft canvas, making it popular for privateering and Mediterranean commerce. The term is often confused with the fully square-rigged brig; the distinguishing feature is the brigantine’s gaff mainsail. Sail-training brigantines preserve the type today.