The brig was a type of powerful ship highly sought after by pirates. She was a ship of approximately 150 tons, capable of carrying 10 to 12 guns and a crew of up to 100 men. These ships were for large pirates who did not have to hide or run from their enemies. Sometimes called “skirmish ships,” brigs were made for combat, and it was a brave or powerful pirate who commanded one.

Brigantines were also occasionally used by the Royal Navy to hunt pirates, but for the most part, pirate-hunting ships were generally slightly larger. The larger brigs could gobble up more common sloops like hor d’oeuvres anyway (note to self: never use the word hor d’oeuvres in writing again. Pain in the butt with the spelling and it just doesn’t look right ). Although the sloops were slightly faster and sometimes carried more guns, the brigs could take much more punishment and hold more men.

The average pirate ship, a sloop, was a one-masted ship that could carry between 50 and 75 men and up to (but rarely) 14 guns. Some sloops were larger than that, but in almost all versions, a brig was a more favorable ship. In the pecking order of ships, brigs ranked above sloops and barques, but below powerful frigates. Few pirates captained brigantines. Even fewer commanded frigates. Blackbeard had one (the Queen Anne’s Revenge), but few had the means to take and maintain a warship.

The brigs carried two sails, but used a combination of square sails and “fore and aft” sails to give it versatility at sea (meaning it could outgun you AND outgun you). Of course, vernacular sailing changed and morphed throughout history, and the exact details of the brig mutated with it, but everyone seems to agree that brigs were two-masted and larger ships than sloops. And they were really cool.