Hermaphrodite brig

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Brigantine 'Eye of the Wind'
Brigantine 'Eye of the Wind'

A hermaphrodite brig, or brig-schooner, is a type of two-masted sailing ship which has square sails on the foremast combined with a schooner rig on the mainmast (triangular topsail over a gaff mainsail). As such it has a mix of the two main types of sail plan, hence the term hermaphrodite.

English usage is to refer to this type of vessel as a brigantine.

Another explanation given by Antony 'Tiger' Timbs, owner of a brigantine, is, that the correct term for a two-masted vessel with square sails on foremast and fore-and-aft-sails on main mast is anyway 'hermaphrodite brigantine'. A real brigantine also uses square sails on main mast, the main sail being a gaff sail. Only one of this type is existing today, the British 'Eye of the Wind'. As the type is so scarce now, the term 'brigantine' was used for the hermaphrodite brigantine, too.

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