Brigs

[Dobbs]

I am considering converting s standard SoW to a brig, but considering how to modify the base card and ship information. Does anyone know/have an opinion how brigs performed relative to ship rigged SoW's? Did they have less or more crew? My research has been inconclusive. Intellectually, it seems like they might have been able to sail closer to the wind and required less crew, but I haven't found anything that positively states that.

Also, why is it that merchants seem to have favored snows, when they seem superior to brigs? Okay, the navy eventually came around, but it seems like the merchantmarine embraced them first.

[TexaS]

I'd be interested too.

Right now I've played mine as any other sloop but can only take one broken mast, not being sure of how to modify it otherwise.

They were able to sail them with less minimum crew but compared to the gun crews that is probably not any factor worth considering.

[Union Jack]

In the royal navy ship rigged sloops and brigs were essentially the same except the former did not have a quarter deck or forecastle.

Sloop:
With quarter deck 14 or 16 6 pounders
After 1795 most designs 18 rather than 16 guns on main deck.
Quarter deck and forecastle carried 12-14 swivel guns.
By 1795 more common to fit carronades, usually 12 pounders
by 1800 new ships had carronades on main deck 18 32 pounders with 6 12 pounders on quarter deck 2 6 pounderslong and 2 12 pounder carronades on the forecastle
Quarter deck sloop became the largest class 32 in 1801 and by 1814 57.
Flush deck sloops were armed mainly with 16 to 18 carronades mainly 24 pounders
32 pounders were reinstated in 1810.
43 flush deck sloops in 1801 but only 20 in 1814.


Brig sloop:
originate and adapted from a merchant design in the 1770's.
The Cruiser class being the largest group.
By 1814 the Royal Navy had 181 brig sloops including 35 prizes.


Brigs:
The brig was smaller than the brig sloop.
Most Brigs had 14 24 pounder carronades.
Their successors were the Confounder class carrying 14 18 pounders


Sloops ranged in crew size from 42-121 and had either 2 or 3 masts.

[Bligh]

Very useful summary Neil.
Thanks for that.
I can feel another purchase coming on.
Rob.

[Diamondback]

Also, a ship-rig vessel has three masts, brig only two--the major difference between a brig and a ketch rig is which mast is taller and with bigger sails.

I've seen both flush-decker and QD+FC sloops in the RN's Draughts Collection, so things aren't necessarily as cut-and-dried as they seem... :) For example, while the Swans were originally built as 14s and readily upgraded to 16s, they could even go up to 18s with no problems as the Massachusetts State Navy did while they owned Thorn.

[Dobbs]

Mainly I was contemplating what a brig would look like in SoG terms; ship card sailing angles, crew boxes, mast hits...

[Diamondback]

One less mast and somewhat less crew. If you go to ThreeDecks, call up the pages for HMS Snake and the Cruizer-class--the only difference is Snake was a ship-rig version and took more manpower to run the third set of sails.