A brig was a fast and maneuverable vessel with two square-rigged masts. It was used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. A brig was generally built on a larger scale than the schooner, and varied in length between 75 feet and 165 feet. A brig made of pine in the 19th century was designed to last for about twenty years. In the early 19th century the brig was a standard cargo ship. It was seen as fast and well sailing, but required a large crew to handle its rigging. Brigs could not sail into the wind as easily as fore-and-aft-rigged vessels such as schooners, but had the advantage when travelling offshore in the trade winds where vessels sailed downwind for extended distances.

The Brig Portland was built at Boothbay, Maine, in 1854. She was 107 feet long and registered 299 tons. She was originally owned in Wiscasset, ME, but later hailed from Boston, Massachusetts. Her Captain Robert Montgomery and Arthur Portland were the principal owners. It is claimed on her first voyage to Liverpool, England that she paid for herself and made a profit of $40,000. On December 31, 1862 she sailed from Boston to Australia and was never heard from afterward. A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged with an additional gaff-rigged spanker behind the mainsail.

Capt. Josiah Remick first built the schooner Mary and then the schooner Jane. He finally built a brig which he named the Mary Jane. All were named for his daughter Mary Jane, born in 1797. Under the cover of every fog, hundreds of barrels were smuggled between Canada and the Maine coast during the Embargo of 1807. The Mary Jane, laden with contraband, was intercepted by a cutter dispatched to halt its escape from Bath. Despite the cutter's attempt to block it, the Mary Jane escaped, exchanging gunfire before disappearing downriver.

The brig Joseph was built in Brewster Maine in 1794 and launched in the Piscataqua river which forms a boundary between Maine and its southern and western neighbor New Hampshire. The ship saw lots of action during its life. In June of 1795 during an inspection off Halifax, in a fistfight with an officer of the English sloop of war Rattlesnake the captain of the Josph bested the Englishman. The Joseph was captured by the British in 1811. On November 30, 1818 in one of the small harbors in the West Indies, the Joseph was boarded by pirates who killed a visitor with a pistol. After ransacking the vessel, Augustus Sheafe of Portsmouth was forced to accompany the pirates on a marauding party. Sold to foreign interests in 1834 – fate unknown.

The brig Joseph was built in Brewster Maine in 1794 and launched in the Piscataqua river which forms a boundary between Maine and its southern and western neighbor New Hampshire. The ship saw lots of action during its life. In June of 1795 during an inspection off Halifax, in a fistfight with an officer of the English sloop of war Rattlesnake the captain of the Josph bested the Englishman. The Joseph was captured by the British in 1811. On November 30, 1818 in one of the small harbors in the West Indies, the Joseph was boarded by pirates who killed a visitor with a pistol. After ransacking the vessel, Augustus Sheafe of Portsmouth was forced to accompany the pirates on a marauding party. Sold to foreign interests in 1834 – fate unknown.

Aryan was the last wooden full-rigged ship built in the U.S. for commercial purposes. She was built in 1893 at the shipyard of C. V. Minott Kennebec River, Phippsburg, Sagadahoc County, ME. She carried cargoes mostly between New York and West Coast ports, traveling around Cape Horn. She was re-rigged to a barque and plans were made to make her a 5 masted barquentine. During December 24, 1918 on voyage from Wellington, New Zealand to San Francisco she caught fire between decks. The crew abandoned their burning ship in two boats 300 miles east of Chatham Islands. One boat carrying 12 people reached the Chatham Islands. The other boat was still missing on December 30th, whilst a storm was raging in the area.

The Telos was built in Bangor, Maine in 1883. She was reportedly the last brig to join the American merchant marine. After the Civil War, the brig was rapidly replaced by the more economical schooner; by 1882 about 260 brigs remained under American registry. Of these, about 150 were Maine-built, and ninety were registered to Maine ports. The Telos was considered to be the finest vessel of her class ever constructed in Maine. She was wrecked on Aves Island in the Caribbean in 1900. The crew was saved and landed in La Guayra, Colombia.

The barque General Grant is in irons with an island in the distance. The ship departed Melbourne on 4 May 1866 bound for London via Cape Horn, under the command of Captain William H. Loughlin. At 11pm on 13 May 1866, the Auckland Islands were sighted dead ahead. With only light winds, the crew were unable to change course, and eventually collided against the cliffs and drifted into a large cave on Auckland Island's western shore. The rising tide and increasing swell caused the main mast to hit the cave roof repeatedly until the mast forced a hole through the hull; the ship sank on 14 May 1866. Although the weather remained calm, the boats were not launched immediately on the ship entering the cave as it was very dark, there was no obvious landing place, and pieces of spars and rock were falling continually.

Per the Kennebunkport Historical Society: Launched October 6, 1874 the Ocean King was a 4-masted bark. She was built by Master Carpenter Benjamin Jackson at the N.L. Thompson shipyard in Lower Village Kennebunkport, Maine. She was owned by the J. Henry Sears & Co., Boston, MA from 1875-1883. Employed in the New York - San Francisco - Liverpool route she travelled around the horn and back several times. When J. Henry Sears & Co., went out of business in 1883 she was laid up at San Francisco for 3 years. May 8, 1887, the Ocean King Sprung a leak in the North Pacific and had to be abandoned when the steam pump failed. The crew was taken off the sinking ship by the schooner Angel Dolly.

Edna M. McKnight was a 1326 ton four-master built in 1918 at Camden. She met her end in 1926, when she was caught by a powerful storm off the Virginia coast while heavily loaded with lumber. Her seams opened, her canvas was shredded, and she seemed in danger of breaking up. Her crew was taken off by a passing steamer on 7 December; the hulk was allowed to drift off. On the 28th of the month she was relocated, and tug dispatched to bring her into Bermuda. By September of the next year the hulk had reached Boothbay Harbor for repairs. However, she was judged not worth repairing and was cast away to rot in Mill Cove. In this image she is in tatters and adrift, as the storm clouds clear.

Built in South Portland in 1851, Snow Squall holds the record for the fastest round trip between New York and Rio de Janeiro at 53 days. Snow Squall was an extreme clipper ship built for the China trade. She was built for speed with a sharp, narrow hull, and an enormous amount of sail. She was launched by Cornelius Butler at Turner's Island and purchased by Charles R. Green of New York for $30,410. In March 1864, Snow Squall ran aground in the Straits of Le Marie, a strait between Isla de los Estados and the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego. She was moved to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, a 365 mile distance. In July, she was found damaged beyond repair, condemned, and sold - seven years short of her 20-year expected useful life. In 1979 she was rediscovered in the Falklands, and in 1982 a 32-foot portion of her bow and other remains were returned to Maine. Since 1995 the bow resides at the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, Maine. It remains a solitary reminder of American-built clipper ships.

Red Jacket was a clipper ship, one of the largest and fastest ever built. She was also the first ship of the White Star Line company. She was named after Sagoyewatha, a famous Seneca Indian chief, called "Red Jacket" by settlers. She was designed by Samuel Hartt Pook, built by George Thomas in Rockland, Maine, and launched in 1853, the last ship to be launched from this yard. In 1872 Red Jacket became a lumber carrier from Quebec to London, joining the clippers Marco Polo and Donald McKay, which ended their days in the transatlantic Quebec timber trade. She collided with and sank the Eliza Walker in 1878. On 29 January 1878, she put in to Boston in a leaky condition, her crew refusing to proceed. In 1882, she dragged her anchors in a heavy gale whilst on a voyage from Lisbon to Casablanca and ran aground near Soria Kedima. The sale of her wreckage fetched just £113 and completely disappeared by 1907. - Wikipedia

An extreme clipper ship, she was built and launched in 1853 by Metcalf & Norris, Damariscotta, Maine. An extreme clipper ship was designed to sacrifice cargo capacity for speed. They had a bow lengthened above the water - a drawing out and sharpening of the hull. In the United States, extreme clippers were built in the period 1845 to 1855. Extreme clippers remained in vogue only a few years because their design lacked structural integrity. Scud refers to moving fast in a straight line as if driven by the wind. Flying Scud was considered one of the fastest clippers ever built. In spring 1861, sailing from Whampoa to New York she was struck by a whirlwind which carried away all three topgallant masts and many of her 17 sails. She was struck by lightning twice, but ship was not materially damaged. In late fall 1861 one eighth share of the ship was sold for $3500, valuing her at $28,000. She was initially purchased for $100,000 seven years earlier. She was sold to British interests in April 1863 and renamed Cestrian. She went into the England-India service, but not before being captured by Union forces suspected of blockade running cotton.

The Betsey was built on the Sheepscot River in 1803. It was a hermaphrodite brig, or brigantine, approximately eighty feet long. Its purpose was to sail to the West Indies with oak and pine and return with molasses, sugar, and coffee. Ships that sailed this route were known as West Indiamen. The Betsey met its tragic fate on the stormy night of December 19, just twenty-two days into its voyage and a day's journey from its intended port of Matanzas, Cuba. The ship succumbed to the fury of a Norther, sinking into the depths of the sea. Miraculously, the crew managed to escape aboard a longboat, eventually finding refuge on an island later identified as Cruz del Padre, situated several miles north of Cuba. Their hopes for rescue were dashed when local fishermen, instead of aiding them as promised, betrayed them to pirates. The pirates massacred all but the ship's 1st mate, Daniel Collins, hailing from Wiscasset. Collins eventually made his way back to Maine, haunted by the harrowing ordeal he endured. Refusing to set foot on a ship again, he lived out the remainder of his days on land until his passing on November 15, 1885, at the age of eighty-four.

The Betsey was built on the Sheepscot River in 1803. It was a hermaphrodite brig, or brigantine, approximately eighty feet long. Its purpose was to sail to the West Indies with oak and pine and return with molasses, sugar, and coffee. Ships that sailed this route were known as West Indiamen. The Betsey met its tragic fate on the stormy night of December 19, just twenty-two days into its voyage and a day's journey from its intended port of Matanzas, Cuba. The ship succumbed to the fury of a Norther, sinking into the depths of the sea. Miraculously, the crew managed to escape aboard a longboat, eventually finding refuge on an island later identified as Cruz del Padre, situated several miles north of Cuba. Their hopes for rescue were dashed when local fishermen, instead of aiding them as promised, betrayed them to pirates. The pirates massacred all but the ship's 1st mate, Daniel Collins, hailing from Wiscasset. Collins eventually made his way back to Maine, haunted by the harrowing ordeal he endured. Refusing to set foot on a ship again, he lived out the remainder of his days on land until his passing on November 15, 1885, at the age of eighty-four.

The Betsey was built on the Sheepscot River in 1803. It was a hermaphrodite brig, or brigantine, approximately eighty feet long. Its purpose was to sail to the West Indies with oak and pine and return with molasses, sugar, and coffee. Ships that sailed this route were known as West Indiamen. The Betsey met its tragic fate on the stormy night of December 19, just twenty-two days into its voyage and a day's journey from its intended port of Matanzas, Cuba. The ship succumbed to the fury of a Norther, sinking into the depths of the sea. Miraculously, the crew managed to escape aboard a longboat, eventually finding refuge on an island later identified as Cruz del Padre, situated several miles north of Cuba. Their hopes for rescue were dashed when local fishermen, instead of aiding them as promised, betrayed them to pirates. The pirates massacred all but the ship's 1st mate, Daniel Collins, hailing from Wiscasset. Collins eventually made his way back to Maine, haunted by the harrowing ordeal he endured. Refusing to set foot on a ship again, he lived out the remainder of his days on land until his passing on November 15, 1885, at the age of eighty-four.

The Betsey was built on the Sheepscot River in 1803. It was a hermaphrodite brig, or brigantine, approximately eighty feet long. Its purpose was to sail to the West Indies with oak and pine and return with molasses, sugar, and coffee. Ships that sailed this route were known as West Indiamen. The Betsey met its tragic fate on the stormy night of December 19, just twenty-two days into its voyage and a day's journey from its intended port of Matanzas, Cuba. The ship succumbed to the fury of a Norther, sinking into the depths of the sea. Miraculously, the crew managed to escape aboard a longboat, eventually finding refuge on an island later identified as Cruz del Padre, situated several miles north of Cuba. Their hopes for rescue were dashed when local fishermen, instead of aiding them as promised, betrayed them to pirates. The pirates massacred all but the ship's 1st mate, Daniel Collins, hailing from Wiscasset. Collins eventually made his way back to Maine, haunted by the harrowing ordeal he endured. Refusing to set foot on a ship again, he lived out the remainder of his days on land until his passing on November 15, 1885, at the age of eighty-four.

Dirigo is Latin for "I direct" or "I lead" and is found in the Coat of arms of Maine. The Mutiny of the Elsinore is a novel by the American writer Jack London first published in 1914. The novel is partially based on London's voyage around Cape Horn on the Dirigo in 1912. The Dirigo was built by Arthur Sewall & Co. in Bath in 1894. She was the first steel sailing vessel built in the U.S., and the Sewall shipyard was the only yard in the country to switch from building wooden sailing vessels to building steel ones. She measured 3,005 gross tons, registered length 312 feet. A. Sewall & Co. owned her until 1915, when they sold her to San Francisco owners. In 1917 she was sunk off the Irish coast by a German submarine. -Maine Historical Society’s Maine Memory Network

What type of ship did pirates prefer? A fast ship with a shallow draft enabled the pirates to hide in relative safety in shallower waters where larger warships could not enter. Because of its size and maneuverability, a schooner was one of the pirate's favorites. Schooners were very fast with a narrow hull. A schooner could reach up to 11 knots in the right conditions, carried up to 75 crewmen and had 8-12 guns. All those features enabled the pirates to navigate easily in shallow waters and shoals, allowing them quick escape or to attack suddenly. They were usually two-masted and all masts were fore-and-aft rigged.

The North American schooner Bertha L. Downs was one of many large four, five and six-masted schooners which were built on the banks of the Kennebeck River at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. These huge wooden vessels were employed in the coastal trade and the principal part of this was coal from Virginia to New England. She was launched in 1908 and, after some ten years in the lumber and coal trade, was sold to Danish owners and renamed "Atlas". Like several of her contemporaries, she was able to make a profitable living through the 1920s and 30s. She was finally broken up in Germany after 42 years of work under five flags. The Schooner Bertha L. Downs (Anatomy of the Ship) Greenhill, Basil Published by Conway Maritime Press (1999)

The 6 masted schooner Eleanor A Percy was launched from the Percy and Small shipyard in Bath on October 10, 1900. At the time of her launch, she was the largest sailing vessel in the world and the 2nd ‘6 master’ to be launched from Percy & Small. On her second voyage, as she was inbounding to Boston loaded with over 5000 tons of coal, she struck a ledge near Boston Light. In June of 1903 off Cape Cod she hit the George Wells, the only other 6 masted schooner in the world. She left Rio de Janeiro on November 11, 1919 for Copenhagen with a cargo of wheat and foundered on December 25 1919 off the coast of Ireland. The logbook washed ashore on the Scilly Islands two years later. The second mate's last entry was: "Sprung a leak, sinking, lat 48°N, long 19°W, bound for Copenhagen".

Built in 1903 by Percy & Small in Bath for J. S. Winslow Corp. In 1917 sold to the France & Canada Steamship Co. In July of that same year, she was wrecked at the entrance of River Loire near St. Nazaire, Brittany on voyage from Boston with general cargo. Schooners were designed and built for coastal trades, but some of them made longer, foreign voyages, especially during World War I. Ten 6-masters were launched in Maine. Awkward to handle in confined waters, deficient in longitudinal strength, and the sheer size of the huge gaff sails made the failure of the donkey engine inevitable.

Wyoming was a wooden six-masted schooner completed in 1909 by the firm of Percy & Small in Bath, Maine. With a length of 450 ft from jib-boom tip to spanker boom tip, Wyoming was the largest known wooden ship ever built. The "Wyoming" was the tenth and last of the six-masters. In March 1924 she sailed from Norfolk, Virginia for Saint John, New Brunswick, with a cargo of coal. On March 11, to ride out a nor'easter, she anchored near the Pollock Rip Lightship off Monomoy Island Chatham, Massachusetts. She and her crew of 14 were lost when the ship broke up in the storm.