"So have I; but this is an hermaphrodite brig, though she is sometimes called a brig simply, for short," added Captain Gildrock.
"What is a brigantine, then?" asked Lon.
"It is a rig you seldom, if ever, see in a sailing vessel in these days; though it is sometimes applied to steamers."
"It is called a small brig, in the dictionary," said Lon.
"Some of the dictionaries are not correct on nautical matters. I should say that a brigantine was a fore-and-main-topsail schooner; that is, a vessel with two masts, fore and aft sails below, and with a topsail and topgallant-sail on each mast. A full-rigged vessel carries a royal above these, and may have a skysail also."
"What is a moon-raker?" asked Thad Glovering with a laugh.
"That is a fancy sail, a term applied to a sail set above the skysail. There is another distinction between a full-rigged mast and that of a schooner. The former is provided with a top, which is wanting in the latter. A brig has a top on each mast, while a schooner or a brigantine has none. A top is a kind of platform, on which several men may stand, in large vessels, over which the futtock shrouds pass," continued the principal, as he pointed it out on the foremast of the vessel in the picture.—"What is this?" he asked, displaying another drawing.
"A topsail schooner," answered Bent Fillwing.
"She is sometimes called a fore-topsail schooner, but the expression is redundant, since there is no such craft as a main-topsail schooner. She carries a topsail and topgallant-sail on her foremast."
"She would be a brigantine if she had the same rig on her mainmast, without any tops," added Matt Randolph.