On 2007-08-23 09:33:08 -0700, Ronald Raygun
said:

Wilbur Hubbard wrote:

A 'brig' is the term used for a prison. You know like, "Throw the
******* into the brig!" Buck up there, man! Call a spade a spade. It's
a 'brigantine.'

Not so. They are brigs (square rigged on both masts). Brigantines
are square rigged only on the fore mast.

Yep, a brig is a two-master with the forward mast shorter than the
after. If the forward mast is taller it's a ketch. (Unless the mizzen
is behind the rudder post, then it's a yawl.) Just like the
brig/brigantine distinction, a barque is a three-masted ship
square-rigged on the main and fore, while a barquentine is only
square-rigged on the fore.

Someone once told me that the boat name and the term for a prison were
etymologically related, maybe from using ship hulks for prisons, but I
can't find any verification of that.

-D