Description
Brigs in general
The brig, or briki, was the main sailing cargo ship of the 19th century, when Greek shipping reached its peak around the 1870s. The brigs were manufactured in the shipbuilding centers of Greece, and sailed from the Black Sea through the Mediterranean to northern Europe, carrying mainly grain cargo.
The name ‘briki’ does not refer to the main body of the boat (hull), but to the sailing: its masts and sails. Brigs were medium-sized sailboats with a range of between 200 and 400 tons. Thanks to their flexibility and speed, brigs became the most common boat types in the of Greek shipping mid-19th century.
The brig NAVS
To date, original shipbuilding designs of Greek-made brigs have not been identified. For the design and production of the NAVS brig, we used the authentic blueprint of a medium-sized British brig (Squirrel 1854), illustrations of traditional brigs and the relevant literature.
Bibliography
Δαμιανίδης, Κ. (1998). Ελληνική Παραδοσιακή Ναυπηγική. Πολιτιστικό Ίδρυμα Ομίλου Πειραιώς
Δαμιανίδης, Κ. (επ.) (2014). Ναυς. Πλοία και ναυπηγική στον ελληνικό κόσμο, Τράπεζα Πειραιώς/Polaris
Δαμιανίδης, Κ. και Λεοντίδης Τ. (1993). Τα Ελληνικά Ιστιοφόρα του 20ού αιώνα. Μουσείο Κρητικής Εθνολογίας, Εκδόσεις Γαβριηλίδης
Μουσείο Γαλαξειδίου (1987). Γαλαξειδιώτικα καράβια, Εκδόσεις Μέλισσα
Συλλογικό έργο (1972). Ελληνική Εμπορική Ναυτιλία (1452-1850), Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος
Χαρλαύτη, Τζ. (επ.) (2002). ΠΛΩΤΩ. Έλληνες καραβοκύρηδες και εφοπλιστές από τα τέλη του 18ου αιώνα έως τον Β’ παγκόσμιο πόλεμο, ΕΛΙΑ
Original ship lines
ΖΑΖ4384 (J4609): body plan with half-stern board outline, sheer lines and longitudinal half-breadth for ‘Squirrel’ (1853) and ‘Liberty’ (1850) © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
