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Hermaphrodite Brig

A hermaphrodite brig is a two-masted vessel, square-rigged forward and schooner-rigged aft. Like any other sailing vessel that included fore-and-aft sails, the brig was easier to operate and therefore cheaper, since it required fewer crew. Contemporary accounts tell us that Cleopatra's Barge was very fast.

 

"Hanalei Redux" by Paul Johnston, "Increase and Diffusion," a Smithsonian Web Magazine, March 1997

 

"Do They Really Pay You to Do That?" by Paul Johnston, "Increase and Diffusion," a Smithsonian Web Magazine, September 1996

 

"Sieur de La Salle's fateful landfall" by David Roberts, "Smithsonian" magazine, April 1997

 
Related Images
Painting of <i>Cleopatra's Barge</i> in August 1818 by Marblehead, Massachusetts, artist George Ropes.
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Painting of Cleopatra's Barge in August 1818 by Marblehead, Massachusetts, artist George Ropes.
Before covering them back up, a diver records the hull timbers wedged beneath the reef edge at the end of the 1996 excavations.
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Before covering them back up, a diver records the hull timbers wedged beneath the reef edge at the end of the 1996 excavations.
In the middle of this selection of animal bones from the 1996 excavations is a cow's rib, which native Hawaiians made into a shellfish meat pick.
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In the middle of this selection of animal bones from the 1996 excavations is a cow's rib, which native Hawaiians made into a shellfish meat pick.
This ring, made of vegetable (not animal) ivory, was found in 1996 up against the base of the reef struck by <i>Cleopatra's Barge</i> 126 years earlier.
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This ring, made of vegetable (not animal) ivory, was found in 1996 up against the base of the reef struck by Cleopatra's Barge 126 years earlier.


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