View source for Lugger

{{Short description|Type of sailing vessel}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2020}}
[[File:Reaper in sail.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Reaper (sailing vessel)|Reaper]]'', a Fifie, a type of sailing drifter built in the Northeast of Scotland]]
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A '''lugger''' is a [[Sailboat|sailing vessel]] defined by its [[Sail plan|rig]], using the [[lug sail]] on all of its one or more [[mast (sailing)|masts]]. Luggers were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of [[France]], [[England]], [[Ireland]] and [[Scotland]]. Luggers varied extensively in size and design. Many were undecked, open boats, some of which operated from beach landings (such as [[Hastings]] or [[Deal, Kent|Deal]]). Others were fully decked craft (typified by the Zulu and many other sailing [[Drifter (fishing boat)|drifters]]). Some larger examples might carry lug [[topsail]]s.<ref name="Chatham Directory">{{cite book |editor1-last=Greenhill |editor1-first=Basil |editor2-last=Mannering |editor2-first=Julian |title=The Chatham Directory of Inshore Craft: Traditional Working Vessels of the British Isles |date=1997 |publisher=Chatham Publishing |location=London |isbn=1-86176-029-9}}</ref>

==History==
A lugger is usually a two- or three-masted vessel, setting [[lug sail]]s on each mast.{{efn|There are some single-masted lug-rigged craft that are referred to as luggers, including the [[New Orleans Lugger]] (or Oyster Lugger).{{r|Leather 1989|pp=358–363}}}} A jib or staysail may be set on some luggers. More rarely, lug topsails are used by some luggers — notably the [[chasse-marée]]. A lug sail is an asymmetric quadrilateral sail that fastens to a yard (spar) along the head (top edge) of the sail. The yard is held to the mast either by a [[Parrel beads|parrel]] or by a traveller (consisting of a metal ring that goes round the mast and has an eye for the halyard and a hook which fastens to a strop on the yard). A [[Lug sail#Types|dipping lug sail]] is fastened at the tack (front lower corner) some distance in front of the mast, often at the {{tooltip|2=the top of the stem, the (roughly vertical) extension of the keel at the bow; therefore the upper-most and most forward part of the hull|stemhead}}. A [[Lug sail#Types|standing lug's]] tack is fastened near the foot of the mast. The halyard for a dipping lug is usually made fast to the weather gunwale, thereby allowing the mast to be otherwise unstayed. A common arrangement is to have a dipping lug foresail and a standing lug mizzen.{{efn|Because two-masted traditional British luggers were often derived from earlier three-masted versions, the forward mast on these two-masted vessels was called the foremast and the after mast the mizzen, the main mast having been dispensed with.{{r|Leather 1989|p=120}}<ref name="March 1969">{{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J |title=Sailing Drifters: The Story of the Herring Luggers of England, Scotland and the Isle of Man |date=1969 |publisher=David & Charles |location=Newton Abbott |isbn=0-7153-4679-2}}</ref>{{rp|19}}}} This arrangement is found on many traditional British fishing vessels, such as the [[fifie]], but there are examples of dipping lugs on two masts or standing lugs on two or three masts (as in the chasse-marée).<ref name="Leather 1989">{{cite book |last1=Leather |first1=John |title=Spritsails and Lugsails |date=1979 |publisher=International Marine Publishing Company |location=Camden, Maine |isbn=0877429987 |edition=1989 reissue}}</ref>{{rp|15-27, 62-70}}{{r|Barnes 2014|p=36}}[[File:Luggers at Looe Bay - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Luggers at Looe Bay, showing use of jib and topsails]]

== Rig ==
A standing lug may be used with or without a boom; most working craft were boomless to allow more working space. The dipping lug never uses a boom. A dipping lug has to be moved to the leeward side of the mast when going about, so that the sail can take a good aerodynamic shape on the new tack. There are several methods of doing this, one of which is to simply lower the sail, manhandle the yard and sail to the other side of the mast and re-hoist. All the various methods are time and labour consuming. A standing lug can be left unaltered when tacking as it still sets reasonably well with the sail pressed against the mast.<ref name="Barnes 2014">{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Roger |title=The Dinghy Cruising Companion: Tales and Advice from Sailing in a Small Open Boat |date=2014 |publisher=Adlard Coles |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1408179161 |edition=Kindle}}</ref>{{rp|page=36}} Some users (such as in the Royal Navy [[Montagu whaler]]) would still dip the yard of a standing lug (with a sharp, well timed downward pull on the leech at the moment when the wind is not filling the sail). Conversely many fishermen would always hoist a standing lug on the same side of the mast regardless of which tack they expected to be sailing on.

== Performance ==
Sailing performance with a standing lug relies on the right amount of luff tension. An essential component of this rig is the tack tackle, a purchase with which luff tension is adjusted for various points of sail.{{r|Barnes 2014|p=34}}

The balanced (or balance) lug has a boom that projects in front of the mast roughly the same distance as the yard. This is generally used in dinghies. The sail is left on the same side of the mast regardless of the wind direction. A downhaul is set up from the boom to a point close to the heel of the mast and its adjustment is critical to getting this sort of sail to set correctly.{{r|Barnes 2014|p=37}}
Luggers were used extensively for [[smuggling]] from the middle of the 18th century onwards; their fast hulls and powerful rigs regularly allowed them to outpace any Revenue vessel in service. The French three-masted luggers also served as [[privateer]]s and in general trade. As smuggling declined from about 1840, the [[Mast (sailing)|mainmast]] of British three-masted luggers tended to be discarded, with larger sails being set on the fore and mizzen. This gave more clear space in which to work [[fishing net]]s.<ref name="March 1952">{{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J. |title=Sailing Drifters: The story of the herring lugger of England, Scotland and the Isle of Man |date=1952 |publisher=David and Charles (Publishers) Limited |location=Newton Abbott |isbn=0-7153-4679-2 |edition=1969 reprint}}</ref>{{rp|pages=15–19}}

[[File:Gustave Courbet - Plage de Normandie (National Gallery of Art).jpg|thumb|right|A French lugger, beached and drying nets.  The lugsail is spread on the beach.  Painted by [[Gustave Courbet]] around 1874.]]

==Local types==
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2021}}
;British Isles
* [[Coble]], used on the English east coast from [[Yorkshire]] to [[Northumberland]]
*Five Man boats, large 55–65 foot boats used for line fishing on the Yorkshire coast
* [[Cornwall|Cornish]] lugger
* Deal lugger, the two larger types of boat used by [[Deal, Kent#Boatmen|Deal boatmen]] to service ships anchored in [[The Downs (ship anchorage)|the Downs]]. These were beach-launched open boats, originally three masted, but the main-mast was later dispensed with to allow more room, ultimately giving [[Jib sail|jib]], dipping lug [[foresail]] and a standing lug mizzen sheeted to an [[outrigger]]. A first-class lugger or "fore-peaker" was typically 38 feet long, 12&nbsp;ft 3 inches at greatest beam, carried 6 tons of ballast in a [[Clinker (boat building)|clinker-built hull]] weighing 3.5 tons. They could carry a replacement [[anchor]] and cable out to a large ship – a load of at least six tons.{{r|Leather 1989|pp=113-147}}<ref name="March 1970v2">{{cite book |last1=March |first1=Edgar J. |title=Inshore Craft of Great Britain in the Days of Sail and Oar |date=1970 |volume=2 |publisher=Chatham Publishing |location=London |isbn=1-86176-269-0 |edition=2005}}</ref>{{rp|55–123}}
* [[Fifie]], a herring drifter of the Scottish east coast
* [[Hastings]] lugger
* Manx nickey
* [[Nobby (boat)#Manx nobby|Manx nobby]][[File:Corenting-IMG 9716.JPG|thumb|right|''Corentin'', a replica ''chasse-marée'']]
* [[Sgoth Niseach]], dipping lug

;Continental Europe
* ''[[Barca-longa]]'', of the [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] and [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] coasts
* Breton ''[[chasse-marée]]''. These were fast-sailing cargo vessels that took fresh fish to market, sometimes taking general cargo for the return trip. They set standing lugs on three masts and a jib. Topsails were often used and topgallants when racing.
* French lugger (''lougre''), of the coast of [[Normandy]]

;United States of America
* ''New Orleans Lugger''[[File:Oyster Luggers in New Orleans.jpg|thumb|Oyster Luggers in New Orleans]] (also known as an ''Oyster Lugger''). These shallow draft vessels were typically 37&nbsp;ft overall with a 12&nbsp;ft beam, although they could vary substantially in size. They set a dipping lug on a single mast and had a centre board to help go to windward in deeper waters. They were used principally for fishing, with some cargoes occasionally carried. They could be found from Texas to the West coast of Florida.<ref name="Leather 1989">{{cite book |last1=Leather |first1=John |title=Spritsails and Lugsails |date=1979 |publisher=International Marine Publishing Company |location=Camden, Maine |isbn=0877429987 |edition=1989 reissue}}</ref>{{rp|358–363}}

;Australia
* Some of the early [[pearling lugger]]s used off the northern coast line of Australia from about the 1870s, often ship's boats, carried a lug sail, but the purpose-built boats that were used from the 1880s stopped using it over time. The majority of these were [[gaff-rig]]ed [[ketch]]es, although they continued to be called pearling luggers until the present day.<ref name=anmm>{{cite web | title=Pearling Luggers | website=Australian National Maritime Museum | url=http://arhv.anmm.gov.au/en/collections/details/34285;jsessionid=2401FD0A672DA2B06B926CD31CE1699C | access-date=11 April 2020}}</ref><ref name=collins>{{cite web | first=  Ben |last=Collins  | title=Lost luggers and the rough seas facing wooden boatbuilding | website=ABC News | date=5 January 2019 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-05/is-building-wooden-boats-like-broome-luggers-a-lost-art/10556174 | access-date=11 April 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Mystery (lugger)|Mystery]]'', lugger
* ''[[Spirit of Mystery]]'', replica of the lugger ''Mystery''
* ''[[Tradewind (schooner)|Sophie Theresia (herring lugger)]]''
* [[Leopold Janikowski]] sailed in a lugger to Cameroon in 1882

== Notes ==
{{notelist|30em}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[[Kenneth Shearwood|Shearwood, Ken]] (1972) ''Evening Star: the story of a Cornish lugger''. Truro: D. Bradford Barton

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
*[http://www.cornishluggers.co.uk/class-a-luggers/ Cornish Luggers: an online guide]
*[http://www.cornishluggers.co.uk/beer-luggers/ Cornish Luggers: an online guide; Beer luggers] (formerly in use on the south Devon and Dorset coasts)

{{Sailing vessels and rigs}}
{{Fishing vessel topics}}
{{Fisheries and fishing}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Types of fishing vessels]]
[[Category:Boat types]]
[[Category:Sailing rigs and rigging]]
[[Category:Luggers| ]]
[[Category:Pirate ships]]
[[Category:Privateer ships]]