The lugsail
A lugsail is a four-sided sail bent to a spar, called the yard, which hangs at an angle from the mast. Unlike a square sail, it is set along the boat, not across it, so the vessel can sail closer to the wind. Unlike a gaff sail, the yard is hoisted so that part of it lies forward of the mast.
Two main versions are usually described.
- The standing lug, where the sail is arranged so that the yard sits on one side of the mast and stays there when the boat changes tack, although the sail sometimes shifts a little.
- The dipping lug, in which the front of the yard has to be lowered, passed around the mast and raised again each time the boat changes tack, so that the sail always sets on the leeward side of the mast. It could give a powerful, efficient shape but demanded a well-drilled crew.
The lugsail has a long history in Europe and Asia, and it suited small open and half-decked boats because it was simple, cheap and easy to reduce in size. A boat that carries lugsails is generally called a lugger, and the word covers a wide range of vessels, from small beach boats to substantial three-masted fishing craft.
Cornish luggers
Cornwall had a busy fishing industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, based on pilchards, mackerel and herring. The fishermen of Mount’s Bay, St Ives, Looe and elsewhere used sturdy luggers with two or three masts, a long sheer, and a relatively sharp stern. These were often built in small yards close to the harbours they served.
Most Cornish luggers were open or partly decked and carried a large crew, as the nets were heavy and the work was hard. They went out to the fishing grounds under sail, sometimes with oars as a help in calm weather. In the pilchard season the boats usually worked from their home ports, and the catch was salted and packed in the local fish cellars for export, often to Mediterranean markets. The North Sea herring trade ran along similar lines on another coast.
Winter and summer fisheries often called for different gear, and a boat might switch from drift nets to seines or to line fishing during the year. The type was also adapted for carrying passengers, pilots and goods when fishing was slack, since a fast, seaworthy boat was an asset in many roles.
Cornwall’s lugger fleets declined from the late nineteenth century. Competition from steam drifters and trawlers, changes in the pilchard market, and later the arrival of petrol and diesel engines all contributed. A handful of luggers have survived and are now preserved and sailed as heritage vessels. Some are looked after by local trusts and maritime museums.
Breton luggers
Brittany, on the other side of the Channel, had a lugger tradition of its own, and the boats are often grouped with those of Cornwall because the working conditions and the rigs were similar. Breton fishermen of Douarnenez, Concarneau and other ports fished for sardines, tuna and other species in the Bay of Biscay and out into the Atlantic.
Several types of Breton boat are described as luggers. Among them was the chasse-marée, a three-masted coastal vessel with lug sails, which carried cargoes such as wine, salt and fish along the French coast, and which has also been associated with privateering and smuggling in earlier centuries. The name “chasse-marée” is thought to refer to the practice of carrying fresh fish quickly from the quay to market, though its derivation is a matter of interpretation.
Fishing boats in Brittany had fine lines and a large spread of sail for their size. Over time, the sails of the tuna boats grew very large, supported by long outriggers on some types to allow the lines to be worked from the sides. Sardine boats moved toward more compact rigs, and later most of them adopted engines. As in Cornwall, the older sailing boats gradually disappeared, though a few have been restored or rebuilt as replicas.
How the lugger was handled
The nature of the rig made some manoeuvres distinctive. With a dipping lug, changing tack required the crew to lower the sail partly, shift the yard around the mast and hoist it again, a process that took care in a seaway. Standing lugs were often chosen where simplicity mattered, as the yard did not need dipping.
Luggers could be reefed by reducing the sail along its foot, or by changing to smaller sails in strong weather, and many were also able to lower their masts. That last feature was useful when the boat had to work under bridges, or when the mast would be in the way of nets and gear. In a fleet, the boats were often spoken of in terms of their rig and size more than of an exact design.
Why the lugger lasted
The lugsail was inexpensive, easily repaired, and well suited to boats worked by many hands. It gave good performance off the wind and a reasonable ability to sail on it, and the low, wide sails kept the weight of the rig down. Those qualities explain how it remained a standard working rig in two regions for such a long time.
The boats also had a second life. Their speed and manoeuvrability caught the attention of smugglers and privateers. Later, as the sailing fishery ended, their reputation as handsome working craft led to heritage groups restoring them, so that a few can still be seen on regattas and festival days in Cornwall and Brittany.