The Lugger rig.

by Han
(Brittany, France)

A restored Sinagot.

One of the subjects maritime historians fight about is the origin of the lugger rig. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugger, where the author states that it is "an evolved version of the classical square sail" (why not of the lateen sail?) and "the earliest of the fore and aft rigs", which is an example of blatant misinformation (lateen, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateen, and junk rig, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_Rig existed centuries earlier, as well as the spritsail rig). Apart from these unfortunate mistakes the information in the article is correct, so please read it.

Anyway, some lugger-rigged ships in north-western Europe survived until these days, thanks to a select group of loving idiots: the Fifies on the east coast of Scotland, a ketch-type; the main mast and sail forward, and the mizzen behind; and the schooner-type (main mast and sail aft, schooner mast and sail in front) Sinagots of the Golfe du Morbihan, southern coast of Brittany, near Vannes).