Wiktionary
n. (context nautical English) A small two-masted vessel during the Age of Sail, typically carrying 12 guns, comprising two long guns in the chase position and ten carronades on the broadsides. In the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars this term implied an armed brig smaller than a brig-sloop.
Usage examples of "gun-brig".
Indefatigable flying her distinguishing pennant, the two gun-brigs which had been ordered to assist in convoying the expedition, and the four transports-a small enough force, it seemed to Hornblower, with which to attempt the overthrow of the French republic.
Indefatigable flying her distinguishing pennant, the two gun-brigs which had been ordered to assist in convoying the expedition, and the four transports —.
And now, with the gun-brigs sheering off, frightened by the shell, St Jacques let fly - heavy mortars, all the guns they possessed.