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Thread: New to the Age of Sails, here is a simple guide to mast and sails

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    Default New to the Age of Sails, here is a simple guide to mast and sails

    Being new my self to the age of sails, I have been finding it hard to remember the names of all the differet mast and sail locations. I find it much easier to come to grips with this stuff if I have a good diagram to see what is what and where it is. However, most of the images out there seem over loaded with info and I quickly get lost in it all.

    So, In this thread I plan on giving examples of easy to follow diagrams going over the different parts of the ship.

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    Default Masts and Yards

    One of the biggest subjects that comes up on a sailing ship is of course, the sails. But, before you can have sails, you have to have both masts and yards.



    KEY TO DIAGRAM - MASTS (orange)
    A - Main Mast
    B - Main Topmast
    C - Main Topgallant Mast
    D - Fore Mast
    E - Fore Topmast
    F - Fore Topgallant Mast
    G - Mizzen Mast
    H - Mizzen Topmast
    I - Mizzen Topgallant Mast
    J - Bowsprit
    K - Jib Boom
    L - Spear

    KEY TO DIAGRAM - YARDS (black)
    1 - Main Yard
    2 - Main Topsail Yard
    3 - Main Topgallant Yard
    4 - Main Royal Yard
    5 - Fore Yard
    6 - Fore Topsail Yard
    7 - Fore Topgallant Yard
    8 - Fore Royal Yard
    9 - Mizzen Yard
    10 - Mizzen Topsail Yard
    11 - Mizzen Topgallant Yard
    12 - Mizzen Royal Yard
    13 - Gaff
    14 - Driver Boom
    15 - Spritsail Yard


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    Default

    Now that we can clearly find what and where the mast and stuff are, it's time to have a look at those sails:



    KEY TO DIAGRAM- SQUARE SAILS (orange)
    A - Main Course
    B - Main Topsail
    C - Main Topgallant Sail
    D - Main Royal
    E - Foremast Course
    F - Foremast Topsail
    G - Foremast Topgallant Sail
    H - Foremast Royal
    I - Mizzen Topsail
    J - Mizzen Topgallant Sail
    K - Mizzen Royal
    L - Driver or Spanker

    KEY TO DIAGRAM - JIBS & FORE STAY SAILS (blue)
    M - Flying Jib
    N - Fore Topmast Staysail
    O - Fore Staysail

    Last edited by The Royal Hajj; 12-14-2011 at 23:02. Reason: Sails

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    Default Sail Settings

    Now that there is sails on our ship, we should learn how they were set and for what reasons.



    Studding Sail


    Studdingsails (pronounced stunsails) are set from booms rigged out from both yardarms of the topsail and topgallant yards of the fore- and mainmasts to extend temporarily the area of the topsails and topgallants. 'gull wing' - common for its sailing efficiency as it allowed the quartering wind to reach the fore sails more effectively.



    Full Sail

    Similar to All Plain Sail but with the inclusion of stay sails, the fore and aft sails rigged between the masts on a vessels stays.



    All Plain Sail

    All the square sails set, courses, tops, topgallants and royals. With all plain sail set, the main-sail is generally considered the best sail to steer the ship by; with the main-sail up, the main top-gallant sail is then the best sail to steer by; and with top-gallant sails handed, the main-topsail.



    Fighting Sail or Easy Sail

    The Easy Sails, where courses are furled, are sometimes referred to as Fighting Sail. This has tops and topgallants set, and would be used where possible in action to give Marine snipers in the fighting tops a clear shot at the enemy crew on the weather deck below. This was preferred because it got the lower sails out of the way. The sail set a vessel fought at was dictated by prevailing conditions.

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    All those masts and sails will do us no good if they don't stay on the ship! That is where the rigging comes in. Before we can dive into the diagram for the rigging, we need to know a little more about it.

    Rigging Nomenclature

    • standing rigging does not change position. Usually it braces the masts.
    • running rigging is used to adjust sails and anchors.
    • line - a rope.
    • stay - a rope that doesn't move, part of the standing rigging, usually located in the fore-aft plane of the vessel.
    • shroud - similar to a stay, but is located in the athwartship plane of the vessel. Thus, shrouds come down to the sides of the boat and are attached to chainplates.
    • vang - a rope used to pull something around or down.
    • sheet - a rope used to adjust the position of a sail so that it catches the wind properly.
    • block - the nautical name for a pulley. It may be fixed to some part of the vessel or spars, or even tied to the end of a rope. The sheave is the wheel. A fiddle block has two or more sheaves in one block.
    • snatch-block can be closed around a line, to grab the line, rather than threading the end of the line through the block.
    • shackle - a piece of metal to attach two ropes, or a block to a rope, or a sail to a rope. Customarily, a shackle has a screw-in pin which often is so tight that a shackle-key must be used to unscrew it. A snap-shackle doesn't screw, and can be released by hand, but it's usually less strong or more expensive than a regular shackle.
    • halyards - the ropes on which one pulls to hoist something. E.g. the main-top-gallant-halyard would be the rope on which one pulls to hoist (unfurl) the main-top-gallant-sail.
    • running lines are made fast (unmoving) by belaying them to (wrapping them around) a cleat or a belaying-pin located in a pin-rail.


    Standing Rigging







    Running Rigging

    The whole body of ropes by which the yards, booms and sails are manipulated constitute the running rigging, since they are in constant use, to trim yards, and make or shorten sail. The running rigging by which all spars and sails are hoisted, or lowered and spread or taken in, may be divided into those which lift and lower the lifts, jeers, halliards (haulyards), and those which hold down the lower corners of the sails, the tacks and sheets.
    Running rigging is the term for the rigging of a sailing vessel that is used for raising, lowering and controlling the sails - as opposed to the standing rigging, which supports the mast and other spars. The running rigging includes halyards and sheets.
    Some types of running rigging include:

    • halyards, which are the ropes or tackles usually employed to hoist or lower any sail upon it's respective masts or stays.
    • downhauls, which lower a sail or a yard, and can be used to adjust the tension on the luff of a sail, are a rope passing up along a stay through the rings of the stay-sail, and tied to the upper-corner of the sail, to pull it down, when they are shortening sail.
    • Cunninghams, which tighten the luff of a sail
    • Guys, which control spinnakers, are a rope used to keep steady any weighty body whilst it is hoisting or lowering, particularly when the ship is shaken by a tempestuous sea. Guy is likewise a large slack rope, extending from the head of the main-mast to the head of the fore-mast, and having two or three large blocks fastened to the middle of it. This is chiefly employed to sustain the tackle used to hoist in and out the cargo of a merchant ship, and is accordingly removed from the mast-heads as soon as the vessel is laden or delivered.
    • Topping lifts, which hold up booms or yards, are a large and strong tackle, employed to suspend or top the outer end of a gaff, or of the boom of a main-sail and fore-sail; such as are used in brigs, sloops, or schooners. A topping lift supports the end of a boom to keep the weight of the boom from affecting the set of the sail. In ships that use cantilevered jib booms, the jib topping lift is very important, as it alleviates the mechanical load transmitted by the jib boom.
    • Barber hauls, which adjust the sheeting angle of a foresail (jib)

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    Default Decks

    The next biggest part of the ship we will most likely be concerned with is the different decks:






    Weather Decks are upper decks having no overhead protection from the weather, but sheltering the deck below.

    Poop deck, the deck forming the roof of a poop or poop cabin, built on the upper deck and extending from the mizzenmast aft. An exposed partial deck on the stern superstructure of a ship. an exposed partial weather deck on the stern superstructure of a ship. Guns were rarely carried on this deck. It was mainly used as a viewpoint and signalling platform. The poop deck also gave protection to the men at the wheel and provided a roof for the captain's cabin. The ropes controlling the yards (spars) and sails of the main and mizzen masts were operated from the poop deck. The memory of the aftercastle, later to become the quarterdeck, is recorded only in abbreviations of the parts of ship, FX and AX "X" in this instance representing castle. In the course of time the aftercastle became the poop; the development of this word, like many things, is conjectural.

    Quarter-deck, the part of the upper deck abaft the mainmast, including the poop deck when there is one. A deck which runs unbroken from forward-aft is of course a whole deck; and one which goes approximately half the ship's length, like the forecastle deck of a destroyer, is a half deck. Consequently a quarterdeck was roughly a quarter of the ship's length; it was a small deck forward of and just below the poop, between poop and mainmast. When the aftercastle disappeared the quarterdeck came into its own. Quarter-deck, the sanctum of the captain and superior officers. The quarterdeck was the nerve center of the ship. In a gun-decked ship, it is the deck below the spar-deck, extending from the mainmast to the cabin bulk-heads.

    Half-deck, that portion of the deck next below the spar deck which is between the mainmast and the cabin. The Half-Deck, (corps de garde, Fr.) is a space under the quarter-deck of a ship of war, that contained between the foremost bulk-head of the steerage, and the fore-part of the quarter-deck. The Half-deck is the sanctum of the second mate, carpenters, coopers, boatswain, and all secondary officers.

    Great cabin at at the stern provides the most comfortable living space on the ship. It was divided into 3 areas on the largest ships, consisting of the day and dining cabins plus the bed space. These were partitioned from the rest of the deck by wooden panels that could be removed during a battle. This would allow the great cabin to be turned into part of the upper gun deck

    The waist is that part of the upper deck between the quarter-deck and forecastle. Waisters. Green hands, or broken-down seamen, are placed in the waist of a man-of-war.

    Spar deck is either the upper deck, or sometimes a light deck fitted over the upper deck.

    Flush deck, any continuous, unbroken deck from stem to stern.

    Upper deck, the highest deck of the hull, extending from stem to stern.

    Gun Decks, see below.

    Berth deck, a deck next below the gun deck, where the hammocks of the crew are swung.

    Orlop deck, the deck or part of a deck where the cables are stowed, usually below the water line. The deck above the holds in the old ships, what would now be called the platform deck, was known as the orlop deck, a contraction of 'overlap', a word of Dutch origin meaning 'that which runs over the hold'.



    Gun deck, a deck below the spar deck, on which the ship's guns are carried. The central part of the upper gun deck may be uncovered and open to the air. This would give the crew a work area that had plenty of light and was well ventilated. During daylight hours and under the supervision of skilled craftsmen the crew would carry out tasks such as patching sails and repairing ropes.

    Upper gun deck is the highest gun deck if there are three gun decks.

    main deck is the upper if there are two gun decks.

    middle gun deck is the middle gun deck if there are three gun decks.

    lower gun deck is the lowest of the gun decks.

    The lightest guns occupy the highest of the 3 decks, while the heaviest can be found on the lowest deck. This was done to aid the ship's stability while at sea. By placing the heaviest guns on the lowest deck the ship is less likely to capsize in rough weather.

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    Someone has been busy!!

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    Haha, yeah. I recently started reading the Master and Commander series (well the first book at any rate) and trying to visualize all the ship parts as I read it was driving me nuts.

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    Awesome Keith. I am going to have a small "Guide to combat sailing" book printed out and bound by the time you and Steve finish filling my head with all this stuff!

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Royal Hajj View Post
    Haha, yeah. I recently started reading the Master and Commander series (well the first book at any rate) and trying to visualize all the ship parts as I read it was driving me nuts.
    Great! Well done, Keith!

    The detailed descriptions in those books are impressive. A mine of terms.

    Attilio

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    Great Post! Thank You from a sailing novice!

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    Great info. Will be very usefull for rigging

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    Test on Monday!

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    Excellent post. Most informative. Have to print it as a cheat sheet if there is a test. And these people were illerate?

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    Extremely informative, although my Dad was a matelot, he could never tell me all the names of a sailing ship, suppose the dissadvantage of being a submariner.
    Anyway where is the ward room ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Capt P View Post
    Excellent post. Most informative. Have to print it as a cheat sheet if there is a test. And these people were illerate?
    Some of them -- but one didn't have to be able to read; one learned where a particular rope/sail/whatever was, and what it did, and that was enough.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Capt P View Post
    Excellent post. Most informative. Have to print it as a cheat sheet if there is a test. And these people were illerate?
    As mentioned not all. Also illiterate didn't mean stupid. the ability to memorize things was very useful, and could be nurtured, like reading. Something to think about in this google-age.
    Karl

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    There wasn't much else to do on board besides "learn the ropes" and maintain the ship!

  24. #24

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    Thanks for the information, Sealord.

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    That is a very comprehensive introduction to the subject thank you First Sea lord. I will go away and try to memorise it for my midshipman's examination.
    Bligh.

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    A good, brief outline - many thanks.

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    I don't know how I missed this post until now, but thanks.
    The next time I read one of Patrick O'Brian's books I'll do it next to the computer and this post.

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    I did once print out a sail plan and had it to hand when I started reading AoS novels many years ago. It certainly helped :)
    Just as now I have a printed map of Westeros when I'm reading the "Game of Thrones" novels so I can keep track of where everything is!!

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    Thanks for the good info!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by David Manley View Post
    Just as now I have a printed map of Westeros when I'm reading the "Game of Thrones" novels so I can keep track of where everything is!!
    Now you are talking my novels! I'm a diehard GoT fan!

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    A great guide now to see how accurate Master and Commander was!

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    Pretty accurate, my dear Killick - they kept a copy of Lavery (amongst others) around for constant reference.

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    What a great summary! Thanks. But the real test is how many of us can say all of these names fast with a British accent!
    SeaRoyal20

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    Thank you, very interesting and helpfull :D

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    Great set of posts. Very informative and easy to follow. Thanks.

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    Quote Originally Posted by [B
    Fighting Sail or Easy Sail[/B]

    The Easy Sails, where courses are furled, are sometimes referred to as Fighting Sail. This has tops and topgallants set, and would be used where possible in action to give Marine snipers in the fighting tops a clear shot at the enemy crew on the weather deck below. This was preferred because it got the lower sails out of the way. The sail set a vessel fought at was dictated by prevailing conditions.
    Also, I always thought the main reason for "fighting sails" was to keep the main and formast courses from catching on fire from the blast and burning powder spray of their own cannons.

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    Great guides! Something everyone who models these ships needs to keep on their bench.

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    Well, I was (am) a complete landsman when it comes to things that float, so I thought it would be a handy reference for me as well!

  39. #39
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    I can feel a nasty touch of having to invest in some serious books on matters Naval as well your Lordship.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9VaDlbpAeI

    Bligh.

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Royal Hajj View Post
    Haha, yeah. I recently started reading the Master and Commander series (well the first book at any rate) and trying to visualize all the ship parts as I read it was driving me nuts.
    I can easily see this game sucking me into reading all 20 Patrick O'Brian novels. My father owns them all, and as an ex-navy man living on the Chesapeake Bay, he will be THRILLED when I show him Sails of Glory!

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    I still think "the front sticky up thing and the middle sticky up thing" is easier to remember. :o Maybe only historically accurate for the landlubbers waking up on their first morning post being press ganged.

    A lovely bit of research though. Thanks.

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    I just finished book 15 last night :D

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    Default Great Resource

    Quote Originally Posted by The Royal Hajj View Post
    I find it much easier to come to grips with this stuff if I have a good diagram to see what is what and where it is. However, most of the images out there seem over loaded with info and I quickly get lost in it all.
    I am the same way and this is a great resource for all levels. Another thing that might help some to know is that there is a shortening in speech for many of these mouthful terms (as you might expect in any military endeavor). At least they didn't use acronyms as heavily back then.



    Here are a few ways to give your gums a break when speaking these names.

    1 When sail is attached to another word (ex. topsail), you can make it the unstessed syllable and basically say 'sul' as in sullen. So it might phonetically look like TOP-sul

    I'll give a few of the common ones -
    2 Topgallant again cuts out 'top' into 'ta' as in Beretta. SO ta-GALLant. You can see the pattern.
    3 Again topmast cuts mast a bit to get TOPmst -OR- you leave it off and say "Main Top" when talking about the mast with the implication that you would mention the sail if you were talking about it "Main topsul"


    If all these terms are bad, just remember that they were still working with Larboard and starboard instead of Port and starboard. What a headache.

  44. #44
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    Excellent info, thank you Sir

  45. #45
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    The pictures in posts 2,3,4 and 5 are not showing on my computer, Keith.

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    Are you viewing from work or a public computer?

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    Thanks for the intro - is there an easy way to print the posts?

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    Awesome diagrams, will come in very handing when it comes to some lite rigging attempts.

  49. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by pward View Post
    Awesome diagrams, will come in very handing when it comes to some lite rigging attempts.

    That's why I bought so many.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Avi View Post
    Thanks for the intro - is there an easy way to print the posts?
    Sorry, not really. You can right click the images and save those and then print them out.

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