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Maritime History

Sailing Ships

Sails

• 1. Fling Jib
• 2. Fore Staysail
• 3. Jib
• 4. Outer Jib
• 5. Fore Upper-Topsail
• 6. Fore Lower_Topsail
• 7. Foresail
• 8. Main Topsail-Staysail
• 9. Main Gaff-Topsail
• 10.Mainsail

Rigging

• 1. Jib and Fore-Staysail Sheets
• 2. Upper Topsail Braces
• 3. Lower Topsail Braces
• 4. Fore Sheet
• 5. Main Peak Halliards
• 6. Main Sheets
• 7. Main Boom Topping Lift

Rigging can be divided into two categories: Standing rigging which helps to maintain masts in their permanent positions, and running rigging which controls the movement of yards and sails.

Standing Rigging.

A forestay passes from the top of a mast downwards in a forward direction. A backstay passes from the top of a mast downwards in an after direction to the ship's sides. Shrouds pass from the top of a mast (or a point on it) to the ship's sides. Ratlines are short lengths of line which cross the shrouds at intervals to form ladders to the upper parts of the masts.

Running Rigging

A lift takes the weight of a yard or boom. Halliards raise or lower a spar or sail, or may be used for signal flags. Braces control the fore-and-aft movement of the yards. Clew lines lift the lower corners of a square sail.

To bend a sail is to attach it to a yard or boom, and to furl it is to secure it temporarily to a spar by short lengths of line called gaskets. The spike bowsprit has generally taken the place of the more elaborate jib-boom bowsprit. The former consists of one spar only.

The names of the spars, sails, and rigging of a large square-rigged vessel follow the same system of nomenclature as shown for the topsail schooner. These are the names of the sails of a squarerigged mast, starting from deck level. Course, Lower-topsail, Upper-topsail, Lower-topgallant, Upper-topgallant, Royal, and, in some instances, skysail.

Names of masts of a four-mast barque: fore, main, mizzen, and jigger. In naming a sail the name of the mast comes first, followed by the name of the sail. For example: fore-upper-topsail refers to the third sail from deck level on the foremast and mizzen upper-topgallant refers to the fifth sail on the third mast of a full-rigged ship or four-mast barque.

The mizzen-course is sometimes referred to as the Cro' jack. Several giant five-mast barques have been built and their fifth masts have been variously called after-jigger, after-spanker, or pusher.

Full-Rigged Ships.

The full-rigged ship is a sailing vessel with square yards and sails on all three, or four, masts. To be pedantic the term "ship" applies only to this kind of vessel.

This was the rig of most of the fine sailing vessels of the middle nineteenth century when the famous China clippers achieved speed and performance never equalled before or since. The clipper was the result of improvements in hull form and rigging inspired by earlier sailing vessels of the New England coast.

The hull had very fine lines, with a long run forward and aft to eliminate underwater resistance. These improvements meant a reduction in cargo-carrying space, but with a light and valuable cargo of tea this was not a disadvantage. As the ships carried large crews, the number of sails was increased, and to increase the speed still further, small studding sails were added to the fore and mainmasts.

One of the most famous of the tea clippers was the British ship Cutty Sark, built at Dumbarton in 1869, with a weight of 921 tons and a length of 212 feet. In these days of fast ships and record passages she made many journeys from China in under too days during the few years she sailed in the tea trade. On one voyage she made daily runs of 350 miles for several consecutive days, reaching a speed of over 16 knots a speed far in excess of that of the contemporary steamer and, in fact, as good as the fast cargo liner of to-day.

Other well-known British and American clippers were the Thermopylae, Taeping, Ariel, Sir Launcelot, and Fiery Cross. These are only a few of the fast fullrigged ships of the days when the sailing ship reached a state nearing perfection after a slow development over many centuries. Soon after the opening of the Suez Canal the tea trade was taken over by steamers, and many of the tea clippers were transferred to the Australian wool trade, where they continued to make remarkable passages.

Full-Rigged Ship

Wool Clipper, iron-built in 1877, length 226 feet, 1,235 tons gross. They were faster than the larger iron clippers built for that trade. As the wool trade developed the iron-built ships increased in size, and one of the largest clippers of her day was Sabraon, 2131 tons gross, length 317 feet, a giant compared with the small and delicate tea clippers.

The clipper Cutty Sark made the best passages in the Australian wool trade, as she had in the tea trade; between 1874 and 1890 she averaged 73 1/4 days for seven passages. The Cutty Sark, after lying for many years in Falmouth harbour, and in the Thames off Rotherhithe where she serves as a training ship. She ended her days in trade under the Portuguese flag and under a different name.

Several navies still use full-rigged ships as sail training ships. Among them are Galatea (Spain), Faramas (Sweden), Suomen Joutsen (Finland), Amerigo Vespucci (Italy), and her sister ship now owned by Russia. Poland, Norway, and Denmark also possess full-rigged ships as Merchant Navy schoolships.

The last ship of this rig to sail under the British flag was the Joseph Conrad, which sailed round the world in 1934-36 as a privately run schoolship. She had previously been the Danish training ship Georg Stage, replaced by a new ship of the same name.

The Brig

The brig is a two-mast sailing vessel with square sails on each mast, and fore-and-aft staysails, jibs, and spanker. This was a common rig for coastal and short-sea traders of the last century.

The well-known colliers from the Tyne to London were of this type. Some of the fastest brigs were the fish carriers bringing cod from Newfoundland to Bristol in the early part of the last century. The average size of the brig was about 200 or 250 tons and about 130 feet in length.

The snow was almost the same as the brig, except that the spanker was set on a small mast close to and parallel to the mainmast. Later the term "snow" referred more to a Scandinavian type of hull. The brigantine had two masts, the foremast square-rigged and the mainmast fore-and-aft rigged. The term hermaphrodite brig originally referred to this rig, but this term soon dropped out of use.

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy used all three of the above rigs for their smaller vessels. Some of the early brigs were particularly beautiful little vessels. Long after steamships were firmly established in the fleet, small brigs continued in use as training ships. Before the war an attractive little brig used to visit Leith; she was the Norwegian sail training ship Starsraad Ericksen.

Fore-and-Aft Rigged Sailing Vessels.

Theree-Mast Topsail Schooner.

Although a fore-and-aft rigged ship, she has a square sail on the foremast. She is typical of the small sailing coaster which was at one time common around British coasts.

The Four-Mast Topsail Schooner.

Is a modem training ship built in I 927 for the Spanish Navy. She is over 300 feet long, has a weight of 3,220 tons and has auxiliary diesel motors. The irregular shape of her deck line suggests that she is not in the same class as the ordinary cargo carrier.

The Two-Mast Schooner.

Is easily distinguished from the brigantine by her try-sail (spanker) on the foremast as well as on the main mast.

The Barquentine.

She resembles the topsail schooner, but a second glance shows that she has staysails between the fore and mainmasts. Not many years ago the French had a large fleet of barquentines called Terre-Neuvas, length 180 feet, used in the Newfoundland cod fishery.

Fishing was done from small boats called dories which were stacked on deck during passages.

The Waterwitch, 207 tons gross, 112 feet long, was a well-known British barquentine built in Poole in 1871. In more recent years she was used as an unofficial training ship for Thames pilots who had to put in some time in a square-rig vessel at a time when these ships were almost non-existent.

Fore-and-Aft Rigged Sailing Vessels

The Three-Mast Schooner.

Is typical of many still seen around our coasts; some are British-owned and some are visitors from the Baltic and the Faroes, bringing over timber and returning to their home ports perhaps with machinery or china clay. Sail is used, but they have also auxiliary engines.

Portuguese codfishing schooners have clipper bows, and carry large unusually shaped topsails with the aftermost mast higher than the others. During the summer months about thirty of these beautiful vessels fish the Grand Banks and Greenland waters, each carrying about fifty one-man dories for long-line fishing.

The Thames Spritsail Barge.

Is a familiar sight in South-eastern waters. Her distinctive features are a large mainmast and small mizzen with tancoloured sails. The mainsail is supported at the peak by a long spar called a sprit, and the sail is loosefooted so that furling is easy when the sail is brailed up to the gaff and mast. Although these barges are over 100 tons they can be handled easily by two men. Occasionally they may be seen in continental ports across the Channel, as well as round the south and east coasts of England.

The Portugues Ketch.

Is used in the coasting trade.

The Greek Caique

It is typical of the many foreand-aft boats seen in the Mediterranean. Many depend on sail, others have auxiliary power. Sometimes this vessel has either a balanced lug foresail and a gaff mainsail, or two gaff sails. In the Adriatic these boats look very attractive with their sails of different yellows and browns patched in other colours.

Conttact Details, E-mail:- Tony Angell
Last Updated: 06/06/2009
Copyright © 2009 Tony Angell.