popeye2sea

I have been doing some thinking on the subject of tack lines on the fore sail. It seems to me that the only tack line that would matter would be the one to windward holding the clew forward and down. The lead of this tack would be more up and down when on a wind and so should not foul any other lines. The lee tack would be slack. The way I would solve the the fair lead problem would be to look at the where the clew of the fore sail would come to when braced up hard, and run the tack in the manner that reduces fouling and chafe to a minimum in this position. Regards,

Just to bring it all home to your rigging plan, the studdingsail booms are part numbers 165, 167, and 169. Regards

I find that taping and masking are more of a nuisance than they are worth and I always end up having to go back and fix stuff anyway. I get a much better result with just controlling the flow of paint off the brush. I never mask anymore. Regards,

I've got some pictures to show you of the Constitutions topsail, topgallant, and royal yards. Hopefully you can see the fittings for the yoke and parrel arrangement. Also shown are the yardarm cleats and fittings for the outer studdingsail boom irons, as well as the sheaves for the sheets. The horses and stirrups are attached to the yards. At the center of the yards you can see the additional wood padding out the center section with the halliard blocks. There are no quarter cleats on the front of the yards. On the top mast yard, in addition to the iron jackstays there seems to be another rope one. Not sure what the purpose for this rope stay is. Perhaps it is for use as a man rope or hand hold for working aloft. This is the only sail that currently gets set on the ship. Also seen in the center section of the topsail yard is the net-like bunt gasket. Hanging from underneath the yards are additional blocks with their rose lashings above. I hope you find these useful. Regards,

Superb work! I love the way it looks, but man! your going to have a heck of a job painting all of that. I know how long it took me to paint the considerably fewer decorations on the original piece. My hats off to you, sir! Regards,

There is a fitting that looks something like this on every yard: This fitting both helps secure the yard to the mast an allows it to stand off the mast a bit. The surface that bears against the mast is leathered. I will look to see if I have any pictures of the yards to show the details of the yoke and cleats. Regards,

The fore topsail bowlines will lead from the sail forward to a pair of leading blocks on the fore topmast stay at about the level of the fore yard and then through two blocks attached to the bowsprit somewhere near the the collar of the fore stay. They then went directly to the forecastle rail or sometimes they went through the gammon block. Most often they belayed to the rail at the fo'c's'le or the "range" (a pin rail across the head). If to the range they sometimes went through an additional pair of blocks a little way up the fore stay. At times they were taken back up to blocks under the fore top and down to the deck from there. Regards, My apologies, I misread your post and gave you the info for the fore and not the main. The main topsail bowlines will run to leading blocks under the after ends of the fore trestle trees and then down to the deck. They will belay to whatever fitting you have abaft the foremast, whether that is set of bitts with a cross beam or a fife rail with belaying pins. I do not think there would be a separate set of bowline bitts.

What a superb job you have done with her. She looks fantastic.

I bought my copy on Amazon about a month ago. Regards,

Harold Underhill has a book called Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier. He describes the standard and usual method of rigging for civilian ships. Also included is a fold out diagram of the belaying locations with a comprehensive and cross referenced index. I think it is a great resource. Regards,

The photos posted above by Captain Poison show the bentinck shrouds aboard USS Constitution. The legs of the shroud consist of a length of line with an eye at both ends. The legs are wormed, parcelled, and served their entire length. The shroud legs are doubled and passed through a thimble spliced into the end of the bentinck shroud. The ends of the legs are seized to the lower shrouds at the futtock stave. If you look closely at the pic you will see that the innermost pair of legs go the middle shroud and are seized one above the other. The remaining pairs are seized to each successive shroud moving out from the center. The bentinck shroud itself leads down to the opposite waterway where it has a heart turned in. It sets up with a laniard rove through the two hearts. The lower heart is shackled to an eyebolt in the waterway. The number of legs for your bentinck shrouds usually equals the number of futtock shrouds and should splice to the same lower shrouds as the futtock shrouds. Regards,

In Steel's Art of Rigging he desribes the method of hoisting up and rigging the top mast. According to this method the top mast is hoisted up using a hawser rigged in the old manner (pre 1640 or so) as has been described in posts above. The hawser was used to hoist the top mast high enough to pass through the lower mast cap where at the topmast cross tress and head rigging were fitted over the top mast head. The top mast was then held in place by tackles from the lower mast head while the hawser is un-rove. The top rope pendant is then rove in the method described by Lees (1640 on). So, everyone is correct here. The top rope, after 1640, as described by Lees was never intended to allow the top mast to be lowered to or hoisted from the deck. That job was accomplished by a separate line. Which also sort of explains the differences in whether the top rope was un-reeved or left rigged during different time periods. Regards,

I agree with with Frank. The top rope may have been called a pendant, but it was just one length of rope. It came down to the deck and was redirected to a horizontal direction using (usually) the fourth sheeve of the knight and then probably taken to a capstan. Regards,

The studding sail guy is a rope used to help support and steady the studding sail boom. When the boom is swung out into position for spreading the foot of the lower studding sail the guy ropes run from near the outer end of the boom to points on the hull to steady it in position. You could simply fit an eyebolt into the hull to take the end of the guy. Or you could lead it onto the channel to belay there. Regards

Here is what I used, based upon R.C. Anderson The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Sprtisail Topmast 1600 - 1720: The rigging sizes all are figured relative to the main stay which has a circumference equal to half the maximum diameter of the main mast, so 42.76 inches mast diameter x 1/100 scale gives 0.43 in. scale mast diameter .043 / 2 gives a main stay circumference of 0.215 inches 0.215 / 3.14 gives a main stay diameter of 0.068 inches. The closest line I had available is 0.08 inches (which may be a bit too large. 0.06 may be a better choice) The following rules of thumb then apply (in order of size): Fore stay = 4/5 of the main stay Main shrouds and Main topmast stay = 1/2 Fore Shrouds, Fore topmast stay, Mizzen stay = 2/5 Main topmast and Mizzen shrouds = 1/4 Fore topmast shrouds, Mizzen Topmast stay and the two Topgallant stays 1/5 Shrouds for the last 3 = 1/6 These following rules apply to the rest of the rigging but they are relative to their respective lines (this should become clear in the table below): Mast tackle pendants = shrouds (i.e Main mast tackle pendants = the Main mast shroud diameter) Shroud deadeye laniards = 1/2 the shroud Stay collars = 3/4 of the stay Tackle runners = 2/3 of their pendant Tackle falls = 1/2 of their runner or pendant Backstays = Shrouds Tyes = Shrouds Halyards = 2/3 of the Tye Lifts = 3/8 of the shroud Lift pendants = 1/2 shroud Braces = 3/4 of the Brace pendant Brace Pendant = 1/2 shroud Deadeyes = 1/2 the diameter of the mast Tacks = shroud Sheet = 3/4 shroud Clews = 1/2 of the sheet Bowlines = 1/2 shroud Leech lines = 1/3 shroud Bunt lines = 1/3 shroud Block length should be about 12 times the diameter of the rope and their sheeves should be about 9x the diameter of the rope Hope that helps some. Regards,

That is an interesting article. It does state that the common images of the flags as shown are probably from a more modern source , however it later states that some of them depict images as described in period sources. Regards,

You have to remember the purpose of a pirate ship. It was to make money by looting or taking other vessels. It was not sensible to extensively damage or sink the other vessel unless they absolutely did not need it. To that end most pirates actively cultivated a fierce persona and reputation to cow their prey into submission without having to fire a shot. Gunpowder and shot was also a large expense item. To that end many of them adopted their own flags so that they would be recognized and feared on first sighting. The 'golden age' of piracy was in the early 1700's. Some notable pirates of the time flew versions of the "Jolly Roger" The first skull and crossbones motif appeared in 1700 when the French pirate Emanuel Wynne hoisted a black flag with a skull and crossbones over an hourglass to show his prey that time was running out. Thomas Tew flew a black flag with an arm holding a sword. Jack Rackam had a skull and crossed swords. Bartholomew Roberts' showed a pirate and a skeleton holding a spear supporting an cup between them, drinking a toast to death. Another flag of his showed himself standing on two skulls. One labeled ABH (A Barbadian's Head) and the other AMH (A Martinican's Head). Blackbeard, Edward Teach flew a black flag with a skeleton holding a a glass in one hand and a spear in the other which was aimed at a bleeding red heart. Edward Low flew a black flag with a red skeleton. Regards,

That is how it was done on the actual ships. Regards,

I have a height adjustable and tilt-able keyboard tray mounted under my work table. It also slides out of the way when not in use. When lowered all the way it yields a work surface about 5 - 6 inches lower than the table top. Regards,

A fascinating and relatively unknown piece of history. Regards,

No need to qualify. I just thought you may know the reason for the forward rake. I have never heard an explanation for it, either. Regards,

If mast rake helped to prevent a downward driving force on the bow, how does one explain the rationale for negative (forward) rake of the fore mast on some ships. Regards,

For your consideration. The garrison flag flown over Fort McHenry in 1814 was 30 x 42 feet. It was intended to be the largest flag ever yet flown. The next size down from that one was the 'storm flag' at 17 x 25 feet. Not the same thing as a ships battle ensign, I know, but it just shows that they were making them this size. The battle ensign for the Spanish San Idelphonso at the battle of Trafalgar was 32 x 47 ft. The one from the French Genereaux in 1800 was 27 x 52 ft. Battle ensigns in the British Royal Navy during the 17th and 18th centuries were about 20 x 40 ft. Regards,

Spare spars are usually stored bare. They could be used in other contingencies when required. For example, fishiing a sprung mast or yard. Regards,

Marc, have you been aboard your GGG grand dad's ship? Regards,