popeye2sea

I concur with Dave and Frank. I do notice that all of the lines in that plan are depicted as permanently fixed to the rails. In fact the hauling ends would not be seized to the rails but belayed at some point, either to belaying pins or some other fixture. That may be what generated your confusion as to them being fixed and immovable. Regards,

I believe the Royal Caroline has a lateen mizzen. So the the cross jack yard is only used to spread the bottom of the mizzen topsail and there would not be a sail set from this yard. It does not need to move much. A lateen mizzen is not meant to swing widely like a gaff rigged fore and aft sail. It is only meant to increase or decrease the turning effort of the aft rigging; helping to keep the ship on or off the wind. It would help to know what you mean by "bracers" also. Regards,

Looks like the additional demand has driven the price up to $26.49 each.

Most of the references I have read give the max diameter as being at or near the deck level. The mast tapers above and below this point. If that is so then the diameter would not include the fish plates or other filler pieces. Regards,

The standing (non pulling) end of the boom topping lift is seized to the becket (bottom loop of the strop) of its block. The standing end of the gaff throat halliard is seized to its becket in the same way. It is unclear in your rigging diagram, but the standing end of the gaff peak halliard could be seized around the mast head just below its blocks. Regards,

You should start by picking up a book on the subject of rigging period ships. There are many and most are quite good at explaining the basics of rigging. Here are some generalities: The motive power of the ship is via sails which are laced to poles called yards that are held aloft on poles called masts. In order to add more sails additional sections of masts are erected above one another (topmast, topgallant, royal). You need some way of holding the masts in their near vertical orientation and that is accomplished via the standing rigging. At or near the top of each mast section you will find a cluster of standing rigging that will be working in opposition to each other. The stays lead forward and hold the mast from shifting aft while the shrouds and backstays lead aft and to the side to hold the mast from shifting forward and sideways. At the bow of the ship is the bowsprit, which works the same way as a mast. It has additional sections called the jib boom and flying jib boom. The rigging for these mimics the masts with bobstays keeping the bowsprit from shifting upwards and shrouds preventing sideways movement. The rigging of the yards and sails is called the running rigging. The position of the yards and their orientation to the wind are controlled by the following lines: Halyard: raises or lowers the yard into position for setting sail or reefing sail Jeers: same function as halyards but in different time period. Lifts: controls the vertical orientation of the extreme ends of the yard (yard arms)and helps support them. Braces: controls the horizontal orientation of the yards for trimming the sails for any given wind direction. For fore and aft sails the yards are known as the boom at the bottom of the sail and the gaff at the top of the sail. These spars have rigging that works the same way with topping lifts and braces (vangs). The sails are controlled by the following lines: Sheet: hauls the lower corner of a sail down or aft. In the case of a fore and aft sail it performs the same function on the lower aft corner of the sail. Tack: confines the lower corner of a sail down and forward. In fore and aft sails it works on the lower fore corner of the sail. Note that the upper square sails do not require a tack because the sheet functions to confine the lower corner of the sail to the yard below. Clew line: hauls the lower corner of the sail up towards the middle of the yard for furling. Bunt line: hauls the lower edge of the sail up to the yard for furling Leech line: hauls the sides of the sail up to the yard for furling. Fore and aft sails will also have a halyard to extend the upper corner of the sail along the stay or gaff I hope this helps a bit. Please remember that this is only a general description and your ship may have variations specific to it. Regards,

The same was true of the lower yards. Although in the case of the yards there were additional reasons due to the large stresses placed on them. Again, the upper yards (topgallants and royals) were able to be single pieces due to their carrying less of a load and small enough to be made of a single tree.

For the upper masts, being generally smaller, trees were still available of a suitable size to make a pole mast (not sectioned). Much of the forests in Europe had been over harvested to the point that trees of the size necessary to make the large lower masts were no longer available so shipwrights resorted to what were called 'made masts' which were constructed from four to eight lengths of wood held together by iron hoops or rope wooldings. Regards,

Some lines are larger than would fit through a standard eye bolt. A ring bolt comes in handy for those.

Surgery.... I have been posting on others build logs lately about the position of the halliard knight. It properly is offset from the centerline to give clearance for the main stay. It has been bothering me that the way the knight is installed on the Heller kit is exactly on center. I would feel like a hypocrite if I left it this way. So...I decided to remove the fore halliard knight and shift it approximately it's own width to starboard. The good thing is that I have not installed the fo'c's'le deck on the ship yet so I can still get at things from underneath. Removal of the knight was accomplished with an exacto blade scoring over the joints and wiggling the knight free. It came out with no damage. Then the mounting hole was widened and the deck piece that I cut out was fit into the old hole. Additional styrene strip was used to fill in the remaining gap and the joints were puttied with contour putty. The knight was mounted in it's new hole and some touch up paint completes the job. Pictures to follow... Regards,

And that is exactly why the knight is always offset from the centerline of the mast. In reality, that rams head block would need to travel almost to the trestle trees under the top when the lower yard was lowered. Regards,

It is my understanding that the top rope was always unrove once the top mast was hoisted and fidded into place. The end of the top rope had a hook spliced in and the top rope blocks were stropped with a hook in order to facilitate them being sent down. Regards,

Another trick to remember is to never open the ring by pulling the ends directly apart (in line with the ring). This deforms the ring out of round and it is hard to get the two ends to meet properly again when closed. Instead twist the ring open by spreading the ends perpendicular to the ring. When you close the ring back up the ends will be perfectly aligned and the ring will remain round. Regards,

I think there may also be a difference in usage. For example: thimbles are stropped into the eye of a block in order to take a hook. A bullseye acts a sort of fairlead for rigging, or it can also be used like a heart. Regards,

You can take up the slack at the yard. Secure one leg of the tye to the yard with a cow hitch (like the end hitch for a ratline). Take the tye up over the cap and then down to the rams head block abaft the mast then back up on the other side and over the cap and thence to the yard. You should easily be able take up any slack in the tye while you are tying the second cow hitch. BTW the cow hitches should be backed up by seizing the end of each leg of the tie to its standing part just above the hitch. Regards,

You've never carved before? And you made your own carving tools? You have incredible natural talent and skills. I am in awe. I wish I had a fraction of your talent. Even your photography skills are great. Regards,

Marc, Thanks for looking in on my too long dormant build. It's hard to find time to work in the shipyard, lately. I have also been following your build with great interest. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress. I'm more of a rigging guy so the changes I have made to my builds hull are minimal. As if I have the time to do more stuff I have been mulling over the making of a pictorial history lesson about how the lower masts are raised and stepped as well as how the tops were swayed up into position. I thought it might be of some interest to a few of us nautical history buffs. Who knows....maybe someday. To your question on chesstrees; R.C Anderson gets into some of the details in his book The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast. In which he suggests that French and Dutch vessels usually used a chesstree timber (fore and aft hole) up to about 1660. Afterwards the chesstree was a direct hole through the bulwark often ornamented as a lions head. Regards,

In haul tackles were used for these guns. Regards,

I just checked what is left of the kit in the basement and I believe I have all that you are looking for. Send me a pm with your address and I will forward the pieces to you. I am not sure sending the whole kit will be a good idea. It is very bulky and would be very expensive to ship. Regards,

I have my first kit of SR still boxed up in my basement. The hull got warped somehow so I had to replace it. I ended up buying a whole new kit so I still have the mostly unbuilt original. I will have to check what condition it is in but you are more than welcome to whatever you may need. Regards,

Here are some illustrations that may help a bit. The first shows an overview of the tie and halliard set up and the rest show some details. The lead of the tie over the cap, as in figure 150 was an early method used by the French and Dutch up to about 1700. Figure 153 shows a later variant where the tie leads through blocks hanging from the cap on pendants. The pendants hang inside the stay but outside the trestle trees. The English sometimes employed another variant with the ties leading through sheaves in the hounds. The tie starts secured near the middle of the yard as in figure 152 leads up over the cap, or through the tie block, down abaft the mast through a sheave or hole in the top of the rams head block (shown in figure 155) and back up on the other side of the mast where it passes over the cap and secures to the yard in the same manner as before. The halliard is reeved between the knight and the rams head block as in Figure 155. The tie should be about the thickness of the shrouds with the halliard about 2/3 of the tie.

As Dave has said it is a knight. And it typically has three or four sheaves let into it. The fourth or extra sheave not used for the halyard was for the top rope, which was used to raise the top masts into position. You will notice that the knight is offset from the center line of the mast. This is to insure that the main stay does not foul the halyard tackle. The halyard starts at a ring bolt set into the side of the knight, runs through the sheaves of the rams head block and the knight and then belays around the head of the knight. Regards,

It is not wrong. The ship is just equipped differently. She has a flagstaff on the tafferail. The general rule is the ships National Ensign will be flown aft of all the others. Specific locations of flags are determined by the configuration of the rig. And the protocol for a single masted vessel will necessarily be different from a three masted ship. Naval vessels flag protocols can get pretty complicated with respect to locations of host nation, command and visiting dignitary flags. You have to consult the publications to determine whose flag takes precedence in order to determine where to fly it. Regards,

The national ensign of the ships home port will be flown from the driver/spanker gaff if so equipped. The flag of the host nation or nation being visited will be flown from the fore or main truck. Regards,

First, it helps to understand what each lines function is. The sheet, tack and clew lines all control the lower corner (or clew) of a square sail. The sheet hauls the lower corner aft. The tack hauls the lower corner forward and the clew line hoists the corner up to the yard for furling the sail. The fore sheet usually runs as you suggest, from an eyebolt well aft on the side through a single block at the sail then back through a hole or sheave let into the side and belays at a cleat or kevel on the inside of the rail or bulwark. The fore tack usually runs single and starts with a tack knot thrust through the clew of the sail. It runs forward through a single block seized to a short pole called a boomkin (or bumpkin) and then inboard to belay on a cleat or kevel inside of the rail. The boomkin helps to keep the foot of the fore sail fully extended. If you have no boomkin you can take the tack directly to the cleat. But it should not be too difficult to fit a boomkin if you wanted to add it in. The clew line starts about a third of the way out from the middle of the yard where it is fastened with a timber hitch. It then passes through a single block at the corner of the sail from outboard in then back up to a single block seized to the yard a little inboard from its standing end. From there it goes to the deck most often through additional leading blocks near the mast. When the sail is furled the clew line is hauled up. This has the effect of pulling the corner of the sail up towards where the clew line is fastened at the yard. That is why the tack, sheet and clew blocks are often depicted hanging near the center of the yard when no sails are present. BTW. As additional information the main tack, if it runs single (not through a block at the sail) will be the largest line of all of your sails running rigging. It's a good reference point to judge the thickness of all the rest of the sails running rigging. Regards,