An interesting alternative, which would certainly work in practice and is consistent with the images. The earlier published reconstruction of Vasa, from 1980, is not workable, as Waldemar suggests. The actual remains which we have from Vasa, which include the euphroes for the fore and main course martnets (the former in use, the latter in store with the sail), suggest a slightly simpler arrangement. The euphroes have six holes, so twelve legs for each euphroe, and there are four, rather than the eight three-hole deadeyes required in this arrangement. The arrangement above the euphroe is uncertain. On the sailing reconstruction Kalmar Nyckel in the US, the martnets are quite simple, with a single euphroe on each side of the sail. The two euphroes for one end of the yard are connected by a bridle running through the lower sheave of a fiddle block (similar to how the deadyes are connected on Waldemar's version), and a fall rove from a becket on a single block under the topmast top, down through the upper sheave in the fiddle block, back up to the single block and down to the deck. This gives a 2:1 advantage and fast action on a relatively small sail. The extra advantage of Waldemar's arrangement could be useful on bigger ships with bigger sails. The rigging inventory of the Ann Royal in the 1620s lists a pair of double blocks for the falls of the martnets, plus a pair of single blocks for each of the four legs, but does not mention deadeyes (as euphroes were known at this time).
Fred Hocker
Vasa Museum
