hms victory sails

[georgek]

hello,

I am finishing my hms victory model. I will upload again all my photos showing the progress from the beginning. I have the mantua model but for the rigging i am following the jotika plans whith are much more detailed. I am making the rigging these days and  the  furled sails. I wanna ask why the jotika plans does not have the necessary blocks on the crossjack yard which are needed to rig the crossjack sail? I saarch the net for photos of the victory with sails (furled or not) and found that the ship does not have the crossjack sail.The victory did not have a crossjack sail? Why ?

[Blue Ensign]

Hi George, the simple answer is that sails were not carried on the Crossjack yard, it was used only to spread the foot of the Mizen Topsail.

 

I believe that to carry a sail on the Crossjack would provide no sailing advantage, I did read the specifics about it some time ago but can't quite bring the detail to mind.

 

Cheers,

 

B.E.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Blue Ensign

[Stockholm tar]

George,

 

This of course would have applied to all British ships, not only the Victory. In addition to what BE has said, I think there may also have been another practical reason – the sail itself would have been in the way.

 

Due to its position, the foot of the sail would very likely have also interfered with all the other activities going on on both the quarterdeck and poop. The quarter deck was the 18th/19th century equivalent of the modern warship's 'nerve centre', and there were also the 12pdrs situated on that deck, to be served in battle. The poop was the deck from where signals were made and hoisted at the mizzen mast, so there was likely to be a lot of coming and going between the two. An additional sail there would only have increased the problems, when the ship was tacked, etc., with increased numbers of men. Therefore, any little advantage it might have afforded, would probably have been more than outweighed by the disadvantages. 

 

Another reason also springs to mind in that, when a ship was running with the wind aft or over the quarter, it may have been found that to have a sail set on the crossjack yard effectively blanketted the wind from reaching the sails  on the main and fore masts. It was quite usual to furl sails on the mizzen in any case, under those conditions.

Edited March 10, 2013 by Stockholm tar

[georgek]

thank you very much for your answers.Now i must remove the already furled sail from the crossjack.