Burton Pendants

[Captain Al]

Can anyone give me an idea of what the 'burton pendants' are used for?  I've looked through two books on rigging and I see them hanging there, but they are always shown just hanging there loose with nothing further attached to them.  Are they for the purpose of hoisting things off the deck?  If so, would they be tied off when not in use?  Hard to imagine these lines just swinging around on a rolling ship.

[jbshan]

Yes, and yes.  You would hook a tackle into these pendants to hoist loads and they would normally be lashed to a shroud when not in use.

[Captain Al]

Thank you JB.  This helps in my rigging plan for my HMS Bounty build.

[Richard Griffith]

Hey Captain, you might want to get the AOS book "The Armed Transport Bounty" by John McKay.  It contains extreme detail of everything.  ISBN 087021280x.  It is selling for a reasonable amount on Ebay and Amazon.   Duff

[Captain Al]

Got it Duffer.  And its pretty well worn by now.  I just haven't come across anything in McKay that shed much light on these.  Maybe the terminology is slightly different.

[jbshan]

They might be called 'main/fore mast pendants'.  I found some descriptions of their use in Harland, Seamanship in the Age of Sail.

[J T Lombard]

Al

 

If you look on pg. 96 in the AOS Bounty & see item 39 & 40 I think you'll see what you're looking for.

 

regards

 

J

[Captain Al]

Thanks JT.  I'll do that over my cafe latte.

[EdT]

I believe the main purpose of the burton pendants was to put tension on shrouds and backstay - mainly lower shrouds.  A tackle could be attached to these and the shroud laniards and used to tighten the shrouds when initially fitted and later as needed.  See plate 177 in Darcy Levers's Young Sea Officers Sheet Anchor (1819) for example.  These were called pendant tackles on 19th century American Ships and served the same purpose until rigging screws came into use.  See S.B.Luce, Seamanship (1868) Figure 46 for example

 

Ed

[jbshan]

Also in Lever, Fig. 148, where he calls them runner pendants, 'to get in a new mast by the old one, without sheers.'

And Fig. 368, for fishing the anchors.

[Sailor1234567890]

I've always heard the anchor handling purchase you describe a "fish tackle" to "fish" the anchor up from over the side.

[jbshan]

Yes, the tackle would be the fish tackle, but you need something to hook that tackle into.  That's what the pendant is for.