From Futtock to Top

[mikiek]

I'm not afraid of heights but I am afraid of falling from heights.  I'm rigging Niagara and was doing the main shrouds & futtocks. It made me start wondering how they got to the mast top. I can see going up the rats on the shrouds & futtocks. But then you're right under the top and there really isn't much to grab hold of. There's no hole to go thru so you would have to climb up over the edge. At that point about the only thing to pull yourself up is the deadeye lashing.

 

How do they do it?

[Talos]

On the real ships, there is usually a hole up through the top called a "lubber's hole" that no self-respecting sailor would use.

 

Instead they climb out on shrouds that extend outwards to the edge of the top (yes, with their backs pointing down at the sea), and hoist themselves up.

 

[Deperdussin1910]

I crewed on this vessel.  Let me tell you, the first few times going up the rig are breath taking.  I got used to it.  And remember, the rig is moving around even more than the ship.  Doing the same at night with a star filled sky...PRICELESS!

[JerseyCity Frankie]

Climbing in the rig is exhilarating! Its the best part about traditional sailing, in my opinion. Nearly EVERY modern ship has mandatory safety harness wearing policies and these will have a three foot long lanyard with a double locking snap hook or caribiner on its end which the climber can quickly and easily clip onto any convenient bit of standing rigging. Typically when going over the futtocks a climber pauses and clips in to a spot above their heads then climbs up with the secure knowledge that if they fall the harness will save them. The problem is that the larger the ship, the greater the distance you must cover. On a smaller ship one may stand at the highest ratline and be able to reach the top with your hand. On big ships you can't and must commit to climbing the futtocks WITHOUT being able to hold onto anything above the level of the top. This is disconcerting. And in situations like this, your safety lanyard becomes paradoxically dangerous since you want to clip into the futtocks, but as you climb up to this point you now are obliged to unclip and reposition your safety lanyard to a higher spot. This makes you more vulnerable than if you had not clipped on in the first place since now you're hanging on one-handed while you re-clip. To deal with this many modern ships have a dedicated safety line running from above the top down to the highest ratline level. Clipping into this allows you to use both hands for the climb but if you do fall, you fall the full length of the safety line + landyard length before you fetch up. I saw this happen to a guy once.

[el cid]

I think some of the old movies (e.g., Mutiny on the Bounty) show sailors scrambling up to the top.  Makes me queasy just thinking about it.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[Jim Rogers]

The heck with that. I remember when I was stationed on the USS Piedmont AD-17 and I was conducting a PMS spot check. I reached in the box and pulled out Blinking Light Maintenance. The guy laughs and hands me a safety harness and says let's go. That's when I found out this blinking light was at the end of the yardarm. I got up there wrapped that safety harness line around until it was tight and watched the maintenance. Took about an hour for them to get me down as I have this great fear of heights. You wouldn't believe how much that yard moves.

[Rcboater Bill]

When underway, you always use the ratlines on the windward side to go aloft- when ship is sailing into the wind, and heeling over, the ratlines become less steep, and the futtocks are closer to vertical, making them easier to climb…

(Former Eagle sailor)

[robert952]

Thanks for sharing this info.  It gives a new respect for sailing tall ships.  

[knightyo]

My palms became sweaty while reading this thread.  I never would have made it in the navy.  Ironic, as building models ships is my passion. lol

 

Alan

[dafi]

I was very happy using the lubbers hole while going up the Jyland 🙂

 

Have to admid it was very tight and you should NOT have a tummy to be able to pass there. Also the shrouds are that thight together that ratlines are useless.

 

 

Still I would have liked the experience using the futtock shrouds to get the right feeling. One thing I can confirme, the lubbers hole is a bottle neck and if a whole crew has to climb up with speed, the only way to get them up in a reasonable time is the way over the edge.

 

Most models miss the upper two rows of ratlines, those should go even over the irons, not like the first picture in this thread, having this enourmous gap on the top.

 

XXXDAn

Edited January 29, 2023 by dafi

[Morgan]

On 9/14/2017 at 1:42 PM, JerseyCity Frankie said:

. And in situations like this, your safety lanyard becomes paradoxically dangerous since you want to clip into the futtocks, but as you climb up to this point you now are obliged to unclip and reposition your safety lanyard to a higher spot. This makes you more vulnerable than if you had not clipped on in the first place since now you're hanging on one-handed while you re-clip. To deal with this many modern ships have a dedicated safety line running from above the top down to the highest ratline level. Clipping into this allows you to use both hands for the climb but if you do fall, you fall the full length of the safety line + landyard length before you fetch up. I saw this happen to a guy once.

Interestingly (or not 😉) we overcame this in the Electricity Transmission sector with the guys who climb the lattice towers / pylons, they are equipped with two very large Caribiners on separate lanyards and the mantra was ‘clip on clip off’ with the alternate lanyards so you were always secure.  Watching them climb was like watching a mountaineer using an ice pick in each hand only a lot faster!

 

Fair play to anyone who climbs heights, I like to cuddle terra firms whilst watching others.

 

Gary

 

[Deperdussin1910]

Can't believe this thread is still alive.  For what it's worth, here's a picture of the futtock shrouds on my 1/24 scale RC NIAGARA during the build...