Boom tackles for late 19th c. fisherman

[juhu]

Greetings, while building BJ's Gloucester fishing schooner "Smuggler", I have come across rigging part called boom tackle. 

Before posting this question, I have searched and found this thread (

), still I am not sure: What is actually the purpose of this?

 

 

If I look into the plans, the whole thing is just attached to the boom, no connection with sail in any way. As such it seems to me like completely independent stuff, not usable at all. From my short yachting experience, I could imagine some lines that would go from the boom down to deck or rails to fix the boom while sailing, preventing it from "running" unexpectedly to the other side. But here the plans show the ship under full sails and the tackles are just hang with both ends from the bottom of the boom. Thank you for any help / explanation.

 

 

 

[juhu]

Mea culpa, should have looked better. There is a whole page in Chapelle's American fishing schooners dedicated to this topic. It confirmed my expectations - truly it is a guy for a boom to secure it, in plans presented in my first post the tackle is simply stored idle.

Edited April 24, 2022 by juhu

[Maury S]

The boom tackle is for preventing the boom from moving across the ship during an "accidental" jibe.  When in use, one end is attached to the boom and the other end runs forward and attaches to a ring or some other rigid spot.  Accidental jibes are quite dangerous to crew members if the boom sweeps across the deck unexpectedly.

Maury

[CPDDET]

In my sailing days we called this a "preventer" as it prevented the boom from swinging across the deck if an accidental jibe occured. We always used one when sailing on a broad reach or down wind.

[juhu]

Thank you all for responses and confirmation. Yes, "preventer" is the term that was somewhere deep in my mind.