How was a ship's launch boat prepped to sail?

[Peanut6]

Got to wondering what the process was to prepare the boat to sail.  More specifically my little Jolly Boat, which we know is a fictitious representation of the boat Captain Bligh didn't use on his historic voyage.  I've looked for information on the whole process on boats of this type but have come up empty.  I know that some items were stowed in/with the boat while the others were stowed below deck.  It makes sense to me that maybe certain areas could be "subassemblies" to save time and be more efficient in the process, but to what extent?  I can run different scenarios of the process thru my mind but always run into a "well how did they do that?"  Any light that could be shared on the subject would be greatly appreciated.        

[Oldsalt1950]

Like anything nautical, it depends. Oars, boathook, anchor were always stowed on the boat. Other items were added dependent on what the mission was, how many people and how long they were expected to be gone. Any consumable provisions would be loaded once the boat was ready to launch. Two men would ride it down, the coxswain and the boathook. They would release the lines once the boat was in the water and then the rest of the boat crew and any additional gear and provisions would be loaded onboard.

[Peanut6]

I'm wondering more about the mechanics of the job.  If you set the mast first, then somebody has to climb up with the shrouds, stays and blocks plus the running rigging to run thru the blocks.  Would those lines be attached to the mast prior?  Then there is the bow sprit with the sails and stays.  Did somebody climb out the bow sprit to address those things?

[Oldsalt1950]

A boat with sails would have some of the rigging attached to the mast, and hooks on the other end to set the mast and trim properly. The jib boom or bowsprit would be fastened likewise. Take a look at the rigging on the 26' longboat for an example. Noone had to leave the confines of the boat to rig for sail.

[allanyed]

Kev,

Your questions are great and I am very curious to see the answers posted based on contemporary information.  If you rig your launch model as a double lug sail boat like it is thought that Bligh rigged her, I don't think there is a bow sprit about which to worry which would not be the case if cutter rigged.  I have been unable to find a contemporary drawing or model, so far, of a lug rig with a sprit.   Perhaps if there are any detailed contemporary plans and/or models showing the rigging up close, that would help get an idea on how things were done.  I for one am very interested to see if there are any rigging plans based on contemporary information.

 

Aside,,,, a golf buddy who works for BMW just spent two days driving three of the hottest Beamers around the Indy short track, full road course, and main track.  He said it is really pretty country where you are and of course the driving was absolutely thrilling.   

 

Allan

[shipman]

Traditional fishing cobbles with lug sails had no shrouds...

 

'The halyard would be led to the windward side for each tack, and used as a kind of shroud, while the luff of the sail acted as a forestay to the stemhead.'

 

See......https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?threads/help-wanted-on-yorkshire-cobble.254550/

[Peanut6]

I've been thinking all afternoon and guess I've come up with a possible answer.  This offering is based upon what the AL kit gives me to work with and assuming that what I do have is not historically accurate for they type of boat.  I'm guessing the boat was set into the water and mast was lowered down in a controlled manner such that it could be set up while being hung/supported by the ship.  Based on Oldsalt1950 comment above, the shrouds, stays and blocks are already attached to the mast.  I'm also going to guess that part of this process was the necessary running rigging lines where run thru the appropriate blocks with both ends on the deck.  Next I guess the dead eyes were set.  From inside the boat the halyard, boom and boom sail can be addressed.  This is the biggest stumbling block in my little pea brain. The bowsprit was lowered along with the fore top mast stay sail and the jib sail.  The tip of the bowsprit was started thru the bowsprit support.  Big assumption here, while this little boat was being fitted in the shipyard it was pretty much determined where the fore most stay would be seized along the bowsprit and how much line of the stay needed to be seized.  Prior to seizing the foremost stay the stay was run thru the rings of the jib sail, the jib sail was seized to the bowsprit and the running rigging was attached to the sail.  The bowsprit was run out thru the bowsprit support and the aft end was lashed to the mast.  At this point the same was done for the fore top mast stay sail with the second stay seized to the bowsprit since they were within reach.  This is the only way I can figure that the foremost stay seizing and running rigging could be handled without somebody having to climb all over the place or needing a second boat.  What do you think, is this possible?

[Oldsalt1950]

Kev, for the most part you have it correct. The mast and sails would have been lowered with the boat. Sailors are not fond of doing extra work, so once the boat with mast and sails is lowered, rather then haul the lines back in to lower the masts and sails, they would be used to help raise them and the associated tackle. Once stays and tackle were connected via the hooks to eyebolts and cleats they were ready to go. Most of these boats were used for ferrying supplies and shore parties to various functions , so the crew of the boat was usually a midshipman and deck hands. Marines would be ferried ashore as raiding parties in longboats by oar power. The jib boom or bowsprit fit into a coupling and was pinned in place. Nothing fancy there, a lanyard was used as a preventer so the pin wasn't lost or worked lose.

[Peanut6]

Oldsalt1950, you mean I got something somewhat correct.  Wow that's once in a row.  The process I described was the only way I could figure based upon ease, speed and efficiency.  Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

 

Allan, yea this isn't a bad part of the country to live in.  If you have modest means, you really have to work hard not find something fun you can waste an afternoon doing.  What I miss the very most are mountains though (I come from the west), but it is made up for with all the greenery.  

[Roger Pellett]

Before the 1700’s the longboat, the largest of the ship’s boats was usually towed.  Numerous paintings exist of these very large boats towed by the mother ship with one or two boat keepers on board.  The two or three smaller boats would be carried aboard.

 

By the 1700’s longboats became smaller, so the entire boat outfit was kept on board in the waist amidships with some stacking of smaller boats atop larger ones.

 

By 1800 warships were equipped with davits or boat cranes so two or three boats, usually cutters were hung over the side ready to be launched.  At least one of these was designated as a “lifeboat,” the term applying to recovery of a man overboard, not to save the crew when abandoning ship.  The rest of the boats were stowed in the waist.

 

Most of the boat’s thwarts were removable, and period seamanship books often mention the need to install them when launching.  Period seamanship books are  emphatic that boat crews are to sit in the bottom of the boat when it is under sail.  With this in mind, I suspect that Bligh would not have shipped the loose thwarts in Bounty’s crowded Launch.

 

Sails would not be stored in boats when not used as the flax material would rot. Pictures exist of small boats with bowsprits anchored with the jib hoisted in stops.  When getting underway, pulling on the sheets would break the stops, setting the sail.  This would avoid putting a man on the bowsprit.  It would also minimize the chance of the jib getting in the water under the bow of the boat.  The mainsail, if loose footed was often furled in a long roll and hoisted part way up the mast to keep it dry.

 

The easiest way to rig the mast in a small boat is to loosely fasten the shrouds, stick the butt end of the mast in the mast step and then to walk forward lifting the mast while a man in the bow pulls on the forestay.

 

Roger

Edited June 14, 2022 by Roger Pellett

[allanyed]

9 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

With this in mind, I suspect that Bligh would not have shipped the loose thwarts in Bounty’s crowded Launch.

Great points across the board Roger.  The only one that MAY be a problem is not taking the removable thwarts as then rowing at those stations would be problematic.   I suppose the odd cask or other jury rig could be made, but an interesting point either way.

 

Allan

[Roger Pellett]

He probably took them with him but would possibly not put them in place.

[wefalck]

It is always dangerous to back-extrapolate in time, but since at least the middle of the 19th century several navies published boat-handling instructions. I have, for instance, the copy of such a book for the Austro-Hungarian Navy of 1894.

 

According to the above book, the boats were lowered with all the gear stowed in place. At this time it was not common anymore, to store boats in each other and most of the gear was kept inside the boats, when they were onboard. The larger boats were permanently kitted out with sails, water-barrels, bread-box, compass etc. The smaller boats were kitted out only for the intended operation.

 

Basically the whole rig was stowed assembled and when needed the mast were stepped with all the gear attached. It was forbidden to go up in the masts, for any work on them they had to be lowered. Bowsprits were not used anymore at that time, so the whole rigging was inside the boat.

 

 

[Peanut6]

wefalck, thank you for the information, it confirms much of what I was thinking.         

[Roger Pellett]

In the US Civil War era Navy, seamanship books and the Navy’s Ordnance Instructions mention outfitting boats with gear before launching.  US Navy specifications for this same era state that all thwarts in cutters and launches were to be removable with heavy clamps, a longitudinal structural member, providing the structural strength ordinarily provided by fixed thwarts.  When installed the thwarts were secured by iron pins in holes into the clamps. 

Some of the boat gear; masts, booms, etc. was stowed in the wooden hammock “netting’s” atop the bulwarks.

 

The point to all of this is that practices varied between different navies.  Boats, at least in the US Navy, were considered to be not part of the ship but “Outfit” so detailed information can be very difficult to find.

 

Roger

 

 

[wefalck]

BTW, in both, the Austrian-Hungarian and the German Imperial Navy, some boats carried a couple of large forks, looking like row-locks, with a stem long enough to clear the oars, in which the masts and sails were stowed, when not in use and being rowed.