Tiny Spar on 17th Century English Yacht

[catopower]

Can anyone tell me what the little spar is called that appears at the head of the jib and staysail on this English yacht?

 

Also, does anyone know how it's attached to the sail and to the halliard? I can makes some guesses, but I'm hoping someone has something definitive.

 

I've looked in various rigging references, but haven't been able to find any info.

 

Thanks in advance!

Clare

[allanyed]

Hi Clare

Is there a photo of a contemporary model or a replica or something else?

Allan

Edited January 6 by allanyed

[druxey]

It is a contemporary model with MODERN rigging:

 

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66339

 

 

No contemporary painting shows these spreaders.

[allanyed]

I wonder why the museum had the modern rigging removed.   Could it be that it was inaccurate?

Allan

[Dr PR]

Clare,

 

I have seen this method of strengthening the peak of sails a number of times. I think a short spar like this that is attached to the peak of a sail is called a "club" but I am not certain.

 

The Dutch used a very short spar like this at the peak/head of sails in the 1600s on small vessels (Sailing Ships, Bjorn Landstrom, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, New York, 1969, page 156). This later grew into the common gaff. So if it is on a sail rigged aft of a mast perhaps it should be called a gaff. If rigged before the mast as in your picture I guess it is just a "spar" or perhaps a "club."

 

Somewhere I have a reference that shows how to make these. The sail is laced to the club/spar. The halliard attaches to the spar. I don't know if it matters how, but in your picture it looks like the halliard block is riding on a line attached to the ends of the spar. It may be securely attached to the line at its center, or just sliding along the line. I can't tell from the picture. But I see no reason when the halliard couldn't be attached directly to the center of the spar.

 

Since this idea seems to date back many centuries it is possible it has been used in many rigs in many places. I am sure I have seen it in photos of modern vessels.

 

What is the name and period/date of the English yacht in the photo? The Dutch were using something like this on their yachts in the 1600s and 1700s. The English copied a lot of the Dutch ideas.

 

 

Edited January 7 by Dr PR

[Pitan]

There are some vessels that appear to have short spars in this 1661 Dutch painting.

Willem van de Velde, A Dutch Yacht saluting
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/willem-van-de-velde-a-dutch-yacht-saluting

 

The short spars may be a feature of perspective, see what you think.

[druxey]

The  short spar at the right is the gaff for the mail sail, foreshortened. On the jib sails, lowered, I can see what appear to be wood block-like attachments for the halliard. These are Dutch yachts, of course, not English ones.

[wefalck]

On more modern Dutch boats, this developed into a single large block with a straight lower edge and two hooks on each side. The hooks hooked into two eyelets at each corner of the short square head of the fore-sail. Have to look into my literature, whether there were any specific names for this.

 

This answer at least your question, how it was attached to the sail.

[michaelpsutton2]

I have seen a number mostly dutch vessels with these. It obviously spreads the strain across a broader area at the head of the sail. A small spar like that can be found on the clue of some Grand Banks fishing schooners on foresails that were sometimes called jumbos. The A J Meerwald pictured here has a club footed jumbo

Edited January 9 by michaelpsutton2

[catopower]

Thanks friends for chiming in on this subject.

 

I must apologize for not being more responsive, but I lost power in my house on Saturday morning when neighbor's yard people trimmed a tree and downed a power line, causing a power surge that knocked out service to several houses and burned up a lighting fixture in my house (Fire Department had located it). Just got power restored today, though possibly temporarily. I actually have no Internet still, except from some limited wifi I can piggy back onto (like right now).

 

Again, power's back, at least for the time being, and more importantly, light, HEAT, cooking appliances, refrigerator, and did I mention HEAT??? 

 

I'll try to follow up on your comments about this strange little spar soon!

 

Thanks again!

Clare

 

[catopower]

On 1/5/2024 at 5:20 PM, allanyed said:

Is there a photo of a contemporary model or a replica or something else?

Allan

Allan, sorry, I should have made it clear that the photo was of a contemporary model. By the way, I don't think the rigging was removed, just the flags.

 

Druxey, thanks for identifying the model and providing the link! How did you recognize and find it from the photo I uploaded???

 

Robert, druxey, wefalck, that's interesting about the unusual Dutch block. It's different from what I'm seeing on this model, but it does seem to serve the same purpose.

 

The reason for my query is that I'm building Woody Joe's Charles royal yacht kit, which is apparently roughly based on this unidentified contemporary model that druxey provided the link to. The person who did the development work for this kit, the late Mr. Kazunobu Shirai, wrote a book about building the model.  He wrapped the spar in the head edge of the sail. That's clearly not what I'm seeing on the museum model.

 

I managed to translate a bit of the book's text where he mentions that this was a Dutch practice, as everyone here has pointed out.

 

Dr. PR, I'm thinking the club is, as you say, is probably laced to the head of the sail. I looked for mention in Landström's book, but couldn't find anything. Do you have a page number?

 

These are from Mr. Shirai's book...

Clare

[druxey]

Clare: The reason for my identifying the model easily is that, for the past four years, I've been studying Stuart Royal yachts very closely. I've seen examples or photos of every contemporary model still extant, plus many paintings and drawings of these. In fact, there is now a study model of the original 1683 Fubbs (not the 1724 rebuild!) and a SeaWatch book on her will be published in due course (shameless promotion). In addition, a fellow researcher in England and I are working on a book that covers all 25 Stuart Royal yachts in detail. Now, aren't you sorry that you asked!

[Dr PR]

Sailing Ships, Bjorn Landstrom, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, New York, 1969, page 156. It is just a small picture.

[wefalck]

My knowledge of 16th/17th century rigging is rather limited, but I think such 'pockets' in sails did not come into use until the second half of the 19th century on sports boats.

 

The idea is normally to transmitt the stress from halliards, sheets etc. to the sail over a larger area through the bolt-rope. While toggle-like devices were used since antiquity, I tend to think that the ends of the mini-spar would have passed through two eyes form by the bolt-rope and the two pendants of the block would have then been put over these.

 

I have no idea, why the method was chosen, but it seems to have been common on Dutch vessels for the foresail. Perhaps a PM to Ab Hoving, our resident specialist for Dutch vessels of the 16th and 17th century, could bring some enlightenment?

[catopower]

wefalck, I agree that the "pockets" idea seems odd for the time. The museum model I'm looking at certain shows the whole mini-spar, uncovered by sail cloth. Checking with Ab sounds like a good plan.

 

Dr PR, I found the image you're referring to. I think that's just tiny gaffs, but they do very similar to these mini-spars on this jib and staysail. Kind of makes sense the it might be rigged similarly.

 

druxey, you cost me a lot of money trying to keep up with your writing, but always well worth it. These titles in particular sound like something I'll be very interested in. I just wish I were better at the carving that's required to scratch build these kinds of ships. Not sorry I asked at all – Now I know what to start setting aside my money for!

 

 

All, I just get my Internet fully restored today and I've had power back on now for 2 days. Such a relief, but I guess I need to get back to work now!

 

Clare

[Dr PR]

I found a possible answer to this puzzle:

 

This definition is given in Steele's The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship, page 87"

 

"HEADSTICK. A short round stick with a hole in each end, strongly sewed to the head of some triangular foresails and jibs, to prevent the head of the sail from twisting; the head-rope is thrust through the holes before it it sewed on the sail."

 

 

Here is a drawing (Plate 25, before page 129) of a "sloop's jib" from Steel showing the "head stick".

 

" ... the rope on the hoist put through the holes in the head-stick; then served with spunyarn, and spliced into the leech-rope. The head-stick is seized round the middle to the head of the sail, and a thimble seized in the bight of the rope."

Edited March 3 by Dr PR

[tkay11]

It is shown in Steel more than once. There's a plate in Volume 3 of David Steel’s Elements and Practice of Rigging which I reference in my Sherbourne log at

and also at

You can see the end product at

I think I also saw this in Marquardt's book on rigging, but can't be sure as I don't have it with me right now.

 

Tony

[catopower]

Phil, Tony, my hats off to you both. That's exactly what I needed, thank you!

 

Tony, I checked out your making and use of the head stick on your Sherbourne model. Wow, what a treat to see the work you did on that model. Outstanding! 

Edited March 3 by catopower

[druxey]

A head stick was certainly in use in the 18th century on fore and jib sails, as shown above, but I've never seen a contemporary 17th century English yacht drawing or painting that even hints at their use. If anyone can point to the arrangement this at that time, I'd be appreciative of the evidence.

 

 

[catopower]

Yes, unfortunately, while the photo I posted at the very beginning is of a contemporary model, the rigging was a modern addition, so not much help there.