how to secure a rope hank to the sheer poles?

[paul ron]

i saw some pictures of clippers at sea with rope coils hanging on the sheer poles. how are they tied on?

[rwiederrich]

40 minutes ago, paul ron said:

i saw some pictures of clippers at sea with rope coils hanging on the sheer poles. how are they tied on?

Was the sheer pole also acting as a belay pin rail?  Do you have the picture?

 

Rob

[paul ron]

if the sheer pole had pins, i wouldnt have asked.😁

 

the pictures are hanging in the south street sea port museum nyc... mystic sea port museum mystic ct, at the museum in boston at the constitution. the fall river sea port museum in RI.

 

the sheer poles in the photos didnt have pins. also there were many lines, probably bunts, right out of the fareleds on the shrouds, hanging over what looked like laundry lines from the cabin to the shrouds as well as hanks on the sheer poles... looked like a real mess of lines on a working ship at sea. 

 

how would you hang a hank on a sheer pole without pins... unless it was tied on by the end of the rope with a clove hitch? 

 

 

impresive build logs rob. 

Edited February 14 by paul ron

[allanyed]

Paul

I believe there is information on this in Ed Tosti's books and his build log here at MSW on Young America.  I just did a little research and there is detailed information on the sheer poles and seems to be good information on lines belayed to the sheer poles.

Allan

[Dr PR]

Rope coils could be tied on with simple lashings of small stuff. Anchor buoy lines were secured to the shrouds this way.

[rwiederrich]

Is this the image in question?  I understand this practice was employed to keep sailors off the rail...due to large waves breaking the rail.  Safety!

Edited February 15 by rwiederrich

[paul ron]

oh thats a great photo rob. wow it looks like lines were just drapped over some poles in that picture. i saw many photos n videos of ships at sea in foul weather... im just in awe how rough it gets out there, especially polar expeditions.

 

alan where did you find info on sheer poles? i love the young america build log. ive been going over it a bit at a time... its alot of great information. im also going over another build log of the flying fish, except im scratch building mine. seems kits had better drawings n instructions than the plans im using. 

 

thanks everyone... you guys are amazing. im only doing ship modeling for 50 years on n off but you guys are very dedicated n knowledgeable. im intrigued with the research of ship construction of the period and how it all functioned when out at sea. man those guys were tough. 

 

thanks again,

paul

[allanyed]

9 minutes ago, paul ron said:

alan where did you find info on sheer poles? i love the young america build log. ive been going over it a bit at a time... its alot of great information. im also going over another build log of the flying fish, except im scratch building mine. seems kits had better drawings n instructions than the plans im using. 

Volume III in Ed's books, and in his build log which is, as you know, also a scratch build.   His drawings are superior to any kit I have seen to date.   I do not recall which pages address the sheer poles in the build log, but I saw them while doing some searching.  

 

Allan

[BANYAN]

Paul, if lines were bent to the sheer poles, this would probably have been done  using the tails of the line.  The excess would first have been made up into coils, a length of the tail end then wrapped around the coils on their upper end, forming a sort of eye, through which the tail will have been passed.  The length of the tail will have been long enough to form at least a clove hitch by which to bend it to the pole, but probably a little more to allow a constrictor hitch, or safety turns in addition to a clove hitch. 

 

However, if carelessly/haphazardly bent to the pole, this could also have led to several of these made-up coils dangling and swinging freely if the pole was fitted much higher than the cap/roughtree rail.  This would have imposed a significant hazard for the crew when stepping into the ratlines?  This could be somewhat mitigated by bending them onto, or even around the shroud, near where the poles crossed them, leaving the parts between the shrouds clear to access/step-on?  Hope this helps?

 

cheers

 

Pat 

Edited February 16 by BANYAN