Rigging of Knighthead How?

[Bill Jackson]

Hi all,

I have searched my library for the proper rigging of 16th century galleon knightheads. Specifically, Spanish galleon knightheads.

Can anyone point my nose in the right direction to find how to?

Bill

[allanyed]

Bill,

 Are you looking for which lines go through and belay to the various knightheads?  There is scant information on belaying points on later ships in the days of sail, so finding information based on contemporary sources for older vessels such as galleons could be difficult.  There is some good rigging information in Richard Endsor's books but they are English not Spanish.  Lees gives good details, but again  it is for English ships and only from 1625 on.

Allan

[Gregory]

I think we need a picture and some context.

 

Aren't knightheads two timberheads adjacent the stem?  I am not aware of any specific rigging per se..

 

From  Mondfeld.

[allanyed]

Hi Gregory

That was my thought as well but then I looked at drawings in The Galleon by Peter Kirsch.  I have no idea if his drawings are correct but he identifies the bitt pins at the fore and main masts as knight heads.  It could be because these old ships often had carved knight's heads on top of the bitt pins.  I cannot find this term in any other source but would be interested to know if this was a common term for the bitt pins in the days of the galleons.  Richard Endsor identifies them in The Master Shipwright's Secrets on the later galleons of the 17th century as bitts,, same as in later years, not knight heads.  Maybe the terms were interchangeable at some point.

Allan

[Bill Jackson]

Well Im glad to see I am not the only one who has questions about knightheads. Here is a pic of the main topsail yard rigging I plan attach to the knighthead directly under the main mast. There are 3 ropes to be connected. On the knighthead there are 2 areas to run rope through, one above the other; and 1 eyebolt on one side. Which rope goes where? My thoughts are that one of the lowest ropes coming from the lower block goes to the eyebolt. And the other 2 ropes go through the opening in the knighthead and get tied down.

[Bill Jackson]

Guys I just search through "The Rigging of Ships" by Anderson. I can see the sleeves in the knightheads but all of Anderson's pic examples are 17th century. They come close to what I need, but still too new. The pic here is a 16th century example.

[Bob Cleek]

2 hours ago, Bill Jackson said:

My thoughts are that one of the lowest ropes coming from the lower block goes to the eyebolt. And the other 2 ropes go through the opening in the knighthead and get tied down.

Looking at the three lines "hanging loose" at the bottom of the picture and identifying them by numbers one through three running from left to right, I believe the intended purchases will be realized if lines one and two are secured to a deck fastening, be that an eyebolt, cleat, or belaying pin (if such were in use in your period,) leaving line three as the fall or "heaving part," which would be run through the sheave in the knight's head post and lead away as convenient to permit a hauling gang to pull it horizontally in unison. 

[Dr PR]

As I understand it the term "knighthead" originated for any timber that had a fancy carved head or figure on the top. "Bitt" is a term that applies to vertical timbers that provide places to belay lines. So a bitt can be a knighthead, but not all bitts are knightheads.

 

The rigging arrangement in the drawing in post #5 is a "whip on whip" tackle. A single block with one line fastened (the standing part) and one line running (the fall) is a whip tackle. Pulling on or letting out either fall will raise or lower the yard. Working both falls at the same time just raises or lowers the yard faster. And two lines allows twice as many people to work where deck space is limited.

 

One of the lines from the lower block is the "standing" part that would be fastened to a cleat or eyebolt - the one on the bitt/knighthead would work. The other two lines are "running" lines that could be passed through sheaves in the bitt/knighthead and then belayed somewhere nearby. As Bob said, running the lines through the sheaves in the bitt/knightnead allows them to be pulled on horizontally to raise or lower the yard.

 

The same redirection can be accomplished with a single "runner" block attached to a ring bolt on deck (or anywhere else) and running the fall from a tackle through the runner block.

Edited March 24 by Dr PR

[Bill Jackson]

This is what I ended up doing. Using Bob's numbering system 1 to 3, left to right. I put line 1 coming directly from the top mast halliard to one sleeve on the knighthead. I attached line 2 to the eyebolt, and line 3 also to a sleeve on the knighthead. See attached.

And thanks for your inputs guys.

 

Bill

[popeye2sea]

Looking at the diagram you posted and noting the angles at which the lines lead. My opinion is that this topsail halyard is set up as a runner and tackle arrangement with the standing part of the runner (on the left side) leading down to an eyebolt on the port side of the ship and the halyard fall leading down to the knight where the standing leg would be fastened to an eyebolt and the running end passed through the sheave and belayed.

 

The fore topsail halyard would probably have been rigged opposite, with the runner leading down to the starboard side.

 

Regards,

Henry