Rigging books for 1855

[jerome]

Does anyone know of publications printed around 1855?

specific to rigging large American ships.

This is for a real boat rigger friend of mine who’s at a loss on this era of rigging.
Thanks.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Depends on the type of ship ...  For square rigged commercial vessels, 'Masting & Rigging the Clipper Ship & Ocean Carrier' by Harold A. Underhill - 1946 (available as a pre-owned book) has a wealth of information, much of it applying to the 1850s, when patents for splitting the top sail were being adopted.  The time range applies from the late 1840s through the early 20th century.  

 

  For many sailing warships,  'Rigging Period Ship Models by Lennarth Petersson has material applicable from roughly 1800 through the 1850s (e.g. the rebuild of the U.S.S. Constellation).  A different kettle of fish from commercial vessels.

 

  There are a couple of books on fore-and-aft type ships (e.g. schooners), but the name of them escapes me at this moment (Edit: one of them may be Underhill's  'Sailing Ship Rigs and Rigging' 1955 , that covers additional ship types).  However, I find that 'The Bluenose II' by L.B. Jenson (who also documents the original Bluenose of 1921 - the rigging virtually the same) has much information that might be applicable for earlier schooners.  Again, fore-and-aft rigging is a different kettle of fish from the above two classes.

 

  EDIT:  R.C. Anderson '17th Century Rigging' (1952) expands the time period somewhat, and provides further insight. Anderson's 'The Rigging of Ships - In the Days of the Spritsail Topmast 1600- 1720' (1984) further stretches the time period and ship type.

Edited September 8 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Jim Lad]

Two English books; Robert Kippins's 'Masting and Rigging' (1856) and George Biddlecombe's 'The Art of Rigging' (1848) may be of use to you. Both are available in modern reprint copies.

 

John

[BANYAN]

Hi Jerome, there are others also writing in this era, including:

Robert Kipping (as per John above) - "Rudimentary Treatise On Masting and Mast Making" 1853/1854/1858 editions

John Fincham "A Treatise on Masting Ships and Mast Making" 1854

G.S. Nares (Commander, RN) "Seamanship" - 1868

More related to USN is:

SB Luce "Seamanship" - 1868, and

Brady "The Kedge Anchor" - 1852 edition

 

Most of these are available as digital copies (PDF) produced by Google.  The search engines now try and point you to 'print on demand' or paid versions, but if you persevere and look further down you can still find the free pdf versions easily enough.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[wefalck]

I have put together a lis of published literature specifically on masting and rigging. There are some more titles in addition to those already mentioned: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/maritimebibliographies/masting&rigging-bibliography.pdf

 

Those marked with 'E' are available in digitised form, but you would need to look for yourself for a link.

Edited September 7 by wefalck

[Andreas]

Hallo wefalck,

 

vielleicht noch eine Ergänzung für deine Sammlung:

Die Sprache des niederdeutschen Reepschlägerhandwerks, Jürgen Eichhoff, 1968, im Rahmen "Niederdeutsche Studien"

 

interessanter herausgegeben vom

Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe

 

perhaps another addition to your collection:

The language of the Low German rope-making trade, Jürgen Eichhoff, 1968, as part of "Low German Studies"

 

more interestingly published by the

Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe

 

Grüße,

Andreas

[wefalck]

Thanks, I was aware of this work. Interestingly, their terminology differs in places from the one used in maritime circles - but this is rather a discussion for a German forum (where we already had it, I think).

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

On 9/7/2024 at 11:28 AM, wefalck said:

I have put together a lis of published literature specifically on masting and rigging. There are some more titles in addition to those already mentioned: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/maritimebibliographies/masting&rigging-bibliography.pdf

 

Those marked with 'E' are available in digitized form, but you would need to look for yourself for a link.

  Very impressive - a veritable compendium of sources ...  The most recent (and more easily accessible) are still those by Anderson Petersson and Underhill.

[wefalck]

Yes, but these are secondary sources with specific temporal and/or regional focus. One should not forget this.