Unusual Fitting on 'Herzogin Cecilie'

[Jim Lad]

I've had a reply from my contact at the Mariehamn Maritime Museum. They tell me that it was a common fitting used when it was necessary to use a capstan on a different deck for a heavy job such as hoisting yards 0 remember that the yards on the 'Duchess' were all steel and thus very heavy to hoist.

 

John

[B-Ram]

The device is a open chock. It is used typically to guide mooring ropes. Usually in conjunction with a mooring cleat.

 

 

 

 

[Veszett Roka]

On 9/25/2024 at 10:48 PM, Jim Lad said:

I think perhaps we're going around in circles a bit with the mooring line thought, but I've had another idea - She had to change sails several times each voyage; could the fairlead have been used to help in hauling sails aft from the sail locker under the forecastle?

 

John

 

Don't think so. The below picture from Preussen shows that the sails were moved by pure manpower.

 

[dafi]

As the mooring lines of Victory were passed through the stern ports and also the poop deck was quite high above the water, I would expect Victorys fairleads on the poop to quarter deck to be associated with the normal running rigging.

Any heavier load like gaff claw and peak, also the mizen topyard etc. are all heavy weights and the poop deck is quite small. On the Vic they are still in the days of manpower and not the winchesm so the crew could pull from somewhere more spacious. 🙂

 

XXXDAn

Edited October 2, 2024 by dafi

[Zooropa]

Jim, These roller fairleads was also on fo'c'sle. 

[Jim Lad]

Thanks for that photo!

 

John

[Zooropa]

That's from a personal photo collection of Freya Darby, and she's the daughter of Pamela Bourne Erikssons and Sven Erikssons. It was very special to meet her.

 

Karel

[Ian_S]

A late reply (due to me being a new member here).

These fairleads also appear on the Lawhill.  (See Kenneth Edwards et. al., The Four-masted Barque Lawhill  (Anatomy of the Ship series). London: Conway Maritime Press, 1996). Photos on pages 25 (fore deck) and 46 (poop deck) show lines being led through them. It may be possible to interpret where these ropes are leading from and to -- you can just see that, but I'm not qualified to make the interpretation.

Drawings of the deck arrangements and fittings at the end of the book also show these fairleads (see pp. 69, 76, 83, 91 & 96).

I suppose the point of me sharing this information is that, with enough different instances across a number of vessels, some common theme may emerge that more fully answers the OP's question: what were these fairleads for? It seems to still be an open question although some quite plausible albeit brief suggestions have been made. 

Edited May 30 by Ian_S

[Jim Lad]

Thanks Ian. It turns out that there are a second pair at the after end of the forecastle. Still a puzzle, but I've fitted them and we'll see if anything else turns up.

 

John