Topsail Ties and Halliards on 16th/17th Century Galleons

[Mashuno]

Hello all!

 

I've been working on a personal project based around 16th-17th century galleons, and so far it's been smooth sailing (pun intended). However, I've run into a little problem with the rigging. More specifically, I'm having problems with how the topsail ties and halliards work.

 

I'm using R.C. Anderson's "The rigging of ships in the days of the spiritsail topmast, 1600-1720", and it says that the tie has a block at its end, with a runner passing through the block. The runner is then said to have its own block, with the halliard running through that.

 

 

I'm having some trouble visualising how the runner and halliard are rigged to the rest of the ship, especially since Anderson describes the runner as connecting to "one side of the ship as well as aft". If anyone can give a more detailed explanation, or provide diagrams/images of the runners position on the ship, that would be much appreciated

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Mashuno

[popeye2sea]

Indeed, as is shown in the illustration the runner and halliard come down on opposite sides of the ship. The standing end of the runner (to the left in the picture) commonly had a hook spliced on to the end and was hooked to an eyebolt near the bulwark or rail. The halliard may be in two or more parts with its standing end hooked to an eyebolt opposite the eyebolt for the runner.  The lower block of the halliard tackle would be hooked or seized to either another eyebolt close by or the same eyebolt. If the halliard was only a single whip (two part) there would be a leading block at the bottom instead of a tackle block. The hauling part of the halliard would belay to a pin on the rail.

 

Typically, the halliards for the yards as you go up the masts would switch sides. For instance, the halliard for the topsail yard would come down on the starboard side while the one for the the topgallant yard would come down to port, while the royal would belay to starboard again.  The halliards would also switch sides from mast to mast also.

 

Regards,

 

Henry