On Royal Navy snows, how was the rope mast attached?

[Pitan]

In the 18th century, the Royal Navy had several classes of snow rigged sloops*.
The rig is mentioned in The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625-1860 by James Lees, and in The Sloop of War 1650-1763 by Ian McLaughan.

Both authors suggest that the later RN snows used a rope hawse (or horse?) rather than the wooden mast used on merchant vessels.
While discussing snows, Steel mentions the RN's use of a rope horse to support a try sail.

Lees does give a couple of examples for attaching wooden snow masts (pp 11-12).
I have not seen how a rope mast was secured, neither at the head nor the foot.
There is an indication in McLaughlin that the foot of the rope was tightened with a pair of blocks (possibly deadeyes), but no indication of how the lower block was attached to the ship (Fig 1-9, p 18).

My question is, how was the rope mast attached?  Are there examples out there?


* For example, about 25 sloops built between 1742 and 1747 were snow rigged.

[wefalck]

I cannot claim that I know what the RN did at the time, but I would think that there is an eyebolt going through a substantial member of the top. The lower end would be made fast again to an eyebolt that goes through the deck and a beam. It would be set tight with a lanyard and bull's eyes.

 

A similar method was used for guiding the lower yards on schooners or cutters, where the gaff and mast-rings would interfer with parrels.

 

Not sure that a brig with a rope instead of a secondary mast would actually be called a snow. The purpose of the so-called snow-mast is to allow the gaff and the parrel of the main-yard to be lowered without interfering with each other.

 

Edited Wednesday at 01:10 PM by wefalck

[Pitan]

Hello wefalck, and thank-you

47 minutes ago, wefalck said:

Not sure that a brig with a rope instead of a secondary mast would actually be called a snow.

Steel in his writing agreed with you:

Quote

Vessels in the navy, that resemble snows, have a rope-horse, that sets up abaft the main-mast with dead-eyes and a laniard, to which the trysail is bent, by hanks and seizings, similar to the trysail of a snow.

Source: https://maritime.org/doc/steel/part7.php#pg220

I have no idea what it would have been called.

Edited Wednesday at 01:04 PM by Pitan
Spellin error