Studding booms, how are the lower booms attached?

[Modeler12]

On my USS Constitution the plans are a bit sketchy about how the studding booms for the lower sails are attached and used.
After some scrutiny it turned out that the details are there for the fore mast sails. See below:

What is not clear to me is how and where those booms are stored for the main? I am, of course, referring to the lower studding sail booms.

I may have to look at my reference books, but I don't think they talk about that

 

[Modeler12]

G'day Jay, the ones I have seen have a pin on the end of the boom which fitted into a socket which was attached to the channel, hope this helps,

 

 

PS the photo is credited to Jokita

 

 

Best regards John.

 

Surprise_Const146_lrg.jpeg

John, my picture is not very clear, but mine also has that pin. That is why I mentioned the eye bolt into which it fits.

That was actually the swivel point for the boom to extend it out away from the ship when needed. My log has more details.

But the question is more related to what happened to the studding boom for the main.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Modeler12

[Force9]

Jay

 

It is likely that on the Constitution only the foremast had lower stuns'l sails. The Hull model and Brady both suggest no main stuns'l boom. The mizzen crojack yard does not carry a sail so no boom there either. Olof Eriksen suggests in his book that a lower main stuns'l would block the wind of any lower fore stunsl and is therefore omitted. Marquart agrees that both would not be deployed, but argues for only a main lower stunsl and no fore. The contemporary models, literature, and old photos would suggest otherwise.

 

There is a lengthier discussion of this somewhere in my build log.

 

Evan

Edited February 8, 2015 by Force9

[CaptainSteve]

Jay,

I had noticed your question in your Constitution build-log, and it instantly reminded me that I had read the answer just the previous day. Note that I do not claim to know what half the terms used in the following passage mean ... but I DO know more than I did last week.

 

So, until Kester gets here …

 

How the studding-sails were rigged is what puzzles many model-makers. The first thing to get clear in mind is the fact that there were two classes of spars used, booms and yards. The booms were those that were kept in place, rove through two iron bands attached to the regular yard, on its upper side, just aft of and clear of the jackstay. The outer iron was fitted into the end of the mainyard. The inner iron or band had a hinged clasp that could be opened and the inner end of the boom raised up out of it. 

 

The yards were light spars lashed to the head of the sails and went up or down with the sail. The blocks through which the halliards rove were fastened to the outer end of the yard’s arm on the under-side, and the blocks for the sheet of the studding-sail, above it, were lashed at the outer end on the top of the studding sail boom.

 

The halliards were made fast to, or “bent on”, in the middle of the yard so that the sail extended out beyond the yard’s arm above it. The sheet, being led down on deck, also acted as a brace and the tack, the rope on the inside lower corner of the sail, led down on deck and it was by hauling down on this and slacking away on the sheet and halliard, that the sail was taken in, being pulled right down to the deck.

 

The lower studding-sails, on the foremast, were so broad across the head that the yard only extended about half-way and the halliard was rove through a block on the end of the studding-sail boom, the inner clew being hauled up to the yard by another rope led up into the fore-top. The foot of this lower studding-sail, only set on the foremast, was extended by a spar called the swinging boom – it being that spar which served as a boat boom, to keep the ship’s small boats away from the side when at anchor. These booms were swivelled to the rail or on the forward end of the fore channels.

[END QUOTE]

 

(The preceding passage is from "The Ship Model Builder’s Assistant" by Charles G Davis.)

Edited March 1, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[Modeler12]

 The foot of this lower studding-sail, only set on the foremast, was extended by a spar called the swinging boom – it being that spar which served as a boat boom, to keep the ship’s small boats away from the side when at anchor. These booms were swivelled to the rail or on the forward end of the fore channels.

[END QUOTE]

 

(The preceding passage is from "The Ship Model Builder’s Assistant" by Charles G Davis.)

Steve, this is the part that I am referring to. The lower studding sail boom is what I show for the fore sail. It hinged by way of the pin in the end of the boom and was lashed to the side of the hull when not in use. It is a long pole and would not easily be stowed below deck. 

So, where is the one for the main studding sail? Or was there never a lower studding sail for the main?

Petersson and Marquardt show those sails on the plans, but do not mention where the booms are stowed.

 

Evan, I am going to assume (as you mentioned) that there was no lower main studding sail on the Constitution. If other ships did have them, the boom was probably lashed to the side of the hull like the one for the fore mast.

Edited February 8, 2015 by Modeler12

[surfcurran]

Folks, pitching in on this discussion almost 4 years late.  The model shipways constitution plans show studding sails at the fore lower (course) position but not at the main. This is consistent with the discussion that main studding sails would have blocked the wind needed to fill the fore lower studding sails on a downwind run.  Unfortunately, the plans do not give dimensions for the fore lower studding boom (attached to the fore lower yard). I'm trying to scale those dimensions now for my model

[dafi]

Lees states that in the RN from 1801 the lower stunsails on the main masts were not longer issued. This most possibly means too, that the boom displayed in Portsmouth on the main channel is actually the one of the fore mast stunsail 😉

 

That is possibly because of the collision with the anchors on the fore channels.

 

XXXDAn

Edited December 20, 2018 by dafi