THE RIGGING AND SAILS OF A SCHOONER.
"You did not tell us what studding-sails are," said Ash Burton, who had
been deeply interested in the explanations given. "You said the halyard
of the studding-sail passed through the jewel-block, and that was all."
"I have nothing to illustrate the subject with," replied the principal.
"On some of the yards there are extra spars, which can be run out, thus
increasing the length of the yard. On these are set the studding-sails.
The extra spars are called studding-sail booms."
Captain Gildrock took the chalk, and made a rough drawing of the sails
described, so that the pupils could get an idea of them. The students
were then dismissed, and after supper pulled the barges over to Sandy
Point, where some of them wanted to hear about the removal of Mr.
Bristol's cottage from this place to its present location. After the
lessons of the forenoon the next day, the work of rigging the boat was
continued.
But, before the students went to the wharf, they were assembled in the
schoolroom, where a diagram of a schooner was presented to them. The rig
was very simple; for she was not to be fitted out as a racing craft,
though some of the "kites" used were described.
"The rope, which is sometimes of wire, which passes from the end of the
bowsprit to the mast-head is the jibstay, which, in our craft, does duty
as the forestay. The bobstay leads from the end of the bowsprit on the
under side, to the cutwater, to assist in bearing the strain of the
jibstay. In a craft of this size it is not necessary to have
bowsprit-shrouds and other headgear used in a large vessel. The bobstay
is enough.
"We shall put two shrouds on each side of each mast. They have to be set
up taut, and they will keep the jibstay tight. The rope passing from the
head of the foremast to the head of the mainmast is the spring-stay,
which ties the two masts together, and equalizes the strain upon all the
rigging."
"A schooner has no tops; but we use a short stick placed across the
mast to stay the topmast, sometimes two of them, like the cross-trees
of a ship. A single backstay on each side of the topmast is enough to
sustain it. From the topmast-head we have a stay, which is the
fore-topmast-stay. This is really all the standing-rigging there will
be on board the Lily."
"We have not had that term before," suggested Sam Spottwood.
"The two terms 'standing' and 'running' rigging explain themselves,"
replied the principal. "The former is that which is immovable, except
with the vessel: the latter is that by which the sails are set and
trimmed, and the various movements of all kinds are effected.
"The other spars of the schooner will be the gaffs and booms, two of
each kind, which take their names from the masts to which they are
attached. Sometimes there is no boom to the foresail, in which case it
is called the lug-foresail. The rope from the mainmast-head to the end
of the boom, to support its weight when the sail is not set, is called
the topping-lift.
"Now we are ready to look at the sails, and the rigging necessary to
work them," continued the principal, as he pointed to the outlines of
the sails on the drawing. "The jib is a three-cornered sail, while the
fore and main sails are more nearly square. There are certain names of
the parts of the sails which you must learn. The head of the sails is
the part attached to the gaffs, while the foot is fastened to the boom.
The leach, as a general term, is the outside of the sail. The outer, or
after, leach of the mainsail is therefore that part of the sail which
reaches from the after end of the gaff to the same part of the boom. The
inner leach is next to the mast. This is also called the luff.
"The corners of the sails are called the clews; and you remember that
the clewlines of a topsail were to hoist up the corners of the sail. The
after corner of the sail at the foot, is also called the tack. On the
corners of the courses of a ship, there are ropes for holding the sail
in position, which change their names. When the ship is on the wind, the
forward one is the tack, and the after one the sheet. When the ship goes
about, these ropes change their names, to conform to the general system;
which is, that a sheet is the after rope by which the sail is held when
full.
"The jib has the same parts as the other sails, though of course it has
only three clews; and the same is true of a gaff-topsail. Now, what do
you call the line by which we hoist the jib?"
"The jib-halyards," replied Chick Penny, who had got the idea of the
system very clearly in his mind.
"The word 'halyards' applies to all sails. What is the rope with which
the foresail is hoisted?"
"The fore-halyards," answered Con Bunker.
"And so on. Coming back to the jib, what is the rope attached to the
lower corner?"
"The jib-sheet," said Syl Peckman.
"Sometimes, especially in small craft where the sheet leads aft to the
standing-room, there are two of them, which are distinguished as weather
and lee jib-sheets. Sometimes the sheet works on a traveller, which is
an iron bar extending across the forecastle, on which the ring holding
the sheet-block may slip from side to side as the vessel tacks. There
must be two flying-jib sheets, so that the sail may be drawn down on
each side of the jib-stay, as occasion requires.
"Inside of the hanks or hoops of the jib, where they run on the stay, is
a rope leading to the head of the sail, used for hauling it down, and
called a downhaul. I have mentioned all the running-rigging of the jibs;
though some vessels are provided with additional gear, as the brails, by
which the sail is gathered up as it comes down. Now we will pass to the
after sails, the jibs taking the general name of head-sails.
"There are two sets of halyards belonging to the fore and main sails.
The inner end of the gaff, where it is hollowed out to fit the mast, is
called the throat. From this part, the inner halyard gets its name of
throat-halyards. They consist of a double purchase, with a rope leading
down to the deck on the port side. The peak-halyards are sometimes
worked with a double block, and sometimes with several single blocks,
fixed at some distance apart on the gaff, so as to divide the pressure.
They lead down on the starboard side."
"Which is the larboard-watch?" asked a Vermont boy, who had probably
heard the song with this name.
"Larboard and port mean the same thing; but the former word has gone out
of use, because it is so liable to be mistaken for the opposite term,
starboard. The two words sounded so nearly alike that mistakes were
sometimes made. Some time within a few years, an effort was made in
France to adopt the English terms, 'starboard' and 'port,' instead of
_stribord_, or _tribord_, as it is now written, and _babord_; though
they are not so nearly alike as starboard and larboard."
"Do sailors have to learn the names of terms in foreign languages?"
asked Tucker Prince, who seemed to be surprised that the principal knew
them.
"Not unless they are to serve in foreign vessels. The Spanish name for
starboard is like the French, for it is _estribor_; while port, _babord_
in French, is _babor_. In Italian the words are _dritta_ and _sinistra_.
But if you learn the terms in English, it will be sufficient. The
larboard-watch is now called the port-watch. The ship's company are
divided into the two watches, called the starboard and port watches.
"Both the fore and the main sail have sheets, each taking the systematic
name. Of course, you can all tell where the fore and the main sheet are
to be found. Some vessels have brails for gathering up the mainsail when
it is lowered, but they are not very common."
"Where is the main-brace?" asked a new student. "I heard a man talking
about splicing the main-brace."
"You will not find the main-brace in a schooner, and you will not find
the particular one that man meant anywhere, I hope. The main-brace in a
ship is one of the two by which the main-yard is trimmed. Vulgarly, to
splice the main-brace, means to take a dram.
"On the mainsail of the Lily, we shall have three rows of reef-points,
by which we reduce the sail to as many different sizes as the force of
the wind may require. At the outer leach, in line with the reef-points,
is a cringle. This is simply a hole, through which a line, called the
reef-pendant, is passed, and by which it may be lashed down to the boom.
Another is used at the luff; and when the sail is hauled down with the
reef-pendants, the points are tied in square knots, so that they can be
easily cast loose. In the foresail, we shall have but two reefs; often,
there is only one."
"What is a balance-reef?" asked Dick Short, who had never seen any thing
of the kind on the lake.
"A row of reef-points is sometimes, but very rarely, extended from the
throat of the gaff to the cringle of the upper line of reef-points in
the outer leach. When this reef is put in, only the peak of the sail is
hoisted. It is used in very heavy weather, when the other reefs are not
sufficient.
"On the jib, laced to the lower leach, is a piece of canvas called a
bonnet, which makes the jib so much larger. The Lily has a bonnet on her
jib, which she will wear except when the wind is so strong as to render
it necessary to remove it.
"Through the end of the main gaff is a hole, sometimes fitted with a
sheave, through which the ensign-halyards are passed. This is the place
to display the American flag, which is the ensign in the navy. On
yachts, under certain circumstances, it is carried as a challenge to
another yacht to sail with the one carrying it.
"The Lily is to be provided with gaff-topsails, not so much to increase
the amount of canvas, as because, among the hills that surround the lake
in places, there is often a breeze aloft, when there is none, or next to
none, below. These sails are triangular in form, and are usually bent on
a pole to which the halyards are attached. Sometimes the sail is shaped
like the mainsail, and then the pole becomes a sort of yard. Besides the
halyard by which the pole is hoisted, there are two other ropes by which
the sail is worked from the deck. The tack passes through a block at the
mast-head, so that the inner corner of the sail can be drawn down by it.
The sheet, sometimes called the clew, is rigged in a block at the outer
end of the gaff, so as to correspond with the other sheets, and passes
down to the deck. It is not necessary to go aloft to set the sail,
unless something gets foul.
"I have disposed of the ordinary sails of the Lily. She may be provided
with several others. On the fore-topmast-stay, we may set a jib-topsail
or a balloon-jib. The former is a comparatively small sail; while the
latter extends to the topmast-head, and reaches aft to the fore-rigging.
It is made of light duck, and is bent to the stay with spring hanks, so
that it may be readily taken off and stowed below. This same sail may be
used as a spinnaker, in which case, the tack is rigged at the end of a
sort of studding-sail-boom carried out from the fore-chains. It is used
in either way only when the wind is free; that is, abaft the beam. We
might also set a staysail, which is square; the upper clews being
hoisted to the topmast-heads, and the tack and sheet secured near the
deck. This may be used on the wind."
The students then went to the wharf.