TO RIG MASTS AND YARDS.
Rigging the shears. Taking in lower masts and bowsprit. To rig a
bowsprit. Getting the tops over the mast-heads. To send up a top-mast.
To get on a top-mast cap. To rig a jib-boom. To cross a lower yard. To
cross a topgallant yard. To send up a topgallant mast. Long, short, and
stump topgallant masts. To rig out a flying jib-boom. To cross
topgallant and royal yards. Skysail yards.
TAKING IN LOWER MASTS AND BOWSPRIT.--Shore up the beams upon which the
heels of the shears will rest, if necessary, from the keelson.
Parbuckle the shears aboard, with their heads aft. Raise their heads
upon the taffrail, cross them, and pass the shear-lashing. Lash the
upper block of a three-fold tackle under the cross, and secure the
lower block to the breast-hooks, or to a toggle in the hawse-hole. You
may also reeve and secure, in the same manner, a smaller purchase,
which shall work clear of the first. Have two forward and two after
guys clove-hitched to the shear-head, with cleats to prevent their
slipping. Get a girt-line on one shear-head and a small tackle on the
other, to slue and cant the mast. Let the fall of the main tackle come
through the middle sheave, to prevent the block's sluing in its strap.
Reeve large heel tackles to rouse the shears aft with. Put long oak
plank shoes under the heels; and, if it be necessary, clap a
thwart-ship tackle upon the two heels, or reeve a lashing, and put a
stout plank between them, and bowse taut; which will prevent too great
a strain coming upon the water-ways. Take the main tackle fall to the
capstan; heave round, haul on the forward guy and after heel tackles,
and raise the shear to an angle of about eighty degrees with the deck,
and so that the main purchase will hang plumb with the partners of the
mizzen-mast. Lash a garland to the forward part of the mast, above the
centre, and toggle the purchase to it. Heave the mast in over the
bulwarks; fit the trestle-trees and after chock; reeve girt-lines by
which men may be hoisted when the mast is in; point the mast in, and
lower away. Always take in the mizzen-mast first. Get in the main and
then the foremast in the same manner, rousing the shears forward, with
their shoes, by means of the heel tackles. Having stepped and secured
the foremast, carry the forward guys aft and rake the shears over the
bows; toggle the lower block of the main tackle to a garland lashed to
the upper part of the bowsprit inside of the centre. Put on the cap,
and carry tackles or guys from the bowsprit-head to each cat-head, and
clap on a heel tackle or guy. Heave the bowsprit, and direct it by the
small tackles and guys.
TO RIG A BOWSPRIT.--Lash collars for the fore stay, bobstays, and
bowsprit shrouds, then for the spring stay, and put on the bees for the
topmast stays; fit the man-ropes, pass the gammoning, and set up
bobstays and shrouds.
TO GET THE TOPS OVER THE MAST-HEADS.--Place the top on deck abaft the
mast; get a girt-line on each side of the mast-head, and pass the end
of each under the top, through the holes in the after part; clinch them
to their own parts, and stop them to the fore part of the top with
slip-stops. Have a guy to the fore and another to the after part of the
top. Make the ends of a span fast to the after corners of the top, and
bend a girt-line from the mast-head to the bight of the span, and stop
it to the forward part of the top. Sway away on the girt-lines. When
the fore part of the top is above the trestle-trees, cut the
span-stops, and when the after part is above them, cast off the
slip-stops. When the lubber-hole is high enough to clear the mast-head,
haul on the forward guy, and let the top hang horizontally by the
girt-lines. Lower away, place and bolt it.
The fore and main tops are sent up from abaft, and the mizzen from
forward. The tops may be got over without the span and girt-line, by
stopping the two girt-lines first rove to the middle as well as to the
fore part of the top, and cutting the upper stops first.
TO SEND UP A TOPMAST.--Get the topmast alongside, with its head
forward. Lash a top-block to the head of the lower-mast; reeve a
mast-rope through it, from aft forward, and bring the end down and
reeve it through the sheave-hole of the topmast, hitching it to its own
part a little below the topmast-head, and stopping both parts to the
mast, at intervals. Snatch the rope and sway away. As soon as the head
is through the lower cap, cast off the end of the mast-rope, letting
the mast hang by the stops, and hitch it to the staple in the other end
of the cap. Cast off the stops and sway away. Point the head of the
mast between the trestle-trees and through the hole in the lower cap,
the round hole of which must be put over the square hole of the
trestle-trees. Lash the cap to the mast, hoist away, and when high
enough, lower a little and secure the cap to the lower mast-head. (This
is when it cannot be put on by hand.) If the cross-trees are heavy,
they may be placed in the following manner. Sway away until the
topmast-head is a few feet above the lower cap. Send up the cross-trees
by girt-lines, and let the after part rest on the lower cap and the
forward part against the topmast. Lower away the topmast until the
cross-trees fall into their place, and then hoist until they rest on
the shoulders. Lash on the bolsters, get girt-lines on the cross-trees
to send up the rigging, and then put it over the mast-head, first the
shrouds, then the backstays, and lastly the head-stays. Sway the
topmast on end, fid it, and set up the rigging.
TO GET ON A TOPMAST-CAP.--In vessels of the largest class, it may be
necessary to send up the cap in the following manner, but it can
usually be got up by hand. Or it may be fitted and the rigging put on
over it. Send the cap up to the cross-trees by girt-lines, and place
the round hole of the cap over the forward hole of the cross-trees;
send aloft a topgallant studdingsail boom, and point its upper end
through the holes in the cross-trees and cap, and lash the cap to it.
Hook a tackle or girt-line to a strap on the lower end of the spar, and
sway away until the cap is over the mast-head. Slue the spar so that
the cap may come fair, lower away, and place the cap upon the
mast-head. Unlash the spar and send it down.
TO RIG OUT A JIB-BOOM.--Point the outer end through the collars of the
stays. Reeve the heel-rope through a block at the bowsprit cap, through
the sheave-hole at the heel of the boom, and secure the end to an
eye-bolt in the cap on the opposite side. Rig the boom out until the
inner sheave-hole is clear of the cap. Tar the boom-end, put on the
foot-ropes and guys, and reeve the jib stay. Hoist up the martingale
and rig it, and reeve the martingale stay and gaub-line. Rig the boom
out to its place, and set up the jib and martingale stays.
TO CROSS A LOWER YARD.--If the yard is alongside, reeve the yard rope
through the jear block at the mast-head, make it fast to the slings of
the yard, and stop it out to the yard-arm. Sway away, and cast off the
stops as the yard comes over the side, and get the yard across the
bulwarks. Lower yards are rigged now with iron trusses and
quarter-blocks, which would be fitted before rigging the yard. Seize on
the clew-garnet block, and put the rigging over the yard-arm; first the
straps for the head-earings, then the foot-ropes, then the brace blocks
or pennants, and last the eye of the lift. (The lifts, brace pennants,
and foot-ropes are now spliced or hooked into rings with thimbles on an
iron band, round the yard-arm, next the shoulders. In this way, there
is no rope of any kind round the yard-arm.) Reeve the lifts and braces,
get two large tackles from the mast-head to the quarters of the yard,
and sway away on them and on the lifts, bearing off and sluing the yard
by means of guys. Secure the yard by the iron trusses, and haul taut
lifts and braces.
TO CROSS A TOPSAIL YARD.--As topsail yards now have chain tyes, there
are no tye-blocks to seize on. The quarter-blocks are first seized on,
and the parral secured at one end, ready to be passed. A single parral
has an eye in each end, and one end is passed under the yard and over,
and the eye seized to the standing part, close to the yard. After the
yard is crossed, the other end is passed round the mast, then round the
yard, and seized in the same manner. To pass a double parral, proceed
in the same manner, except that the seizings are passed so as to leave
the eyes clear and above the standing part, and then take a short rope
with an eye in each end, pass it round the mast, and seize the eyes to
the eyes of the first long rope. The parral is wormed, served and
leathered. The parral being seized at one end, put on the head-earing
straps, the foot-ropes, Flemish horses, and brace blocks. Bend the
yard-rope to the slings, stop it out to the yard-arm, and sway away
until the yard is up and down; then put on the upper lift in the top
and the lower lift on deck, and reeve the braces. Sway away, cast off
the stops, and take in upon the lower lift as the yard rises, till the
yard is square; then haul taut lifts and braces and pass the parral.
TO SEND UP A TOPGALLANT MAST.--Most merchantmen carry _long topgallant
masts_. In these, the topgallant, royal and skysail masts are all one
stick. _A short topgallant mast_ is one which has cross-trees, and
above which a fidded royal-mast may be rigged. _A stump topgallant
mast_ has no cross-trees, or means for setting a mast above it, and is
carried only in bad weather. Some short topgallant masts are rigged
with a _withe_ on the after part of the mast-head, through which a
sliding-gunter royal-mast is run up, with its heel resting in a step on
the topmast cap.
To send up a long topgallant mast, put the jack over the topmast cap,
with a grommet upon its funnel for the eyes of the rigging to rest
upon; send up the rigging by girtlines, and put the eyes over the jack,
first the topgallant shrouds, backstays and stays, then the royal
rigging in the same order, with a grommet, then the skysail stay and
backstay, and lastly the truck. Reeve a top-rope forward through a
block at the topmast-head, through the hole in the cross-trees; through
the sheave-hole at the foot of the topgallant mast; carry it up the
other side, and make it fast to its own part at the mast-head; stop it
along the mast, and bend a guy to the heel. Sway away, and point
through the jack; put on the truck, and the skysail, royal and
topgallant rigging in their order; slue the mast so as to bring the
sheaves of the tyes fore-and-aft; cast off the end of the top-rope, the
mast hanging by the stops; make it fast to an eye-bolt on the starboard
side of the cap, and sway away. When high enough, fid the mast and set
up the rigging.
A short topgallant mast is sent up like a topmast, the cross-trees got
over in the same manner; and the fidded royal-mast is sent up like a
long topgallant mast.
TO RIG OUT A FLYING JIB-BOOM.--Ship the withe on the jib-boom end,
reeve a heel-rope through a block at the jib-boom end, and bend it to
the heel of the flying jib-boom, and stop it along, out to the end.
Haul out on the heel-rope, point through the withe, put on the rigging,
in the same order with that of the jib-boom; reeve the guys,
martingale, flying jib, royal and skysail stays; rig out, and set up
the rigging. The heel of the boom rests against the bowsprit cap, and
is lashed to the jib-boom.
The flying jib-boom should be rigged fully out before the fore
topgallant mast is swayed on end.
TO CROSS A TOPGALLANT YARD.--Seize on the parral and quarter-blocks;
reeve the yard-rope through the sheave-hole of the topgallant mast,
make it fast to the slings of the yard, and stop it out to the upper
end. Sway away, and when the upper yard-arm has reached the
topmast-head, put on the upper lift and brace; sway away again, put on
the lower lift and brace, cast off all the stops, settle the yard down
square by lifts and braces, and pass the parral lashing.
TO CROSS ROYAL YARDS.--The royal yards are crossed in the same manner
as the topgallant yards, except that in most merchantmen they would be
sent up by the halyards instead of a yard-rope. If there is not a
standing skysail, the quarter-blocks on the royal yard will be single.
SKYSAIL YARDS.--If the skysail is a standing sail, the yard is rigged
like the royal yard, with lifts and braces, and the sail is fitted with
sheets and clewlines; but if it is a flying skysail, the yard has
neither lifts nor braces, and the clews of the sail are seized out to
the royal yard-arms. There are various ways of rigging a flying
skysail, of which the following is believed to be as convenient as any.
Let the royal stay go round the mast-head, with a traveller, above the
yard, so that the stay may travel up and down the skysail mast. Seize a
thimble into the stay, close against the forward part of the grommet;
lead the skysail halyards through the thimble, and make them fast to
the centre of the yard, which will need no parral, underneath the royal
stay. Make fast the ends of two small ropes for downhauls, to the
skysail yard, about half way out on each yard-arm, and reeve them
through small cleats on the after part of the royal yard, the same
distance out on each yard-arm. These may be spliced into a single rope
below the yard, which will go through a fair-leader in the cross-trees
to the deck. By this means the skysail may be taken in or set without
the necessity of sending a man aloft. Let go the halyards and haul on
the downhaul, and the yard will be brought close down to the royal
yard. To hoist it, let go the downhaul and royal stay, and haul on the
halyards. When the royal is taken in, haul the skysail yard down with
the royal yard, and furl the sail in with the royal.