TO SEND DOWN MASTS AND YARDS.
To send down a royal yard--a topgallant yard--a topgallant mast. To
house a topgallant mast. To send down a topmast. To rig in a jib boom.
TO SEND DOWN A ROYAL YARD.--If the sail is bent to the yard, furl it,
making the gaskets fast to the tye. Cast off the sheets and clewlines,
and make them fast to the jack. Be careful to unreeve the clewlines
through the quarter-blocks. Cast off the parral-lashing. Overhaul the
tye a little, and stop it to the yard, just outside of the
quarter-block. If stopped too far out, the yard will not hoist high
enough to get the lower lift off. Sway away on the halyards, which will
cant the yard and hoist it. When high enough, cast off the lower lift
and brace, (being careful not to let the brace go,) and make them fast
to the jack. Lower away, and as the upper yard-arm comes abreast of the
jack, clap a stop round the yard and tye, near the yard-arm, and cast
off the lift and brace, making them fast to the jack. Lower away to the
deck.
If the halyards are not single, the yard must be sent down by a
yard-rope, like the topgallant yard. In some vessels, instead of making
the sheets and clewlines fast to the jack, overhand knots are taken in
their ends, and they are let go. The sheets will run out to the
topgallant yard-arms, and the clewlines will run to the fair-leaders in
the cross-trees. In port, the main royal yard is sent down on the
starboard side, and the fore and mizzen on the larboard; but at sea,
the tye is stopped out on the lee side, and the yard sent down in any
way that is the most convenient.
TO SEND DOWN A TOPGALLANT YARD.--Cast off the sheets, bowlines,
buntlines and clewlines, and make them fast to the cross-trees. Reeve a
yard-rope through a jack-block at the mast-head, unhook the tye, cast
off the parral-lashing, bend the yard-rope to the slings of the yard by
a fisherman's bend, and stop it to the quarters of the yard. Sway away,
and take off the lifts and braces, as with the royal yard.
TO SEND DOWN A TOPGALLANT MAST.--Hook the top-block to the eye-bolt at
the larboard side of the topmast cap; reeve the mast-rope through it,
then through the sheave-hole in the foot of the topgallant mast, and
hitch its end to the eye-bolt on the starboard side of the cap. Come up
the rigging, stays and backstays, and guy the mast-head by them. Hoist
a little on the mast-rope, and take out the fid. (The fid should always
be fastened to the cross-trees or trestle-trees, by a lanyard.) Lower
away until the mast is a little short of being through the cap. Then
seize or rack together both parts of the mast-rope just above the
sheave-hole; cast off the end of the mast-rope, letting the mast hang
by the stops, and hitch it round the mast-head to its own part, below
the cap. Then lower away to the deck. If the rigging is to come on
deck, round up the mast-rope for a girtline; if it is to remain aloft,
lash it to the topmast cap, render the shrouds through the cross-trees,
and stop them up and down the topgallant rigging. Sheep-shank the stays
and backstays, and set them hand-taut. If the top-mast is also to be
sent down, take off the topmast cap and send it on deck.
TO HOUSE A TOPGALLANT MAST.--Proceed in the same manner, except that
when the mast is low enough, belay the mast-rope, pass a heel-lashing
through the fid-hole and round the topmast.
TO SEND DOWN A TOPMAST.--Hook the top-block, reeve the mast-rope
through it and through the sheave-hole in the foot of the mast, and
hitch it to the staple at the other side of the cap. Lead the fall
through a snatch-block, to the capstan. Sling the lower yard, if it is
to remain aloft, and unshackle the trusses, if they are of iron. Come
up the rigging, stays and backstays, weigh the mast, take out the fid,
and lower away. If the rigging is to remain aloft, lash the cross-trees
to the lower cap. The rigging should be stowed away snugly in the top,
and the backstays be snaked up and down the lower rigging.
TO RIG IN A JIB-BOOM.--Reeve the heel-rope (if necessary,) come up the
stay, martingale stay and guys; unreeve the jib-stay, station hands at
each guy, clear away the heel-lashing, haul in upon the guys, and light
the boom on board. In most cases the boom will come in without a
heel-rope. Make fast the eyes of the rigging to the bowsprit cap, and
haul all taut.