Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:166:Schooners (Alan Sinder)

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This is a placeholder for schooners as techo-wiz Dappa would have it...

Stephensonia

Earlier Daniel Waterhouse mentally posits that Wait-Still's arguments of Free Will are as effective as boogers would be against a ship of the line at full sail as he doesn't want or need to be disagreeable. He sights one as he is rowed on the Pilot Boat to catch the Minerva. Dappa informs Daniel about the pirate schooners as he begins to carry out a multi-layered bluffing stratagem.

Authored entries

Schooners to Ships of the Line

Developed from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A Schooner is a type of sailing ship. Schooners were first used by the Dutch[1] in the 16th or 17th century, and further developed in North America from the time of the American Revolution[2].

Two-masted fishing schooner

A schooner is a sailing ship whose sail-plan has two or more masts with the forward mast being shorter or the same height as the rear masts. Most of these schooners are gaff rigged. There was no set maximum number of masts for a schooner. A small schooner has two or three masts, but they were built with as many as six or seven masts to carry a larger volume of cargo. A seven-masted schooner, the Thomas L Lawson, was built in 1902, with a length of 395 ft. and carrying 27 sails with 43,000 square feet of sail. A schooner is quite maneuverable and can be sailed by a smaller crew than some other sailing vessels.

Schooners were used to carry cargo in many different environments, from ocean voyages, to coastal runs and on large inland bodies of water. They were popular in North America, and in their heyday of the late 1800s over 2000 schooners carried cargo back and forth across the Great Lakes. Three-masted "terns" were a favorite rig of Canada's Maritime Provinces.

Technically speaking, a schooner is not a ship because it has fewer than three masts. In common parlance this distinction is rarely adhered to.

Sailing ships

A sailing ship is a wind-powered ship. These ships were the primary means of transportation across long distances of water (e.g. rivers, lakes, oceans) before the invention of the first workable steam engines. They were used for carrying cargo, passengers, mail, supplies etc.

Sailing ships were also used in a military capacity. The Spanish convoys bringing back gold and silver from the newly discovered Americas needed protection from the pirates. Large sea battles were fought between the United Kingdom, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

There have been many different types of sailing ships, but they all had certain basic things in common. Every sailing ship has a hull; rigging; at least one mast to hold up the sails that collect the wind and power the ship. Ballast weighs down the bottom of the ship, so the wind does not push the ship over. The crew who sailed the ship were called sailors or hands.

Journeys by sailing ship could take many months, and a common hazard was becoming becalmed, or being blown off course by severe storms. This could lead to shipwreck, and the loss of all hands.

The ships could only carry a certain quantity of supplies in their hold, so they had to plan long voyages carefully to include many stops to take on provisions and especially fresh water.

The sailing ship was generally replaced by steamships during the 19th century. Steam ships were replaced by ships with diesel engines. Today's cargo vessels are faster and more reliable than sailing ships, as they do not rely on sails or the vagaries of the wind. However, sailing ships are still in use in many parts of the world, both for pleasure and work.

Modern sailing ships are largely used as pleasure vessels, for example small yachts. Sailing them is a means of recreation, and many people pay money to travel on an antique or modern-built tall ship.

Rigging

Rigging (Anglo-Saxon wrigan or wrihan, to clothe), the general term, in connexion with ships, for the whole apparatus of spars (including both masts and yards), sails and cordage, by which the force of the wind is utilized to move the hull against the resistance, and with the support, of the water.

Schooner rigging 1, bowsprit, with martingale to the stem; 2,
fore-topmast-stay, jib and stay-foresail;3, fore-gaff-topsail; 4,
foresail and mainstays; 5, main-gaff-topsail;
6, mainsail; 7, end of boom.

The word is often used as meaning the cordage only, but this is a too-limited, and even an irrational, use of the term. A ship is not rigged until she is provided with all the spars, sails and cordage required to move and control the hull.

The straight or curved pieces of wood or metal, called davits, from which the boats carried along the bulwarks are hung, belong to the rigging. All are fastened directly or indirectly to the hull, and all are required to complete her clothing.

Vessels of all classes, from the smallest sailing-boat up to the largest ship, are classed according to the particular combination of their spars, sails and cordage. Cutter, brig, or ship, are only convenient abbreviations for cutter-rigged, brig-rigged, or ship-rigged. They are of such or such a rig.

It is strictly correct to speak of the rigging of a mast or a yard, or of a boom, when all that is meant is the special set of ropes, of whatever size or material, required to keep them in their place, or withdraw them from it, when they have to be moved in the ship. In such cases the part is looked upon as a whole, and is mentally abstracted from the total of the vessels rigging.

The basis of all rigging is the mast (q.v.), whether it be composed of one or of many pieces of wood or metal. The mast is held up and controlled by ropes, which are classed together as the standing rigging, because they are that part (of the whole rigging) which is made fast, and not hauled upon (Admiral Smyth, Sailors Word-Book). This must be understood subject to the restriction that in the case of a mast composed of several parts, including topmast and topgallant mast, these subdivisions may be, and often are, lowered. The backstays, and other ropes which keep the top and topgallant masts in place, are therefore only comparative fixtures. The bowsprit, though it does not rise from the deck but projects from the bow, is in fact a mast.

The masts, including the bowsprit, support all the sails, whether they hang from the yards, which are spars slung to the mast, or from gaffs, which are spars projecting from the mast, or, as in the case of the jibs, are triangular sails, traveling on ropes called stays, which go from the foremast to the bowsprit, and are suspended by halliards. The bowsprit is subdivided like other masts. The bowsprit proper corresponds to the lower fore-main- or mizzen-mast. The jib-boom, which is movable and projects beyond the bowsprit, corresponds to a topmast; the flying jib-boom, which also is movable and projects beyond the jib-boom, answers to a topgallant mast.

The whole body of ropes by which the yards, booms and sails are manipulated constitute the running rigging, since they are in constant use, to trim yards, and make or shorten sail (Admiral Smyth, op. cit.). The rigging must also provide the crew with the means of going aloft, and with standing ground to do their work when aloft. Therefore the shrouds (see below) are utilized to form ladders of rope, of which the steps are called ratlines, by which the crew can mount. Near the heads of the lower masts are the topsplatforms on which men can standand in the same place on the topmasts are the crosstrees, of which the main function is to extend the topgallant shrouds. The yards are provided with ropes, extending from the middle to the extremities or arms, called horses, or footropes, which hang about 2 or 3 ft. down, and on which men can stand. The material of which the cordage is made has differed, and still differs greatly. Leather has been used.

The Spars and Rigging of a Frigate. References are not repeated for each mast where the names and functions are identical 1, bowsprit; 2, bobstays, three pairs; 3, spritsail-gaffs, projectinig at each side of the bowsprit- the ropes at the extremities are jib-guys and flying jib-guys; 4, jib-boom; 5, martingale-stay, and below it the flying-jib martingale; 6, back-ropes; 7, flying jib-boom; 8, fore-royal stay, flying jib-stay and haliards; 9, fore-top-gallant-stay, jib-stay and halliards; 10, two fore-topmast-stays and fore-topmast staysail halliards; 11, the foretop bowlines, stopped into the top and two fore-stays; 12, two fore-tacks; 13, fore-truck; 14, fore-royal mast, yard and lift; 15, top-gallant mast, yard and lift; 16, fore-top mast, topsail-yard, lift and reef-tackle; 17, foretop, fore-lift, and topsail-sheet; 18, foremast and foreshrouds, nine-pairs; 19, fore-sheets; 20, fore-gaff; 21, fore-topmast backstays and topsail tye; 22, royal and top-gallant backstas; 23, fore-royal braces and main-royal-stay; 24, fore-topgallant braces and main-topgallant stay; 25, standing parts, or fore topsail-braces, and main topmast-stays; 26, hauling parts of fore-topsail-braces and main-top-bowlines; 27, fore parts of fore-braces; 28, mainstays; 29, main-tacks; 30, main-truck; 31, main-royal-braces; 32, mizzen-royal-stay and mizzen-royal-braces; 33, main-topgallant braces and mizzen-topgallant-braces; 34, standing parts of main topsail braces and mizzen topmast stay; 35, mizzen topsail braces; 36, hauling parts of main-topsail-braces, mizzen-top-bowlines and cross-jack braces; 37, main-braces and mizzen stay; 38, standing part of peak halliards; 39, vangs, similar on each gaff; 40, ensign staff; 41, spanker-book; 42, quarter-boats davits; 43, one of the davit topping-lifts and wind-sail; 44, main yard tack, 45, a bull-rope

During historic times, however, the prevailing materials have been hemp or esparto grass (Machrocloa, or Stipa tenacissima), chain and wire. In more recent days, polyester ( Dacron (TM)) and stainless steel have been preferred. High performanc racing yachts may use low-weight crystallized hydrocarbons (Spectra and Kevlar).

As the whole of the rigging is divided into standing and running, so a rope forming part of the rigging is divided into the standing part and the fall. The standing part is that which is made fast to the mast, deck or block. The fall is the loose end or part on which the crew haul. The block is the pulley through which the rope runs. Standing in sea language means fixed thus the standing part of a hook is that which is attached to block, chain or anything which is to heave the hook up, with a weight hanging to it; the part opposite the point (Smyth, sub voce). Tackle is the combination of ropes and blocks; the combination of cables and anchors constitutes the ground tackle.

The function of all cordage may be said to be to pull, for the purpose either of keeping the masts in their places, or of moving spars and sails. The standing rigging which supports the masts must be adapted to resist two kinds of pressure, the longitudinal, whether applied by the wind or by the motion of the vessel when pitching (i.e. plunging head and stern. alternately into the hollow of the sea), and the lateral, when the wind is blowing on the side and she is rolling. The longitudinal pressure is counteracted by the bobstays, stays and backstays. A reference to fig. 1 will show that the bobstays hold down the bowsprit, which is liable to be lifted by the tug of the jibs, and, of the stays connecting it with the fore-topmast. If the bowsprit is lifted the fore-topmast loses part of its support. In the case of a small vessel, the lifting of a bowsprit would wreck her whole system of rigging in an instant. If fig. 1 is followed from the bow to the mizzenmast, it will be seen that a succession of stays connect the masts with the hull of the ship or with one another. All pull together to resist pressure from in front. Pressure from behind is met by the backstays, which connect the topmasts and topgallant masts with the sides of the vessel. Lateral pressure is met by the shrouds and breast-backstays. A temporary or "preventer" backstay is used when great pressure must be met.

Seamen have at all times had recourse to special devices to meet particular dangers. When Dundonald, then captain of the Pallas frigate, was chased by a French squadron in stormy weather, he fortified his masts by ordering all the hawsers (large ropes a little less strong than the cables which hold the anchor) in the ship to be got up to the mast heads, and hove taut,i.e. made fast to the side. Thus she was able to carry more sail than would have been possible with her normal rigging.

The running rigging by which all spars and sails are hoisted, or lowered and spread or taken in., may be divided into those which lift and lower - the lifts, jeers, halliards (haulyards) and those which hold down the lower corners of the sails the tacks and she,ets.

A long technical treatise would be required to name the many combinations of cordage and spars which make up the total rigging. All that is attempted here is to give the main lines and general principles or divisions.

The vessel dealt with here is the fully rigged ship of three or more masts. But she includes all the others and the principles are the same.

The simplest of all forms of rigging is the dipping lug, a quadrangular sail hanging from a yard, and always hoisted on the side of the mast opposite toto that on which the wind is blowing (the lee side). When the boat is to be tacked so as to bring the wind on the other side, the - sail is lowered and rehoisted. One rope can serve as balliard to hoist the sail and as a stay when it is made fast on the weather side on which the wind is blowing.

The difference between such a craft and the fully rigged ship is that between a simple organism and a very complex one; but it is one of degree, not of kind. The steps in the scale are innumerable. Every sea has its own type. Some in eastern waters are of extreme antiquity, and even in Europe vessels are still to be met with which differ very little if at all from the ships of the Norsemen of the 9th and 10th centuries.[3]

A Ship of the Line

"Sovereign of the Seas, British warship of 1637, has only the fixed bowsprit, but a small upright mast has been erected at the end, which serves to spread a sprit topsail. In some cases at left a sprit topgallant sail was used. The mizzenmast still carries a lateen sail, but topsails have been added, and the whole rigging has multiplied and developed.

Between the Sovereign of the Seas and the fully developed ship, given in fig. 1 the most apparent differences are in the rigging of the bowsprit and the mizzenmast.

There is no sprit topmast, and instead there is a jib-boom. The square spitsail, which could not be trained fore and aft, and was of feeble effect in keeping the ships head from turning to windward, has been replaced by the jib. The spitsail yard (which continued in use till after 1850) has disappeared and has been replaced by the spitsail gaffs, two fixed spars which slope downwards and help to support the jib-guys, the lateral supports of the booms. For a time, and after the use of spitsails had been given up, the spitsail yard continued to be used to discharge the function now given to the gaffs.

The changes in the mizzen have an obscure history. About the middle of the 18th century it ceased to be a pure lateen. The yard was retained, but no sail was set on the forearm. Then the yard was given up and replaced by a gaff and a boom. The new sail was called the spanker. It was, however, comparatively narrow, and when a greater spread of sail was required, a studdingsail (at first called a driver ) was added. At a later date "spanker and driver were used as synonymous terms, and the studding-sail was called a ringtail.

The studding-sails are the representatives of a class of sail once more generally used. In modern times a sail is cut of the extreme size which is capable of being carried in fine weather, and when the wind increases in strength it is reefed i.e. part is gathered up and fastened by reef points, small cords attached to the sail. Till the 17th century at least the method was often to cut the courses small, so that they could be carried in rough weather. When a greater spread of sail was required, a piece called a bonnet was added to the foot of the sail, and a further piece called a drabbler could be added to that. It is an example of the tenacious conservatism of the sea that this practice is still retained by the Swedish small craft called "lodjor" in the Baltic and White Sea. It will be easily understood that no innovation was universally accepted at once. Jib and sprit topsail, lateen, mizzen and spanker, and so forth, would be found for long on the sea together.

The history of the development of rigging is one of adjustment. The size of the masts had to be adapted to the ship, and it was necessary to find the due proportion between yards and masts. As the size of the medieval ship increased, the natural course was to increase the height of the mast and of the sail it carried. Even when the mast was subdivided into lower, top and topgallant, the lower mast was too long, and the strain of the sail racked the hull. Hence the constant tendency of the ships to leak. Sir Henry Manwayring, when giving the proper proportions of the masts, says that the Flemings (i.e. the Dutch) made them taller (taller and taunt were for long used to mean the same thing) than the English, which again forced them to make the sails less wide. A tall sail could not be cut so wide as a lower one without putting an excessive strain on the mast. He says that the Flemings found an advantage in working to windward, but that they wronged (i.e. racked) their ships. The English preferred a less lofty mast and a wider spread of sail.

It is very difficult to say what changes in the proportions of masts and yards took place in English ships between the early 17th and the 19th centuries. The difficulty arises not only from insufficient knowledge of the earlier period, but from the fact that a scale was fixed only after trials, and by degrees. Manwayring, for instance, when giving the proportion of the topmasts to lower masts, says: The topmasts are ever half so long as the masts into which they belong; but there is no absolute proportion in these, and the like things, for if a man will have his mast short, he may the bolder make his topmast long. In some respects the change was certainly slight. In the early 17th century, in England at least, the length of the mainmast was fixed by taking four-fifths of the breadth of the ship and multiplying by three. Two centuries later the method was to take the length of the lower deck and the extreme breadth, add them together, and divide by two. If we take a 74-gun ship of about the year 1820, which was 176 ft. long on the lower deck and 48 ft. 8 in. wide, she would have, by the system then used, a mainmast of 112 ft. Manwayrings system would have given her one of 117 ft. But in the proportions of the masts to one another there was a change. In the 17th century the foremast was four-fifths of the main, and the bowsprit was of the same length as the foremast. In the 19th the foremast was eightninths of the mainmast, while the bowsprit was seven-elevenths of the mainmast in the largest ships, and three-fifths in the others.

When we come to the relative proportions of masts and yards the difficulty increases, for the standard was not the same. The seamen of the 17th century calculated the length of the mainyard not by the size of the mast but by the length of the keel. The mainyard, which was the standard for the others, ought according to the best and most absolute estimate to be five-sixths of the length of the keel. But Manwayring again explains that the proportion is not absolute. If it was followed, the yards of a 17th-century ship must have been rather longer than in a vessel of a hundred and fifty and two hundred years later, when the mainyard was eight-ninths of the mainmast, and, a regular scale was fixed throughout.

In the earlier form of ships the top was a species of crows nest placed at the head of the mast to hold a look-out, or in military operations to give a place of advantage to archers and slingers. They appear occasionally as mere bags attached to one side of the mast. As a general rule they are round. In the 16th century there were frequently two tops on the fore- and mainmasts, one at the head of the lower, another at the head of the topmast, where in later times there have only been the two traverse beams which make the crosstrees. The upper top dropped out by the 17th century. The form was round, and so continued to be till the 18th century when the quadrangular form was introduced. After 1870, the military tops of warships resumed the circular form.

Footnotes and External links

Dutch
American Revolution Daniel hints to Enoch
Rigging

http://www.schoonerman.com/home.htm