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 same type as the jibs can be set on the stays between the masts of a full rigged ship, and are then known as staysails. But it can only be repeated that the variations are innumerable. Studding-sails are pieces added to increase the breadth (spread) of sails, and require the support of special yards, booms and tackle.

The development of the rigging of ships is a very obscure subject. It was the work of centuries, and of practical men who wrote no treatises. It has never been universal. A comparison of the four-masted junk given above with the figures of ships on medieval seals shows at least much similarity. Yet by selecting a few leading types of successive periods it is possible to follow the growth of the fully rigged ship, at least in its main lines, in modern times.

Fig. 8 gives the sail plan of the “Santa Maria,” the flagship of Columbus. It is a modern reconstruction, made in 1893 in Spain at the Carraca arsenal, but is based on good authority. She has only the fixed bowsprit, with a yard and a sail hanging from it, the spritsail yard and. spritsail. The foremast has one course, the mainmast a course and topsail, the mizzeri a lateen sail. Fig. 9 is the “Sovereign of the Seas,” a British warship of 1637. Rigging9.png . 9.—The “Sovereign of the Seas.”

She still 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 least 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. The sprit topmast has disappeared, and is replaced