Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/891

 snip 865 sal's ; those of the two masts are distinguished by the terms main and fore. The mizzen mast of a ship carries no square sail hanging from the mizzen or, as it is commonly called, cross-jack yard, but a mizzen topsail, topgal- lant sail, and royal. In place of the lower square sail there is a fore-and-aft sail called a spanker, which extends aft from the mast over the taffrail, and is sheeted out to the end of a gaff above and to that of a boom below. This is of great service as a steering sail, act- ing as it pushes the stern off from the wind to bring the bow up as it is hauled in and kept flat. Similar sails are sometimes attached to the other masts and used for storm sails. The masts are supported by shrouds and stays. The former are strong ropes, each one 2 times as long as the mast, the head of which it encircles by its middle part. Several of these pairs are thus secured over the head of the mast, and the ends are brought down over the side, diverging as they descend. They ter- minate outside the ship in blocks called dead- eyes, which connect by a lanyard to others fas- tened on the outer edge of the channels or chain wales, which are heavy planking secured edgewise to the side of the vessel below the bulwarks. This edge is held down by iron braces bolted below to the futtocks. Though the main object of the shrouds is to hold the masts steady, they also serve as ladders, small ropes called ratlines being hitched across from one to another for steps. The topmast shrouds are set up by dead-eyes secured to the out- er edge of the top, and this edge is braced down by iron rods or chains called futtock shrouds attached below to the upper part of the lower mast. The futtock shrouds and those of the topmast have ratlines also, but those for the masts still higher have none. The stays are ropes which support the masts longitudinally, starting generally from their heads, and secured to the foot of the next mast in front, those for the foremast to the bowsprit. The back stays pass from the heads of the topmast directly down to the chain wales, somewhat aft qf the foot of the mast to which they belong. The stays that pass from the several masts forward sometimes support triangular fore-and-aft sails, called stay sails. The main and mizzen masts stand nearest together, the former somewhat aft of the centre, and both of them usually are set raking or inclining aft. The foremast stands well forward and upright. The bowsprit ex- tends forward over the bow, rising at an an- gle of 30 to 33, its heel resting in a step on the first deck below close to the foremast. A cap is fixed upon the head of it, presenting a round hole above the bowsprit, through which is passed the spar called the jib boom, which is the extension, of the bowsprit. As the fore- mast is stayed forward to the bowsprit, and several fore-and-aft sails, called the foretop- mast stay sail, jib, and flying jib, are support- ed on the stays between them, it is essential that the bowsprit itself be well secured. This is done first by the bobstay, a very strong rope, sometimes double and triple, which con- nects the outer portion of the bowsprit with the stem ; and by the bowsprit shrouds, which are ropes extending from the end of the bow- sprit to the bows. The dolphin striker is a stiff brace or strut extending down from the outer end of the bowsprit ; it is kept in place by the jib and flying-jib martingale stays and the back ropes. From the great angle which it forms with the head booms it amply coun- teracts the lifting effects of the jibs and the strain of the foretopgallant mast. The sails over the head booms are triangular. The rope by which their lower corners are made fast to the deck is called the sheet ; this is also the name of the ropes by which the lower corners of the square sails are hauled out to the ends of the yards. Of the courses or low- er square sails the corners on the lee side, which in sailing on a wind are hauled aft, are secured by sheets ; but the corners on the windward side, which are hauled forward, are made fast to the deck by ropes called tacks. It is with reference to tending these, to shift them as the yard swings in going about, that the preparatory order is given of " Rise tacks and sheets," succeeded, as the evolution is com- pleted, by "Let go and haul." The braces are the ropes by which the yards are swung round. The sail is made to lie still flatter by bowlines which are attached to the leach or edge of the square sails and lead forward. In sailing as close to the wind as possible, the weather bow- line is hauled taut, whence the expression " to sail on a bowline," or " on a taut bowline," for lying up close to the wind. In running before the wind the yards are set at right an- gles to the line of the keel. The head sails are partially becalmed by the after ones, and the fore-and-aft sails over the head booms are of no service ; the progress of the' ship there- fore is not so rapid as with the same wind on the quarter or abeam and filling all the sails. In order to spread a grenter surface of canvas when the winds are light and fair, provision is made for lengthening the yardarms by means of booms called studdingsail booms, which are run out through an iron ring on the end of the yard, and to the outer extremity of which are hauled the tacks of the studdingsails. With a side wind these sails are advantage- ously carried on the weather side. The as- semblage of ropes upon a ship, many of which have already been named, are known as the rigging. Those which are fixed, as the shrouds, stays, &c., are called the standing rigging ; and the rest, as the halyards, sheets, and tacks, are the running rigging. Sail*. The larger sails are made of the heaviest No. 1 flax canvas, while the smaller are formed of lighter varieties running to No. 8 of the same material, known as duck of different degrees of strength. The strips of cloth are sewed to- gether with twine, usually with a double seam,