Re: On working aloft.

> > What exactly did the sailors do when they went aloft to work the

sails?

Very interesting post.

I have a couple of questions left over my reading "Two years before
the mast" several years ago. Dana said in a prolog that he was not
going to explain nautical terminology, and didn't. Anyone who knows
the answers to these may chime it.

He used the phrase "on a taut bowline", apparently to mean, "sailing
to windward." I assume that means that a rope from the rig to the bow
was taut. Does it have anything to do with the use of "bowline" as
the name of a knot?

There is also description of furling sails in bad weather which
suggests that the topman nearest the end of the yard had a
particularly tricky task in getting a line/gasket/?? properly in
place. Possibly he had to pass a loop over the end of the yard. Any
insight?

Thanks,

Peter

> What exactly did the sailors do when they went aloft to work the sails? I
> mean, the lines were there were halyards to raise sails and downhauls to
> lower sails. Did they go aloft to tie and untie the sails? Did the ship point
> into the wind when these operations took place?

As I have had the privilege of serving as a crew member aboard the Maryland
Dove for some number of years now, I shall attempt a partial answer to this question.
The Dove is a replica of a 17th century coastal trading vessel; she is
intended to represent the original Dove of 1634 which was the smaller of two
ships that carried the first colonists from England to the newly chartered
Maryland. She is a relatively small (40 tons, that's cargo volume, not
weight) three masted ship, rigged as was common for a ship of her day. That
is, square rigged on main and fore masts, with a course (lower) and top sail
on each, and a lateen sail on the mizzen mast. There is also a small square
sail under the bowsprit, called, predictably, the spritsail. Other than the
lateen mizzen sail, there are no fore and aft sails, ie. no jibs or staysails.
These were late 18th and 19th century innovations.

The primary work aloft on such a ship is to loose, or unfurl, the sails before
setting them, and then to refurl them when done sailing. Sometimes there are
sail covers to put on or remove.

The furled sail is, ideally, tightly, compactly, and smoothly
packed/rolled/folded up against the forward side of the yard and held in place
by spiral wrapped gaskets. There will be several gaskets (number and length
depending on the length of the yard and bulkiness of the sail). One end of
each gasket is spliced around the yard, the other end tied to itself (after
being wrapped around the sail) with an easily untied (with one hand) slipknot
known as a gasket hitch.

Upon recieving the cammand to "lay aloft and loose sail," the first action is
to check that the halyard (attached to the center of the yard) is made
securely fast, and that the lifts (attached to the ends of the yard) are made
fast and are "hard", ie. very taught. If not, we'll "harden up the lifts",
with two persons sweating them in tight (and checking the yard for level).
The braces (attached to the ends of the yard leading aft) will also be
checked. Between the halyard and lifts holding the yard up, and the braces
holding each end in check, the yard should be fairly immovably held to the
mast, making it a safe working platform.

This takes less time to do than to describe, and we'll climb up the ratlines
on the shrouds, preferably with two crew on each side for the course sails.
Upon reaching the level of the yard, the crew steps from the ratlines to the
footropes which hang underneath the yard. As you step on, you call out "laying
on port" or "laying on starboard" as the case may be, to give the crew on the
other side or those already on the yard warning that things may shift from the
new weight on the yard or the footropes. Nowadays we use safety harnesses
and lanyards clipped in to the rigging for added safety, but the old working
sailors had no such gear. Spreading out along the yard, standing on the
footropes but with your belly on the yard actually supporting most of your
weight while you are working (if you try to put all your weight on the
footropes, you'll just swing under the yard), the tied end of the gaskets are
undone with (hopefully) one quick yank, and then the gaskets are unwrapped
from the sail. This lets the sail fall into loose bights which are contained
by clewlines and buntlines, which I'll describe once we're down off the yard.
The gaskets, which are now hanging down from the yard, are coiled and a few
turns taken round the coil to form a hank, then secured with a locked turn so
that they won't come loose and are then hung over the forward side of the
yard, dangling on the front of the top of the sail. At this point, someone
calls down "Main course sail(or whichever) is loose and in her gear!!" A last
check for fouled lines, etc. and we work our way back along the yard to the
shrouds, call out "laying off", and climb back down the ratlines to the deck.

On the Dove, only the main course and fore course have footropes. The top
sails are worked standing on a platform or "working top" on the mainmast or a
pair of crosstrees on the fore. Otherwise the actions are the same.

Back on deck now, the sails are hanging loosely "in their gear". That gear
being the clewlines and buntlines I mentioned before. Clewlines lead from the
clews, or lower corners, up through a block midways out on the yard, over to
another block on the yard close to the mast, and then down to the pinrail on
deck. They hold the corners of the sail folded over and up to the yard.
Buntlines (bunt being an olde english word for belly) lead from several places
along the bottom edge of the sail up across the front side of the sail to
blocks above the yard on the mast and back down behind the sail to the
pinrail. Together the buntlines and clewlines keep the sails loosely gathered
up to the yard so the wind can't really get in them.
Some ships may have other similar brailing lines arranged in various ways to
accomplish the same thing.

When the command to "make sail" or "cast off bunts and clews" is given, the
bunt lines and clewlines are cast off and the sails come down, helped by pulls
on the sheets. The lifts are given some slack to allow the yard to move
easily, and the angle of the sail is adjusted using the braces (on the ends of
the yard, top corners) and the sheets (lower corners). The square sail is a
highly controllable sail because it is held at each corner. No unexpected
gybes, etc.

When done sailing, the sails are clewed and bunted up, then you go aloft again
to furl the sails. Lifts and braces hardened up, go up the shrouds, out on to
the yard as above. Uncoil the gaskets. To furl, you pull the loosely bundled
sail up to the forward side of the yard and wrap/pack it into itself. You
have to work together to spread out any lumps and to work it into a tight
bundle and hold it while the gaskets are wrapped and tied off. Now you have a
secure furl that'll minimize the windage and expose as little of the sail as
possible to sun and weather. Back down on deck, tidy up all the lines, and
we're done.

Other than the furling/unfurling, all the sailing can be done from deck, at
least on the Dove. I think that on some very large ships, some of the upper
sails had lines that did not reach the deck, and some sailing tasks were
handled from the top platforms. I have no experience ( or desire for such)
with that.

I hope this was informative and not too much.

Bob