How did raising/lowering sails and other sail adjustments work on old sailing ships?
Laura asked:
Working on a bit of writing and need to have at least a basic understanding of how the crew would lower/raise and do other adjustments to the sails of ships. The older type of ship the better. If you know and can type it in, that’s cool, but if you can just point me to some websites, that’d be cool too.
Tags: Old Sailing Ships, Sail Ships, Sails
May 10th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
On the old windjammers ( square rigged vessels such as the U.S. Constitution ) the sails are opened by untying the Reefing ties which bind the closed sail to the upper yardarm and ropes ( properly called cables but actually wound hemp rope ) pulling down are drawn tight and secured to belays or pins mounted along the rail of the ship.
The sails are closed or Reefed by sailors who would actually climb out on the yardarm and pull the sails up by hand and tying them to the yardarm with the Reefing ties – the sails were made of heavy canvas and it would take 6 sailors to Reef each sail – frequently this was done because the wind was becoming too strong and unpredictable due to an approaching storm and it was necessary to reduce the amount of sail to prevent the ship from being damaged or dismasted so the work was both very difficult and extremely dangerous! As it would take the crew over an hour to Reef all 9 main sails on a large 3 masted vessel it was very important that the Captain be very alert to changing weather conditions and give the necessary orders in time to prepare for a heavy blow and secure the vessel to prevent damage and loss of life.
Each sail can be tacked or angled by lengthening the ropes on one side and shortening the rope on the other side this process is called “Trimming” the sails. when the sails are properly trimmed the ship can travel cross wise to the direction of the wind and a well designed and handled vessel can actually travel against the wind in a series of reversing “Tacks” clawing its way back and forth, gaining slowly upwind as it does so, a vessel with an exceptional ability to tack upwind is referred to as being an excellent “Pointer”.
Most square rigged windjammer style vessels had very little to no pointing ability due to the limited ability to trim the sails, as a result they went to great lengths to plan and navigate routes on which the prevailing winds would push the vessel downwind, which limited the routes and schedules.
The need to improve the ability of wind vessels to tack upwind led to the design of more efficient sail configurations culminating in the “schooner” class of vessels, These vessels carried fewer but much more efficient sails, usually twin masted, with each mast sporting an enormous Main sail behind the mast, raised by ropes and pulleys above a wooden boom which is controlled by a block and tackle which is used to draw the boom tight in for close tacking and run way out for running with the wind. With this design however came a danger – if the vessel is running with the wind angling away in one direction and turns downwind to angle the opposite direction the Main sail must cross the deck to the opposite side of the vessel, this maneuver is called a “Jibe” and is very hazardous to crew members on deck because the boom swings across the deck very quickly and with a great deal of force even under moderate winds – when the wind is strong the risk of damage to the vessel is too great and instead of performing a Jibe the skipper will turn all the way around upwind to change direction. More than one sailor has been swept overboard or killed outright by the boom when a ship Jibes. The skipper would shout “JIBE-ING” two or three times before executing the turn to give the crew time to duck and brace before the turn. Each mast also carried a sail in front of the mast called a Jib which is controlled by ropes and frequently also carrying a Top Sail. The forward mast can be rigged with an huge parachute like sail called a Spinnaker for use in downwind runs when the winds are strong and steady. The Schooner “Bluenose” was renowned for it’s pointing abilities and won numerous races because of it’s ability to complete the upwind leg of a race with fewer tacks than the competition. The Bluenose was built and launched in Lunenburg Nova Scotia Canada in 1921 and won the International Fishermen’s Trophy that year and every year for the next 17 years.
See for more information on the Bluenose.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:54 am
It worked very well.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:19 am
To cut to the chase on how they were raised and lowered, it was with manpower and a series of pulleys. As the technology developed, winches were used. Wenches were ashore not on the ships.