David Hannay

“ But there have been times and countries in which the law and its administration have been so far regarded as enemies by people who were not themselves criminals, that all who defied them have been sure of a measure of sympathy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In all the administration has been bad, the law and its officers have been regarded as dangers, if not as deliberate enemies, so that they have found little native help, and, what is not the least important cause of the persistence of brigandage, there have generally been local potentates who found it to their interest to protect the brigand. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. For a full account of these varieties of rigging the reader may be referred to Mast and Sail in Europe and Asia (London, 1906) , by H. Warington Smyth.
When the finer degrees of variation are neglected the types of rigging may be reduced to comparatively few, which can be classed by the shape of their sail and the number of their masts. ”

“ At the same time it would be going much too far to say that the absence of an efficient police is the sole cause of brigandage in countries not subject to foreign invasion, or where the state is not very feeble. ”

“ Zumalacárregui had therefore to drag behind him the whole weight of the distrust and intrigues of the court. Yet by the beginning of June 1835 he had made the Carlist cause triumphant to the north of the Ebro, and had formed an army of more than 30,000 men, of much better quality than the constitutional forces. If Zumalacárregui had been allowed to follow his own plans, which were to concentrate his forces and march on Madrid, he might well have put Don Carlos in possession of the capital. But the court was eager to obtain command of a seaport, and Zumalacárregui was ordered to besiege Bilbao. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The lug is a “lifting sail,” and does not tend to press the vessel down as the fore and aft sail does. Therefore it is much used by fishing vessels in the North Sea. The type of the fore and aft rig is the schooner (fig. 5) The sails on the masts have a gaff above and a boom below. These spars have a prong called “the jaws,” which fit to the mast, and are held in place by a “jaw rope” on which are threaded beads called trucks. Sails of this shape are carried by fully rigged ships on the mizzen-mast, and can be spread on the fore and main. ”

“ Brigandage may be, and not infrequently has been, the last resource of a people subject to invasion. The Calabrians who fought for Ferdinand of Naples, and the Spanish irregular levies, which maintained the national resistance against the French from 1808 to 1814, were called brigands by their enemies. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But neither forest thicket nor mountain is a lasting protection against a good police, used with intelligence by the government, and supported by the law-abiding part of the community. The great haunts of brigands in Europe have been central and southern Italy and the worst-administered parts of Spain, except those which fell into the hands of the Turks. ”

“ The history of brigandage in Spain is very similar. It may be said to have been endemic in and south of the Sierra Morena. In the north it has flourished when government was weak, and after foreign invasion and civil wars. But it has always been put down easily by a capable administration. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Finding that he was suspected (probably with truth) of an intention to bring the soldiers over to the royalist side, he escaped to France. In 1823 he returned as an officer in one of the royalist regiments which had been organized on French soil by the consent of the government. He was now known as a thoroughly trustworthy servant of the despotic royalty, but he was too proud to be a courtier. ”

“ When a brother priest was sent to give him the consolations of religion, Ciro cut him short, saying, “Stop that chatter, we are two of a trade: we need not play the fool to one another” (Lasciate queste chiacchiere, siamo dell’ istessa professione: non ci burliamo fra noi) . ”

“ Triangular sails of the 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 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 brigands combined to get rid of him by making an attack on the town of Valls, but were repulsed with great loss. The government of Philip V. then commissioned Veciana to raise a special corps of police, the “escuadra de Cataluna,” which still exists. For five generations the colonel of the escuadra was always a Veciana. At all times in central and northern Spain the country population has supported the police when the government would act firmly. ”

“ Zumalacárregui, Thomas (1788–1835) , Spanish Carlist general, was born at Ormaiztegui in Navarre on the 29th of December 1788. His father, Francisco Antonio Zumalacárregui, was a lawyer who possessed some property, and the son was articled to a solicitor. When the French invasion took place in 1808 he enlisted at Saragossa. He served in the first siege, at the battle of Tudela, and during the second siege until he was taken prisoner in a sortie. He succeeded in escaping and in reaching his family in Navarre. ”