Square sail

“ She was the finest square-rigger that had ever been launched in the town, a ship of eighteen hundred tons, crossing three skysail yards. Her lines were those of the moderate or commercial clipper. As he looked up from the quarter-deck at her lofty spars that November morning, while they waited for the tide—at the maze of freshly tarred rigging and new manila running gear, at the brightly varnished yards, at the furled sails that stretched from yardarm to yardarm like caps of snow—a thrill of genuine sentiment coursed through his blood. His ship—and he loved her already. ”

“ The primitive square sail of antiquity embodies the same principle as that governing the motion through the water of the modern full rigged ship, which is admirably adapted for efficient beating to windward, or sailing against the wind. Superiority in this branch of sailing is the crucial test of every vessel whose propelling power is derived from canvas, and the shipbuilders and sailmakers of all seafaring nations have vied with each other for centuries to secure the desired perfection. ”

“ When the area of a sail has to be reduced, it is reefed by gathering up the head, if a square sail, or the foot, if triangular, and tying the gathered-up part securely by reef points, that is, by crossing and knotting the short lines on either side of this part. The square sails on the mainmast are called, when eight are carried, the mainsail, lower and upper maintopsails, lower and upper maintopgallants, main-royal, main-skysail, and the moonsail. The standing rigging is the whole assemblage of ropes by which the masts are supported. ”

“ In the chapter on how to build the Rough and Ready, the sprit sail is depicted and fully described.
The Balance Lug
comes as near the square sail of a ship as any canvas used on small boats, but you can see, by referring to the diagram, Fig. 151, [116] that the leach and the luff are not parallel and that the gaff hangs at an angle. To boom out the canvas and make it sit flat there are three sticks extended across the sail from the front to the back, luff to leach, called battens. ”

“ Sailing vessels carry either square-sails or fore-and-aft sails. A square-sail is one the head of which is "bent" or made fast to the jack-stay—an iron rod on a yard. Fore-and-aft sails, instead of being bent to yards, are mostly supplied with a boom or gaff, or both. The lower corners of square-sails are called clews. The fore-sail and mainsail are often called the courses. Sail is seldom carried on the cross-jack (pronounced krojik) yard, the lowest yard on the mizzenmast. ”

“ Always anchor it so that the wind is blowing on one end and not broadside as it is a strain on the anchors and ropes to hold a boat broadside on.
By erecting a spar fifteen or twenty feet high and four or five inches in diameter, a square-sail can be rigged on yard-arms so that the house-punt can be sailed before the wind. A long oar will be necessary to steer with, or a portable rudder may be made and hung to the stern with pins and ropes. ”

“ Sometimes a square sail is placed on the foretopmast, which makes the vessel a topsail schooner. The first one was built by a Gloucester sea-captain about 1817, and proved so satisfactory that all the fishing-fleet were soon rigged in that way, whence the idea has spread to all parts of the world.
Until recently, however, vessels large enough to have three masts were always “square-rigged,” as barks, barkentines, or ships; for, although we have come to speak of any big vessel as a “ship,” yet in proper nautical language a ship is a vessel rigged in a particular way, and it is nothing else. ”

“ Various opinions prevail amongst officers as to the first point; but, I think, the best authorities recommend that, if possible, the ship should not merely be hove aback when a man falls overboard, but that she ought to be brought completely round on the other tack. Of course, sail should be shortened in stays, and the main-yard left square. This plan implies the ship being on a wind, or from that position to having the wind not above two points abaft the beam. But, on one tack or the other, this will include a large portion of the sailing of every ship. ”

“ There are times when the sea is too high, and the sail so much reduced that a yacht will not go about by turning towards the wind, but must be gotten on the other tack by wearing, as it is technically called in ships, where the yards are square, and jibing, as it is called in crafts that carry fore-and-aft sails, i.e., sails that hoist up on a mast, and are stretched upon booms, in contradistinction to those that are fastened to yards that cross the mast at right angles, as in a ship often called by sailors, for this reason, a "square-rigger." ”

“ These were copied from those on the contemporary full-rigged ships, were square in shape, were set athwart the ship and not parallel like the modern topsails. Before long, we find that not content with one square topsail, some of the bigger craft set a square topgallant sail also. The topsail was goared out considerably and the foot was cut in a deep curve upwards, but a “barren” yard like that of the old cro’jack was retained. In light winds, the triangular spinnaker not being yet invented, the Dutchman set a large squaresail for running. ”

“ No end of fun can be had with a properly constructed boat, and the ingenious boy may employ old baby-carriage or bicycle wheels for the running-gear.
A yacht of medium size can be made on the lines of Fig. 1 at a comparatively small cost for the timbers and sail-cloth, spars and hardware. The leg-of-mutton sail is used in preference to the square sail, as it has the greatest area close to the ground and is less liable to upset and much easier to handle.
To begin with, obtain some spruce joist clear-grained and free from knots. They should be two-by-four inches and 178twelve feet long. ”

“ A very strong gale northerly, with hazy rainy weather, on the 28th, obliged us to double-reef the fore and main top-sail to hand the mizen top-sail, and get down the fore top-gallant yard. In the morning, the bolt rope of the main top-sail broke, and occasioned the sail to be split. I have observed that the ropes to all our sails, the square sails especially, are not of a size and strength sufficient to wear out the canvass. At noon, latitude 55° 20' S., longitude 134° 16' W., a great swell from N.W.: Albatrosses and blue peterels seen. ”

“ Every merchant has his own room, or division, in the hold, in which he stows his own goods, sometimes lodging along with them. These junks have only two masts, a main and fore, the latter having a square-sail and yard, and the former a sail that is narrow aloft, like a sloop's main-sail. In fine weather they have also a top-sail, which, in foul weather, they lower to the deck, yard and all. The main-mast of one of their largest junks is equal in size to that of our third-rate men of war, but all of one piece, not built. ”

“ Today the fore-and-aft-rigged vessels are more numerous than all other rigs combined and the square-riggers, stately and beautiful as they were—the handsomest vessels ever built by man—have been almost driven from the seas. With the outbreak of the European War and the demand for ocean-going cargo-carriers the old square-riggers have once more come to the fore, and in ports and harbors where a crossyard mast had not been seen for many years, barks, ships and square-rigged vessels now line the docks and are an everyday sight. ”

“ I will presently find means to smuggle you out of here into the sail locker, which communicates with the lobby. But there is an opening, a sort of square for hauling the sails out, which gives straight on the quarter-deck and which is never closed in fine weather, so as to give air to the sails. When the ship’s way is deadened in stays and all the hands are aft at the main braces you will have a clear road to slip out and get overboard through the open quarter-deck port. ”

“ Some of the pirates went aloft on board my vessel and cut loose her square-sail, top-sail, and top-gallant-sail, and afterwards took our fore-sail, boat, oars, loose rigging, one compass, one quadrant, all our beds and bedding, tea-kettle, all our crockery, knives and forks, buckets, &c. leaving us destitute of every kind of cooking utensil except the caboose. We remained some time in the fore-castle, when suddenly the fore-scuttle was opened and the mate called on deck, and the scuttle again closed, leaving us in the dark in a state of uncertainty. We soon heard them beating the mate ”

“ Now this means nothing to the landsman, but a lot of queer names, yet the gear has come down through long ages of elimination and represents the utmost efficiency in handling sailing canvas. A main sail is a mighty spread on a large modern ship and may show to the wind as much as four thousand square feet of surface. Our mainsail on the Fuller was approximately of this size. Given a heavy press of wind, say twenty pounds to the square foot, and we have the sail urging our ship along to some purpose. ”

“ The question of just how much sail should be carried is a very difficult one to answer, for boats vary in their stability and a great deal depends upon how they are handled and the skill of the sailor. For ordinary open boats used for pleasure where a single sail is carried, the sail area should not greatly exceed one and one-half times the number of square feet obtained by multiplying the boat’s length by its extreme breadth. Thus a boat twenty feet long by five feet wide could safely carry one hundred and fifty square feet of canvas, but for safety this should be as low as possible. ”

“ Although small boats are seldom square-rigged yet everyone who is fond of the sea and of boats should know something of square-rigged craft and should be familiar with the various rigs and their sails and should know the proper names and terms to use in speaking of them. To the landsman, and to many sailors as well, the rigging of a square-rigged vessel appears most complicated and confusing, but in reality it is very simple. ”

“ This length is obtained by adding the square root of the sail area to the length of the load water-line, and dividing the result by two. The quotient is the racing length.
The load water-line, which is the distance between the points of the bow and stern, exclusive of the rudder-post, is ascertained as follows: Strip the yacht of everything except what she will carry in the race, and assemble amidships the crew which is to man her. ”

“ Then beginning at the luff cringle, roll the sail neatly to the first reef points and tie each reef point in turn around the bottom of the sail where it is fastened to the boom or, if there is no space to pass the points between sail and boom, tie them around the boom, being very careful to use square or reef knots when doing so.
When all the points are tied hoist away the sail and you are ready to proceed. If a second reef is required repeat the operation with the second row of points and cringles. ”

“ The old free motion had returned to her deck, the old life ran along her keel. Immediately, they set the spanker, mainsail and jib; this was all the sail she had. The whole area of it would hardly have equalled her former mainsail, dropping its solid square of canvas from an eighty foot mainyard; but it was enough for the purpose, and the Viking answered to it. The gale had struck; the ship heeled sharply, plunging forward on the port tack at a three-knot gait. She made considerable leeway, but headed up to east-south-east. ”

“ We have already mentioned the wonderful influence the rig of the Egyptians exercised to the eastward, but though the old squaresail rig has gone from Egypt, yet to-day we can still see very similar boats and almost the same rig on the Orange Laut of the Malay West Coast. The overhanging bow and stern, the great sheer from forward to the high poop, the large single squaresail, now converted practically into a lug-sail, are still there to keep alive the memory of the ships of the Dynasties. ”

“ An additional proof of the wisdom and knowledge of the ancients is to be found in the rig of their ships. The squaresail of the Egyptians was very like that used subsequently by the Greeks and Romans, and afterwards by the Vikings and many of the Norwegian and Russian ships to-day. It survived, moreover, beyond the Middle Ages, the only important difference being that three and sometimes two additional masts were provided with squaresails, with a lateen sail on the mizzen and a spritsail and sprit topsail forward. ”

“ The cutter lay like a log on the water, the reef-points rattling on the main-sail like a shower of small shot; and, every time he heard the sound, the man at the helm would raise his eyes aloft, and, fixing them steadily on the gaff-topsail for a minute or two, turn round and scan the horizon ”

“ A winch is better than a capstan for heaving anchor, and if placed abaft the mast, serves also for "swigging" on halyards, or hoisting sail.
As for sails, the dream ship's were all "barked" or tanned after the fisherman style, and there is no doubt that this process prevents rot, especially in the humid tropics. We carried one medium-weight mainsail, a working and a balloon foresail, storm and balloon jibs, and a squaresail, and of these the last was the most generally useful. Again I hear the howlers howling: "Why not a spinnaker?" ”

“ Now I've been thinking of a scheme on deck. We can't get back to camp for a while—that's settled. This iron hull is worth something, and if we can take it into an American port we can claim salvage. Key West is the nearest, but Fernandina is the surest. We've got a stump of a foremast and a rudder and a compass. If we can get some kind of sail up forward and bring her 'fore the wind, we can steer any course within thirty degrees of the wind line. ”