Posted by Guy C. on August 18, 2003 at 17:37:41 from 81.113.177.5 user Astronomer_Guy.
In Reply to: Re: How were square sails furled? posted by Alan Gardner on August 16, 2003 at 19:12:18:
I asked a young friend of mine who was at the US Coast Guard Academy and sailed on their square-rigger, the USCG Eagle. This is his reply:
"The mechanisms for sailing have not changed at all in modern times, except there are a few more safety precautions. Seamen still have to go out onto the yard to furl in the sail. But they don't just do it by hand. To understand this better I first need to explain what some of the lines (ropes) on a ship do.
"The running rigging (movable ropes) are used to set and take in the sail. Sheets are lines attached to the clews (bottom corner connection to the sail) and are used to haul the clews down to the yard below when setting sail. Tacks serve the same function as sheets but lead forward whereas the sheets lead aft. Clewlines are also attached to the clews of the sail but they oppose the sheets. Clewlines lead up to the yard on which the sail is bent (attached) rather than down to the yard below.
"Clewlines are used to pull the corner of the sail up. Buntlines are also used to take in sail. If just the clewlines were used the sail would belly out in the wind so that it could not be furled. The buntlines run from the bottom of the sail evenly spaced through rings called bull's-eyes which allow the buntlines to gather up sail in small pockets. Leechlines are used to pull the middle of the outer edges of the sail towards the center. Finally, the Halyard is used to move the yardarm up or down. (note: ALL lines go down to the deck where only there can they be pulled, eased, and/or tied down safely)
"Furling sails: After the sails have been taken in (pulled up to the yardarm by the use of the lines) so that they now look like a series of pockets, the seamen go aloft to furl the sails. There are two types of furling, sea and harbor. Sea furling is done when appearance is not a factor and harbor furl when it is. The seamen go up and evenly space themselves on the yard. They have their feet on a rat line that permantly hangs from the yard and their upper bodies hanging over the yard. In modern times seamen have to wear safety belts that have hooks that attach to a safety bar that is attached to the yardarm.
"In furling, an arm's-length blight of sail is taken simultaneously by all seamen on the yard. It is pulled up and held against the yard. As subsequent blights are taken, the earlier ones are dropped into it, until the entire sail has been taken up and the last few feet of sail form a tight skin. The entire sail is then rolled up onto the yard. Gaskets are then passed over the sail and secured down by tying a slip clove hitch.
"Harbor furling (so that from harbor you can't even see the sails) is basically the same but takes longer. The clew of the sail is brought up tight and the leech held against the yard and the blunt lines eased out so that the sail hangs in a single large blight (pocket). Forearm-length blights are taken and held layer by layer against the yard. The final blight is drawn tightly over the rest of the sail to form a smooth skin and the sail is pulled on top of the yard and tightly gasketed down.
"A much better source than I is a book called Eagle Seamanship, A Manual for Square-Rigger Sailing by Lt. Edwin H. Daniels, Jr., USCG published by Naval Institute Press. That is where much of this information comes from. It gives more detailed information and diagrams."