Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on January 04, 2008 at 18:17:36 from 82.27.20.174 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: Re: WDMTGTS questions, one fairly esoteric/nautical posted by Bill Wallace-King on January 04, 2008 at 15:26:01:
My own guess looking at "All but O.B." is that it is the topping lift John is grasping.
It is clear from the text that John eased the topping lift after setting the mainsail. However in the rather fraught circumstances of reefing he might well have forgotten to adjust it once the reefs were in - easily done - and with the wind aft it would scarcely have been noticeable.
But I'm still puzzled by how tight it seems in AR's own photograph, and in the picture of the sailing ship, where the sails had been set by a professional seaman.
On the other hand again, they do say that the two most useless things aboard a yacht are a steamroller and a Naval Officer.