Posted by David Bamford on July 19, 2002 at 22:59:24 from 203.10.110.131 user David.
In Reply to: Re: Oh yes, and,,,, posted by Jonathan Labaree on July 19, 2002 at 16:19:47:
The language of boats and ships seems to be more arcane than most, I fancy. To answer the question of what was a horse doing on deck; this name is given to a railing which spans across the deck in a transverse direction [ie. from sided to side]. A sheet [the rope controlling the sail which is attached to the clew or lower after corner of the sail] is attched at its lower end to the horse and is allowed to slide from side to side of the boat as the boat tacks, or changes direction with regard to the wind. Jonathan's father used the term "forestaysail" to distinguish that sail from the "fisherman staysail" of schooners or a mizzen staysail which can be found on some ketches. By the way, Mike, a "club" is usually only half the length of the staysail foot, serving much as a sail batten does. "Swallow"'s staysail is boomed i.e. the boom is attached the the inner forestay and the staysail is laced to it for the full length of the foot.