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13. RUNNING RIGGING

Running Rigging defined—Methods of making Tackles described         simplified ways of rigging a repre­sentative Scale Model.

Running rigging is a term customarily applied to all the ropes and tackles employed to move the yards, hoist and handle sails, and generally to work the ship.

The remarks in a preceding chapter about the complexity of rigging, national and other characteristic features and chronological changes apply equally to the running rigging as to the standing rigging, and therefore need not be further considered here.

It is difficult to specify any particular items of running rigging as being more important than others, but from the point of view of the model-maker it can be stated without fear of contradiction that the lifts, braces, and sheets are indispensable if a model is to begin to look as if it were rigged at all.

A compromise between a completely rigged model and a skeleton rig has been attempted for the Royal Albert, which, as can be judged by the photograph of the completed model, presents a remarkably good appearance. For the benefit of those readers who may desire to fully rig their models, all the running rigging usually shown on a model is represented on the rigging plan plate No. 4 and shown in many of the detailed sketches which illustrate this chapter.

Running rigging in a general sense can be divided into two fairly well-defined groups; first of all, the ropes and tackles used to control a yard or spar; secondly, those which are attached to the sail itself and are chiefly concerned with its manipulation.

The first group includes the ties, halyards and jeers for hoisting or lowering a yard; a parrel for keeping it in place against the mast; lifts for keeping the yard horizontal; and the braces which move one end or the other in a forwards or backwards direction.

The second group includes the sheets, tacks and bowlines used to set the sail, and the clew lines, leech lines and buntlines used to haul the sail up against the yard when it is to be furled.

Other ropes are fitted on the yards and on the sails; for example, foot-ropes suspended beneath the yard for the men to rest their feet upon while working on the yards; and the reef lines and tackles used when shortening sail.

It would require a volume of considerably greater bulk than this book to discuss all the details of running rigging* hence it is only possible to deal with some typical features of the rigging and to point out that any novice can, by following the details on the folding plates and the illustrations given in this book, rig a model at least as effectively as the Royal Albert and improve upon it by adding all the remaining ropes shown on the drawings.

Actually the rigging of a ship model is merely a matter of repeating a few simple operations, chief amongst them being the making of tackles, the reeving of ropes through blocks and the attachment of ropes to spars or elsewhere. The proper placing and arrangement of these ropes and their correct proportioning constitute good rigging. A glance at a well-rigged model reveals a great number of ropes, and this should indicate the desirability of adopting a mode of rigging which—so far as is practicable—is so ordered that the least accessible parts are fitted first, and those which are more readily get-at-able are done last.

As a general principle it can be taken that as much of the rigging as possible should be attached to yards, spars or other detachable parts before they are fixed in place; for example, all the necessary blocks on a yard can be fitted before the yard itself is hoisted. Many of these blocks can have the ropes reeved through them before the blocks are fixed. The disadvantage of doing this is that there are so many loose ends of cotton, thread, or other lines, and they have a remarkable ability to get into a tangle. Dogmatic instructions are impracticable in ship-model rigging; every rigger must follow his, or her, own inclination; ultimately all reach the goal and complete their model.

Before proceeding further, it may be helpful to describe briefly the customary rigging on old-time ship models about the period 1700, as they will be found useful when rigging any other similar model. The principal yards were hoisted by two different methods; in one case ties and halliards were used, in the other the yard was hoisted by jeers and sometimes both methods were combined. A tie is a rope attached at each end to the middle part of the yard, the ropes reach up to and over or through the masthead cap or through the blocks slung from the cap, and are then brought down towards the deck; a block—such as that at II in fig. 160, page 168, works in the bight of the tie and the whole is hauled downwards to a vard tackle which forms the halyard.

The position of a fore topsail tie is clearly shown in fig. 161; the hand is holding the bight of the rope where the tackle block is rove.

Jeers consisted of a block on the yard and a pair slung from the masthead, and the halyard was rove through the blocks to form a tackle. The lifts are ropes attached near the ends of the yards, carried upwards towards the cap, rove through a block and taken to the deck. They were sometimes worked single, but in most case a single block was fixed to the yard-arm, and another either just below the top or slung from the cap. The standing end of the lift was attached to an eye-bolt on or near the upper block, rove through the block on the yard-arm, up and through the upper block and thence to the deck.

Braces may be single ropes, but the general custom was to employ a tackle, consisting of a single block with a pendant, similar to B in fig. 160, page 168. The pendant attached to the yardarm and a rope reeved through the block, the standing rnd made fast to a stay and the hauling end reeved through a block on the stay, and thence to the deck or the ship's side. There are many variations in the lead of the braces on different yards as can be seen from the illustrations.

Fig.  161. Fitting up a Fore Topsail Tie.

Yard tackles at the lower yard-arms were used for hoisting in the boats and other gear; an example of such is shown in fig. 175, page 198, where the ship's boat is slung from theyards.

Tacks arc ropes attached to the clew or lower corner of a square sail and used to haul it down and forward, and was generally a single rope, but in some cases a tackle was fitted.

Sheets were usually double and taken to the ship's side, being led through a sheet block on or near the clew of the sail, the standing part made fast to an eye-bolt on the outside of the hull, and the hauling part brought back through a block near the standing end as shown infig. 162 and madefast to a cleat.

Fig. 162. Fixing theMain Sheet.

Clewlines were ropes used to haul up the clew of a sail, were either single or double; in the latter case the standing end is made fast to the yard, close to the mast, thence down to and through the clewline block on the sail and up to a block on theyard and thence to the deck, or to the top.

Roughly speaking, the foregoing are found on all old-time sailing ship models, but there are numerous chorographical and national variations in detail which should be a subject of individual study by the ardent ship modeler.

The running rigging actually fitted to theRoyal Albert is considerably simplified compared with that shown on the working drawing plate No. 4 and in the detailed sketches. The following is a brief description of the detailed rigging shown on the drawings; the reader can fit or omit them as seems desirable.

The rigging is shown on plate No. 4, the spritsail braces are shown double and lead to the beak-head, the spritsail topsail braces lead to the forestay. The fore topgallant bowline leads from the sail through blocks on the stay and thence to the forecastle, a similar arrangement being adopted for the fore topsail and fore buntlines. These were used to haul out the sail and assist in keeping it taut.

Leech lines, attached to the edge or leech of the sail, were used on all the square sails, but are omitted on many of the drawings to avoid confusion; a typical arrangement is shown on the after side of the main topsail.

Clew lines and clew garnets have already been mentioned, and examples are shown in place on the foresails.

Buntlines were used on all the square sails to assist in hauling them up to the yard; examples are shown on the main course, and also a slab line, used for a somewhat similar purpose.

Very much could be written about the details of running rigging, little of it would be of value to the novice. In practice the best way to rig Royal Albert is to read through all the chapters in this book dealing with the masts, spars, rigging and sails; study the numerous photographs of the work in progress, compare them with the drawings, especially plate No. 4, then make a start with the job and go steadily on with it. The general scheme actually followed on Royal Albert was to prepare as many blocks, tackles and components as possible, then hoist the lower yards, fit the lifts, halyards and the braces, hoist the topsail yards and fit the correspond­ing ropes thereon, and then hoist the topgallant yards. The whole of the corresponding ropes on each were then fitted as this tends to develop a familiarity with them; for example, all the lifts were fitted one after another, then all the clewlines, and so on.

The various tackles and halyards such as the fore topsail tackle (fig. 163) were  then dealt with, then  all the braces and so on, stage by stage.

Fig. 163.  Fitting the Fore Topsail Tackle.

Actually it will be found compara­tively simple to make a success of the rigging by working in this way. Never mind if there is a feeling of ignorance about it; just go ahead and fit up one group of ropes at a time, study their purpose, position and arrangement on the drawings and fit them similarly on the model.

To facilitate this method of rigging a number of enlarged hand sketches are given, which, although not strictly to scale, are meant to help the novice while rigging a model.    These details correspond with those shown in circles on plate No. 4.

Fig. 164. Details of the Sprit Mast.

Fig.  165. Details of the Fore Yardarm.

Details of the spritsail yard marked A on plate No. 4 are given in fig. 164; details of the fore yard-arm B on the plate are shown in fig. 165, and those of the fore top C in fig. 166.

Fig. 166.     The Foretop fully Detailed.

Fig. 167.      Main Yard-arm Details.

Fig. 1G8.       Details of the Main Topmast Head.

Fig. 109. Rigging on the Bowsprit.

Details of the main yard-arm D on plate No. 4 are shown in fig. 167, whilst the main topmast head E is detailed in fig. 168. The details at the bowsprit end F on plate No. 4 are shown clearly in fig. 169, and these it is hoped will prove helpful to the rigger.

The following brief description of ropes, tackles and gear may help to clear up any remaining difficulties.

Fig. 170. Adjusting the Forebrace on  Royal Albert.

Backstay.—From a masthead to the ship's side, a running backstay comprised a pendant and whip: standing backstays set with dead-eyes and a lanyard, or with a backstay tackle.

Bob-Hay.—A rope, set up with dead-eyes, from the bow­sprit, near the outer end, to just below the figure­head.

Bowline.—A line attached to a bridle on the leech of a sail and led to the deck through conveniently placed blocks on the rigging, the fore bowlines run through two blocks on the bowsprit.

Bowsprit running rigging.—There was a considerable amount of rigging on the bowsprit, chiefly the sprit-sail halyards, blocks to guide the spritsail lifts, etc.

Braces.—Ropes or tackles used to move a yard horizontally; the fitting of the fore brace is shown in fig. 170.

Buntlincs.—Ropes used to assist in hauling a sail up to a yard. The leads of buntlines vary considerably, usually from blocks on the yard about midway between the mast and the yard-arm; one end goes to the foot of the sail, the other through a block in the mast or top and thence to the deck, or top.

Catharpins.—Tackles or rope systems disposed horizontally between the futtock staffs to assist in keeping the shrouds taut.

Clewlines.—Ropes from the clews of square sails—used to haul them up to the yard.

Crowsfeet.—A triangular network of ropes often seen at the lower end of mizen topmast stays and elsewhere.

Footrope.—A rope below a yard for men to stand upon, and generally set up with a dead-eye and lanyard.

Futtock shrouds.—Ropes connecting the lower dead-eye of an upper shroud with the shrouds of the mast below it. On later models, taken to a necklace on the lower mast.

Futtock staff.—A. horizontal bar worked on to the shrouds as a place of attachment for the futtock shrouds.

Gammoning.—A strong multiple lashing connecting the bowsprit to the stem of a ship.

Garnets.—A tackle used between a stay and the deck as a means of lifting weights or otherwise assisting in the working of a ship.

Halyards or Halliards.—A rope or tackle employed to haul up a yard, or perform some similar duty.

Jeers.—Tackles used to raise a yard either alone, or in conjunction with ties and halyards. See detail, fig. 166.

Martnets.—Ropes used similarly to leech lines to assist in hauling up a sail.

Parrel.—A fitting employed to keep a yard close against a mast. Usually the rope goes three times round the mast, the turns being spaced by strips and balls, called respectively ribs and trucks. The ends of the rope go around the yard, one on each side of the mast.    See detail, fig. 164.

Pendant.—A long strip, or rope, with a block seized in the free end, the other end being attached to a mast or elsewhere.

Preventer stay.—A subsidiary stay, usually a lighter rope running just above an ordinary stay.

Ratlines.—Horizontal ropes fixed across the shrouds.

Reef gear.-^Ropes and tackles used to reduce the sail spread reef bands are sewn on the sail to strengthen it and take the eyelets or holes for the reef points, which are short pieces of rope fixed to the sail and subsequently tied around it and the yard.

Sheets.—Ropes used to haul in the lower corner of a sail, sometimes a single rope, sometimes double and often with a tackle.

Slings.—A rope used to support a yard, as for example a spritsail yard slung below a bowsprit.

Stay collar.—The bight or loop of a stay where it passes around a spar, for example that on the bowsprit.

Tie.—A rope used for hoisting a yard. A typical form comprises a "tie" attached to the yard, taken upwards and through a sheave in the topmast below the crosstrees, and terminating at a block. A runner reeves through the block and the standing end is attached to the ship's side, well aft of the mast. A block is seized into the free end of the runner and a halyard or tackle worked through it on the opposite side of the ship to the standing end of the runner.

Top rope.—One used for hoisting or lowering the topmast.

Truss tackle.—A tackle employed to haul up a parrel and assist in lifting a yard.

Woolding.—A binding of rope around a mast or spar to strengthen it.

In the whole of the foregoing chapters on Rigging and generally throughout this book, the author has endeavoured so far as possible to avoid technical phrases, and has used only the simplest form of words, believing this to be most helpful to the novice.

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