Fig. 1.
The spars are (1) the mast, which is what is known as a pole mast, that is, a mast complete in itself, having no topmast above it; (2) the bowsprit; (3) the boom; and (4) the gaff.
To support the mast and bowsprit, shrouds and stays are employed. The mainshrouds (5) and the forestay (6) are now generally of iron wire rope; the former rest on the projecting shoulders known as hounds (13), and are attached to the channels (14) on the side of the boat; 7 is the bobstay and 8 are the backstays or runners.
The sails are, A, the mainsail; B, the foresail; C, the jib. The mainsail is spread between the gaff and boom, being laced to the former. The foresail is hoisted up the forestay, to which it is attached by iron hoops. The upper edge of a sail is called the head; the lower edge is the foot; the fore edge is the luff, and the after edge is the leach. The upper fore corner is the throat of a sail; the upper after corner is the peak; the lower fore corner is the tack, and the lower after corner is the clew.
The ropes by which the sails are hoisted are called halyards. The mainsail has two halyards, the throat halyards which hoist the fore end of the gaff, and the peak halyards which raise its after end. The topping lift (10) tops up the boom and relieves the sail of its weight.
The reef pennant (15), passing through an iron ring called the cringle (12) and the rows of reef points (11), serve to reef or shorten sail when necessary.
CHAPTER II.
THE ROPES.
Knots, Bends, and Hitches.
A man cannot be even an amateur sailor until he knows his ropes. A great number of knots, hitches, bends, et cætera, are employed by sailors; but the skipper of a small fore-and-after will find that the different manipulations of cordage which we will now describe will suffice his needs.
The ropes in ordinary use are what are known as hawser-laid ropes, and are thus put together. Several threads of hemp, called yarns, are twisted together to form a strand. Three strands twisted together from right to left form the hawser-laid or right-handed rope.
What is called a cable-laid rope contains nine strands, that is, three ordinary right-handed ropes twisted together from left to right into one large rope. Right-handed rope must be coiled “with the sun” from right to left. Cable-laid ropes must be coiled from left to right.