"It adds so much more sail; and some boats need more head-sail than others," replied the skipper. "The gaff-topsail now, if you please."
"It is a three-cornered sail, like a jib," said Con Bunker.
"Not always, though it generally is. Sometimes, in the high-flying yachts, there is a gaff-topsail yard; but this spar is not fixed, as those on the masts of a square-rigged vessel, but is hoisted up from the deck. The gaff-topsail (3) in the picture, is a three-cornered sail. A rope is attached to the head of the sail, which passes through a block near the topmast-head, and leads down to the deck. By this rope the sail is hoisted to the mast-head. What is the name of this line?"
"The gaff-topsail halyards," answered Hop.
"Of course, for the sail is hoisted by it. Another line is made fast to the lower inside corner, next to the mast, which is called the tack; and you can see that it corresponds with the tack of the jib or mainsail. The third rope passes through a block at the peak, on the gaff; and this is the sheet, as in the other sails mentioned."
"But there is a pole on Dory's gaff-topsail," said Ash.
"The halyard is made fast to this pole, as it is to the yard when the sail is square, at a point which will carry the upper end of the pole above the truck, thus allowing the sail to be larger than it could be if the halyard were attached to the head of the sail."
"What sort of a cart is the truck?" asked Archie.
"I forgot to mention it, I suppose. It is a round piece of wood, fixed on the end of the topmast, like a head upon a cane. It has a little sheave, or a couple of holes in it, through which the signal-halyards are passed. Now for the mainsail. I have already explained the throat and peak halyards, so that you know what and where they are."
"Archie knows," said Ash.