User:ThoughtIdRetired/Sandbox/8

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Notes for galley[edit]

Generalities for all galleys: Sail often used, with oars reserved for battle or entering port, etc. Provisioning: water and food are always critical and limiting.

clos de gallees needs to be mentioned. There is not really much on use of English galleys prior to 1500 - is there an article that already covers this?

Advantages/disadvantages - bring into one place:
amphibious operations, shallow water, fighting other galleys
not good at long ranges, strong winds, against high sided merchant sailing ships, tend to be dedicated warships – so cost (sailing ships could and did make commercial voyages but still be available for war), storage and maintenance facilities undercover (confirm), crews need to be fed and watered: range and cost.

Note that cost is a reason why English kings did not always have galleys available. (confirm/explore this)

Terminology: make clear that galley changed in meaning in English, being oared warships originally and later Mediterranean style galleys later.

Illustration of some key galley battles - or is there an article that does this?

Notes for lugsail[edit]

Lug rig requires a minimal number of blocks and fittings. Simplicity without compromising effectiveness is an important characteristic. It can be used on an unstayed mast and the mast can be relatively short compared with some other rigs. It has useful performance to windward if correctly sheeted. Sail can quickly be doused in a squall (a very important feature in an open boat) simply by letting go the halyard. When the wind drops or is contrary, in a small boat with lug rig, it is easy to lower sail, unstep the mast and continue under oars.[1]: 16 

As lug-rigged boats increase in size, the number of masts is increased. Extra sail area is achieved whilst keeping the centre of effort of the rig low, so giving less heeling moment than a loftier rig.[1]Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer (see the help page).

Lug rig was used in the seventeenth century, but was not at all common around the coast of northern Europe. By the second half of the 18th century there was a big increase in its use, being common especially on craft with fast-sailing hulls.[1]Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer (see the help page).

The countries best known for lug-rigged craft were Britain, France, Belgium, Italy and Greece. The rig was never widely used in North America. Some luggers had bowsprits to allow the setting of a jib. English, French and Belgian luggers might carry lug topsails.[1]Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer (see the help page).

Lugsails are so fundamentally simple that it is likely that they developed independently in different parts of the world.(Leather)[1]Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer (see the help page).

The 3 masted Bisquine of the Gulf of St Malo were a highly developed type of lugger. They were fishing vessels, drifting for mackerel and dredging for oysters. Their sailing rig was two-masted and, later, three-masted, setting lug topsails on fore and main masts and a lug topgallant on the main. A jib was set to a bowsprit.[1]: 25–27 

Greek luggers[1]: 34 

Shifting of masts and sails for strong winds [1]: 37 

Mast needs to be stepped in tabernacle if stepped and unstepped at sea - clamped to a thwart. Strong luff rope needed, especially for unboomed lugsails.[1]: 62 

2 methods of tacking a dipping lug [1]: 67–69 

2 sails to speed up tacking. Scots luggers had multiple reef points whilst West Country boats would shift the smaller mizzen forward to the foremast to reduce sail (setting a still-smaller mizzen). Advantage of lug rig for fishing, especially drift-netting, was the lack of obstructions at the side of the vessel, allowing the nets to be worked from the side.[1]: 70 

Dipping lug foresail and standing lug mizzen was a very common arrangement on small working and naval boats. Gigs: 3 tack hooks on each side of the boat. Tacking the dipping lug by lowering the sail, unstepping the mast, pushing the sail to the other side, restepping the mast and rehoiting.[1]Cite error: The <ref> tag name cannot be a simple integer (see the help page). Alternatively, a gig might carry 2 sails, one kept on each side of the mast, with tacking involving lowering the sail in use and hooking the other one on to the traveller and hoisting that on the other tack.[find the ref for this March I think] Gigs with 2 smaller lugs and short luffs for quick tacking without slacking the halyard. Tack purchases necessary. Also use in RN warship boats.[1]: 74 

Standing lug or working lug [1]: 78–79  Dipping the yard of a standing lug[1]: 80  French craft used the standing lug as the main canvas, whilst British used just for the mizzen[1]: 82 

Racing yachts - standing lug mainsails were used by many small racing yachts, as a lug sloop rig, after a rule change in 1887 until the beginning of the 20th century. These high peaked sails had a long gaff and were laced to a boom. The mast was relatively short, with the result that when reefed there was less weight aloft than with, for example, a gaff or bermuda rig.[1]: 82–84 

Balance lug[1]: 87-91 

gunter lug[1]: 91-102 

Chinese lug[1]: 103-106 

Luggers in the Downs[1]: 113- 

2 foresails carried for speedy tacking[1]: 120, 145 

Tack hooked to weather gunwale (Deal galley punts)[1]: 142 

Mention of lug rig in US waters[2]: 25 

lug as one rig used on whalers[2]: 42 

Performance: "In their prime, the big luggers could lay within 4 points of the wind, which is as close as a modern cruising yacht, and some of their passage times indicate average speeds in excess of nine knots."[3]: 13 

White[4]location 151 origins of luggers

"The standing lug sail was always hoisted to starboard" [5]at 9% refers to the Lochfyne skiffs

"PORTPATRICK LINE BOAT A slightly hollow floored, open skiff, of around 15ft to 16ft on the keel, with slightly raked straight stem, fullish bow and quarters, and fair beam. Unusually, it was ‘lug schooner’ rigged, with dipping foresail and standing (midships) main, perhaps betraying Irish Sea ‘wherry’ connections."

"Set on a mast slightly shorter than the boat’s length, the sgoth’s low-profiled dipping lug had plentiful reefs and a rather short luff which tacked (to weather) to hooks on each bow." Greenhill, Basil; Mannering, Julian. Inshore Craft . Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.

Square rig[edit]

Square rig is a sailing rig comprised of one or more four-sided sails set below yards which are attached at their mid-point to the mast or masts. When the vessel is not under sail, the yards are (in plan view) usually positioned at right-angles to the direction of the keel, but when in use can be rotated (within structural limits) to suit the direction of the wind. Unlike fore-and-aft rig, a square sail has one surface that, when moving the vessel forward, is always to windward. In simple terms, a square sail has a back and a front surface, whilst a fore-and-aft sail has a left/port and a right/starboard surface.[6]: 2 

A mast is considered to be fully square rigged if, going from the deck to the highest point, each part has a square sail that can be set on it.[a] Square rigged vessels usually carry some fore-and-aft sails as well. In some rigs, such as a barque or a barquentine, some masts are fully square-rigged and others are fore-and-aft rigged. In contrast, a topsail schooner is regarded as fore-and-aft rigged, despite having a square topsail (and sometimes a topgallant) on the foremast, in addition to fore-and-aft sails on all masts, but no fore-course on the lower part of the mast. The differences between square and fore-and-aft rig were important for the licencing of British ship's officers under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts of the second half of the 19th century – rules that lasted until 1931. [7]: 45 [6]: 2 

An individual mast may, in some contexts, be described as a square rigged mast based on its method of construction, with a lower mast with a topmast fitted above, then a topgallant and perhaps a royal mast above. The standing rigging is arranged so that the yards may be braced round with the minimum obstruction from shrouds and stays.[8]: 84–89 

A square sail yard may remain at the same height on its mast, or may be hoisted or lowered as the sail is set, reefed or taken in. Generally, the lower yard, the lower topsail yard (if double topsails are fitted) and the lower topgallant yard (in the case of double topgallants) remain at the same level, whilst all other square sail yards are hoisted and lowered.

A square sail is controlled with a number of lines (ropes) – some of which are used to position the sail relative to the wind and others which are used to help stow the sail when it is not needed. The yard is rotated about the axis of the mast by the braces. The clews (for square sails, these are the two lower corners) are controlled by sheets (one at each corner) and also, for the courses, tacks. With a yard that is not hoisted or lowered, sail is taken in by hauling on clewlines, which pull the clews up to the yard, leechlines, which pull the vertical edges of the sail upwards and to the centre, and buntlines, which lift the foot (the lower edge of the sail) up towards the yard. If the yard is hoisted and lowered, the main action in taking in the sail is the lowering of the yard, but buntlines and leechlines are used to keep the billowing canvas under control.


Square sails have a long history, seeing extensive and well evidenced use in the Mediterranean during the classical period and being an important part of seafaring technology until the end of commercial sail in the 20th century. The precise details of that technology varied over time, but the overall principles of remained largely the same.

references[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Leather, John (1979). Spritsails and Lugsails (1989 reissue ed.). Camden, Maine: International Marine Publishing Company. ISBN 0877429987.
  2. ^ a b Chapelle, Howard Irving (1951). American small sailing craft, their design, development, and construction ([1st] ed.). New York,: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-03143-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  3. ^ Cunliffe, Tom (2016). Hand, Reef and Steer: Traditional Sailing Skills for Classic Boats (second ed.). Adlard Coles. ISBN 978-1472925220.
  4. ^ White, EW (1950). British Fishing-Boats and Coastal Craft (Kindle ed.). Read Books.
  5. ^ Mannering, Julian; Greenhill, Basil, eds. (1997). Inshore Craft, Traditional Working Vessels of the British Isles (2013 ed.). Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-167-0.
  6. ^ a b Underhill, Harold (1946) [1938]. Masting and Rigging, the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier (1958 reprint ed.). Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, Ltd.
  7. ^ Greenhill, Basil (1951). The Merchant Schooners (1988 ed.). London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0 85177 475 X.
  8. ^ Underhill, Harold (1955). Sailing Ship Rigs and Rigging. Glasgow: Brown, Son and Ferguson, Ltd.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).