New to the Age of Sails, here is a simple guide to mast and sails

I still think "the front sticky up thing and the middle sticky up thing" is easier to remember. :o Maybe only historically accurate for the landlubbers waking up on their first morning post being press ganged.

A lovely bit of research though. Thanks.

I just finished book 15 last night :D

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Originally Posted by The Royal Hajj

I find it much easier to come to grips with this stuff if I have a good diagram to see what is what and where it is. However, most of the images out there seem over loaded with info and I quickly get lost in it all.

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I am the same way and this is a great resource for all levels. Another thing that might help some to know is that there is a shortening in speech for many of these mouthful terms (as you might expect in any military endeavor). At least they didn't use acronyms as heavily back then.



Here are a few ways to give your gums a break when speaking these names.

1 When sail is attached to another word (ex. topsail), you can make it the unstessed syllable and basically say 'sul' as in sullen. So it might phonetically look like TOP-sul

I'll give a few of the common ones -
2 Topgallant again cuts out 'top' into 'ta' as in Beretta. SO ta-GALLant. You can see the pattern.
3 Again topmast cuts mast a bit to get TOPmst -OR- you leave it off and say "Main Top" when talking about the mast with the implication that you would mention the sail if you were talking about it "Main topsul"


If all these terms are bad, just remember that they were still working with Larboard and starboard instead of Port and starboard. What a headache.

Excellent info,:salute: thank you Sir

The pictures in posts 2,3,4 and 5 are not showing on my computer, Keith.

Are you viewing from work or a public computer?

Thanks for the intro - is there an easy way to print the posts?

Awesome diagrams, will come in very handing when it comes to some lite rigging attempts.

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Originally Posted by pward

Awesome diagrams, will come in very handing when it comes to some lite rigging attempts.

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That's why I bought so many.

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Originally Posted by Avi

Thanks for the intro - is there an easy way to print the posts?

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Sorry, not really. You can right click the images and save those and then print them out.

Very helpful and concise. Thank you for the valuable information you have posted sir. :medal:

Not sure why, but I'm not able to see the rigging gif/jpg. I anyone else having that problem? Thank you for the material.

I agree Keith, growing up in the rockies made it difficult to be anything but a landsman.

Hi..great job! For some reason the first several photos are not showing for me either..is the link broken on them? I am on my home computer and I have tried it with a couple different browsers with the same result.

Thanks...

All clear here - could it be just timing out on the pictures?

Ok..well it's working now so not sure what was going on before..thanks

I've tried three different machines and still can't see the rigging. Any idea where the figures came from or alternate sites with this information? Thanks for any help.

Check them again now please.

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Originally Posted by The Royal Hajj

Check them again now please.

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Keith they were there the very first time I glanced at them, but then they disappeared for me. Sorry about the hassle, but they are back, thank you.

Found this very informative. About to start (attempt!!) rigging some ships that I completed from Langtons, so fingers crossed and thank you.:happy:

Nice! Need this is a PDF :)

Do you have anything similar on ship types? I've been trying to read up on them but the information seems a bit contradictory. I'm OK on rated ships but the classifications of smaller ships (sloops, brigs, brigantines, cutters, etc.) is a little confusing I've seen classifications based on mast number, square or fore & aft sails, and rank of the captain.

Sorry, no. I don't even have a firm grasp on ship types and classes.

Here's a start. I'm sure I have seen a better one too

Attachment 8761

Obviously some of these are rather more modern than we are considering in SGN. And there are myriad types not covered here (no Snows or Prams for starters :happy: )

The term sloop can be confusing. This link has some of the information you want and some links for more descriptions that may help you understand the type of sloops referred to on this site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloop-of-war

Here are some other links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brig

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigantine

Thanks, these are helpful.

Thanks Chief for posting all the info. As a man of the air, not sea, this is VERY helpful, especially as far as English terms are concerned :happy:

For some reason I never visited this topic before - and the topic is a must! Thanks, Keith, for sharing it!

Caramba, great work, i will try to rig up my first ships, ok, lets go, thanks for the nice plan ;-)

Thinking I've got some homework to do. An excellent start, thanks for posting

Thanks for this information!

I know the names in Swedish but not in English due these sailor terms was not really in the lectures of my English classes back in school. Wonder why? But this will really help me out in future reading and writing about sailing ships.

That's a lot to remember, thanks.

Wow. Having all this in one place is a blessing, although English terms are are pretty logical and meaningful. Learning them in Polish when I started sailing was a nightmare, because as for sailing dictionary we have a mix of polonized English, Dutch an German words with no logic behind it whatsoever. Now the problem is that I read AOS books sometimes in Polish and sometimes in English and it all gets confusing. :)

Very useful information thanks.
Rob.

Just moved to The Chippy Shop. It is a sticky, so it can be found easily by looking at the top of the forum.

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Originally Posted by Gunner

Also, I always thought the main reason for "fighting sails" was to keep the main and formast courses from catching on fire from the blast and burning powder spray of their own cannons.

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Yep! :thumbsup:

Thank you! Where did you find these references, if you don't mind my asking?

Having had recourse to this thread yet again, I felt that it was high time Keith got some Kudos for putting it together.:hatsoff:
Bligh.

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Originally Posted by garchilajr

Thank you! Where did you find these references, if you don't mind my asking?

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Honestly, I don't remember. It was someplace off the internet though via Google search.

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Originally Posted by Bligh

Having had recourse to this thread yet again, I felt that it was high time Keith got some Kudos for putting it together.:hatsoff:
Bligh.

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Thanks Rob!

Too...much...information.
Brain...bursting.
Surgeon, get the trephine, we'll make a vent-hole!
Most excellent, very well done. :salute:
That could make a salt out of a lubber in no time.:thanks:

BTW, I have found two books to be eminently helpful in understanding the age of sail in both the historical and the functional senses.
Ships and Seamen of the American Revolution, by Jack Coggins
Pirates and Patriots of the Revolution by C. Keith Wilbur
Both fully hand-illustrated, crammed with details of the function, structure, and backstory of how sailing ships were built, operated, and fought. Lots of juicy tid-bits of lore thrown in, to boot.:thumbsup:

Very good post, a lot of valuable information :hatsoff: