Bowsprit Traveller Ring

[Jack Sparrow]

Hello,
I was wondering if someone could explain to me the purpose of the bowsprit traveller ring?
I don't get why some models have it and some don't

Thank you

 

[Y.T.]

I think most of the time the models that do not have it just lack, omit this detail for simplicity.

 

[Jimsky]

Hello,
I was wondering if someone could explain to me the purpose of the bowsprit traveller ring?
I don't get why some models have it and some don't

Thank you

Hey, Jack

The simple answer is: A jib may be attached to a bowsprit with a traveler. This allows the sail to be set and handed without having to go out onto the bowsprit. A useful side effect is that they can be used to increase the tension in a jib luff. You haul the thing nearly out, make off the halyard as best you can, and then haul out the traveler to get the final tweak.





here is how a classic traveler looks (it is modern, but parts are the same)

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Hey, Jack

The simple answer is: A jib may be attached to a bowsprit with a traveler. This allows the sail to be set and handed without having to go out onto the bowsprit. A useful side effect is that they can be used to increase the tension in a jib luff. You haul the thing nearly out, make off the halyard as best you can, and then haul out the traveler to get the final tweak.

View attachment 468348

View attachment 468349

here is how a classic traveler looks (it is modern, but parts are the same)

View attachment 468346 View attachment 468347

thank you for the reply.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Jibs were often rigged to be set “flying.” In other words, they were not hanked to a stay. In addition to the danger of putting a man on the end of the bowsprit or jib boom there was the problem when handling the jib of dropping it into the water and the ship or boat sailing over it.

There are several early Eighteenth Century pictures of small sailing vessels and boats anchored with the jib hoisted and “set in stops.” Stops are very light pieces of string or yarn intended to be easily broken. The sail could be bundled up within the confines of the vessel and the bundle secured with the stops. The sail could then be hoisted within the boat and run out to the end of the bowsprit with the traveler ring. Setting the hoisted sail was then just a simple matter of breaking the stops by pulling on the jib sheets. Likewise, lowering the jib was simplified by first using the traveler to pull it inboard before lowering it. These sail handling techniques were not unlike those used to handle spinnakers on racing sailboats prior to adoption of the asymmetric ones set with retractable booms.

The picture below is of my last completed modeling project, a c1725 1:32 scale scratch built Royal Navy Longboat. I have shown it as in a contemporary view of the Port of New York with sailed lowered but the jib hoisted in stops.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Here is a detail of William Brigis’ 1717 drawing; A View of the Port of New York. Although hull lines, sail plan, and rigging details of my model were based on an Admiralty draught, the jib in stops and “hiked up” mainsail are based on the sloop in the fore ground of the drawing.

For anyone thinking of building a model of a small gaff rigged sailing vessel (sloop or cutter) I highly recommend Tom Cunliff’s book Hand, Reef, and Steer. I found this to be much more useful than standard References like Lees’ book that overlook these small vessels. Cunliff is highly experienced sailing traditional British watercraft and expertly describes how their sails are rigged and handled. As the physical laws of simple mechanics have not changed, much that he writes applies to boats that sailed 300-400 years ago.