Gun Rigging Part 3a and Done!
There was so little left to do that it didn't justify a Part 4. I tied six gun tackles this morning and when my concentration wavered and my eyes watered, I invited my quadrupedal, Buddy out for a walk. I didn't expect him to want to check on ALL the interesting smells in Staffordshire as well as chasing seagulls until they, and he were out of sight. In other words we walked a very long long way, almost an expotition in fact, except that there was nothing to eat.
When we got back, my concentration and eyes were fine but I was a bit shaky from the exercise and from the "flu-like symptoms" they warned me about last week when I had my jabs. It's the first time in hundreds of vaccinations that I've ever had more than a slightly sore arm so it's quite interesting to be affected thus.
One of the great things about getting old is the opportunity to think up ways of overcoming the ever increasing inconveniences. Today I found that shaky hands and aching shoulders respond well to piles of paperback books locked together and used as elbow rests. Fabbo! You can tailor the height to suit the job.
Here's another hack. I discovered this watching a lady with her knitting. the bobbin in a bowl delivers the thread without falling off the bench and unwinding all over the universe. Taking the thread a coupe of times around something solid acts as a brake to the thread so that it doesn't all try to join in with the rigging at once. I was rigging each tackle direct from the bobbin and then cutting it free ready for the next one. I found one loose end was enough.
Final hack of the day. Not everybody knows this, but dipping the end of your line in superglue and then wiping the tiny blob off between your fingers leaves a stiff end which is the same diameter as the thread and can be easily pushed through blocks etc. Five millimeters is my prefered length, any longer and it gets difficult to go round corners, much less and you'll find that your tweezers are pushing on the unglued thread behind the CA and making the thread go fuzzy. For really awkward threading you can make this 'superglue needle' curved or any shape you need.
So there we have it, eleven guns rigged one way and No.3 Stbd rigged slightly differently.
It was an accident at first to fit the gun tackles before tying up the breeching over that first gun. I could easily fix it in ten minutes but I find that I like this imperfection because it tells a little story to those who are able to hear it. The guns are tidied up for Captain's Rounds, the weekly inspection. Eleven gun teams have done it exactly as the Captain likes it - and one hasn't. The gun captain of No.3 will get a roasting from somewhere up the chain of command but the thing that interests me is the relationships of No.3 with No.2 and No.4. Why didn't they tell him he was wrong? Perhaps they did, in which case, why didn't he listen? It's a short story in three pieces of rope.
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With that little job out of the way and my appetite well whetted for more rigging, I spent some time putting all my rigging gear away and preparing for a painting session instead. I seized the opportunity to tidy up generally and made a start on the abrasives drawer! I got down a layer or two but didn't quite finish.
So that's where the cook's knife was! And the dog's toothbrush!