HMS Victory of Caldercraft by Wil

[Peter Voogt]

51 Running rigging

In my previous posts I explained how I make my sails. Now that the three sails for the foremast are ready, it's time to hang the yards with the sails.

Starting with the lowest yard, the fore yard. This is hung from a sling in two parts. The upper part, which lies over the masthead, is connected to the lower part, which sits around the yard with a double loop, by means of a tackle. In practice this happens when the yard is in its upper position, to relieve the tackles in wind and to fix the yard vertically. Normally the yards hang in their lower position with the sails furled, but on my model I've made an exception for the lower yards by hanging them at the top, so the construction with the sling is clearly visible. It also obstructs the view of the deck less. (Caldercraft's building plans, incidentally, also assume this position.)

To the left and right of the sling, the jeer falls are also clearly visible. Their purpose is to be able to lower the yard when furling the sails. These tackles are hung from the mast, just below the masthead, by means of a jeer block strop and lashings.

View attachment 626588

Next come the lifts and the sail sheets, which in practice keep the yard in the correct horizontal position when the sails are set and the yard is hanging from the sling.

The thickest one on the outside is the fore topmast sail sheet. This runs via a large block at the tip of the yard downward, behind the sail, and then via another block to the belaying point on the deck. At the top, the sheet is connected via a block to the fore topmast sail clueline, which runs via a second block directly under the yard to a belaying point on the deck.

Quick question in between: I don't quite understand the interplay between the sheets and the cluelines in this context. Perhaps the experts among us can explain this?

View attachment 626589

View attachment 626590

In addition, the fore yard is fixed against the mast by means of the truss pendant. Schematically, this looks as follows. At the back of the mast, the truss pendant is held up by the "nave line", which allows the truss pendant to move smoothly up and down with the yard. A nice bit of fiddly work that ends up completely hidden behind the sail. Hence the schematic drawing below.

View attachment 626591

The principle described above, of lifts, sheets and cluelines, also applies to the fore topmast yard.
We're talking here about:

• Fore topmast yard lift
• Fore topgallant sail sheet
• Fore topgallant sail clueline

The fore topmast yard and the fore topgallant yard, however, are not fixed against the mast with a truss pendant but with a parrel rope. The name says it all, a beaded rope with spacers.

View attachment 626592

View attachment 626593

View attachment 626594

Unlike the fore topmast yard, the fore topgallant yard has only lifts, so no cluelines or sheets.

General remarks

• In my model I chose not to fit belaying points on the shroud cleats in the shrouds, because the exact placement is too constrained at this scale by the rigging above the deadeyes and the ratlines. So I've run a number of lines down the middle along the mast and belayed them, combined or not, on the two pin rails at the foot of the mast. Not entirely historically accurate, but I found it neater and clearer this way.
• Bringing the various lines down was occasionally a bit of a challenge. I had to re-run several lines multiple times because somewhere along the way they had gotten wrapped around another line.
• All in all, quite fiddly work that takes a lot of time.
• A number of lines still need to go on the yards, related to operating the sails. The blocks for these are already fitted, but first I need to lay in a supply of rope.

The photos below give an impression of the end result.

View attachment 626595

View attachment 626596

View attachment 626597

View attachment 626598

Next time, on to the mainmast. But for Amsterdam I already have something to show.

Just 2 words: BEAUTIFUL and IMPRESSIVE, Wil.
Regards, Peter

 

[AllanKP69]

I tried coating the hem of the sail with glue first and then folding it.

This is very late, my apologies. For silkspan and paper in general try matte medium instead of glue. There is a great little booklet by David Antscherl available at SeaWatch books for US $5 on making sails with silkspan and a great video by Tom Lauria on the internet. There are some small differences in the methods and I do something in between the two, but the basics are the same.

Allan

 

[Scheepshoorn]

In my build report on the Dutch forum, an observant reader pointed out that I had made a mistake with the strops of the lower sails. The drawing that we apparently all use is very clear on this. So there was nothing for it but to remove the strops and replace them with new ones.



I'm also gradually starting to understand that "building historically correct" can have different faces.
Right at the start of my adventure I was asked which year I had in mind for this. I had no idea, I hadn't looked into it. So if you want to build completely historically correct, you quickly have to make a choice here. But with what I know now, I think that's a question for the scratch builders among us, not for those who buy a kit and let themselves be guided by the kit and some books. You quickly lose your way here.

Then, in the rigging phase, you get the question: "What character do you want the ship to project?" Full sail, (partly) furled sails, or no sails at all. This has a major impact, particularly on the running rigging.

I have to admit that my opinion on this changed quite a bit over the course of the project. So I haven't always been consistent in that, let alone in which line I did or didn't include.

It's not easy to apply exactly the right rigging for each phase. That can only be done by doing extensive study into seamanship, etc. That was, and still is, not something I intend to do, so in that sense my Victory is becoming an atypical ship.

• Copper on only one side
• All guns run out, while the ship is not sailing under full sail
• The choice of which sails I hang
• The corresponding rope functions and belaying points

Now that I write this down, I realize that in the end I let myself be guided by what I personally find beautiful, of course within the bounds that lie within reach with a bit of study. Historical correctness has too many aspects that I should have considered earlier, if I had wanted to. But in the end, it's really about the enjoyment of building.

In recent days I've also made some nice progress. After my previous topic I was able to add several more lines to the foremast. That is now becoming quite complete in the plane perpendicular to the ship's length.



Some lines are so thin (3x2 threads) that they're barely visible in the photo.

The photo above also clearly shows that I've now fitted the spritsail yard with its sail. For this I used the loose sail that I mentioned in topic 197.



This sail was originally made for the main topsail (middle sail of the mainmast) and was therefore a bit too large. It turned out to be a simple job to shorten it by about 2 cm on each side.

First I stretched the furled sail with two lines through the clew cringles (bunt gaskets) to the yardarms. Threading the bolt-rope line was then a piece of cake. Once that was done, the black gaskets that held the shape of the furled sail could be replaced with the final beige ropes.



Finally, just a few atmospheric photos.

 

[Peter Voogt]

Now that I write this down, I realize that in the end I let myself be guided by what I personally find beautiful, of course within the bounds that lie within reach with a bit of study. Historical correctness has too many aspects that I should have considered earlier, if I had wanted to. But in the end, it's really about the enjoyment of building.

I fully agree with you, Wil. It’s always nice to read what is in a builders mind during a build. In the beginning, you cannot (yet) foresee everything, and therefore some flexibility is certainly desirable. And with the sails your are showing definitely ‘some flexibility.
Regards, Peter