Need some help with this illustration

[UVSaturated]

I am having trouble reading the text on this image. Can anyone shed light on what the words say on item U, 7, and 12?

I am trying to clean up a few documents with added resolution for anyones use, any help with what these words say would be helpful. They are a bit blurry.

 

[DAWarden-(Jaager)]

7 = fish - a wood bumper guard on the front of the mast (Something for the bottom of the sail to wack against when it is flapping?) held by turns of rope: wooldings

U = clue - a loop in the rope bordering the edges of the sail at lower corners. A rope to transfer wind energy to the hull attaches here. A rope to pull up the corner to the centerline also attaches here - like opposing muscles

12 = fid - a wedge the goes thru a square hold at the heel of the topmast The stays pull the topmast down with significant force. The fid transfers that force to the hounds and keeps the mast from being a downward missile. Punching it out makes it easy the drop the topmast.

 

[UVSaturated]

Hey thanks for your great response! I would have never guessed, and you know what the purpose of them are, that's good. I am thinking when I finish this illustration it will include the purpose of all the ropes, and riggings.

 

[Gilles Korent]

7 = fish - a wood bumper guard on the front of the mast (Something for the bottom of the sail to wack against when it is flapping?) held by turns of rope: wooldings

7 = Fish alright!
Correction: in the illustration above, the fish is rightfully installed on the sides of the mast.
Not an expert, but I would suggest a need (for some) to revisit its actual purpose.

G.

 

[DAWarden-(Jaager)]

With me - a question mark meaning correct me if I am wrong should be understood.
Fish on the sides, the sail has nothing to do with. A flapping sail seemed a bit of a stretch for producing a need for protection.
Almost always the sails are wings with lift pulling the vessel forward - unless the wind is dead astern?
So the stays would be extra taut on the windward side and a bit slack on the leeward side? an imbalance of force wanting additional support?
Lateral support for the mast proper?

 

[AllanKP69]

Correction: in the illustration above, the fish is rightfully installed on the sides of the mast.
Not an expert, but I would suggest a need (for some) to revisit its actual purpose.

From James Lees' The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War, page 2.

The front fish was a strengthening piece of wood sometimes fastened on the foreside of the mast, (For English ships) It was from about 1773 that masts were built with a front fish called a rubbing paunch. Prior to that date a fish was usually only used for repairing a sprung or damaged mast. The rubbing paunch took the place of the front fish when iron hoops were introduced.

Lees notes that models of ships from before 1773 rarely show a fish, and might be better to leave them off.

The pieces on the sides of the mast are called cheeks rather than fish on English ships.

Allan

 

[DAWarden-(Jaager)]

Lees notes that models of ships from before 1773 rarely show a fish, and might be better to leave them off.

Uh Oh! The original illustration may need some caveats about just how authoritative it is?
It may only be: "This masting and rigging plan is to be followed if you wish to replicate vessels as designed by this specific designer?"

Very obliquely - now that "sheet" has been brought up - in Nixon in China by John Adams - the Nixon character sings: "the rats are chewing at the sheets, the rats are chewing at the sheets" and I do not think it refers to bed linens.

 

[Gilles Korent]

With me - a question mark meaning correct me if I am wrong should be understood.
Fish on the sides, the sail has nothing to do with. A flapping sail seemed a bit of a stretch for producing a need for protection.
Almost always the sails are wings with lift pulling the vessel forward - unless the wind is dead astern?
So the stays would be extra taut on the windward side and a bit slack on the leeward side? an imbalance of force wanting additional support?
Lateral support for the mast proper?

Although I do not quite understand the above quote,
Point taken about the question mark...

But the original inquiry was made in reference to a particular illustration where the mast is shown sideways.
So in this case, # 7 does show the fish or side-fish which is a part designed to strengthen the mast assembly at the top; it is installed on the sides of the mast and at some point was an integral part of the mast construction.
The illustration does not show the front fish which was also known as the rubbing punch (as noted by Alan).

The point is that the original poster accepted the answer posted early in the topic, and if he is going to use that information to produce a document for the benefit of others, it is important that the answer be correct, while it should remain relative to the illustration presented... without a guess or assumption made as for the use of a mast fitting; the assumption (Something for the bottom of the sail to wack against when it is flapping?) including the question mark, is misplaced and may be misleading to the original poster and subsequently... the people who will have access to the resulting document... if such is produced.

Your's truly
G.​

 

[Gilles Korent]

Uh Oh! The original illustration may need some caveats about just how authoritative it is?
It may only be: "This masting and rigging plan is to be followed if you wish to replicate vessels as designed by this specific designer?"

Very obliquely - now that "sheet" has been brought up - in Nixon in China by John Adams - the Nixon character sings: "the rats are chewing at the sheets, the rats are chewing at the sheets" and I do not think it refers to bed linens.

I want some of what you are smoking!
G.

 

[DAWarden-(Jaager)]

the assumption (Something for the bottom of the sail to wack against when it is flapping?) including the question mark, is misplaced and may be misleading to the original poster and subsequently... the people who will have access to the resulting document... if such is produced.

We are in total agreement about this. My academic background is biochemical pharmacology and I walked away from that after I had the degree.
I am not an authority to be quoted. My intent is to provoke those who do have the academic background into filling in the blanks.
I am much more comfortable dealing with concepts.

I want some of what you are smoking!

My affinity for opera is mostly tangential - but I do like John Adams' work and I guess Minimalist is compatible with psychoactive chemicals. I had a professional license to protect and the State of Virginia is not exactly all that open minded so my experience with disapproved chemicals is strictly theoretical. To paraphrase a fellow grad student from my past: "A cylinder of burning dried plant matter is a chemical factory - producing hundreds of unknown complex chemicals - some of which may be highly carcinogenic." I find it best not to test my bio-defenses with this.