Rigging the topgallant yards

[Don Case]

I'm starting to rig the topgallants on the Discovery1789. In reading Vancouver's journal he always talks about "striking the top gallant masts" when the weather got tough. Never mentions furling or reefing the sails. I'm wondering if they took down the sail rather than reefing it. Were top gallants treated differently than other sail? Since I'm showing the Discovery1789 with furled sails I'm wondering if the top gallant yards should be bare? Or maybe "striking" means something different than I'm thinking.

 

[Tommy Bowler]

Striking the fore topgallant - Ocean Navigator

This is the second squaresail from the top on the foremast.

oceannavigator.com

 

[Don Case]

Now that is confusing me. I always thought that as the weather got tougher they would remove sails from the top down ie. royals first, then topgallants. Sounds like I'm wrong(not the first time .) Does this mean that the royals were left up or maybe taken down after the top gallants. But then Vancouver would have said, "struck the topgallant and royals" I would think. Just when you think you're finished it pulls you back in.

PS I just read my original post and Vancouver said "strike the topgallant MASTS". You couldn't strike the topgallant masts and still leave the royals up. You need a skyhook for that. Maybe by "strike the topgallant masts" he just means everything that is attached to the mast. Kind of like "clean out the shop" doesn't actually mean removing the shop.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Now that is confusing me. I always thought that as the weather got tougher they would remove sails from the top down ie. royals first, then topgallants. Sounds like I'm wrong(not the first time .) Does this mean that the royals were left up or maybe taken down after the top gallants. But then Vancouver would have said, "struck the topgallant and royals" I would think. Just when you think you're finished it pulls you back in.

Now that raises a good question. In conditions of high winds, wouldn't it make more sense to fold up the largest sails which have the most chance of ripping?

Maybe Vancouver was made an offer that he couldn't refuse? lol

 

[AllanKP69]

Maybe by "strike the topgallant masts" he just means everything that is attached to the mast.

I THINK it means just what it says, strike the topgallant masts. The removal of the yards and sails was presumed to take place first. Then again,,,,,,,???
Allan
s

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Found this:

"The use of the English word "strike" to describe a work protest was first seen in 1768, when sailors, in support of demonstrations in London, "struck" or removed the topgallant sails of merchant ships at port, thus crippling the ships."

If this is true, striking sail would include taking it down off the yard, and lowering the yard to the top below and securing it there.

 

[Don Case]

I did a Google search on to strike a sail and to strike a mast. Strike sail says to remove the sail. Strike a mast didn't get a direct result but The Oxford Reference had this under To Strike Down.

​

to strike down​

QUICK REFERENCE​

To lower a mast or yard to the deck in a square-rigged ship, or lower heavy articles into the hold of a ship. Thus topgallant masts, topmasts, and yards were struck down when they were lowered to the deck (but see also house, to, in the case of masts where they were lowered only sufficiently to lie alongside the mast next below them). Casks were also struck down into the hold of a ship. When, in the days of sailing navies, guns were lowered to the lower gun-deck in very rough weather, to get their weight carried as low as possible, they, too, were said to be struck down.