Hi Paul, you are absolutely correct about no buntlines on the top and topgallant sails as well as no leech lines. Looking at Stephens @Steef66 PDF, it seems to me that brail lines and bunt lines are about the same thing in function anyway. Could be different names for different time periods. Correct me if I'm wrong, (there is a high probability I am) leech lines have a mirror image that is they occur on both sides of a sail. That is there would be 2 sets or 4 each per sail.
correct, only not a time thing just another sail thing. On a lateen sail they are called brails because the leech lines and bunt lines are one thing together.
Is the middle yard of this mizzen, the one not supporting a sail as its top member called a 'Crowjack'?
Crossjack. I think typing mistake or Windows that changed it to crow. You see it well, I keep reading it wrong.
On the course sails the museum plans show leech lines as martnets - and yes they are mirrored front and back of the sail. If you have Anderson he has a lengthy discussion about this and how they are often depicted on drawings/etchings/paintings.
Thanks for the tip, Stephen.
Good morning Daniel. Just outstanding. Your detail on your Vasa is so crisp and clean, Wether it be a knot, serving, or the wood cuts. Love it! Cheers Grant
Thank you so much, Grant.
On the topsails and topgallantsails, the 17th-century practice was not to furl the sail up to the yard, but into a vertical sausage in the top, against the mast, so buntlines were not helpful. The loose-footed sails (fore and main course, spritsail, mizzen) were furled up to the yard, so needed buntlines or brails to lift the foot. The main course on Vasa survives, with five evenly spaced cringles in the foot for buntlines. The spritsail also survives, but it does not have any cringles, so may not have been rigged with buntlines, or if there were buntlines, they were attached directly to the boltrope with a buntline hitch through the lay (as was usually the case with the mizzen brails, if they were not rigged on a bridle).
I read that the buntlines go halfway the spritsail through the sail to the back of the sail. I still find this a strange way to rig. But if the experts and paintings show it that way, who am I. It could make sence because the bowsprit isn't vertical like a mast. Was there evidence for on the Wasa?
Can you please explain what you mean by these words? The word bridle, in Dutch I think "hoofdstel"? Makes no sence to me. Sorry I asked
Not sure I understand the first part entirely, but will give it a go. The surviving cloth of the spritsail does not show any evidence of this method,of rigging buntlines, but the preservation is very limited (very little cloth left), so if something went through the sail in the middle of its height, we might not know.
Thank you, Dr Hocker, for your kind words and valuable information on this magnificent ship. I have a long way to go in understanding all the terminology and how ships like this function. You have been a tremendous help for me in this endeavor.
Actually, the crossjack is often abbreviated as "cro'jack" by sailors.
both is possible, The Oxford dictionary uses the word Cross-jack, but I see in lot of books, especially the old ones Cro-jack or Crotchet or crojick.
Thanks Dean, it's great to see you back on the forum.
