What do I do with the slack?

Don Case

Don Case

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On the bowsprit of the Discovery1789 I have two places where there is a lashing and no convenient spot to belay the slack. How was the slack dealt with? I don't think these lashings would be changed very often and I don't think they would run them all the way to the foredeck. Would there be a hank of rope just hanging in the wind. See arrows. One is for the spritsail yard tie and the other is for the fore topsail stay(I think that's what it's called).

IMG_0397.JPG
 
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Hi Don

Hard to tell from the photos. The spritsail yard had slings rather than ties and there was no slack to speak of. From James Lees Masting and Rigging, page 98 The sling was made of a length of rope with a small eye spliced into each end and was served all over; one end was taken round the yard and a seizing put on both parts; the other end was taken over the bowsprit and round the other side of the yard; another seizing was put on and a lashing taken through the two eyes.

Don Case said:
the fore topsail stay(I think that's what it's called).
Click to expand...
Probably a terminology issue, but sails did not have stays. Are you referring to the fore topmast stay? If it is the foretopmast stay, by 1745 it would have probably run through a sheave in the bee on the starboard side of the bowsprit and then to a pair of hearts or thimbles, the after one of the pair being secured to an eye in the hull at the bow near the stem. There is more, but this is explained in Lees book as well as sketched in the Rigging Period Ship Models, page 18-20 by Petersson, et al.
Allan
 
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Thanks Alan, Yeah I've been away from the shipyard to long. Terminology fades pretty quickly. :) It's the lashing on the sling that I'm talking about. What did they do with the loose end(s) of the lashing or was it just cut off short? Would lashings be disposable?
 
Looking at pictures at all books I have the lashing was always cut short. This belongs to STANDING rigging so it is permanent.
 
Again, this may be a terminology issue:(

For the sling the photo below might be helpful. It is from page 99 of James Lees' The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War.
Spritsail yard slings.JPG

Regarding the stay, when you say lashing, I am guessing you are referring to the lanyard that ties the two hearts together? For the hearts or thimbles of the stay, the lanyard was spliced into the outboard heart, then rove through the hearts as many times as the size would allow until the lanyard was used up, The end of the lanyard was seized to the tun of the lanyard adjacent to itself with a couple seizings. Any tail of the lanyard would be cut off at the seizing. The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War page 40
 
Yup, got it now. Lashings are cut off short. I had it stuck in my mind that that the ends had to be wound up like a hank or coil or something. Thanks
 
The two thin black threads dangling in front of the gold figurehead are the bitter ends from the the lashing which holds the two eyes of the sprit yard sling together on the model below. After this photo was taken, the bitter ends were tied to each other and the leftover cut close to the knot. This lashing is only removed if the yard needs to be removed or replaced, and is semi-permanent. Add a bit of PVA glue to the knot to prevent it from unraveling, then cut off the excess.
1719784316148.png
 
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