Tacking a Square Rigged Ship -- command sequence

[Dave Hadfield]

Hi,

A friend of mine is writing a play set on board an immigrant ship in 1823, and asked me for some "nautical lingo" to set the scene in the first act. I suggested the calls for tacking the vessel -- or wearing, it doesn't matter I suppose.

Can anybody point me at a site that lists the correct sequence?

Thanks,

Dave

[Thorne]

Try this site -
http://www.orbitals.com/self/history/rowing.html

The Sailing Commands are as follows:

In addition to larboard and starboard, when under sail, commands can be given for Leeward and Windward. The windward side of the vessel is the side that the wind is coming from. Leeward and windward are not used with oar commands, only with sailing commands. [As our crew does not have much sailing experience, these terms will be used sparingly.]
Step the Mast!1 On a small boat, the mast is often left down until needed. Stepping requires two men. The mast is laid in the boat so that the halyard and pennant lines may be rove through the appropriate dead-eyes. After these lines are rove, the first man lifts the mast and elevates it above the mast thwart. The second man positions the yard so that is if forward of the mast and the truss or parrel is around the foot of the mast. The first man then lowers the mast through the hole in the mast thwart, with the second man guiding the mast. The two men seat the mast firmly but gently into the keelson plate. The pennant line and halyard are then tautened and made. It is important to make sure that the halyard and the pennant line are rigged prior to stepping the mast.
Hoist Sail! or Make Sail! or Set Sail! This a single command for the following: "Let Go the Halyard, Sheets, and Braces. Slacken Braces and Sheets. Haul Halyard. Sheet Home the Sail. Make All." If the sail is furled, the sail is first unfurled by releasing the furling gaskets. The brace and sheet lines are then rigged to their appropriate cleats. Note that if the sail was properly furled, the sail can be unfurled by spilling all of the furling gaskets, then unwinding them from about the sail. The furling gaskets should not be removed from the yard.
Sheet Home! Haul both sheet lines until the sail is taut and the flat. Used when first setting sail and sometimes before lowering sail. This is the same as "Let Go the Sheets! Haul the Sheets! Make the Sheets!" The correct amount of tension will depend on the force of the wind. In general, the sheets should be taut enough to keep the sail from fluttering, but not so taught as to pull it too far aback.
Strike Sail! or Douse Sail! This is a single command for the following: "Let Go the Halyard, Sheets, and Braces! Slack Halyard! Haul Braces and Sheets! Make All!" Douse can also be spelled dowse.
Furl Sail! This command can only be given when the yard has been lowered. It works best if the halyard is made so that the yard is an inch or two above the gunwales of the boat. Standing abaft the yard, one or two men furl the sail. First, the sheet lines are released from their cleats and coiled near the clew. The two clews are then brought up in front of the sail so that they are nearly touching the parrel. The coiled sheet lines are deposited in the envelope made by the sail. If the mast is to be unstepped, the brace lines are similarly released from their cleats, coiled, and deposited in the envelope made by the sail. If the mast is not being unstepped, the brace lines are left in place. Starting at the outboard edges of the sail, the sail is folded upon itself to form a tight, closed bundle, with only the back of the sail closest to the yard visible. This bundle is piled atop the yard, and then the furling gasket is made around it. After both ends of the sail are furled, the center is similarly bundled onto the yard and furled. The center of the sail will be bulkier than the ends (since it contains the clews), and is called the bunt. The ideal bundle will show only a single layer of canvas, thus keeping the rain out of the bulk of the canvas. To secure the sail with the gasket, pass the gasket over and in front of the sail and tightly around underneath the sail. Pass the gasket around the sail a second time, then take the end of the gasket, double it, give the bight that was just formed a few twists, and insert the bight under the second coil around the sail. Pull the bight of gasket to tighten the entire gasket.
Square the Sail!1 Bring the sail around using both braces and sheets until the yard is athwartship. This is the same as "Let Go the Sheets and Braces!" followed by appropriate commands for hauling and slacking the particular sheets and braces to square the same, followed by "Make All!"
Brace About! Bring the sail around to the other tack. This is the same as "Let Go the Sheets and Braces! Slack Windward Brace and Sheet! Haul Lee Brace and Sheet! Make All!"
Unstep the Mast!1 First, make sure that the sail is furled, and the pennant struck. Let go the halyard, and allow it to run free. One man lifts the mast out of the keelson plate and above the hole in the mast thwart. A second man moves the yard and boats it, unreeving and coiling the halyard in the process. The first man boats the mast.
Hoist (a flag or pennant)! Hitch the flag to the pennant line by passing the pennant gaskets (the two lines spliced into the pennant line) through the grommets on the pennant and hitching them with two half hitches above and two half hitches below the point where they are spliced to the pennant line. Keeping the pennant furled (basically crumpled), let go the pennant line, haul the pennant line until the pennant is at the top of the staff, with the topmost pennant gasket an inch or so below the sheave or truck at the top of the staff. Make the pennant line.
Strike (a flag or pennant)! Let go the pennant line, lower the pennant, unhitch the pennant, and make the pennant line. Furl or fold the pennant.




This book might have some -
http://www.amazon.com/Press-Canvas-War-1812-Trilogy/dp/customer-reviews/1888671114

[Gary Bergman]

By far your best bet is 'Seamanship in the age of Sail', by JohnHarland..Commands and illustrations in English, German, Dutch.....The book is bomb, and the bible for those of us who live and breathe square riggers....

[cs]

I've got "The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor" at home and can look for the sequence if need be. But that is where I would start.

http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/books/49l8025s.jpg

Written during the Napoleonic wars and first published in 1808, this book detailed the rigging of the sailing ships of the day. Originally intended to be a reference for midshipmen in their training, it has stayed in print in one form or another nearly continuously for the last 192 years.
Link (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=40983&cat=1,46096,46100&ap=3)

Chad

[outofthenorm]

Dave, the entire text of The Text Book of Seamanship by Admiral Luce is available here http://www.hnsa.org/doc/luce/index.htm

Everything you'll need is there. Other than that, Gary is correct, Harland's book is the bible.

- Norm

[Bruce Hooke]

In addition to the commands, the other thing you really should get roughly right is the timing. If you are trying to be authentic you don't really want to issue commands 5 seconds apart that would normally have been a minute apart. This could be difficult since you don't want the audience looking at a stage where nothing much appears to be happening...

[Gary Bergman]

We used to recommend 'sheet anchor', the illustrations are great, but the book is a vacuum needing to be filled by the midshipmans daily on the job training. Harland is waay better. When wearing ship, scudding, or tacking, commands would be rather far apart, needing time to work their way thru the chain, and to the application itself. You'd be hard pressed to get T'gallant masts, yards, and all the stuns'l tayckle ready in a five minute change from wearing ship to scudding(running offwind).

[Hughman]

"YO! You in the funny hat! pull that rope! NO!! the other one!"

"OK! You people standing around the barrel! PEOPLE! Listen up! Go up to the pointy end and untie those ropes on the left!"

"LEFT!! the OTHER left!!"

[Dave Hadfield]

Hey, that's great, guys. Luce's book on-line should do the trick.

I knew the resources of this Forum would rise to the occasion! Much obliged!

Dave

[martin schulz]

"YO! You in the funny hat! pull that rope! NO!! the other one!"

Crewing on such boats I also recall yelling:

"Get the F*** out of the way there"

"I am sorry I really don't have the time now to explain how the loo works. I case you haven't noticed we are about to tack"

"Don't, DON'T release that rope"

"You there! Yes, you with the beer in the hand. Would you mind putting the beer down and give those chaps a hand who are currently hoisting the main?"

[George.]

"I am sorry I really don't have the time now to explain how the loo works. I case you haven't noticed we are about to tack"



And then there are those times when you are already hard over and luffing, sheets uncleated and in hand, irreversibly comitted to either tack or stay in irons, and the response is "I am sure I closed the valve like the mate said, but something happened and it's overflowing all over the head." :eek: :mad: :D

[Hwyl]

The latter responses are pretty much what I thought when this thread first popped up. I'm pretty sure there were few spoken commands, apart from "let's tack this baby" or it's equivalent.

An aside, modern cheap heads are so good, they really ought not to leak. George I thought you'd be a Lavac man. I hope that Paladin does not read this, but I think Baby Blakes are an inferior product.

[ahp]

I found that the USCG training bark "Eagle" isn't tacked very often. I was told that in the experience of one officer, in nine attempts they succeded three times. They are very wary of sails taken aback could bring down a mast! "Not on my watch" in action.

[George.]

A push-button idiot-proof electric head (if such a thing exists) is high on my list of priorities. Somehow, though, new sails and stuff like that keeps cutting in line... :D

[dredbob]

I found that the USCG training bark "Eagle" isn't tacked very often. I was told that in the experience of one officer, in nine attempts they succeded three times. They are very wary of sails taken aback could bring down a mast! "Not on my watch" in action.

Reminds me of the incident described by L. F. Herreshoff involving the training brig Boxer at Newport. After complaints that the ship was not maneuverable, and old Commodore was sent up to investigate. After getting the feel of the ship and the crew, he proceeded to sail her around a nearby island, backwards. After returning to the dock, he pronounced her a fine and handy ship and went back to Washington.

[ahp]

Dredbob, I would love to follow up on your reference to LFH's story. Do you have the reference?

[dredbob]

It's in LFH's book _An L. Francis Herreshoff Reader_, in the chapter titled "Discourse on Displacement,etc." which begins on page 235, and the story about Boxer is on page 244-5. He doesn't give a lot of specifics, other than the name of the ship, Boxer, that it was a "beautiful little brig" about 100 feet on deck that was built to use at the training station (Naval) at Newport,
He says it happened in his boyhood (around 1900) about "eight or nine miles from where I lived". The name of the island was Gould Island, "a couple of miles northwest of the training station".

LFH's papers are all at Mystic Seaport, and in fact there's some of the stuff digitized and available online. Maybe there's more there, or perhaps some info could be found through the Navy's archives.

Bob