Jamestown Settlement Maritime Program
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JAMESTOWN-YORKTOWN FOUNDATION Jamestown Settlement Maritime Program Crew Training Manual JAMESTOWN-YORKTOWN FOUNDATION Crew Training Manual Written by: Capt. Eric A. Speth with assistance from: Todd Egnor Gene Bjerke Ron Lippert Ken Hill Final Revisions MARCH 22, 2006 Second Revision December 2006 Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation P.O. Box 1607 Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-1607 Phone 757-253-7312 • Fax 757-253-7350 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 Masts, Yards, Rigging, and CHAPTER 3 Setting and Handling Sail Sails Working Aloft…..…………...………....15 Introduction………………………………1 Safety Procedures For Working Aloft…..16 Standing Rigging………………………..…2 Loosing Sail……………………..…...…16 Shouds…………….…..……………..……3 Making Sail…………………………….17 Stays……...………………………….……3 To Set a Course…………………….......17 Backstays……...………………………...…3 To Set a Topsail….………………….....18 Sails and Running Rigging……………….....3 To Set the Mitzzen………………….…19 Belaying Plan………….………………...…6 To Dip the Mizzen.…………….……....19 To Set the Spritsail……………….….…20 CHAPTER 2 Basic Seamanship Taking In Sail…………………..…….....21 Safety Precautions With Rope……….…….6 To Take In a Course……………..……..21 Belaying……………………….….…...…10 To Take In a Topsail………….………..21 Coiling and Stowing…………………..….11 To Take In the Mizzen……..……....…...22 Flaking A Line For nning………………...12 To Take In the Spritsail…………..…….22 Knots………………………………....…12 To Furl a Course...……………………..22 Overhand Knot…………………….....…12 Spritsail and Mizzen…………….……....23 Round Turn and Two Half Hitches...…….13 To Furl a Topsail………………….…....23 Single or Double Sheet Bend……….……13 Bowline…………….……………….…...13 Gasket Knot……………………….……14 Gasket Coil Hitch…………….…………14 CHAPTER 4 Sail Maneuvers CHAPTER 6 Anchoring and Docking General Priciples of Working a Ship………25 Anchoring………………….……….…37 Bracing and Trimming the Yards……….…26 Letting Go the Anchor………….….…..37 Common Sail Handling Commands………26 Weighing Anchor…………………....…39 Points of Sail………………………….…..28 Mooring……………………….………40 Tacking…………………………………...28 Orders For Crew Working Mooring Lines…………………………………..41 Wearing………………………………..…29 CHAPTER 7 Ship Operations CHAPTER 5 Emergency Procedures Lowering and Hoisting the Station Bill…………………….…….……31 Boat……………………….………...…43 Firefighting Procedures.………………...…31 Serving as Lookout……………….……44 Collision, Holes in the Hull……………..…32 Steering……………...……………....…45 Ship Abandonment and Hypothermia……..33 Steering Commands…….…..……….…45 Man Overboard………………………...…33 Aids to Navigation…………………..…47 Emergency Station Bill….…………………34 Appendix A: Dictionary of Sea Terms………………………………...49 Appendix B: History and Interpretation…………………..…….69 Appendix C: What To Bring On A Voyage…………………..……...…….81 CHAPTER 1. MASTS, YARDS, RIGGINING, AND SAILS Chapter 1 Masts, Yards, Rigging, and Sails Learning Objects: • Name Parts of Masts and Yards, Sails, Standing Rigging, and Running Rigging • Name Sails • Understand Layout of Decks • Locate Running Rigging – Belaying Plan Introduction arly seventeenth century English merchant ships displayed elements of sailing ships from throughout Europe. In the Mediterranean, E medieval European sailors adopted a type of sail developed by the Arabs. This was a triangular sail that was laced to spars along the bottom and the leading edge. Such a sail allows a ship to sail fairly close to the wind and to maneuver well. The English named this sail lateen after its Latin origin. Medieval ships from northern Europe, like those of the Vikings, had square sails that provided forward motion downwind, but did not lend themselves to sailing close to the wind or maneuvering. To allow square sails to work more efficiently closer to the wind, sailors rigged bowlines. These are lines attached to the leech, or vertical edge, of a square sail and lead forward. Hauling the weather bowline tight allowed square-rigged ships to sail closer to the wind. Susan Constant and Godspeed are three-masted ships setting square sails on the bowsprit and fore and main masts and a fore-and-aft rigged lateen sail on the mizzen mast. This sail plan is known as a bark rig. The lower masts, topmasts, bowsprit and yards are solid wood and are all categorized as spars. The 1 CHAPTER 1. MASTS, YARDS, RIGGINING, AND SAILS three masts differ in size, the main mast being the largest and tallest reaching nearly 100 feet off the water. Yards and sails are named for their respective masts; for example: • Fore mast—fore yard, fore course. • Main topmast—main topsail yard, main topsail. The spritsail is a small square sail set on a yard beneath the bowsprit. It serves as a balancing sail to the lateen mizzen, which is normally set at the after end of the ship. The spritsail counteracts the ship’s tendency to turn into the wind and is important when sailing close to the wind. The triangular jib eventually superseded this sail. The foremast sets two sails. The lower sail is the fore course and the upper sail is the fore topsail. (Note: Discovery has no foremast.) Due to their forward position and turning effect, sails on the foremast can cause the bow to fall off the wind. The fore sails are especially useful in tacking and wearing maneuvers. The main mast also sets two sails: a course and a topsail. These sails are close to the ship’s center of rotation and do not substantially affect maneuvering with all sail set. The mizzen mast sets the lateen sail. The lateen, a narrow, three-sided sail, sets fore and aft on a long yard. This sail acts to balance the force of the sails set on the fore mast and bowsprit. Like the spritsail forward, the lateen’s distance from the center of rotation makes this a useful steering sail. Acting like a weathervane, the lateen helps to bring the bow into the wind when desired. As a fore and aft sail, this sail is set on the leeward side of the mast to prevent chafe on the sail and mast. Standing Rigging In a sailing vessel there are two types of rigging: 2 CHAPTER 1. MASTS, YARDS, RIGGINING, AND SAILS • Standing rigging supports the masts • Running rigging is used to control the yards and sails. Once set up, standing rigging is only subject to minor adjustment while running rigging is constantly in use when making sail, trimming, and taking in sail. Pieces of standing rigging are named for the respective spars they serve: main mast—main shrouds; fore topmast—fore topmast stay, etc. There are three types of standing rigging: shrouds, stays, and backstays. Shrouds A mast is supported in an athwartship direction (to the sides) by shrouds which run from near the top, called the hounds, of the mast to chain plates on the outside of the hull opposite the mast. The lower ends of shrouds have blocks of wood called deadeyes turned-in which allows for tensioning by means of lanyards passed through the deadeyes. Several shrouds are used, spaced about two feet apart, to take the heavy strain on the masts exerted by large sails. Futtock shrouds provide support for the topmast shrouds by transferring the strain to the lower shrouds around the edge of the tops. Climbing over the futtock shrouds is one of the most challenging tasks when working aloft on the topsails. Ratlines are light lines tied across the shrouds to create a rope ladder to allow access aloft for work in the rigging and on the yards. Stays Stays are used to provide support for the mast in a fore-and-aft direction. The stays are led from the masthead forward to the mast ahead of it or to the bowsprit or longhead. They provide nearly all of the support for the masts when the sails are aback. Deadeyes are turned in to stays to allow for tensioning. Backstays Backstays are fitted to the topmasts to provide support against the pressure exerted by the sail when sailing downwind. Backstays are leds from the topmasts to the deck and are adjusted by a block purchase. Sails and Running Rigging The sails are manufactured from an extremely durable woven Dacron cloth similar in look and feel to canvas. 3 CHAPTER 1. MASTS, YARDS, RIGGINING, AND SAILS The parts of a sail are: • Head: Top of the sail. It is attached to the yard with light lines known as robands. • Earring: Upper corners used to fasten the sail to the yardarm, or end of the yard. • Leech: The side edges of the sail. • Foot: The bottom of the sail. • Clew: The lower corners of the sail. • Bunt: The middle section of a square sail. The sails are controlled by means of running rigging. All rigging that reeves through blocks and is used in hoisting, lowering or trimming sails or yards is known as running rigging. Running rigging gear can be grouped by function and is located at pin rails and masts in an orderly fashion. As with the standing rigging, individual pieces of rigging take the name of the mast or sail they serve (e.g., fore course—fore course clew garnet; main topsail—main topsail halyard, etc.). The major pieces of running rigging used to control the sails are: • The halyard is a line or tackle used for hoisting and lowering yards and sails. The heavy course yards are also hoisted by the jeer. • The tack is used on the course and mizzen. On a square sail it is the line used to haul the weather clew forward and down. On the lateen mizzen, the tack hauls down the lower forward corner of the sail. • The sheets attach to the clews of the sails and “sheet the sails home”, i.e. they haul the clews of a course, spritsail or mizzen down and aft toward the deck, and the topsail clews down to the yardarm below it. • The bowline is a line that leads forward from a bridle on the leech of the course or topsail. 4 CHAPTER 1. MASTS, YARDS, RIGGINING, AND SAILS When hauled in hard, bowlines keep the weather edge of the sail taut and steady when the ship is sailing close-hauled to the wind.