Garnet
tackle (before 1730) 1. Mainstay,.2. Pendant,. 3. Guy,. 4, Tackle
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Various forms of tackles were used
for moving loads, for tightening deadeye lanyards when setting up the
shrouds, and for moving the ships' boats.
Lower mast tackles (Foretackle, maintackle and mizen burton
tackle) The lower mast tackles appeared in the
course of the 16th century,initially on the mainmast and the foremast.
A seized eye
in the bight 01 a rope was fitted over the masthead of the main and
fore lower
masts below the shrouds, first to starboard then to port (more details
on
ti . in the chapter THE SHROUDS), so that on both sides two
pendants hung down. A fiddle or double block was then spliced into the
aftermost pendant at half to two thirds mast height, the mast tackle
reeving through it. The foremost pendant was one footshorter and w
fitted with a single block for a runner .
In
the single block form the runner reeved through the block, and was
spliced into the upper
block of the mast tackle. The standing end was fastened to an eyebolt
in
the deck. In the double block form a further double block completed the
tackle.
Hooks were stropped to the lower blocks, which were engaged in rings on
the
channel when the tackles were not in use. These rings were very
frequently fitted with a small chain plate. The running part of the
tackle belayed inboard on a belaying pin. By 1720 at the latest the
pendants were served, as were the strops round the blocks and hooks.
Except on small ships the main and foremasts always carried
double mast tackles. The mizen mast usually carried only one tackle
called a burton on each side, which was fitted round the masthead with
a spliced eye. Burton tackles were also carried on the main and fore
topmasts
in British ships as early as the very early 17th century,although only
one on each side, and of correspondingly smaller dimensions, but on the
Continent these only appeared from the last quarter of the 17th century
.Burton tackles on the mizen topmasts were only carried by a few large
ships prior to 1650 after which date they became extinct.
Garnet
and stay tackles
The
garnet
tackle also appeared in the 16th century , and was still in use in the
19th
century. Garnet tackles were usually double, and only smaller ships
carried
a single garnet tackle with a spliced eye.
The pendant of the garnet tackle was fitted with a cut
splice, a lashed eye or a horseshoe splice, which was shipped over the
shroudson the main masthead
in British ships, and in ships rigged after the British pattern. On
Continental
ships the pendant was in the form of a stay, but h.ad no mouse; instead
it
had a seized eye as on the double shrouds, which was laid round the
main
masthead (see also SHROUDS AND STAYS). Take care here. Although already
discussed,
the garnet tackle is the last part of the standing rigging to be
fitted.
The guy was fixed to the foremast or to the fore top with a seized eye.
A
fiddle block was suspended between these two ropes, and formed a tackle
with
a lower hook block. The stay where the tackle was secured directly to
the
mainstay (drawing bottom left) came into use around the middle of the
18th
century.When not in use ihe hook of the stay tackle was engaged in a
ring
on deck.
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