Mainstay
with stay collar:
1. Stay eye at main masthead;
2. Mouse;
3. Spliced eye;
4. Leather parcelling;
5. Stay;
6. Upper heart;
7. Lanyard;
8. Lower heart;
9. Stay collar from 18th century, fully served
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If abaft the foremast, the stay
collar was led either side of the foremast (at this point on the mast a
rubbing sleeve was often fitted) and if ahead of the foremast, the
mainstay usually passed to starboard of the mast:
The lanyard of the stay deadeyes was reeved and made fast in the same
way as the shrouds. The fall of the stay tackle was attached to the
lower
block, and the free end was made fast by wrapping it round the middle
of
the lanyard several times; a similar arrangement was adopted if hearts
were
used.
A special feature of the mainstay of steam/sail driven ships of the
19th century should be noted. As the funnel) was situated between the
main and fore masts, the main stay was divided and made fast on the
forecastle deck to starboard and port.
The forestay
The forestay was rigged in the same way as the mainstay,
and made fast to the bowsprit. Various combinations of blocks were used
up
to the first half of the 16th century, where after the same method of
setting up the forestay was adopted as for the mainstay, i.e. using
blocks on the Continent and deadeyes in Britain, the lower of which was
stropped to the bowsprit, where it was prevented from moving by thumb
cleats.
Triangular hearts were used in British ships from 1690 until 1733 when
an open lower heart was introduced through which the jib boom passed.
Main preventer stay and fore preventer stay
The preventer stays were slightly thinner than the stays proper, and
their blocks, deadeyes, and hearts were correspondingly smaller;
otherwise, however, they were attached in exactly the same way as the
stays. From the middle of the 19th century , when double stays were
fitted, the stay and preventer stay were one and the same rope.
The mizen stay
The mizen stay was attached to the masthead like the main and
fore stays, and made fast with blocks, deadeyes or hearts at the foot
of the mainmast.
The main topmast stay
Like the stays of the lower masts, the topmast stays were rigged over
the topmast head by means of an eye secured with a mouse, or -in the
19th
century -with a seized eye. The main topmast stay then passed through a
leading block, which was stropped to the fore topmast just above the
top,
or to the foremast cap, and down to the deck, where it was set up with
a
tackle hooked to a ring bolt at the foot of the mast. In rare cases
(mainly
in the 16th century) the main topmast stay was attached to the fore top
with
deadeyes or blocks. The main
topmast preventer stay followed the topmast stay, set up on the the
larboard side of the foremast with the main topmast stay set up to
starboard.
The fore topmast stay
Until the introduction of the jib boom, that is, in the
period between 1500 and 1720, the fore topmast stay was attached to the
bowsprit with multiple block systems up to 1670, then deadeyes and
lanyards in small ships.
There are no rules regarding the fitting of the topmast stay in
respect of time nor of nation, nor of ship type, as even on two ships
of the same size, the same nationality and the same year of building, a
wide variety of
arrangements was used. The running part of the tackle usually belayed
to
a cleat on the bowsprit, and more rarely to a belaying pin on the
beakhead bulwark. The collection of arrangements for attaching the fore
topmast stay drawn on the facing page is not comprehensive. They are
intended to show distinct
trends only, and give you the chalice to judge whether what your plan
shows
is likely to be right or not. In fact, the vet;y wide variety of
pQssibi,lities
seduces many draughtsmen into drawing their own variant. However, when
I
see, for example, a fiddle block on the fore
topmast stay of a ship built in 1630, then Ihave justifiable doubts.
Fiddle blocks were used from 1660 on; they might be acceptable for
1650, but if they
turn up on a plan for an older ship, then, that cannot be tight. If you
have
any doubts about the correctness of your plan on this point, and if a
good
museum model is not available to put you right, you would do better to
stick
to the types shown in this book. With the introduction of the jib boom
the
run of the fore topmast stay was much simplified. Initially the fore
topmast
stay was made fast to the bowsprit bees with a simple combination of
blocks.
From the second half of the 18th century the two stays -fore topmast to
starboard,
fore topmast preventer stay to larboard -reeved through holes in the
bees,
and were set up at the foot of the bowsprit with a tackle. The running
part
belayed to a cleat on the bowsprit. In the middle of the 19th century
the
fore topmast and fore topmast preventer stays were made fast to the bow
on
either side of the stem.
The mizen topmast stay
Until the middle of the 17th century the mizen topmast stay was divided
and attached to the last pair of mainmast shrouds with a more or less
complex arrangement of ropes and blocks to starboard and larboard.
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