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Halyards and
slings
 Halyard: 1. Tye; 2, Ramshead
block; 3. Halyard tackle;
4. Knighthead; 5. British sling; 6. Continental sling; 7. Halyard,
British before 1720; then generally.8. Topsail halyard before 1720;
Continental - 9. Fore topsail halyard before 1660;10. Topgallant
halyard;11. Topgallant halyard before 1660: A - Lower yard; B - Topsail
yard; C - Topgallant yard.
The lower yard tye and halyard
In the Middle Ages the tyes of the lower yards (fore yard, main
yard) either reeved through sheave holes on the masthead or through
blocks
like the topsail halyards, A purchase was fitted abaft the mast to set
them
up taut, In the mid-16th century the tyes ran to a common ramshead
block
-they had previously been fitted individually which with the knighthead
formed the halyard purchase.Towards the middle of the 16th century the
tyes
were taken through two sheaves in the mast, a system which was retained
in
Britain until the second half of the 17th century.
On the Continent the halyards were fitted over the round
caps ( see CAPS) after the late 16th century , where they passed
through
two hole on the forward, flat part, then ran back into the grooves and
ended
in the ramshead block, In Britain after 1650 two double blocks were
fixed
to the yard, and two triple blocks to the crosstrees, The jeers, which
replaced
the tyes and halyards, were secured to the yard, reeved through the
blocks,
and finally ran to the deck, where they belayed to the jeer bitts.
This form of lower yard jeers was also adopted on the
Continent at the beginning of the 18th century.After the introduction
of iron parrals in the second half of the 19th century the lower yard
jeers fell out of
use.
The slings
Slings were used from the early 18th century onward as a
improved means of securing lower yards, which were very heavy, The
strong,
served rope strops, which were slid round the masthead over the shrouds
in
Continental ships, and over the cap in British vessels, and were
connected
to a second rope sling seized to the yard. After the middle of the 19th
century chains were used as slings in many cases.
The topsail halyard
The topsail tyes were attached with a strop round the yard on
small ships, and with a block on large ships. They passed through a
sheave in
the topmast on smaller ships, and on larger ships through a block (on
very
large ships through two blocks) and on Continental ships in the
16th/17th
centuries they led to the halyard purchase in the top. In Britain the
topsail
halyard purchase was taken down to the deck and the running part
belayed
abaft the aftermost shroud. This system also became standard on the
Continent
in the 18th century.
The topgallant and royal halyards
The topgallant and royal tyes were always fixed with a strop,
sometimes also with a hook on the yard, and then led through a sheave
in the topmast to the topmast crosstrees and the halyard which belayed
in the top.
The spritsail halyard
The spritsail halyard was attached to a block in the middle of the
yard, reeved through a double or fiddle block on the bowsprit, and
belayed to
a cleat at the base of the bowsprit.
The cross jack yard sling
The crossjack yard had no halyard, but was held with a sling laid over
the crosstrees
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