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The braces were used
to swing the yards laterally, and there is hardly any part of the
rigging which has altered so little over a period of thousands of
years. For smaller yards the braces were a rope with a seized or
spliced eye secured to the yard
arm, which was usually led down and aft to the deck.
On the larger yards a single block was stropped to the
yard. This strop the brace pendant -was very short in ancient times and
in the early Middle Ages. From the 13th century the brace pendant grew
longer and, longer, until the 16th/17th centuries a length of about
4/10 of the yard length was reached. In the course of the 18th century
it was shortened again, until around 1800 the block was situated
immediately on the yard arm where it was shackled to
a ring bolt in the 19th century The braces of the lower yards ran from
a
ring bolt on the ship's side, then reeved through the brace block, and
usually
belayed to a range cleat; on the Continent after 1500 it almost always
belayed
to a staghorn. This applied to all yards until the first half of the
16th
century, then later to the main yard. The fore braces were attached to
the
mainstay after 1525, then reeved through the brace blocks and leading
blocks
on the main stay, and often belayed to small kevel blocks on the
bulwarks until the early 18th century when they belayed to the main
bitts.
The
top, top gallant and royal braces followed a similar route to the
lower braces, except that the topgallant braces were often single, and
the royal braces almost always single, as the drawings on the right
show. The crossjack braces were frequently attached to the
last
pair of main shrouds. The mizen and mizen topgallant braces were
either taken to the main shrouds, or to the peak of the mizen lateen
yard or the gaff, and from there again to the deck.
The spritsail braces followed a similar route to the
foremast braces. They ran from the fore stay and were taken via leading
blocks on the fore stay to a belaying pin on the bow rail of the
forecastle, either directly, or via a further pair of leading blocks in
the head.
The position of the yards
In some modelling books it is
recommended to furl the lower sails and the spritsails to their yards,
or at least to brail them leave the staysails and studding sails out
altogether, so that the deck superstructure and the rigging can be seen
clearly; otherwise the sails would conceal too much detail. For the
same reason many modellers prefer to leave off the sails
altogether. There is good sens, in this advice, but on the other hand
much of the fine effect of a ship under full sail is
lost if some of the sails are brailed up.
Now, there is a very simple and effective trick, by means
of which the sails -including the stay and studding sails -can be set,
whilst still leaving the decks and rigging fully exposed; the trick is
simply to swing the yards round to one side.
On a model with sails furled on the yard, or without sail
altogether, the yards should always be at an angle of 90° to
the ships' centerline. If you have set sails, this setting of the yards
looks rather stolid and boring,
and does not look very natural, since the wind would nearly always blow
from
one side or other to some extent. If you set the yards -and hence the
sails
-at 15° to a maximum of 35° from the ship's centerline, the
effect
is not only better visually, but you will also obtain a full and
unobstructed
view of the decks and rigging, at least from one side.
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