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The course sheets
The sheets' task was
to hold the leeward lower corners of the sails the clews -against the
wind pressure. From ancient times until the 19th century the method of
guiding the course sheets remained the same. A single block was fixed
to the clew. The sheet itself was fixed to a ring bolt on the outer
side of the bulwarks, reeved through the sheet block, and ran directly
inboard -or after the 15th century through a sheave in the bulwarks
-where it belayed to a range cleat, or on
the Continent from the early 16th century , to a staghorn.
Multiple sheets
Until the late 10th
century multiple sheets were used in Viking ships; they were spliced
into the foot rope of the sail, and 8 to 12 rope ends hung down to the
deck for the men to hold. The Stenkyrka figurestone, illustrated on the
right, shows a clear example of this type of multiple sheet
The middle sheets
After the middle of
the 14th century a further sheet was fitted to the middle of the foot
rope, and after the middle of the 15th century there were two of them,
one on the foot rope of the mainsail, and one on the foot rope of the
bonnet. The sharp vertical centrefold, which can be
seen on the mainsails and
sometimes on the foresails of ships between the middle of the 14th and
the middle of
the 16th century , was a result of these middle sheets, which
disappeared again in the mid-16th century
The topsail sheets
In the second half
of the
15th and the early 16th century, when the topsails were still very
small, the sheets as well as the braces were taken to the top and
belayed there. Shortly after 1500 the topsail sheets were led to the
lower yard arm via small
blocks, and thence to the deck parallel to the braces
The topgallant and royal sheets
In the middle of the
16th century the topsail sheet was fixed to the clew with a stopper
knot (pictured opposite), reeved through a block at the yard arm
situated below it, then ran to a leading block on the inner third of
the yard, and finally down to the deck, where it reeved through a
sheave in a kevel block, and belayed to
its head. The topgallant and royal sail sheets followed a similar
course to
the topsail sheets, and belayed to the bitts.
The tacks
Tacks were only used
on the courses. Until the first half of the 18th century they were
single ropes, which were attached to the clew with a stopper knot. The
main tack reeved through the hole in the chesstree into the waist, and
belayed on a range cleat.
The fore tack ran through square timber with two holes, fixed to the
knee
of the head until the beginning of the 17th century, around 1630
through a
guide below knee of the head, around 1650 through two holes in the knee
of
the head, and since the first half of the 18th century through a block
on
the outboard end of the bumkin. In the first half of the 18th century
doubled
tacks were fitted, reeved through a block fixed to the clew with a
stopper
knot. This was a Continental development, later adopted by the British.
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