Rigging as

The history of the development of rigging is one of adjustment. The size of the masts had to be adapted to the ship, and it was necessary to find the due proportion between yards and masts. As the size of the mediaeval ship increased, the natural course was to increase the height of the mast and of the sail it carried. Even when the mast was subdivided into lower, top and top gallant, the lower mast was too long, and the strain of the sail racked the hull. Hence the constant tendency of the ships to leak. Sir Henry Manwayring, when giving the proper propor tions of the masts, says that the Flemings (i.e., the Dutch) made them taller than the English, which forced them to make the sails less wide.

A few words may be added concerning the tops. In the earlier form of ships the top was a species of crow's nest placed at the head of the mast to hold a look-out, or in military operations to give a place of advantage to archers and slingers. They appear occasionally as mere bags attached to one side of the mast. As a general rule they are round. In the 16th century there were fre quently two tops on the fore- and main-masts, one at the head of the lower, another at the head of the topmast, where in later times there have only been the two traverse beams which make the crosstrees. The upper top dropped out by the 17th century. The form was round, and so continued to be till the 18th century when the quadrangular form was introduced.

Rigging in Power Ships.

The steam and motor ship still carries one or more masts for supporting derricks, for lifting heavy weights in and out of the ship, for carrying wireless aerials, for providing a platform for look out aloft, for mounting the steaming lights and for visual signalling. In the bigger ships the masts are usually hollow steel structures, occasionally with an internal ladderway, while in some merchant ships they also act as uptake ventilators. Stays are usually provided on the same principle as in sailing days, but dead eyes have given way to bottle screws as rope has to wire. Where masts are provided with ladderways, either internally or externally on the iron struc ture itself, ratlines on the rigging are dispensed with. Modern battleships, battle cruisers and light cruisers in the British navy usually have a tripod foremast in which the lower mast is sup ported by two inclined steel struts instead of rigging. This is

to give the necessary rigidity for mounting the gun director, (see GUNNERY, NAVAL) control top and rangefinder.

The main mast usually carries the main derrick and is stayed on the old lines. Wooden topmasts and sometimes topgallant masts are fitted for wireless and signalling, while one or more signal yards are always carried on the foremast. In light cruisers the main mast is usually a small wooden pole. Destroyers and other light craft are fitted with a light wooden foremast and usually a short main or mizzen mast.

The upper end of the standing rigging is shackled to steel bands round the lower masthead and their lower ends are secured to the deck by bottle screws and slips, the screw being locked by a check piece which prevents it easing back, and together with its slip it is covered with painted canvas.

The topmast rigging, consisting of the usual shrouds, stays and back stays is fitted with insulators so as to avoid interference with wireless and danger from lightning. In the case of ships with a tripod foremast it is set up to projections on a level with the base of the control top instead of being brought right down to deck level. A Jacob's ladder gives access to the masthead, whilst above all is a lightning conductor connected by a copper strap running down the mast to the hull of the ship. Where a masthead flashing lamp is fitted, a gallows is provided for its reception. In flagships a pole 16 feet long is clamped to the fore topmast or fore topgallant mast head to carry the Admiral's flag.

Modern Running Rigging.

The only semblance to running rigging in a modern power ship is as follows: Gantlines, which can be rove through a sheave in the topmast for tricing weights aloft and general purposes.

Clothes lines and hammock gantlines, used for drying clothes or hammocks, which in warships are of thin flexible steel rope which lead through blocks on a shroud near the fore or main lower mast heads and are set up well forward or well aft.

Dressing lines, leading from the foremast awning stantion over both topmasts and down to the after awning stantion. To these are attached flags for "dressing ship." Signal halyards, made of light white line led through blocks on the yards and trucks for hoisting signal flags.