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One of the few things I know as a landlubber is that there are two types of rigging: standing and running. You can think of the standing rigging as what holds all the masts in place, the running rigging is used in controlling the yards, kinda the crossbars from which the sails hang. In simple terms.
Now back in the day the ship's cannon could fire shot intended to: destroy the rigging (making the ship uncontrollable), destroy the hull, (making the ship sink), and destroy the crew (rendering ship defenseless).
I took a bunch of photos of HMS Surprise (ex-Rose) when I was out in Sandy Eggo (more pics here) and, as you can see below, there is a lot of rope involved with one of these ships.
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Anti-rigging shot could be chain shot (two balls, or two halves of a ball, connected by a length of chain) or bar shot (two balls connected by a rigid bar). Both were designed to spin and cover a wider area than a simple iron ball. As you might imagine, it was a short range projectile.
Solid shot was designed to punch holes in whatever it hit (we saw that here), i.e., the hull, the masts, human beings, and was very effective at shorter ranges.
Typically, according to the lore I've seen, the French liked to fire at the rigging (which some wags have said enabled the French to run away better) whereas the English liked to pound the hull. A dismasted ship can be repaired (jury-rigged if you will) at sea and re-used, a common practice back in the day. A ship with it's hull shot to pieces is only going one direction - Davy Jones' locker.
But the goal of the Royal Navy during most of its wars with France, was to keep the French navy in port, or on the bottom of the sea. Control of the shipping lanes being very important to an island nation. French forays were meant to support a single purpose, usually the transport of French troops from point A to point B. They were seldom successful.
So maybe there is something to that "run away" story. Disable the British ships and press on to land your troops wherever. That would work.
As you may have noticed, I am very non-productive as of late. Hopefully this, like a kidney stone, will pass. Hopefully not as painfully.
Tschüss!¹
¹ A German phrase meaning "bye."
ewok/Paweł here
ReplyDeleteRigging-destroying shot was often preliminary step to achieving better tactical position - fior example behind immobilised enemy where enemy has only few guns facing your entire broadside... it also was used when you wanted to capture enemy ship and press into own fleet. Which was very common practice, and prize money was a big motivator for the crews...
also, on a side note, grapeshot was often used as last step before boarding, to clear enemy deck
As far as grapeshot goes, depends on the ship, if they had swivels then sure, they'd fire grape. But to use grape in the bigger guns would only apply to the upper gun deck as the lower gun decks couldn't be trained up very high at close range, which you'd be at for boarding.
DeleteThat's a LOT of rope, wonder how much backup was carried eh? Douglas Reeman is smiling somewhere Sarge.
ReplyDeleteAs is Richard Bolitho, I hope!
DeleteI've been watching a couple of youtube people on sailboats and even those smaller boats have a lot of lines running everywhere! The different lines are marked differently but there are still a bunch.
ReplyDeleteThis 40 min video of Sam sailing his 23' sailboat from Los Angeles to Hawaii is the one that got me started..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUi0gsxVHZM&t=8s
Yes, they have a lot of lines to control those sails, even on the smaller boats.
DeleteI'll have to check out that video, I love sailboats.
Sarge, one of the really underrated things pre-20th Century that we scarcely think about now is rope. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, rope was the major item for pulling, securing, and tying off. And all of that had to be handmade - on a Rope Walk I imagine, although I am no expert. They sheer amount of labor in the rope alone - not mentioning every other thing in the ship diagram above - staggers the mind. And pre-19th century, most of it made by hand.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your assessment that you are not being productive. You are being wildly productive, just in different ways.
Yes rope was very important back in the day.
DeleteAs for my productivity, you have a point there. I think I missed the forest while I was counting the trees!
Crusty Old TV Tech here. Ah, the Navy, who else would come up with a thing on a ship named a "Spanker" (#23, above)!
ReplyDeleteRope...yeah, got me to thinking, it had to get made (as T.B. noted), and stored in port for delivery to the vessel as needed. That function was handled by the "Ship's Chandlers" and I imagine the warehouse for a Chandler in a place like the Liverpool docks must have been a sight. Ropes (lines) of every dimension, canvas for sails, eyelets, blocks, spare capstans...man.
Capstans...you see one in the OAFS photo, above. Looks like a barrel. Every major line, and the anchors most likely, had to be hauled by sailors around that capstan. They had work chants too, like "Paddy Lay Back" to time the heaving and ho'ing. The Dreadnoughts have a good version of that one. You can see the pawls mentioned in that sea chant at the base of the capstan.
Good observation on the capstan! You're more than just a TV Tech, ain't ya?
DeleteCrusty Old TV Tech here. Tape decks have capstans too, and thence came the name!
DeleteBTW, I thought "Bye" in Deutsch was "All Feet Are The Same"?
Ah, that explains it!
DeleteYou're thinking of a pair of Tschüss. 😎
(Auf Wiedersehen is a bit more formal, really means "Until I see you again.")
My small forays into rope use convinced me Popeye really was a sailor. Those fore arms! I bet he really could pinch open a tin can.
ReplyDeleteThe knot work, and splicing that those guys did was impressive as well. And some lines were tarred as I remember. Belaying pins were on the rail, making a handy weapon or place to tie off the running rigging. I can't even imagine what those old ships smelled like. Above deck! Don't want to think about below decks.
The Royal Navy was very fastidious in their keeping the ship as clean as possible. Filth breeds disease so is to be avoided.
DeleteVinegar, lots of vinegar.
DeleteRetired
That works!
DeleteRope
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/l6CVdW85yEM
https://youtu.be/0MWkl2Ej2N0
https://youtu.be/5BxgDPyzbnY
Great stuff!
DeleteOne of the reasons to shoot at the rigging is to eliminate the fighting tops. That would be platforms on the masts where Marines would be sent to snipe at the enemy personnel on the enemy ship. Men-of-War would often have a protected steering area for this very reason. And to effectively board one must have control over the enemy's fighting tops, else, well, sniping...
ReplyDeleteThen there's the hulls. France (and the Colonies, once we started building ships) had lots of oak to draw from, so their (and our) ships were stronger, with more ribs than tree-depleted countries like England, Holland, Sweden and Spain. Germany really wasn't involved in the naval wars really, as the Germanic states tended to be more mercantile oriented, albeit armed mercant ships.
Why is that important? Well, higher rib count means less distance between ribs which cuts down the splinters from the hull plating (the exterior hull boards) and allows the ship to absorb more damage. Much harder to break a thick oak rib than a thinner oak plank, don't you know. England loved it when they could get their hands on French ships.
As to rigging, I laugh every time some modern idjit thinks they'll reinvent the modern windjammer. Yeah, nah. Sail and rigging, no matter how much is power assisted by power winches and automated systems, is still much more vulnerable and fragile than some big diesel or even some old steam engine (as long as said engine is in good shape) and whatever system is run by said steam engine (being either pistons or turbines.) There's a reason that blowboats are fun, and eccentric, and not so popular amongst the boating community in comparison to anything powered.
With powered vessels, all the ancillary (deck stuffs can be reduced and tied down and the engine(s) can (usually) overpower any effect of wind and wave. But a sailed vessel is, even with all the sails furled and/or stowed, one big wind-catching and messed-up-center-of-gravity machine. Masts, halyards, all the other rigging can cause some radical effects during bad weather conditions.
Sailing ships are 'romantic' in the same way a small farm is romantic. Best seen from a distance as either of them will beat the crew to death just running the thing half decently.
The perils to the crew just being at sea makes a warship from the age of sail anything but romantic.
DeleteShooting at the rigging to eliminate the fighting tops is just a bonus and not an objective. The men sniping from the fighting tops are completely ineffective at anything over about 50 yards simply because of the inherent inaccuracies of the smoothbore musket. But if you take them out while shooting at the rigging to prevent the French, er, I mean, enemy ship from running away, all the better when you close to board.
Only an idiot would use a wind-powered vessel when modern propulsion systems are available. So yes, I foresee the Progressives commissioning an all-sail Navy sometime in the next few years.
The Colonies had another advantage in wood. Immensely tall, strong, and light straight grained pine in New England for masts. Such trees were not available in England or Europe and had to be imported or a mast spliced from shorter trees. In the Colonial days, the best trees were selected and marked with the King's broad arrow as being reserved for the Royal Navy. The locals ignored that and cut them down anyway, suggesting that if the King wanted masts, he could shoulder an ax and cut his own.
Delete👍
DeleteSo, Sarge, noted expert on nautical/historical trivia, I have a question for you.
ReplyDeleteDid the rigging on these ships lead to the development of the saying "Give them enough rope to hang themselves"?
Inquiring minds, doncha know?
Yes, I'm a tad bored.
According to this, the phrase originated in England in the late 1600s. Whether or not it had anything to do with the rigging on a ship is unknown to me at this time.
DeleteWell, the rigging may not have been involved in hangings at see, but I think the Spars may have been! One had to be very hardy in those days. Let's pray they don't come back anytime soon.
DeleteConcur.
DeleteI think the yardarm was used for hangings. And I recall the designation of the Captain was "Master after God". There would be no court of appeals to reverse his decisions.
DeleteAt sea, yes.
DeleteI visited the naval museum at Rochefort in SW France around 2010. They were building the Hermione at the same time and were using, as far as possible, authentic tools and methods ( they did fit an auxiliary engine and generators to comply with modern regulations).
ReplyDeleteThe ropewalk was open at the museum and still produced rope. The building was some 370 metres long. There were also some amazing wooden models of French ships that were built at the same time the ships were commissioned and they were of a fantastic standard of craftsmanship. I am a great fan of Patrick O'Brien and the Aubrey-Maturin series and one thing that comes out is that the RN had a great regard for French and Spanish ships, considering them better constructed than their British counterparts, however British ships were, in the main, more aggressively handled and the standards of seamanship were much higher.
Retired.
The French built some beautiful, well-designed warships. Hermione is a fine example of one. 'Tis a pity they were ill-served by their crews (in general).
DeleteI just looked, it would cost around $1200 (r/t) from here to that part of France. When I saw the layover in Paris I figured that might be a nice place to get off a plane & look around, I'm sure they buses & trains that would get me to that part of France & see the museum.
DeleteThen I thought... Space "A" travel is going again!
That would work!
DeleteNearly within arms reach is my model of the Cutty Sark, fully rigged which I built some 50 odd years ago. In addition to all the sails in the diagram above it has four square sails attached out board of the uppers on the main mast and the fore mast. Took me most evenings for about 6 months to complete it.
ReplyDeleteStudding sails I would venture?
DeleteThe French were also being practical I suppose. It's likely harder to damage enough of the hull to sink it, a foot or more of lumber to pound through, vice destroying the rigging. Although the "run-away" comment gave me a chuckle, especially since I said it in the monty python voice.
ReplyDeleteYet the English sent many a French man o' war to the bottom of the sea.
DeleteIn sailor terms "Knowing the ropes" means knowing the name, function, and proper belaying location for every piece of running rigging to the spars, yardarms and all the sails. If you go on museum ships they frequently have brass plaques on the pin rail showing the proper location of each line. Now imagine having to work the rig at night in a driving storm. All topside hands had to know exactly where to go to make the changes required.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail_components#/media/File:Square_rigged_sail_parts_and_running_rigging.jpg
Nice link!
DeleteMy understanding is that several common sayings come from sailing.
Delete"Hold on to the bitter end." When you're teaching a new sailor to tie knots, there are 2 ends to the rope. The load end, and the bitter end. You hold onto the bitter end. It isn't some statement on the human condition. Or is it?
"Face the music." When you're offshore and a storm is blowing the standing rigging begins to howl. In a modern marina the hollow aluminum masts starts to moan. Not sure if the wooden masts would have added to the chorus. When a storm blows up, you trim the sheets (lines controlling the sails) and face the music. There isn't anything else you can do.
I like that one, makes perfect sense. Thinking of Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, "The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound." - always sent a shiver up my spine.
DeleteThere were some very evil versions of dismantling shot. One had three bars, joined to a ring at one end, with cupped hand shaped metal cutters at the other ends, that would nest together like an orange peel, to form a sphere. This would be loaded into the gun, bars first, so when fired, the cups would open, and induce spin, essentially firing a lawn mower into the other ship's rigging.
ReplyDeleteMust play hell on the gun tube!
DeleteNo doubt!
Delete👍
DeleteIf you haven't read "Two Years Before the Mast," it is worth the time. It's free from Project Gutenberg/
ReplyDeleteNice! Thank you!
DeleteIf you're looking for reading material...
ReplyDelete"Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum, in which a retired sea captain - Slocum - took a 37 foot sailboat around the world. Leaving Boston in April of 1895
"Maiden Voyage" by Tania Aebi. 18-yr-old slightly wild child gets a sailboat from her father in place of college tuition, and heads out from New York in May of 1985
Just about anything by Tristan Jones. It is all BS, though he claimed to have done it all, he does tell a good story.
Cool! Thanks.
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