Daniel

Here's a little introductory guide I wrote some time ago to spars, sails and lines in the Golden Age of piracy. 1. SPARS Spars are the main timbers supported by the hull. As a rule, they are straight and round. They are mostly used to hold the sails up and hold each other up. There are many kinds of spars. I do not know if spars were usually made of the same type of wood as hulls; hulls were usually made of oak in the Royal Navy, and of cedar for civilian ships. 1A. MASTS Masts are thick vertical spars. Every sailing ship must have at least one mast. Masts either stand on other masts or are fitted through holes in the decks into a supporting hole on the lower deck called a "step." The tallest mast on the ship is called the mainmast. On a two-masted vessel, the shorter mast is called the foremast if it is forward of the mainmast, or the mizzenmast if it is behind the mainmast. On a three-masted vessel, the mainmast is always in the center, with the foremast in front and the mizzenmast behind. On a four-masted vessel, the front mast is the foremast, the second mast is the mainmast, the third mast is the mizzenmast, and the rearmost mast is called either the bonaventure mizzen (on galleons and other old-style ships) or the jigger mast, in more modern ships. Stepped masts usually stay where they are as long as the ship lasts; the other masts can be taken off and stored while the ship is harbor, which is called "striking" the mast." 1A(i). Topmasts. Topmasts sit on top of a stepped mast. A topmast sitting on the mainmast is called the maintopmast; a topmast sitting on the foremast is called the foretopmast, and so on. Most ships have at least one topmast . 1A(ii). Topgallant masts. Topgallant masts sit on top of topmasts. A topgallant mast sitting on the maintopmast is called the main topgallant mast, with other topgallant masts named in the same way. Many ships do not have topgallant masts. 1A(iii). Royal masts. Royal masts sit on top of topgallant masts. During the Golden Age of piracy, only a very few of the largest warships carried royal masts. Masts higher than the royal mast existed, but not until after the end of the Golden Age of piracy. 1A(iv). Spritsail topmast. This was a special mast that sat on a platform at the tip of the bowsprit (see below). Spritsail topmasts were usually much shorter than the other masts. The spritsail topmast existed for only a brief time during the 17th and 18th centuries, but they were around during most of the Golden Age. Though they were common during that time, not all ships had them. 1B. YARDS. Yards are horizontal spars that are attached at their center point to the masts by fittings called "parrels." They are used to hang square sails from. Yards can be turned on the ship's vertical axis through a limited arc. Yards can also be raised and lowered on the mast through a limited range. Usually there is only one yard per mast. Yards are named according to which mast they are attached to: the yard on the main mast is the main yard, the yard on the foretopgallant mast is the foretopgallant yard, etc. The tip of a yard is called a yardarm. Some ships had extendable yardarms on which studdingsails (see below) could be set. 1B(i). Spritsail yard. This is a special yard that is fitted on the underside of the bowsprit. Very common in the 17th century, gradually disappeared during the 18th. 1C. BOOM. This is a horizontal spar attached by one end to a hinge at the back of a mast, while the other end swings freely back and forth. It is used to hold the foot of a fore-and-aft sail. Since booms can swing freely, they tend to bop people on the head unexpectedly, with sometimes lethal results. 1D. GAFF. This is a spar much like a boom, except that is set higher on the mast and is used to hang a fore-and-aft sail from. The gaff must have a boom below it to hold the foot of the sail. But not all booms have gaffs; no gaff is needed if the fore-and-aft sail sail is triangular. While booms are almost always horizontal, gaffs may be angled upward from the mast. 1E. BOWSPRIT. There is only one bowsprit on any ship. The bowsprit is a thick, sturdy spar that protrudes forward and upward from the bow. It is there so that stays (see below) can be tied to it. (It is not used as a battering ram, at least not on purpose). 1F. JIBBOOM. This is a spar lashed to the end of the bowsprit, parallel to the bowsprit and extending well beyond the end of the bowsprit. Its purpose is to hold the foot of a jib, particularly for a ship that has two or more jibs. Because it does not have to support stays that hold up masts, the jibboom does not have to be as thick or sturdy as the bowsprit. 1G. CATHEADS. Rhymes with "flat head," not with "math ed." These are short, thick spars that support the anchor when weighing or dropping anchor. There are usually two catheads, mounted near the bow where they protrude forward and outward. 2. SAILS Sails in the Golden Age of piracy were usually made of white canvas. Sails in the front part of the ship are caled headsails; while those in the back part of the ship are called aftersails. Sails come in two major types: square sails and fore-and-aft sails. 2A. SQUARE SAILS. Square sails are misnamed, for they almost never square. They are typically trapezoids, wider at the base than the upper edge and often, but not always, wider than they are tall. By definition, however, a square sail must be four-sided. It also must be mounted roughly athwartships on a yard. As a rule, square sails are more powerful than fore-and-aft sails with the wind behind the ship, but are less effective than fore-and-aft sails when sailing upwind. The bottom edge of a square sail is called the foot, while the top edge is called the head. The side edges of the square sails are called leeches. The two bottom corners are called clews . 2A(i). Courses. Square sails mounted on the lower, stepped masts are called courses or simply sails. Thus, the square sail hanging from the main yard is called the main course or the mainsail, while the square sail hanging from the fore yard is the foresail or fore course. The courses are thicker, heavier, and often larger than the sails mounted on the masts above them. Unlike other square sails, courses are "loose-footed," i.e. the bottom edge is not attached to a yard or other spar 2A(ii). Topsails. Square sails mounted on the topmasts. Named according to the position of the topmast; i.e. main topsail, fore topsail, etc. Pronounced "tops'ls" by seamen. 2A(iii). Topgallants. Square sails mounted on the topgallant masts. They are also called topgallant sails or "t'gans'ls" by especially salty seamen. 2A(iv). Royals. Square sails mounted on the royal masts. These were normall used only in light winds. They are called main royals, mizzen royals, or fore royals according to which royal mast they are mounted on. 2A(v). Bonnets. Wide, short square sails that could be "laced on" to the foot of a course sail to provide extra sailing power. Usually used in light winds. Bonnets began to disappear in the 1700s as they were replaced by studdingsails. (Foxe refers to these as bunt sails, a term I have not encountered in the Golden Age. The 1707 Sea-Man's Vade Mecum calls them bonnets). 2A(vi). Studdingsails. These square sails are mounted next to the courses, topsails, topgallants, or royals, on the same yard, to provide extra sailing power. Usually used in light winds. Pronounced "stuns'ls" by seamen. 2A(vii). Spritsail. A square sail mounted on the spritsail yard on the bottom side of the bowsprit. In "The Great Age of Sail," E.W. Petrejus calls it "the dreaded spritsail, so difficult to handle that it was responsible for the death of many a sailor." 2A(viii). Spritsail topsail. This was the name for any sail mounted on the spritsail topmast or its yars (see above). It was not always a square sail; some ships called polacres mounted a triangular lateen sail here. The foot of a square spritsail topsail was normally tied to the spritsail yard below and behind. 2B. FORE-AND-AFT SAILS. The fundamental difference between a fore-and-aft sail and a square sail is that a square sail is designed to take the wind from only one side; if it takes the wind from the wrong side, it will be ineffective at best, or at worst drive the ship backward and possibly damage itself or its mast. But fore and aft sails are designed to take the wind from either side. Although the name "fore-and-aft" implies that the sails are parallel to the ship keel, most can be set at a considerable angle to the keel when desired. Most fore-and-aft sails are triangular, but some are four-sided. 2B(i): Jibs. Jibs are triangular sails hung from jib halyards that run from the foremast or foretopmast to the bowsprit or jibboom. It is possible to mount two or three jibs on the same bowsprit and/or jibboom. If there are multiple jibs they are called, from aft to fore: the inner jib, the outer jib, and the flying jib. 2B(ii): Staysails. These are are triangular sails that hang from the stays that run diagonally from the masts to the bowsprit, or from the masts to other masts. They are very little different from jibs. Special "storm staysails," thick and tough, could be used in heavy weather when other sails had to be furled. 2B(iii): Gaff sail. This is a four-sided fore-and-aft sail supported by a boom and a gaff (see above). If it is the rear-most sail on the ship, it is called the spanker. 2B(iv): Lateen sail. This is a triangular fore-and-aft sail hung from a special fore-and-aft yard that slopes diagonally instead of being horizontal like most yards. A very old sail that was used by Columbus, it hung around well into the 17th century, usually mounted on the mizzenmast, or on the bonaventure mizzen of a galleon. 3. LINES Lines are what sailors call ropes. They come in two flavors: standing rigging and running rigging. Today, standing rigging is usually made of metal wire while running rigging is made of nylon rope. In the Golden Age, both standing and running rigging were made chiefly of rope (made of manila in the 19th century, although I don't know if this was used yet during the Golden Age), though some small portions of the standing rigging might be made from iron chain. All lines would be heavily smeared with tar to weatherproof them; unfortunately, this also made them very flammable. I am not discussing mooring lines or anchor lines. 3A. STANDING RIGGING Standing rigging consists of all the lines that just stand there and don't have to move around. Its purpose is to SUPPORT things, unlike running rigging whose purpose is to CONTROL things. 3A(i): Shrouds. When a landlubber says, "the rigging," the shrouds and ratlines are what he usually means. The shrouds run from each side of the mast down to the side of the ship, spreading out slightly as they descend. Each mast is supported on each side by several shrouds. In the case of shrouds above the stepped masts, they run not to the side of the ship but to "spreaders" or "crosstrees" mounted on top of the mast below. They keep the masts from falling over to either side. Shrouds can be tightened or loosened by the deadeyes, which are three-eyed blocks that connect the shrouds to the side of the ship. Shrouds are named for the mast they are attached to and the side of the ship they are on: the port main shrouds run from the port side of the ship up to the port side of the mainmast; the starboard foretopmast shrouds run from the starboard side of the foretopmast down to the spreaders or crosstrees on top of the foremast. Likewise there are mizzen shrouds, main topgallant shrouds, and so on. 3A(i)-a: Futtock shrouds. These are very short shrouds that run from the crosstrees or spreaders down to the mast a few feet below. They meet the mast at a point just above where the regular shrouds are attached. Real sailors climb from the shrouds to the futtock shrouds to get onto the top of the mast. Lubbers climb through the "lubber hole" cut into the floor of the top. 3A(ii): Ratlines. Ratlines are horizontal lines that connect the shrouds together, forming a ladder for sailors to climb. Since they only have to support the weight of the sailors, they are much thinner than the shrouds. Seamen pronounce these as "rat-linns." 3A(iii): Stays. These lines keep the masts from falling over forward or backward. Each mast is typically supported by one stay, which runs forward, and two backstays, which run aft. The thickest and sturdiest stay holds up the mainmast and is called the mainstay, a word that is now part even of lubbers' language. The forestay, foretopstay and sometimes the foretopgallant stay are secured to the bowsprit, although the fore topgallant stay might be secured to the crosstrees instead. The mainstay, mizzenstay, main backstays and mizzenbackstays are most often secured to the deck below. Other stays, like the maintopstay, maintopgallantstay, mizzentopstay, maintop backstays, and so on, are secured to the mast in front or behind. That is, the maintopstay is secured to the foremast, while the mizzentopstay is secured to the mainmast. Stays were not intended for sailors to climb on, but some sailors climb on them anyway, particularly when they want to get from one mast to another or get down quickly. (Sometimes they get down more quickly than they intended). 3A(iv): Bobstays. There are usually two bobstays, which run from the bowsprit aft to the bow. They keep the bowsprit stable. "Martingale stays" are essentially the same, except that they spread out to either side of the bow, while the bobstays usually run straight back to the stem of the ship. 3A(v): Footropes. These lines run along and below the yards, about three feet down. They provide sailors a place to stand on while furling, reefing, or otherwise messing with the sails. Footropes did not actually come along until the mid-17th century; pirates in Drake's or Hawkins' era had to straddle the yards while working on the sails. 3A(vi): Robands. These short lines are used to tie (or "bend" as seamen say) the sails to their spars. 3A(vii): Wooldings. These lines are tied tightly around the masts, either to strengthen a sprung or cracked mast, or to hold in place a fish (piece of wood) that strengthens the spar. They gave their name to the buccaneers' practice of "woolding," which meant to tie a knotted line tautly around a prisoner's head and tighten it until his eyes burst out. 3A(viii): Catharpings. These lines connect the portside shrouds to the starboard side shrouds. This serves two purposes: making the shrouds tauter, and making them narrower so the yards can swing further to the side before they hit the shrouds. Catharpings are not often seen today, I don't know how often they were used in the Golden Age of piracy. 3B: RUNNING RIGGING. Running rigging consists of lines that the sailors must pull, coil, knot, untie, belay, and otherwise mess with to run the ship. Again, standing rigging SUPPORTS things, running rigging CONTROLS things. When they are not being used, the working ends of many running rigging lines (many braces, sheets, tacks, halyards, and topping lifts, for instance) are kept tied to belaying pins on pinrails along the edge of the deck. Running rigging tends to be run (or "rove") through various pulleys called "blocks," without which the sailors could not work the lines. I have left out the blocks from these descriptions, because even if I understood them, they would unnecessarily complicate an already complex matter. 3B(i): Braces. These are connected to the ends of the yards and are used to turn the yards and their sails to port or starboard. Every yard has two braces, one on each side. They are named for the sail they control, rather than the yard they control: i.e. the brace attached to the port mainyard arm is the port main brace, not the port mainyard brace. To "splice a main brace" was a difficult job which traditionally was rewarded by an extra rum ration, so that splicing the main brace is today a landsman's phrase for getting drunk. 3B(ii): Sheets. These are connected to the clews of the courses and run aft; if they are not tight, the sails will simply flap like laundry in the breeze. Jibs also have sheets, connected to the free-hanging corner ("clew") of the sail. As the jib sheet is hauled to the port side, the jib will take the wind on its starboard side; if the jib sheet is hauled to the starboard side, the jib will take the wind on its port side. Sheets are an eternal source of confusion to lubbers, who naturally assume that they are sails rather than lines. 3B(iii): Tacks. Tacks are connected to the clews of the courses, just like sheets, but they run forward instead of aft. They help pull the foot of the sail around when the yards are being turned from one side to another. Since the process of zig-zagging to windward requires the yards to be turned from one side to another frequently, the tacks have given their name to the process of "tacking." 3B(iv): Halyards. Also spelled "halliards." Their name is also their purpose: to haul the yards. Unlike braces, halyards are used to hoist the yards up or lower them down on the masts. This is most often done in harbor, not at sea. The lines that haul up the head of a jib or staysail are also called halyards. 3B(v): Brails. These lines run from the yard down over the surface of the square sail to the foot of the sails. I3B(vi): 3B(vi): Gaskets. These are short lines that can be tied around a furled sail to bind it to the yard. 3B(vii): Reef lines. These lines occupy a lot of sailors' time. Horizontal rows of reef lines are punched through the sail, each one a short line that hangs out about two feet on each side of the sail. When shortening sail, the topmen pull the sail partway up, folding it like a pleated skirt as they pull it up, until the row of reef lines is right under the yard. Then they pull the ends of the reef lines around each side of the yard and tie them to each other with (what else?) a reef knot. (The reef knot is known as a square knot to Boy Scouts and other lubbers). 3B(viii): Downhauls. These are connected to the upper corner or "head" of a triangular sail like a jib or staysail. The downhaul is used to haul the sail down by its head when you want to stow it. 3B(ix): Lifts. These lines run from the yardarms slightly upward to the masts, and keep the yards at right angles to the masts when the wind is trying to force the yardarm downwards.

Two more Dutch pirates I forgot all about: Edward Mansveld (aka Mansfield), and Roche Brasiliano. Mansveld was from Curacao, a Dutch colony, while Brasiliano was actually born in Groningen. Interestingly, Charles Johnson in the General History says that he has never heard of a Dutch pirate, and suggests it is because the Dutch fishing industry took up the sailors discharged from the navy, while English sailors had few options other than piracy at the conclusion of a war.

I've heard of people once brushing their teeth with small twigs of birch or some such, before bristle brushes became available. Darned if I can remember where I read it.

OK, thanks, Foxe. Why was the fore-and-aft sail used for steering? Is there a site that explains the use of lateen sails for steering?

Throughout the 17th and early 18th centuries, a huge number of the vessels I see are lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. Long after square sails were routine on all other masts, lateen sails stayed on the mizzenmast. Not only were plain barques very popular, but even full-rigged ships with square mizzen topsails or mizzen topgallant sails still very often had a lateen mizzen sail (or "crossjack") below. Why was this such a popular design? On a barque, I can see some logic to having a fore-and-aft-sail on the mizzen, because it would be less prone to steal the mainsail's wind when running before the wind. But the same logic would seemingly apply on a full-rigged ship to the mizzen topsail stealing the main topsail's wind, and yet most shipbuilders happily rigged square sails on the mizzen topmast and topgallant mast. And even if a fore-and-aft sail is less likely to steal the mainsail's wind, why specifically a lateen sail, rather than a gaff-rigged and/or boom-rigged sail? Isn't changing tacks with a lateen sail extremely difficult?

Here's a small item of evidence I stumbled across regarding pirates stealing clothing. In Johnson's General History of the Pirates, Captain Anstis's crew is described plundering clothes.

I don't recall that passage, which chapter is it in? O/T and purely out of interest, Onesies, is there a reason for the Kennedy thing? Sounds like Roberts' Article II, though that one gives everybody a shift of clothes, not just volunteers to go first aboard. "Every Man to be called fairly in turn, by List, on Board of Prizes, because, (over and above their proper Share,) they were on these Occasions allowed a Shift of Cloaths."

I don't get cable, but an acquaintance of mine is (if all is going according to plan) recording it for me. I'm really looking forward to watching it.

I notice that while most of the chests here are flat-topped (including Captain Bob's, and congrats), there is at least one period chest with a hump-backed lid like in the Howard Pyle paintings. What is the purpose behind a hump-backed lid? Flat tops have a clear advantage in that you can stack flat-topped chests on top of each other, or use them as card tables or map tables. They would also appear easier to make. Yet someone went to considerable trouble to fashion hump-backed lids. Why?

Pirates' articles are so important to understanding how pirate ships worked and are so prominent in the literature on pirates, that one could easily imagine that they were unique to pirates and privateers. I had to do a lot of reading before I suddenly realized that ordinary merchant ships had articles, too. The merchant ships' articles were apparently drawn up without crew input, and new hands had to sign the articles before shipping on. When did it become common for merchant ships to have articles? What did these articles normally say? Were articles universal among merchant ships, and if so, when did they become so? I get the impression that merchant ship articles were at least very common by the clipper ship era. My novel (set 1716) has a scene where a merchant brig's master (who is also the owner), states that he can do pretty well whatever he likes because there are no articles aboard his brig to limit his authority. Would it be a practical possibility for a merchant brig c. 1716 not to have any articles?

Piet Heyn was more privateer than pirate, but he would be worthwhile for you to look at; usually pirates followed where privateers found plunder.

Don't forget "mainstay." Originally, the line that supports the mainmast and keeps it from falling over backward. Now, the main support of any person or organization.

Working clothing might wear out fast, but clothes purchased as Sunday best might last quite a while, both because they were worn rarely and because they were subjected to less strenuous conditions. That's just inference, though; I have no source. Granted, not everybody could afford a spare set of "Sunday best" duds, but apparently sailors could afford special clothes to go ashore in, and sailors were only marginally richer than the average workman.

The Golden Age is called that because there were more pirates at sea in the western world at that time than ever before or after. It was not called the Golden Age at the time; that's a term 20th century historians applied to it. It's also the time that most influenced our mental image of pirates. Pirates have been around since the days of Egypt, but when you say the word "pirate" the image that comes to most people's minds is based on pictures of Golden Age pirates (though not necessarily very accurate pictures).

If you prove that one, Foxe, DT from Piratesinfo is going to have himself a hell of a laugh. That's been one of his pet theses for years! English Civil War is outside what I studied for my thesis, so I won't claim any familiarity with the Diggers, Levellers, etc. I won't dispute that they were political movements, but I had always heard that their political stance sprang pretty directly from their religious doctrine. Were they religiously disunited while pursuing common political goals?

Right. The Church of Scotland ended up a whole lot more the way the Calivnists wanted than the Church of England did. Though even the Scots had their equivalent of the Puritans, called the Covenanters. (I wrote my master's thesis on Calvinist religious doctrine, can ya tell? )

Yes, there were Quakers, as well as Levellers, Diggers, Ranters, I think even some Anabaptists. Cromwell's New Model Army was filled with all kinds of different odd religious persuasions.

Exactly the same as Calvinism, in fact. A Puritan was basically an English Calvinist who refused to accept the Church of England's concessions to old Catholic practices, like keeping the hierarchy of priests, bishops, and archbishops or certain elements of the old Catholic liturgy. The Puritans used a system of presbyters (elders) and deacons exactly reflecting Genevan Calvinist practice. Many of the English Puritans visited or corresponded with John Calvin in Geneva, and his successor Theodore de Beza, and as I recall the first English Puritan Bible was printed in Calvinist Geneva, decades before the King James version.

Well, the Puritans would never admit that theirs was a works-based reilgion, though sometimes it looked that way. The Puritans were absolute, committed predestinationists who believed that God chose who went to Heaven and who went to Hell before you were ever born. The strict social regulation was intended to glorify God for its own sake, not get anyone into Heaven; that outcome had been predetermined.

Well, what distinguished the Puritans was not that they had such a highly developed sense of sin; the Catholics matched them for that. What distinguished them was how they looked at their neighbors' sins. Old-style Catholicism was all about utilizing the goodness of your neighbors to make up for your own sins: getting absolution from the priest in return for penance, getting holy-living monks and nuns to pray for you, bringing the saints in on your side, and of course accepting the sacrifice of the ultimate good neighbor, Jesus. The Puritans concentrated so much more on repressing the neighbors' sins and keeping them from ever happening, rather than getting them forgiven. Ultimately it was almost like they wanted to get everybody in their whole society to be disciplined and regimented as harshly as the monks and nuns of the Catholic church, (with the exception that marriage would be allowed so the church could continue).

Yeah, Lee's book was published in 1974. His full name is Robert Earl Lee, unlike the Confederate general who I think was named Robert Edward Lee. I was going to mention, there's a certain appropriateness in the pistols you've given Blackbeard: Queen Anne pistols on the Queen Anne's Revenge. Is that a normal size shell guard on the cutlass, though? It looks small to me, but that's not my area of expertise. Looking forward to seeing the map. Thanks again for the excellent work, Josh.

Half moon battery? Really? When I was reading through Robert E. Lee's Blackbeard: A Reappraisal of his Life and Times, I was struck by his claim that Charleston had no artillery to defend against Blackbeard's ships. I thought it was odd that such an important port would have no shore batteries. So in fact the map does show that Charleston had a battery?

Josh, that's amazing! Thanks!

Alas. Thanks for catching that one quickly, Joshua; it would have been a shame to raise Petee's hopes only to dash them again. At least that takes some of the onus for the bucket boot image off of poor Howard Pyle, if they were already being shown in boots by 1830.

Hey, Petee, did you see this one? This same picture appears in Angus Konstam's Osprey book Pirates: 1660-1730. It says it represents William Phillips, active off England from 1722 to 1724. The figure of Phillips is wearing bucket boots, and a pirate seated at the left also has them. Of course, it doesn't prove anything unless it can be traced to the period. Anyone know the origin of this one?