Anyone have info on a POLACRE rig?

[smoolie671]

I'm trying to find out if the "POLACRE rig" is something that would have been used to any great extent in the GAOP time frame. Basicly it was a ship that looked like a standard "ship rigged" vessel, but upon closer inspection it didn't have masts that were stepped. Instead the masts were one long unbroken section top to bottom. Additionaly, the standing rigging was arranged in such a way to allow the yards/squares to lay closer to the center line of the vessel. In this way it was said to be able to point closer to the wind. I would think that this ability would have caught the attention of a pirate crew looking to have an advantage over your prey and or long arm of the law.

[PirateKing]

Ahoy Smoolie,

Are you by chance thinking of a Polacre rigged Xebec?

The foremasts of a Xebec are typically raked forward, while the main and mizzen were either straight or raked slightly back. The massive lateen yards were so large that they were frequently composed of two spars lashed together -- more like masts than typical yards. Most xebecs did not have a bowsprit, but their beakheads frequently featured a long prow.

A few of the western nations tried square sails on the xebec's mainmast and sometimes even the mizzenmast. The square-rigged mainmast would have topsails and even topgallants, and the mizzen would have a square topsail (while still maintaining the lateen lower-sail). A xebec rigged this way was known as a Polacre-Xebec.

Commonly, though, the standard lateen rig for xebecs had a single triangular sail on each mast, and had none of a square rig's topsails or topgallants. The lateen rig offered many advantages over the square rig, the most significant of which was the ability to pinch far closer to the wind than square sails could. This meant they could both quickly catch up to and quickly flee from square-rigged vessels when sailing close to the wind.

Check here and you may be able to find the ship type you are looking for: http://www.thepirateking.com/ships/ship_types.htm

Hope this Helps!

The Pirate King

www.ThePirateKing.com

[smoolie671]

The Xebec is not quite what I'm looking for. I have even seen square rigged Xebec ships, but what I'm looking for is different. I have seen a handfull of pictures of what looked like regular "ship rigged" vessels but when you look closer they are the polacre rig, and the descriptions also attest to that fact. I seem to have read something about the French using them alot. I wasn't able to get the dates that they were used though.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

Weatherlysquareriggers.com gives a date of 1751 for 4 French vessels of the Xebec/Poleacre type. Has a couple of line drawings and pics of working models.