Sails & Sailmaking (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 Excerpt: ...main-mast to the foot, 4 inches, and the fore, 2 inches Dimensions for Cutting-out the Sails. Mainsail: --Head, 2 cloths; foot, 6 cloths; mast, 13 feet; and leech, 16ft. 6in. EBEC, WITH THREE LATEEN SAILS. These sails are triangular, and made of No. 6 or No. 7 canvasa The head has the same spread in relation to the yard as settees. The head of these sails commonly gore the breadth of the cloth, and the foot is cut square. These sails are quadrilateral, and made of No. 7 or 8 canvass. The head is bent to a lateen yard, which hangs obliquely to the mast, at one-third of its length, and spreads the yard to about six inches of the cleats. The leech is commonly five-sixths of the length of the head, and the luff onefifth of the depth of the leech, or to the reef with the first cloth gored to the nock. The length of the head, divided by the number of cloths in it, gives the length of each gore. The foot is gored to have a circular sweep. Two small holes are made in each cloth along the head through which the lacings are reeved; and a reef, at one-fifth of the depth of the leech from the foot. HEERING-BOAT SAILS. In the northern parts of Scotland, as Wick, Helmsdale, &cj large numbers of boats are employed in the herring fisheries: in Wick harbour alone there are from 800 to 1,000 fishing boats, all the same sort of rig, carrying two masts with lugsails. They vary in size from 24 to 34 feet in length of keeL In this example, the keel measures 31 feet, and the dimensions of spars are: --Foremast, 35ft. 3 in; mainmast, 32ft.; foreyard, 16ft. 6in. The mainsail is generally one cloth less than the foresail, and about 3 feet less hoist, but some like both sails of one size. There are 8 cloths in the head and 10 cloths in the foot of the foresail: made with 85 yards o.