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A jack-yard topsail may also have the aforementioned vertical yard, although this makes for a very large topsail. [ 8 ] A cornish topsail is a triangular sail having its luff extended well above the masthead by being laced to a yard hoisted by a halyard that is rove through a sheave fitted diagonally in the mast.
The yard exists to allow square sails to be set to drive the ship. The top edge of the sail is 'bent on' (attached) to the yard semi-permanently. Clewlines and buntlines are led along the yard and from there to the mast and down to the deck. These allow the bottom of the sail to be hoisted up to the yard, so the sail is effectively folded in two.
The key distinction between a ship and a barque (in modern usage) is that a ship carries a square-rigged mizzen topsail (and therefore that its mizzen mast has a topsail yard and a cross-jack yard) whereas the mizzen mast of a barque has only fore-and-aft rigged sails. The cross-jack yard was the lowest yard on a ship's mizzen mast.
Above the platform ran a horizontal yard, the sprit topsail yard, from which a square square-rigged sail called the sprit topsail (the only sail on this mast) hung. Above this was a jackstaff. The mast was secured to the rear with a backstay that led to the foremast of the ship.
Later full-rigged ships split the topsail (and often the topgallant sail) for easier handling. They thus set two topsails (and possibly two topgallant sails) per mast. The lower topgallant sail is immediately above the upper topsail. The upper or only topgallant sail is set from the top of the topgallant mast. If there is a lower topgallant it ...
A replica of the Batavia flying a spritsail (lower right) and a sprit-topsail. On large sailing ships a spritsail is a square-rigged sail carried on a yard below the bowsprit. [1] [2] One of the earliest depictions of a spritsail is carved on Borobudur ship carving in Borobudur temple, Indonesia.
The braces, bowlines shot away several times, also the staysail halyards. The running rigging very much shattered. The main topsail yard shot ... the foremast shot through about the collar of the mainstay, and another wound in the after part of the mast ... the mainmast shot about two thirds up from the deck and divided [to] the starboard.
Still, Guillaume Tell eventually struck, but not before Foudroyant had lost her fore topmast and main topsail yard. The initial estimates put the number of dead and wounded on Lion and Foudroyant at 40 per vessel. [14] Later in the day, Foudroyant's mizzen mast fell, having been damaged during the battle.