Sunday, August 21, 2022

Know your sails

 

2 comments:

  1. This sail plan is an older clipper ship design. Later with the big commercial cargo carriers...steel hulls and masts like the Preussen, Potosi and Peking....the topsails and topgallants were split into upper and lower topsail and upper and lower topgallant. This allowed the crews to fine tune the sail area for heavy weather and achieve some pretty spectacular noon to noon runs in the roaring 40s and screaming 50s. This class of ship left Europe with general cargoes, sailed down the Atlantic, around the Horn and discharged on the West Coast of South America (generally) then went in ballast to various places along the South American coast and loaded guano (fertilizer) for the trip back around the horn and back to Europe....or they participated in the grain trade. There is much more at Wikipedia under Flying P Liner for those so curious.
    Regards

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  2. I remember learning the sails on a clipper ship as a kid when my dad built a model of the Thermopylae. Some of the best technology of the 19th century.

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