There may not be an individual belaying pin for each line since the buntlines are invariably worked together several of them may be secured to the same pin. The lowest sail's lines will be at the forward end of the rail, and the highest will be at the aft end. This will be followed by the clewline of the next sail, and so on - the clewlines and hence the division between sails can be distinguished by their thickness. The traditional layout is to have the lines from each sail grouped together, starting from the forward end with the clewline and then the buntlines. It is usual to fit a wooden bar near the bottom of the ratlines, with a hole for each clewline or buntline, to keep them organised. ![]() With six or so buntlines and two clewlines per sail, a ship with five sails per mast will have a lot of lines (note, though, that clewlines and buntlines go to both sides of the deck, so at each set of shrouds there will only be four lines per sail). This provides a good lead but does create a minor obstacle to sailors moving out along the yards.īoth clewlines and buntlines are commonly led to the deck against the inside of the ratlines. A typical arrangement for the buntlines has them running through deadeyes on the yard, upwards to a block fixed to the shrouds a little higher up the mast, and then downwards against the inside of the ratlines to the deck. Since buntlines only have to lift a section of canvas, they can be thinner than the clewlines and are not usually fitted with a purchase. Traditionally they are secured to the sail with buntline hitches. The clewlines are coloured green in the diagram, and run along the underside of the yard from the outboard ends to the mast, and then down to the deck.īuntlines lift the middle portion of the sail there will usually be four to eight buntlines across the foot of the sail. For this reason the clewlines are usually fitted with blocks to increase the mechanical advantage. They lift more weight than the buntlines, and also have to pull against the sheets - although these will have been released there is still a certain amount of friction produced by the blocks and fairleads that they run through. That work has already been carried out from the deck using the clewlines and the buntlines.Īs the name suggests, clewlines are attached to the outer corners or clews of the sail. ![]() In particular, when sailors go aloft to stow the square sails by bundling them up and tying them to the yard (with gaskets) they don't have to pull the whole weight of the sail up towards them. The buntlines up the front of the sail can be seen too, but their run to the blocks on the shrouds is obscured because the sail is set on a lifting yard.Īlthough the common perception of a traditionally rigged ship is that the sails are handled from "up in the rigging", the majority of the work is actually carried out from the deck. ![]() The leechlines are clearly visible running inwards and upwards from the edges of the sail.
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