The Running Tide

Why in two years before the mast. Richard Dana described the thrill of sailing on a full rigged ship. He wrote. There was no sound but the rippling of the water under the stem. And the sails were spread out wide and high. White too was the sea and so steady the breeze that it these sails have been sculptured marble. They could not have been. Motionless. Certainly no type of vessel since has topped the sailing ship for its beauty and tranquility and in the great age of sail of the 19th century there were as many kinds of ships as there were kinds of waves on the seas. The principal distinguishing characteristics of a sailing vessel. Where how many

masts it had and how the masts were rigged in other words what kinds of sails it had on it. The three basic European types of ships were the full rigged ship with three or more masts. The brig which had two masts and the one mast did sloop the European ship was square rigged or square sailed on all three masts. The brig Similarly was square rigged on both of its masts and the sloop was fore and aft rigged fore and aft rigging meant that largest sails were hung in front or in back of the mast instead of across it on yards. The way the square rigs were. Enterprising shipbuilders later developed variations on the British and European models by changing the rigging of the masts. The bark was a full rigged ship except that the rear mast the mizzen mast had a fore and aft rigging instead of a square rig. The Buchan teen also had three masts.

However only the foremast was square rigged. The brigand teen was derived from the two masted brig with a square rigged for mast and a fore and aft rigged main mast. Finally the Americans developed the schooner which was fore and aft rigged on all three masts. The square rigged sails suspended from each yard had names of their own. The lowest sail on a mast was known as the course and it was usually the widest Next up came the top sail. Then the top gallant sail and finally the royal sails on the fast Yankee clipper ships at the end of the century. There were two more levels of sail. The sky sails and the moon's sails the Clippers put a premium on speed so the more sail the better. A veteran sailor remarked that that sort of ship was any sort of square rigger that carries just

as much sail as the traffic will bear including the captain's shirt. The only variation on the square rigging was usually on the rear mast of the ship or brig where the Square of course would be replaced by a fore and aft sail known as the spanker. Any number of triangular jib sails could be added for extra speed. Each type of the SL had its advantages and each was suited for a particular kind of journey. The square rig caught more wind and gave better propulsion on the high seas. This made it perfect for the Yankee clipper ships which had up to five and six masts for greater speed. However such ships called for large crews because the men had to go up and climb out on each yard to let how to shorten the sail. The fore and aft rig was less rapid but it was much better for coastal navigation. A much smaller crew could work the ship because no one had to go aloft to hoist the sails. This

basic difference in sales determined what kind of ship was chosen for a particular job. A brig was adequate for frequent runs of medium sized cargoes for less frequent but larger cargoes. The full rigged ship was the answer. When the speed given by the square rig wasn't essential the ship owner could re rig the mizzen mast to convert the ship to a bark. Such a change was made when packet ships used for rapid mail runs were converted to whaling brigs where it was more important to have hands to manned the harpoons than to have the added speed of a square rigged mizzen mast. Finally the schooner was useful for coastal runs because the Great him anew over ability of the fore and aft rig avoided the danger of the ships being driven to the shore. Ship owners tried to offer a variety of services to their freight shipping customers. The package ships carried mail on a regular schedule and later some packet line owners offered

what was known as a birth service which meant that a shipper could send his goods to the PDA and know that they would go out on the very next sailing. The first of the rapid service lines was the blackball line started in 1818 the blackball ships were famous for their three week long run from New York to Liverpool and even in the worst weather they returned against the westerlies average to me a five to six weeks transatlantic steamships made their first commercial crossing in 1838. But the speed of the American sailing vessels kept them from becoming predominant for another 30 years. The first American clipper ships were developed in Baltimore and were known there for as Baltimore Clippers. These were small schooners with the raking masts and well adapted for rapid coastal trade. Ship design is then turned their attention to the adaptation of the full rigged ship. Adding extra sales sometimes extra masts

and converting the traditional apple cheeked bow to the concave streamlined hollow that made the clipper ships.