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sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin

23 Dec 06 - 01:29 PM (#1917550)
Subject: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: Roberto

from Young Henry Martin sung by Phil Tanner (1936):

"Take down your top royal, cut away your main mast":

what is another name for the top royal?

Thanks. R

23 Dec 06 - 06:02 PM (#1917750)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: Crane Driver

From the Collaborative International Dictionary of English-

royal mast naut., the mast next above the topgallant mast
      and usually the highest on a square-rigged vessel. the
      royal yard and royal sail are attached to the royal mast.

Don't know if it's called anything else (not in English, anyway - presumably other languages had their own names for this)

Andrew

23 Dec 06 - 06:48 PM (#1917786)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: EBarnacle

The royals would have been the highest sails in the era the ballad was written. Since then, skysails and others have been added.

23 Dec 06 - 08:40 PM (#1917882)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: kendall

I believe "main" refers to the main mast. In a three mast vessel, it would be the middle one.

The way I heard it was "throw over your topsail and brail up your mizzen". To brail up means to spill the wind from the sail.

24 Dec 06 - 02:50 AM (#1917975)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: Roberto

Thanks. R

24 Dec 06 - 04:26 AM (#1917994)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: Darowyn

Cutting away the main mast would be a rather too permanent way of bringing a ship to a stop.
"Brailing up" is to pull the sails up to the spars and tie them up there with little ropes called brails- like the final stage in reefing them, depriving the ship of any drive from the aft (mizzen) mast.
Lowering the topsail(s) and brailing up the mizzen (which is the line I know in Henry Martin, does make sense from, a sailing point of view, since the captured ship would still be able to manoeuvre, but would not have the power to escape because of the reduced sail area.
The next phrase "bring your ship under my lee" means to move the ship close in to the down-wind side of Henry Martin's ship, again putting it in a position from which it could not sail away since the pirate ship would be "taking the wind from its sails"
Needless to say, cutting down the main mast would make this manoevre impossible- and I've never hear of the phrase "throw over the topsail" and I can't think of what it could possibly mean!
Cheers
Dave

24 Dec 06 - 04:52 AM (#1918001)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: John MacKenzie

I also learned Lower your topsail, and brail up your mizzen, and bring your ship under my lee.
G.

24 Dec 06 - 08:38 AM (#1918089)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: kendall

If you lower the topsail in a square rigger, you set it to catch the wind not stop its filling. Things get lost over time in translations. I too have no clue what "Throw over your topsail" means.

24 Dec 06 - 10:01 AM (#1918123)
Subject: RE: sails in Tanner's Young Henry Martin
From: Charley Noble

I suppose if one were feeling nauseous, he could "Throw over your topsail."

But maybe the pirate in question was short a topsail or wanted one in the latest style.

In addition to brailing up the topsail, I understand from what an old shellback confided to me that one could also short-sheet it.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble