YOUNG FOLKS’ CORNER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1215, 14 June 1895, Page 16

YOUNG FOLKS’ CORNER.

SOMETHING ABOUT SHIPS.

After the hull of a ship is built she is launched before her spars are put in. This launching is usually done stem foremost; sometimes bow foremost, and, in very narrow rivers, side formost. The Great Eastern was launched side foremost in the River Thames. Under the general name of spars are included the masts, bowsprit, yards, booms and gaffs of a ship. It will not be necessary to inform the boys who live near our seaports what masts and yards are ; but perhaps some future admirals who have yet to see their first ship will be interested in knowing that a mast is a stick perpendicular to the deck, and yards are sticks to which sails are bent, and are at right angles with the masts ; the bowsprit is a stick projecting over the bow to carry sail forward. Each of the three masts of all but very small vessels consists of a number of sticks one above another. The “heel" of the top-mast comes a little below the “ bead" of the lower mast, and is secured by a “ cap," a sort of iron band, and a bar, called a “ fid." Above the topmast comes the top-gallant mast, and above that the royal mast. At the head of a lower mast of a ship' is a platform called the “ top." Tops have usually holes in them called the “ lubbers’ hole,” large enough to permit a man to crawl through. Jack, however, scorns to make use of this hole, preferring to crawl over outside by the futtock shrouds. Vessels derive their names from the number of their masts and their rig. While all vessels are often included under the general term ships, more properly a ship has always three masts and is squarerigged ; that is, she has tops and yards on all three of her masts. The three masts : are designated by the names fore, main and mizzen.

A barque is square-rigged at her fore and main masts, but, unlike a ship, at her mizzenmast has no top, and only fore-and-aft sails.

A brig has but two masts, both of which are square-rigged. A schooner may have either two or three masts, but carries fore-and-aft sails only. A sloop has one mast, fore-and-aft rigged. A vessel’s masts are “stepped"—i. e., put in—by means of shears. Shears consist of a couple of spars lashed together at one end and spread apart at the other. They are raised to a nearly upright position and furnished with tackle for lifting masts in and out of ships. After the masts are stepped and the bowsprit put in, the standing rigging is “ set up." The standing rigging consists of strong ropes, called stays, to support the masts fore and aft, and other ropes, called back-stays and shrouds, to lend support sideways. The shrouds on each mast are connected by little ropes placed crosswise, called ratlines, which the sailors use when ordered to “lay aloft." A good sailor is as nimble as a cat on these ratlines. The running rigging consists of the ropes used in handling the yards and sails, and every rope has a distinguishing name. Halyards are ropes used to hoist yards and sails. Braces are ropes used to swing the yards round by. To the beginner the names of ropes are apt to be very confusing. Old salts are fond of spinning a yarn about a lad who wanted to go to sea, until he heard that the fore-top-gallant-studding-sail-boom-tricing-line-thimble-block-mousingwasthe name of about the smallest bit of rope on board ship, when he at once concluded that, such being the case, he could never expect to master the name of the largest rope, and consequently decided to become a farmer. — Chums.