Mast Specifications
The original mast specifications as laid down by the ships designer still exist and are listed below as "tea rig". This arrangement was used during the ship's time on the tea trade route, where it was necessary to maximise the area of sail to get the greatest possible propulsion when the ship might be becalmed in the doldrums. For the route to Australia it was not necessary to carry such a large area of sail and the masts and yards were reduced. The trade winds required great strength in masts, but the wind could best be captured by relatively small, high sails. A smaller rig also represented a saving in maintenance costs. Each of the three masts (fore, main and mizzen) is in three overlapping sections
| Tea rig | Sydney | |
|---|---|---|
| Foretop | 18.8 | 16.5 |
| Topgallant | 29.8 | 24.3 |
| Royal | 39.6 | 35.4 |
| Maintop | 19.8 | 16.9 |
| Topgallant | 31.9 | 22.8 |
| Royal | 36.3 | |
| Skysail | 44.5 | |
| Mizzentop | 17.0 | 14.8 |
| Topgallant | 25.7 | 22.8 |
| Royal | 33.2 | 31.7 |
| Tea rig | Sydney | |
|---|---|---|
| Fore course | 23.8 | 21.0 |
| Lowertopsail | 20.7 | 16.8 |
| Uppertopsail | 19.5 | 14.6 |
| Topgallant | 14.6 | 11.5 |
| Royal | 11.6 | 9.4 |
| Main course | 23.8 | 21.6 |
| Lowertopsail | 20.7 | 18.5 |
| Uppertopsail | 19.5 | 16.8 |
| Topgallant | 14.6 | 14.2 |
| Royal | 11.6 | 10.4 |
| Skysail | 10.4 | |
| Mizzen course | 18.3 | 17.4 |
| Lowertopsail | 16.5 | 14.9 |
| Uppertopsail | 14.6 | 13.4 |
| Topgallant | 11.9 | 11.0 |
| Royal | 10.1 | 8.2 |
| Spanker | 15.8 | 14.1 |
Read more about this topic: Cutty Sark
Famous quotes containing the word mast:
“To coöperate in the highest as well as the lowest sense, means to get our living together. I heard it proposed lately that two young men should travel together over the world, the one without money, earning his means as he went, before the mast and behind the plow, the other carrying a bill of exchange in his pocket. It was easy to see that they could not long be companions or coöperate, since one would not operate at all. They would part at the first interesting crisis in their adventures.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)