On a square rigged sailing vessel, a topgallant sail (pronounced "t'gallant") is the square-rigged sail or sails immediately above the topsail or topsails. It is also known as a gallant or garrant sail.
Later full rigged ships split the topsail (and often the topgallant sail) for easier handling. They thus fly two topsails (and possibly two topgallant sails) per mast. The lower topgallant sail is immediately above the upper topsail. The upper or only topgallant sail is set from the top of the topgallant mast, if there is a lower topgallant it is set from midway down the topgallant mast. A staysail set on a stay running forward and downwards from the top or midpoint of the topgallant mast is called a topgallant staysail.
Famous quotes containing the word sail:
“We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end. When we think to attach ourselves to any point and to fasten to it, it wavers and leaves us; and if we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and vanishes for ever. Nothing stays for us.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)