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:
“Senta: These boats, sir, what are they for?
Hamar: They are solar boats for Pharaoh to use after his death. They’re the means by which Pharaoh will journey across the skies with the sun, with the god Horus. Each day they will sail from east to west, and each night Pharaoh will return to the east by the river which runs underneath the earth.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)