Bermuda Rig - History of The Bermuda Rig

History of The Bermuda Rig

The Bermuda rig developed from leg-of-mutton sails in Bermuda during the course of the 17th and 18th Centuries. The design was very useful on the gusty Bermudian waters for the boats that were the mainstay of transport around the archipelago into the 20th Century. The mean wind direction is from the West, and as the islands lie in a line near to the wind, the ability to sail upwind, to the West' was vital. As Bermuda turned to a maritime economy, after the dissolution of the Somers Isles Company in 1684, the rig was adapted to larger, ocean-going ships, the famous Bermuda sloops.

The development of the rig is thought to have begun with fore-and-aft rigged boats built by a Dutch-born Bermudian in the 17th Century. The Dutch were influenced by Moorish lateen rigs introduced during Spain's rule of their country. The Dutch eventually modified the design by omitting the masts, with the yard arms of the lateens being stepped in thwarts. By this process, the yards became raked masts. Lateen sails mounted this way were known as leg-of-mutton sails in English. The Dutch called a vessel rigged in this manner a bezaan jacht. A bezaan jacht is visible in a painting of King Charles II arriving in Rotterdam in 1660. After sailing on such a vessel, Charles was so impressed that his eventual successor, The Prince of Orange presented him with a copy of his own, which Charles named Bezaan. The rig had been introduced to Bermuda some decades before this. Captain John Smith reported that Captain Nathaniel Butler, who was the governor of Bermuda from 1619 to 1622, employed the Dutch boat builder, Jacob Jacobsen, one of the crew of a Dutch frigate which had been wrecked on Bermuda, who quickly established a leading position among Bermuda's boat makers (to the resentment of many of his competitors, who were forced to emulate his designs). A poem published by John H. Hardie in 1671 described Bermuda's boats such: With tripple corner'd Sayls they always float, About the Islands, in the world there are, None in all points that may with them compare.

Ships with somewhat similar rigs were in fact recorded in Holland during the 17th century. By the 19th century, the design of Bermudian vessels had largely dispensed with square topsails and gaff rig, replacing them with triangular main sails and jibs. The lightweight Bermuda cedar vessels were widely prized for their agility and speed, especially upwind. The high, raked masts and long bowsprits and booms favoured in Bermuda allowed its vessels of all sizes to carry vast areas of sail when running down-wind with spinnakers and multiple jibs, allowing great speeds to be reached. Bermudian work boats, mostly small sloops, were ubiquitous on the archipelagos waters in the 19th century, moving freight, people, and everything else about. The rig was eventually adopted almost universally on small sailing craft in the 20th Century, although as seen on most modern vessels it is very much less extreme than on traditional Bermudian designs, with lower, vertical masts, shorter booms, omitted bowsprits, and much less area of canvas.

• A 19th Century race in Bermuda. Visible are three Bermuda rigged and two Gaff rigged sloops.

• An International One Design (IOD) racing sloop on Hamilton Harbour, in Bermuda.

• An IOD sloop and a 19th Century Bermudian work sloop in Bermuda.

• The Spirit of Bermuda sail training ship.

• The Spirit of Bermuda at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

• The Spirit of Bermuda.

• A Bermuda Fitted Dinghy on Hamilton Harbour, with the City of Hamilton behind.