I like the cut of those yellow ones.
I don’t like the cut of those yeller fellers.
Just one more sail bro. I swear, we just need one more sail.
Are you fucking kidding me? You’re gonna look me in the eye and tell me the sail flying above the poop deck is called a spanker?
Unfortunately not! The poop deck is an elevated deck, aka a sterncastle; back aft on this one is the quarterdeck.
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Question, if I may: in some sailing / pirate works I’ve read, a ship has been said to be making a “spanking pace.”
Any relation with that back sail there?
Interesting! I can’t actually say on that one; to me, “spanking” sounds like an old fashioned intensifier I’ve heard “brand spanking new” a few times, which feels like the same kind of use. As to whether that has anything to do with the sail, I’m not sure. It looks like the sail itself was introduced in the late 18th century; in Seamanship in the Age of Sail, John Harland reports that one William Nicholson complains about the new sail design in a book of his in 1792. That’s the closest I can get to origin of the term.
Thanks for checking that out! On my end, I found this version of “spank”: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spanking#Etymology_1
Which of course is different from the other meaning, to “punish by swatting.”
As for an example, from Tintin’s Secret of the Unicorn:
https://i.imgur.com/6BguONT.jpegInteresting! That definition kind of fits with the sail that the Spanker replaced, which was called the Driver.
Ah, well. One dares to dream
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[off topic]
“Master And Commander” with Russel Crowe is considered one of the best, most accurate depictions of what life was like on a Napoleonic Era sailing ship. It’s a great movie.
As far as russell crow films go, it is the lesser of two weevils
I see what you did there!
A ton of work and attention went into that film to keep it historically accurate, even down to assigning all the extras to watches and figuring out what the watch rotation would be and who would be on duty at any given time.
That is so cool!
And it makes it hurt even more that we didn’t get a couple dozen of these movies.
Hollywood loves to make extra films. The fact that I can’t have a full set of Master and Commander films makes me worry I’m on one of the dark timelines.
The fact that I can’t have a full set of Master and Commander films makes me worry I’m on one of the dark timelines.
Out of everything, that’s what tipped you off‽
“Rum, sodomy, and the lash…”
Or, as we call it, Hollywood!
“Rum, sodomy, and the lash…”
Definitely one of my favorite albums of all time: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nqo2SNJP3rvX6HhtfIJ-YYTaRRJAni5C4&playnext=1&index=1#bottom-sheet
I adored that film, although it could have been better with less Maturin.
although it could have been better with a less two-dimensional Maturin.
FTFY
You must admit that in the books Maturin is the most compelling and well-explored personality, and the character POB most closely identifies with (finding based solely on personal assumption, mea culpa).
I would assert that the film, as good as it is, reinforces my thesis that the golden age of sail is the least adaptable to film of any literary genre. The movie is to the books as a description of the Grand Canyon is to the actual experience.
Also they are “studding sails” and referred to colloquially as “stun’sl’s” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studding_sail
So there.
Another great one is “Waterloo.” Back in the day, the Soviets trained thousands of Red Army troops in Napoleonic cavalry tactics. They wanted to compete with Hollywood when they made ‘War And Peace.’ Those same troops helped Hollywood make Waterloo, which has a very accurate reenactment of the battle.
I’ll agree regarding movie Maturin. Though it makes sense for him to be a sleeper character for the first book.
If I recall correctly, we didn’t even get
massive spoiler for the book series
any insights into Maturin’s life as an international secret agent, or the conflict he feels that his best friend is constantly being redirected to do unwitting awesome spy work, but has no idea how important it is.
FYI the red ones are studding sails, often called stu’nsails because sailors love leaving off letters (like how “boatswain” is often called “bosun”). Also, jibs are staysails; staysails are any sail that slides up and down a stay, which are the pieces of standing rigging that support the masts from the front and the back.
I like the cut of your jib, sailor!
I found this pic informative:
It’s also interesting how they were naming things after James Bond movies all the way back in the Age of Sail!
I’ve never heard of a “gallant,” just a “top gallant” (usually “t’gallant,” sometimes “gans’l”). I’ve sailed on ships with split t’gallants, though. I did sail on one ship with a skys’l, never a moonraker; I suspect those are both terms for “a sail above the royal”.
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I’ve never sailed on so much as a sloop. 😢 I’ve been eyeing $800 Hobie Cats on Craigslist, but I’d have nowhere to put it even if I bought one.
Other people’s boats are always the best to sail on ;)
The only trouble with that is I want to be in charge.
Why isn’t the topsail at the top?
Just a quick WAG: at one point it was the topmost sail, and then someone was like “what if we put another sail on top of that one so we can go seven speed?”
The next sail on top became the Gallant, and so forth, apparently topping out the tech with a Moonraker.
And here are the forces acting on the ship:
Set sails to stun
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The old lady could use another spanker, hur hur hur 😆
like im gonna memorize all of this
