CapeLinks Cape Cod Massachusetts
Cape Cod: Articles: Boating, History -- post an article
Bounce the Bow-Line
We may think that navigation today is much more complicated than it was in the days of the Pilgrims and of the clipper ships and blunt-bowed whalers, but listen to this from James Atkinson’s Epitome of the Whole Art of Navigation, published in London in 1790:
Q. Suppose it blows hard, and you cannot carry your courses (large lower sails), night coming on, and it is likely to blow harder. What would you do?
A. I would haul the fore-sail up and furl it, balance the mizzen and reef the main-sail, haul up the main-clue-garnet and bunt line, square the yard, and get stops round the mast by the booms to hook the yard tackles to for rolling tackles; then lower the yard and reef the sail; haul on board the tack, get aft the sheet handsomely, and sway the yard up. Tend the braces, bounce the bow-line, and haul up the mizzen.
Seems as though we have it better, when, on a night like that, the captain merely signals by bell or radio to the engine room.
• tell-a-friend • link to this post •
 |
Categories: Boating, History
Keywords: boating, history, maritime
Comments:
No comments yet.Related Posts: are tagged with boating, history, maritime
- 5 Favorite Cape Cod Kayaking Trips
- Pride of Provincetown
- Pilgrim Bill of Fare
- Brrrrrrrr!
- Lightning at Provincetown
<< Cape Cod’s Kettle Holes | Message in Bottle Creates Sea Mystery >>
Read More About Cape Cod
