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21-544: Columbia Rediviva (commonly known as Columbia ) was a privately owned American ship under the command, first, of John Kendrick , and later Captain Robert Gray , best known for being the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe, and her expedition to the Pacific Northwest for the maritime fur trade . "Rediviva" ( Latin "revived") was added to her name upon a rebuilding in 1787. Since Columbia

42-408: A sailing vessel . Its forward corner ( tack ) is fixed to the bowsprit , to the bows , or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsails on a modern boat. Boats may be sailed using a jib alone, but more commonly jibs make a minor direct contribution to propulsion compared to a main sail . Generally, a jib's most crucial function

63-487: A boat may carry smaller jibs, to compensate aerodynamics when the main sail is reefed ; these more rugged sails are called storm jibs or spitfires . On a boat with two staysails the inner sail is called the staysail , and the outer (foremost) is called the jib. This combination of two staysails is called a cutter rig (or in North America a yankee pair ) and a boat with one mast rigged with two staysails and

84-421: A full-rigged ship did not usually have a lateral (square) course on the mizzen mast below the mizzen topmast. Instead, the lowest sail on the mizzen was usually a fore/aft sail—originally a lateen sail, but later a gaff sail called a spanker or driver. The key distinction between a ship and a barque (in modern usage) is that a ship carries a square-rigged mizzen topsail (and therefore that its mizzen mast has

105-411: A mainsail is called a cutter . On cruising yachts, and nearly all racing sailboats, the jib needs to be worked when tacking. On these yachts, there are two sheets attached to the clew of the jib. As the yacht comes head to wind during a tack, the active sheet is released, and the other sheet (the lazy sheet ) on the other side of the boat is pulled in. This sheet becomes the new active sheet until

126-436: A topsail yard and a cross-jack yard) whereas the mizzen mast of a barque has only fore-and-aft rigged sails. The cross-jack yard was the lowest yard on a ship's mizzen mast. Unlike the corresponding yards on the fore and main mast it did not usually have fittings to hang a sail from: its purpose was to control the lower edge of the topsail. In the rare case, the cross-jack yard did carry a square sail, that sail would be called

147-430: Is as an airfoil , increasing performance and overall stability by reducing turbulence on the main sail's leeward side. On boats with only one jib, it is common for the clew of the jib to be abaft the mast, meaning the jib and mainsail overlap. An overlapping jib is called a genoa jib or simply a genoa (see illustration). These are efficiently used when reaching more broadly than a close reach . Alternatively,

168-460: Is homeported at Grays Harbor Historical Seaport in Aberdeen, Washington . Full-rigged ship Other large, multi-masted sailing vessels may be regarded as "ships" while lacking one of the elements of a full-rigged ship, such as having one or more masts support only a fore-and-aft sail or a mast of only two segments. The masts of a full-rigged ship, from bow to stern , are: If

189-491: Is referenced in the idiom usually spoken as "I like the cut of your jib", generally seen as signifying approval of one's general appearance or respect for their character. The phrase alludes to the maritime practice of identifying far-away ships by noting the "cut" (general shape and configuration) of their sails to determine their status as friend or foe. One such report from the Naval Chronicle (1805)—"we perceived by

210-416: The jibboom or even the fore royal mast to the flying jibboom. A large square-rigged ship typically has four jibs, but could have as many as six. From forward to aft, these sails are called: The first two were rarely used except by clipper ships in light winds and were usually set flying. A storm jib was a small jib of heavy canvas set to a stay to help to control the ship in bad weather. The jib

231-399: The mizzen topgallant staysail . In light winds studding sails (pronounced "stunsls") may be carried on either side of any or all of the square rigged sails except royals and skysails. They are named after the adjacent sail and the side of the vessel on which they are set, for example main topgallant starboard stu'nsail . One or more spritsails may also be set on booms set athwart and below

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252-414: The bowsprit. One or two spankers are carried aft of the aftmost mast, if two they are called the upper spanker and lower spanker . A fore-and-aft topsail may be carried above the upper or only spanker, and is called the gaff sail . To stop a full-rigged ship, except when running directly down wind, the sails of the foremast are oriented in the direction perpendicular to those of the mainmast. Thus,

273-539: The cross-jack rather than the mizzen course. The full set of sails, in order from bottom to top, are: The division of a sail into upper and lower sails was a matter of practicality, since undivided sails were larger and, consequently, more difficult to handle. Larger sails necessitated hiring, and paying, a larger crew. Additionally, the great size of some late-19th and 20th century vessels meant that their correspondingly large sails would have been impossible to handle had they not been divided. Jibs are carried forward of

294-410: The cut of their sails, then set, that they were French Ships of War"—is often cited as an early inspiration for the idiom. Sir Walter Scott used the expression to denote approval in the 1824 novel St. Ronan's Well : "If she disliked what the sailor calls the cut of their jib " . John Russell Bartlett later defined the idiom in his 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms as "The form of his profile,

315-420: The fore staysail, set on the forestay running from the foremast head to the ship's peak, the foremost part of the hull, and the jibs set on stays running to the bowsprit. Jibs, but not staysails, could also be "set flying," i.e. not attached to the standing rigging. Sails set beyond the peak were typically called jibs, set on stays running from the fore topmast to the bowsprit , or the fore topgallant mast to

336-407: The foremast, are tacked down on the bowsprit or jib-boom and have varying naming conventions. Staysails may be carried between any other mast and the one in front of it or from the foremast to the bowsprit. They are named after the mast from which they are hoisted, so for example a staysail hoisted to the top of the mizzen topgallant on a stay running to the top of the main topmast would be called

357-483: The masts are of wood, each mast is in three or more pieces. They are (in order, from bottom up): On steel-masted vessels, the masts are not constructed in the same way, but the corresponding sections of the mast are still named after the traditional wooden sections. The lowest and normally largest sail on a mast is the course sail of that mast, and is referred to simply by the mast name: Foresail, mainsail, mizzen sail, jigger sail or more commonly forecourse etc. Even

378-405: The masts cancel out of their push on the ship. This allows the crew to stop and quickly restart the ship without retracting and lowering the sails, and to dynamically compensate for the push of the wind on the masts themselves and the yards. Running downwind the sails still need to be lowered to bring the ship to a halt. Jib A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of

399-411: The next tack. Schooners typically have up to three jibs. The foremost one sets on the topmast forestay and is generally called the jib topsail , a second on the main forestay is called the jib , and the innermost is called the staysail . Actually, all three sails are both jibs and staysails in the generic sense. Original usage in 18th and 19th century square-rigged ships distinguished between

420-625: Was accompanied by USS Lady Washington , named for Martha Washington , which served as tender for Columbia . In 1792, Captain Gray entered the Columbia River and named it after the ship. The river and its basin , in turn, lent its name to the surrounding region , and subsequently to the British colony and Canadian province located in part of this region. The ship was decommissioned and salvaged in 1806. A replica of Lady Washington

441-522: Was privately owned, she did not carry the prefix designation " USS ". Early authorities claim the ship was built in 1773 by James Briggs at Hobart's Landing on North River, in Norwell, Massachusetts and named Columbia . Later historians say she was built in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1787. In 1790 she became the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. During the first part of this voyage, she

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