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93-526: The name of this island group, Leeward Islands , dates from previous centuries, when sailing ships were the sole form of transportation across the Atlantic Ocean. In sailing terminology, " windward " means towards the source of the wind (upwind), while " leeward " is the opposite direction (downwind). In the West Indies , the prevailing winds, known as the trade winds , blow predominantly out of

186-628: A British colony in 1671, with William Stapleton as its first governor. Although comparatively much smaller than the surrounding islands in the Caribbean, the Leeward Islands posed the most significant rebellion to the British Stamp Act , though it was decidedly less severe in comparison to that of the mainland North American colonies. In 1660, there were about 8,000 white settlers and approximately 2,000 enslaved Africans in

279-486: A conifer tree. From the 16th century, vessels were often built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than could be made from single tree trunks. On these larger vessels, to achieve the required height, the masts were built from up to four sections (also called masts), known in order of rising height above the decks as the lower, top, topgallant and royal masts. Giving the lower sections sufficient thickness necessitated building them up from separate pieces of wood. Such

372-433: A line of battle —coordinated movements of a fleet of warships to engage a line of ships in the enemy fleet. Carracks with a single cannon deck evolved into galleons with as many as two full cannon decks, which evolved into the man-of-war, and further into the ship of the line —designed for engaging the enemy in a line of battle. One side of a ship was expected to shoot broadsides against an enemy ship at close range. In

465-830: A ripsaw has a tooth set that is similar to the angle used on a chisel , so that it rips or tears the material apart. A "flush-cutting saw" has no set on one side, so that the saw can be laid flat on a surface and cut along that surface without scratching it. The set of the blade's teeth can be adjusted with a tool called a saw set . An abrasive saw has a powered circular blade designed to cut through metal or ceramic. Saws were at first serrated materials such as flint, obsidian, sea shells and shark teeth. Serrated tools with indications that they were used to cut wood were found at Pech-de-l'Azé cave IV in France. These tools date to 90,000-30,000 years BCE. In ancient Egypt, open (unframed) pull saws made of copper are documented as early as

558-528: A steering oar as a rudder to control direction. Starting in the 8th century in Denmark, Vikings were building clinker -constructed longships propelled by a single, square sail, when practical, and oars, when necessary. A related craft was the knarr , which plied the Baltic and North Seas , using primarily sail power. The windward edge of the sail was stiffened with a beitass , a pole that fitted into

651-607: A combination of square and fore-and-aft sails, including the barque , barquentine , and brigantine . Early sailing ships were used for river and coastal waters in Ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean . The Austronesian peoples developed maritime technologies that included the fore-and-aft crab-claw sail and with catamaran and outrigger hull configurations, which enabled the Austronesian expansion into

744-450: A destination, sailing vessels may have to change course and allow the wind to come from the opposite side in a procedure, called tacking , when the wind comes across the bow during the maneuver. When tacking, a square-rigged vessel's sails must be presented squarely to the wind and thus impede forward motion as they are swung around via the yardarms through the wind as controlled by the vessel's running rigging , using braces —adjusting

837-408: A die, the size varying with the size of the saw. The teeth were sharpened with a triangular file of appropriate size, and set with a hammer or a wrest. By the mid 18th century rolling the metal was usual, the power for the rolls being supplied first by water, and increasingly by the early 19th century by steam engines. The industry gradually mechanized all the processes, including the important grinding

930-541: A fast passage secured higher rates of freight or passenger fares. Whilst many clippers were ship rigged, the definition is not limited to any rig. Clippers were generally built for a specific trade: those in the California trade had to withstand the seas of Cape Horn, whilst Tea Clippers were designed for the lighter and contrary winds of the China Sea. All had fine lines, with a well streamlined hull and carried

1023-478: A handle on each end or a frame saw . A pit-saw was also sometimes known as a whipsaw . It took 2-4 people to operate. A "pit-man" stood in the pit, a "top-man" stood outside the pit, and they worked together to make cuts, guide the saw, and raise it. Pit-saw workers were among the most highly paid laborers in early colonial North America. Hand saws typically have a relatively thick blade to make them stiff enough to cut through material. (The pull stroke also reduces

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1116-413: A hard toothed edge. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and moving it back and forth, or continuously forward. This force may be applied by hand , or powered by steam , water , electricity or other power source. The most common measurement of the frequency of teeth on a saw blade is point per inch (25 mm ). It is taken by setting the tip (or point ) of one tooth at

1209-512: A large sail area. To get the best of this, a skilled and determined master was needed in command. During the Age of Sail, ships' hulls were under frequent attack by shipworm (which affected the structural strength of timbers), and barnacles and various marine weeds (which affected ship speed). Since before the common era, a variety of coatings had been applied to hulls to counter this effect, including pitch, wax, tar, oil, sulfur and arsenic. In

1302-465: A load capacity of 7,800 tonnes. Ships transitioned from all sail to all steam-power from the mid 19th century into the 20th. Five-masted Preussen used steam power for driving the winches , hoists and pumps , and could be manned by a crew of 48, compared with four-masted Kruzenshtern , which has a crew of 257. Coastal top-sail schooners with a crew as small as two managing the sail handling became an efficient way to carry bulk cargo, since only

1395-400: A section was known as a made mast , as opposed to sections formed from single pieces of timber, which were known as pole masts . Starting in the second half of the 19th century, masts were made of iron or steel. For ships with square sails the principal masts, given their standard names in bow to stern (front to back) order, are: Each rig is configured in a sail plan , appropriate to

1488-484: A spar on the upper edge. Large Austronesian trading ships with as many as four sails were recorded by Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) scholars as the kunlun bo or K'un-lun po (崑崙舶, lit. "ship of the Kunlun people"). They were booked by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims for passage to Southern India and Sri Lanka. Bas reliefs of large Javanese outriggers ships with various configurations of tanja sails are also found in

1581-413: Is the degree to which the teeth are bent out sideways away from the blade, usually in both directions. In most modern serrated saws, the teeth are set, so that the kerf (the width of the cut) will be wider than the blade itself. This allows the blade to move through the cut easily without binding (getting stuck). The set may be different depending on the kind of cut the saw is intended to make. For example,

1674-487: The Austronesian Expansion at around 3000 to 1500 BC. From Taiwan, they rapidly colonized the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia , then sailed further onwards to Micronesia , Island Melanesia , Polynesia , and Madagascar . Austronesian rigs were distinctive in that they had spars supporting both the upper and lower edges of the sails (and sometimes in between), in contrast to western rigs which only had

1767-644: The Borobudur temple, dating back to the 8th century CE. By the 10th century AD, the Song dynasty started building the first Chinese seafaring junks , which adopted several features of the K'un-lun po . The junk rig in particular, became associated with Chinese coast-hugging trading ships. Junks in China were constructed from teak with pegs and nails; they featured watertight compartments and acquired center-mounted tillers and rudders . These ships became

1860-476: The Early Dynastic Period , c.  3,100 –2,686 BC. Many copper saws were found in tomb No. 3471 dating to the reign of Djer in the 31st century BC. Saws were used for cutting a variety of materials, including humans ( death by sawing ), and models of saws were used in many contexts throughout Egyptian history. Particularly useful are tomb wall illustrations of carpenters at work that show

1953-878: The Lesser Antilles subduction zone . Some are still active. Notable eruptions occurred in Montserrat in the 1990s and in 2009 to 2010. At 1,467 metres or 4,813 feet, the highest point is La Grande Soufrière in Guadeloupe . The Caribs , after whom the Caribbean is named, are believed to have migrated from the Orinoco River area in Venezuela in South America to settle in the Caribbean islands about 1200 AD, according to carbon dating . Over

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2046-511: The after guard , who were stationed aft and tended the mainsail, spanker and manned the various sheets, controlling the position of the sails; the waisters , who were stationed midships and had menial duties attending the livestock, etc.; and the holders , who occupied the lower decks of the vessel and were responsible for the inner workings of the ship. He additionally named such positions as, boatswains, gunners, carpenters, coopers, painters, tinkers, stewards, cooks and various boys as functions on

2139-419: The axe , adz , chisel , and saw were clearly established more than 4,000 years ago." Once mankind had learned how to use iron, it became the preferred material for saw blades of all kinds; some cultures learned how to harden the surface ("case hardening" or "steeling"), prolonging the blade's life and sharpness. Steel , made of iron with moderate carbon content and hardened by quenching hot steel in water,

2232-474: The " Treasure Ship ", measured 400 feet (120 m) in length and 150 feet (46 m) in width, whereas modern research suggests that it was unlikely to have exceeded 70 metres (230 ft) in length. Sailing ships in the Mediterranean region date back to at least 3000 BC, when Egyptians used a bipod mast to support a single square sail on a vessel that mainly relied on multiple paddlers. Later

2325-555: The 11th century and was adopted by the Arab traders in the Indian Ocean. The compass spread to Europe by the late 12th or early 13th century. Use of the compass for navigation in the Indian Ocean was first mentioned in 1232. The Europeans used a "dry" compass, with a needle on a pivot. The compass card was also a European invention. At the beginning of the 15th century, the carrack was the most capable European ocean-going ship. It

2418-503: The 14th century, but did not become common at sea until they could be reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. The size of a ship required to carry a large number of cannon made oar-based propulsion impossible, and warships came to rely primarily on sails. The sailing man-of-war emerged during the 16th century. By the middle of the 17th century, warships were carrying increasing numbers of cannon on three decks. Naval tactics evolved to bring each ship's firepower to bear in

2511-420: The 1870s to 1900, when steamships began to outpace them economically, due to their ability to keep a schedule regardless of the wind. Steel hulls also replaced iron hulls at around the same time. Even into the twentieth century, sailing ships could hold their own on transoceanic voyages such as Australia to Europe, since they did not require bunkerage for coal nor fresh water for steam, and they were faster than

2604-448: The 18th and 19th centuries with large, heavily armed battleships and merchant sailing ships . Sailing and steam ships coexisted for much of the 19th century. The steamers of the early part of the century had very poor fuel efficiency and were suitable only for a small number of roles, such as towing sailing ships and providing short route passenger and mail services. Both sailing and steam ships saw large technological improvements over

2697-444: The 18th century, the small and fast frigate and sloop-of-war —too small to stand in the line of battle—evolved to convoy trade, scout for enemy ships and blockade enemy coasts. The term "clipper" started to be used in the first quarter of the 19th century. It was applied to sailing vessels designed primarily for speed. Only a small proportion of sailing vessels could properly have the term applied to them. Early examples were

2790-530: The 19th century. Dana described the crew of the merchant brig, Pilgrim , as comprising six to eight common sailors, four specialist crew members (the steward, cook, carpenter and sailmaker), and three officers: the captain , the first mate and the second mate . He contrasted the American crew complement with that of other nations on whose similarly sized ships the crew might number as many as 30. Larger merchant vessels had larger crews. Melville described

2883-473: The Age of Sail also saw the development of large fleets of well-armed warships . The many steps of technological development of steamships during the 19th century provided slowly increasing competition for sailing ships — initially only on short routes where high prices could be charged. By the 1880s, ships with triple-expansion steam engines had the fuel efficiency to compete with sail on all major routes — and with scheduled sailings that were not affected by

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2976-457: The Americas with Christopher Columbus , and around the world under Ferdinand Magellan . Sailing ships became longer and faster over time, with ship-rigged vessels carrying taller masts with more square sails. Other sail plans emerged, as well, that had just fore-and-aft sails ( schooners ), or a mixture of the two ( brigantines , barques and barquentines ). Cannons were introduced in

3069-624: The Leeward Islands. Guadeloupe and the islands to the south were designated as the Windward Islands. Later on, all islands north of Martinique became known as the Leeward Islands. Dominica was transferred to the British Windward Islands in 1940 and is now considered part of the Windward Islands . However, even in modern usage in languages other than English, notably Dutch, French, and Spanish, all of

3162-440: The Leeward Islands. However, that ratio narrowed over succeeding years. In 1678, there were 10,408 white settlers and 8,449 enslaved Black people. By 1708, there was a huge disparity between the number of white settlers, which had declined to 7,311, and the number of enslaved Black people was estimated at 23,500. In 1816, the colony was dissolved as a federation of islands, and the individual islands were ruled individually. However,

3255-918: The Lesser Antilles from the Virgin Islands to Trinidad and Tobago are known as the Windward Islands ( Bovenwindse Eilanden in Dutch, Îles du Vent in French, and Islas de Barlovento in Spanish). The ABC islands and the other islands along the Venezuelan coast, known in English as the Leeward Antilles , are known in languages other than English as an equivalent of the Leeward Islands. The islands were created mostly by volcanoes in

3348-658: The United Kingdom and China after the East India Company lost its monopoly in 1834. The primary cargo was tea, and sailing ships, particularly tea clippers, dominated this long distance route until the development of fuel efficient steamships coincided with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Other clippers worked on the Australian immigrant routes or, in smaller quantities, in any role where

3441-457: The Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands. The early Spanish explorers called Puerto Rico and the islands to the west Sotavento , meaning "leeward". The islands south and east of Puerto Rico were called Islas de Barlovento , meaning "windward islands". When the British gained control of many of the Lesser Antilles , they designated Antigua , Montserrat , and the islands to the north as

3534-445: The amount of stiffness required.) Thin-bladed handsaws are made stiff enough either by holding them in tension in a frame, or by backing them with a folded strip of steel (formerly iron) or brass (on account of which the latter are called "back saws.") Some examples of hand saws are: "Back saws" which have a thin blade backed with steel or brass to maintain rigidity, are a subset of hand saws. Back saws have different names depending on

3627-477: The basis for the development of Chinese warships during the Mongol Yuan dynasty , and were used in the unsuccessful Mongol invasions of Japan and Java . The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) saw the use of junks as long-distance trading vessels. Chinese Admiral Zheng He reportedly sailed to India, Arabia, and southern Africa on a trade and diplomatic mission. Literary lore suggests that his largest vessel,

3720-404: The bow. By the nineteenth century, ships were built with reference to a half model, made from wooden layers that were pinned together. Each layer could be scaled to the actual size of the vessel in order to lay out its hull structure, starting with the keel and leading to the ship's ribs. The ribs were pieced together from curved elements, called futtocks and tied in place until the installation of

3813-601: The century leading up to Columbus ' arrival in the Caribbean archipelago in 1492, the Caribs mostly displaced the Maipurean -speaking Taínos , who settled the island chains earlier in history, by warfare, extermination, and assimilation. The islands were among the first parts of the Americas to fall under the control of the Spanish Empire . European contact commenced with Christopher Columbus 's second voyage; many of

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3906-459: The century, due to superior mechanisation, better marketing, a large domestic market, and the imposition of high tariffs on imports. Highly productive industries continued in Germany and France. Early European saws were made from a heated sheet of iron or steel, produced by flattening by several men simultaneously hammering on an anvil. After cooling, the teeth were punched out one at a time with

3999-480: The century. Ultimately the two large stepwise improvements in fuel efficiency of compound and then triple-expansion steam engines made the steamship, by the 1880s, able to compete in the vast majority of trades. Commercial sail still continued into the 20th century, with the last ceasing to trade by c.  1960 . Early sea-going sailing vessels were used by the Austronesian peoples . The invention of catamarans , outriggers , and crab claw sails enabled

4092-509: The clew of a square sail forward. The crew of a sailing ship is divided between officers (the captain and his subordinates) and seamen or ordinary hands . An able seaman was expected to "hand, reef, and steer" (handle the lines and other equipment, reef the sails, and steer the vessel). The crew is organized to stand watch —the oversight of the ship for a period—typically four hours each. Richard Henry Dana Jr. and Herman Melville each had personal experience aboard sailing vessels of

4185-740: The colony of the Leeward Islands was re-established in 1833. There are two countries and eleven territories in the Leeward Islands. From the northwest to the southeast, the main islands are: These three form the SSS islands that with the ABC islands comprise the Dutch Caribbean , of which the BES islands are not direct Kingdom constituents but subsumed with the country of the Netherlands . Physiographically , these continental islands are not part of

4278-421: The crew complement of the frigate warship, United States , as about 500—including officers, enlisted personnel and 50 Marines. The crew was divided into the starboard and larboard watches. It was also divided into three tops , bands of crew responsible for setting sails on the three masts; a band of sheet-anchor men , whose station was forward and whose job was to tend the fore-yard, anchors and forward sails;

4371-611: The early 19th century, until the advent of iron and steel hulls. Iron-hulled sailing ships , often referred to as " windjammers " or " tall ships ", represented the final evolution of sailing ships at the end of the Age of Sail. They were built to carry bulk cargo for long distances in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They were the largest of merchant sailing ships, with three to five masts and square sails, as well as other sail plans . They carried lumber , guano , grain or ore between continents. Later examples had steel hulls. Iron-hulled sailing ships were mainly built from

4464-421: The early steamers, which usually could barely make 8 knots (15 km/h). The four-masted, iron-hulled ship, introduced in 1875 with the full-rigged County of Peebles , represented an especially efficient configuration that prolonged the competitiveness of sail against steam in the later part of the 19th century. The largest example of such ships was the five-masted, full-rigged ship Preussen , which had

4557-419: The fore and aft angle of each yardarm around the mast—and sheets attached to the clews (bottom corners) of each sail to control the sail's angle to the wind. The procedure is to turn the vessel into the wind with the hind-most fore-and-aft sail (the spanker ), pulled to windward to help turn the ship through the eye of the wind. Once the ship has come about, all the sails are adjusted to align properly with

4650-517: The fore-sails required tending while tacking and steam-driven machinery was often available for raising the sails and the anchor . In the 20th century, the DynaRig allowed central, automated control of all sails in a manner that obviates the need for sending crew aloft. This was developed in the 1960s in Germany as a low-carbon footprint propulsion alternative for commercial ships. The rig automatically sets and reefs sails; its mast rotates to align

4743-426: The implementation of center-mounted rudders, controlled with a tiller. Technological advancements that were important to the Age of Discovery in the 15th century were the adoption of the magnetic compass and advances in ship design. The compass was an addition to the ancient method of navigation based on sightings of the sun and stars. The compass was invented by Chinese. It had been used for navigation in China by

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4836-676: The islands of the Indo-Pacific . This expansion originated in Taiwan c.  3000 BC and propagated through Island Southeast Asia , reaching Near Oceania c.  1500 BC, Hawaii c.  900 AD, and New Zealand c.  1200 AD. The maritime trading network in the Indo-Pacific dates from at least 1500 BC. Later developments in Asia produced the junk and dhow —vessels that incorporated features unknown in Europe at

4929-652: The islands' names originate from this period: Montserrat was named in honour of Santa Maria de Montserrat (Our Lady of Montserrat), after the Blessed Virgin of the Monastery of Montserrat , which is located on the Mountain of Montserrat , the national shrine of Catalonia . Mont serrat in Catalan means " saw mountain", referring to the serrated appearance of the mountain range. The Leeward Islands became

5022-405: The kerf from all the cuts. The kerf depends on several factors: the width of the saw blade; the set of the blade's teeth; the amount of wobble created during cutting; and the amount of material pulled out of the sides of the cut. Although the term "kerf" is often used informally, to refer simply to the thickness of the saw blade, or to the width of the set, this can be misleading, because blades with

5115-468: The large-diameter line run around them, whilst multiple holes allowed smaller line— lanyard —to pass multiple times between the two and thereby allow tensioning of the shroud. After the mid-19th century square-rigged vessels were equipped with iron wire standing rigging, which was superseded with steel wire in the late 19th century. Halyards , used to raise and lower the yards, are the primary supporting lines. In addition, square rigs have lines that lift

5208-536: The lower corner of the sail, when sailing close to the wind. India's maritime history began during the 3rd millennium BCE when inhabitants of the Indus Valley initiated maritime trading contact with Mesopotamia. Indian kingdoms such as the Kalinga from as early as 2nd century CE are believed to have had sailing ships. One of the earliest instances of documented evidence of Indian sailing ship building comes from

5301-401: The man-of-war. 18-19th century ships of the line had a complement as high as 850. Handling a sailing ship requires management of its sails to power—but not overpower—the ship and navigation to guide the ship, both at sea and in and out of harbors. Key elements of sailing a ship are setting the right amount of sail to generate maximum power without endangering the ship, adjusting the sails to

5394-606: The mast became a single pole, and paddles were supplanted with oars. Such vessels plied both the Nile and the Mediterranean coast. The Minoan civilization of Crete may have been the world's first thalassocracy brought to prominence by sailing vessels dating to before 1800 BC (Middle Minoan IIB). Between 1000 BC and 400 AD, the Phoenicians , Greeks and Romans developed ships that were powered by square sails, sometimes with oars to supplement their capabilities. Such vessels used

5487-399: The mid 18th century copper sheathing was developed as a defense against such bottom fouling. After coping with problems of galvanic deterioration of metal hull fasteners, sacrificial anodes were developed, which were designed to corrode, instead of the hull fasteners. The practice became widespread on naval vessels, starting in the late 18th century, and on merchant vessels, starting in

5580-542: The mural of three-masted ship in the Ajanta caves that date back to 400-500 CE. The Indian Ocean was the venue for increasing trade between India and Africa between 1200 and 1500. The vessels employed would be classified as dhows with lateen rigs . During this interval such vessels grew in capacity from 100 to 400 tonnes . Dhows were often built with teak planks from India and Southeast Asia, sewn together with coconut husk fiber—no nails were employed. This period also saw

5673-418: The new tack. Because square-rigger masts are more strongly braced from behind than from ahead, tacking is a dangerous procedure in strong winds; the ship may lose forward momentum (become caught in stays ) and the rigging may fail from the wind coming from ahead. The ship may also lose momentum at wind speeds of less than 10 knots (19 km/h). Under these conditions, the choice may be to wear ship —to turn

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5766-539: The northeast. Therefore, a sailing vessel departing from the British Gold Coast and the Gulf of Guinea , driven by the trade winds, would usually first encounter Dominica and Martinique, islands most to windward, in their west-northwesterly heading to the final destinations in the Caribbean , Central America , and Northern America . This location, Dominica and Martinique, becomes the rough dividing line between

5859-498: The other to form the whole, from bottom to top: the lower mast , top mast , and topgallant mast . This construction relied heavily on support by a complex array of stays and shrouds. Each stay in either the fore-and-aft or athwartships direction had a corresponding one in the opposite direction providing counter-tension. Fore-and-aft the system of tensioning started with the stays that were anchored in front each mast. Shrouds were tensioned by pairs of deadeyes , circular blocks that had

5952-407: The planking. Typically, planking was caulked with a tar-impregnated yarn made from manila or hemp to make the planking watertight. Starting in the mid-19th century, iron was used first for the hull structure and later for its watertight sheathing. Until the mid-19th century all vessels' masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of

6045-420: The preferred material for saw blades of all kind. There are numerous types of hands saws and mechanical saws, and different types of blades and cuts. A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade , wire , or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material , very often wood , though sometimes metal or stone. A number of terms are used to describe saws. The narrow channel left behind by

6138-515: The preferred material, due to its hardness, ductility, springiness and ability to take a fine polish. A small saw industry survived in London and Birmingham, but by the 1820s the industry was growing rapidly and increasingly concentrated in Sheffield, which remained the largest centre of production, with over 50% of the nation's saw makers. The US industry began to overtake it in the last decades of

6231-427: The sail or the yard from which it is suspended that include: brails , buntlines , lifts and leechlines. Bowlines and clew lines shape a square sail. To adjust the angle of the sail to wind braces are used to adjust the fore and aft angle of a yard of a square sail, while sheets attach to the clews (bottom corners) of a sail to control the sail's angle to the wind. Sheets run aft, whereas tacks are used to haul

6324-520: The sail to draw wind. Mainsails are often self-tending and slide on a traveler to the opposite side. On certain rigs, such as lateens and luggers , the sail may be partially lowered to bring it to the opposite side. Saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade , wire , or chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material . Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws . Saws began as serrated materials, and when mankind learned how to use iron, it became

6417-410: The sail up and secure it with lines, called reef points . Dana spoke of the hardships of sail handling during high wind and rain or with ice covering the ship and its rigging. Sailing vessels cannot sail directly into the wind. Instead, square-riggers must sail a course that is between 60° and 70° away from the wind direction and fore-and aft vessels can typically sail no closer than 45°. To reach

6510-430: The sail, the crew uses clewlines , haul up the clews and buntlines to haul up the middle of sail up; when lowered, lifts support each yard. In strong winds, the crew is directed to reduce the number of sails or, alternatively, the amount of each given sail that is presented to the wind by a process called reefing . To pull the sail up, seamen on the yardarm pull on reef tackles , attached to reef cringles , to pull

6603-441: The sails with the wind. The sailing yachts Maltese Falcon and Black Pearl employ the rig. In the 21st century, due to concern about climate change and the possibility of cost savings, companies explored using wind-power to reduce heavy fuel needs on large containerized cargo ships . By 2023, around 30 ships were using sails or attached kites, with the number expected to grow. The following year, The Economist wrote that

6696-407: The same number of teeth per inch throughout their entire length, but the vast majority do. Those with more teeth per inch at the toe are described as having incremental teeth, in order to make starting the saw cut easier. An alternative measurement of the frequency of teeth on a saw blade is teeth per inch . Usually abbreviated TPI, as in, "a blade consisting of 18TPI." (cf. points per inch.) Set

6789-421: The same thickness and set may create different kerfs. For example, a too-thin blade can cause excessive wobble, creating a wider-than-expected kerf. The kerf created by a given blade can be changed by adjusting the set of its teeth with a tool called a saw tooth setter . The kerf left behind by a laser beam can be changed based on the laser's power and type of material being cut. A toothed saw or tooth saw has

6882-412: The saw and (relatedly) the measure of its width is known as the kerf . As such, it also refers to the wasted material that is turned into sawdust, and becomes a factor in measurements when making cuts. For example, cutting an 8 foot (2.4 meter) piece of wood into 1 foot (30 cm) sections, with 1/8 inch (3 mm) kerf will produce only seven sections, plus one that is 7/8 inch (21 mm) too short when factoring in

6975-403: The saw plate "thin to the back" by a fraction of an inch, which helped the saw to pass through the kerf without binding. The use of steel added the need to harden and temper the saw plate, to grind it flat, to smith it by hand hammering and ensure the springiness and resistance to bending deformity, and finally to polish it. Most hand saws are today entirely made without human intervention, with

7068-597: The schooners and brigantines, called Baltimore clippers , used for blockade running or as privateers in the War of 1812 and afterwards for smuggling opium or illegally transporting slaves . Larger clippers, usually ship or barque rigged and with a different hull design, were built for the California trade (from east coast USA ports to San Francisco) after gold was discovered in 1848 – the associated ship-building boom lasted until 1854. Clippers were built for trade between

7161-415: The ship away from the wind and around 240° onto the next tack (60° off the wind). A fore-and-aft rig permits the wind to flow past the sail, as the craft head through the eye of the wind. Most rigs pivot around a stay or the mast, while this occurs. For a jib , the old leeward sheet is released as the craft heads through the wind and the old windward sheet is tightened as the new leeward sheet to allow

7254-432: The size of the sailing craft. Both square-rigged and fore-and-aft rigged vessels have been built with a wide range of configurations for single and multiple masts. Types of sail that can be part of a sail plan can be broadly classed by how they are attached to the sailing craft: Sailing ships have standing rigging to support the masts and running rigging to raise the sails and control their ability to draw power from

7347-488: The sizes and use of different types of saws. Egyptian saws were at first serrated, hardened copper which may have cut on both pull and push strokes. As the saw developed, teeth were raked to cut only on the pull stroke and set with the teeth projecting only on one side, rather than in the modern fashion with an alternating set. Saws were also made of bronze and later iron. In the Iron Age , frame saws were developed holding

7440-400: The steel plate supplied ready rolled to thickness and tensioned before being cut to shape by laser. The teeth are shaped and sharpened by grinding and are flame hardened to obviate (and actually prevent) sharpening once they have become blunt. A large measure of hand finishing remains to this day for quality saws by the very few specialist makers reproducing the 19th century designs. A pit saw

7533-530: The technology was at an inflection point as it moved from trials and testing towards adoption by the industry. Every sailing ship has a sail plan that is adapted to the purpose of the vessel and the ability of the crew; each has a hull , rigging and masts to hold up the sails that use the wind to power the ship; the masts are supported by standing rigging and the sails are adjusted by running rigging . Hull shapes for sailing ships evolved from being relatively short and blunt to being longer and finer at

7626-517: The thin blades in tension. The earliest known sawmill is the Roman Hierapolis sawmill from the third century AD and was for sawing stone. According to Chinese legend, the saw was invented by Lu Ban . In Greek mythology , as recounted by Ovid , Talos , the nephew of Daedalus , invented the saw. In archeological reality, saws date back to prehistory and most probably evolved from Neolithic stone or bone tools . "[T]he identities of

7719-511: The time. European sailing ships with predominantly square rigs became prevalent during the Age of Discovery (15th to 17th centuries), when they crossed oceans between continents and around the world. In the European Age of Sail , a full-rigged ship was one with a bowsprit and three masts, each of which consists of a lower, top, and topgallant mast. Most sailing ships were merchantmen , but

7812-711: The volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically. Disputed territories administered by Guyana . Disputed territories administered by Colombia . Sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships , employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships carry square sails on each mast—the brig and full-rigged ship , said to be "ship-rigged" when there are three or more masts. Others carry only fore-and-aft sails on each mast, for instance some schooners . Still others employ

7905-404: The wind direction on the course sailed, and changing tack to bring the wind from one side of the vessel to the other. A sailing ship crew manages the running rigging of each square sail. Each sail has two sheets that control its lower corners, two braces that control the angle of the yard, two clewlines, four buntlines and two reef tackles. All these lines must be manned as the sail is deployed and

7998-472: The wind direction. However, commercial sailing vessels could still be found working into the 20th century, although in reducing numbers and only in certain trades. By the time of the Age of Discovery —starting in the 15th century—square-rigged, multi-masted vessels were the norm and were guided by navigation techniques that included the magnetic compass and making sightings of the sun and stars that allowed transoceanic voyages. The Age of Sail reached its peak in

8091-435: The wind. The running rigging has three main roles, to support the sail structure, to shape the sail and to adjust its angle to the wind. Square-rigged vessels require more controlling lines than fore-and-aft rigged ones. Sailing ships prior to the mid-19th century used wood masts with hemp-fiber standing rigging. As rigs became taller by the end of the 19th century, masts relied more heavily on successive spars, stepped one atop

8184-442: The yard raised. They use a halyard to raise each yard and its sail; then they pull or ease the braces to set the angle of the yard across the vessel; they pull on sheets to haul lower corners of the sail, clews , out to yard below. Under way, the crew manages reef tackles , haul leeches , reef points , to manage the size and angle of the sail; bowlines pull the leading edge of the sail ( leech ) taut when close hauled. When furling

8277-456: The zero point on a ruler, and then counting the number of points between the zero mark and the one-inch mark, inclusive (that is, including both the point at the zero mark and any point that lines up precisely with the one-inch mark). There is always one more point per inch than there are teeth per inch (e.g., a saw with 14 points per inch will have 13 teeth per inch, and a saw with 10 points per inch will have 9 teeth per inch). Some saws do not have

8370-405: Was carvel-built and large enough to be stable in heavy seas. It was capable of carrying a large cargo and the provisions needed for very long voyages. Later carracks were square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast . They had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle , forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. As the predecessor of the galleon , the carrack

8463-516: Was a two-man ripsaw . In parts of early colonial North America, it was one of the principal tools used in shipyards and other industries where water-powered sawmills were not available. It was so-named because it was typically operated over a saw pit , either at ground level or on trestles across which logs that were to be cut into boards. The pit saw was "a strong steel cutting-plate, of great breadth, with large teeth, highly polished and thoroughly wrought, some eight or ten feet in length" with either

8556-494: Was one of the most influential ship designs in history; while ships became more specialized in the following centuries, the basic design remained unchanged throughout this period. Ships of this era were only able to sail approximately 70° into the wind and tacked from one side to the other across the wind with difficulty, which made it challenging to avoid shipwrecks when near shores or shoals during storms. Nonetheless, such vessels reached India around Africa with Vasco da Gama ,

8649-520: Was used as early as 1200 BC. By the end of the 17th century European manufacture centred on Germany, (the Bergisches Land) in London, and the Midlands of England. Most blades were made of steel (iron carbonised and re-forged by different methods). In the mid 18th century a superior form of completely melted steel ("crucible cast") began to be made in Sheffield, England, and this rapidly became

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