2. Jib
3. Staysail
4. Fore course
5. Fore topsail
7. Fore royal
8. Main course
9. Main topsail
10. Main top gallant
12. Spanker
13. Mizzen topsail
14. Mizzen topgallant
15. Mizzen royal
Warrior under sail....
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Know your sails - the working canvas |
1. Flying jib 2. Jib 3. Staysail 4. Fore course 5. Fore topsail |
6. Fore top gallant 7. Fore royal 8. Main course 9. Main topsail 10. Main top gallant |
11. Main royal 12. Spanker 13. Mizzen topsail 14. Mizzen topgallant 15. Mizzen royal |
Hands aloft! Up screw, loose topsails, set staysail and jib |
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Warrior marks the Royal Navy in transition, looking back to the glory days of sail and forwards to the steam engine and screw propulsion
era. In external appearance, Warrior appears, at first glance, to be very similar to ships that went before her - and would be immediately
recognised by generations of seamen, from Drake, through Bligh and Cook to Nelson, Hardy and Collingwood - and looks to be very similar to Nelson's
flagship HMS Victory that lies just a short distance away in Portsmouth
dockyard.
Like Victory, Warrior carries a bowsprit andTHREE masts - foremast, main mast and mizzen (from bow to stern - right to left above) and is fully square rigged for sailing. |
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 Image: © Peter Eastland |
Sails were bent on to the yards, the horizontal timbers slung across the vertical masts. The yard arm could carry a maximum of 30 men
so the size of the largest sail (the Main Course) was limited to the weight that could be lifted by 30 men working together on the main yard. Once the
size of the main course was set, the sizes of the other sails followed, graded according to the mast and height above deck. The masts are supported by
standing rigging, strong thick ropes anchoring the masts to the sides of the ship.
Warrior carried 48,400 square feet (4,580 m2) of sail, all of which had to be set and trimmed manually. To provide the maximum forward thrust, the position of the sails could be controlled by hauling on the complex system of running rigging. Setting and furling the sails required the seamen to climb the masts and then to move out along the yard arms, high above the deck and often right out over the sea. The main mast reaches up to a tip at 170 feet above the upper deck level - and in a rough sea the mast would be swinging around wildly. From here a fall was invariably fatal - either the man plunged to the deck and broke his back, neck or legs or he fell overboard. If he went overboard there was little likelihood of the ship being able to put about and stop or to lower a boat. In any case, most men could not swim so by the time a boat was launched and found them they would already have drowned. |
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When 'hands aloft' was called, the duty seamen swung out over the bulwarks and onto the main shrouds (standing rigging), climbing
using the thin 'ratlines' as steps. When they reached the fighting top, the experienced seamen would swing out around the top whilst the inexperienced
took the safer passage through the lubber hole inside. When they reached the yard, the men would spread out along the yard using the foot ropes
for support. Some experienced seamen even ran along the tops of the yards, dropping onto the foot ropes when they reached their station!
In position, the seamen held on to the yard arm with one hand and hauled on the sail with the other. This was known as one hand for the ship, one for yourself. 
Main mast: Upper deck - showing bits, cleats and running pulleys - Photo: © Peter Milford As one group of seamen were aloft, releasing the sails from their furled positions, others hauled on the running rigging to swing the yards around to the best angle to catch the available wind. Ropes attached to the bottom corners of the sails were hauled to bring the sail under tension - and to transfer the power of the wind to the sail and thence to the mast and the ship. When the sails were in the right position, the running rigging was locked by wrapping it around the bits and cleats at deck level. |
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Painting by Rex Phillips, courtesy Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth |
Sails remained the primary method of propulsion for Warrior.
Her boilers and steam engine were inefficient, operating at low pressure and consuming large amounts of coal ensuring that mechanical propulsion was
used only when absolutely necessary. The large twin bladed propeller created a lot of drag when Warrior was under sail alone - and the funnels would
foul the great fore and main course sails. To overcome these problems the propeller was designed to be lifted out of the water when under sail - and
the funnels were designed to be telescopic, being lowered and raised by means of a hand operated crank.
For maximum speed, the ship would engage the steam driven screw in addition to the sails - achieving some 15 knots, much faster than would be expected from any similar ship under sail alone. In her time, HMS Victory was thought to be a good sailer, but was unlikely to achieve better than 8 - 9 knots. The painting shows an impression of Warrior at sea - and at full speed. She is running under sail and steam, hence the funnels are raised and the lower sails on the fore and main mast (the courses) are furled. |
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Warrior represents the pinnacle of the sailing navy - and the transition to steam. She was designed and built in a period of rapid change and soon became obsolete. After her would come new designs, more reliant on mechanical propulsion with more efficient and reliable steam engines. And then, just 40 years later came the introduction of the Dreadnoughts, and the beginnings of the modern navy. |
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Page creation: July 1998
Prepared by staff and students at St Vincent College for HMS Warrior (1860)
© Copyright St Vincent College
