Instead of sending down the topgallan mast in ordinary weather, lash the light yards aloft, overhaul the yard ropes (the long ones) down well forward; toggle them abaft their sheaves in the mast, and set them up with jiggers, forward.

CHAPTER XXIX.

HANDLING "FORE-AND-AFTERS."

The student is referred for more detailed information on this subject to Qualtrough's "Sailor's Handy Book," where it is treated with special reference to yachts and yacht sailing.

We shall confine our attention chiefly to the two principal types of fore-and-afters peculiar to the waters of the United States, viz.: the two masted schooner, Fig. 496, Plate 116, and the sloop.

The Schooner has a fore and aft foresail and mainsail, both usually laced to booms and gaffs and attached to hoops on their respective masts. It has also a fore and main gaff topsail, triangular in shape, the luff attached to the topmast by hoops; the sails furling aloft at the lower masthead.

The head sails of coasting schooners are variously named according to the position of the stays.

When the forestay goes to the bowsprit cap, or nearly to it, the first head sail from inboard is the jib, beyond which are the flying jib and outer jib.

But if the forestay sets up at or near the knightheads, the sail set upon it is called the fore staysail, and the others are the jib, flying jib, and outer jib.

An additional jib, on the fore topmast stay, is called a jib topsail. Its tack lashing may have a long drift to enable the sail to hoist above the other jibs.

It will be seen from the above that the jib of a schooner is that sail whose tack is nearest to the bowsprit cap.

In our description of manoeuvres, &c., we assume the inner head sail to be a fore staysail.

The staysail sheet and fore and main sheets have their lower blocks strapped to a thwartship traveller. This traveller for the main sheet is a short bar of iron, and for the other sheets extends across the deck, and for the staysail sheet may be a wooden spar. Stout tail ropes or clew-ropes for the staysail and foresail enable those sails to be held to windward, if necessary, in tacking.

The foresail may be a combination of "boom and lug," in which case the forward part of the foot has the usual

boom and traveller, and the clew of the sail extends much further aft than in the ordinary type. Such a sail sets better than a common boom foresail, particularly on a wind, when the boom foresail sheet must be trimmed so flat to fill the foresail and fore gaff topsail, that much of the propelling power is lost. But the boom and lug foresail requires more attention in tacking. The lug foresail, without any fore boom, is rarely seen in our coasting craft.

The main mast of schooners is stayed by a triatic stay from one lower mast head to the other. Large schooners may have in addition a double stay to the deck, the ends setting up with runners and tackles at the waterways, abreast the after part of the fore rigging. The lee stay must be overhauled, when under way, to clear the foresail.

The main boom topping lift is usually single, shackled to a bolt in the after part of the main masthead, the lower end fitted with a whip or whip and runner with a block on the outboard end of the boom and a sheave through the boom for the hauling part. The topping lift may be double in large schooners, in which case they come further in on the boom, and the lee one must be overhauled when the sail is set.

The fore boom topping lift is a pendant supporting the boom end. The upper end of the pendant is fitted with a whip or tackle, upper block hooked under the main trestle trees, fall leading on deck.

Halliards.-The fore and main peak halliards are generally rove through three single blocks on the gaff and two double blocks on the mast-head placed vertically one above the other, the distance apart varying with the length of the gaff. The hauling part leads through one sheave of the upper block to the outer block on the gaff, back to the upper block on the mast-head, thence to second block on the gaff; then through one sheave of the lower masthead block and the inner gaff block, finally the standing part reeves through the remaining sheave of the lower masthead block and to the deck, where a purchase is fitted to the end.

Throat halliards consist of a treble block aloft and double block at the jaws of the gaff, the standing part of the halliards fitted with a purchase which generally travels on the topmast backstay, similar to the topsail halliards of a square rigged vessel.

Reef Pendants for a boom mainsail consist of a long pendant with a Mathew Walker knot in one end. The pointed end reeves up through an eyebolt on one side. of the boom, through a reef cringle in the leech and down on the opposite side through a sheave on the boom. When reefing, the end of the reef pendant is hitched to the hook of the outer reef-tackle block, the inner block of the reef tackle hooking to an eyebolt under the boom.

There are no reef pendants required for the foresail,