Main mast
sails. Larger ships have several mast, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship.
Until the 20th century, a ship's masts would be wooden spars, originally constructed from a single straight tree trunk. As ship sizes increased, taller masts were constructed by lashing up to three spars together.
A ship's masts are named from bow to stern (front to back)
- Fore-mast - the first mast, or the mast fore of the main-mast
- Sections: Fore-mast lower — Fore topmast — Fore topgallant mast
-
- Main-mast - the tallest mast, usually located near the centre of the ship.
- Sections: Main-mast lower — Main topmast — Main topgallant mast
-
- Mizzen-mast - the third mast, or the mast aft of the main-mast. Typically shorter than the fore-mast
- Sections: Mizzen-mast lower — Mizzen topmast — Mizzen topgallant mast
-
- Jigger-mast - the fourth mast, although ships with four or more masts were uncommon
- Sections: Jigger-mast lower — Jigger topmast — Jigger topgallant mast
-
Many ships would also have bowsprit at an angle closer to the horizontal extending forward of the prow.
Most types of ship with two masts would have a main-mast and mizzen-mast. The exception being the two masted schooner which has a fore-mast and main-mast.
On square rigged vessels, each mast carries several horizontal yardarms from which the individual sails are hung — see rigging.
Modern masts
Although sailing ships had been superceded by engine powered ships in the 19th century, the design of recreational sailing ships and yachts. In the 1930s aluminium masts were introduced on large J-class yachts. Aluminium has considerable advantages over wooden masts, being lighter, stronger and impervious to rot. Also aluminium mast could be extruded as a single piece for the entire height as the mast.
After the Second World War, extruded aluminium masts became common on all dinghies and smaller yachts. Higher performance yachts would use tapered aluminium masts, constructed by removing a triangular strip of aluminium along the length of the mast and then closing and welding the gap.
From the mid 1990s racing yachts introduced the use of carbon fibre and other composite materials to construct masts with even better strength to weight ratios. Carbon fibre masts could also be constructed with more precisely engineered aerodynamic profiles.
See also
References
- http://www.bluewatersailing.com/shipclass.php
- http://www.hms-trincomalee.co.uk/virtual/rigging/sails.htm
- http://tallships.sailtraining.org/sailrigs.htm
- http://boatdesign.net/articles/mast-materials/
This article is a stub. You can help BambooWeb by .
