I was just looking at someones finished build of the Constitution where he rigged all the sails, including the studding sails. I noticed the the booms were extended well out beyond the yards, so that the inboard ends of the booms were very close to the ends of the yards, which made me wonder it they were “movable”, that is, pulled out or in from the yards as the need arose. When modeling w/ out the sails, the booms are only extended beyond the masts a short length.
If in fact they were " movable ", how was this accomplished.
There are plenty of variations, but typically there are two boom irons per studding sail boom - one at the end of the yard and one about halfway (or somewhat less) in toward the mast. When it’s time to set the studdingsail, the boom is run out until the heel of the boom iOS almost to the inner iron. Some drawings show simple tackles for hauling the booms in, but I suspect the job was often done by manhandling.
One point some people miss: the function of a studding sail boom is to spread the foot of the studding sail ABOVE it. Once in a while one sees a model with studding sail booms on its uppermost yards. No way.
The classic way to rig a stu’n’s’l is to use a “club” spar across the top. This is hoisted by either a center lashing, or a tackle to a block in the span of the boom (or the arm of the yard). The tacks would be ties off to the boom below (the studding sail at the course would be either set flying, or to a deck-level boom.
I’ve always suspected that the booms wer held in their arms by a gammoning lashing (or two).
I imagine that some of the larger studding sails had a bunt/brail or downhaul line that was tied off near the end of the yard. This would give a measure of control while shortening sail, particularly for the stun’sails that were significantly taller than wide (like the ones spanning double topsail or t’gallants).
The practice varied over the centuries. The Constitution and Victory almost certainly had the heels of their studding sail booms lashed to the yards. The Cutty Sark has rather fancy iron inner studding sail boom irons, hinged to open.
Lots of people seem to confuse the studding sail boom with the studding sail yard. The boom is a relatively heavy timber (I can’t recall such a spar made of iron) that’s permanently fixed to its “parent” yard. The studding sail yard is a small spar that’s lashed to the head of the studding sail itself. It gets sent down to the deck when the studding sail does.
I’m aware of two plastic kits that have studding sail yards included: the Revell 1/96 Cutty Sark and Constitution.
Some ships had enormous booms, secured to the fore and main channels, to spread the feet of the fore and main lower studding sails. Others had triangular lower studding sails.
There were all sorts of variations. The Cutty Sark, for instance, was rather unusual in having the studding sail booms on her lower yards slung below and in front of them. That idea made a great deal of sense, but relatively few ships adopted it before the studding sail went out of fashion.
The best description of studding sail gear I know of is in John Harland’s Seamanship in the Age of Sail - a terrific book if you can find it. A quick web search turned up about a dozen used copies, ranging in price from $68 to $1200. Yikes!
If you look closely, you can see the studding sail irons on the topsail yard (lowest one in this photo) on ALABAMA. The outer iron is a ring with a post that is bent and fitted into the end of the yard. The inner iron is shaped like an 8, the lower ring being larger and fitting around the yard.
I’m still betting that there’s a block, like a traditional Japanese sleeping “pillow” to support the inboard end of the boom when hauled in, and fixed with a lashing.
That’s because that outer ring has to be as large around as the shoulder of the boom, which means it’s larger than the far end of the boom when hauled in. Ships at sea do not like things that are loose; the ocean will ‘worry’ anything not fully snubbed up until it’s full-loose, broken, or over the side.
But, that may just be my bias from having been at sea and experiencing how puny are the ‘mighty’ works of Man in the face of Mother Ocean.
And I’ll say that Captains who didn’t care to put up all that womens underwear struck the booms down on deck and did just fine.
I was thinking about this all day and it struck me ( pun intended) that square sails went out of usefullness way before the end of sail.
Stuff like courses and studding sails proved useful for generating power on known routes but the age of sail went out with Barkentines, big five masted ones, five masted schooners and so on that could go anywhere at any time and fast.
My understanding is that the stun booms were sized around 1/2 the length of the yard with the inboard ring set 1/3 of the length of the boom from the end. There was a cleat set on the boom that rode in between the boom irons as a stopper to control the inboard and outboard position. The inboard end of the boom would have a hole for reeving the lashing thru the boom. This would imply that 1/3 of the boom would overlap the yard when fully extended. I have not seen or heard of any tackle that would be used to haul the boom outboard - I think they were easy enough to manhandle into position.
The Constitution seems not to have had a lower main stun boom swinging out from the main channel… Only a lower stun boom on the fore channel.
I’m sure Force 9 is right about that particular ship. Just beware of generalizations. The details and dimensions of studding sail gear evolved quite a bit between the late seventeenth and late nineteenth centuries - and from ship to ship.
