Going Aloft
In order to set and stow the square sails, the crew must climb aloft and spread out along the yards. To do this, they stand in footropes suspended beneath the yard and balance themselves between that and the yard itself. The person working on the end of the yardarm has a separate footrope known as the flemish horse. Jackstays run along the top of the yard - the sail will be bent on to one of them, but a second one is often provided (particularly on larger yards) for the crew to hold onto. These are usually steel rods, but stiff cordage stretched between the yardarms was used in the past.
Almost all ships used in modern times are fitted with steel safety wires (sometimes erroneously called jackstays) along the yards to which sailors attach themselves using a harness. This is a relatively recent innovation - cargo-carrying and naval sailing ships were not so equipped and falling from the yard represented a real (though less than commonly imagined) risk.
Read more about this topic: Yard (sailing)
Famous quotes containing the word aloft:
“Alas! when Virtue sits high aloft on a frigate’s poop, when Virtue is crowned in the cabin of a Commodore, when Virtue rules by compulsion, and domineers over Vice as a slave, then Virtue, though her mandates be outwardly observed, bears little interior sway.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)