The Yardarm, or more commonly just ‘yard’, is the piece of timber that mounts perpendicular to the mast and holds the sails of a square-rigged ship. But the purpose of the yard extends beyond that. The blocks and running rigging associated with the yard are nothing less than an engineering marvel that manipulate the wind to help adjust the speed and direction of the ship.
Both the main and fore lower yards are affixed with the same 23 different blocks of varying sizes – each with their own specific purpose. The Fully Framed Model lays out the following blocks for each of the main and fore lower yards.
- Jeer Block – 1 x 20″ (8 mm) single block double stropped
- Quarter Blocks – 2 x 14″ (5.5mm) single
- Clueline Blocks – 2 x 9″ (3.5mm) single
- Tricing Line Blocks – 4 x 6″ (2.5mm) single
- Buntline Blocks – 4 x 8″ (3mm) single
- Leechline Blocks – 2 x 7″ (2.8 – I went with 3mm) single
- Yard Tackle Blocks – 2 x 15″ (6mm) Violin blocks
- Brace Blocks – 2 x 8″ (3mm) single
- Topsail Sheet Blocks & Lift blocks – 2 x 12″ (4.5mm) Shoulder blocks with 2 x 9″ (3.5mm) seized to them
I’ll note here that I did permit myself a couple of “shortcuts” as I did with the spritsail – in that I did not use served line for the inner blocks only the yard tackles and brace pendants. As I both read and discovered on my own, order ends up being pretty important when adding blocks as well. I started in the middle with the Jeer, quarter, and inside clueline blocks. I’ll also say that getting the ties and knots clean at this scale is a little challenging as well. The Jeers are attached with .50mm line, the quarters are .40mm line and the inside cluelines are .30mm. As shown the quarter blocks are snug inside the cleats and the cluelines are just outside.
Next up for me were the smaller inside and outside tricing line blocks, for which I used .15mm line. I did these next so that they would give me a good frame of reference in terms of distance. Buntline blocks were up next using .25mm line – same for the leechline blocks. As noted above, these should be slightly smaller than the buntline blocks, but to such a small degree that it wouldn’t be noticeable at this scale – so I used the same size. Note that the tricing lines face aftward while the bunt and leech blocks face up.
The stirrups and horses are the tarred rigging lines that allow sailors to stand against the yard and rig or adjust the lines. These need to be placed next as they fit against the outer cleats inboard of the yards, braces, and topsail sheets. The stirrups are 3.5″ (.45mm) and the horses are 2.5″ (.35mm) both rigged the same as the spritsail yard with the stirrups wrapped three times around the yard and the horses seized at the ends and running through the stirrups. As with the spritsail, I did not use eyes here only seized loops. I forgot to take a picture of it – but after mounting the stirrups and horses I lathered them with diluted white glue, hung clips on them, then let them dry the same way I did with the spritsail yard.
Yard tackles are .50mm served line that end in the violin blocks. I had premade violin blocks for the fore yard, but connected, glued, and sanded two single blocks together to create a violin for the main yard. Lees (The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War) suggests that the yard pendants are about 13′ while the brace pendants (ending in a single block) are about 14-18′. I have to be honest here – I basically eyeballed them just making sure that the brace pendant was a bit longer. Both pendants are seized around the yard at the end cleats with the yard tackle inboard of the brace pendant. Outboard of those are the topsail sheet block and lift block combo. The topsail is a shoulder block, which is a typical single but carefully sanded with a pin file to create this ‘notch’ shape. The Lift block is then seized above it.
Hoisting the Lower Yards
As mentioned, the main yard is rigged the same as the fore yard. Both are now readyto hoist to their respective mast and rig to the Peg. If both yards have the same blocks associated, it would stand to reason of course that rigging both the main and fore lower yards is essentially the same process. It all starts with the truss pendants and tackles. The truss pendants partially attach the yard, but their primary role is to prevent the yards from pulling away from the mast in the forward direction. There are a pair of pendants on each yard that run down each side of the mast called falls. They start with stropping a thimble to each pendant and wrapping it just inside the cleat against the quarter block. I realize I opted to forgo some thimbles at this scale, but these are too important to accuracy (and functionality) to settle for eyelets. The thimbles are made as I’ve done in the past – using brass tubing cut, then sanded down to size. Start by stropping the thimble using 4″ (.50mm at scale) line. I used CA glue to hold the line in place around the thimble and tied a half knot with 120 thread leaving a long tail. Then I wrapped the line around the mast and seize it back onto itself using that tail of thread.
It’s important to note that I stropped the thimble with the line still attached to the roll of line, then held the yard where it would reside against the mast, and measured the length of line that would be needed for the truss pendant falls. According to the FFM, it should be about 24′, or 115mm at scale. Obviously I gave myself a little extra wiggle room. Each line is then passed around the mast and through the thimble of its mate. I did this very loosely, then I temporarily fed the Jeer line (see blow) through the jeer blocks and fastened the lines to the mast with a clip to hold the yard in place. Essentially, rigging the truss pendants and jeer tackles were done in tandem as that was the only way for me to hold the yard in place while I worked.
The truss pendant falls are 2″ line (.25mm) that end with 8″ (3.5mm at scale) double blocks. Those blocks make up the truss pendant tackle along with another 8″ double block that is stropped to a hook attached to one of the eye bolts at the base of the mast. I rigged the double blocks on both sides first, giving me the ability to adjust the tension of each side as needed after I hook them in place.
Adjusting the tension of each truss pendant tackle allows you to straighten the yard. After adjusting, the fall is secured with several turns around itself and held with a half hitch.
Now I can turn my attention back to the jeer tyes and tackle. The jeer tyres are pretty hefty lines at 7″ – or .89mm at scale and also end with a double block – this one being 12″ or about 5mm at scale. Again, I started by measuring the approximate length of the line, which for me was about 280mm, attaching one double block to an end. The line feeds up through one jeer block on the mast, down through the jeer block in the center of the yard, back up through the second mast jeer block, then down again to another double block – the whole thing looks like a nice “M”.
Make sure the yard is the proper height – for me it was just below the uppermost woolding wrap – then measure the distance of the second fall as equal to the first and attach the second double block. It actually took me a little bit to noodle out the tackle at the jeer tye falls. There were some sources, including the FFM, that indicate that it replicates the truss fall pendants with two double blocks at the bottom of the tackle. However, looking at the images and diagrams from the FFM – only one of the sheaves in the bottom double block looked like it ended up being used. So, after checking a couple of other sources, I went with a 4.5mm single block on the bottom tackle which allows for the line to be secured through the sheave on the jeer bitts and belay around the rail.
And yes – for those of you wondering – I did notice my early blackening job on the eyebolts flaking terribly, so I’ve since redone / touched those eyebolts up. As mentioned, the main yard is nearly an identical process to the fore yard. That said, I chose to use slightly larger (6.5mm) double blocks for the jeers. I just felt they balanced better with the large .89mm line used.
Also, similar to the fore yard, the FFM calls for these lines to run through the jeer bitts at the base of the mast, just aft of the bilge pumps. I couldn’t make this happen without the lines fouling against the dewck, so I opted to run them through the sheaves on the railing and then belay them to the railing. Notice also that I needed to remove the hand pumps to gain access to the eyebolts and other areas at the base of the mast.
As with the truss pendants, the jeer tackles are adjusted to even out the falls. Then all of the lines are wrapped and held in place with a touch of ca glue until I finalize everything later with rope coils.
Yard Lifts
The yard lifts are pretty simple affairs. Although the weight of the yards is endured by the large rope and blocks of the jeers, the much more lightweight lifts are used to square the yards perpendicular to the masts. The yard lifts for both the fore and main yards are 3″ lines (.35mm at scale) that originate at 9″ (3.5mm) blocks secured with hooks to the eyebolts at the fore of each mast cap. The lines run from this block, down through the lift block on the end of the yard arm (attached to the sheet block), back up through the block at the mast cap, then down through the lubbers’ hole to secure on either a timberhead or rail.
The fore yard lifts are secured on a forecastle timberhead next to the mast & swivel gun. The main yard lifts are secured on the quarterdeck rail.
The Crossjack
The crossjack is the ‘lower’ yard that attaches to the mizzen mast. The crossjack is unique in that it does not hold a sail, but rather helps spread the foot of the mizzen topsail. That said, it’s mounted in a similar fashion as the other lower yards. However, as you’ll see below, the truss pendant only has a single thimble, and the yard is held up with a sling rather than series of jeer tyes. The sling itself turned out to be a point of consternation, as the manner in which it holds the yard changed right around 1773, just before the HMS Pegasus was built.
Most sources have the crossjack sling as a single served 3″ sling that had an eye spliced into one end, then was reeved through the single Sling Tye Block in the center of the crossjack then back up and seized through the eye. This is also in the illustrations for the FFM, the kit, and most of the builds’s you’ll find on this forum. As such – this is the way I originally added the blocks to the cross jack below. However – most sources show that after 1773 the sling was a little more complicated using a pair of thimbles that connect a two part sling (shown in the image below).
This is illustrated in The Fully Framed Model (Above – pg 105) and also verified in Marquardt’s Eighteenth-Century Rigs & Rigging (pg 78, figure 42). So, this later version is what I ended up doing. The problem is – I started by adding the blocks before I figured all this out. SO – although you see a center block in the following images – I removed that later when I added the post-1773 sling.
Back to the blocks. As I said, fewer than the other yards. The Sling tye block in the middle (which I removed), paired by two 10″ quarter blocks (4mm at scale) stropped with 3″ (.35mm) line. The brace pendants are 12′ long which is 57mm at scale and secured to the yard 4′ (19mm) inboard from the cleats. The pendant ends in a 6″ (2.5mm) single block. Seized outboard of the pendant is a shoulder block at 10″ (4mm) topped by a 6″ (2.5mm) single block.
The truss is similar to those of the main and fore yard, however slightly more simple. There is a single thimble at the end of a .30mm line that is wrapped around the yard and seized just inside the port side cleat. A longer line is then seized around the yard inside the other cleat. This line will wrap around the mast to be inserted into the thimble then drop down to end in a block and tackle that will end with a hook and eyebolt on the port side mizzen channel. But – like the other yards, the truss and the sling really need to be done in tandem (at least for me) to hold the yard in place during the rigging.
Notice above the first part of the sling which is a thimble in a .40mm served line which is wrapped around the yard, up the other side, around itself, then seized together at the thimble. Obviously the previously attached sling block has been removed at this point. The second half of the sling is a thimble seized in the same size served line with an eyelet on one end and open on the other. The open end will run up through the lower masthead then back down and seized to itself after passing through it’s own eye.
The two thimbles are then seized together with a series of wraps. The above photo also has a little better view of how the bottom thimble is wrapped around the yard. Back to the truss – as I said, the longer line is wrapped around the mast, back through the thimble, then down to the falls. A single block at the bottom has a longer line hooked to the mizzen channel. A .20mm line is used for the tackle to connect the two blocks in the usual way then belay at a convenient timberhead.
Finally, the yard lifts are essentially mirrors to the other masts. A .20mm line runs from the lift blocks on each end of the yard, up through a single block hooked to the mast cap, then down through the lubbers’ hole to belay on the rail just inside the ratlines.
The Lehman Shipyard 