The Topgallant yards, or simply the T’gallants, are the upper most yards on a ship of this size. Only the main and foremasts have t’gallants on a sixth rate ship. These yards are also much simpler to outfit than the other yards. Both the fore and main T’gallants have just a pair of clueline blocks a short distance from the center. The horses do not have stirrups, with just a single on each side overlapping in the center. The blocks are 5″ (once again 2.5mm is the smallest I use out of sheer practicality) and the horses are 1.5″ (.20mm) lines.
Parrels
There is nothing simple about the parrels however. A smaller version of the others, these little things have minuscule ribs that are 2.5mm long at scale, and trucks that are under a millimeter. I spent half a morning just scouring my shop looking for things to use to meet these requirements. I tried a few things that just didn’t work before settling on a couple things that panned out. For the trucks, I found brown wire within an old ethernet cable. After pulling the copper out, I was able to slice the insulation into the appropriate sized trucks. At this scale (even measuring out a millimeter guide) I ended up cutting about 20 and then pulling out the ten that were the most consistent.
For the Ribs, I finally settled on a piece of thick, brown construction paper. Everything else I tried was either unmanageable at this scale (fell apart when I tried to cut, or manipulate) or was too think and looked out of scale. I started by cutting 3mm long by 1mm wide strips, cutting off the corners then creating a ‘notch’ with a scalpel to create the shape. The holes are made with a dental pick.
The parrel is put together on a .10mm line then attached to the t’gallant mast in the same way as the other parrels. First looped around the yard, then mounted to the mast wrapping the line around the ‘valley’ of the ribs and tying off each end. I took the picture of the parrel over the ruler on my hobby mat just to give some idea of just how small and fiddly this darn thing is.
Halliard Tyes
The t’gallant yard tyes are 2″ line (.25mm) with the fore being about 54′ (256mm at scale) long and the main about 57′ (270mm) long. The tye is hitched to the yard by looping the line under the back of the yard, bringing it up under the front, around behind itself then under the yard again, finally to be seized against itself.
The tye runs up the fore side of the mast, through the sheave in the hounds, then down the back to a 5″ (2.5mm) single block. Another 2.5mm single block is seized to an eye in the mast top. The falls of the tye run from the upper block, down through the bottom single, back up through the upper single, then down through the mast top to belay on the ever populated rail on the quarterdeck for the main and the bitts for the fore. With the masts lowered, the block on the halliard should be about midway down the length of the mast.
Lifts & Braces
The yard lifts are a simplified version of the other yards. The top of the lifts is either a pair of thimbles or small blocks hitched around the top of the mast – I chose blocks because they are (in my opinion) cleaner and easier at this scale. The lifts are eye spliced to the ends of the yard arms (instead of blocks like the other yards), taken up through the aforementioned blocks. then down through the mast tops to belay on the cleats fixed to the upper shrouds.
The yard braces are also a simplified version of the other yards. They too are just eye spliced around the ends of the yard arms. However, the fore and main have different routes along their rigging path. The fore yard braces run aft to a pair of 2.5mm blocks on a span clove hitched around the main topmast stay near the mouse. Each fall is then taken forward to a block seized to an eyebolt on each side of the aft part of the fore top. From there, it descends to belay on the cleats either side of the belfry.
I apologize for the photos above flipping back and forth from the port and starboard perspectives which is a bit confusing, but hopefully you still get the idea. The run of the main t’gallant braces is less complicated. They start as eye splices around the yard arm, run to a similar pair of blocks on a span hitched around the top of the mizzen, then descend to belay on the rail near the aft shrouds.
At this point there is obviously a LOT going on with all the rigging, especially as it travels through the mast tops. So it took (and will probably still take) a lot of rerouting lines so they aren’t fouled or bind against one another. I’ll continue to take a look as this as I start to secure lines and add coils of rope – which will be my next step. It’s also worth noting that according to Marquardt, T’gallant sheets were not used between 1735 and 1790, and I can’t find any solid references to determine how the uppermost clue lines may have been rigged without sails; so those will not be included. With that, this marks the end of the running rigging for the Peg.
The Lehman Shipyard 