mizzen rigging details

Hi Mark,

Good questions all, and ones for which I have no really definitive answers, just suggestions.
The mizzen topsail halliard could be rigged in a number of ways, but your suggestion is the most likely. Depending on where the tie block ended up when the sail was raised, the fall could lead down beside the mast to belay somewhere near the foot, or it could be led to one side and belayed on the rail. The sail is small, so there is not much force on it. We have belaying pins in the railings in about the right spot, but there is no sign of any belaying furniture at the mast, unless there were cleats on the mast itself (the original mast does not survive, so we do not know).

The mizzen topmast had to have a toprope, but its lead is not clear. Unlike the fore and main, there is no bitt abaft the mast to provide a lead and no capstan in the area. The weight of the mast is pretty low, so it should have been possible to set the topmast without a capstan (we do this on Kalmar Nyckel). The toprope does not need a belaying point, since it is only used to raise the mast until the fid can be inserted. One possibility is a lead block at the foot of the mast (there are a few bolts there that could have been ringbolts for lead blocks) allowing the toprope to be led down to the main deck, where a large number of men could haul on it.

The mizzen sheet led from the clew of the sail to a block fastened to a staple in the vertical post which carried the flagstaff and formed the center post of the transom. The staple is offset to one side (starboard) a little off the deck, to clear the flagstaff. The block was probably on a longish strop, and the fall could belay back on the sheet istelf or it could have been taken to either side and belayed on the railing.

Fred