Rigging Plans, Sloop, Brig and Brigantine

     I worked up some simplistic rigging plans for three types of ship; a sloop, a brig and a brigantine. All of these can legitimately be built using the Pirate Sloop hull. I plan on building one of each, just to keep my fleet from looking like they were built on a production line.

   We start with my sketch of the hull;

    It is pretty basic but I trust that you get the idea, now we add the masts, bowsprit and yardarms;

 

 

After you have attached the mast and bowsprit you need to add the standing rigging, this was the ropes that held the masts upright and helped transfer the "pull" of the sails to the hull so that the ship would move. The ropes did not move through pulleys and so were routinely covered with tar to preserve them so it would be a good idea to use heavy black thread to represent these.

Now we add the running rigging, this was called "running" because these were the ropes used to control the position of the sails and yardarms and "ran" through pulleys. These ropes were left in the natural hemp color. This rigging plan is highly stylized and should not be thought to be complete or exact in any way. There are lots of websites that will bury you in details if you want to follow that path, I am working on the idea that we want a simple, sturdy gaming model that looks the part.

And last we come to the point of all this; hanging a sheet in the wind. I kept this to a minimum as well but the normal sheet plan for a sloop is pretty simple under any circumstances.

What follows is the same set up for a brig;

And a Brigantine

 

 The specific details on ships of this era were all very general, ships were built by Master Shipwrights who could build a vessel by eye and the most basic of plans so things like the position of the masts could vary from ship to ship.

     I have built a frame so I can make ratlines, this will be the subject of my next post.