[Sca-cooks] OT-knots and medieval boats

[Stefan li Rous]

Brandu/Elias replied to me with:
>> Oh, please do! I have this set of similar articles, but these are hardly
>> comprehensive and different viewpoints are always useful.
>
> You got it.

Thanks!

> When I finish it, I'll post it along. I will have it in MS Word format, for
> printing, but would you prefer for me to send it as plain text, HTML, or
> what?

Plain text is probably best. Word format will work, although I often have to
reduce the formatting to maintain some kind of consistancy with the other
Florilegium files. Lately though, I have sometimes kept the original Word
formatting since you usually lose special characters, underlines, italics and
such when you convert to text and then to HTML. PDF files have been impossible
for me to work with since I can't edit them at all.


>> Seakeeping-p1-art (84K)  8/20/98    "Seakeeping", by Dom. Pedro de
> Alcazar.
>>                                        English naval power, 1450-1480. (1
> of 2)
>> Seakeeping-p2-art (99K)  8/20/98    "Seakeeping" (part 2 of 2)
>
> I shall remember to read it... I think I missed that one!

Oh! Often I post notes like this for the other folks on this list. I often
figure the experts are already know this stuff or have already read these
particular files. It's nice to know that the files might be of use to all
levels of expertise.  And that I'm not just simply adding to the noise level.


>> Some of the knots and how they are used was new to me, though.
> Most people tie a lot more knots than they have names for, I have found.
> ( I teach the knots in the Boy Scout troop I work with. )

Okay. I think I have names for most knots that I intentionally tie. And the
names for the rest are probably non-printable.


>> > Square (Technically this is called a Reef knot in sailors parlance)
>>
>> This is precisely where some more explanation may be needed for many
> people.
>> I easily recognise a "square knot" while "reef knot" was unknown. Others
>> may not recognise "square knot".
>
> Reef knot IS a Square knot Stefan, the old "right over left and left over
> right...

Yes, I understood that. My comment was simply a reminder to please also use
the common name and/or describe the knot.


> It got that name because it was used to tie off reef points on a sail
> ( this is a series of ties attached to a sail, and used to shorten it when
> the wind blows hard, by reducing the sail area in this way, you reduce the
> pressure on the sail cloth, rigging and spars, reducing the likely hood of
> rigging failure or capsizing from the wind.

I'm not sure how the knot is tied here. Between the spar and around the sail?
Why a reef knot, instead of a series of half-hitches, around the spar and
sail? I've probably got the wrong idea here.

> Oddly enough the use of reefing
> points was quite common in the early Viking era ships, but fell out of
> general use some time in the Twelfth century, when the use of bonneted
> sails was more common. (Bonnets are removable strips of sailcloth attached
> to the bottom of sails. They are laced on when the wind is light, and
> pulled off when the weather got heavier.)
> Reefing points were not to be come common again until after period, except
> for small single sailed craft.


What is the disadvantage of reefing, such that it fell out of use?


>> I can accept and handle jpegs and other drawing formats, if you are the
>> copyright holder or have permission to use the drawings. I think these
>> would definitely help folks visualize things.
>
> The pictures I have are scanned from a book on the Osberg find, I do not
> have copyright.
> the book is
> A. E. Christensen, et al., Osebergdronningens Grav. Schibsted, 1992.
> The pictures were sent to me, as I do not have access to the book, and I
> think it is in Norse anyway, which I do not read.

Sigh. We'll have to see. I'm not sure if simply crediting the book will
satisfy the copyright law or not. I've been simply leaving out such
illustrations if they aren't absolutely necessary. Oh, Morgan? Are you still
reading this list?


>> "brailing" or "braiding"?
> Brailing. this is a method of bringing together a number of control lines
> to ease the stress at each one, so that if you pull on a line, you actually
> spread the pull over several points. The Old Norse used Brailing lines and
> leather reinforcing strips attached to the sail, since they generally used
> a rather weak homespun linen for the sail cloth, and it was prone to
> tearing or blowing out when the wind got strong.

linen sails? When did hemp become more common? Did the Norse not have access
to hemp? I thought I'd seen criss-crossing strips of reinforcing material on
pictures of Norse craft. Is this just modern artistic interpretation?

If you look at many pictures of medieval tents, you see multiple guildlines
coming off of a series of points around the pavilion edge to a single rope
going to a stake. Is this brailing?


>> I have saved this message for the info on period knots, but I'd rather
>> replace it with a complete article.
>
> A more complete article will have to wait, I am afraid.
> The one on boats is taking up the lion's share of my time.
Okay. I understand. I am willing to take an early version of an article and

replace it later. I like to think this helps get the information out to the

folks who can use it sooner, as well as allowing the author to get feedback
on where changes might be needed or for the author to be provided with
additional information.


A nice explanation of how period ships were measured. I have edited it, and
it will be the basis for this new file in the TRAVEL section:
ship-measure-msg   (8K) 12/30/02    Measuring priod ship sizes. Tunnage.

Right now, because of severe "denial of service attacks" all FTP access to the
site has been discontinued. I will get this (and all the other new and updated
files) added to the site when I can. (upon conviction, I see no problem with
executing these spammers, particularly those making malacious attacks)

>> What does that work out to
>> in size measurments? (other than rather small, although you did say
>> "coaster").

I also realized in re-reading my statement above, that I may have come across
  rather derogatory, when that was not what I meant. I was thinking more along
the line that this was probably a little small to be making cross Atlantic
trips in. I know it's been done, the Colombus' Pinta was not very big. *I*
just don't think I would want to do this. For a coaster though, this size may
be fine.
--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas         StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****