where rhe sheers would be benr on. Records show rhar learher chafe gear was used only on naval sai ls and nor on merchanr vessel sails because of irs expense. Sreel made no mention oflearher chafe gear. Eirher he did nor know abour ir or Victory's sailmakers, William Smirh and Andrew Scorr, added ir larer once rhey recognized ir was chafing. In addirion ro rhe evaluarion of rhe sail's consrrucrion marerials and rechniques, several orher fearures on rhe acrual fore ropsail are worrhy of inspecrion. Specifically, a few repairs and modificarions rhar we re made while rhe sail was in service are easily observed: one appears ro be where a hole was cur in rhe clorh for a grommer and rhen changed ro a differenr locarion and mended; the second repair shows the sailmaker's srirch (also called rhe herringbone srirch) used ro fix a small
Vicrory's fore topsail was once repaired with a herringbone stitch. cut in rhe clorh. This srirch was commonly used ro close a small cur or holes in sails, rarpaulins, and other canvas-work. The sail's seams were sewn from righr ro left and were srarred without a knor in rhe rwine ro avoid lumps which would likely have chafed. Remnants of rhe rrademarks srenciled on the cloth by the weavers who wove sail clorh for rhe Royal Navy can be seen wirh a careful eye. Recendy, rhe Dundee Herirage Trusr uncovered derails relaring ro rhe origins of rhe various rrademarks found on rhe sail. There appeared ro have been a !or of rhievery and corruprion rhroughour rhe Naval Dockyards during rhis rime period. To curb rhese problems, rhe Royal Navy painted wavy blue lines, down rhe enrire 38 yards of rhe bolr ro idenrify ir as governmenr properry. These lines are sri ll visible on rhe clorh. We can conclude rhar ships' plans and Admiralry directives were guidelines ro be adjusred by rhe naval archirects, shipbuilders, riggers, and sailmakers. David Sreel was SEA HISTORY 111 , SUMMER 2005
nor a sailmaker; he documenred sailmak- rhe sail berween 1806 and 189 1 is someing merhods of his time from informarion whar obscure. Ir was displayed ar an exgarhered rhrough observarions and inter- hibirion in 1891 and rhen onboard HMS views. Ir is likely rhar rhe Admiralry Board Victory for rhe cenrenary of rhe Barrie of accepred his inirial volume on rhe elemenrs Trafalgar in 1905. In 1960, ir was discovof sailmaking wirhour an in-deprh review ered in a sail lofr ar Victory barracks, now by people who were rhoroughly knowl- HMS Nelson, covered by gym m ars. Ir was edgeable in rhe craft. His documenrarion rerurned ro rhe ship for display in 1962 was good, rho ugh limired, wirh many of rhe bur left rhe sh ip for good in 1993, when ir subde rechnicaliries of sai lmaking omirred. was recogn ized rhar rhe sail was dereriorarNonerheless, wirh mulriple reprinrs over a ing and needed immediare conservarion. fifty-year period, clearly his rrearise was in Ir is rare ro find original sails from demand as a reference. His work remains hisro ric sai ling ships and shipwrecks. Sailthe besr wrirren record of sai lmaking rules ors barded agai nsr mildew and ror arrackand rechniques during rhe age ofNelson- ing rheir sails while rhey were srill using the age offighring sail. Thankfully, wirh rhe rhem. For a sail ro survive for more rhan survival of HMS Victory's fore ropsail, we 200 years in any condition gives us a wincan resr Sreel's sailmaking rules against an dow inro rhar pan of our maririme hisrory acrnal arrifacr, allowing roday's researchers of which rhere are few records. Researchro bener judge rhe accuracy of his rrearise. ers inreresred in sailmaki ng have rurned ro One major quesrion remains: why David Sreel's rrearises for rhe rules and dedid Victory's fore ropsail and rhe remnanrs rails of sai lmaking during rhe age of fighrof Vczsa's sails have head rope ends passed ing sail. Wirh Victory's fore ropsail srill rhrough rhe earring and a double wall around, we can now resr rhose rules and kn or worked inro rhe ends? To dare, no Ii r- gain a berrer idea of how rhar imporranr erarure has been discovered which explains job was performed. ,t rhis pracrice. Vczsa did nor have chocks ar rhe ends of her yards; rhe yardarms were This summer, HMS Vicrory is open for simply rapered so rhar rhe earring was nor tours and her sail is on display at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. (See www.hisrigidly hauled our and fixed arhwarrships. We can assume rhar because rhere was nor toricdockyard.co. uk and www. hms-victory. a large amount of rhwarrship rensioning com). Louie Bartos is a sailmaker based in of the sail's earring on rhe yard (as was rhe case for sails builr in larer years), rhere was Ketchikan, Alaska. He is completing his first no need for rhe head rope ro have a sraric book, The Evolurion of Sails and Sailmaking Berween 1600 and 1820. splice inro rhe leech line earri ng. Victory, however, did have ch ocks ar rhe ends of her yards in On display at the Naval Military Exhibition in 1891. addirion ro rhe wall knor in each earring. Why did rhe wall knor appear on rhe fore ropsail earring when there were chocks on rhe ends of rhe yards for a sail builr in 1803? As far as we know, no original sailmaker's plans of any of Victory's sails exisr. The sail remained on HMS Victory unril rhe ship rerurned for g repairs afrer rhe Barrie of > > Trafalgar. Ir was rhen rak" ~ en ro rhe sail loft in Cha~ 0" u rham. The whereabours of
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