Careers in the Marine
Ships Rigger The person who makes and maintains a ship's rig is called a rigger. In the Age of Sail, riggers were employed onboard ships and in seaports all along the coasts. In 2013 there are still many sailing ships plying the world's oceans: training ships, private vessels, cruise ships, classic yachts, etc. Riggers are still needed, though not nearly as many as there would have been in the Age of Sail. Tom Ward is a ship's rigger. He works ashore in a building called a rigging "loft." He has his own company, Traditional Rigging Company in Maine, and he designs, makes, and installs rigging for all types of ships and boats. Tom's work is very hands-on. Most days, he works in the loft making pieces of rigging from rope using very precise measurements. Having the finished product fit the ship's rig exactly is very important if it is going to work properly, so Tom always checks and rechecks his work against the vessel's blueprints, made by the designers and shipbuilders, or against measurements he took himself to make sure no one has missed anything that might prove a problem later.
"Sometimes I have to spend a lot of time design ing a piece to meet certain strength requirements or other criteria-but appearance is very important, too. A big part of what I do is functional art. When I am working on a boats rig, about half my time is spent in the loft making rigging or blocks (pulleys) and the other half I am on the boat itself, usually in a shipyard. Sometimes I have to work aloft for long hours. I also get to work with naval architects (designers), carpenters, spar makers, and sailmakers. I find this part of my job fun because I usually work alone, but I enjoy the company of fellow maritime artisans and mariners:' Tom grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie in the Great Lakes. When he was a teenager, the brig Niagara was being rebuilt in downtown Erie, and Tom went down to check it out. He ended up getting a job onboard as a deckhand. From" ¡ there, he got jobs on other sailing ships and ended up sailing around the world on a square-rigged training ship. After that voyage, Tom continued to sail and soon became a captain. Eventually, he moved ashore to the coast of Maine, where sailing ships are numerous and people still have the skills to build and maintain them. There, he worked for a sailmaker, who was very influential in a lot of ways and encouraged Tom to refine his skills as a rigger.
"In my early years as a seaman, I had the very good fortune to have sailed with men who were riggers in their own right who taught me things as theya been taught-skills that had been handed down for centuries. Rigging is not a stand-alone discipline. You need to know about sails, different boats and their requirements, the preferences of different designers, principles of basic geometry, strengths of materials, and so on . This only comes from years of practical experience and a lot of reading. What I didn't learn at sea, I had to learn from reading lots and lots of books, most of them obscure or very old because more modern techniques and materials have changed, but the principles still apply. I also have to keep up with modern advances in r igging to stay competitive, but my specialty is in traditional rigging. In the 21st century, it is difficult to find work sometimes, but I find it very rewarding in the end, when the ship sails off over the horizon and I know I helped make it possible:' - Tom Ward
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(To Learn more about Tom and the Traditional Rigging Company, visit www.traditionalrigging.com.)
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