The Rigging of Ships: in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast, 1600-1720 (Dover Maritime) [Paperback]

R. C. Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Maritime | Publication Date: March 14, 1994

Describes and depicts in detail how 17th-century English, French, Dutch, and other European trading ships and warships were rigged, from the lower masts and bowsprit to the running rigging of the topsails and topgallants. Over 350 fine line drawings illustrate every rigging detail. 25 halftones.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (March 14, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 048627960X
• ISBN-13: 978-0486279602
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you interested in all aspects of Square Rigged Ships?, March 8, 2000

By 

Conrad B. Senior (Easton, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rigging of Ships: in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast, 1600-1720 (Dover Maritime) (Paperback)

This book is actually written by and for model ship builders. I gave it a 5 star rating because of the difficulty finding information of this nature. It is somewhat dry reading, but the diagrams are for the most part clear. Some of the whole ship detailed drawings, lost something in the reduction and are difficult to read. Much of the information here came from the authors detailed study of the St George model as well as impossible to find rare book references from the late 1600's.

I love every aspect of sailing and I'm particularly interested in learning whatever I can about how ship- rigged boats were actually rigged. This book provides some great information on the terminology of the complicated rigging of these vessels, as well as some of the construction details of the spars. In it you will find information on spars, proportions of the same, standing rigging, and running rigging, and the spirtsail topmast (which went out of use after 1720). If you are interested in learning everything you can about square-rigged ships, this is one of the few references still in print. Buy one while you still can. I am very happy with the book. Because of the rarity of the information presented here it will not be the sort of book I would loan out.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard-To-Find Information Now At The Tip of Your Fingers, January 22, 2001

By 

Mark A. Savage - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rigging of Ships: in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast, 1600-1720 (Dover Maritime) (Paperback)

In another review, I said that one needed 3 books as a foundation for the hobby of model ship building. Oops, I was wrong. This is number 4!

Since I'm building a model of the Mayflower (1620), this is the book that has all the answers for all the questions I have. From mast tapering, angles, and length, to rigging hints and methods. This is the square riggers handbook. There is a ton of information, yes covering 1600-1625 period ships. Although there is more for the later part of the title, not to fear, the early part of the title is very well covered.

Despite the hard to read (and messy) illustrations, and weak reductions of original materials, the content of the book requires it get a 5-star rating. Even the dated language doesn't matter. Move past that, and the knowledge is abundant.

If you're not a modeler, and a fan of square rigged sailing vessels, then this is the book to learn how they operated. Very thorough in it's coverage of all the aspects of the vessel's rigging. You can almost feel the ropes in your hands.

So I'm sorry to say, you'll need this book too in your collection... Don't delay.....

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For the detailing buff, July 25, 2005

By 

E. W. De Boer "Evert de Boer" (Holland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rigging of Ships: in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast, 1600-1720 (Dover Maritime) (Paperback)

Maybe more for the ship model builder than for the naval historian, unless you are planning to build a replica of a sailing vessel of the covered age as an experimental archeologist / historian.
Anderson is rather thorough and the illustrations are very helpful as well. A list of related literature would have been welcome.