nickbarnes

Comments by nickbarnes

• nickbarnes commented on the list the-aubrey-maturin-list-i-m-gonna-make-someday

  I had the satisfaction of seeing his fore topmast go by the board. I like to think it was the stern-chaser I had just fired that cut the backstay but it was more likely an absurd overpress of sail. Any gate, he came up into the wind...

  "Foretopmast": the topmast on the foremast.

  "go by the board": be lost, come apart, come away.

  "stern-chaser": a gun mounted on the stern of a ship, for use in a chase.

  "backstay": a very strong rope leading down and back from a mast-head, to the body of the ship or to a mast behind. Prevents the mast from falling forwards.

  "overpress of sail": too much sail for the rigging or masts, for any given weather or point of sailing.

  "any gate": at any rate, in any case.

  "came up into the wind": turned into the wind. "up" is into the wind, "down" is with the wind.

  May 31, 2008

• nickbarnes commented on the word tackle-fall

  Great word. It's the free end of the rope in a tackle (or "block and tackle"). There are two "blocks", each with several pulleys around which passes the rope, one end of which is fastened to one of the blocks. By pulling on the free end (the "fall", or tackle-fall), one endeavours to bring the blocks closer together. The force applied to the fall is multiplied by the number of plies of rope between the blocks, and this multiplication is the purpose of the whole assembly: with a ten-ply tackle one person can lift (say) half a ton.

  It works because to bring the two blocks together by (say) a foot, one must pull the fall (say) ten feet (for a ten-ply tackle). Work equals force times distance, as we all know, so the force required is ten times less.

  Words concerned with tackles appear a lot in O'Brian, for instance in the episode in which A+M are attempting to escape from a Parisian gaol.

  May 31, 2008