On Mon, 08 Jun 2015 07:59:49 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:

On 6/7/2015 5:26 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 07 Jun 2015 09:17:35 -0600, Paul Cassel
wrote:


That is exactly how it was done, except of course it wasn't just you
up there, it was shoulder to shoulder across the spar. A Clipper ship
might have a crew of 200, largely to handle the sails. The crew of a
Frigate would have been larger.

See http://tinyurl.com/n9q8o8s which includes some actual photos of
reefing square sails.


Thanks for the link. If it were just me up there, the sail would be
furled just about the time I got Davey Jones' cooperation.


I think that we all imagine "how I would do it" when thinking about
how something was done. But actually, "back in the day", there was
often only one way to do a lot of things and I doubt that anyone gave
the matter much thought. If you wanted to be a farmer you had top plow
the field and if you plowed the field you had to have a horse, and so
on.

If you wanted to be a sailor than the sail had to be reefed and if
you reefed the sail than you had to climb the mast....
--
Cheers,

Bruce