Rigging related resources for ship modelers

This is a list of resources that may be helpful for people doing research on rigging for large sailing ships. I have not included much information on wire rope because that is not an area of interest for me.

I have included links to on-line copies where I could find them. I tried to find sources such as Google or the Internet Archive that let people download whole documents as pdfs but that was not always possible. Where it was not possible, I included pointers to sites like Hathi Trust, which left people from member institutions do full downloads but only let non-members read the document on-line and download one page at a time as pdfs. I figured that was better than nothing. In a few case I have pointed to copies of out of copyright material that I purchased and scanned myself then posted.

Instructions to sailors or want to be sailors and general ship related information

These documents can be useful even though they do not focus on rigging they because they instruct sailors as to aspects of the operation of sailing ships and often the instructions include information on rigging.

Ainsley, Thomas Liddell The Examiner in Seamanship, 1864

Ashley, Clifford, The Ashley Book of Knots, 1944

Bedford, Frederic, The Sailor’s Ready Reference Book, 1890

Brady, William, Naval Apprentices Kedge Anchor – 1841

Burney, Charles, The boy’s Manual of Seamanship and Gunnery, 1871

Chapman, Charles, All About Ships, 1869

Dana, Richard Henry, The Seaman’s Friend, 1847

Fordyce, Alexander Dingwall, Outlines of Naval Routine, 1837

Harras, R.H., Captain Alston’s Seamanship 2^nd edition, 1871

Hourigan, Manual of Seamanship for the Officer of the Deck, 1903

L.R. Hamersly & Co., A Naval Encyclopedia, 1884

Lever, Darcy, The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor, 1819

Luce, Stephen Bleecker, Text-book of Seamanship, 1884

Martelli, Charles, Naval Officers Guide for Preparing Ships for Sea, 1838

Matson the handy assistant for the local marine board examinations, 1886

McNally - Seamanship Examiner and instructor of masters and mates, 1873

Melville, Herman, Redburn, His First Voyage, 1850

Nares, G. S., Seamanship , 1868

Nares, G.S., Seamanship: Including the Names of Principal Parts of a Ship, 1876

Nicholson, John, The Operative Mechanic, 1825

Patterson's Illustrated Nautical Dictionary, 1891

Russell, W. Clark, Sailors' language. A collection of sea terms and their definitions, 1883

Smyth, W.H., The Sailor’s Word Book, 1867

Standidge, Samuel, in The Naval Chronicle Vol III, 1800

Walker, T.P., Captain Alston's Seamanship 3^rd ed, 1871

Rope, Chain, Ropemaking and Rigging

These materials can be useful because they provide details on how rope or chain was made or measured.

Anchor Marine & Industrial Supply, Inc., Chain Catalogue, 2026

Borojevic, Ksenija, The Ropes of Pharaohs, 2013

Bushell, The rigger’s guide and seaman’s assistant, 1893

Carter, H.R., Rope, twine and thread making: A practical handbook for the use of rope, twine and thread makers, 1909

Chapman, Robert, Treatise on Ropemaking, 1869

De Decker, Kris, Lost Knowledge: Ropes and Knots, 2010

Delano, Chas. H., The Cordage Trade Journal, 1915

Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition, article on ropemaking, 1911, Volume 23

Harland, John H. et al, Hawser-Laid/Cable-Laid, 2005

Harland, John, The Lay of Rope, 2014

Hasluck, Paul N., Knotting and Splicing Ropes and Cordage, 1905

Karsten, Dirk, The Myth of left-handed plain rope (hawser-laid) in Ship Modeling, 2022

Miller, Janet E. et al, Degradation in Weighted and Unweighted Historic Silks, 1989

Newhall Ship Chandlery Co., catalogue, 1899

Plymouth Cordage Co., General Catalogue, 1919

Plymouth Cordage Co., The Story of Rope, 1916

Rees, Abraham, The Cyclopædia vol xxx – 1819

Stopford – Cordage and its use at Sea 1925

Wardlaw, George Addison, Standards and Specifications for Metals and Metal Products, 1933

Wiener, Jakub et al, Differences Between Flax and Hemp, 2003

Woodhouse, Thomas et al, Cordage and Cordage Hemp and Fibres, 1919

Rigging Lists

The following documents have more or less complete lists of the rigging (standing and running) of large sailing ships from the pre-wire rope era. I have included pointers to the documents or, to the rigging list parts of the documents, where I have found the documents on line or where I have put copies of the documents on my website. Of course, I have not posted copies of the actual documents where there are copyright issues. You will need to buy your own copies if you want to review those.

Annandale, Charles, The Popular Encyclopedia; or, 'Conversations Lexicon', 1874 - entry on Ship – pages 73-83

Biddlecombe, George The Art of Rigging, 1848 – pages 113-127

Bond, Henry, The Art of Appareling and Fitting of Any Ship with Masts, Yards and Cordage 1704

Brady, William, Naval Apprentices Kedge Anchor, 1841 – pages 340-362

Force, Peter, Tables Showing the Masts and Spars, Rigging and Stores, etc. of Every Description, Allowed to Different Classes of Vessels Belonging to the Navy of the United States, 1826 - pages 7-15 of pdf

Hayward, Edward, The sizes and lengths of riggings for all the States Ships and Frigats, 1654 - pages 4-12 of pdf

Kipping, Robert, Rudimentary treatise on masting, mast-making, and rigging of ships : also tables of spars, rigging, blocks, chain, wire and hemp ropes, etc., relative to every class of vessels ; together with an appendix of dimensions of masts and yards of the Royal Navy, 1854– pages 122-131

Marquardt, Karl Heinz, Eighteenth Century Rigs and Rigging, 1992 – pages 278-306 (copy of Steel’s 1794 table) also, pages 307-328

Miller, Thomas, The Compleat Modellist Shewing The true and exact way of raising the Model of any Ship or Vessel, small or great, either in proportion, or out of proportion., 1660 – pages 9-15

Steel, David, A General View of the Dimensions of the most approved ship of each Class in the British Navy , 1778

Steel, David, Elements of Mastmaking, Sailmaking and Rigging - merchant ships, 1794 – pages 271-289

Steel, David, Elements of Mastmaking, Sailmaking and Rigging - navy ships, 1794 – pages 234-258

Tosci, Edward, Modeling the Extreme Clipper Young America, 1853, 2019 - pages 209-232

Underhill, Harold, Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship & Ocean Carrier, 1946 – pages 269, 271, 273-274