Question: tuss on a sailing ship

jtilley wrote:

I don't have the Mondfeld book in front of me, but I wonder if what we're dealing with here may in fact be a simple typographical error.  I've never heard of a "tuss" on a sailing (or other) ship, but there is - as Cap'n Mac mentioned in passing - such a thing as a truss. &.

Hi Prof. Tilley

Shame on me. You are absolutely right: I made a typo. Mondfeld indeed, in the German edition of his famous book, translates the German "Rack" into "truss". He further translates it into "racage" (French), "racamiento" (Spain), and "trozza" (Italian), respectively.

However, we can only wonder why he didn't use a more common English translation for Rack. I guess at the time of writing the original version of the book there was no internet and getting on all the special denotations from one language into another must have been very difficult at that time even if he (as native German) is researching historic ships for a living.

Nevertheless my favorite online German->English dictionary: www.leo.org gives the right translation after typing in "truss" and "Rack" pops out.

See you

Could it possible be tuck which a term for the planking running under the stern I believe.

Rod

I don't have the Mondfeld book in front of me, but I wonder if what we're dealing with here may in fact be a simple typographical error.  I've never heard of a "tuss" on a sailing (or other) ship, but there is - as Cap'n Mac mentioned in passing - such a thing as a truss.

The parrel of the lower yard was superceded sometime in the mid-eighteenth century (James Lees says in about 1760 in the British Royal Navy) by a somewhat more robust arrangement called a truss tackle.  The details of it varied from time to time, but in general it conisted of a couple of heavy lines that "strapped" the lower yard to the mast in such a way that they could be hauled taut and slacked off.  (Slacking them off let the yard move a few feet away from the mast.  That was desireable when the ship was working to windward; it let the yard swing a little more without fouling the lower shrouds.)

For most, if not all, of the period when the truss tackle was in use on the lower yards, the older parrel arrangement continued to be used for the topsail yards and those above them.

In later years the word "truss" acquired a different, but related, meaning.  Sometime in the nineteenth century lower and lower-topsail yards came to be mounted to their respective masts with iron fittings known as "yard trusses."  Their form varied somewhat, but the typical yard truss as shaped sort of like a letter Y.  The "arms" of it were secured to the yard, and the "stalk" had an eye in it to accept a heavy iron pin.  The pin fit into a socket welded to a band around the mast.  This arrangement obviously only was applicable to yards that didn't have to slide up and down their masts - i.e., the lower yard and lower topsail yard.  (The upper topsail yard, and those above it, continued to use the old, sliding parrel - or something similar to it.)  The lower and lower topsail yards of the Cutty Sark are good examples.

I'd have to read the context to be sure, but offhand that seems like a logical explanation for the glitch in the book.

Ah, I found it.  I used a French-based nautical dictionary to find:

Rack = Parrel  Also that Parrel Truck = Rackklotje (Rahk KLot-heh, if my eyeball 'reads' right).

If I am guessing correctly, "tuss" should be "truck" or parrel.

We have two problems here.  One is that the history of bending yard to mast spans a great long time.  Another, is that the methods, and the terminology differ with different nations or practices of sailing.

(Heller plans are also notorious for being drawn from pot shards and postage stamps and similarly exact sources.)

On topic.  Earliest times, the yard was lashed to the mast.  Later, that lashing became slings to  hold the vertical position of the yards.  On topmasts and topgallant (your translation software may prefer top-gallant) masts, there was less need for skewing the yard around to clear its mast's shrouds. 

That allowed a ring-like fitting to be fitted on the after (backside) of the yard.  That ring would be large enough to be a tight (but still loose) fit at the heel (base) of the mast, and more free when hoisted up to its under-sail position.

As ships, and their spars, got larger, that simple wooden or wood-and-metal ring needed to be more of a 'wheeled' sort of roller bearing to travel up the masts and also to rotate around them. Some of those roller parrels were complex, and their fit could be adjusted by the lines that made up the parts of them.  (Which is modeling detail probably not really needful in scales smaller than, oh, 1:48.)

To the end of the sailing era, lower yards were held on a metal truss fastened to a band on the mast; or to a sliding track on some metal masts.  The upper yards used tube parrel that clam-shelled around the mast and had a mounting point for the yard.

Now, to add more linguistic confusion, the "lifts" actual do not lift.  Instead, the support the yard when lowered (with sails reduced, furled, or stowed).  With the sails set, the lifts are slack.  What raises and lowers the yard is a "haliyard" (a construction from haul-yard).  For the lower yards, these are often called "jeers" and belay (tie off) to a rack on the forward side of their mast. 

Well, that is probably enough confusion for you now.  Hope it helps some.