Edgartown Reading Room Flag Mast Halyards October 3, 2006 · new flag mast of the New York Yacht Club, located on the pier at Harbour Court, has just one fife rail. (Figure 8.) Figure

Edgartown Reading Room Flag Mast Halyards October 3, 2006

Upbeat

TO: Arthur Y. Allen DATE: October 3, 2006 President Edgartown Reading Room FROM: Owen C. Smith Flag Officer Edgartown Reading Room SUBJECT: Flag Mast Halyards You requested that I review the Edgartown Reading Room’s flag mast halyards with particular attention to the methods of belaying. I have conducted my review and have concluded that a number of improvements to the existing halyards’ belaying, rigging, tackle and cordage would be possible and desirable. General. Flag masts of shore stations are to be as the mizzen mast of a square rigged ship standing out to sea. The mizzen’s spanker gaff indicates the direction of the mast allowing identification of the port from the starboard yardarms and adding the hoist of honor (the aftermost) to the other three. Belaying. On square rigged ships while sheets and other running rigging were made fast to belaying pins through pin rails along the gunwales, lines parallel to the mast were belayed to pins through the fife rail, located adjacent to the mast. The lines that bore the greatest loads, such as the jeers that swayed up the topmast, were made fast to a fife rail that was forward of the mast and supported at either end by bitts that went through the deck and were secured to the timbers below for strength. Figure 1. shows both this fife rail and the lighter one located aft of it around the mast for lines bearing lighter loads.

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Figure 1. Fife Rails of Charles W. Morgan, Mystic Seaport Museum

The ship in Figure 1. is the New Bedford whaler, Charles W. Morgan. Figure 2. shows the Morgan’s fife rail looking from the starboard side.

Figure 2. The Morgan’s Fife Rail Viewed From Starboard

The Morgan was a working ship in a trade not known for its polish and discipline. But even many working schooners had fife rails for their halyards, although these also

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were more utilitarian than opportunities for elegance. One of these is the fishing schooner Dutton shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Fife Rail of the Schooner, Dutton. Mystic Seaport Museum.

By contrast, Figure 4. shows a handsome fife rail from the Danish square rigged training ship, Joseph Conrad.

Figure 4. Fife Rail of the Danish Training Ship, Joseph Conrad. Mystic Seaport Museum

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Here, with a more naval sense of discipline, is a handsome piece of carpentry. This fine tradition has been followed by many leading yacht clubs. Two excellent examples are shown in Figure 5. and Figure 6.

Figure 5. Fife Rail at Stamford Yacht Club

Figure 6. Fife Rail at American Yacht Club – The Best

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Some yacht clubs have had variants of the surrounding style of fife rail. One of those is the New York Yacht Club. Before acquiring Harbour Court, the New York Yacht Club’s flag mast was next to that club’s first house which had been moved in the 1940s to Mystic Seaport Museum. That house has since been relocated to the grounds of Harbour Court, but the mast is still at Mystic (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Fife Rails of New York YC’s Old Flag Mast. Mystic Seaport Museum.

The picture shows two fife rails, with one to port and the other to starboard. The new flag mast of the New York Yacht Club, located on the pier at Harbour Court, has just one fife rail. (Figure 8.)

Figure 8. New Fife Rail of New York YC. Harbour Court, Newport, RI.

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Not all masts have their fife rails fixed to or through the deck. In some cases there may not have been adequate space to separate the fife rail from the mast and place stanchions in an area of the deck. This was probably the case with Edgartown Yacht Club, whose flag mast is located at the stringpiece of a narrow deck in a constrained space between the Club’s main hall and the navigable channel. As can be seen from Figures 9., 10. and 11., the Edgartown fife rail is attached to the mast itself through a combination of wooden blocks and metal bolts and straps.

Figure 9. Edgartown YC’s Mast Mounted Fife Rail. From the Starboard Bow

Figure 10. Edgartown YC’s Mast Mounted Fife Rail. From the Starboard Stern Quarter

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Figure 11. Edgartown YC’s Mast Mounted Fife Rail. From the Channel

In other cases where space limitations were not a factor some yacht clubs have nevertheless fixed their halyard arrangements to the mast. In the case of Vineyard Haven Yacht Club this resulted in an aesthetically and traditionally unsatisfactory outcome. (Figure 12.)

Figure 12. Vineyard Haven YC’s Flag Mast Cleating Arrangement.

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However, the Larchmont Yacht Club executed a good mast mounted fife rail, notwithstanding the adequate amount of space available to adopt the more traditional stanchion supported rail. (Figures 13. and 14.)

Figure 13. Larchmont YC’s Mast Mounted Fife Rail. From the Bow.

Figure 14. Larchmont YC’s Mast Mounted Fife Rail. From the Starboard Stern Quarter.

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The location and step of the flag mast at the Edgartown Reading Room is unusual in that it is placed at the side of the ship, as it were. Figure 15. shows both this feature and the fact that by the mast being in the run of the dock there is little available incremental footprint for additional structure.

Figure 15. Edgartown Reading Room Flag Mast and Dock

On the basis of the foregoing* I recommend that the Edgartown Reading Room adopt as its system for making its halyard ends fast:

1. a fife rail 2. affixed to the forward side of the flag mast 3. with a wooden bracket around the mast 4. just above waist height 5. supported by wooden brackets 6. with six holes for belaying pins 7. using 9” bronze belaying pins 8. made of varnished fine wood.

* I assume that my assignment is limited halyards and not new masts. If the dock is to be redone this subject could be revisited.

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Halyards. The cordage used for flag halyards varies from one yacht club to the next, with a large number improperly employing braided line.† Since the flag mast is inherently a traditional subject, it is correct to use twisted line for its appearance. Polyester is the best material available and should be spun for the proper feel. The dimensions of the Edgartown Reading Room mast make ¼” the correct diameter. Fittings should be bronze #1 swing clips. Anything smaller will not accept the grommets on most flags. Slide clips are sometimes used because their ends are slightly less bulky. However, generally simplicity is preferred, and slide clips have a more complicated moving part. There is no reason on free line to have swivels. Again, simplicity suggests none. There is no consensus on how clips are attached to the halyard. Several masts reviewed simply used single or double loops through the clip eyes. This is very simple and, being easy to change, gives flexibility if a particular halyard is used for several flags with different length hoists. New York Yacht Club uses this method. (Figures 16. and 17.)

Figure 16. Single Loop Hitch on Swing Clip Figure 17. Double Loop Hitch on Slide Clip Some rigs use splices. This gives a handsome, seamanlike appearance. In elaborate cases, clips are spliced onto a halyard at correct intervals for the anticipated flag. (Figure 18.)

† In this case Vineyard Haven YC, with 5/16” 3-strand twisted line, bested New York YC which had common braided line.

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Figure 18. Splices at Intervals in a Halyard Figure 19. Splices at Halyard Ends This, of course, leaves the relevant halyard dedicated to the hoist or hoists set by the splice interval or intervals. Simply putting splices at clips at the ends of halyards, incorporating the hoist of the flag into the halyard, gives ultimate flexibility since any size flag can be accommodated. (Figure 19.) When splices are used at the ends of halyards and when any halyard is spliced on the ends to form a loop, the splicing must be done following reeving on the sheave. My recommendation is that interval clip splices be used for the National Ensign, since there is no other proper flag for the peak position. For similar reasons I recommend that the truck halyard have interval clip splices because the only proper flag at that location is the Edgartown Reading Room flag. The halyards for the yardarms should have clips spliced to the ends for versatility. The fifth and sixth halyards should go to the truck and starboard yardarm, respectively. The second halyard for the truck allows for properly dressing the mast (in which case the Edgartown Reading Room flag goes on a pig stick above the truck). I recommend that the Edgartown Reading Room acquire one 6’ white fiberglass pig stick. Although this memorandum deals with halyards, I would add the recommendation that the Edgartown Reading acquire an international signal code set of flags in the appropriate size (#2, 18”x 24”) and of good and durable quality. These should last 100 years.

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Documents

Edgartown Reading Room Flag Mast Halyards October 3, 2006 · new flag mast of the New York Yacht Club, located on the pier at Harbour Court, has just one fife rail. (Figure 8.) Figure