What are these ropes and what are there purpose?

U

UVSaturated

Joined
Oct 31, 2023
Messages
22
Points
48

Hello. What are these ropes called that are situated on some masts? Some masts do not have them, and what are their purpose?

WarshipNomenclature.jpg
 
You can find something similar on the Victory's mast, but there it is made of iron; as far as I know it serves to stabilise the lower mast, which in earlier years was made of cordage. I think it is rather unlikely that contact with the sails would prevent a chafing effect, but perhaps not entirely out of the question?
 
These are called woldings. As masts were fashioned from several lenth of timbers joined together (especially the lower masts), the woldings were fitted to strenghen the assembly. The ropes were complemented by wood strips above and below to stop and keep the rope in place. At some point, the ropes were a were replaced by metal bands.
G.
 
Woldings provide compression force to the mast, which reduces the tendency for the wood of the mast to split along the grain after many cycles of flexing and bending under the force of the wind on the sails. Example: Grab a handful of straws, then try to bend the bundle. Some of the straws want to slide against each other on the inside of the bend you are making, and the cross section of the bundle wants to go from a circle to a flatter oval. Also the individual straws compress into oval, and then flat cross sections as the bundle is bent to extreme. This sliding motion and the change in cross section of the bundle demonstrates the shear force along the grain of wood within a mast when it is bent.

The mast is stiffened against these internal forces by the bands of compression offered by the woldings. and the mast will retain its cross section shape because of this support. If it were not so, splits would begin to occur along the grain within the mast, and the mast weaken faster over time. Masts are routinely replaced in ships every couple of decades or so, the frequency of which depends on the funding available and availability of the proper timber. Mast replacement is one of the many things required for the expensive maintenance of ships. Extending the life of masts is essential in reducing the enormous costs of maintaining a ship.

To give you an idea of just how expensive these ships are, the entire British government can no longer afford to repair HMS Victory in order to restore her to seaworthy condition from the damage sustained from improper support of the hull in drydock. Hence, the ship will never sail again. A huge money drive funded by all the citizens of the country would be necessary to restore her. The USS Constitution was funded by a few of these drives and was able to stay seaworthy as a result. Saving vessels such as these is accomplished largely through national will.
 
Last edited:
The masts were constructed composite by putting together several elements, which were fixed together by collars and wouldings

Tke a look at this topic, were the construction of a mast was explained

HMS Terror

Hello, I am doing a model of the HMS Terror, I have two drawings from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich England and the book “HMS Terror” by Betts but neither answers some questions I have. What material was used for the windlass, capstan and winches? The drawings I have do not have a...
shipsofscale.com
 
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
Woldings provide compression force to the mast, which reduces the tendency for the wood of the mast to split along the grain after many cycles of flexing and bending under the force of the wind on the sails. Example: Grab a handful of straws, then try to bend the bundle. Some of the straws want to slide against each other on the inside of the bend you are making, and the cross section of the bundle wants to go from a circle to a flatter oval. Also the individual straws compress into oval, and then flat cross sections as the bundle is bent to extreme. This sliding motion and the change in cross section of the bundle demonstrates the shear force along the grain of wood within a mast when it is bent.

The mast is stiffened against these internal forces by the bands of compression offered by the woldings. and the mast will retain its cross section shape because of this support. If it were not so, splits would begin to occur along the grain within the mast, and the mast weaken faster over time. Masts are routinely replaced in ships every couple of decades or so, the frequency of which depends on the funding available and availability of the proper timber. Mast replacement is one of the many things required for the expensive maintenance of ships. Extending the life of masts is essential in reducing the enormous costs of maintaining a ship.

To give you an idea of just how expensive these ships are, the entire British government can no longer afford to repair HMS Victory in order to restore her to seaworthy condition from the damage sustained from improper support of the hull in drydock. Hence, the ship will never sail again. A huge money drive funded by all the citizens of the country would be necessary to restore her. The USS Constitution was funded by a few of these drives and was able to stay seaworthy as a result. Saving vessels such as these is accomplished largely through national will.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a lecture from "Strength of Materials "class. A class requirement that architecture student friends of mine at the U. of Miami in the '60s often had to repeat. Fortunately, as a studio art student I was faced with no such demanding courses. :rolleyes:

Pete;)
 
Peter Gutterman said:
Sounds like a lecture from "Strength of Materials "class. A class requirement that architecture student friends of mine at the U. of Miami in the '60s often had to repeat. Fortunately, as a studio art student I was faced with no such demanding courses. :rolleyes:

Pete;)
Click to expand...
What do you expect from an engineer ? I'm not Mr. Rogers... :rolleyes: ROTF
 
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
Woldings provide compression force to the mast, which reduces the tendency for the wood of the mast to split along the grain after many cycles of flexing and bending under the force of the wind on the sails. Example: Grab a handful of straws, then try to bend the bundle. Some of the straws want to slide against each other on the inside of the bend you are making, and the cross section of the bundle wants to go from a circle to a flatter oval. Also the individual straws compress into oval, and then flat cross sections as the bundle is bent to extreme. This sliding motion and the change in cross section of the bundle demonstrates the shear force along the grain of wood within a mast when it is bent.

The mast is stiffened against these internal forces by the bands of compression offered by the woldings. and the mast will retain its cross section shape because of this support. If it were not so, splits would begin to occur along the grain within the mast, and the mast weaken faster over time. Masts are routinely replaced in ships every couple of decades or so, the frequency of which depends on the funding available and availability of the proper timber. Mast replacement is one of the many things required for the expensive maintenance of ships. Extending the life of masts is essential in reducing the enormous costs of maintaining a ship.

To give you an idea of just how expensive these ships are, the entire British government can no longer afford to repair HMS Victory in order to restore her to seaworthy condition from the damage sustained from improper support of the hull in drydock. Hence, the ship will never sail again. A huge money drive funded by all the citizens of the country would be necessary to restore her. The USS Constitution was funded by a few of these drives and was able to stay seaworthy as a result. Saving vessels such as these is accomplished largely through national will.
Click to expand...
Interesting and informative. Thank you.
By the way: I visited HMS Victory a couple of years ago: she was in a pretty sorry state. No topmasts and sections of hull planking removed revealing well rotted frames. Warrior is much more impressive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top