The SquareRigger

12/08/2024

Here is a short video about the HMAV BOUNTY replica that I had the good fortune to sail aboard for three years. I began my square-rigger career aboard this fine ship and learned from many wonderful shipmates and from Captain Roger Morris. I will remain forever grateful for the day BOUNTY and her crew crossed my wake. Thankfully she is still afloat and awaiting for someone or a syndicate of voyaging adventurous folks to refit her at her berth in Thailand and get underway again!

In Bligh's Wake - This documentary charts the voyage from New Zealand to Tahiti of a replica of the HMS Bounty, destined to be the star of Kiwi director Roger Donaldson’s film of the famous mutiny. The boat was built in Whangerei from The Bounty’s original Admiralty plans, commissioned for an un...

03/08/2024

All set up for the Galilee Harbor Maritime Days!
Come on down to 300 Napa Street in Sausalito and say hello 👋

04/07/2024

Happy Fourth of July! Let’s try to make it to the 249th celebration next year as free citizens and not subjects!

One of my favorite “Fourth of July” celebrations was spent at the US Consulate General residence in Edinburgh back in 1998 during my year leading the rigging restoration of the 1896 barque GLENLEE in Glasgow.

I love Scotland and thought how uniquely Scottish to have a drink of Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Kentucky Bourbon with Ronald McDonald.

30/06/2024

Nothing quite as relaxing as sitting on a warm sailmakers bench repairing a fore topsail at anchor in Tahiti...

23/06/2024

Still life memories of sailing aboard HMAV BOUNTY with ditty bag, h**p main stay, and Cat o' Nine Tails.

I made the ditty bag from scrap Scottish flax canvas and the Cat o' Nine Tails and ditty bag handle from a section of shroud laid h**p from her old mizzen lower shrouds all from the New Zealand built HMAV BOUNTY built for the 1984 film "The BOUNTY".

02/06/2024

This photo is was once commonplace in New York and other harbors around the world. Two large commercial Cape Horn deepwaterman square-riggers beside each other.

During the restoration of the 1885 full rigged ship WAVERTREE, the mighty 1911 four masted barque PEKING passed close aboard WAVERTREE as she was being towed to a berth near WAVERTREE. If you are curious about the superb restoration of PEKING please visit the following page:
Viermastbark PEKiNG -de Hamborger Veermaster

22/05/2024

I made this knot board for the Presidio Yacht Club overlooking the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge while I was the historic ships rigger foreman aboard the 1886 BALCLUTHA in San Francisco over twenty years ago.

My "working" ditty bag is in the photo for scale. The ditty bag is 14" tall. The most fun was turning in a Liverpool wire splice on a piece of 1/4" wire at the middle left of the frame. Every bitter end has a proper needle and palm whipping.

I was a member while working at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and enjoyed having my sailboat berthed at one of the most beautiful marinas in California.

02/05/2024

A rigging plan and a pin rail diagram from the HMAV BOUNTY replica built for the 1984 film "The Bounty". I still could probably find every line aboard her now after sailing aboard her for three years. Some things are hard to forget... like fore course clew garnets and my shipmates.
P.S. The only thing very easy to forget are the bloody bowlines!

29/04/2024

Decided I would cover a hole created by the removal of a coaxial cable outlet. For several months I debated what to use and decided to make a plaque holding a section of the 1 3/8" (35mm) diameter 6x7 fiber core double Mil spec galvanized wire rope we had made for the The Tall Ship Glenlee, a handsome barque built in 1896. The total amount of wire rope used in the restoration was over 16,000 feet (4,900 meters) to bring her back to her Cape Horn configuration.

29/03/2024

Several folks have PM me as to how to turn in a splice Liverpool fashion as I showed in my previous post on splicing wire rope for the brigantine Matthew Turner. I developed my method of splicing from Steve Hyman and from the late Brion Toss of Brion Toss Yacht Riggers. Steve was the master rigger one of the finest historic sailing ship restorations - the restoration of the 1877 barque ELISSA and Brion spent some time helping out and learned Steve's method of dealing with the first tuck of strand #6.

I do miss my old friend Brion Toss and his horrible puns...which were almost as bad as mine, but a grateful that my rigging mentor Steve Hyman is still around to spin some rigger yarns with and to tout my beloved LA Dodgers against his San Francisco Giants.

If you too are interested in how I turn in a Liverpool splice ("Riddle of the Strands" or clap on a wire seizing (Seize the Stay), please use the following link:
“Riddle of the Strands” and "Seize the Stay".
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XP3QMKR?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tpbk

This link leads to a video preview of the book: The Riddle of the Strands – The Liverpool Eye Splice Revealed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y873XruygaM

If you purchase the book(s) please leave a review to let me know how to improve them. I really enjoy passing along the marlingspike traditions and craft I have gathered over my 40 year career.

“Every finger a marlingspike, every hair a rope yarn and blood of Stockholm Tar!” is the traditional description of the ship’s bosun. In this book, master ri...

05/03/2024

A few weeks ago, Gretchen and Jim Butler, two good friends of ours, visited for lunch at our house in Sea Ranch after they went to Gualala Arts Center to drop off two of Gretchen’s paintings for an art show. Jim is a prince of a fellow with a big heart and spirit. He was a Fire Controlman (FC) rate in the US Navy and served aboard the USS Charles F. Adams for almost four years in the late 1960s. His memory about some things may be fading, yet his recall of his time abord the USS Charles F. Adams is as sharp as the creases in a US Navy sailor’s jumper. During our visit, Jim told me tales of his time aboard the Adams and lamented that he did not have any photos of her to show me.

I believe every sailor should have a photo of his ship and sweetheart… so an idea was born.

Later that evening, I found a post card on eBay in great condition of the Charles F. Adams and decided to make a sennit frame as a gift to Jim. I knew that they would return in several weeks to pick up Gretchen’s paintings at the Gualala Art Center and to have lunch with us again. So, after receiving the post card, I set about making a fancy sennit frame to serve as a worthy commemoration for a ship so dear to him.

This afternoon Gretchen and Jim returned and when I gave Jim his gift, I saw in his eyes a young sailor smiling. His first words were “that’s my ship…my ship.” Thank you, Jim, for your service to our great country and for your warm friendship.

29/02/2024

I enjoyed a beautiful day yesterday in Sausalito while delivering a key fob to Lauren de Remer. Lauren asked me to make a key fob for her like one the late marlingspike maestro, Brion Toss, once made. I hope it meets with the approval of those artisans of the rig at Brion Toss Yacht Riggers.

Like a seafaring Jack Tar worth her salt, she intends on dipping it in some genuine Stockholm tar to appease the sea Gods and for the fine ambrosial fragrance it imparts to everything thing it touches.

19/02/2024

A Rigging Loft Library

All rigging lofts have tables, tools, and tales of vessels rigged, but they should have a good library, so we do not make two hundred years of mistakes! Here are some photos of my rigging loft’s library and fo’c’sle bar.

Some of my favorite Maritime books by following categories:

Literature:
A Conrad Argosy~ by Joseph Conrad
Youth~ by Joseph Conrad
The Complete Poetry of Cicely Fox Smith~ edited by C. Ipcar and J. Saville
Wanderer~ by S. Hayden
The Richard Bolitho series of novels~ by A. Kent

Traditional and Square-rig Sail:
Seamanship 1862~ by Lt. George S. Nares
Seaman’s Friend~ by R. Dana
Seamanship in the Age of Sail by J. Harland
Hand, Reef and Steer~ by T.Cunlifee
Gaff Rig~ by J. W***y Leathers
Manual of Seamanship for the Officer of the Deck~ by Lt. P.W. Hourigan
Traditional Rigging:
The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor~ Darcy Lever
The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship~ by David Steel
Masting and Rigging the Clipper Ship and Ocean Carrier~ by H. Underhill
Bemastung und Takelung der Schiffe~ by F. Middendorf
The American Fishing Schooners~ by H. Chapelle
Marlinespike Sailor~ by H. Smith
The Rigger’s Apprentice~ by B. Toss

Square-rig History:
The Music of Five Oceans~ by A. A.Hurst
The Medley of Mast and Sail~ by A.A. Hurst
Square Rigger Days: Autobiographies of Sail~ editor C. Domville-Fife
The Way of a Ship~ by A. Villiers
Falmouth for Orders~ by A. Villiers
Sail’s Last Century~ by Conway Press
Champion of Sail R.W. Leyland and His Shipping Line~ by D. Walker
The Last Grain Race~ Eric Newby
The Voyage of the Cap Pilar~ by Adrian Seligman
The Last Tall Ships~ by Georg Kahre

Fancywork/ropework:
Handbook of Knots~ by D. Pawson
The Ultimate Book of Decorative Knots~ by L. Philpott
The Art of Knotting and Splicing~ by C. Day

Now what are your favorite maritime books for work and pleasure???

29/01/2024

Late last week, I was asked to fill in as a last-minute substitute speaker on the "Uses of Modern Fibers and Splicing Techniques" at tomorrow's Tall Ships America "Crew Resource Day." I have enjoyed helping out with splicing workshops and serving as a panelist/speaker at several of Tall Ships America's annual conferences.

I hope that folks find this presentation helpful. I am a firm believer in some of the modern synthetics for standing rigging. I renewed the standing rigging on my Flicka sloop with heat set Dyneema and am amazed at how well it is performing.

Crew Resource Day – January 30th Speaker: Jamie White, Master Rigger Master rigger Jamie White will explain the advantages and disadvantages of using Aramid, Kevlar, Dyneema, and other high-m…

21/01/2024

A few weeks before I turned thirty and about halfway from Fiji to Sydney, Australia , I gave a Star knot tying class to some of my shipmates aboard HMAV BOUNTY. Yes...they all passed!

If you would like to learn how to tie a Star knot, I could not teach any better method than the instructions Brion Toss gave in his wonderful tome "The Complete Rigger's Apprentice by Brion Toss
Tools and Techniques for Modern and Traditional Rigging" and available from Brion Toss Yacht Riggers.

09/01/2024

A few of my specialty rigging tools.

30/12/2023

A couple of gifts to my dear shipmate Steve Hyman a master rigger, bon vivant, and cherished shipmate! The two beckets I made for his 50th birthday; the Pussers bottle and linesman d**e holder as gifts of appreciation for his fine mentoring in the art of traditional rigging.

19/12/2023

I had a PM sent to me and was asked about how to "rechristen a boat"? Several years ago, I bought a Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20 and after an extensive haul-out, decided to rename the vessel using all the traditional incantations and ceremonies to appease King Neptune. I wrote an article for Flicka Friends about the major restoration and ensuing renaming ceremony.

To read about the entire extensive haul-out please visit:https://www.thesquarerigger.com/files/71_FF_20-04_Final-September-2020_2_.pdf (large file 80 page pdf)

25/09/2023

I am so pleased to see all three topgallant masts are now aboard in their proper position aloft on 1886 full rigged ship BALCLUTHA after swaying aloft the fore topgallant last week.

A lot of folks have asked me "if we used a crane to send aloft or strike spars aboard BALCLUTHA?" The answer is a definite no. We used traditional rigging techniques utilizing ship's gear going back hundreds of years and I am glad to see that Adrian McCullough and the current rigging supervisor Josh Payne are carrying on that tradition used by master rigger Jack Dickerhoff aboard BALCLUTHA during her original restoration in the 1950's.

Here is a video on "How to sway aloft or strike topgallant masts aboard BALCLUTHA. The photos are from the last time I ran the evolution as Historic Ships Rigging Supervisor almost 15 years ago.

A video description on how to send aloft and strike topgallant masts aboard 1886 full rigged ship BALCLUTHA using ship's gear.

09/08/2023

Seeing photos of Scotland from Amy Grat has many memories flooding back from my almost year spent in Glasgow restoring the rig of barque GLENLEE.

It was where I first read and later watched films of the Tales of Para Handy and the stout Clyde puffer VITAL SPARK. Here is one of my favorite scenes from the television series.

Scottish folk song.

12/06/2023

So honored the bell rope I made to celebrate the grand opening of barque GLENLEE and first used by the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to celebrate the opening over twenty years ago.

29/03/2023

The Riddle of the Strands – The Liverpool Eye Splice Revealed “Every finger a marlingspike, every hair a rope yarn and blood of Stockholm Tar!” is the traditional description of the ship’s bosun. In this eBook, master rigger Jamie White will lead you through the myster...