full rigged ship

A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a square rigged sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. Sometimes such a vessel will merely be called a ship, but this term more properly also applies to schooners with three or more masts, barques and barquentines.

Masts

The masts of a full rigged ship, from the bow, are:

Foremast, the second tallest.
Mainmast, the tallest.
Mizzenmast, the third tallest.
Jiggermast, which may not be present but will be fourth tallest if so.

There is no recognised name for a fifth mast, and even the fourth is relatively rare. Ships with five and more masts are not normally fully rigged, and the masts are numbered rather than named. If the masts are of wood, each mast is in three or more pieces. The lowest piece is the mast itself, or may be called the lower. Above it, the pieces in order are:

Topmast.
Topgallant mast.
Royal mast.

On steel-masted vessels, the corresponding sections of the mast are named after the traditional wooden sections.

Sails on a mast

The lowest and normally largest sail on a mast is the course sail of that mast, and is referred to simply by the mast name: Foresail, mainsail, mizzen sail, jigger sail. Above the course sail, in order, are:

Lower topsail.
Upper topsail.
Lower topgallant sail.
Upper topgallant sail.
Royal sail.
Skysail.

There is some variation possible here, for example some ships have only one sail flying from the topgallant mast, in which case it is simply called the topgallant sail. If all seven sails are present on the foremast, the fourth sail from the deck on the foremast would (just as an example) be called the fore lower topgallant sail. Jibs are carried from the foremast, and have varying naming conventions. Staysails may be carried between any other mast and the one in front of it. They are named after the mast from which the are hoisted, so for example a staysail hoisted to the top of the mizzen topgallant on a stay running to the top of the main topmast would be called the mizzen topgallant staysail. In light winds studsails may be carried on either side of any or all of the square rigged sails. They are named after the adjacent sail and the side of the vessel on which they are set, for example main topgallant starboard studsail. One or two spankers are carried aft of the aftmost mast, if two they are called the upper spanker and lower spanker. A fore-and-aft topsail may be carried above the upper or only spanker, and is called the gaff sail.

Full Rigged Ship

Masts

Sails on a mast

See also