Brails, in a
sailing ship
A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on Mast (sailing), masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing Square rig, square-rigged or Fore-an ...
, are small
lines used to haul in or up the edges (
leeches) or corners of
sail
A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...
s, before
furling.
[. See entries for Brail ''n.'' and 2. ''pl. (Naut.)'', and Brail, ''v. t. (Naut.)''.] On a ship rig, these brails are most often found on the
mizzen sail. To haul and furl the sails, the command used in the early 18th century was ''hale up the brails'' or ''brail up the sails''.
The word brail comes from Middle English ''brayle'', from Anglo-French ''braiel'' belt, strap, brail, alteration of Old French ''braiuel'' belt, probably ultimately from Latin ''braca'' pant.
A brail net is a type of net incorporating brail lines on a small fishing net on a boat or castnet. A brail net used for casting is also referred to as an English net as opposed to a Spanish net.
See also
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References
Nautical terminology
Sailing rigs and rigging
Sailboat components
Ropework
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