![Krusenstern foresail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Krusenstern_foresail.jpg)
A foresail is one of a few different types of
sail set on the
foremost mast (''foremast'') of a
sailing vessel:
* A
fore-and-aft sail
A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing vessel rigged mainly with sails set along the line of the keel, rather than perpendicular to it as on a square rigged vessel.
Description
Fore-and-aft rigged sails include staysails, Bermuda rigged sails, ga ...
set on the foremast of a
schooner or similar vessel.
* The lowest
square sail
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called ''yards'' an ...
on the foremast of a
full-rigged ship
A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three s ...
or other vessel which is
square-rigged
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called ''yards'' and ...
.
Sails set forward of the
mainmast
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation lig ...
, such as
jib
A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...
s and
staysails, are sometimes referred to as foresails, although "
headsail
A sail plan is a description of the specific ways that a sailing craft is rigged. Also, the term "sail plan" is a graphic depiction of the arrangement of the sails for a given sailing craft.>
In the English language, ships were usually describe ...
s" is a more common term, headsail can also specifically refer to the sail on a forestay that connects directly to the head of the mast.
History
![Model of a greek trireme](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Model_of_a_greek_trireme.jpg)
Foresails set on foremasts between
and
bow were the first type of sail to appear after the
mainsail
A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel.
* On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast.
* On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot i ...
which had been the sole standard rig on sailing vessels for millennia, down to
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
.
The earliest foresail, or two-masted ship, has been identified on an
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy
*Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization
**Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
** Etrusca ...
pyxis
Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Abbreviated from Pyxis Nautica, its name is Latin for a mariner's compass (contrasting with Circinus, which represents a draftsman's compasses). Pyxis was introduced by Nicolas-Lo ...
from
Caere
:
Caere (also Caisra and Cisra) is the Latin name given by the Romans to one of the larger cities of southern Etruria, the modern Cerveteri, approximately 50–60 kilometres north-northwest of Rome. To the Etruscans it was known as Cisra, t ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, dating to the mid-7th century BC: a warship with a furled
mainsail
A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel.
* On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast.
* On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot i ...
is engaging an enemy vessel, deploying a foresail. A two-masted
merchant vessel with a sizable foresail rigged on a slightly inclined
foremast
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation ...
is depicted in an Etruscan
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
painting from 475–450 BC. An ''artemon'' (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
for foresail) almost the same size as the
galley's mainsail can be found on a
Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...
ian
krater
A krater or crater ( grc-gre, , ''kratēr'', literally "mixing vessel") was a large two-handled shape of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water.
Form and function
At a Greek symposium, krat ...
as early as the late 6th century BC, but apart from that
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
longships of the 8th–5th century BC are uniformly shown without it.
[ Casson, Lionel (1980): "Two-masted Greek ships", '' The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology'', Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 68–69 (69)]
The foresail became fairly common on
Roman war galleys,
where it seems to be used rather for steering than as a driver.
[ Casson, Lionel (1963): "The Earliest Two-masted Ship", '']Archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
'', Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 108–111 (109) Its size was reduced and the now strongly raked foremast made it more appear like a
bowsprit
The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay
A bobstay is a part of the rigging of a sailing boat or ship. Its purpose is to counteract the upward tensio ...
sail.
While most of the evidence is iconographic, the existence of foresails can also
archaeologically be deduced from slots in foremast-feets located too close to the
prow
The bow () is the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern.
Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the forward-most part ...
for a mainsail. ''Artemon'', along with mainsail and
topsail
A topsail ("tops'l") is a sail set above another sail; on square-rigged vessels further sails may be set above topsails.
Square rig
On a square rigged vessel, a topsail is a typically trapezoidal shaped sail rigged above the course sail and ...
, developed into the standard rig of seagoing vessels in
imperial times, complemented by a
mizzen
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation l ...
on the largest freighters.
[ Casson, Lionel (1995): "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World", Johns Hopkins University Press, , pp. 239–243] Throughout
antiquity, both foresail and mizzen remained secondary in terms of canvas size, but still large enough to require full
running rigging
Running rigging is the rigging of a sailing vessel that is used for raising, lowering, shaping and controlling the sails on a sailing vessel—as opposed to the standing rigging, which supports the mast and bowsprit. Running rigging varies bet ...
.
In
late antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
, the foremast lost most of its tilt, standing nearly upright on some ships.
By the onset of the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
, rigging had undergone a fundamental transformation in
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
navigation: the
lateen
A lateen (from French ''latine'', meaning "Latin") or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same ...
which had long evolved on smaller
Greco-Roman craft replaced the square rig, the chief sail type of the ancients, which practically disappeared from the record until the 14th century (while it remained dominant in northern Europe). The
dromon
A dromon (from Greek δρόμων, ''dromōn'', "runner") was a type of galley and the most important warship of the Byzantine navy from the 5th to 12th centuries AD, when they were succeeded by Italian-style galleys. It was developed from the an ...
, the lateen-rigged and oared
bireme
A bireme (, ) is an ancient oared warship (galley) with two superimposed rows of oars on each side. Biremes were long vessels built for military purposes and could achieve relatively high speed. They were invented well before the 6th century BC a ...
of the
Byzantine navy, almost certainly had two sails, a larger foresail and one midships. The length of its foremast has been estimated at about 12 m, somewhat smaller than that of the
Sicilian war galleys of the time.
Multiple-masted ''sailing'' ships were reintroduced into the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
by the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...
. Large vessels were coming more and more into use and the need for additional sails to control these ships adequately grew with the increase in tonnage. Unlike in antiquity, the foresail was adopted on medieval two-masters after the mizzen, evidence for which dates to the mid-14th century. To balance out the sail plan the next obvious step was to add a mast fore of the main-mast, which first appears on a
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
vessel from 1409. With the three-masted ship established, propelled by
square rig
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called '' yards'' ...
and
lateen
A lateen (from French ''latine'', meaning "Latin") or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction. The settee can be considered to be an associated type of the same ...
, and guided by the
pintle-and-
gudgeon rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...
, all advanced ship design technology necessary for the
great transoceanic voyages was in place by the early 15th century.
[Mott, Lawrence V. (1994): "A Three-masted Ship Depiction from 1409", '' The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology'', Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 39–40]
See also
*
Sail plan
References
External links
* In-Arch.net
The Development of the Square-Rigged Ship from the Carrack to the Full-Rigger
{{Sail Types
Sailing rigs and rigging