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A jackass-barque, sometimes spelled jackass bark, is a
sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...
with three (or more) masts, of which the
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 square-rigged and the main is partially square-rigged (
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 ...
, topgallant, etc.) and partially
fore-and-aft rig 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 ...
ged (course). The
mizzen mast 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 fore-and-aft rigged. A four-masted jackass barque is square-rigged on the two foremost masts (fore and main masts) and fore-and-aft rigged on the two after masts (the mizzen and
spanker Spanker can refer to: * One who administers a spanking * Spanker (horse), a famous 18th-century thoroughbred race horse * Spanker, Ohio, an unincorporated community * ''SS-17 Spanker'', the NATO reporting name for the MR-UR-100 Sotka intercont ...
or jiggermasts). Some 19th-century sailors called such a ship "a fore-and-aft schooner chasing a brig". In general a jackass barque is a sailing ship which is half square-rigged and half fore-and-aft rigged. The name appears to be an erroneous reference to a mule, which is half horse and half donkey. A five-masted jackass barque, which has probably never been built, would be equipped with square-rigged fore and main masts, with a partially square-rigged and partially fore-and-aft rigged mizzen mast, and fore-and-aft rigged jigger and spanker masts.


The ''Olympic''

A well-known example of a (white wood-hulled) four-masted jackass-barque was the ''Olympic'', a 1,402 GRT "Down Easter" (a square-rigged sailing ship from the dockyards of the
downeast "Down East", also "Downeast", is a term for parts of eastern coastal New England and Canada, particularly the U.S. state of Maine and Canada's Maritime Provinces, an area that closely corresponds to the historical French territory of Acadia. ...
ern ports, preferably made of timber). Said to be the only one in the world, she was launched in 1892 at the shipyard of the New England Ship Building Company,
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Pl ...
, ME, for Captain W. H. Besse of
New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American p ...
, MA1. Her maiden voyage under her first master, Captain Stephen Bourne Gibbs, led her from Bath to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district ...
, with "clean swept holds" and without any
ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...
, then with a cargo of iron rails and plates around
Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...
to
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...
. She carried steel, nitrate, and other cargoes. Captain Gibbs was an experienced square-rigged skipper, and took great care of best stowage of the cargo, having the stevedores put 2/3 of it in the 'tween decks. For her new owner, Hackfield & Co. of
Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...
, managed by Williams, Dimond & Co., the ''Olympic'' ran in the
sugar trade Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or doubl ...
between
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
from 1901 to 1912. Originally rigged with royal sails over double top and topgallant sails on both square-rigged masts and the main mast equipped with an additional single sky sail, she was re-fitted with royal sails over double top but single topgallant sails on both square-rigged masts and no main sky sail after being dismasted in 1901 during a voyage from
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
under Captain Gibbs, who retired from the sea in the same year. Under her new master Captain T. H. Evans she sailed between
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
and the US west coast in the
timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...
trade. Towards the end of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
she changed hands to Thomas Crowley & Co. In that time she was re-rigged as a four-masted
barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...
with a square-rigged foremast and three fore-and-aft rigged other masts. During the slump years cargo space of a sailing ship wasn't needed anymore. After being laid up for some years the 30-year-old ship was converted into a towing barge.


The ''California''

A well-known example of a steel four-masted jackass-barque was the ''California'' (1890), the last and largest of the White Star sailing ships. The use of steel enabled the addition of another hundred feet to the two hundred foot effective maximum length of a wooden vessel. A fourth mast, called the jigger, provided the driving power for the increased length. The lower and topmast were built in one steel tubular piece. Mechanical improvements were introduced to the rigging.W.A. & A.C. Churchman 'The Story of Navigation', A series of 50 Churchman Cigarette Cards, issued by the Imperial Tobacco Co. of Great Britain & Ireland Ltd.


On the Great Lakes

The ''City of Grand Haven'' had two masts "set far apart to accommodate high piles of lumber on the deck and to make it easier to load and unload the vessel. This rig was called the Grand Haven Rig or (Jack Ass Rig)..." It was said to have been the result of a serendipity, when the master of a three-masted schooner had its mainmast removed due to rot, and found how well the ship sailed. There "were at least a dozen craft with this rig many of them in
Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
." Similar rigs might be called a "jackass schooner."


Bibliography

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See also

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Barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
*
Barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...
*
Schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...
*
SS Great Eastern SS ''Great Eastern'' was an iron sail-powered, paddle wheel and screw-propelled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by John Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London. She was the largest ship e ...
, a ship with paddle wheels and a screw propeller, also rigged with six masts, three (1,5,6) fore-and-aft rigged and three (2,3,4) square-rigged


References


External links


3-masted jackass-barque ''Ziba'' with four square top sails on her main mast

4-masted jackass-barque ''Olympic'' at drydock in Bath in 1892 with the main sky yard taken down on deck
{{Sailing Vessels and Rigs Barques Sailing rigs and rigging Sailing ship types Tall ships de:Schonerbark