Components of a museum-quality model

The Stays Lead of the stays: French warship, 1700    Next to the shrouds the stays are the most important part of the standing rigging, and in the history of the development of shipbuilding they are also the oldest part. They support the masts towards the bow, but they also serve to bring the shrouds and backstays to full supporting effect by exerting a balancing counter-tension. What I have already said twice in this chapter about equalising the tensions between shrouds, stays and backstays does not need to be repeated again here in detail, does it?                                                                                                                                  The stay eye An eye was formed in the end of the stay which was rigged round the masthead over the shrouds and the trestletrees. Until the beginning of the 16th century a seized or spliced eye was used for this connection (although the latter was less durable), and in the case of double stays a seized eye was used, like those of the shrouds, The stay eye ended approximately below the front edge of the trestletrees.In the first half of the 16th century a new method of forming the stay eye was introduced: the mouse. A small eye was spliced in at the upper end of the stay, which was just large enough for the rope itself to pass through, thus forming a loop. However, to prevent this eye tightening up on itself, the stay was locally thickened, this thicker part being termed the mouse.    The model mouse is made as follows: woollen thread is wrapped tightly round the stay to form the shape of the mouse, which in the 17th century was rounded, and in the 18th century more pear-shaped. It is a good idea not only to wrap the woollen threads round, but to glue them to the stay, so that the mouse cannot slip later. Then a loose ring of strong thread is fitted round the stay at both ends of the mouse. Using a needle and thread these two rings are then linked with a continuous series of vertical stitches. When this is complete, the thread is woven in and out as when darning, alternating above and below the thread all round. Take care always to take the thread alternately over and under the same thread, i.e. - for example - first round under, second round over, third round under , fourth round over etc., so forming a strong, evenly woven surface. Weaving a mouse evenly and neatly demands a degree of patience, but this is just the sort of small detail which makes a good model into an excellent one.    After the second half of the 16th century the stay eye itself was fully served, although the mouse was never served, thus leaving the elegant weaving exposed. Where the spliced eye of the stay end was located on the mouse, the rope was sheathed in a short leather sleeve for protection against chafing. The stay itself was wormed, like the shrouds, and was fully served from about the middle of the 19th century , when steel wire ropes were introduced. Around 1830 the mouse began to disappear; the upper end of the stay had a leg spliced into it with an eye spliced into the ends of both legs. They were seized together abaft the masthead with a rose lashing. A little later the system changed back again; the stay went over the masthead with the spliced eye, or- in the case of double stays -with a seized eye, as used for the shrouds. The mainstay    The mainstay was the strongest rope on the whole ship (with the exception of the anchor cables) and its blocks were the same length as the diameter of the main mast.     Until the middle of the 17th century the mainstay was set up with blocks or deadeyes. After this time triple blocks were used exclusively on the Continent until the first half of the 18th century .In Britain deadeyes were used up to 1690, and thereafter hearts, which also came more and more into use on the Continent after the middle of the 18th century .After 1.830 the mainstay was set with rigging screws or thimbles. Continentalships also used deadeyes with 5 holes.    The lower stay block, deadeye or heart was seized into the stay collar , a rope, slightly thinner than the stay itself, which reeved through a hole in the gammoning knee, or engaged on the hook of the gammoning knee. The combination of blocks, deadeyes or hearts for setting up the stay could be located ahead of or abaft the foremast.   British warship, 1720   Swedish merchant ship, 1760   French warship, 1770