 Italian 1620
Danish 1650
Spanish 1690
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The sprit topmast backstay can be considered as the final member of the stay family. As long as a sprit topmast was carried, it was necessary to support this aft, and the sprit topmast backstay served this purpose. As with the fore topmast stay there were very many variations on this theme, which changed from time to time and from country to country , and sometimes even from ship to ship.
The system was based on a combination of crowsfeet and blocks, which were attached to the fore topmast stay and/or the foremast stay, sometimes standing, sometimes running -i.e. fitted with a tackle. The sprit topmast backstay was attached to the sprit topmast crosstress with a short seized or spliced eye, and ran from there aft between the trestletrees. The running part reeved through the last block of the combination (sometimes over a leading block on the bowsprit) and generally ran to a cleat in the sprit top, although sometimes to a cleat at the foot of the bowsprit, where it belayed.
As with the fore topmast stay drawings, the illustrations on the facing page are intended primarily to give you the chance to check your plans for accuracy, and if necessary to correct them, as this is another case where some plan makers draw in the first arrangement they come across without thinking twice.
With the disappearance of the sprit topmast around 1720 the sprit topmast backstay also vanished, as its function was assumed by the dolphin striker and the martingale stays -although in a quite different way. The sprit topmast backstay can present a few difficulties to the modeller. The most common problem is that the stay (fore topmast stay, foremast stay), to which the sprit topmast backstay is attached, is pulled towards the bow by it, and is then no longer straight. This can be countered by retensioning the fore topmast or foremast stay (take care -balance out the tensions) , and in any case it can be allowed to deflect by a small amount; rougthly 3% , or 1/10in in every 3ins of stay length. No more than that!
You are in a spot of trouble if the tension of the sprit topmast backstay causes the sprit mast to bend back towards the stem. This is why I emphasized so strongly when discussing the fixing of tlIe sprit topmast that it must be really securely fixed. If the sprit topmast bends further aft than the vertical when you set up the sprit topmast backstay, there is only one redress: dismantle the standing rigging on the sprit topmast and fix it more strongly.
Many model makers try to get round the problem by leaving the backstay loose. Now, it does not need to be as taut as the shrouds, backstays and stays, but on the otherhand it must on no account look slack
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