Reblogged moewie
Ship Garthsnaid, 1920’s.
A yard is a spar on a mast from which sails are set. Yardarms are the outermost tips of the yard.
The yard exists to allow square sails to be set to drive the ship. In order to set and stow the square sails, the crew must climb aloft and spread out along the yards. To do this, they stand in footropes suspended beneath the yard and balance themselves between that and the yard itself. The person working on the end of the yardarm has a separate footrope known as the flemish horse.
There, now you've learned something today.
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