Page 299 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

and handy. Look around for hand- and footholds and size of a particular tool that you think is in the
you might need and obstacles you want to avoid. Set cabinet next to the chart table but there might be a
them in your mind. Closely scrutinize the condition spare in the lazarette, etc. For any given job, you can
of the block that the heel rope passes through. Can easily forget something crucial, but always taking the
you trust it beyond all doubt? Good. Get comfort- items mentioned above will lessen this likelihood.
able and give your First Command to the deck crew. You and your tools are up and ready, an assis-
“On deck.” tant is perhaps made off on the other side of the
“On deck, aye.” mast, and the deck crew is standing by the hoisting
“Send up my rigging bucket on the port gant- gear. The topmast can now come up. Give the sig-
line.” nal to haul, and guide the head through the lower
“Rigging bucket on port gantline, aye.” doubling. When it’s just short of the upper one,
Now that’s a rather formal exchange, maybe give the signal to belay. Now Icicle-Hitch a short,
too formal for some tastes. Contrast it with a more stout piece of line anywhere on the hitched end of
relaxed version: the line, below the seizing and above the heelrope
“Hey, Lisa! Send up my rigging bucket!” sheave; take up all slack and tie the other end of
“Okay!” that short line up to the lower doubling. Cast off the
Much simpler, true, but it allows too many mis- hitches holding the end of the heel rope to the top-
understandings. By not getting Lisa’s attention first, mast head. Even with those stout marline seizings
the caller is likely to have to repeat the message. Or holding, this can be a tense moment, but that short,
Lisa might not have heard the whole thing, and since stout line is insurance in case the seizings slip. Try
she didn’t repeat it back, you won’t know until she to ease off slowly to make sure all is well. Wasting
starts sending up the topmast rigging. (“Oh, rigging no time, take up the slack and make the end off to
bucket. Speak up!”) Worse yet, Lisa doesn’t know a lug or other fitting on the port side of the lower
by what means the bucket is supposed to travel. She doubling. The topmast is now suspended between
might come clambering up with it in her hand, spill- the two parts of the heel rope, a configuration made
ing tools en route. No, a precise, graceful deck/aloft necessary by its need to be hoisted well above the
litany is much to be preferred. tackle’s point of attachment. You’ve also just formed
So your rigging bucket is coming up. Brake a two-part purchase, something the deck crew will
its ascent slightly with one hand, in case it and the have no objection to.
shortening end become outweighed by the standing With the end belayed, carefully cut the seiz-
part. It can easily happen on a long hoist, the bucket ings, remove the hitched-on insurance line, and give
zipping upward the last few feet, launching tools the signal to resume hauling . Guide the masthead
when it fetches against the block. through the upper doubling and get it two feet or so
The bucket reaches you and you call, “Hold through, then again signal to hold and make fast.
that!” then, “Belay!” Time to send the rigging up.
When the line is belayed, deck calls out “Fast!” Unless you have a surfeit of gantlines, you’ll
(made fast). probably want to tie the bucket onto the mast with
In your bucket you should have a spike, hammer, its lanyard, then cast off its gantline. In that order.
wrench, marline, seizing wire, knife, screwdrivers, Tie the gantline around its own standing part with
nippers, and maybe some tallow—plus whatever a Bowline so it doesn’t get tangled on anything on
else this particular topmast calls for. You packed the way down, then have the deck crew slack away
these items on deck, attaching lanyards to the tools, and send it to them.
and mentally went through the procedure you were The standing rigging comes up one piece at a
about to follow to make sure you had everything you time, first starboard, then port. Check each tag as
needed. It’s awful to have to shout down the name you get it, then drop the eye over the stick. If the

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