Nautical Research Journal 347


5. Quarterdeck railing before installation.


with the tiller through his mouth (presumably to thumb the French nose at the Barbary enemy) and a crocodile on the mizzenmast boom—as well as a stern bas relief—Amphitrite (Poseidon’s wife) and her entourage. (Figure 4) It also had ornate carved fi ligreed railings along the quarterdeck and painted panels beneath the railings, which I chose to carve rather than paint. (Figure 5) All of these elements, as well as the basic ship design and furniture, are present on the original builders’ model, which can be seen in the Musée de la Marine in Paris.


Rigging


T e lateen-rigged ship had some unique features. T e most obvious, of course, are the massive fore-and-aſt yards and sails, carried on fairly short pole masts. T e yards were each made of two long poles grooved to interlock and lashed together. T e main yard on Le Requin was just over 120 feet long, and together with its sail weighed around four tons. It was thus hoisted by heavy jeers reeving through masthead sheaves to equally heavy upper and lower jeer blocks which were connected by line running over six sets of bronze sheaves (the load was too heavy for conventional wood sheaves, and bronze was used for the masthead sheaves as well). T e lower jeer block was fi xed to the


6. Foremast upper and lower jeer block.


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