futtock shrouds

In the most traditional ships, the futtock shrouds can be used to gain access to the tops.

"Look there, in the futtock shrouds I'd know that grinning rogue anywhere.

Ruori slipped down the futtock shrouds and jumped to the gaff.

Using the futtock shrouds involves climbing the underside of an overhanging rope at about 45 degrees.

Futtock shrouds may or may not have ratlines.

Before this the futtock shrouds were attached to the lower shrouds that rose directly to the top.

The futtock shrouds carry the load of the upper shrouds into the mast below.

"They can sail to China so long as we catch them," Chase said, then collapsed his telescope and disappeared down the futtock shrouds.

Futtock shrouds are rope, wire or chain links in the rigging of a traditional square rigged ship.

Any traditionally-rigged ship will have futtock shrouds, but on some modern ones they are strictly for structural purposes, with climbing forbidden.

He swung himself into the ratlines and scrambled up to the maintop, bending backward to grab the futtock shrouds.

He reached the futtock shrouds and, without thinking, hurled himself upward and outward, the quickest way to the maintop.

Access to the tops is by a vertical "jacob's ladder" down to the ratlines, rather than inverted futtock shrouds.

"Redwater," moaned Shimchisko, hanging from the futtock shrouds upside down beneath the top.

As well as climbing the futtock shrouds, most ships also allowed access to the top through the "lubber's hole" at the tip of the ordinary ratlines.

Access for sailors to the top may be by a Jacob's ladder, lubber's hole, or the futtock shrouds - see the latter entry for more details.

Although on many ships the only way round was the overhanging futtock shrouds, modern-day tall ships often provide an easier vertical ladder from the ratlines as well.

Sailors ascend ratlines on the ordinary shrouds until nearly at the top, then transfer to the futtock shrouds which will be reaching upwards and outwards above them.

He went up steadily, never pausing nor faltering, not even when he reached the futtock shrouds and for a few moments hung over backwards one hundred feet above the swaying deck.

He put a leg over the side, feeling for the futtock shrouds: but someone had seen a familiar purple bag handing up through the cutter's main-hatch, and there was a cry of 'Post'.

In the mid-nineteenth century the futtock band was introduced, being a metal collar fitted to the mast below the top, to which the lower point of the futtock shrouds is attached.

He climbed the lower ratlines which were easy for they leaned like a ladder against the mast, but then he came to the place where the futtock shrouds went out and backward above his head.

On large sailing ships, however, particularly square-riggers, the shrouds end at the projections (called tops or crosstrees) and their loads are carried into the mast slightly further down by futtock shrouds.

These ships may also dispense with lubbers' holes, and instead opt for a "Jacob's ladder" that descends from the edge of the top to the ratlines vertically, rather than overhanging like the futtock shrouds.