BOSUN’S BAG

MAKING SHEER POLES WORK

Every gaffer I’ve had any dealings with has always had sheer poles in her shrouds. Many older bermudan yachts ship them, too, and their usefulness has never been in doubt, but until now I’d never given more than fleeting attention to the origin of the name. Admiral W H Smyth (no relation to the stationer) gives us the answer in his great work on the vocabulary of the sailor, published in 1867.

“The sheer batten [sic] is a batten stretched horizontally along the shrouds and seized firmly above their dead-eyes,