BOSUN’S BAG
GIVE US A SWIG, MATE
he healthy thing about halyards on traditional craft is that they come straight down the mast to whoever’s hauling up the sail. This means that he or she can use all their available body weight to assist in the task rather than trying to heave horizontally or upwards. I well remember the mainsail hoist on the Yankee schooner that supplied my first professional berth. Until then I’d always imagined one just grabbed the halyard and pulled it. Not so. My lively young shipmates hurled themselves at the halyards, leaping several feet off the deck to lay hands on the ropes. Gravity did the rest,
