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The Clipper Ship Era
engine was put aboard a sailing ship for these purposes. She had four masts with Forbes's rig[1] on the fore-, main-, and mizenmasts, the after- or spankermast being barque-rigged.
October 4, 1853, was a proud day for Boston. Business was suspended, and the schools were closed in order that every one might have an opportunity to see the launch of the Great Republic. People flocked from far and near. It was estimated that thirty thousand persons crossed by ferry to East Boston, while Chelsea Bridge, the Navy Yard at Charlestown, and the wharves at the north end of
- ↑ Forbes's rig was invented by Captain R. B. Forbes, and was first put on the topsail schooner Midas in 1841, afterwards on the auxiliaries Edith, Massachusetts, and Meteor; ships, R. B. Forbes, Lintin, Flying Childers, Aurora, Cornelius Grinnell, and probably others. In this rig the topmast was fidded abaft the lowermast head, and the lower topsail yard hoisted on the lowermast head from the eyes of the lower rigging to the cap. The lower topsail had two reefs with reef-tackles, buntlines, and clewlines, as in the single topsail rig. The upper topsail hoisted on the topmast and had the same gear as the lower topsail. Sometimes the topmast was fidded before the lower masthead, and then the lower topsail yard hoisted on the doubling of the topmast. This rig was an improvement upon the single topsail rig, but was eventually superseded by Howes's rig, which was invented by Captain Frederic Howes, of Brewster, Massachusetts, who in 1853 first put it on the ship Climax, of Boston, which he commanded. Captain Howes took out a United States patent for his rig in 1854. In this rig, the lower topsail yard is slung by a truss at the lower mast cap; indeed, Howes's rig is the double topsail rig of the present day, though one does not often hear the name of Captain Howes in connection with it.
