Bunt

From WikiPOBia

Jump to: navigation, search

The 'bunt' of a sail is the horizontal middle of a squaresail, running from the head to the foot. Because squaresails curve outward in a bow shape when filled, there is significantly more canvas in the bunt than at the outer edges of leaches. One of the concerns caused by the small main yard with which HMS Sophie shipped when Aubrey first took command of her -- "More like a cro'jack than a main yard" as Aubrey put it[1] -- was "the horrible bunt [in the square mainsail] there is now——more like what you might call a hog's bladder, properly speaking."[2]

References

  1. O'Brian, Patrick. Master and Commander. (c) 1969 by Patrick O'Brian. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York, First Edition: p. 74
  2. Ibid.
Personal tools