On large
sailing ships
A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on Mast (sailing), masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing Square rig, square-rigged or Fore-an ...
a spritsail is a
square-rigged
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which a sailing vessel's primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars that are perpendicular (or square) to the median plane of the keel and masts of the vessel. These sp ...
sail carried on a
yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Sinc ...
below the
bowsprit
The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar (sailing), spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestay, forestays. The bowsprit’s purpose is to create ...
.
In some languages (such as German) it is known as a "blind" (German, ''(eine) Blinde'') because it effectively blocks forward vision when set.
Spritsails were commonly used on sailing vessels from the first
carracks until about 1800. Until the mid-18th century, most ships also set a sprit-topsail from the short
sprit topmast that rose vertically ''above'' the fore end of the bowsprit.
The
full-rigged ships of the
golden age of sail had no spritsails, as the area under the bowsprit was instead occupied by rigging (
martingales and
dolphin striker) that reinforced the bowsprit and
jib-boom against the forces of an increasing number of
jibs.
Notes
Sailing rigs and rigging
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