Fore-and-Aft : 283 



windward by sailing on very long tacks. The long tacks are neces- 

 sary because the process of changing the direction in which the ves- 

 sel is sailing, or tacking, is very cumbersome with this rig and time 

 and distance are wasted in the maneuver. Still, the fact remains that 

 they can work to windward. 



An examination of ship models collected from all over the Pacific 

 shows that a number of native sailing boats probably had this 

 ability. Where the rig and the ability originated we do not know, 

 though a number of different points of origin have been suggested, 

 including the ships of early India. 



The term "lateen" that we have used above takes its origin from 

 the fact that Mediterranean sailors, descended from Latin stocks, em- 

 ployed rigs of this type on a variety of vessels. Some of these vessels, 

 having deep hulls or keels, would appear to have had weatherly 

 qualities. 



In historic time rigs of vessels adhering in general to the lateen 

 type have been widely distributed all the way from the east coast of 

 Africa through the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Egyptian coast to 

 the shores of Tripoli and Morocco in the West. They are, thus, char- 

 acteristic of the Islamic and other Eastern people. It seems probable, 

 therefore, that they were introduced to the Mediterranean at the time 

 of Islamic expansion and conquest and were later adopted and 

 adapted by the people of Portugal, Spain and southern France for 

 their fishing vessels. It is possible but not clearly demonstrated that 

 the Islamic people in turn may have derived their practice from East 

 Indian sources. 



An independent origin of the fore-and-aft rig and of the devices 

 of hull construction that make it possible to work to windward 

 seems to have taken place in the North Sea. The European shores 

 of the North Sea are shallow and are marked by many estuaries, bars 

 and banks. This situation appears to have encouraged the Flemish, 

 Dutch and north German people, at an early historic period, in ex- 

 perimenting with many different sizes of vessels employing different 

 hull forms and rigs to meet the different conditions encountered. 



Early representations of Dutch vessels are among the first to show 

 a consistent use of fore-and-aft sails for the mainsail of the vessel. 

 The head or upper margin of the sail was carried on a permanent 

 but movable gaff. To be sure, these gaffs were relatively short and 

 the top of the sail, therefore, relatively narrow, but they represent a 

 definite development in this type of rig. 



Obviously the short gaff can differ in either one of two directions. 



