A while ago Falynn K. asked this question on Twitter:
"So on a tall sailing ship you have the mast, and you have the yards across it--is the yard/spar actually attached to the mast, by like i dunno, a pin or something, or is it strictly roped/lashed to it?"
This is a totally reasonable question! A lot of folks who haven't sailed square riggers might think that the yard stays put, but in fact it needs to move up and down the mast so the sails can be fully set. (Y'know how everyone's always talking about halyards? They literally haul the yard up. You're welcome.)
So to answer the question: yards are held loosely to the mast by a looped line strung with large wooden beads called a parrel. The beads roll up the mast as the yard is raised and lowered. Here's a drawover that hopefully clarifies a little:
Once you start explaining things about tall ship anatomy it's hard to stop, so there's a bit more context for how the sails work:
(These are pages from my comic A Week at Sea with OHP, which you can read online here or grab as a print minicomic here.)
Hope this is helpful!
