book to explain old rigs?
 

I'm currently reading "Two Years Before the Mast", the uber classic by Richard Henry Dana Jr., and as great as it is it would be a whole lot better if I understood what he was talking about. I have a ton of sailing books, but none of them help me to sort out the old sailing terms. Studding sails, top-gallant yard-arms, royals, flying jib, buntlines, spankers, clewlines, clewed down, the difference between a brig and a hemaphrodite brig, this is but a small fraction of the confusion. What book can I find that will explain the nuances to me?

much thanks,
matt
"Syzygy" valiant40 #201
www.syzygysailing.com

Check out
'Sailing Ships Rigs and Rigging' and also 'Masting And Rigging' by
Harold Underhill.

Alibris.com is good source.

Discovery
 

Oy,
It must be lovely to embark, as it were, upon the discovery of this grand vernacular. I'll second Brian's suggestion, and add, for starters, all the Aubrey/Maturin books. The author uses Maturin's ongoing education to illuminate the reader in the way of the ship, and the stories show the ship in use. There are also some splendid companion volumes to the series available, for everything from cuisine to charts.
But of course nothing can compare to the real thing, so be sure to visit the nearest square-rigger as soon as you can, for as long as you can. At first it'll just look like a mass of sticks, but in time will resolve itself into the elegant system that it is, with all of those now-puzzling parts easy and obvious, but no less lovely.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

I have found an older edition of an unabridged ecyclopedic dictionary to be most useful in my quest to ferret out obscure nautical terms; often they will even have an illustration of a cathead or a spanker or a jibbom. I picked up my copy for a dollar at a thrift store.
Along the lines of the Aubrey books Brion recommended, there are also the Hornblower series, by CS Forester--older, but just as exciting and instructive.
Happy reading!
Ben