Wavertree

Above is a capstan much like the one we used on the Wavertree. It uses the motion of turning to make the sail easier for multiple people to raise it without directly pulling the sail up, which would use more manpower, which is limited on boats with small crews.

We went to South Street Seaport to see the new boat that had been donated. Climbing aboard the massive boat I couldn't help but wonder how it had fit into the harbor. The boat must have been at least two stories high on the deck, a lot higher on top of the mast.

When on board we met Clark, an engineer for South Street Seaport and the Harbor School. He was very enthusiastic telling us about the boat’s history and the dimensions. Armani pointed out a very large capstan, asking what it was. Clark explained that the capstan was used to heave the mainsail without lifting all the weight of the huge sail. To show the power of the capstan he asked the three tallest people to try to pull a piece of rope away from the capstan being turned by six of our classmates. When the people on the capstan started turning the capstan all three of us tried with all of our might to pull away, but couldn't; the capstan was too powerful.

The Wavertree is a two hundred and seventy foot, triple masted, iron hulled shipping vessel used all around the world. More notably it is posted up in South Street Seaport taking the place of Peking, which is on its way to Germany.