Description

SCW918 rope and tackle formed from three of the small single sheaved blocks [SCW962, 963 & 964] and connected by rope.

SCW922 had a strop, spliced with minimum tucks, similar to SCW435, one end shows 4 yarns, but it is possible that one yarn has been lost. The strop is seized forming a soft eye. A single rope was reeved through SCW922 and SCW923.

SCW923 and SCW924 were joined together by a long piece of 3 strand, Z laid rope, each strand appears to have 5 yarns. This rope formed a strop round each block, and was spliced with a short splice with minimum tucks (likely to be just 1 tuck each way, as with SCW435 & SCW922). This continuous strop, or strap, was about 880mm overall between the blocks; there was a short piece of rope reeved through SCW924, suggesting it may well be connected to another block in the same way that SCW923 & SCW922 were connected.

Due to the continuous strop the rig would have either been used to move an object side to side, such as with the rudder arrangements, where similar tackles can be seen although on a much larger scale. The continuous strop would have been wrapped around the tiller with two blocks on either side of the hull, allowing the rudder to be steered. Alternatively the continuous strop could have been used in a similar way to the tie blocks for raising the yards up, again in a much larger scale. The continuous strop would have been wrapped around the mast with the blocks laying to either side allowing the yard to be hauled up evenly.

Due to the small size of this tackle in comparison to the ship it could be hypothesised that it belongs to the rig of the ships boat.