Sailing in the Second Degree

The configuration of sails and masts of a ship or boat is called a Sail-Plan.

For large ships the sail-plan is a usually formal set of drawings ships prepared by a Naval Architect.

A sail-plan almost always include three configurations:

• A light air sail plan to keep the ship underway in light breezes.

• A working sail plan that can be changed rapidly in variable conditions. They are much stronger than the light air sails, but still lightweight, and allow the area of sail to be reduced in a stronger wind.

• A storm sail plan -a set of very small and rugged sails flown in a gale to keep the vessel under way and in control.

In all sail plans, the architect attempts to balance the force of the sails against the drag of the keel in such a way that the vessel naturally points into the wind. In this way, if control is lost, the vessel will avoid broaching (turning edge-to-the wind), and being beaten by breaking waves. Broaching always causes uncomfortable motion and can destroy a lightly-built boat in a storm.

The architect also tries to balance the wind force on each sail plan against different loads and ballast to keep the ship upright.

This simple and single word "barque" in our Ritual introduces the allegory of a man trimming "his" sails according to wind and load perhaps symbolising the conditions and loads he carries in his life. It is examples like this which is why Freemasonry fully deserves the description of a system of allegory illustrated by symbols. A simple phrase can have a a lot of meaning.

It may also interest readers to know that in Egyptian Mythology a barque was also a boat in which the gods sailed. The Solar Barque of Ra carried a host of deities across the sky each day and through the Underworld every night.

These Egyptian Barques are something I will follow up next edition.

Frat Regards,

Damien

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~