Arriving on the topgallant yard is nothing short of spectacular!

There's a golden guinea for any man who can beat me to the main topgallant yard.

No other would cross her mizzen topgallant yard in that fashion.

Past the maintop and upwards to the topgallant yard.

Sir,' cried Blakeney, standing on the topgallant yard, 'the hoist has come straight.

As it was, we lost the spare gaff of the driver and all our spare topgallant yards.

Beneath them, 6D's topgallant yard began to rotate ten degrees clockwise along with those of the other dorsal yards.

Of course, handing the sails means furling them too creating opportunities to climb 80 feet up the foremast to the topgallant yard.

Sung with the job of hauling on halyards to hoist, over an extended period, topsail or topgallant yards.

Then the dockyard had made a childish scene about the topgallant yard - a mere stick, most legitimately expended.

He gave the order to Aitken and a few moments later topmen were scrambling up the ratlines and out along the topgallant yards high overhead.

Then came the day when the fore and mainyard were swayed up and crossed, followed by the topsail and topgallant yards.

We have a spare mast, and a topgallant yard, and the carpenter says that anyway he can fish the damaged yard, sir," he said. "

In the light of the flashesRamagecould see the main topgallant yard was hanging down at a crazy angle and in two pieces, obviously hit squarely by a roundshot.

From the deck the topgallant yards were hauled round until the wind, instead of filling the sails, blew along the length of the canvas so that it shivered ineffectually.

The first kept going and a couple of dozen walked out along the topgallant yards while below more spaced themselves at arm's length on the topsail yards and the fore and mainyards.

In the meantime men were scrambling aloft, taking the shrouds at the run, clambering up the ratlines like monkeys, and then working their way outward along the topgallant yards, stepping along the footropes.

Ramagewatched as the carpenter and his mates worked hard to finish the main topgallant yard, splintered by a shot from theAchille.The wreckage had been lowered to the deck and the men were working fast on the repair.

Both fore and main topgallant yards and masts were sent down, it is unlikely they will be needed on this passage and it will give the crew a chance to do some much needed maintenance on that gear.

Originally named the Captain Scott after explorer Robert Falcon Scott, Shabab Oman was built as a standing topgallant yard schooner by Herd and McKenzie of Buckie, Scotland in 1971.

In his astonishment he looked up at the main topgallant yard, and there he saw a small form hanging by one arm; it swung itself forward on the roll of the ship and fell in a sickening curve towards the maintopmaststay.

The men continued climbing the rigging; then some spread out along the lower yards while others carried on upwards, to go out on the topsail and topgallant yards, looking at this distance like starlings on the branches of three trees.

All the small sails had long ago been lowered from the tops and stowed below; the royal and topgallant yards had been sent down and securely lashed on deck, followed by the royal and topgallant masts, reducing both weight and windage aloft.

The carpenter was a good man and no doubt he and his mates could fish the two halves together again, because although theCalypso had spare topsail yards and topgallant yards stowed along the booms beside the boats, she did not have spare fore and main yards.

James mentions that a "fine French two-decker, with sails bent and topgallant yards across, in the harbour of Lorient, lay a mortified spectator of this gallant achievement"; the ship in question was the 80-gun Diadème, that could not intervene due to the unfavourable winds.