forebooms

Updated: May 20, 2025

The topmasts were stripped of their sails, and lowered; the loose and standing rigging strapped to the masts; the spars, forebooms, and gaffs unshipped, and secured to the outside of the vessels to avert the danger from splinters, which, in naval actions, is often greater than from the shots themselves.

Willis J. (Willis John) Abbot - The Naval History of the United States : Volume 2