The wheel inside has its own name
Smith calls the wheel a sheave and describes it fixed within a wooden block. The rope runs over that wheel rather than dragging through a plain hole. He distinguishes blocks with different numbers of sheaves and connects their names to their jobs. [1]
A block is therefore an object, not simply another word for every complicated collection of rope seen on a ship.
Direction and advantage are different jobs
A fixed block can lead a rope toward a place where people can haul it. A combination involving a moving block can provide a mechanical advantage. Smith explicitly notes that a stronger purchase works with less speed. [1]
The trade is useful to understand without calculating an exact installation: reducing the effort needed at one point usually means moving a greater length of rope to shift the load the same distance.
The system had to end where someone could work
Falconer describes ropes from sails and yards arranged so their ends can be found in assigned places on deck. A complicated rig becomes usable when the working sailor can identify the right line and act with the rest of the watch. [2]
The location of a rope’s end is therefore part of the information system aboard. Looking upward at the rig alone does not explain how it was operated.
A boat could be part of the load
Smith includes boat tackles among the applications. Lowering or bringing a boat aboard depended on a coordinated arrangement of blocks, rope, attachment points and people. [1]
That task joined the vessel’s rig to its smaller craft. The boat was not permanently independent of the ship’s machinery simply because it could later row away.
Size follows a task, not a decorative pattern
Falconer distinguishes blocks by size, shape, number of sheaves and intended load. A reconstruction that repeats one identical pulley everywhere may look richly rigged while explaining very little. [2]
Continue with standing and running rigging, the boat’s tasks and the person responsible for much of this equipment. These are historical principles, not a load-rated modern rigging design.
Questions, answered.
Does every block multiply force?
No. Some arrangements mainly redirect a rope. The overall tackle arrangement determines the advantage.
Does greater hauling advantage mean the load moves faster?
Not generally. The advantage trades against the length of rope hauled for a given movement of the load.
Sources & reading notes
Source checks distinguish an artifact, a reported account and a modern interpretation. They do not constitute independent historian review.
- A Sea Grammar (1627)Open the keyboarded source transcriptionJohn Smith; Early English Books Online / Text Creation Partnership · Seventeenth-century seafaring manual; TCP transcription released under CC0
Chapter V, blocks, sheaves, double blocks, running ropes and tackles used to lift boats and other loads. A prescriptive manual from 1627, not the operating rules of every merchant, naval or pirate vessel. The TCP text preserves gaps and transcription uncertainty. Modernized explanations here do not reproduce its period medical or physical theories as current advice.
- An Universal Dictionary of the Marine (1769)William Falconer; Project Gutenberg transcription · Eighteenth-century technical dictionary; public domain in the USA
Entry “Block,” distinguishing sizes, numbers of sheaves and applications in the rig. Its 1769 description is later than the core pirate period. Published 1769, later than most events in this chapter. Used as a dated terminology comparison, not proof that an earlier pirate carried a particular instrument or followed later naval regulations.
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