A minor criticism. I`ve just re [re. re!] read this book and just wish to comment that Captain Case would not have referred to the `studding sails` as such but would have called them `stun`sls`.
Even in `The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War [1625- 1860], by James Lees [chief model restorer at the National Maritime museum, Greenwich], the noted author uses the abbreviation.. I had to buy this `mighty tome` to aid my [hopefully!] accurate painting of warships from the 17th to the 21st Century.
Alan Vernon