Tabor Boy Trivia: Name that Spar!

[Peter A. Mello]

Okay all you salty Tabor Boy aficionados, this morning I had a great visit with Mr. David Barker, former chair of the Tabor Board of Trustees and co-chair of the Tabor Boy 50/90 Celebration. Mr. and Mrs. Barker live on Captain's Lane, just a spar's length away from where Captain Glaeser used to live. Being a good neighbor, soon after he retired, Capt. came over to visit the Barker's with a gift. Here's a picture of Mr. Barker and Bob Thompson, Director of Capital Giving, Alumni Development, Tabor holding it. 

Can you "Name That Spar?"

Here are a few more pics:

 

[Jonathan Lincoln]

In reviewing older pictures of the original rigging, I notice that the foresail gaff is round. Could this be a broken half of the foresail gaff?? The collar could be at the mid section where the peak halyard bridle was connected. Though I cannot see a gaff fabricated in two sections.. Still, that is my guess and I'm sticking to it!

 

Jon Lincoln

[Charles Barns (Barney) Davis]

When was it last used aboard the schooner?

 When she was a pilot schooner, yacht, or sail training vessel?

Looks like there is a steel collar around the healthier end and evidence of a washer in the center. Was there a rod that ran through it? The girth around the middle makes me think that there was some stress exerted in the form of leverage. like some sort of anchor or cargo handling boom or spreader bar.

A hint of some sort would be appreciated here mate!

[Peter A. Mello]

Oh yeah, I should have told you: the winning guess can stop by Mr. Barker's house and pick up the thing as the prize! ;-)

[James Hutton]

My guess whould have been the puting spar as well.Didn't the original rig have a funky galf on the main?

[Charles Barns (Barney) Davis]

funny, ok I'll keep thinking about it.

[Jim Wormelle]

Assuming that the spar came from the current TB, and having never seen or heard of a reference to (according to my memories) there being one, I would have to say it may be a mast for the longboat. 

It would seem plausible based on the spars design. It looks as though the base of the mast is nearest the camera which would fit snuggly into a corresponding male step in the longboat's bilge. The narrowed part of the mast would enable proper shimming after the spar is passed through a hole in a forward seat or a fitting, for such purpose. The top of the spar (which looks as though it may be 10' - 12') is perhaps tapered so a fitting may be slipped on for the connection of stays and block and tackle for halyard(s). Most likely the rig would be either gaff, or just a sort of steadying sail, type rig.

So...final guess is: 

A mast for the longboat. 

[Peter A. Mello]

That was my first thought; however, it had a much larger circumference around the middle than what I remembered. Thinking about it though, that's probably what you would say about me if you saw me after all these years! ;-)

[Charles Barns (Barney) Davis]

are we sure that it is not the puting spar for the loong boat or the buckaroo?

[Peter A. Mello]

Thanks for the comment George. It definitely wasn't part of the topsail yard. It has a taper at both ends.

The mystery endures!

[George Whitehead]

It sure looks like the worlds largest pig stick, about right for the QE2.  The bowsprit, booms, gaff, yards and some incidental light spars like the boat boom were the only wooden spars I remember. Definitely not the dolphin striker, the tip of which we embedded in the aft deck of a fishing boat one foggy day off Mystic, CT.  Probably not even an old one, since iron pipe was so clearly the right engineering choice in straight compression even in 1914. Could it be one half of a broken topsail yard?  A fidded topmast from an earlier mainmast?