The boatswain's chair is a strong hardwood seat attached to a double bridle of manila. It is always bent to the gantline by a double becket. A length of slack end is left hanging for use in securing to mast or stays aloft.
For a straight drop, as when paint mast, the chair is rigged for self-lowering ladders on most masts reach only to the topmast, a DUMMY GANTLINE is left rove through a sheave at the truck. By means of this dummy gantline, the gantline for the boatswain's chair may be hauled through the sheave. This makes it unnecessary for anyone to climb the topmast to reeve the gantline through the sheave. Don't ever let the end get away from you and reeve out; otherwise, you'll have to shinny up to put it back.
You secure the end of your chair gantline to the end of the dummy gantline by butting the two ends together and seizing with turns of rope yarn back and forth between strands, so the whole works will pass through the sheave without fouling. Haul the chair gantline up and through by the dummy gantline, and heave your chair from the deck to the crosstree, passing the hauling part down to the crew on deck.
When you are all set to go up, and the crewmen are ready to heave below, get on the chair and tell them to pull you up. Give them a lift yourself by heaving down on the hauling part. Keep your hands clear of the part the chair is on, or one of them may get jammed into the sheave when they get you two - blocked to the truck.
When you are as high as necessary, tell them to "Vast heaving." With your left hand grasp the two parts of the gantline well above the knot and squeeze them together. Call out "Up behind," and they will let go on deck. With your right hand, pull some slack through the bridle, and squeeze it and the two parts of the gantline firmly together just above the knot. Now the strain, instead of being on your hand, is chiefly on the bridle.
With your free left hand, pull up some slack from below, so that you have enough to pass over your head, clear around the chair, and under your feet.
1. THIS GOES OVER YOUR HEAD AND AROUND UNDER THE CHAIR AND YOUR FEET-
This maneuver is a little bit tricky, if you have a bucket or two hanging on the chair, but you won't have any trouble if you have enough slack pulled up. Keep hold of the gantline with your right hand until you have worked the hitch up to the apex of bridle. Then hold the two parts of the gantline above your right hand with your left, and work the rest of the slack down.
You now are in no danger of falling, and all you have to do to lower the boatswain's chair is pull up slack and pass it around. Before you go aloft for the first time, though, you should practice hanging off a few times on deck.
Standing rigging (shrouds, stays, and the like) usually lead too far out from the mast for you to lower yourself when slushing down. It is necessary for someone to lower you from on deck.
In riding down standing rigging, you bend the tail of your gantline to a shackle placed around the wire. Never place the shackle pin on the wire. It may unscrew as it travels along, and if it opens and lets go, you will swing back against the mast. Always put the bow of the shackle around the wire, and bend the tail of the gantline to the pin. If you are coming down a stay that has an obstruction, use two shackles. Put the bridle on the chair through the one you start down on. Seize it to the gantline by a short piece of line. If not, the weight of the slack may upset the chair on your way down, and leave you sitting in the bridle instead of the seat. Bend your other shackle to the tail of the gantline. When you arrive at the obstruction on the wire; you must place this shackle on the other side of it, and bend the tail of the gantline securely to it. Then you must transfer your weight off the chair onto the wire, and open the shackle that is above the obstruction. You won't find this too easy to do. The stay is so springy that it is difficult to move your weight off the shackle. The less tonnage carried by the man for this job, the better
The OOD will not grant permission for a man to go aloft until transmitters are secured and antennas grounded. If possible, ensure that "Secure, men aloft" signs are placed on all transmitters, and that motor safety switches controlling radar antenna motion are tagged and locked open. In other words, before you go up be sure power is off in wires near enough to be contacted; for your own safety, be careful of potentially charged wires. Also be sure that steam is secured to the stack whistle, and don't grab the inner stack on top, because it is likely to be hot.
When painting aloft, always place your paint pot inside a bucket to catch the drippings. Secure your bucket to the chair by seizing the handle to the bridle across the seat so that the chair seat will hold it up. If you hang your bucket under the chair, you may be unable to reach down far enough to dip your brush. All your tools should be bent to the chair by a lanyard this is for safety for for those on deck.
