A rig built around bridges
On the rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk, trading boats faced a recurring obstacle: low bridges. A fixed mast would have made passage impossible at many of them, and a boat that had to be unrigged at every crossing would have lost time on every journey. The sailing wherry solved the problem with a rig designed so that the mast could be lowered and raised quickly, even by one person. That mechanism is the subject here. The wider story of the wherry as a trading boat is told separately, and the wherry named here is the Norfolk type, not the rowing passenger boats that carried the same name on the Thames.
The basic arrangement
The wherry carried a single mast, set well forward in the hull, with one large sail. The distinctive part was the mounting. Rather than being fixed in place, the mast was stepped in a hinged support, often called a tabernacle, which allowed it to pivot forward and down. At the foot of the mast, below the pivot, was a heavy weight of lead, which acted as a counterbalance. Because the weight offset the mass of the long mast above, the whole assembly could be raised or lowered with comparatively little effort.
The idea is the same as a balanced lever or a drawbridge with a counterweight. The weight does most of the work, so the person controlling the mast only has to guide it, using a rope led forward from the masthead to the bow, called the forestay in this setting. By easing the rope, the mast came down toward the bow, and by hauling it in, the mast rose again.
The sail
The sail was a large, single, quadrilateral sail of fore-and-aft type, set on a gaff, a spar at the top, with no boom along the lower edge. The gaff was long and could be raised high, giving a tall, narrow shape, and the sail was commonly treated with a dark, tarry dressing, giving wherry sails a characteristic black appearance. A dark dressing helped to preserve the cloth.
Because the sail had no boom, it was controlled with ropes alone, and the crew could adjust it from the deck. This is similar in spirit to the loose-footed sails of other working craft, and the broader tradition of the gaff cutter shows how widely such rigs were used on the English coast. The big sail was powerful, and the wherry could sail fairly close to the wind for a boat of its type, which mattered on winding rivers where progress depended on tacking.
Shooting the bridge
When a wherry approached a low bridge, the crew lowered the mast and sail, and the boat passed beneath with the way on it, carried by its momentum or by the current, with the mast lying across the deck. Once through, the mast was raised again and the sail hoisted, allowing the boat to continue. This manoeuvre is sometimes called shooting the bridge, although that phrase is also used for other boats and places. The timing required judgement, because the boat needed enough momentum to reach the far side of the bridge without the sail to push it.
On narrower rivers where the wind was blocked by trees or buildings, the crew could also use a long pole called a quant to push the boat along. The quant was a staple of life on the wherry, and a crew might alternate between sailing, quanting and, in some cases, being hauled along the bank.
Why it worked
The key was a rig that suited the geography of the Broads. Wide, flat country made for plenty of open sailing water but also brought many low bridges. The pivoting mast reduced the need for extra labour. A small crew, often a skipper and a mate, or in some cases a single person on smaller wherries, could handle a boat that would otherwise have needed many hands. The system also reflects an important principle in sailboat design: a good rig is one that fits the waters it works in.
Related approaches appear elsewhere. The Thames sailing barges also lowered masts to pass under bridges, using a different system with a hinged mast case. Keeping a mast that can be lowered is a general solution for waterways with obstacles, and the wherry version is distinctive for its counterweight and single large sail.
Evolution and use
Wherries developed over time, and the details of hulls, rigs and sizes changed. Trading wherries were built for cargo, and a smaller number of yacht-like pleasure wherries were later built for holidays on the Broads, with cabins and a more finished interior. Some of the pleasure boats used the same counterweighted mast. Rope work was an everyday skill on all of them, and the knowledge of sailors’ knots was part of working life on the rivers.
A handful of historic wherries survive. The trading wherry Albion, built in 1898, is often cited as the last of the type to be sailed in trade, and has been preserved by a trust. These surviving boats allow the pivoting mast and the counterweight to be seen in use today.