Editing Studding sail (section)

== History ==
[[File:Jack Spurling - ARIEL & TAEPING, China Tea Clippers Race.jpg|thumb|A painting of racing tea clippers by [[Jack Spurling]], a marine artist known for his technical accuracy. This shows the reasonable maximum amount of stun'sls that could be set so that they did not interfere with each other.]]
The origins of studding sails are relatively uncertain. The earliest reference is in 1655, but precise information on how these early examples were rigged is unknown. It is not until 1790 that this is available. Some changes in the detail of design and usage occurred over succeeding years.<ref name="Lees 1979">{{cite book |last1=Lees |first1=James |title=The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War, 1625–1860 |date=1979 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=London |isbn=0-85177-136-X}}</ref>{{rp|115}}

All ordinary working square-rigged vessels were usually fitted out to set stun'sls by the start of the 19th century. This started to change in the last quarter of the 19th century.<ref name="MacGregor 1984">{{cite book |last1=MacGregor |first1=David R. |title=Merchant sailing ships, 1815–1850 : supremacy of sail |date=1984 |publisher=Conway |location=London |isbn=0-85177-294-3}}</ref>{{rp|131}}<ref name="Gardiner and Greenhill 1993">{{cite book |last1=Gardiner |first1=Robert J |last2=Greenhill |first2=Basil |title=Sail's Last Century : the Merchant Sailing Ship 1830–1930 |date=1993 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=London |isbn=0-85177-565-9}}</ref>{{rp|48–49}} As steamers took over routes and cargoes that needed fast passages, sailing vessels competed by being able to cut costs much more easily. Crew sizes were reduced, so there were fewer experienced hands to set and take in stun'sls. Any ship which pressed on in rising winds risked breaking a stun'sl boom or damaging sails{{en dash}}if the owner had all or some of the stun'sls sent ashore, there was less to break and these repair costs avoided. [[Clipper]]s on the routes to China continued to race against each other with large crews and full suits of sails (which included stun'sls) until they also had their trade taken over by steamers in the years following the opening of the [[Suez Canal]] in 1869. As these ships took other routes, most of them had the same economies applied.<ref name="MacGregor 1983">{{cite book |last=MacGregor |first=David R. |date=1983 |title=The Tea Clippers, Their History and Development 1833–1875 |url= |location= |publisher=Conway Maritime Press Limited |isbn=0-85177-256-0}}</ref>{{rp|210}}