Views from the crow's nest

Ahoy me hearties! Philip's been climbing the rigging again. Once you let him loose on a sailing ship the crow's nest represents a challenge that has to be reached because it's there

It turns out the ratlines of a barquentine are half the width of a full-rigged ship. He was apparently breathing hard by the time he got up there. Fortunately, the view rewarded the effort, because with this rig only the foremast has square sails and you can see past the staysails on the other masts, as you can see in the top left picture.

Anyone who wonders how sharp a lookout's eyes need to be should note how faint the island on the horizon appears in this last photograph, even in good weather like this.