Today, when someone talks about the traditional rigging of a mast, they likely do not mean what Franz Ulffers, a corvette captain from Leer in East Frisia, wanted to explain. For Ulffers, it is about the attachment of the shrouds to the hull of the ship. His richly illustrated standard work, first published in 1871, titled "Handbuch der Seemannschaft" (Handbook of Seamanship), vividly and educationally describes, through 41 plates, what a sailor had to master in terms of craftsmanship at that time. Setting a mast without tools, replacing a bowsprit, as well as all repairs to standing and running rigging—this and much more is depicted in drawings that convey the information more accurately than words ever could. The original clearly shows that it was created at a time when reading and writing were privileges. Anyone who sailed on a sailing ship back then had to.