System of ropes and pulleys on a sail

Usage examples of clewlines.

All hands obeyed, and at once the eight or ten seamen who composed the crew, sprang to their respective stations at the spanker brails and outhaul, topsail sheets and halyards, the jib downhaul, and the topsail clewlines and buntlines.

The number of men on the victim's deck was sparse, but after a short while they manned the bunts and clewlines and reduced the working canvas.