Better rigging let sailing warships extract more power from the wind

Did advances in rope, block-and-tackle, and related technology materially change age-of-sail warships?

Yes; improved rigging and standardized components let later ships control more sail and convert wind into speed and maneuver more efficiently.

Sailing technology evolved substantially between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries even when hull materials remained familiar. Better blocks, tackle, rope, and rig layouts allowed ships to carry and control more sail. The Royal Navy's move toward mass-produced block-and-tackle sets also improved consistency and replacement supply. Some changes were incremental while others came from concentrated experimentation across a large fleet. As a result, a later ship such as Victory could use the wind far more efficiently and outrun earlier vessels such as Golden Hind while carrying vastly greater fighting power.