serving mallet

[Bos'n Cross]

well im gonna jump in here on this one.....what the captain of the Niagara was doing isnt exactly a repair, he was making nnneeeewww shrouds. Ideally you would want to get the rigging made on land before hand at a rigging loft,(like he was doing) then make repairs as necessary. Making those repairs is basically the chief job of the bosun and his mates, constantly keeping things tarred and in working order. As far as my sources it would seem that instead of keeping extra actual rigging, they instead had all the supplies to make nneewww pieces. For instance, this is taken from a 1654 account by Edward Hayward (thanks to Ed foxe for the source) Its listed that onboard were many different sizes of lines and cables, and 20 sum odd pounds of marline, which are used in the process of servicing etc., as well as all the tools to accomplish what ever task needed, also listed are spare sails..but NOT spare rigging(except for wooden bits like dead-mans-eyes, blocks and spars), so it would be up to the crew to make new anything that was broken beyond what a simple repair would do, for any larger repair would ruin the strength of your rigging and could cause it to fail.......and no matter when it is...a 65 some foot mast falling down is always at the WRONG time........hope that covered it......

Edited July 25, 2010 by Bos'n Cross

[Dutchman]

in addition to *edit* CROSS.. some would be kept made up and ready to go with the ends sometimes already finished with an eye splice or deadeye in place or sometimes laid open ready to splice the appropriate eye or block to it, but I'm not sure just how much would be on hand. as *edit* CROSS points out, its an ongoing process on board ship and there would more than likely always be some on hand made and ready to replace or in the process of replacing, its important to remember the ship is alive and is always in need of repairs. So maybe a month or two into a year long trip would find the crew making new, ready to replace quickly worn pieces. Some pieces might last two months others six maybe, depends on their placement and use. a served line is as flexible as steel cable so there is no coiling, you just lay it round and bind it together to keep it from tangling, like you would barbed wire. if a replacement needs to be run in fowl weather you run what ever you can to do the job and make it ship shape as soon as possible.

[Bos'n Cross]

a fine addition *edit* DUTCHIE-POO......your a gentleman and a scholar!

Edited July 26, 2010 by Bos'n Cross

[madPete]

Thank ye fer yer input...

I knew he was making a new one, but was thinking that repairing a chafed shroud in place must be similar - I guess in a storm ye jes hope it holds eh?

yeah - who is Reggie?

Edited July 25, 2010 by madPete

[Dutchman]

and that madpete is where baggy wrinkle comes in. Ideally you want to eliminate the chafe in the first place. why make work for yourself, but there are points where it can't be helped such as sheets on a foresail against staysor the upper parts of some sails against the shrouds. The shrouds as noted earlier are stiff and coarse- they will make rags of sails in quick order.For those areas we cover this entire operation with baggywrinkle which only goes on standing rigging, or permanent, non moving, bracing lines, as opposed to running rigging which moves such as halyards and sheets.

[Dutchman]

there CROSS, i fixed it.

[Bos'n Cross]

dang! he beat me to the baggywrinkle........you could call me Israel if you likes it more..... <3

[adam cyphers]

[marlinspike]

Very cool! But now I have mallet envy.

[adam cyphers]

no need for envy Marlinspike..i dont even get to keep it lol.its for another pub mate (jolly jacktar)

[peglegstrick]

Nice woodworking skills Mr. Cyphers !

[adam cyphers]

thank you sir :)