one big rope!

[Dutchman]

hey folks, below is a message running around on the ropemakers yahoo group involving a ships cable from the war of 1812. Interesting read but I had a hard time with the math. Anyhow, a bloody cable 25 inches around!

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below is a reply from Des Pawsons

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This great rope would almost certain to have been a Great Cable Laid Rope and whilst the usual length for a piece of rope would be 720ft 240 yards 120 fathoms it is likely that the cable would be between 100 & 110 fathoms authorities do tend to vary as to what the stand length would be . The rope used to make the cable would shorten when being laid up into cable .

Checking in :-

Anon: Tables of weight of each sort of Cordage made in the common mode and by machine in His Majesty's Ropeyards Navy Office [London ] 1821

a cable max length in the tables for common made is 102 fathoms

22 circ gives 90 fathoms 83cwts 2 qrs 14 lb 100 fathoms 92cwt 2qrs 16 lb and 102fathoms 94cwt 2 qrs 0lbs

There are no ropes listed of 22inch circ only cable

So if the weight is dead right I guess you could do the maths and work out exactly how long the Great Cable/Rope would be

I have a fathom piece of the Anchor cable from the Victory 25 inch circ in our collection , and 2 very fit srong people( not me) can just about carry it and I would not want them to carry it far

DES

-----Original Message-----

Subject: [ropemaking] THE GREAT ROPE

Hi Folks,

In the book, "The Great Rope", by Roesmary Nesbitt, it is described how during the War of 1812, the anchor rope for the frigate "Superior" was carried from Oswego to Sackets Harbor, throught the swamps.

"The Great Rope was the main anchor cable for the "Superior", a frigate launched May 1, 1814 from Sackets Harbor under the command of Issac Chauncy. When armed, she was to carry 66 guns. The rope, under guard in Oswego, was 22 inches around and weighed 9,600 pounds. Although the rope traveled by boat most of the way, due to heavy fighting on Lake Ontario, the last leg of the trip was made over land on the backs of men."

It states the ropes diameter and weight, but there is no mention of the length. I read somewhere that those anchor ropes were 720' long. Can any one of you learned folks substantioate this ?