Nauticalia

Ropes and seafaring have gone hand in hand for thousands of years, but ropes became particularly important during the age of the sailing warship. A 104-gun warship of around 1800, such as HMS Victory, used over 29 miles (47 km) of rope for its rigging, anchor cables, and gun tackles. In 1805 the Navy used 16,500 tons of cordage, of which 10,000 tons were made in the roperies of the dockyards at Chatham, Portsmouth, Plymouth and Woolwich. Of these roperies, only that of Chatham, where rope has been made since 1618, survives in its original role. The Double Ropehouse is the most striking building of the Chatham ropeyard, mainly due to its great internal length of 1,135ft. Naval ropes were made in lengths of 120 fathoms (720 ft), which was the length of cable required to anchor a ship in forty fathoms (240ft) of water. To make such a rope, the individual yarns and strands had to be much longer, as the twisting action reduced their length at each stage of the process. 
WE ARE PROUD to offer our carefully-selected range of rope, made entirely at Chatham Ropeyard, where most of the rope requirements for HMS Victory were met.

Please place your order in metres.