Bolt ropes tarred?

[toms10]

Hi MSW

I am looking to find out if the bolt ropes on my 1790 HMS Leopard were tarred or not. Did a search but didn’t come up with any definitive answer. I believe I read somewhere that Stockholm tar was used but I did not find out what time period the post was talking about.  I just want to make sure I use the right color rope before I start. 
 

As always, any help is appreciated. 
 

Tom

[Bob Cleek]

Actually, all rope was thinly tarred when manufactured. Repeated applications of supplemental tar for maintenance purposes made the cordage darker. I have never heard of bolt ropes being tarred after manufacture. To do so would get the tar all over the sails and handling them in the ordinary course would become rather messy, I'd expect. Bolt ropes were treated as was running rigging. Standing rigging, on the other hand, was routinely tarred to preserve it. Bolt ropes would be the same color as running rigging. As is the case, hemp cordage is darker, tending towards brown, than sisal ("Manila") cordage, which is lighter tending towards golden. I'm guessing hemp running rigging would have been in use in 1790, but there are many far more expert folks in this forum on the subject of Admiralty practices at that time.

[Jaager]

I wonder if there is much difference between Stockholm tar and Pine tar from Carolina or Georgia?

There may have been localities with petroleum seeps that used it, but up until Drake's well in 1859 the sap from conifers would have been the waterproofing material?  It is not 000 000 000 black.

 

On sail reinforcement ropes?  It would have them last longer, but canvas is much thinner and would deteriorate first, so what would be the advantage?  It would likely bleed from the rope onto the canvas it was fixed to.  That would not have pleased the captain or the boatswain.

 

[Bob Cleek]

41 minutes ago, Jaager said:

I wonder if there is much difference between Stockholm tar and Pine tar from Carolina or Georgia?

Not much at all. Probably about as much difference as there is between a good champagne and a good "sparkling wine." "Stockholm" was simply an appellation." "Stockholm tar" was recognized to be a high quality product. it got it's name because pine tar was a prized essential naval store and the best was thought to be that produced by the company that held the Swedish royal warrant for the monopoly on pine tar exported from Stockholm. There was apparently a lot of international politics involved in who got to buy tar from Stockholm. If a nation was on the outs with Sweden, they had a hard time sourcing good pine tar for their navies. When England ruled the American Colonies, it acquired a similar source of high quality pine tar from the North American pine forests and became independent of Sweden's monopoly on the product. Hence, the settlers in North Carolina came to be called "tar heels."

Edited February 18, 2021 by Bob Cleek

[toms10]

Thanks guys.  I suspected as much with the tar getting all over the sails.  Going with the hemp colored rope.  I just thought I was missing something because I often see models with dark brown bolt ropes.  Maybe it is just an artistic preference?

 

Tom

[Bob Cleek]

12 hours ago, toms10 said:

Maybe it is just an artistic preference?

 

Or a lack of diligent research.  

[Mark P]

On the subject of tarring the bolt-ropes, this was one of the concerns which arose during the 1618 inquiry into corruption in the Navy Royal during James I's reign.

 

It was claimed (and judging by the number of witnesses to this it was certainly true) that Sir John Trevor, one of the navy board officers, was working in cahoots with a sailmaker named Prusen to ensure a monopoly of sail-making to this one person. High quality canvas would be supposedly delivered into the dockyard stores, and then taken straight out again by the sail-making contractor; at least according to the books this is what happened. In reality, the canvas was delivered straight to the sailmaker. Likewise with the bolt-ropes. The result was that the canvas was never inspected and its value and type confirmed by the dockyard officers. Attempts to deal with this ran into an effective stonewall, as Trevor was seen by the king as trustworthy, and complaints against him were pointless, or more likely to get the complainer into trouble. 

 

Similarly, an additional complaint was the sail-maker Prusen would not let any dockyard officers into his premises to inspect the quality of the tarring applied to the bolt-ropes; how effectively it was done, and what quality of tar, rope and canvas was used. 

 

The result was that the king was paying top dollar for an inferior product, which endangered sailors' lives. However, the story does prove that bolt-ropes were tarred at least as far back as the early 17th century. The protection of the rope was obviously much more important than the chance of some tar leaching into the canvas.

 

All the best,

 

Mark P

[toms10]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for that enjoyable tidbit of history.  I am going to split the difference and go with something in between the dark brown standing rigging and the beige running rigging favoring more the beige side.  It will give a bit of contrast to the color of the sail so the rope just won't blend in and get lost.  I think that should cover both the artistic and realistic sides of the discussion.  Some "tarring" but a mixture that is not as severe/dark as the standing rigging.

 

Tom