When were these ropes added to the sides of ships' boats?

[Dan DSilva]

The ones that are attached so a row of half-circles hang below the rubbing strake.  One of my books appears to call them lifelines, but everyone else seems to use that term differently.  Picture yoinked from Ian Scales:

 

I'm asking because I'm considering ordering some boats from Micro Master, most of which have these ropes.  So I'd like to know whether they'd be anachronistic on boats from the 19th century or earlier.

[Kenchington]

"Lifelines", yes (though that term also has other meanings). Their primary purpose is for men in the water to hang onto or (better) get between boat and line, with arms over the line so they could hang there securely.

 

I'm not certain when they were introduced and not even sure whether any firm evidence exists. At least some rescue-lifeboats (the ones that put out from shore after an accident has occurred) had them by the mid-19th Century and some boats on passenger steamers by the early 20th -- both confirmed by photographic evidence. Not so sure that the boats carried by deep-water sailing cargo-carriers ever did, even in the 1930s.

 

Trevor

 

[CPDDET]

https://michiganmaritimemuseum.org/explore/our-fleet/uscg-36460/

[Dan DSilva]

Thanks.  It's sounding like they should be avoided at least on ships' boats in the Age of Sail, which means most of the Micro Master boats would be unsuitable unless I was able to file or sand the ropes off.

[Keith Black]

4 hours ago, Dan DSilva said:

which means most of the Micro Master boats would be unsuitable unless I was able to file or sand the ropes off.

What little I've done altering 3D printed resin figures, I've found it pretty easy to remove unwanted features using an X-Acto # 11 blade. Micro Master products are great but expensive. You might try purchasing a inexpensive piece and see if you can alter it as I suggested. Then you'll have a pretty good idea of the difficulty involved. 

[Knocklouder]

I would check out Vanguard Models  they have these boats, they might have your size

 

Knocklouder 

 

Edited yesterday at 03:55 AM by Knocklouder