Russian hemp

[von stetina]

The plans for my  American clipper ship state that all standing rigging is right hand lay Russian hemp. The plans are by William Crothers, a noted authority. Everything I read says standing rigging is left hand lay. Can someone help me on this? 

 

Von Stetina

Edited October 25, 2013 by von stetina

[Jim Lad]

Bruce,

 

Shrouds were usually, but not exclusively left handed in older ships - it was simply a matter of smaller, right handed rope being laid up again to make a much larger rope.

 

Of course shroud laid rope is four strands laid up right handed around a core.  It was often used for standing rigging as it was less liable to stretching.

 

Also remember that wire rope was in use on some ships by the mid 1850's for standing rigging, and that was (and is) almost exclusively right handed.

 

John

[von stetina]

Hi John,

 

Then since my DMC Cordennet thread is RH I need to unwind it and turn it into LH thread in order to lay it up into RH rope, right?

 

Bruce

[Jim Lad]

Bruce,

 

You're building at 1:96 aren't you?  Should be able to find ready made threads at that scale (maybe)!

 

John

[von stetina]

 Yes, that's right 1/96. I found that almost all of it needs to be made. There are 23 sizes called for. Some are within 1/4 or 1/2 inch of each other so at this scale I will combine some of the sizes. Right now I need an amazing amount of 11 1/2 shroud material as McKay used it all the way back to the topgallant back stays and also fore stays on the Lightning. I think only three of his clippers were rigged this heavy. I'm using 4 strands of # 30 thread to come out at .038.

 

I'm having a ,lot of trouble getting this thread to change lay. I may end up going with LH rope despite what my plans call for.

 

Bruce

[Jim Lad]

11 1/2 inch topgallant backstays?    Are you sure that source is reliable, Bruce?

 

John

[von stetina]

Hi John,  Yes, It's correct. This ship was very unusual. I believe  2 or 3 other of his ships were rigged this way for the Liverpool / Melbourne run. McKay's ships were known for their heavy construction throughout. Must be why they held the speed records.

 

Bruce

[Jim Lad]

Crikey, Bruce, that really is heavy rigging.  Do you know whether McKay ever used wire in his standing rigging?

 

John

[von stetina]

There's no mention of it. I wouldn't be surprised though in his last clippers. The ship Donald McKay  that I might build next and have been researching was not really a true clipper. She was pretty full ended but still was able to make fast passages due to the heavy rigging. This ship was huge, having a 115 foot main yard and a main mast 42 inches in diameter, the hoops alone weighed 3210 pounds. Pity the poor sailor men bringing in that mainsail! Topsails were the Howe's rig though. 16,755 yards of canvas, more than his 4 masted Great Republic.

 

Bruce