Tricks of the trade

[GaryA]

......anyway I googled the size of the Bounty's main anchor rope and it was 4" in diameter having a circumference of 12.568" but 4" scaled down to 48 times is in metric =2.116mm which is similar to what everyone has done here but I don't know how unless you work thru to find out the diameter of each rope.
I have James Lee's book arrived just now, and it confuses me on Page 188 how one moment the author is writing about the main mast ropes sizing etc and then in the same breath, talking about anchor ropes LOL. I think it may takes some time to see how he ( Lee) the author works. lol
However I will take James Lee's writings as the real McCoy. Got to remember The Bounty was not built as a armed ship but as a collier cargo carrier built for coastal trading, so as a merchant ship she may have been different in build as to a naval ship of war.
Sorry folks , my brain is running riot. LOL

 

[AllanKP69]

it confuses me on Page 188 how one moment the author is writing about the main mast ropes sizing etc and then in the same breath, talking about anchor ropes LOL.

Hi Gary
Maybe the newest edition is different than the older ones so what I found may not be applicable. The mast rigging in my copy is on pages 185-186 and the anchor rope is under miscellaneous ropes on page 188. He gives the circumference of the anchor cable as 0.62 X the diameter of the main mast. Is it the same in your edition? The first dimensions in the dimensioning ratios are for the mast length and diameter and I am pretty sure are the same ratios as given by Steel for the late 18th century in The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship on page 39 (https://maritime.org/doc/steel/).

Allan

 

[GaryA]

Hi Gary
Maybe the newest edition is different than the older ones so what I found may not be applicable. The mast rigging in my copy is on pages 185-186 and the anchor rope is under miscellaneous ropes on page 188. He gives the circumference of the anchor cable as 0.62 X the diameter of the main mast. Is it the same in your edition? The first dimensions in the dimensioning ratios are for the mast length and diameter and I am pretty sure are the same ratios as given by Steel for the late 18th century in The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship on page 39 (https://maritime.org/doc/steel/).

Allan

It is the same Allan, but what is here referring to as the "main mast" and then x 0.62. It appears like it's black and white here to me, where I find the diameter of the mast is such a size, and then multiply by 0.62. The main mast, I think he refers to, is the one in the centre of a 3-mast ship. That is how it reads to me. That's the problem, as I cannot see it any other way. Just remember, take it easy on me, as I am new to this stuff. LOL.
I am only used to some rope from the store or from the hardware shop. lol, and then I see that there are nearly a trillion different-sized ropes included in the rigging of the boat. I hope I can figure out how many layers make a certain-sized rope.
Actually, that is a topic of what the real secrets are to recreating the correctly sized rope. Surely it's not just guesswork. All I know 99.9% of the ropes are Z laid
Cheers

 

[AllanKP69]

The main mast, I think he refers to, is the one in the centre of a 3-mast ship. That is how it reads to me.

Yessir. Lees, and subsequently Steel use various ship lengths and breadths to start then figure the main mast length. Everything then goes from there.
There are a LOT of rope circumferences, but at our scales, a dozen different sizes should satisfy 95% of model builders, be it kit or scratch.
Allan