Thanks to Natalie for hosting Three Things Thursday, “three things big or small, that have made you happy this week.”
Last weekend the Festival of Sail, commonly known as the Tall Ships, brought quite a few seagoing sailing vessels to Tacoma, WA. Although we missed the parade of ships on Thursday afternoon, when the ships arrived with sails unfurled in all their glory, we did get a chance to tour some of the ships at anchor on Friday.
One of the most important elements on these ships is their ropes. Here are some illustrations.
(Click on any photo to see a larger version.)
One
Because ships played such a large role in the development of the city of Tacoma, our revitalized waterfront area features an educational museum that explains the naval importance of ropes:
Two
A ship’s rigging contains a conglomeration of ropes that come together at the bottom of the mast:
Three
There are more ropes along the sides of the ships:
The rounded thing that the ropes are wound around is called a belaying pin, from the verb belay:
to secure (as a rope) by turns around a clean, pin, or bitt
—from _Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.
© 2017 by Mary Daniels Brown
Retreading for Retirement 