Materials
What the rope is made of
Five fibres in the yard book. Each is laid differently, and the yard keeps to the lay each fibre asks for.
Manila
From the abacá plantations on the far side of the world. Strong, stiff, salt-tolerant. The yard lays it hard for mooring and towage. The deep brown of a new manila line is the colour most people picture when they picture rope.
Hemp
Home-grown flax fields up the valley once supplied it; now the hemp comes from Kent and the flax from Flanders. Takes a hard lay, wears smooth, and holds a tar dressing better than anything else.
Flax
Soft-laid for twine. The sailmakers above the weir buy it beeswaxed; the garden trade buys it plain on cedar bobbins.
Sisal
The honest budget fibre. Rougher on the hands, shorter-lived, and priced accordingly. The yard will tell you plainly when sisal is the right answer and when it is not.
Nylon & polyhemp
The modern shelf. Nylon for anything that stretches and survives, polyhemp for floats and fenders that must not sink or rot. Laid on the same walk as the hemp, at a slower jack.
Wire core
Not a fibre but a spine. Steel core rope is laid manila-over-wire for hoisting work, and it leaves the walk the stiffest thing the yard makes.