The bench
Repairs & splicing
The rigging loft above the walk takes in worn rope the way a cobbler takes in shoes.
Short splice
Two rope ends married into a permanent join that keeps about eighty per cent of the strength. The yard’s bench does forty of these a season, mostly for mooring lines that chafed at one point only.
Long splice
For running rope that must pass a sheave. Tapers over nine feet and keeps ninety-five per cent of the strength; the yard tests every one at the crane with the rope in it.
Eye splice
Thimbled or bare, whipped in tarred marline. The standard finish on every mooring line the yard sells.
Reading a worn rope
Bring the line in and the rigger reads it: the lay opened under the lens, the fibres counted per inch, the chafe points marked with chalk. A line passes if its core still carries its colour. A line fails if you can see the core through the crown.
What it costs
Bench rates from the autumn ledger: short splice £14, long splice £38, eye splice £9, whipping £4, full re-lay of a salvageable line at two-thirds of the new price. All invented figures for this demonstration.