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314 and then twisted together to form the yarn. ‘These yarns are then equally. stretched and twisted together in the the opposite direction. Three or four of these strands are then twisted upon each other in the reverse way again to form the rope, which if perfect can have a weight suspended from _ it without showing an_ inclination to turn in either direction. Tension Should Be Equal The strands should have equal ten- sion and should one be tighter than the other, it will get more strain. When the weight comes on the tight strand will give way and the others follow rapidly. The first sign of this ine- quality is a corkscrew like appearance. Wher this o¢curs the rope should be as once discarded and ought to be returned to the maker. Why should the fibers be -twisted, when their strength is great longi- tudinally and slight across? Would not a bundle of them straight be stronger? The fibers are twisted to- gether so that by their mutual fric- tion, the strength of the thread is made equal to the strain necessary ‘to break it at the smallest section. Too much ‘stwisting injures the fibers and causes the thread to kink and bunch and too little, allows the fibers to slip. In this nice adjustment lies the art of ropemaking. The opinion used to be. held. that the best rope was made by hand on the old time rope walk, and so it was. But the machinery now used is so wel! designed and cleverly super- vised that it has almost entirely super- seded the hand. making of rope, which is a long and tedious process. In reason, a large number of small yarns make a better rope than fewer larger ones and a long lay is to be preferred for ship work, to the short. Bolt rope has these characteristics. The fiber must be properly treated with lubricant that will preserve and lubricate it, but it must not be over- loaded with cheap fats or oils, which is sometimes done to increase its weight. This ‘is adulteration and harmful. Rope should be bought by the foot although it has to be paid for by weight. It must be guaranteed pure new manila hemp, so that there is no sisal, the fiber from the henique plant of Yucatan, about 75 per cent as strong as manila, and so that none of the yarns from old rope are included. These look all right but ‘have lost their resilience and strength. A rope ‘however may be pure manila and yet not good if there is much of the outer fiber. This may be detected hy the color. The feel and smell will MARINE REVIEW betray bad lubrication. It would be good to obtain samples that. can. be unravelled. Three or more ropes laid together form a cable-laid rope. They have more spring and wearing surface and form good mooring ropes. Care Up to Mate It is up to the mate to remember that rope is an important item in ship running and to look after it. First it must be stowed away dry in a dry place. This is vital, even if the lines on deck im use have to be lashed there to await dry weather. It is better to leave them in the sea and rain than to stow them half dry. Coils must be dunnaged from an iron deck and covered if there *is any sweat, and the locker ventilated as occasion offers. No form of insurance covers rope deteriorated before it gets a _chance to do any work. Even when in use, the drier it. is kept the easier it is to handle and the longer it will last. Mooring ropes on deck should be stowed on gratings and may with advantage, have tarpaulin covers. Cargo slings should never be allowed to lie about on the wet deck. It is easy to have them dropped into the hold and hung on hooks in a iocker. Rope cargo runners should as far as possible be kept dry as it dou- Dies their life. Ji there is a = ven- tilator cowl handy drop the working end down it, when it is not in use, or coil it on the mast pins and put something over it. Acids of any kind are “sudden death” to rope. Pulling a rope along or letting it lie on a dirty deck is bad for it; the grit gets into the lay and soon wears it down. Sharp edges to the hatch combings should: be covered when cargo-work- ing, and-rough fairleads for mooring purposes should be smoothed and the ropes parcelled where they touch the leads or each other. If rope cargo runners are to be used, as is the custom down the Mediter- ranean, west coast of Africa and in many other places, examine the winch ends carefully for any roughness. By taking some old chain, winding a few turns round the winch ends and ietting the winch run, feeding some sand under the chain, a smooth, high polish may be obtained. This is de- sirable for whipping cargo. The life of rope is. shortened by running it over blocks which are too small. There often is a controversy aboard, when a coil of large rope is to be broughi intto use, so that it will not be all kinks. The best method is to lay the coil flat on deck, with the July, 1922 inner end underneath. Bring this up through the center and make .a- big left-handed coil. Pass the top end underneath and coil down right-handed. Should Remove Kinks Should a mooring rope acquire kinks, they must on no account be left in, as to put a strain on a kink will fin- ish the rope. If the kinks are many, coil down as fust explained. This takes one turn out of the rope for every flake of the coil. If only a few, they may be removed by running the rope over the winch in the reverse di- rection to that usually employed. If tco many turns have been taken out ot the rope in use, reverse these proces- ses. Kinks or slackness may be avoided by sometimes running — the winch one way and sometimes the other, when heaving. Ends of mooring ropes and towiug, hawsers get most of the work, so that one otherwise worn out may gain renewed life by cutting off the ends, splicing them together (preferably with a ‘cit splice) and cutting it in the middle, so that the good center of the rope becomes the ends. ‘This plan may sometimes be used with cargo whips, using a long splice, and putting a palm-and-needle whipping on _ the strand ends. But so renovated they will need close examination from time td: -time:. In most Mediterranean and many other ports, coir springs are imperative and if not carried will have to be hired, causing delay and expense. When a ship is moored in any port in which a swell is liable to run, coir hawsers are invaluable. This fiber is obtained from several kinds of palm trees, the fibrous part of the leaf being steeped in water for several days, until the soft parts can be removed. iIt does not have the tensile strengith of the abaca, but a rope made from it is light and elastic, and every vessel should carry two short lengtths, best with a thimble and wire strop ait one end and just whipped’ at the other for passing through ports. Ii there is -any swell . running, « it is quite impossible to keep a_ vessel from ranging a little, but if these springs are used they allow some give. The manila moorings’ should take the strain after the coir has stretched a bit and the wire in turn when the manila also has stretched. Stockholders of the Wisconsin Ship- building & Navigation Corp. have de- cided to reopen their plant at Kewaunee. Wis. This property occupies: 32. acres on an open harbor on Lake Michigan. When re-established, the plant — will handle marine repair work, 7 j