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Lines Properly Called Ropes Aboard a Sailing Vessel
There is a saying that there are seven ropes aboard ship, when in fact, according to Clement Ashley, there have been over sixty to bear the name. I can think of ten off hand. To "know the ropes," one would need to know lots of lines, but also some ropes including:
1. Bell rope
2. Boat rope
3. Boltrope
4. Breast rope (holds the leadsman around the chest in the chains to free up both his hands - and, of course, keep him from falling overboard!)
5. Bucket rope
6. Foot rope
7. Gift rope - used to pull cleaning discs through hawse pipes
8. Heel rope (rove from a lower masthead, though a sheave in the heel of a topmast used in raising the topmast to pull out the fid and then lowering it.
9. Manrope - for climbing down into a ship's boat
10. Wheel rope(s) - used to hold the ship's wheel steady in a shorthanded vessel when the helmsman has to leave the wheel momentarily or when not underway.
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