Equipages de Ligne, mid- 19th century, in : Jack Tar, A Sailor’s Life 1750-1910, by J. Welles Henderson
The french sailor is depicted at work at an ordinary task. He is part way trough the process of worming, parcelling and serving a rope to make it watertight.
What it looks like in detail :
First of all, start with the worming- This means that a thinner rope is wound into the interstices of the thicker rope. Then comes the parcelling, i.e. long, narrow strips of tarred canvas that are tied around a rope before being sewn like bindings; they are laid in spiral coils as smoothly as possible on the surface so that the rope does not become uneven and full of ridges. The last step is the serving, that means the wrapping of a tarred rope, string or yarn, to protect the rope from friction and chafing. The end of the yarn is placed under the first two or three turns of the rope to hold it firmly; then two turns are taken around the rope and the mallet (the wooden handle), on each side of and around the handle. The mallet is then gradually turned around the rope by its handle while another person passes the ball of yarn; and this is continued until the rope has reached the required length.
