How many fathoms of each kind of rope did a ship of the line carry?
Short answerThe panel cannot give a reliable fathom total from memory, but a full rig reportedly required about six weeks of continuous production at Chatham's ropewalk.
NotesA ship of the line carried many different sizes of standing and running rigging, making a single remembered total difficult to provide. The answer therefore uses an industrial measure instead of a doubtful number of fathoms. One account says that Chatham's ropewalk needed about six weeks of nonstop production to furnish a complete set for a new ship. The remembered source was unclear about whether this meant the entire ropeworks or one portion of it. Even with that caveat, the figure conveys the scale of skilled shore infrastructure hidden behind an age-of-sail warship.