Q&A · 45:28-46:21

How much did an East Indiaman's rigging weigh?

A question about the weight of the lines receives no numerical estimate; the answer turns to the much larger measure of the ship's tonnage.

Question

How much did all the lines on these ships weigh?

Short answer

Only a qualitative answer, a lot, is offered for the rigging. The figure of about 1,400 tons burthen refers to large East Indiamen, not to their ropes.

Notes

The question asks about the weight of the ship's lines, but no rigging-weight calculation follows. The size comparison instead concerns East Indiamen reaching about 1,400 tons burthen or more. Earl of Mansfield and Lascelles, built at Deptford in 1795, are named as large examples comparable in scale with fourth rates. Their tonnage helps explain their warship-like appearance but does not answer how much the rigging weighed.