Old Hemp Rope at shipyard
Something from Nothing
So superior is hemp, that even the discarded old beaten ropes are worth saving…
When a Hemp rope has lived its life and is in desperate need of replacement, they are never thrown out like ones made of cotton. These hemp ropes can still save lives…
Scene from the movie ‘Oliver Twist’ from a workhouse picking oakum.
When a Hemp Rope was retired, every bit of it was recycled. Tediously picked apart, the hemp fibers were made into Oakum. Oakum is the name for these picked apart hemp fibers from old hemp ropes.
The work at picking apart old hemp ropes was horrible and demanded a large workforce before the advent of machinery…
With the passage of the Poor Act in 1834, both the poor and criminal were forced to pick Oakum at length… (someone laughed at that)
Men picking oakum at Whitechapel Casual Ward, 1902
“The Devil to pay and only a half-bucket of pitch”
After the rope had been picked apart, the oakum lived it’s second life.
Worker caulking a ships wooden deck with oakum
Taking the oakum, shipyard caulking crews would hammer the fibers into the seams between the planks of wooden ships. Mixing the Oakum with hot pitch the holes in the ships seams would be sealed.
This process of caulking boats with hemp oakum made the boats waterproof and ready to sail the oceans.
“Caulkers recaulking the bottom of wooden sailing ship WM Taylor” – 1939
A pretty price was paid for these old worn out Hemp ropes spawning many sayings we still hear today.
Starting with the original used term ‘money for old rope’, the term is now known as ‘something from nothing’.
A perfect statement for hemp itself…
Oakum (hemp rope) hanging from cracks of a old ship