The Rope Maker...

...what infinitely fascinating and wonderful people maritime heritage folk are....
I know I say this on a regular basis, but it really deserves mention once again. A few days ago--maybe a week by now--Fred and Emma invited me out to their house for dinner again. Dinners at Hockers' house are guaranteed entertainment and fun for the entire evening. Between Fred and Emma's inexhaustible humor and the hilarious antics of their two boys, Thomas and Simon--11 and 7 respectively--there is no way to leave their home feeling unsatisfied in any way.

On this particular occasion I was accompanied by Ole and Annetta Magnus, my Danish shipmates living on Sankt Erik with me. We took the train out to the Hockers' house in Kallhäll, on the north side of Stockholm, and joined them for a lovely dinner of smoked salmon--an essential dish I have been without since leaving Seattle. Given the company, there was plenty of talk about a variety of maritime museums, historic ships, and wrecks around the southern Baltic. Then, as we prepared for dessert, young Thomas requested Ole to make good on his earlier promise to show the boys how to make a rope.

Ole is the world's leading scholar in the history and craft of hand-made rope. He has studied the rope found in more than a dozen medieval sites including wrecks and has made or supervised the making of much of the rope used on Denmark and Norway's numerous Viking ship reconstructions. Now he has been invited here to the Vasa Museum to study all of Vasa's preserved ropes and tell us what can be learned from them. Already, their quality attests to the haste with which the ship was built.
Given Ole's unquestionable expertise, naturally Thomas wanted to be taught by the very best.
However, most of the rope Ole works with is made of hemp, flax, or horse hair--not exactly your average household materials. But Ole had a solution in mind: toilet paper.

Emma found six roles for the task and Ole set Thomas and his little brother, Simon, to work.

First, Ole had the boys unroll all six roles of toilet paper across the living room floor--every child's dream! Ole is kneeling on the end of the TP strands, Fred holding them in the middle, and the faint blur in the foreground is Simon moving at incredible speeds in his assigned duty to make a 'professionally' designed mess.

Next, the numerous strands of TP were lifted as a bundle and we began twisting them into a single, tight, cord. Front to back-Emma, Simon, Ole, and Annetta.

Then the cord was doubled back on itself and countertwisted (the key to keeping a rope from unravelling). Left to right, Emma, Ole, Thomas, and Annetta--our forever reliable anchor.

The countertwisting action was somewhat difficult. First, those holding the bitter ends must do a 'dance' around eachother to wind the two cords together. This involves ducking under the other cord with each pass--a difficult challenge for Fred when Simon (standing four-foot-nothing) held up the cord for his father to go under.

Secondly, it is important to keep constant and even tension on the two cords. Fred and Simon, differing in weight by over 80 pounds, had a little trouble maintinaing this requirement as well. Left to right; Fred, Simon, Emma, Thomas (hiding behind his mother), Ole, and Annetta putting the final counter-twist into the rope.

Quality Control. Fred, Thomas, and Ole.

What astounded me most about the process was the incredible strength of the end product! Remember, this is a rope made of toilet paper, a material designed to break. Yet, once wound into a rope, no test the boys employed could break it; neither jumping-rope nor tug-of-war nor even hanging their combined weight on the line could exceed its strength!! I must say, Ole has one remarkable party trick....