Not P but Moby-Dick (71)

[Ian Livingston]

Rope, including wire rope (which was not yet used in nautical applications
in Melville's maritime days) is generally referred to by its diameter. A
nine-inch long rope of half inch, or nine inch, diameter might be used as
an item in an art installation, but otherwise occupy space in a landfill
somewhere.

On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 9:32 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> So does the "nine-inch" refer to the circumference or the diameter, or is
> it something else? I searched around and found a lot of mention of
> "nine-inch cable" in books, but could not find such information.
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 6:34 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > Standard rope gauges were determined by the number of folds made in the
> > rope walk. Standard sailing ship rigging usually varied from 1–1/4 inch
> dia
> > to 10 inches in diameter, the latter used for towing another ship, tie up
> > to docks, and far less often for anchors, chain being preferred for
> anchors.
> > 2
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 3:31 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> >> From Chapter 89:
> >>
> >> First: What is a Fast-Fish? Alive or dead a fish is technically fast,
> when
> >> it is connected with an occupied ship or boat, by any medium at all
> >> controllable by the occupant or occupants,—a mast, an oar, a nine-inch
> >> cable, a telegraph wire, or a strand of cobweb, it is all the same.
> >>
> >> Here, the "nine-inch" refers to the girth of the rope, is that correct?
> >>
> >> Previous translations interpreted it as the length, which seems
> obviously
> >> wrong to me.
> >> --
> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >>
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>