It's a fad. It won't last.

Scotty

"Bart" wrote in message
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Wire Rigging for Ships
Wire rigging for ships: - The Liverpool Courier says
three-fourths of
all the ships now fitted out of Liverpool are rigged with
wire rope. It
is described as a fourth less in weight, and not on-half
the bulk of
that made of hemp, and the cost is also 25 per cent less.
It is much
less susceptible than hemp of atmospheric changes, and it
is predicted
that in a few years it will supersede hemp rope for
standing rigging. A
recent trial of wire, hemp and Manilla ropes was recently
made at the
King's dock, Liverpool. The straining tests showed the
immense
superiority of wire rope over that made even of the best
fibrous
material. The testing of the hempen ropes proved the
strength of
Manilla to be far superior to Russian hemp, taking many of
the
merchants, shipmasters and riggers present by surprise, as
a different
opinion had been entertained by many of the gentlemen
present.

The English have the advantage of us in regard to iron
ships was well
as wire rigging, on account of the cheapness of material.
Iron ship are
increasing in number in England, and in many respects they
are superior
to wood, but they can not be built here until iron becomes
cheaper. An
iron ship in England cost only about the same as a
first-class wooden
ship, but in the United States would probably cost three
times as much
as a wood-built ship. The depreciation on an iron ship is
much less
than one of wood, and when the iron vessel is worn out,
the old
material will go far towards paying for new. These are
important
considerations. There is no one thing which we so much
need, as the
ability to produce iron as cheaply as England. We have the
crude
materials in abundance, cropping out on the surface of the
earth
instead of being compelled to dig hundreds of feet deep
for it, but we
need the skill and the labor which is requisite.


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Daily Traveller, Boston, 1857 August 31.