Origins of hammocks ??

**whazzzup** · 01-04-2013, 08:43

Been wondering about the humble beginnings of hammocks ? i have a picture in my mind, of some long hair Jamaicans on a beach with strait hair then after about a week or two of hanging about under the palm trees discovering a new hairstyle, dreadlocks and thus the rusta culture is born ha ha ha. no but seriously i know that the navy and sea fairing people use them on ships to combat sea sickness due to the swaying of ships in the ocean but does anyone know who invented em probably the Chinese....

**ibgary** · 01-04-2013, 09:00

According to Wikipedia, Columbus found them in use in Jamaica just like you said. They were made from the bark of the hammock tree, thus the name.

**Bubba** · 01-04-2013, 09:04

I'm sure it's origins are in the jungles where staying off the ground is a good thing.

**FLRider** · 01-04-2013, 09:09

There was a thread on this a ways back. Supposedly, the Mayans invented them, somewhere around 1,000 AD.

Hope it helps!

**georgemaung** · 01-04-2013, 09:17

Very interesting.

It must have been one hack of a surprised "eureka" moment.

**georgemaung** · 01-04-2013, 09:18

Has anybody slept in a hammock on a ship. Pictures?

**Fronkey** · 01-04-2013, 11:16

Originally Posted by georgemaung

Has anybody slept in a hammock on a ship. Pictures?

I have when I worked for princess cruises. It's not much different than outside because cruise ships don't rock as much as a person may think unless there are rough seas.

Fronkey

**SleepingBeauty** · 01-06-2013, 20:38

Originally Posted by georgemaung

Has anybody slept in a hammock on a ship. Pictures?

Well, not a hammock per say, but I did lay in a cot that was suspended from the ceiling on the USS North Carolina. They sway a little getting in and out sitting still in the water. I can imagine they sway a bit more on the open sea.

**whazzzup** · 01-04-2013, 09:27

thanks FLRider that is what i was looking for hav`nt seen a post on it before and was interested was thinking it was something like that very cool

**FLRider** · 01-04-2013, 09:33

Originally Posted by whazzzup

thanks FLRider that is what i was looking for hav`nt seen a post on it before and was interested was thinking it was something like that very cool

No problem.

Something that might help in the future (I apologize if you already know about this, but it's worth repeating for everyone who doesn't) with searches is to go to Google and type in whatever your search terms are followed by "site:www.hammockforums.net". For this one I put in "history of hammocks site:www.hammockforums.net".

Since the forum search function ignores a lot of our acronyms (anything under 4 letters) and common terms (like underquilt), it's worth knowing that search-fu trick.

Hope it helps!

(Also, please don't take this as "You should have searched first!"; it's really just an information post, in case you had trouble finding what you were looking for with the forum search tool. I enjoy helping others find stuff when I have time.)