does anyone know if there were any full shelter hammocks around before the army one that tom shows the drawing of on his website?
also, i can't believe there isn't a lawyer in this bunch...Brandon
I'm actually going thru a few historic books that some friends and I have on camping, seamanship, etc, partly out of sheer curiousity. The Royal Navy and others have slept its sailors in hammocks for three or four hundred years. These ships went to shore all the time for restocking wood, fresh water, etc, and the men often lived on shore during these periods for fresh air and cool sleeping in the tropics. I'd bet that more than one of them thought to throw a piece of sailcloth over a ridgeline to keep a tropical downpour off! In fact, the term "tarp" comes out of early seagoing to the best of my knowledge, shortened from tarpaulin, either of which you hear as slang referring to an early sailor who often made his own weatherproof clothing from tarred or varnished sailcloth. Most commonly you might hear the term "Jack tar", which becomes "Jack" by the mid 19th cent. Soooo,
the JRB should maybe focus more on tarps, huh?
And catenary cuts? Old sailmaking technology, in use centuries ago. You can read about 18th century sailors knowing if a distant ship was English or French by the cut of the sails, even when they were limp. Different amounts of catenary for different navies. Cool huh?
Rereading all this stuff makes me keep thinking that there are few new ideas, just that people take turns owning them.
Christian
Being a dinosaur, I have some really old (1970's) books on hiking and camping that are now out of print. At least two have directions for making and using hammocks. I'm not going to have time to dig them out and research them today (my dad is having skin grafts tomorrow so I'm going to be missing until he can take care of himself and mom).
Sorry to hear about your dad, Dino. Hope he gets better quickly!
Speaking of the books though, makes me think of checking my local used book store to see if there are any Hammock treasures....
It occurs to me that public libraries will have some older books on hammocking as well. Since we live all over the place......
The Jacks said that a really old Aussie hammock was the imperation for their design.
Is that too much to ask? Girls with frikkin' lasers on their heads?
The hanger formly known as "hammock engineer".
I wonder how long it will be before someone patents the ring buckle support system.
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