A boarding net is a type of rope net used by ships during the

Age of Sail The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid- 19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of naval ...

to prevent boarding by hostile forces. Designed to hang from a ship's masts and encircle its deck, the boarding net could be deployed during battle or at night when a ship was at anchor in unknown or hostile waters. In the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, boarding nets first gained widespread use in the 1790s. Boarding_Axe

Description and use

The boarding net was a rope net that could be raised from a ship's masts so that it encircled the vessel's deck. A ship's captain could order the net deployed during battle if it became apparent that enemy

naval infantry Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

might attempt to capture his vessel through a boarding action; it might also be raised at night if the vessel was at anchor in unknown or hostile waters. Once deployed, enemy forces would be unable to gain access to the deck without first cutting through the heavy rope netting, a process that would slow them considerably, during which time they would be exposed to attack by the ship's defenders using standoff weapons such as firearms or

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus ...

s. To overcome the boarding net, boarding parties could be equipped with boarding axes – lightweight hand

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has man ...

s designed to cut through rope.

Observations and accounts

According to the

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

of George Pegler, while employed aboard the merchantman ''Blendinghall'' in the early 19th century he observed that the ship's boarding net was made of "ratlin rope with here and there a small chain running through its entire length, to prevent cutting by the enemy". When a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

privateer engaged ''Blendinghall'', the ship's boarding net kept the attackers from successfully gaining access to her deck. Francis Liardet's 1849 book ''Professional Recollections on Points of Seamanship'' suggests that a boarding net could be made more resistant to cutting by first covering it with

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

Royal Navy

In the Royal Navy, boarding nets first gained widespread use in the 1790s, though were typically limited to use on ships of frigate-size and smaller, as ships of the line were unlikely to be targets of boarding in the first place. However, individual examples of naval vessels from the British Isles using boarding nets extend back at least to the ''

Mary Rose The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...

'' in the 16th century. In the case of ''Mary Rose'', the crew became trapped on the deck by the boarding net when she began taking on water, leading to the loss of almost all hands during her sinking. The SS ''

Beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are ...

'', chartered by the Royal Navy to survey the coast of British Columbia, reportedly kept her boarding net deployed at all times "to prevent access by the natives otherwise than by the gangways".

United States Navy

The 1864 capture of the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

gunboat USS '' Water Witch'' by the

Confederate States Marine Corps The Confederate States Marine Corps (CSMC), also referred to as the Confederate States Marines, was a branch of the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War. It was established by an act of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate State ...

was accomplished despite ''Water Witchs boarding net having been deployed, leading to a recommendation from the

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...

that ships be outfitted with wire boarding nets instead of rope ones.

References

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External links