The sides were meant to wrap around the occupant, which helped prevent spill-outs, and allowed the occupant to rock back and forth safely while the ship was battered by the sea. I should note, however, that I believe sailors did not typically sleep on a diagonal in their hammocks while at sea. I believe the stiff fabric contributed to the flat lay by preventing my heavier torso to sink lower than my legs. I was able to get a diagonal lay and I was surprised with out “flat” I felt. I hung the hammock with a shallow sag, mimicking the photos I had seen. To my surprise and delight, this hammock blew me away with its comfort. In addition, the thick hemp rope prevents the short hammock from gathering up too much, thus retaining the lay of a bigger hammock with the size of a smaller one.Īlthough the nettles were looking worm, I decided to give the hammock a test run indoors. It is an ingenious design, allowing the hammock to be quickly and easily disconnected from the clew for washing or repair work. A piece of 5/8″ (1.6 cm) thick hemp rope, approximately 41″ (104 cm) long threads through each bight as the nettle was fed through a grommet. Each clew has 12 nettles and each nettle has a bight at the end that attaches to the hammock through a grommet. ![]() After a few hand washings, the canvas became more flexible and the stains and smell were minimized (although my kids still say it stinks). The fabric was stained in a few places and had a variety of unpleasant smells (I can only imagine the stories behind each one!). There are 12 steel grommets on each short end. The hammock itself was made from a thick piece of canvas and was very stiff (likely due to its age). So when the opportunity came to buy a vintage World War II US Navy hammock from eBay, I didn’t hesitate to do some first-person research.Īs far as I could determine, the hammock I purchased still had it’s original clews, or hammock suspension, with natural fiber rope nettles and a steel O-ring. In looking at reference photos and design parameters, I presumed that the navy hammock couldn’t be very comfortable-at least compared to Brazilian-style hammocks I enjoy-since the navy version is much narrower and shorter and is hung with a shallow sag. I’ve slept in a lot of hammocks, and while I’ll take any hammock over the ground, there are some I prefer more than others given a choice. My grandpa, who served in the US Navy during World War II, said that he loved his navy hammock and said that many sailors brought them home because they thought they were so comfortable. ![]() I wondered if that was a testament to its utility and convenience and maybe even its comfort. From what I could discover, the basic design of the “navy hammock” hadn’t changed for hundreds of years, since the time Columbus brought the hammock from the new world until the Korean War (to see some naval hammocks in action, I highly recommend the Horatio Hornblower series by A&E). ![]() In doing research for my book, I became intrigued by the hammocks used aboard sailing ships.
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