All the nettings secured, now the two hundred hammocks

The Diana carries two hundred hammocks, rolled up in the nettings along the bulwark. This is one of them. I start with a strip of cloth, four by three centimetres. One edge of the strip was hemmed beforehand. That edge goes on the outside, so no frayed edge shows on the ship. I roll the cloth as tightly as I can, into a roll about as thick as a match. The batten in the vice has seven pins. I press the roll onto them, so it cannot move and the pins mark where the thread goes. Then the lashing, with fine thread. I start with two turns round the roll and pass the thread through them, so it forms a small knot that cannot slip. Then one turn between each pair of pins, pulling tight every time. Seven turns in all. On a real hammock that was the rule, one for each of the seven seas, or so the story goes. At the end, two turns again with the thread passed through. Then I take the roll off the pins and pass the needle under four of the turns, so it holds without a bulky knot. I cut the thread on both sides, and trim the ends once more, so it is neatly finished. A drop of superglue in the middle, so I can fold the hammock double without it springing open. And that is one. One hundred and ninety-nine to go.