Ships & Sailors - Uses of Hemp

Ninety percent of all ships’ sails (since before the Phoenicians, from at least the 5th Century B.C.E. until long after the invention and commercialization of steam ships - mid to late 19th century) were made from hemp. The world “canvas” is the Dutch pronunciation (twice removed, from French and Latin) of the Greek word “Kannabis.” In addition to canvas sails, until this century, virtually all of the rigging, anchor ropes, cargo nets, fishing nets, flags, shrouds, and oakum (the main protection for ships against salt water, used as a sealant between loose or green beams) were made from the stalk of the marijuana plant. Even the sailors’ clothing, right down to the stitching in the seamen’s rope-soled and (sometimes) “canvas” shoes were crafted from cannabis. Additionally, the ships’ charts, maps, logs, and Bibles were made from paper containing hemp fiber from the time of Columbus (15th Century) until the early 1900s in the Western European/American World, and by the Chinese from 1st Century A.D. on. Hemp paper lasted 50 to 100 times longer than most preparations of papyrus, and was a hundred times easier and cheaper to make. Incredibly, it cost more for a ship’s hempen sails, ropes, etc. than it did to build the wooden parts.