Drag Ropes: How are they used??

[Rob Beale]

My apologies Adrian, for not reading the other thread thoroughly.

My thoughts are that the longer rope stowage hooks on a 6 pdr shield would suit the thicker rope, but not at the full length of 30' for two thick ropes. Has Marc's gun got the short or long hooks? One long rope = 2 short ropes

Rob Love's scans of the 6pdr gun manual does show the 2" rope and indeterminate length. What is the difference in weights for the two guns?

The longer a rope is, and the more soldiers pulling on it, the greater the load on the rope at the gun end. From a strength point of view, there doesn't seem any advantage in the heavier rope if it is shorter. Perhaps it is easier to grip by hand?
Like wise the lighter rope may not be strong enough for 30' of soldiers pulling as 2" rope has only 44% of the cross sectional area of a 3" rope.

The pics on the Armorama site show different lengths of rope although one look to be broken. So maybe there is an intermediate size between 15' and 30'?

Regarding the chains at the other end, although the rim of a 25 pdr has a greater diameter, the tyres have similar circumferences for 9" versus 8.25" dia. The drawings in Rob's scan show 8 links on each chain for the 6 pdr, but the Aussie rope in Euan's pic has 11 links.

It would be useful to try the different lengths and sizes of ropes on the hooks and post pics here for comparison.

My thoughts are not definitive but based on my reading of all above posts on the two threads and the other site.

Rob