Ratlines
Sea Terms
Short lengths of ratline stuff seized and clove-hitched 14 inches apart across the shrouds, parallel with the sheer pole, and which act as the rounds of a ladder for the crew in ascending or descending from aloft. All the ratlines extend from the swifter (the forward shroud) to the one next to the aftermost shroud, but every fifth ratline is seized to this after shroud, and is called both a catch ratline and a sheer ratline.
