How many ropes on a ship? When asking this question I am only talking about later ships as I am not up to date with the modern ships.

Man rope, bell rope, old rope.

bugger it was the middle one. thought that I would get a bit more of a run with that one. The only rope on a ship is the bell rope.

Eee, dear damn and bugger me, as my old Lancashire country-boy Granddad used to say,
when he thought we weren't listening.

One out of three ain't bad. Back in the seventies I made up a bell rope for my little sail
boat, and to protect it from the elements I painted it. The finished product looks more
like a cosh, but everyone else thought it looked tiddley enough. I took it off the boat when
I sold it, and one day I'll photo it and post it here.

What goes one way on one side of a ship, and reverses itself on the other?

Not talking about the soft shoe shuffle are we. The Plimsol line or depth marks on the bow. As for the painted bell rope I thought they all where painted as I can not ever recall one that was not and usually the predominate colour was white. Tony is there any chance of getting a English spell checker that allows us to spell colour this way instead of the septic way Color. Just a little whinge from the lower ranks.

The ships name on the bow, -------- or someone on his way to the old mans cabin to be logged after being adrift all day.

There was another rope originally known as a Guest Warp or commonly called a Boat Rope it was made fast fwd and aft to hang in a bight under the accommodation ladder, usually when you were at anchor, so any visiting boat could make fast to it when coming alongside. I believe the rope question originated on sailing vessels where every rope had a particular name hence the only rope on a fully rigged ship was a Bell Rope?

Yes Tony but it was still a guest warp and even the coils of rope (as we call them now) was called cordage. Think that you are right that it would have originated from the square riggers so will not pursue it further in case I am given enough rope to hang myself with.

Stan gave the answer I was looking for, but Les came up with one other feature that would
qualify as an answer - the Plimsol load lines and draught marks at the bow.

Who says we cannot get sharper with age?

ships name on the bow