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double clews

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | 2006 | 433 words | Copyright

double clews, or clues, an old sea term used by seamen when one of them got married. Clews, with their nettles, were the cords which supported a seaman's hammock. A double set of clews, in seamen's humour, were required to support a seaman's wife as well as himself. Double clews were also supposed to give a wider spread to a hammock, and the extra width thus obtained may also have had something to do with the origin of the term.

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"double clews." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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