Boarding net

[1] Once deployed, enemy forces would be unable to gain access to the deck without first cutting through the heavy rope netting, a process that would slow them considerably, during which time they would be exposed to attack by the ship's defenders using standoff weapons such as firearms or pikes.

[2] According to the autobiography of George Pegler, while employed aboard the merchantman Blendinghall in the early 19th century he observed that the ship's boarding net was made of "ratlin rope with here and there a small chain running through its entire length, to prevent cutting by the enemy".

[3] Francis Liardet's 1849 book Professional Recollections on Points of Seamanship suggests that a boarding net could be made more resistant to cutting by first covering it with tar.

[6] In the case of Mary Rose, the crew became trapped on the deck by the boarding net when she began taking on water, leading to the loss of almost all hands during her sinking.

[6][7] The SS Beaver, chartered by the Royal Navy to survey the coast of British Columbia, reportedly kept her boarding net deployed at all times "to prevent access by the natives otherwise than by the gangways".