Waste not; want not.

[Randi]

HMS Mantis 7 Feb 1922 Ichang:
"9.0 Hands fell in. Employed painting cabin flats, turning 2nd sampan's falls end for end & as req."

The naval version of turning sheets 'sides to middle'? Which in my memory led to a rather uncomfortable sheet with a seam down the middle .... ::)

The boring answer is that they are reversing the run of the falls so that the chafe points aren't always in the same place.

I was never much into anything domestic myself, but I certainly remember wool being re-used. And worn out towels becoming bath mats. Skills we could probably do with re-learning in these straitened times.

And PeteB9 - I guess that's more the equivalent of turning mattresses then?

Yes - if you don't turn the falls regularly you have the same bit of the rope being chafed away all the time and you suddenly launch the boat by accident when it breaks.

High embarrassment factor ;D

Unlike mattresses, ropes do not have interior springing although, when mooring, it is possible to "make" rope springs.

We sailors regularly swap the running lines end for end to prevent chafe in the same spot as the lines turn through blocks, winches, etc. Mooring lines also so they don't scrub through on the dock. On my boat I wrap the mooring lines in canvas where they pass through the hawse pipes and where they rub on the dock near the cleats.

[Randi]

Wavertree to Windward
I remember when I was made second mate aboard one of these ships.
We were at sea, becalmed, during my first watch in charge.
A hand working aloft dropped a short piece of old line into the sea—it floated there.
I was terrified that the captain would see it when he came up at noon.
It finally sank. I think. I would have lost my job if he'd seen it.
You didn't waste anything on those ships, not even a piece of old rope.

[AvastMH]

Wavertree to Windward
I remember when I was made second mate aboard one of these ships.
We were at sea, becalmed, during my first watch in charge.
A hand working aloft dropped a short piece of old line into the sea—it floated there.
I was terrified that the captain would see it when he came up at noon.
It finally sank. I think. I would have lost my job if he'd seen it.
You didn't waste anything on those ships, not even a piece of old rope.

When you think of all the tat and stuff that we've had go overboard - and this is a panic over a small piece of rope. Glad I'm not serving on that ship - poor sailors!