"... the count punishes Mazeppa by tying him naked to a wild horse and setting the horse loose." Well, that's horrifying.

Does not seem to care in the slightest

Is forced preaching and forced conversion really Christianity?

They could have fed the whole crew and salted the leftover meat instead of only a few having the steaks. Waste.

Slave talk - previous slave or freed?

Again... racial issue

There is some channel that I've been getting on my Facebook feed that shows people working to splice ropes, from tiney, to almost a 1' in diameter.

Subsistence whaling in the Arctic used to use caribou sinew that could be braided for extra strength. Balen was rarely used.

Hemp was grown extensively in the US for both WWI and WWII to be used as rope and other materials for the war effort. It's fibers are super strong and the plant can be made into hempcrete, an eco-friendlier material. Unfortunately, getting permits to grow is often a hassle, since once it goes over 0.3% THC it becomes marijuana, and there are all sorts of fun legal issues. Climate change and growing hemp is a problem because THC increases with more drought and heat as a protectant to the plant. Jess