Sailors Sleeping Draped Over Ropes in the 19th Century

They’re really hung over. Well, not really. In 19th century England, innkeepers supplied patrons with a “penny hang,” a kind of drying out room. For a penny, innkeppers provided ropes for seamen to sleep on. It was not true sleep, more like a state of exhaustion-induced slumping. In the morning, an attendant would cut the rope to wake the sleepers and clear the space.