To worm, parcel and serve a line is to apply a multi-layered protection against chafe and deterioration to standing rigging. It is a technique not usually used on modern small boats, but is found extensively on traditionally-rigged sailing ships. Worming, parcelling and serving —referred to collectively as "service"— is traditionally applied only to traditional twisted rope, either natural fiber or steel wire-rope, not the braided line almost exclusively used on modern vessels, but some traditional vessels now use modern high modulus braided lines (like Amsteel or AS-90) in place of wire rope (to save weight aloft) and serve the line to maintain the traditional appearance. It can be applied to the entire length of a line, such as a shroud, or selectively, to specific parts of a line, such as over the spliced ends of a stay, where the chafe on the middle section of the stay precludes complete protection. Technique Worming "Worming" the line is designed to fill in the channels (the cuntlines) between the strands in order to keep water out and to allow tighter, smoother wrapping of the next layers by giving the rope a more cylindrical shape. Lengths of "small stuff" or string are led along the lay of the rope between the strands, following the twist so that they spiral round the main line. For larger lines, such as the natural (e.g. hemp) fiber rigging used on early vessels, "sister worming" could be built up from several different sizes of "small stuff", as was needed to fill in the typically larger cuntlines of cable-laid hemp rope. In the days of hemp anchor cable, worming of chain was used, when anchoring on a rocky bottom, to protect the anchor cable from chafing through. This was not then covered with parcelling and serving, but is included here as a further example of the utility of the technique. On the rigging of modern small craft, where the cuntlines are not so deep as to leave large gaps beneath the parcelling (where moisture can become trapped and corrosion occur), or to create a facetted surface (as opposed to a smooth, round surface), worming is often omitted from the process. Parcelling The line is then "parcelled" by wrapping it in a spiral fashion with long overlapping strips of thin canvas. This is wound from bottom to top, the edge of the progressing strip slightly overlapping the previous wrap to create