Page 7 - The Ashley Book of Knots

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

They are too many, the sailors from whom I learned to tie knots, for me

ever to accord them the credit that is their due. Many there were whose

names I have forgotten, many more whose names I never even knew. For at

the time our courses crossed nothing was further from my mind than writing

a book of knots. My interest then was solely in tying, and it was a long while

before I even started to keep a record.

Here and there in the pages to follow I shall have occasion to speak of some-

one in connection with a certain knot or splice, and if no name is mentioned,

be assured that the ungrudging assistance that was given me is still fresh in my

mind, and that the omission is due to a fault of memory and not of good will.

To the following friends I am indebted for assistance in the preparation of

this book:

To Captain Daniel F. Mullins, who went to sea in the same year that I com-

menced the study of art. Coupled with a natural aptitude and curiosity for

knots he has an amazingly retentive memory, and the assistance that he has

given me, particularly with the splices, has been of incalculable service.

To Dr. Richard Knowles, who, while Headmaster of the \Villiam Penn

Charter School, suggested that experience in teaching would aid me in writing

a book of instruction. He arranged a series of lectures and classes in knots in

several private schools near Philadelphia, and the experience that I acquired

has been of great assistance to me in this work.

To Charles B. Rockwell, with whom I have often sailed and raced, and at

whose instigation I made a WEAVER'S KNOT that is now used in mohair

manufacture.

To Mr. Frederic A. Delano, who first became interested in my knot work

at the time I was experimenting with SOLID SINNETS and who has followed the

progress of this volume from its inception. He has read chapters from my

manuscript and has made suggestions that have proved invaluable.

To Mrs. Frederick H. Brooke, onetime National President of the Girl

Scouts, who, among other suggestions, proposed that the material should be

arranged so that each chapter would be complete in itself and could be pub-

lished separately in form suitable for the use of boy and girl scouts.

To Eugene E. du Pont, who for many years has patiently tolerated my pre-

occupation with knots and who, under protest, made the TWENTy-FoUR-

STRAND, TWENTy-ONE-PART MATTHEW WALKER KNOT that is reproduced

among the frontispieces. It was made, without previous experience, from my

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