Page 104 - Frank Rosenow "Seagoing Knots"

Cyrus Lawrence Day’s life (1900-1968) is reminiscent of Ohrwall’s in
that they were both academicians who are best remembered for their extra¬
curricular interest in knots. Day was a Harvard Ph.D. specializing in bal¬
lads, glees, and catches of by-gone days.

Between indexing such things as “Farewell, my Bonny Witty Pretty
Moggy,” and “Blowzabella, my bounding doxie,” he wrote Sailor’s Knots
(1935) which was later developed into The Art of Knotting and Splicing
(1947). The latter, by featuring large photographs facing the description of
the knot in question, was able to make its points more clearly than Ohrwall
and Ashley.
While speaking briefly of writers on cordage and its usage, I cannot leave
out the Scots rigger Leonard Popple (?— 1966).
In the 1950s, he wrote and illustrated two slim volumes, Marlinespike
Seamanship and Advanced Ropeworking, for Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd.,
in Glasgow.

Though not strictly dealing with knots, these are books on splicing and
rope work written straight from the heart. Popple’s ink drawings are clear
like no other writer’s. By concentrating on essential points in the drawings,
he easily outdoes even Cyrus Lawrence Day’s painstaking photographic
illustrations. Popple simply knew—and loved—his cordage.

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