Page 52 - Frank Rosenow "Seagoing Knots"

Another use for this simple and ingenious knot is to attach the middle
of a spring line to a bollard ashore when one end is already cleated at the
bow or stern and you want to save the trouble of reeving all the line
through to make, say, half hitches. In this instance, the two loops are
adjusted to equal size.

The Sheet Bend

I held out for years against the sheet bend because it looks too simple to
be reliable. But one day in the Ionian, the Falmouth Quay punt Twilight
ghosted into the town quay of Gaios on Antipaxos and took the remain¬
ing, awkward berth between Moth and Spiro’s excursion boat.
To keep the boat in position, a spring line was needed and Spiro, break¬
ing off his nap under the cotton sun awning over the Blue Grotto Taxi,
passed it to a pink complexioned, spruce old man by the tattered blue

ensign on the punt. This individual took the proffered line and quickly
made a bridle by attaching two lines of his own to it. The punt, rakish bow¬
sprit and all, lay snug.
The newcomer, dressed in dark blue sweater and loosely flapping khaki
shorts, saluted his neighbors with a wave that suggested the awkward grace
of a British officer.
Colonel Bertram Bloomer, Royal Engineers, ret., had demonstrated the
simple fact that a sheet bend will accept three lines. A squall during the
night, without so much as a nudge from Twilight, demonstrated that the

knot could be relied on.
The sheet bend derives its name in several languages (Scandinavian:
“skot-stek;” German and Dutch: “schoten-stek” and “schooten-stek”)
from its traditional use in holding the sheet to a becket in the clew of the
headsail.
As this is the most flogged knot on the boat, other testimony to the
tenacity of the bend is hardly needed. Suffice to say that the basic configu¬
ration is the same as that of the splendid bowline and that a sheet bend
can even be tied by the same method.
A single sheet bend ties best in roughly equal size and otherwise compat¬
ible rope. Like the bowline, it does not tie well in stiff rope.

Whenever a sheet bend is tied, make sure the ends come out on the
same side of the knot. Otherwise, the geometry is wrong and the knot
unsafe.

SEAGOING KNOTS