Page 17 - Knots, Splices and Rope Work: A Practical Treatise

Figs. 40 and 41 illustrate two ways
of making fast which are really not
knots at all but merely twists.

These may be finished by a simple
knot, or a bow-knot, as shown in

Fig. 42, but they are likely to jam
under great pressure and are mainly
useful in tying packages, or bundles,
with small cord, where the line must
be
held
taut

until
the
knot is

completed.

This principle of fastening by twisted rope is also utilized in the “Catspaw” (Fig. 43), a
most useful knot or “hitch” for hoisting with a hook.

To make this, pass the bight of your rope over the end and standing part, then, with a bight
in each hand, take three twists from you, then bring the two bights side by side and throw
over the hook (Fig. 44).

The “Blackwall Hitch” (Fig. 45) is still simpler and easier to make and merely consists of

a loop, or cuckold’s neck, with the end of rope passed underneath the standing part and
across the hook so that as soon as pressure is exerted the standing part bears on the end
and jams it against the hook.

The “Chain Hitch” (Fig. 46) is a very strong method of fastening a line to a timber, or
large rope, where one has a rope of sufficient length, and is used frequently to help haul in
a large rope or for similar purposes.