Page 63 - Des Pawson "Pocket Guide to Knots & Splices"

Matthew Walker Knot

This is probably the earliest known knot named after a person. Exactly
who Matthew Walker was is a mystery. When, in 1808, Darcy Lever
published his Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor, he called this knot

Matthew Walker’s Knot, as though he was very well known at that
time—so it is possible he was a rigger in one of the Royal Naval

dockyards in the late 1700s. Clifford Ashley in The Ashley
Book of Knots tells the story of a sailor called Matthew
Walker condemned to death. The judge offered him a

pardon if he could tie a knot that the judge could
neither tie nor untie. Matthew Walker unlaid part

of a long length of rope, tied the knot that now
bears his name, and relaid the rope
back to its original state. The

judge, unaware as to how
the knot was made, was

beaten and gave Matthew
Walker his reprieve. It’s a

nice story, but one yet to be
substantiated.

1 Start with a
wall knot.

Continued on page 62.