Page 285 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

1565. The name SHROUD KNOT a pears in Steel's Seamltllship

(1794). Lever speaks of the FRENCH HROUD KNOT in 1808. To tie

the "CoMMON," "DOUBLE" or "ENGLISH" SHROUD KNOT, seize and

open two rope ends, marry them and hold the structure vertically

while wallin the u standing set of ends to the right. There are now

two ways 0 descri ing the same thin . Either continue to hold the

repe as before and crown the lower ( ownhanging ends) to the left,

or else tum the structure, end for end, and wall the up er ends to

the right as directed before. One knot is the reverse 0 the other.

15"65 l\ Draw all snu~, scrape and WOW) a part of each strand, and scra~e,

'I •••
taper and fay (see Glossary) the remainder. Serve over snugly for the

length of the taper.

In tying these knots it wiH be well to put an UVERHAND KNOT In

each strand of one set of ends for purposes of identification.

1566. The ENGLISH SHROUD KNOT is frequently tied with two

identical STOPPER KNOTS (~676) which makes a fuller knot.

1567. Less commonly it is tied with two REVERSED STOPPER KNOTS,

one left and one right.

If the reader wishes, any or all of the MULTI-STRAND STOPPER,

LANYARD and BUTtON KNOTS given in Chapters 6, 7,9 and 10 may be

adapted to form SHROUD KNOTS. There are several hundred of these

knots for the reader to experiment with. But in the majority of cases

the resultant knot will prove to be a clumsy affair, lacking the essen-

tial smartness that is characteristic of sailor's knots.

There are two stereotype descriptions of the FRENCH SHROUD

KNOT, one or the other of which appears in about every book on

seamanship. Lever (1808) is responsible for one of these and Alston

appears to be the author of the other. Neither of the two descrip-

tions is quite complete, and a knot cannot be finished from either

set of directions merely by following the directions literally. No one

appears to have suspected that the two descriptions relate to two

totally different knots and sometimes the attempt has been made to

combine the two. I have seen only one descri tion of a FRENCH

SHROUD KNOT from which a knot can be success uIly tied. Dr. Day,

in his Sailor's Knots, gives a clear description of KNOT '/I: 1568.

1568. The FRENCH or SINGLE SHROUD KNOT (I) waS first shown

to me by Captain Albert Whitne ., and is perhaps the one Lever

intended to describe. Cut off the earts, butt them and marry two

fgur-strand ropes, tum down the upstanding ends and arrange them

vertically, forming bights at the top and laying each one parallel to

and in contact with its own standing part (shown as right diagram

IS68 '/I: 1567 ). Take one of the original downhanging ends, hitherto inert,

pass it to the right, past the first bight and up through the second

bight. Repeat with the other strands of the same set. This knot was

correctly pictured by Luce and Ward in 1884 but was incorrectly

described.

1569. The FRENCH or SINGLE SHROUD KNOT (2). Lever directs

tying as follows: "Single wall the ends round the bights of the other

three and their own standing parts." This leaves the knot incom-

plete. But if we pass the first bight and stick each end up through

15'69