Page 309 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

1763. A double strap or sling for hoisting a spar at middle length.

One bight is rove through the other and a tackle is hooked to the

single bight.

1764. A CRoss-LASHED SLlKG is also to be used in the middle of a

spar; the two bights are clapped together and hooked to a tackle

block.

1765. A stopper, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pro~

vided the means of making fast a hemp cable, when a ship rode at

anchor, since a cable was too large for belaying in the ordinary way.

At an earlier period, when ships were smaller, cables were made fast

to the foremast, with seized turns and hitches.
11 CiS"'

The deck stopper is a piece of deck furniture that apparently has

not changed since it first appeared. On large naval vessels cable-laid

rope has at times been used with a SPRITSAIL SHEET KNOT in the end.

But as a rule deck stoppers were of hawser-laid rope and either a

STOPPER KNOT or else a DOUBLE WALL KNOT was tied in the end. A

lanyard half the circumference of the stopper was spliced around

n 66 the neck, and the lower end was hooked or shackled to a ring on the

deck. The average deck stopper was five or six feet long, but on

naval vessels they sometimes reached a. length of twelve feet. The

length of the lanyard depended on the sIze of the cable. Four or five

turns were taken around both stopper and cable close to the knot,

and after that four rounds of "dogging," with an ample length left

over for stopping, were allowed.

1766. The ordinary SINGLE RING STOPPER. These automatically

became DECK, WING, HATCHWAY, or BITT STOPPERS, according to

where they were made fast.

1767. The DOUBLE RING STOPPER.

I .., 66
1768. A RING STOPPER that was shown by Gower.

1769. A RING STOPPER given by Knight for use with a wire

hawser.

1770. A nip er secures the cable to the messenger, which is a con-

1"'6~
tinuous belt 0 smaller cable half the circumference of the cable itself,

passing around two capstans, one forward, the other near the main-

mast. The capstans and messenger provide the means of heaving in

the'cable.

The cable was lashed to the messenger with nippers, which were

attended by "nipper boys," while the cable was being hove in. The

nipper boys walked aft, holding the ends in place, and after they

were untied brought them forward again for another nip. The illus-

1"0 tration shows two ways of passing the nippers.

1771. A small chain with a ring attached to a tackle is used on a

rigging table for heaving on the strands of large wire rigging while

I" I splicing.

1772. The SHIVER HITCH is shown by Lever in 1808. It was used

in the Merchant Marine for fastening a jig tackle to a cable when

getting up anchor. Either a SlKGLE HITCH or a round turn and hitch

• were used. The Navy did not employ tackles for the purpose, having

plenty of hands for manning the capstans and nippers.

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