Page 451 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

2714. All the descriptions that I have found of the MARINER'S

SPLICE are perfunctory and inexplicit.

A rope manufacturer once asked me to describe the MARINER'S

SPLICE for use in drilling cable. It seemed probable that the technique

of tying could be simplified, even if the splice itself could not. The

splice that follows was finally evolved. It has several new features

and is not too difficult for one man to tie. Without a helper, I put the

splice into a new nine-inch cable. The nine-inch specimen that was

2714
made is now shown in the Mariners' Museum at Newport News.

Even large cable is quite simple to marry. The first difficulty is

encountered when the strands are to be tucked. This difficulty was

met by rough-tapering the strands with a pair of shears and pointing

with rubber tape for about fifteen inches (~3570). The cable ends

were arranged as already described (~2 708). The following descrip'

tion is for one joint of two ropes-that is, one third of the whole

splice.

Each pair of ropes was married as pictured at the top of the page.

One strand at the top having been left out of the seizing, the two

upper strands were "laid in and out" to the right. Both strands were

greased with tallow, and with a marlingspike the turn from the right

was pricked up and, using a heavy pair of blacksmith's tongs, was

t-wisted out. The greased point of the opposite strand was inserted

in the vacated score far enough to be seized with the blacksmith

tongs. In this way the strands were laid out and in, three full tucks,

the trailing end being hove taut after each tuck. The way in which

they were tightened is described below as ~ 27 15. The bottom pair

of strands was then treated in the same way as the top ones.

The next thing to be done was to knot the center pair of strands.

This is shown in the fourth diagram. It is this knot and the pointed

ends that make the splice practicable. Both points being well tal-

lowed, the upper one was withdrawn nearly to the tip and the lower

one was rove, as pictured at the right of the fourth diagram. Half of

each strand was then cut out, after which the two ends were pulled

through simultaneously with the winch that is pictured below. Even

with well-tallowed strands it will help to pound with a mallet while

heaving on the strands. When all is faired, the other two pairs of

strands are knotted in the same way and the splice is one third com-

plete.

When all nine points have been tucked, beat the splice thoroughly

with a mallet from end to end several times, and trim all ends to a

four- or five-inch length.

In small-sized cable, the knotted strands may be pulled taut with

two marlingspikes and MARLINGSPIKE HITCHES. Place one spike under

the insteps, the opposite one across the knees, as in ~ 364.

2715. In making large CABLE SPLICES, I employed the winch that

is pictured alongside. Four one-inch boards were nailed together,

with an inch hole bored in each end. Then a whole board was added

below to stop the holes. The threaded ends of two long one-inch

eyebolts were sawed off with a hack saw. Two pairs of cleats were

nailed down the center of the bench, forming a four-inch groove.

The gap between the ends of the two pairs of cleats was five inches.

A lug was put on each bolt. Two small flexible wire ropes were

spliced to two rings and the other ends each had an eye to go over

a lug on the eyebolts. With this apparatus strands could be pullee

2., IS"

on as strongly as needed.

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