Page 475 - The Ashley Book of Knots

.
THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

2839. "Hitches" found on an old grommet iron. This was an ex-

perimental toggle iron or whale harpoon, circa 1830-34. Two ends

of a short I ~ -inch hemp rope were spliced together with a Cur

SPLICE. The doubled part was closely seized around the shoulder of

the harpoon socket. The eye formed was about eight inches long.

Another similar "hitches" of the same period consisted of eyes in

the two ends of a short span that were spliced directly around the

harpoon shank and then seized together.

2840. A TUCKED CUT SPLICE is tied in marline and is used as a bend

•
•
In servIce.

2841. Three ropes side spliced together (see ~2826). The splice

is snugly seized by passing the seizing stuff alternately over and un-

der, around the juncture.

2842. Cringles are tied in the boltrope of sails, and bowlines, ear-

ings, reef tackles, buntlines and leech lines are secured to them. The

are also used in tacks and clews, being easier to replace than seize -

in eyes. The earliest cringles were merely short pieces of rope some-

what smaller than the boltrope, which were side spliced at each end

2841
as ~ 2 8 35. REEF TACKLE CRINGLES were tucked three and one half

times at the lower end and only two and one half times at the upper

end, the lower end being more apt to draw. Bowline and buntline

cringles span only four lays of the boltrope.

2843. "MADE" CRINGLES, tied directly into the boltrope, are made

with a single long strand of new rope a half inch smaller in circum-

ference than the rope in which they are stuck. According to Lever

2.842

( I80!') , "All these cringles are now generally worked around thim-

bles." But Alston, in 1860, states that REEF CRINGLES have thimbleli

but BOWLINE CRINGLES do not require them. Cringles without

thimbles are by no means rare even at the present day. The three

turns, shown in the first diagram here, are enough for an ordinary

cringle but as many odd turns as seven may be required on occasion.

With the back of the sail toward you, stick a long strand under

two lays of the boltrope, draw through until one third of the strand

28tt3 is toward you and two thirds of it is away from you. Lay the two

ends up loosely together to the right, finishing with the long end

toward you. Stick the long end away from you at the right end

under two lays, leaving the short strand in the position pictured.

Lay the long end back again to the left. When the position of the

second diagram is reached, stick the two ends over and under twice.

2844. This is the same cringle as the last except that the two ends

are backed instead of being tucked over and under. The date of this

is much later than the former; in fact it can hardly be much earlier

than 1850.

2845. The seamanship books, as late as 1860, show cringles tucked

through the boltrope, but as early as 1794, Steel states that "beckets

for reefing are made through eyelet holes in the tabling."

This cringle is made with any odd number of turns (as described

above) and the strand is stuck through eyelet holes instead of through

284 S-