Page 546 - The Ashley Book of Knots

PRACTICAL l\lARLINGSPIKE SEAl\IANSHIP

buil's-eye as pictured in ~3309 and ~3358. The Samson post pro-

vided a step for the bowsprit and held the pawls of the windlass in

the earlier part of the nineteenth century. The more common bO'11J-

spl'it bitts served the same purpose but were double instead of single

posts.

3317. Lanyards are rove in the same direction that rope is coiled

(right-handed). The standing end is knotted at the inboard side of

the left hole of the upper deadeye. On square-rigged vessel:, lanyard

stuff for all lower rigging is four-strand tarred hemp, in diameter one

half the diameter of the shroud or stay that it leads to. Topmast
33 \1

lan,'ards are three-strand stuff .

•
On some smart naval craft the knots were at the fonvard hole of

the deadeye on both sides of the ship, left-laid rigging being used

on the port side. If cable-laid rigging was used, all the knots were on 33

the right side of the deadeye.

The common way of securing the end of a lanyard in hemp rig-

ging. A CO'w HITCH is taken around the doubled shroud above the

shear pole and the end is carried down and seized three times be-

t\\'een two standing parts.

3318. This is a common LANYARD HITCH since the advent of wire

rigging. The hemp lanyard should be very little smaller than the

size of the wire rigging itself. The greater bother of adjusting hemp

lanyards is more than offset by their greater elasticity and in times

of stress they can easily be chopped away. Today they are much

preferred on power fishermen, particularly on sword fishermen, be-

cause the stiffness of wire rigging makes the lookout a most un-

comfortable perch.

3319. To sco'w a grapnel. This method is used in small-boat fish- 3'320

ing on rocky bottom. If the grapnel fouls and refuses to break out,

the stop will part and free it. The roding or warp is led tightly

lround the crotch and is stopped to the ring with a single rope yarn.

When the stop parts, the flukes are lifted and the grapnel breaks out.

332.1
3320. To crown or scow an anchor. This is similar in principle to

the foregoing but the warp is made fast to the crown of the anchor

with a CLOVE HITCH which may be seized in. Haul taut and stop to

the ring with a single rope yarn if the anchor is not :l. heavy one.

Ansted, A Dictioncrry of Sea Terms (Glasgow, 1917), calls this

"becueing an anchor."

3321. A rider for a cable. If your cable is short and you are riding

uncomfortably, make a grommet of some sort, of either wire, rope

3322

or an old mast hoop, and tie a bag of sand or any other available

weight to it and allow it to slide down the cable for a length a little

greater than your depth.

3322. To secure a buoy rope. The commonest way is as shown,
3323

a CLOVE HITCH at the crown, three seizings and a Buoy ROPE KNOT

(~7 19) on the shank. This is from Lever (1808).

3323. A better Buoy ROPE HITCH is described by Hutchinson

(1744), who says, "It takes much less rope than the dumsy method

of a clove hitch." In the days before power capstans and windlasses

it was often necessary to break out an anchor with a buoy rope, a

method which requires far less effort than tripping with the cable

alone.

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