Page 554 - The Ashley Book of Knots

PRACTICAL MARLINGSPIKE SEAMANSHIP

3427. A "..L·hiplash tongue of three parts is secured as shown here.

3428. If the thongs have been middled, they arc seized in much the

same way. It is well to shellac the whipstock and to seize while it is

still tacky.

3429. A whiplash with a single tongue should first be laid down

the whipstock and seized, and then laid up and a series of riding •
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turns added. The end of the seizing should be tucked under the

last four or five turns.

3430. If the tongue of the whiplash is in two separate parts, the

parts may be laid down the end of the whipstock opposite each

3429

other. First shellac the tip of the stock and, after the shellac has

set, serve the end tightly. Then seize on the tongue. Preferably the

stock should have a button at the end as pictured in '# 3429.

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3431. This fly driver is not to be confused with a swatter. Its

purpose is merely to direct flies into the open. I saw it in a Negro

log cabin at the Kinloch Plantations on the Santee River. A helical

groove was whittled around the end and a jute cord was tied at the

tip and then laid tightly in the groove and held there. A piece of

heavy Manila wrapping paper had been deeply fringed (about 3431

twenty inches) with streamers about one half inch wide, and an ,

uncut border of about five inches was left. This border was swabbed ,

with flour paste and snugly rolled around the end of the stock. The

cord was tightly wound in wide turns up and down several times over

the pasted border and finally the bound section was neatly hitched

over.

3432. Gammoning is a method of holding down the bowsprit. It

was universally in use before the days of the bobstay, and was still

in service in 1869 according to Admiral Smyth. The gammoning

started with a RUNNING EYE through the hole in the cutwater and

consisted of eight to t\velve round turns. A half dozen frapping turns

were added, have taut and the end seized to the standing part. On

large ships chain gammoning \vas used.

3433. A series of racking turns taken through single holes in the

3432.

cheeks of a pilot ladder are knotted at both ends of the seizing. The

hole should be no bigger than is necessary.

3434. "Pre-venters" \vere used in the Nav;y for quick repairs in

the lighter rigging. The same thing was called a leech rope stopper

when employed to repair a paned boltrope. A man was lowered in a

BOWLINE from a yardarm above the break to make the repair, which

was done just as a deck stopper is applied. (See '#1765).

3435. To pass a head earing, first splice it to the cringle with a

LONG RUNNING EYE. Lead it through the strap on the end of the

yard and back through the cringle. Follow with two turns around

the jackstay and through the cringle, then three or four turns
34J5

through the cringle and around the yard and the jackstay. Add a

crossing turn under the jackstay and then one around all; finally

secure the end with a CLOVE HITCH.

3436. A reef earing is secured to the lower eyelet hole of a REEF

CRIKGLE with a LONG RUNNING EYE. The sail is hauled well out bv

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two turns around an outer cleat. One turn of the earing is taken

around the yardarm only and then the end is expended with a

number of turns through the cringle and around the yard; the end

is clove hitched to the lift.

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