Page 575 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

We are now come to the subject of swabs (deck, hand and dish).

Ashore these are generally termed mops. Since they are structuraliy

the same, tassels also will be discussed at the same time. Mops have
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wooden handles; deck swabs have a long rope lanyard and the head

may be two or three feet long. Aboard oystermen very large swabs

five to eight feet long are used for mopping up the starfish, which are

the natural enemy of the oyster. A long line of mops is dragged

over the beds and the starfish cling to them and are hauled aboard.

Cabin, table and dish swabs are often fitted with beckets.

" 3578. The simplest swab is made of a middled and seized piece of

rope with the strands raveled out. If for dishes or the table, the

swab is used without a lanyard, but if for swabbing deck, a long lan-

yard, finished off with either a DoG's POINT or an EYE SPLICE, is

made fast to the becket with a BECKET HITCH. As this knot is always

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used for the purpose, it is sometimes called the SWAB HITCH.

3579. A more elaborate and fuller swab is made through a grom-

met. Rope yarns are wound into a skein, which is middled and put

through the grommet and there seized and snaked.

3580. The swab just described is sometimes finished off with a

TURK'S-HEAD instead of a seizing.

3580 3582.

3581. After the grommet is made, the ends need not be trimmed

short; they can be utilized as the center of the swab, so that fewer

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turns need be added.

35"8 I
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3582. A tassel is often made through a metal ring instead of a

grommet, in the same manner as through a grommet (~3579).

3583. Deck swabs have long lanyards to give them greater scope.

On small craft they are often dipped directly overside, but on larger

craft they are dipped into tubs on deck that have been filled by draw

buckets.

3584. Table and dish swabs are often ornamented. In this case a

rope is formed into an eye which serves as a handle. A MATTHEW

WALKER KNOT is tied in the six strands of the handle, and the ends

are raveled out. Yarns are laid along the rope and are middled and

seized to the handle just above the knot. They are faired, led down-

ward, and a final seizing is put on, close below the knot.

3585. A groove is sometimes cut around a wooden handle and a

seizing is tied over the groove; this allows the seizing to sink, mak-

ing it firmer and less subject to wear. Elaborate dish mop handle~

were often made at se~ to he taken home as gifts.

3586. Frequently th .. bulbous pans of mops and swabs are hitched

over (~3544)' As this is one of the points of greatest weal, the lift

of the mop is much lengthened thereby.

3S8S 35"86

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