Page 598 - The Ashley Book of Knots
P. 598
DECORATIVE MARLINGSPIKE SEAMANSHIP (APPLIED KNOTS)
In stowing such a hammock, seven MARLINE HITCHES were for-
merly recommended. Nowadays five SINGLE HITCHES are deemed
sufficient.
3821. A knitted hammock. Using hammock clew ~38I3 with
fifteen loops as a base, and two broomstick handles for needles, Caleb
Stabler used to knit a complete hammock of lobster cord in one
evening. Two stitches were taken in each clew loop.
3822. A netted hammock. Make clew ~ 38 I 3 or ~ 38 I 5 with twelve
loops two feet long and one doubled ro e with two twelve-foot legs.
Using a spool five inches in girth, the rst row of meshes should be
KNOT ~3793. This will give a row of twenty-four meshes. Now add
a 6 Yz -foot length of ordinary mesh. Reeve the side ropes through
the outer meshes along each side. Splice the two ends of the side rope
together at the proper length and make a second clew exactly like
39'2.1
the first one. The splice should be hidden inside the clew.
Netted hammocks are sometimes made with several different
lengths of stitches, and frequently the number of meshes in a row is
diminished toward the ends. Frequently double threads are used to
strengthen the mid-section (see ~3795).
3823. I haven't seen a barrel-stave hammock for years, but when
I was a youngster I made one. Secure a clean flour or sugar barrel,
take it apart and bore two Ys -inch holes in the end of each stave
just inside the chines and one half or three quarters of an inch from
the sides. Take two lengths of sash cord each about twenty-two feet
long. )S23
Middle one of the ropes and reeve one of the ends, first down and
then up, through the holes in one end of each stave to the other end
of the hammock. Do the same with the other end of the same rope - .
through the holes at the other ends of the staves in the same direc- -
tion. From the other direction repeat the performance with the
other rope, the order for each stave being up and then down, and the
up tuck should be taken to the left of the first rope and the down
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tuck should be to the right of it. After the staves are all evenly
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spaced and about a half inch apart, the total stave length should be • •
six to six and one half feet and the whole hammock, including clews, - - •
about twelve feet. Each clew is made up of one loop and two rope -
• •
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ends. The rope ends pass around the thimble in opposite directions - -s - •
....
and the clew is tightly seized in close up to the thimble as ~ 38 I 5 and • • - • • ..../
r , , .. £ " .... , I
then is served over. • • ~
3824. There are at least two peculiar HAMMOCK HITCHES by I
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which clews are secured to "Cape Ann" hammocks. These are given
as ~ 1832 and ~ 1833.
3825. When timber on a strange shore failed to grow at the
water's edge, hammocks were slung by "wooding and watering par-
ties" from oars that were lashed together. With miasma, serpents
and cannibals to contend with, a sailor couldn't be too careful. _. -_ .
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