Page 216 - The Ashley Book of Knots

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CHAPTER 14: KNOTS TIED IN THE BIGHT

"

Here 1 have made the True Lovers Knott,

To try it in Marriage was never my Lott.

STEPHEN BLAKE: The compleat Gardener's Practice, 1664

BIGHT KNOTS are tied without the employment of ends and so are

very apt to mystify the layman. For that reason, in addition to their

practical purposes they are frequently tied as tricks or puzzles.

(Chapter 33).

A number of the loops in Chapters 12 and 13 are tied in the bight,

and in almost every chapter will be found one or several knots so tied.

Of the knots that are commonly grouped under the heading,

"BIGHT KNOTS," the SHEEPSHANK and the MASTHEAD KNOTS are most

typical.

Captain John Smith, in his Sea Grtmtmllr (1627), while enumerat-

109 the knots required by the sailor, which he limits to three in

number, says as follows: "The last is the Shepshcmke [sic] which is

a knot they caste upon a Runner, or a Tackle, when it is too long

to take in the Goods, and by this Knot they can shorten a Roape

without cutting it, as much as they list, and presently undoe it

againe, and yet never the worse." And in another place: "Sheeps

Feet is a stay in setting up a topmast and a guie [guy] in staying

the tackles when they are charged with goods." Also: "Strike your

topmasts to the cap, make them sure with your sheeps feete."

Previous to the days of the clipper ship, it was the usual practice

of merchant ships, when approaching Cape Horn, to send down

their topgallant masts before an expected blow. It was also a part of

the regular drill aboard the square-rigged ships of the Navy. The

eyes of the topgallant backstays were lowered and lashed at the top-

mast caps and the slack material of the stays was made up into

SHEEPSHANK KNOTS.

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