Page 228 - The Ashley Book of Knots

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CHAPTER 16: BINDING KNOTS

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Dry sun, and dry 'l.L:inde; > •

Time to reap, and time to BIND.

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OLD WEATHER ADAGE •
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BINDING KNOTS are of two sorts. The first sort passes around an • • • .. .. . -

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object or objects one or more times and the two ends are snugly • • • • ....,

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tied together; the second passes around an object or objects two or . \.

more times and the ends are stuck under the turns. " ... -

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The knots serve two purposes. Either they confine and constrict - "" . ,.. . \.
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a single object, or else they hold two or more objects snugly to- • I .... " .. , •• \ I ' I \
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gether. The whippings and seizings, shown in Chapter 40, serve \

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much the same purpose as BINDING KNOTS, but they contain too many

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turns to be cop.sidered as knots, being more akin to lashings. \ ,

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On the other hand, the TURK'S-HEAD is a legitimate BINDER KNOT , \

of the second variety, but the family is so large, and has so many \

ramifications, that it is given a whole chapter to itself. \

The last page of the present chapter deals with the ROBAND HITCH, \
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the knot that bends a square sail to its yard or to a backstay. It is a ,

subject of considerable historical interest, particularly for shIp-model , , \

builders; many of its forms are applicable to present-day needs. \\ \

At a time when all sail was bent directly to the yards, the ROBAND \ ,

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HITCH was seldom a recognizable knot; it was more apt to be a seiz- \ ,\ \ \ ~
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ing or a lashing of small stuff. But by 1840 a knot was the common \

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means of bending sail. With the advent of the clipper ship, however, \ •

in the 18 50S, seizings of marline became the standard, perhaps due

to lighter cotton canvas, and after 1860 the ROBAND HITCH was sel-

dom seen except in the Navy and on school ships, where bending

and unbending sail was a part of the regular drill.

I have never seen a complete contemporary illustration of any

ROBAND HITCH. The knots shown here are reconstructed from con-

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