Lead line, to make a:
It is no use marking a lead line as seamen do, as not one man in a hundred can ever remember the marks. Again, frequently you have to put a green hand to work taking casts, and he never could tell one piece of rag from another, or a hole in a piece of leather from one in the water. Get a good-sized piece of corded rope, like that used for window weights, measure of either five or ten fathoms. Ten is best, if you intend to cruise far. At one fathom clove hitch a short piece of marline round the line and tie one knot in the end. At two fathoms two knots and so on. In this way the greenest greenhorn can tell by simply feeling with his fingers. I use a line like this, and can tell in the darkest night just what the cast is.