The Book of the Sailboat: How to rig, sail and handle small boats

by A. Hyatt Verrill

If you have occasion to fasten a rope to a hook for hoisting anything you should use the blackwall hitch (Fig. 13), which is very secure and easily made. To make this hitch form a loop or cuckold’s neck with the end of the rope underneath and then pass it over the hook so that the standing part bears against the end and jams it fast.

Still another strong knot for attaching a rope to a hook is shown in Fig. 14. This is called a catspaw and is made as follows: Lay the bight of the rope over the end and standing part; then, with a bight in each hand take three twists away from you; then bring the two bights side by side and hook them over the hook as shown.

For towing a spar, mast or a piece of timber, or for fastening to a log, the best knot to use is the timber hitch (Fig. 15). This is made by passing the end of the rope around the object, then around the standing part and then twisting it three times under and over its own part. If you wish to have this still more secure, a half-hitch may be taken with the line a foot or two farther along the spar (Fig. 15 A).

It often happens that one needs to fasten two very heavy or stiff ropes or hawsers together and this may be impossible with any ordinary knots. In such cases there is nothing better than the carrick bend (Fig. 16). To make this bend, form a bight by laying the end of the hawser on top of and across the standing part. Then take the end of the other hawser and pass it through this bight, first down and then up over the cross and then down through the bight again, so that it comes out on the opposite side from the other end thus bringing one end on top and the other below as illustrated. If the lines are very heavy or stiff the ends may be seized to the standing parts by twine or marline.

Heavy hawsers can seldom be handled like small ropes and there are several bends or knots which are especially designed for these large ropes. Among them are the anchor bends shown in Fig. 16 A and the fisherman’s bend (Fig. 16 B), both of which are so simple that an explanation is not necessary as they can readily be mastered by looking at the diagrams.

But of all knots perhaps the most perfect is the bowline (Fig. 17). This is preëminently the sailor’s knot and every person who uses or owns boats should learn to tie a bowline quickly and readily for it is the strongest, most secure and best of all useful knots and can be used for a thousand and one different purposes.

It is very simple and by following the various stages as illustrated you will have no difficulty in learning to tie it. In A the rope is shown with the bight or cuckold’s neck formed with the end over the standing part. Pass A back through the bight, under, then over, then under again, as shown in B; then over and down through the bight, as shown at C and D. Then draw tight as at E.

While for most purposes knots serve every purpose for fastening two ropes together or for attaching a rope to some other object, yet a tied rope is never as strong as a whole rope and moreover where two ropes are thus fastened together, the knot will not pass through blocks, eyes or other openings which will admit the rope itself. For this reason it is often necessary to join two ropes so that there is scarcely any increase in the size of the ropes. This is accomplished by making what is known as a splice.

A splice, if well made, is as strong as the rest of the rope; it will run through a block or eye readily and moreover it is not difficult to make. There are various kinds of splices, known as short splices, eye splices, cut splices, long splices, etc., and everyone who has occasion to use ropes should be able to make any or all of these.

The simplest splice, and the one you should learn first, is the short splice (Fig. 18). To make this untwist or unlay the ends of the two ropes to be joined for a few inches and wrap a few turns of twine or yarn around them to prevent the strands from untwisting any farther, as shown at A, A. The end of each strand should also be whipped or seized to prevent unravelling, but after you are adept at splicing you can omit these seizings as you will be able to splice just as well, but while learning you will find them quite necessary.