[Illustration: FIG. 15.—A SHEEPSHANK, BEFORE IT IS DRAWN TIGHT.]
Then pass each strand by the side of the strands in the crown down
through the walling to form the “double-crown,” and cut close the ends
_a_, _b_ (and _c_), producing Fig. 14.
A Sheepshank (Fig. 15) is a knot by which a rope may be made shorter,
or (as a young yacht-woman of my acquaintance recently expressed it) “a
tuck taken in it.” If the tide has come in and you wish to shorten the
mooring-line of your boat, or if the line by which your campaign flag
is suspended across the street is too loose, or your clothesline, or
your swing, has sagged frightfully, the Sheepshank will gather up the
slack for you and hold it firmly.
When one wants to make an artificial handle for an old jug or some
other vessel, the True-Lover’s knot is used, as seen in Fig 16.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.—THE TRUE-LOVER’S KNOT.]
Tie two loose knots, _a_, _b_, as in the first cut of Fig. 17; pass
the bight _a_ through the opening _f_, the bight _b_ through _g_, pull
the loops equal, and, to complete the knot as in second cut of Fig. 17,
join the ends _c_, _d_, by a long splice at _e_.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.]
The Jar-sling, seen in Fig. 20, serves a similar purpose. You are out
picnicking, perhaps, and you suddenly find it desirable to convert an
empty gherkin bottle into a swing-vessel in which to take home alive
some tadpoles or minnows. In a long piece of cord make a large loop
as in Fig. 18, and hold the bight against the standing parts, _a, a_;
pass the thumb and forefinger of the other hand down through _c_, lay
hold of _b_ where the crook of the imaginary wire is seen, and draw it
through _c_ down a little below _a, a_, as in Fig 19, _d_, and hold it
there. Now pass the thumb and forefinger down through the opening _e_
(in the way the wire goes), lay hold of _g_, and draw it up through
_e_, forming the complete knot as in Fig. 20.
One more knot, the Turk’s-head (Fig. 23), remains to be described
before we pass to the briefer subject of hitches. Take a long piece of
fishing-cord, place the end _a_ against the forefinger, wind the cord
around the two fingers and hold it with the thumb, as in Fig. 21.
[Illustration: FIG. 18. FIG. 19. FIG. 20.]
Now with the other hand lay the part _b_ _over_ part _c_, and while
in that position pass the end _a_ down between them, over the first
crossing, under left strand, up between, over second crossing, under
right strand, up between; take the hitch off your fingers, and it will
be as in Fig. 22.
Next pass the loose end through the opening _d_, laying it against the
cord _a_; then with it follow that strand (_a_) over and under, over
and under, until you have a complete plait of three cords. Pass the
knot over a stick to make it taut, and cut the ends close.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.]
The Turk’s-head knot, like the two preceding it, will tax your
precision, deftness and patience, and is an ornamental rather than a
useful knot. You may weave one from wire or cord about the handle of
your cane or riding-whip, or you may pull a few hairs from old Dobbin’s
tail and make them into a very pretty horsehair ring for your cousin
Fanny when you two are out driving together along the forest road.
[Illustration: FIG. 22. FIG. 23.]
The knots in Figs. 24, 25 and 26 explain themselves; they are often
useful to picnickers and campers-out. _Hitches_ are no less _knots_
than any of the foregoing; but they are knots used to fasten the end of
a rope to any object in such manner as to be easily cast off when no
longer needed. They are few in number, and all very simple and easily
described.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.—TWO WAYS OF FASTENING A WEIGHT TO A LINE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 25.—TO TIE A SHORT LINE, TO WHICH A HOOK IS
ATTACHED, TO A LONGER OR GROUND LINE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 26.—TO FASTEN A LINE TO A FISHHOOK.]
A Blackwall hitch is merely a loop thrown about a hook, as in Fig.
27, in such a way that the main part of the rope, _c_, being pulled
downward, the part a jams the part _b_ against the hook so firmly that
while the strain is kept up the knot cannot possibly slip. Sailors
use this hitch very frequently, but it can be used on land as well as
at sea. If you have retreated, in a game of “Chase,” to the topmost
branch of the oak-tree on the lawn, and have a rope in your hand just
long enough to reach the ground and no longer, just make, in a single
instant of time, a Blackwall hitch in the crotch of the limb, and,
if you dare trust yourself to it, it will take you to the ground in
perfect safety, long before your pursuer can climb down again by the
way he came up; and you can carry off your rope with you.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.—BLACKWALL HITCH.]
Or possibly you might be “up a tree” in a different way. Old Tibbetts,
your father’s gardener, not daring to trust himself away from mother
earth, has sent you up into the elm tree to saw off for him the limb
that is growing too near the house. But that limb must not be allowed
to come crashing down; and so, with the rope you have taken up with
you, you cast about it, while you saw, a Timber hitch, shown in Fig. 28.
[Illustration: FIG. 28—TIMBER HITCH.]
[Illustration: FIG. 29.]
Of all hitches, however, the one which any man or boy can least afford
not to know is the Clove hitch. Make two bights or loops, as in Fig.
29; hold them between the thumbs and forefingers at _a_, _b_; slide
the left loop over the right loop; then slip the double loop thus
formed over the table-leg, or your brother Willie’s finger, or anything
that will represent a post, and draw tight by the end (Fig. 30).
Practise this until your fingers can do it swiftly and _of themselves_,
just as your tongue can say the alphabet; for a Clove hitch, when it is
used, needs to be made quickly and handsomely. I once saw a young cadet
from Annapolis, who had been out on a sailing party with some ladies
and had jumped ashore with a rope, hesitate at least half a minute
before he could think how to make the proper knot, while a number
of old sea captains sitting by were watching him and laughing among
themselves. A Clove hitch may be used, too, when, while out fishing,
you extemporize an anchor by tying a rope to a stone. And in Fig. 31
you see again how this knot, _e_ (with a half-hitch, _f_ in front of
it), is used to tow a floating spar or drag a piece of timber across
the field.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.—THE CLOVE HITCH.]
Two other hitches, a Rolling hitch and a Cat’s-paw, are shown in Fig.
32.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.—FLOATING SPAR.]
Splicing is a process by which ropes are joined together so as to
leave no knot. I appreciated its importance the other morning when I
saw an intelligent man of fifty work for an hour to splice a hammock
rope. Where it is specially important that the joining be a very nice
and smooth one, the “short” splice is used. It is made by passing
the strands of one piece in and out between those of the other. The
short splice always leaves the spliced part thicker and clumsier than
the rest of the rope. If it is desirable that the joining be a very
neat one, so as to admit of the rope’s running readily through the
sheave-hole of a block, the “long” splice is necessary. This is made
by unwinding each end about two inches, placing the strands as in the
short splice, then unwinding one strand further back, and winding the
corresponding strand of the other piece in its place; proceeding in
the same way with the other strands, and then fastening the ends in
such a way that it is almost impossible to detect the splice. We have
not space to describe here the exact mode of procedure; but there is
scarcely a town or village anywhere but has its “old sailor,” and there
is no old sailor anywhere but will be glad to come and give you all a
lesson in splicing.
[Illustration: FIG. 32. A ROLLING HITCH. A CAT’S-PAW.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33. FIG. 34.]
[Illustration: FIG. 35. FIG. 36. FIG. 37.]
A splice that you can very easily learn for yourselves, however, is
the Eye-splice. First make yourself a marling-spike—if you have not
the genuine article by whittling down to a point a piece of hard wood.
I have found that the half of a clothes-pin, so treated, answered the
purpose exceedingly well. Then take a piece of good three-strand rope,
unwind the strands, and place them as you see _a_, _b_, _c_, in Fig.
33. Open the strand _d_ and pass _a_ through it, as in Fig. 34; then
open _e_ and pass _b_ _over_ _d_ and _under_ _e_, as in Fig. 35. Turn
the eye over, Fig. 36, open _f_ and pass _c_ through it, as in Fig.
37, and pull the strands tight. Now pass _a_ _over_ the strand next
it, _under_ the next one, and so on with the others. Proceed in the
same way until the splice is about an inch long. Then stretch the eye
(holding by the rope) to tighten everything, and cut the ends close. If
you will make a neat Eye-splice all by yourself and take it to the old
sailor aforementioned, he will be sure to think it worth while to teach
you all he knows, and he will be likely to tell you many things about
knots, hitches and splices which are of necessity omitted here.