The Seaman's Friend Part 4

A SPRITSAIL SHEET KNOT. (16.) Unlay two ends of a rope, and place the two parts together. Make a bight with one strand. Wall the six strands together, like a single walling made with three strands; putting the second over the first, and the third over the second, and so on, the sixth being pa.s.sed over the fifth and through the bight of the first.

Then haul taut. It may be _crowned_ by taking two strands and laying them over the top of the knot, and pa.s.sing the other strands alternately over and under those two, hauling them taut. It may be _double walled_ by next pa.s.sing the strands under the wallings on the left of them, and through the small bights, when the ends will come up for the second crowning; which is done by following the lead of the single crowning, and pushing the ends through the single walling, as with three strands, before described. This is often used for a _stopper knot_.

A STOPPER KNOT.--Single wall and double wall, without crowning, and stop the ends together.

A SHROUD KNOT.--Unlay the ends of two ropes, and place the strands in one another, as for a short splice. Single wall the strands of one rope round the standing part of the other, against the lay. Open the ends, taper, marl, and serve them.

A FRENCH SHROUD KNOT.--Place the ends of two ropes as before. Lay the ends of one rope back upon their own part, and single wall the other three strands round the bights of the first three and the standing part. Taper the ends, as before.

A BUOY-ROPE KNOT.--Unlay the strands of a cable-laid rope, and also the small strands of each large strand. Lay the large ones again as before, leaving the small ones out. Single and double wall the small strands (as for a stopper knot) round the rope, worm them along the divisions, and stop their ends with spunyarn.

A TURKS-HEAD. (17.) This is worked upon a rope with a piece of small line. Take a clove-hitch slack with the line round the rope. Then take one of the bights formed by the clove-hitch and put it over the other.

Pa.s.s the end under, and up through the bight which is underneath. Then cross the bights again, and put the end round again, under, and up through the bight which is underneath. After this, follow the lead, and it will make a turban, of three parts to each cross.

TWO HALF-HITCHES. (18.) Pa.s.s the end of a rope round the standing part and bring it up through the bight. This is a half-hitch. Take it round again in the same manner for two half-hitches.

A CLOVE-HITCH (19.) is made by pa.s.sing the end of a rope round a spar, over, and bringing it under and round behind its standing part, over the spar again, and up through its own part. It may then, if necessary, be stopped or hitched to its own part: the only difference between two half-hitches and a clove-hitch being that one is. .h.i.tched round its own standing part, and the other is. .h.i.tched round a spar or another rope.

AN OVERHAND KNOT. (20.) Pa.s.s the end of a rope over the standing part, and through the bight.

A FIGURE-OF-EIGHT. (21.) Pa.s.s the end of a rope over and round the standing part, up over its own part, and down through the bight.

A BOWLINE KNOT. (22.) Take the end of a rope in your right hand, and the standing part in your left. Lay the end over the standing part, and with the left hand make a bight of the standing part over it. Take the end under the lower standing part, up over the cross, and down through the bight.

A RUNNING BOWLINE.--Take the end round the standing part, and make a bowline upon its own part.

A BOWLINE UPON A BIGHT. (23.) Middle a rope, taking the two ends in your left hand, and the bight in your right. Lay the bight over the ends, and proceed as in making a bowline, making a small bight with your left hand of the ends, which are kept together, over the bight which you hold in your right hand. Pa.s.s the bight in your right hand round under the ends and up over the cross. So far, it is like a common bowline, only made with double rope instead of single. Then open the bight in your right hand and carry it over the large bights, letting them go through it, and bring it up to the cross and haul taut.

A SQUARE KNOT. (24.) Take an overhand knot round a spar. Take an end in each hand and cross them on the same side of the standing part upon which they came up. Pa.s.s one end round the other, and bring it up through the bight. This is sometimes called a REEF-KNOT. If the ends are crossed the wrong way, sailors call it a GRANNY-KNOT.

A TIMBER HITCH. (25.) Take the end of a rope round a spar, lead it under and over the standing part, and pa.s.s two or more round-turns round its own part.

A ROLLING HITCH.--Pa.s.s the end of a rope round a spar. Take it round a second time, nearer to the standing part. Then carry it across the standing part, over and round the spar, and up through the bight. A strap or a tail-block is fastened to a rope by this. .h.i.tch.

A bend, sometimes called a _rolling hitch_, is made by two round-turns round a spar and two half-hitches round the standing part; but the name is commonly applied to the former hitch.

A BLACKWALL HITCH. (26.) Form a bight by putting the end of a rope across and under the standing part. Put the bight over the hook of a tackle, letting the hook go through it, the centre of the bight resting against the back of the hook, and the end jammed in the bight of the hook, by the standing part of the rope.

A CAT'S PAW. (27.) Make a large bight in a rope, and spread it open, putting one hand at one part of the bight and the other at the other, and letting the standing part and end come together. Turn the bight over from you, three times, and a small bight will be formed in each hand. Bring the two small bights together, and put the hook of a tackle through them both.

A SHEET BEND. (28.) Pa.s.s the end of a rope up through the bight of another, round both parts of the other, and under its own part.

A FISHERMAN'S BEND. (29.) Used for bending studdingsail halyards to the yard. Take two turns round the yard with the end. Hitch it round the standing part and both the turns. Then hitch it round the standing part alone.

A CARRICK BEND. (30.) Form a bight by putting the end of a rope over its standing part. Take the end of a second rope and pa.s.s it _under_ the standing part of the first, _over_ the end, and _up_ through the bight, _over_ its own standing part, and _down_ through the bight again.

A BOWLINE BEND.--This is the most usual mode of bending warps, and other long ropes or cables, together. Take a bowline in the end of one rope, pa.s.s the end of the other through the bight, and take a bowline with it upon its own standing part. Long lines are sometimes bent together with half-hitches on their own standing parts, instead of bowlines, and the ends seized strongly down.

A SHEEP-SHANK. (31.) Make two long bights in a rope, which shall overlay one another. Take a half-hitch over the end of each bight with the standing part which is next to it.

A SELVAGEE.--Lay rope yarns round and round in a bight, and marl them down with spunyarn. These are used for neat block-straps, and as straps to go round a spar for a tackle to hook into, for hoisting.

A MARLINSPIKE HITCH--Lay the marlinspike upon the seizing-stuff, and bring the end over the standing part so as to form a bight. Lay this bight back over the standing part, putting the marlinspike down through the bight, under the standing part, and up through the bight again.

TO Pa.s.s A ROUND SEIZING.--Splice a small eye in the end of the stuff, take the other end round both parts of the rope, and reeve it through the eye. Pa.s.s a couple of turns, then take a marlinspike-hitch, and heave them taut. Pa.s.s six, eight or ten turns in the same manner, and heave them taut. Put the end through under these turns and bring it out between the two last turns, or through the eye, and pa.s.s five, seven or nine turns (one less than the lower ones) directly over these, as riders. The riders are not hove so taut. Pa.s.s the end up through the seizings, and take two cross turns round the whole seizing between the two, pa.s.sing the end through the last turn, and heaving taut. If the seizing is small cordage, take a wall-knot in the end; if spunyarn, an overhand knot. The cross turns are given up now in nearly all vessels.

After the riding turns are pa.s.sed, the end is carried under the turns, brought out at the other end, and made fast snugly to the standing part of the rigging.

A THROAT SEIZING, where rigging is turned in, is pa.s.sed and made fast like the preceding, there being no cross turns. A neat way to pa.s.s a throat seizing is to pa.s.s the turns rather slack, put a strap upon the end of the rigging, take a handspike or heaver to it and bear it down, driving home the seizing with a mallet and small fid.

STOPPING, is fastening two parts of a rope together as for a round seizing, without a crossing.

NIPPERING, is fastening them by taking turns crosswise between the parts, to jam them; and sometimes with a round turn before each cross.

These are called _racking turns_. Pa.s.s _riders_ over these and fasten the end.

POINTING.--Unlay the end of a rope and stop it. Take out as many yarns as are necessary, and split each yarn in two, and take two parts of different yarns and twist them up taut into _nettles_. The rest of the yarns are combed down with a knife. Lay half the nettles down upon the sc.r.a.ped part, the rest back upon the rope, and pa.s.s three turns of twine taut round the part where the nettles separate, and hitch the twine, which is called the _warp_. Lay the nettles backwards and forwards as before, pa.s.sing the warp, each time. The ends may be whipped and snaked with twine, or the nettles. .h.i.tched over the warp and hauled taut. The upper seizing must be snaked. If the upper part is too weak for pointing, put in a piece of stick.

SNAKING a seizing, is done by taking the end under and over the outer turns of the seizing alternately, pa.s.sing over the whole. There should be a marline-hitch at each turn.

GRAFTING.--Unlay the ends of two ropes and put them together as for a short splice. Make nettles of the strands as before. Pa.s.s the warp and nettles belonging to the lower strands along the rope, as in pointing; then the nettles of the upper strands in the same manner. Snake the seizing at each end.

FOXES are made by twisting together three or more rope-yarns by hand, and rubbing them hard with tarred canva.s.s. _Spanish foxes_ are made of one rope-yarn, by unlaying it and laying it up the other way.

GASKETS.--Take three or four foxes, middle them, and plait them together into _sennit_. This is done by bringing the two outside foxes alternately over to the middle. The outside ones are laid with the right hand, and the remainder are held and steadied with the left.

Having plaited enough for an eye, bring all the parts together, and work them all into one piece, in the same manner. Take out foxes at proper intervals. When finished, one end must be laid up, the other plaited, and the first hauled through. The name _sennit_ is generally given to rope yarns plaited in the same manner with these foxes. Sennit made in this way must have an odd number of parts. FRENCH SENNIT is made with an even number, taken over and under every other time.

TO BEND A BUOY-ROPE. Reeve the end through the eye in the other end, put it over one arm of the anchor, and haul taut. Take a hitch over the other arm. Or, take a clove-hitch over the crown, stopping the end to its own part, or to the shank.

TO Pa.s.s A SHEAR-LASHING.--Middle the lashing and take a good turn round both legs, at the cross. Pa.s.s one end up and the other down, around and over the cross, until half of the lashing is expended. Then ride both ends back again on their own parts and knot them in the middle. Frap the first and riding turns together on each side with sennit.

CHAPTER VIII.

BLOCKS AND PURCHASES.

Parts of a block. Made and morticed blocks. Bull's-eye. Dead-eye.

Sister-block. s.n.a.t.c.h-block. Tail-block. Whip. Gun-tackle. Luff-tackle.

Whip-upon-whip. Luff-upon-luff. Watch or tail-tackle. Runner-tackle.

Blocks are of two kinds, _made_ and _morticed_. A _made block_ consists of four parts,--the _sh.e.l.l_, or outside; the _sheave_, or wheel on which the rope turns; the _pin_, or axle on which the wheel turns; and the _strap_, either of rope or iron, which encircles the whole, and keeps it in its place. The sheave is generally strengthened by letting in a piece of iron or bra.s.s at the centre, called a _bush_.

A MORTICED BLOCK is made of a single block of wood, morticed out to receive a sheave.

All blocks are single, double, or three-fold, according to the number of sheaves in them.

There are some blocks that have no sheaves; as follows: a _bull's-eye_, which is a wooden thimble without a sheave, having a hole through the centre and a groove round it; and a _dead-eye_, which is a solid block of wood made in a circular form, with a groove round it, and three holes bored through it, for the lanyards to reeve through.

A SISTER-BLOCK is formed of one solid piece of wood, with two sheaves, one above the other, and between the sheaves a score for the middle seizing. These are oftener without sheaves than with.