One of the simplest eye knots is shown by Fig. 15, and is known as the “running” or “slip knot.” A bight is first formed, and an overhand knot made with the ends round the standing part. The last named may be drawn through the knot, and the eye made to any size required. There is less chance of the knot coming undone if an overhand knot is made on the end A. With this knot a sailor ties his neck-handkerchief.

Fig. 16 is the “fisherman’s eye knot.” A bight is first made of sufficient length, and an overhand knot formed with the standing part round the other strand; the end is now passed round the standing part, and knotted as before. Thus there is a running knot A, with a check knot B, which, when hauled upon, jam tight against one another, and hold securely. This is one of the best knots for making an eye in fishing, as the strain is divided equally between the two knots.

A common way of making an eye on the end of a piece of cord is illustrated by Fig. 17. It is practically the same knot as Fig. 8 (p. 19), except that only one rope is used. The end is brought back along the rope to form the eye, and an overhand knot made with the two parts. This knot, from being so easily made, is often used, but it lacks strength, like the openhand knot (Fig. 8), and should not be used where it is required to bear much strain. It will have been noticed how very often openhand knots form the component parts of other knots.

Fig. 18 is an eye made with a “Flemish” knot. It is worked just the same as a single Flemish knot (Fig. 12, p. 22), the only difference being that two parts are used instead of one. It is stronger, but clumsier, than the one just described, and is not much used.

The “crabber’s knot” (Fig. 19) is a curious and not very well known knot, but it is unlikely to part when strained. To make it, bring the end back to form a loop, taking it first under and then over the standing part, up through the main loop, over the standing part again, and up through its own bight. Before the turns are hauled into their places, the knot will slip on the part A, as in an ordinary slip knot; but if the part B is hauled upon, the strand A, which passes through the centre of the knot, rises, and the coil which goes round it jams, making the knot secure: so that it may be used as a running knot or otherwise, as desired. This is also called a running knot with crossed ends.

The “bowline knot” (Fig. 20) cannot slip, and is therefore always used for slinging a man for the purpose of doing some particular piece of work; the workman sits in the sling. The end is first laid back over the standing part, so as to form a loop; the end is then passed up through the loop, round the back of the standing part, and down through the loop again. Hauling on the end and the standing part makes the knot taut.

A modification of this knot, called a “Bowline on a Bight,” is shown by Fig. 21. The loop is made as in the previous knot, only with the two parts of a doubled rope; the bight is then passed up through the loop, opened, and turned backwards over the rest of the knot, when it appears as illustrated. To untie it, draw the bight of the rope up until it is slack enough, and bring the whole of the other parts of the knot up through it, when it will readily come adrift. If the standing parts of the rope are held fast, it puzzles the uninitiated to undo it.

A “Running Bowline” has the knot made on the end after it has been passed round the standing part, thus forming a loop through which the main rope will run. Two ropes may be joined together by making a bowline in the end of one of them, and putting the end of the other through the bight, and forming with it another bowline on its own part. This is often used to join hawsers together.

Fig. 22 shows a method of making a rope fast to a post or pillar. The rope is doubled and passed round the post, and the ends put through the loop. For greater security, the ends may be passed round the standing part and through the bight thus formed, as in Fig. 23; or, instead of passing the cords through the bight, a loop may be formed by doubling the ends, and this loop put through the bight, thus forming a slippery hitch. This knot has the advantage of being more readily undone than the other one, as it is necessary merely to pull at the ends, and the rope is released at once. The ends may also be secured by making a Flemish knot on them, instead of an overhand knot.

The remainder of this chapter will discuss a different class of fastenings. It is not easy to state, however, where knots end and bends and hitches begin; indeed, a tie that, in certain circumstances and made a particular way, is called a “knot,” differently constructed, and under other conditions, is called a “bend” or “hitch,” though the result is the same in both cases. As an illustration, take two half-hitches (Fig. 24), which, if made in another way round a pole, are called a “builder’s knot.” If readers will analyse the knots illustrated throughout this book, they will find several other similar instances. A (Fig. 24) is a single hitch, being merely a loop formed in a rope. This is readily done by holding the rope in the left hand, and giving it a twist with the right; the loop then forms itself, as it were. When a tightly laid piece of cordage is twisted, these loops are apt to rise and form “kinks,” which are very objectionable, as the cord is sure to part at the kink when a strain is put on it. It is still worse in the case of wire, which breaks readily when kinked. Tight, hard cordage should always be well stretched before it is used, to avoid kinking.

Two half-hitches (Fig. 24) are a useful knot for a variety of purposes, as they are quickly made, and will not slip, no matter what strain is put upon them—indeed, the more they are hauled upon the faster they hold. They are the best means of making a rope fast to a hook. First one hitch is slipped on, and then the other on the top of it, and the rope is fast in less than two seconds. This knot is used by surgeons in reducing a dislocation of the thumb joint.

Fig. 25 is the builder’s knot, merely two half-hitches, but as it is used in places where the hitches cannot be passed over the ends of the timber it is made by holding one end in the left hand, passing the rope round the pole, under the end, round the pole again, above the first part, and under its own part; from its non-liability to slip laterally this knot is always used to fasten one pole to another in fitting up scaffolding, from which circumstance it has acquired its name. If, instead of beginning the knot as in Fig. 25, the end is passed, after it has gone round the pole, two or three times round the other part, as in Fig. 2 (p. 15), the remainder of the knot is rather more easily made, as it holds itself taut, and will not slip while the end is put round to complete the fastening.

A “builder’s double knot” is made in the same way, except that the end goes round again, as before, and underneath its own part, so making it much stronger. When a builder’s knot is made on a rope for the purpose of securing a small line to a stout rope, it is called a “clove-hitch.”

The “timber hitch” (Fig. 26) is a rough and ready way of securing a piece of timber or anything similar; it is made by bringing the end of a rope round the timber, then round the standing part, and then, taking two or more turns, round its own part. The pressure of the coils one over the other holds the timber securely, and the more it is hauled on the tighter it holds. It can be cast off readily.

Fig. 27 is the “killick hitch,” a modification of the timber hitch, used for fastening a stone to the end of a rope. After making a timber hitch and hauling it taut, a single hitch is made, and slipped over the end of the stone alongside of it. Some of the best fishing grounds are on rocky coasts where an anchor would not hold; and if it did, there might be considerable risk of losing it altogether, from its jamming in the crevices of a rock. In these places a killick, or large stone, slung as shown in Fig. 27, is used, which holds the boat by its own weight, without any risk of getting fast to the ground.

The “magnus hitch” (Fig. 28) is a method of securing a rope to a spar, as there is but little tendency to slip endways along the spar. In making it, take the end of the rope twice round the spar, in front of the standing part, round the spar again, and then through the last bight.

The “fisherman’s bend” (Fig. 29) consists of two round turns round a spar, and a half-hitch round the standing part, and through the turns on the spar, and another half-hitch above it, round the standing part. It is used for bending studdingsail halliards to the yard, and, in yachts, for bending on the gaff topsail halliards.

A “rolling hitch” (Fig. 30) is made by taking three round turns round a spar, and then making two half-hitches round the standing part of the rope, and hauling taut.

The “topsail halliard bend” (Fig. 31) is used chiefly on board yachts, and is made by bringing the rope twice round the spar, back round the standing part, under all the turns, over two turns, and under the last. This hitch is shown open for the sake of clearness, but in practice it is usual to jam the coils close together, and haul them all taut.

Fig. 32 is a “racking hitch,” for hitching a rope on to the hook of a block. Two bights are made in a rope, these are turned over from the operator two or three times, and the two loops are put on to the hook. This is sometimes called a “cat’s paw.”

The value of the “slippery hitch” (Fig. 33) consists in the readiness with which it can be cast off in case of emergency; at the same time, it holds securely while there is a strain on the rope A. If the mainsheet of small boats is made fast at all, always a more or less risky proceeding, a slippery hitch should always be used as a start. A sharp pull at the end of the rope lets the sheet go at once.

For the “carrick bend” (Fig. 34) lay the end of a rope over the standing part to form a loop; put the end of another rope under the bight over the standing part at A, under the end at B, over the rope again at C, under its own part, and over the rope B, and haul taut. The parts A and B form the first loop made. This bend generally is used for binding hawsers together, to increase their length for warping or towing. It can be undone readily without the aid of a pricker or marlinespike, which would have to be used for many knots after they had been in the water. As in the sailor’s knot, it is only necessary to grasp the ropes just outside the knot, and push the loops inwards, and the knot comes adrift at once.

Fig. 35 shows the clew of a sail, and the method of bending the sheet on to it. This is termed a “sheet bend.” The sheet is not, as many suppose, a part of the sail, but is a rope used in setting a sail, to keep the clew or lower corner of the sail down to its place. In making a sheet bend, the end is passed up through the clew, round the back of it, under its own part, and over the clew again. The end is generally stopped to the standing part with rope- yarn or other small stuff. The knot thus formed is exactly the same as the weaver’s knot (Fig. 10, p. 21). Fig. 36 shows a method of giving additional security to this knot. The end is passed twice round the back of the loop before putting it under its own part. This knot is very much used by fishermen in bending a line on to a loop of gut.

Another and somewhat more complicated method of bending a rope on to a loop is illustrated by Fig. 37. B is the standing part, and A the end of the rope to be bent on a loop already formed. Pass the end down through the loop, round over its own part, and through the loop, round the back of it, and through its own bight. When hauled taut, this holds more securely than either of the other methods, but, on the other hand, takes longer to make.

The “Blackwall hitch” (Fig. 38) is a ready way of securing a rope temporarily to a hook. The method of making it is evident from the illustration. As the standing part when hauled upon jams the end against the back of the hook, it holds much more firmly than would be supposed at first sight.

The “midshipman’s hitch” (Fig. 39) is an old-fashioned hitch, used for attaching a tail-block to a rope. A round turn is first made over the standing part, and the end is brought up, passed twice round above the first hitch, and then passed out underneath its own part.

The “marlinespike hitch” (Fig. 40) is used for getting a purchase on the seizing stuff when serving a rope, so as to leave the turns taut. Make a bight in the seizing stuff, and bring it back over the standing part; pass the marlinespike under the standing part, and over the sides of the bight. This is practically identical with the running knot (Fig. 15, p. 24). Seizing is described on p. 96.

Fig. 41 is a “regulating lashing,” used when the tension of a rope requires altering from time to time. Tent ropes are secured this way, as they require easing in wet weather, and tightening in dry. For this purpose, the piece of wood A is slipped up or down the cord, the friction of the cord against the sides of the hole fixing it sufficiently.

The “stationer’s knot” (Fig. 42) is handy for tying up a parcel, as it can be made rapidly, and undone with ease. Make a running noose at the end of a piece of twine, and bring it to the centre of the parcel; take the twine round the parcel again at right angles, round the noose, and making a bight slip it under, as illustrated. A pull at the end releases the knot instantly, as can be proved by experiment.