LASHING.-The commonest lashing is the reef or right knot. It has a multitude of uses, as for tying the head of a sail to its gaff, a top sail to its yard, etc., but it derives its name (reef) from the fact that reef points are always tied with this knot. It is with the reef knot that the mistake so often occurs which results in an unsafe fastening called the " 'granny." The diagram (fig. 5) will show the difference between these. The invariable rule for tying the reef knot is whichever end is uppermost after the first motion, must be uppermost in beginning the second. The reef knot, when so tied that it may be more easily undone, is called a draw knot, and may be either single or double. In the single draw knot, the first motion of the reef knot having been made, a bend is made in one of the projecting ends, and that bend or double-end is used to finish the knot with the other single end. In the double draw knot both projecting ends are doubled and the knot is finished with them, making, in fact, a bow. Besides the reef knot, ropes may also be lashed together with the common bend, the carrick bend, and others, while the lashing of spars is accomplished by the use of the various hitches, bends, etc. HITCHES. Of hitch. 2. A half-hitch is merely a turning-in of the end of a rope. FIG. 3.-EYE SPLICE. 3. Two half-hitches.-Another turn or hitch taken in the rope. This knot is useful for quickly bending a rope round a post; making fast the painter of a boat to a rail; bending a rope to a ring; tying clew lines of hammocks, etc. (See fig. 6.) 4. Clove hitch. One of the simplest and yet most useful knots ever invented. It is one by which a weight can be hung to a smooth mast, and is generally used where a rope is passed round any spar to be hauled on. It may be employed, however, in place of the half-hitch and often in place of a bend, as for fastening a jib to its stay, etc. The clove hitch may be made in two ways, that is, either round a spar, or in the hand and then slipped over the spar. (See fig. 7, page 144.) 5. Timber hitch. For taking a rope quickly round a bollard or a spar, or for moving a weight. The end of the rope is taken round the object and simply turned over twice as in the diagram (fig. 8, page 145). 6. Blackwall hitch.-To make fast a rope to a hook for a temporary 157 Mo. Single or Half Hitch 2 Mo. COMPLETE COMPLETE FIG. 5.-REEF OR RIGHT KNOT : AND "GRANNY." 66 FIG. 6.-TWO HALF-HITCHES. pull it is not unlike taking the hitch." The knot is very simple, as will be seen from the diagram (fig. 9, page 145). 7. Harness hitch.-This knot derives its name from the fact that it is often used to harness men to a tow-line. It has various other uses, however, inasmuch as it enables a loop to be quickly Its made in a rope the ends of which are already engaged. one disadvantage is that when being drawn tight it is apt to turn itself in such a manner as to slip, even though it may be quite correctly made. Extreme care must, therefore, be taken in drawing it close; but when once tight it is safe. For practice this knot may be made on the ground, or on a table; but for use it is generally made in the hand, when it is best to place the right foot on the right hand part of the rope, or a foot on each side. (Reference must be made to fig. 10, page 145.) 1st motion: Make a large loop, laying right over left. 2nd motion: Pick up A and bring it over B. 3rd motion: Place the hand under B and grasp the rope at C. 4th motion: Draw C right through, as in the diagram, and tighten. 8. The magnus hitch may also be occasionally found useful, in bending a rope to the shackle of an anchor or to a ring, though the fisherman's bend (see below) answers the same purpose and is more satisfactory. BENDS.—The bends also are numerous and varied. They derive the name from the word "bend," which means to "fasten on," as bending a sail to the spars, one rope to another, a rope to an anchor or ring, etc. 1. Common bend (fig. 11).-Almost the only knot by which two ropes of greatly differing sizes can be joined together. To make the knot let one rope be regarded as stationary, the other as working. Bend the left hand, or stationary rope, into the form of a simple hook, and then pass the working rope as shown. When this knot is used to bend a rope to a cringle, or a sheet to its sail, it is called the 2. Sheet bend (fig. 12), which is formed by passing the end of the rope through the cringle and taking two turns round that, under the bight. 3. Fisherman's bend (fig. 13), for bending a rope to a ring or to the shackle of an anchor. 1st motion: Two turns round the ring, going over the standing part each time. 2nd motion: Two half hitches, the first enclosing both turns. 4. Halyard bends.-Top-sail or lugsail halyards may be bent to their yards in several ways, the most usual being the Clove hitch, the Fisherman's bend, or that which is sometimes called FIG. 12.-SHEET BEND. the top-sail halyard bend, in which three turns are taken round the spar, beginning the knot by passing the rope underneath, and then. finishing as in the diagram (fig. 14). COMPLETE FIG. 13. FIG. 14. HALYARD BEND.. |