HISTORY OF KNOTS

Knots, according to an ingenuous essayist, are probably as “old as human fingers” and their history is lost in antiquity. Doubtless when man was first placed on this earth he learned to make fastenings from the tendrils of climbing vines and trailing flowers which twist themselves into odd fastenings as they lift themselves from the earth. The first cords were probably twisted grasses and rushes. Since those early days knots, like Topsy, have “just growed” and man’s ingenuity has enabled him so to arrange ropes and cords that they will sustain weights, fasten various articles together and take up strains so that they will hold under ordinary conditions.

Seamen are credited with having devised the most knots. They have invented ties upon which depend the safety of their ships and the lives of those on board. Operatives in many trades such as building have borrowed from the seamen their knots and applied them to their work. In some instances the land operator has invented new knots or ties to suit conditions not found on shipboard.

To tie a knot properly or to be able to join ropes so that they will hold and withstand heavy strains is so important with seamen that careful attention is paid to the instruction of the men in this particular work. At the many naval training camps scattered about the country capable instructors show the recruits how to properly make knots, ties, hitches, bends and splices, and until the recruit knows how to handle ropes quickly and properly he is not much use at sea. In the nautical schools, too, and in the divisions of the U. S. Power Squadron much attention is paid to this part of the novice’s instruction.

The steamship is steadily driving the sailing vessel from the seas. Of course on a sailing ship, where every spar is stayed by rope and where all the sails, the propelling power, are handled by ropes, the ability to properly tie knots is more important than on a vessel driven by steam or oil engines, but on the powered vessel there are many occasions when it is necessary to have a knowledge of knots, particularly in handling cargoes, in making fast to piers or moorings, in towing, in handling boats, and in hundreds of other instances so that the steam engine is not making “marlinespike seamanship” a lost art.