Decorative Marlinspike Seamanship

“Wow, this is turning out much better than I expected.”

I made this statement while sitting in my favorite bar in New York City, drinking a pint of Guinness and trying to turn ten feet of three strand, half-inch hemp line into a ditty bag lanyard. A friend, sitting next to me and trying to work her way through a four strand star knot, commented on the fact that I always say that. And she’s right, I do. But it really isn’t excessive ego on my part …. no really, its not … it’s quite the opposite in fact. I actually am always amazed when something I do related to traditional skills or seamanship turns out well.

Then a short fuzzy-haired student teacher compared the finished lanyard to a child’s toy. Well thanks …. so hundreds of years of sailor’s craft is really nothing more than a summer camp boondoggle? But I was left to think about the nature of the craft: is there any practical reason for still practicing decorative marlinspike seamanship?

Up until I started sailing on the schooner Pioneer, I had no interest in crafts of any sort. I’m not particularly artsy. However, once I started sailing on a historic vessel and began hanging out with the crew of said vessel, I became more and more interested in knots, bends and hitches. How they’re tied, why they work or more importantly why they don’t.

Long conversations with the crew of the vessel led me to two books that kindled the interest in decorative marlinspike seamanship; “The Arts of the Sailor: Knotting, Splicing and Ropework” by Hervey Garrett Smith Hervey Garrett Smith (Author) and the “Ashley Book of Knots” by Clifford Ashley. From these books I learned how to tie a variety of knots, how to splice, sew patches on sails, and most importantly how to take pride in doing something in a clean, precise way.

In re-reading Ashley's section on decorative work, I came to the conclusion that these skills are still relavent and I think I know why they're important to learn.

One of the first projects I worked on was a small ditty bag and lanyard. I "borrowed" the canvas and seine twine from the Bosun's locker on Pioneer and used my own sail twine and needles. In order to make the bag I had to learn how to sew a proper seam, how to make a very small grommet and how to sew a hitched eyelet. To make the lanyard I had to learn a star knot, wall knot, mathew walker knot and an eye splice. I actually use a doubled wall and crown knot, rather than a mathew walker, as a stopper on my own boat. But I have plans to use the mathew walker soon. I made this ditty bag before I went overseas with the Navy in 2007. It carried all of my sewing kit, which I often needed, and I carried it in my 3-day bag from Baghdad to Al Asad. It has proven to be better and more useful than anything I may have purchased.

My second big project was my knife. Unlike the first knife I made, this one I didn't shape the steel, rather I purchased a blank, then made the handle. The grip is oak, covered by leather grafting and turk's heads and the whole was then water-proofed with linseed oil and bees wax. Grafting on traditional vessels was a form of chafe gear, but I've found it to be one of the most secure grips ever. I've been aloft in rain on Pioneer and in heavy weather aboard my own boat and have never lost my grip on this knife. The grafting is made by securing strips of leather and them winding another piece of leather over and under the standing pieces. The turk's heads on either end, when drawn up tight, are some of the most secure knots ever devised. Robin Knox Johnson used them in his single-handed circumnavigation to secure a cracked main boom on his way round the Horn.

The last useful project that I worked on was a heaving line. I could have purchased one, but for less than $10, I made one using white polypro from Home Depot and a wooden ball from AC Moore. The Monkey's Fist is an interesting knot that much like the Turk's Head - or most knots for that matter - relies on tension and friction to hold itself together.

I could probably purchase a sewing kit, knife, heaving line, ...etc. and have spent less time and effort than making the ones that I did. But I'm a sailor and I like the tradition that goes with being a sailor. Its probably the same reason that I like to take a boat out on the water and use the wind to take her where I want to go, rather than get a power boat. Its not as fast or flashy, but I don't need it to be.