Molly Hogan Splice

One of the long-term projects that I have been thinkng about is re-rigging my boat as a traditional cutter. In order to complete that I need new shrouds, forestay and jib stay (in addition to a mast and bow sprit of course). When I was aloft on Quinnipiac I saw that they used an eye splice slipped over the masthead, rather than shackles to secure the shrouds and stays to the mast. Its right out of Darcy Lever's "A Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor", which I like to use as a reference because it was written in 1819 and therefore unquestionably traditional. I determined that this was the way that I wanted to begin the re-rigging of my boat.

Yes, Darcy Lever would have prefered three-strand hemp for standing rigging, but come on! It is the 21st century and my boat has a fiberglass hull. So, wire rigging is my preference! I've been practicing wire splicing on various projects; the Lettie G. Howard's footropes being the latest example. What I learned from these projects was that I hate wire splicing and I'm not particularly good at it. However, it's a skill that I want to learn - if not master - because it looks better than wire clips and I'm too cheap to get a professional rigger to do the work.

I'm most familiar with the Liverpool Eye splice, but I wanted to try the Molly Hogan splice for this application. The Molly Hogan splice has from 70-90% of the strength of the wire left after the splice, so it's just as good as a Liverpool Eye splice and almost as good as wire clips. I'd originally learned the Molly Hogan splice from a former mate on the Pride of Baltimore II (and schooner Pioneer), Mike Fiorentino. The Pride crew use the splice on one of their yards and it supports an incredible amount of weight. Mike had drawn a diagram in a letter to me and but it wasn't until he took me aloft on Pride to see it, I understood how the splice worked.

I still have Mike's diagram, but to be honest I found Brian Toss' "Rigger's Apprentice" and the US Navy Boatswain's Mate Manual much more helpful in completing a Molly Hogan splice. For the wire I used 3/16 inch diameter, 7 by 19 galvinized wire. The "7 by 19" means that it has 6 strands of 19 wires each around core strand of 19 wires. I would have prefered 7 by 7, because those 19 little wires manage to cut the crap out of my hands, but Home Depot didn't have any 7 by 7.

The following is the process as I understand it;

1. The first step is to break the strands into two groups of three strands each, then un-lay the groups to twice the circumference of the eye plus three or four inches extra. For my purposes, this meant a circumference of a little less than 6 inches, so 16 inches total for the two groups. I used red tape to keep the strands from un-laying too far.

2. Once the two groups of strands are ready, you simply tie an overhand knot in such a way that one group of strands lay into the empty space of the other, completing the wire rope.

3. Then you continue to lay the groups into the empty space of the other until you reach the neck of the eye. At this point you need to cut out the core strand. The US Navy suggests cutting out the core strand before making the eye splice. However, I prefer Brian Toss' method of leaving the core strand in one of the groups, so that it makes the splice stronger.

4. Then you wind the six remaining strands sround the standing part of the wire rope. The splice at this point is done, save for parcelling and serving.

I was actually pleased with the way this splice turned out, but will use the Liverpool Eye splice for the deadeyes. Not because its stronger splice - the weakest link will be the Molly Hogan splice - but because its a cool splice and I want to get better at it.

Aloft on Quinnipiac

I had the opportunity to work on the schooner Quinnipiac this past weekend. The Quinnipiac, or Quinni as she seems to be called by her crew, is a reproduction of a nineteenth century cargo vessel. She was built in the 1960's to the lines of the Biloxi schooners which operated throughout the southeast for the better part of a century. She was aquired by Schooner Inc., a non-profit educational organization, in 1990 and is based out of New Haven, CT on the Long Island Sound.

A friend had invited me to go up to New Haven for Quinnipac's up-rig. Even though Pioneer was making the transit from Tottenville that day, and I had to finish wire splicing Lettie G. Howard's footropes, I felt like I needed to go do some rigging on a different boat. I'd made part of Qunni's down-rig the previous season and thought I would learn quite a bit by being there for the up-rig. I got there around 1030 and the crew were still sorting out all the blocks and line. The full-time crew (5) were running things and I joined a bunch of volunteers (4) doing some shlepping.

Quinnipiac's a pretty boat, but in a working boat way, not the polished teak yacht way. She's a gaff-rigged schooner with tan-bark sails and a wooden hull. She's about 95 feet overall (65 feet on deck) with 14 feet beam and low free-board. She has a centerboard, rather than a keel and only draws 4 feet with the board up. Her engine is off-set to port, which apparently can make docking somewhat squirrily. She's quite roomy down below, when compared to other traditional vessels where the crew are confined in the cramped foc'sl. Quinny has an open galley, with wide benches narrowing in the bow. Moving aft below decks, on either side of the centerboard trunk are the crew racks, followed by storage. The whole below decks, incluing the sole, is wood painted haze grey, which I personally find amusing. Past the midships bulkhead below decks is the engine compartment, more crew racks for the captain/mates and the head. Again its a surprisingly open space.

Her standing rigging is quite traditional; shrouds and stays for the most part use no shackles, rather they have wire eyes that are wormed, parcelled and served and slipped over the masthead to rest on the crosstrees. The shrouds then terminate in deadeyes and lanyards, and are heavily tarred and quite stiff. The forestay slips over the foremast crosstrees as with the shrouds, but is tensioned with a turnbuckle at the bow. The jib stay and whisker stays on the bowsprit use shackles and turnbuckles. The bowsprit is interesting, keeping an octagonal shape for the initial length, then rounds as it goes forward of the bow. I believe she has what's called a bald-headed schooner rig, meaning she doesn't have a topmast and therefore can't set a topsail. To be honest, without a top mast, she looks a bit empty aloft.

I knew two people on the boat - Tommy and Michael; the former being the full-time waterfront director and the latter being the temporary 2nd mate. Apparently, one of these two ratted me out as a climber and I was asked to go aloft on the foremast to rig the throat block and the port quarter-lift, so that we could swing the fore-boom into place. I'm actually terrified of heights, being absolutely convinced of certain death every time I climb the shrouds. But I also like being aloft at the same time for a couple reasons; its exciting to be able to conquer my fear and I can't consider myself a competent sailor if I can't go aloft and do work.

Michael had gone aloft on the main mast to rig the same blocks for the main boom. We exchanged a lot of banter from our vantage points on top of the two masts. The harbor was so calm at New Haven, which in turn made the crosstrees seem solid underfoot. This was quite unlike being aloft on the schooner Pioneer. New York harbor has a ridiculous amount of barge traffic that creates wakes that swing the tops of Pioneer's masts through 20 degrees. Being aloft on the Quinnipiac was almost a pleasant experience by comparison, or at least less terrifying for me.

After lunch the full-time captain asked Michael and I to finish rigging the fore boom and fore gaff. This seems like a simple instruction and probably would be in many instances, but we'd never seen Quinni fully rigged and had no idea where to begin. On Pioneer they have a "Rigging Bible" that tells you how every block is attached and gives you pictures to confirm whether you're right or wrong. There's no such thing on the Quinnipiac. So Michael and I, who knew nothing about rigging Quinnipiac, went through the blocks and line and figured out on our own how to rig the peak, throat and quarter-lifts. I did most of the aloft work, only coming down to thaw out from the cold wind.

In two hours Michael and I, with one of the full-time deckhands named Sim, had managed to rig the fore gaff and swing it into place, then put the final quarter-lift on the main boom. Feeling very confident in our abilities at this point we were next trying to figure out where the blocks for the staysail, staysail club topping lift, anchor burton and jib went. (Come on!!! Two hours to figure out, rig and raise the fore boom and gaff, WE ROCK!)

However, the main mast was pretty much the same as when we got back from lunch, so they asked me to go aloft on the main and rig up the blocks for the peak halyard. I was surprised because on Pioneer lots of people want to go aloft, but hey it meant more fun for me, so I didn't mind. It went pretty quick, but I needed some seine twine for mousing the shackles and the chief mate brought it up to me. (The Qunnipiac uses seine twine rather than wire for mousings).

As the chief mate climbed up I noticed that he was really not comfortable aloft; stopping often and trying very, very hard not to look down. I know how he felt and admired that he was able to overcome his obvious fear and bring up the twine. He just as easily could have sent Michael or used the gantline to haul it up. I also found out that the two deckhands were completely new and really had very little traditional tallship experience. They had never been aloft before. I'm sure they'll get the chance though.

Either way, we finished up by 1730. It was a great time and I was happy with the experience because I ended up learning a lot about rigging. I was really impressed with the crew as well. The Captain, both Tommy and the new full-time captain, were really good. The rest of the crew was moderately experienced to inexperienced, but generally friendly and really good people. They'll figure out how to go aloft and work, because really what are their options? During the season no one else is going to show up and do the work for them. But most importantly, they all get along! I think they'll have a good season if for no other reason than because they all seem to like each other!!!