Cat 0' Nine Tails - Here are two examples of cat o' nine tails that I did a number of years ago. The first was done about 15 years ago while cruising on my first boat during a rainy day at anchor with some old scrap rope. The other was done about 10 years ago with a wooden, rope-covered handle and lead beads on the end of the cat rather than blood knots. While these are just some fun, decorative knot tying projects, the Cat O' Nine Tails was a frequently used tool in the days of wooden ships and iron men to enforce discipline aboard. The term "The cat is out of the bag" comes directly from those days - when the coxswain was ordered to flog someone, he'd take his Cat O' Nine Tails out of it's storage bag and everyone would know some unpleasantness was about to commence.
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Gasket Hitch - A secure way to finish a coil of rope.
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Handcuff Knot - A neat way of making a set of handcuffs quickly from rope!
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Hangman's Noose - A proper hangman's noose uses either 7 turns to symbolize the seven deadly sins or 13 turns for the unlucky number. DO NOT put this around your or anyone else's neck - it is all too efficient at its designed purpose.
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Man Harness from a Tom Fool's Knot - A quick method of forming a harness that can be used to hoist a person aloft or back onboard from the water. The loops will need to be made larger than in the photo, of course, with one slung under the legs and the other around the chest.
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Poldo Tackle - How to tie a Poldo Tackle - A clever arrangement using two interconnected bowlines to form a stable tackle.
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Quick Turn - A fast way of securing a coil of rope
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Rope Ladder - The above pattern is repeated to create as many rungs as needed. I used these as my primary boarding ladder on my previous two boats, and used one on Al Hoceima temporarily when I first acquired her.
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Sheepshank from a Tom Fool's Knot - A quick and stable way of tying a sheepshank.
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Tom Fool's Knot - The basic Tom Fool's Knot from which a number of other functional and decorative knots are formed.
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Whipping - a means of using a light line or twine turned around a rope to prevent the rope from unraveling, or to form an aglet at the end of a line.
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