Steve Edwards, crew, from Coronation Gulf 7 Sept
Johan has written a book on knots, sadly in Norwegian. It looks very good and we are pressing him to have it translated into English.
Knowing about the book several crew members have asked for knot training and the detail picture shows Barbara being shown a highwayman’s hitch, or in Norway a smuggler’s hitch. The point of this knot is that one rope is quite secure but can be released very quickly by pulling on the other rope. It was widely used by highwaymen for tying horses and by Norwegian booze smugglers in the 1920s. (Norway tried prohibition at the same time as the USA). In Norway most alcohol was smuggled by boat using towed torpedo shaped containers that would sink if not pulled along and could be released very quickly using this knot if the customs boat appeared unexpectedly.
However, the smugglers not wanting to waste perfectly good drink, the torpedo tended contain sacks of salt which made the difference between it floating and sinking. If the torpedo had to be released in a hurry then it would sink to the bottom and the salt would then dissolve over the following few days so that eventually the torpedo would rise to the surface to be collected by the relieved smugglers.
The second picture is of Barbara starting to practice a sheet bend.
