Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

kronckew · 4th March 2016, 07:01 PM

when i was a merchant marine cadet we of course learned some knot-work, the deckies more than us engineers. one of the first knots we learned was a monkey's fist on the end of a piece of line, which could be tied around a spherical object, like a glass marble, and made nice lanyards for pocket knives, keys, etc. the more bellicose would tie them with a ball bearing or large steel nut with enough line to make a formidable weapon. they were of course frowned upon & confiscated if found. throwing lines, used to then pull a larger mooring line ashore were also made with a weight & the longshore men had to keep their eyes open when a vessel was being moored. getting hit with one smarts. the 'starters' i've seen were made with thicker multi-part braided hafts about a foot long rather than just the rope we used back then.

i've read somewhere the tales of shanghaiing landlubbers was a bit exaggerated, tho it did occur on occasion. it was more prevalent in merchant ships, but the navy ships were more concerned with getting trained seamen and they actually preferred stopping merchies and 'impressing' trained sailors from them directly. getting tricked into the king's service by a shilling in the base of a mug of ale is essentially a myth, pressing by fraud like that was illegal & recruited men had 24 hrs to change their minds. the normal joining bonus was a fair sum more likely to induce them to stay. i'm sure some desperate captains may have bent the rules as much as they could tho.

as the late 18th & early 19th c. UK navy did not really recognise the US, they were fond of stopping american ships to steal their sailors, many of whom back then had actually been at one time british and quite possibly royal navy deserters, which gave some legitimacy to the practice. this was a major cause of the war of 1812 between the US & the UK, which ended with a treaty somewhat in the UK's favour. it was signed before the famous battle in new orleans (major communications lag) where the pride of europe that defeated nappy was decisively trounced by a handful of militia, pirates, indians and a few regulars. the UK decided it was better to have us as a friend than an enemy after that final slaughter.

p.s. - the baleen hafted 'persuaders' are VERY expensive and rare now as harvesting baleen is frowned on.

4th March 2016, 07:01 PM	#7
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,152	when i was a merchant marine cadet we of course learned some knot-work, the deckies more than us engineers. one of the first knots we learned was a monkey's fist on the end of a piece of line, which could be tied around a spherical object, like a glass marble, and made nice lanyards for pocket knives, keys, etc. the more bellicose would tie them with a ball bearing or large steel nut with enough line to make a formidable weapon. they were of course frowned upon & confiscated if found. throwing lines, used to then pull a larger mooring line ashore were also made with a weight & the longshore men had to keep their eyes open when a vessel was being moored. getting hit with one smarts. the 'starters' i've seen were made with thicker multi-part braided hafts about a foot long rather than just the rope we used back then. i've read somewhere the tales of shanghaiing landlubbers was a bit exaggerated, tho it did occur on occasion. it was more prevalent in merchant ships, but the navy ships were more concerned with getting trained seamen and they actually preferred stopping merchies and 'impressing' trained sailors from them directly. getting tricked into the king's service by a shilling in the base of a mug of ale is essentially a myth, pressing by fraud like that was illegal & recruited men had 24 hrs to change their minds. the normal joining bonus was a fair sum more likely to induce them to stay. i'm sure some desperate captains may have bent the rules as much as they could tho. as the late 18th & early 19th c. UK navy did not really recognise the US, they were fond of stopping american ships to steal their sailors, many of whom back then had actually been at one time british and quite possibly royal navy deserters, which gave some legitimacy to the practice. this was a major cause of the war of 1812 between the US & the UK, which ended with a treaty somewhat in the UK's favour. it was signed before the famous battle in new orleans (major communications lag) where the pride of europe that defeated nappy was decisively trounced by a handful of militia, pirates, indians and a few regulars. the UK decided it was better to have us as a friend than an enemy after that final slaughter. p.s. - the baleen hafted 'persuaders' are VERY expensive and rare now as harvesting baleen is frowned on.