KNOTS, SPLICES, AND SENDS. 



203 



or gravel with rocks interspersed. It is performed by making 

 fast the cable where the shank joins the arm, and stopping it 

 down to the ring with a single rope yarn, or piece of twine, for 

 if the anchor gets fast in a rock you will probably clear it, as 

 the yarn or twine will break and the anchor be lifted by the 

 whole strain coming suddenly on the crown. 



Slipping the Cable. As it sometimes happens that the 

 particular fishing-ground you desire to visit is directly in the 

 track of passing shipping, it is requisite on the approach of any 

 vessel to be ready to remove out of the track more quickly 

 than raising the anchor will admit of. I therefore recommend 

 some kind of a buoy, such as a stump end of a mast, or broken 

 oar, or a small bag of cork, always to be kept bent on to the 

 inner end of the cable, which being thrown overboard, the 

 boat is at once set at liberty, and all risk of collision may be 

 avoided by backing astern by a few strokes of the oars. The 

 vessel having passed, the buoy may be picked up, and the 

 position at once resumed. In connection with this, I may as 

 well draw the attention of my readers to the 



Belaying Thwart. The Belaying Thwart is a short piece 

 of rough inch-and-one-eighth plank, fixed a foot from the stem 

 of the boat, and provided 

 with two strong belaying 

 pins and a mast-clamp. 

 One of these pins is use- 

 ful for belaying the cable, 

 which can be instantly 

 cast off and slipped if 

 required on any sudden 

 emergency ; the other 

 serves for the halliards 

 when the mast is stepped 

 forward for sailing short 

 distances. A . ring for 

 the bowsprit is also fixed 

 thereto. Many accidents, 



FIG. 59. 



some fatal, have happened for want of this simple arrangement. 



The Anchor Bend. The method of joining anchor and 



cable by passing the cable end twice through the ring and then 



