Marlinspike seamanship is the art (and it is an art) of handling and working all kinds of fiber and wire rope. It includes every variety of knotting, splicing, worming, parceling, serving, and fancywork. Marlinspike seamanship has been developed to such an extent that intricate and complicated work in rope can be done to the amazement of a landlubber.
You don't want to start right off trying to tie a 21-strand Turk's head before you are able to tie the simpler knots.
A real seaman has a loving affection for a sound piece of line or a good square knot or splice. One look at the way a man handles his line tells an oldtimer whether he's a seaman. Knowledge of marlinspike seamanship is the real test for a deck sailor.
It is not news to an experienced seaman that misuse and abuse of his gear shortens its useful life. This is particularly true of rope of all types. Yet, because of carelessness and lack of knowledge, rope is the one thing that probably receives more abuse than any other equipment the seaman uses. Also, rope in a doubtful condition puts lives in jeopardy. The miracle is that more injuries do not occur.
Rope is a general term, and can be applied to both fiber and wire rope. But sailors refer to fiber rope as line, whereas wire rope is referred to as rope, wire rope, or just wire. More exactly, a line is a piece of rope, either fiber or wire, which is in use, or has been cut for a specific purpose, such as lifeline, heaving line, lead line, and so on.
FIBER ROPE
Any rope that is not wire is fiber rope. Except in a few instances where it is put to certain special uses, fiber rope is never called anything but line aboard ship. For example, there are fiber manropes on gangways; foot ropes on hammocks (and formerly on the yards of sailing ships); bolt ropes on sails and other canvas; ridge ropes on awnings (but they usually are of wire); dip ropes for passing some object under, outside of, or around another; and bull ropes for heavy heaving without benefit of a purchase (tackle).
Some small craft have fiber wheelropes running from wheel to rudder, although these, again, are more likely to be of wire. There are other exceptions as well, but all the exceptions go to prove the strict general rule that aboard ship a line is never called a rope.
In the manufacture of line, the fibers of various plants are twisted together in one direction to form yarns; the yarns are twisted together in the opposite direction to form strands; then the strands are twisted together in the opposite direction to form the line. In the days when ships swung to fiber anchor cables, three or four lines were twisted together, again in the opposite direction, to form the cable. The chain, wire, or line that connects a ship to her anchor is called her anchor cable, regardless of its makeup.
By far the greater part of line now in use is rightlaid, so that the strands in the finish line spiral along in a right-handed direction as one looks along the line. Right-laid line must always be coiled down right-handed, or clockwise. Coiling down a right-laid line left-handed is a blunder in seamanship. If any left-laid line does turn up, it should be coiled down left-handed. Nearly all line used nowadays is three-strand.
