Knots

Bowline

It is easy to untie even after heavy loading; rescuers put it round a person’s chest to pull them out of the water.

💡 Did you know? Sailors call it the “king of knots”.

Reef knot

It is made of two half knots tied in opposite directions; if both go the same way, you get the unreliable granny knot.

💡 Did you know? In antiquity it was already known as the Hercules knot.

Clove hitch

It takes seconds to tie, but can work loose if the post turns.

💡 Did you know? In German it is named after the ratlines, the thin rope rungs sailors climbed up into the rigging.

Figure-eight knot

It keeps a rope from running out through a block or eye, yet is still easy to untie.

💡 Did you know? It takes its name from its shape, which looks like the number eight.

Sheet bend

It was once used to fasten the sheet, the line that controls a sail.

💡 Did you know? Weavers joined broken threads in the same way, which is why it is also called the weaver’s knot.

Prusik knot

Karl Prusik described it in 1931; climbers can use it to ascend a fixed rope.

💡 Did you know? It is tied with a thin cord wrapped several times round the thicker rope.

Hangman’s knot

Its loop tightens under strain; the coils hold it in shape.

💡 Did you know? Thirteen coils are often mentioned, but in practice there were usually fewer.

Sheepshank

It can also bridge a damaged section, which then lies slack in the middle.

💡 Did you know? It holds only under tension; when the line goes slack, it easily falls apart.

Fisherman’s knot

Under strain the two halves slide together and grip firmly.

💡 Did you know? With double turns it becomes the even safer double fisherman’s knot, which climbers use too.

Overhand knot

It is the basis of many other knots and serves as a plain stopper.

💡 Did you know? Under load it can jam so tight that it is hard to undo.

Surgeon’s knot

The extra turn holds the first half in place while the second is tied.

💡 Did you know? Anglers like to use it to join two lines as well.

Monkey’s fist

Its weight lets the thin line fly far enough to be thrown from ship to shore.

💡 Did you know? There is often a stone or a metal ball inside.

Windsor

The duke, the former King Edward VIII, wore his ties with a strikingly wide knot.

💡 Did you know? He is said never to have tied it himself; the width came from specially thick-lined ties.

Gordium

Whoever undid the knot, it was said, would rule Asia; in the winter of 334 to 333 BC Alexander simply cut it with his sword.

💡 Did you know? To this day, cutting the Gordian knot means solving a tangled problem at a single stroke.

Chip log

A wooden board on the line stayed put in the water; the number of knots that ran out in a set time, measured with a sandglass, gave the speed.

💡 Did you know? That is where the knot as a unit of speed for ships comes from.

1,852 metres

A nautical mile matches one minute of arc along a meridian, which is why navigators like to work with it.

💡 Did you know? Aviation still gives speeds in knots today.