Chapter XXXIII: Hammock-Making and Netting

I.--HAMMOCKS AND HAMMOCK-MAKING.

A hammock, as most of our readers are doubtless aware, is a species of swinging bed in use at sea, and especially in the Royal Navy. Its chief utility lies in the readiness and ease with which it can be taken down, made up into a comparatively small bundle, and stowed away during the day, so as to leave the deck clear. A hammock is not at all difficult of construction, and any boy who is at all handy with his fingers should be able to make one for himself.

The hammock is made of canvas, which is suspended at each end by a number of small cords, termed clews, which are made fast to hooks in the beams.

A mattress, with the usual quantity of blankets, a pillow, etc., rests upon the canvas, which, owing to the manner in which it is hung--_i.e._, up to the beams--assumes an oval shape, and is really one of the most comfortable things in the world to sleep in. Its only drawback is the number of opportunities it gives to mischievous messmates to play off practical jokes upon a youngster who is making his first trip at sea.

Of course this is discountenanced in the Navy, but it is impossible altogether to prevent it; and no doubt many a victim to a slippery hitch could bear witness to the truth of this.

A slippery hitch, we may as well inform our readers, is a species of slipknot tied in the lanyard which connects the clews and the hook in the beam. It appears all right to a casual observer, but when the victim gets into his hammock his weight begins to tell, and the knot slips away and precipitates the sleeper on to the deck.

Then, again, there was the custom, which we hope and believe has gone out of fashion now, of ‘cutting down,’ which was effected by applying a sharp knife to the lanyard, and letting the sleeper down, generally head foremost.

Now with respect to making a hammock, the first thing necessary is a piece of strong canvas, about 5 ft 8 in. in length and 3 ft. wide. In the Navy hammocks are made in two pieces (Fig. 1), which are stitched together down the centre (B). The sides and ends must be hemmed, and then the eyelet-holes for the clews to be fastened to must be made (A A). The eyelet-holes are twenty-four in number, at equal distances along the edge, at each end of the hammock. They are usually made in the following manner, although it is not absolutely necessary to be so particular.

A number of small rings made of white line (a kind of whipcord) are prepared, which are called grummets. These are placed in the eyelet-holes, and then sewn over all the way round with thin twine.

The next thing to make is a pair of clews. These are composed of what are termed at sea knittles, which are two or three yarns laid up together, by a jack or by hand, against the twist of the yarn. But good cod-line or anything else sufficiently stout, will answer the purpose equally well. The following is the proper way to make clews, although it is now sometimes dispensed with:--

Take twelve knittles about 5 ft. in length and double them. Then form an eye in the middle, which must be _served_ with fine twine. This is done by winding the twine round and round as tightly as possible for a sufficient distance to form the eye; then _seize_ or bind the knittles together for about an inch below the eye, as in Fig. 2.

Now take a piece of twine, about half the size of the knittles, and place it between the knittles, so that twelve come up and twelve go down (Fig. 3); next bring both ends of the small twine, which is called _filling_, back again between the knittles, only altering them, making the upper ones point down and the lower ones point up; then leave out the two outside knittles and continue the circuit, leaving two knittles out each time until you come down to the last two, when knot the filling together and cut off the ends (Fig. 4). The ends of the knittles are then passed through the eyelet-holes in the canvas and fastened with two half-hitches. For the Navy now a great many clews are made without the platting arrangement we have described, and are left quite plain from the seizing below the eye down to the eyelet-hole. But the description we have given is of the old-fashioned style, and to our mind it looks much neater and more ornamental.

A piece of rope, called a lanyard, must now be spliced with an eye-splice into the eye of the clew that is to form the foot clew, and the hammock is completed.

In order to sling this it will be necessary to purchase a couple of stout hooks which will screw into the woodwork. These are easily obtained at any ironmonger’s, and may be fastened at the two opposite corners of a room, or in two trees in the garden at a convenient distance apart.

Then hook the head clew on, and pass the lanyard over the other hook, get the hammock level, and fasten it with a clove-hitch or two half-hitches.

And now one word of caution with regard to getting into a hammock. Be very careful the first time or two, and take notice how the hammock recedes, and then swings towards you. If you jump into it in the same manner as you would into a bed, the chances are that you will go right over it, and land on the ground the other side; but with a little care the proper method does not take long to learn.

II.--NETTING, AND HOW TO NET.

To the reader who is desirous of learning the art of netting, we must give the same advice that the famous Mrs. Glasse did with reference to cooking a hare, viz.: ‘First obtain your hare.’ That is to say, the first thing is to obtain the netting instruments and materials.

A, The needle. B, The mesh stick. C, The twine.]

The instruments consist of a needle and a mesh (see Fig. 1). From eight to ten inches is a good length for the needle, while the mesh stick must vary according to the size of the net you are about to make. A mesh stick will make a mesh twice its own size. Thus a stick half an inch square will make a one-inch mesh.

Any youth at all handy with a knife can manufacture these articles for himself, and there only remains to obtain the material. This must depend upon what is going to be made, for once the stitch is learned there is no more difficulty in making a large seine than in making an onion net or a network hammock.

The better plan is to go to the nearest string shop, and pick out what is suitable in size and strength as well as in _price_. When the material is purchased--_white line_, _seine twine_, or common twine, whatever it may be--if it is not already in a ball, wind it into one. Then find a hook, or place one just a convenient distance above you as you sit, to which to fasten the end of the twine. Now fill your needle, pass the twine round the _tine_, or inside point, round the heel of the needle, then up round the tine again, until the needle is full. Now fasten the end of the twine to the hook--a nail, if it be firm, will answer the same purpose--and tie a loop in it (Fig. 2). Then lay the mesh stick underneath the twine, and pass the needle up through the loop (Fig. 3). Then pull it tight, so that the end of the loop rests against the mesh stick (Fig. 4).

Now comes the important part, the formation of the knot. Hold the mesh stick in your left hand, with the thumb on the twine, and with the needle in the right hand. Now with a quick jerk throw the _bight_ or loop of the twine over the stick and left wrist, as shown in Fig. 5.

Then push the point of the needle up between the first loop made, and the twine to the left of it, pull the needle through, and bring the knot into shape (Fig. 6), then tighten by pulling the needle in the direction of the dotted lines, and the knot is tied.

This simple knot is the foundation of all net-making, and once the reader succeeds in making that, he will very quickly be able to manufacture anything he may require in that branch of work.

Now slip out the mesh stick and take the same stitch through the loop you have just made, and so continue on, passing the needle every time through the last loop made until you have made enough. You can generally guess the number of meshes you will require by the size of the mesh stick. By the time you have made as many as you think will be requisite, your work ought to look something like Fig. 7.

Next unfasten the end from the hook or nail, and untie the first loop made, because it is not the same size as the subsequent ones. Now pass a piece of cord through the upper row of meshes, tie the ends of the cord together, and hang it again over the hook.

Next go on with the work as before, only do not slip the loop off the stick as at first. Knot through E, Fig. 8, then through D, then C, and so on, until you have travelled along the whole width.

Then turn the work over and travel back again in the same manner. It is better to make ten or a dozen meshes before slipping the stick out.

Presuming that the twine breaks, or you wish to join another ball, the way to do it is with a ‘becket-hitch,’ commonly called a ‘weaver’s knot.’ Form a bight with one part, pass the other part up through the loop, then over, under and back through its own loop (Fig. 9).

With regard to making a network hammock, proceed as we have described, and to make a full-sized hammock you would require between fifty and sixty two-inch meshes each way.

Then make the clews, as described in the article on canvas hammocks, and fasten them in the usual manner to each end of the hammock, tying the ends as regularly as you can.

Netting is a very pleasant as well as useful occupation, and is more suitable for boys than girls, owing to the strain of pulling the knots tight. The pleasure of being able to make nets for fishing, nets for the garden, to keep the birds off the trees, nets to hang vegetables or fruit in, and lastly, but not least, a net hammock, ought to amply repay any trouble or inconvenience caused by learning.