Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

kronckew · 29th July 2007, 05:29 PM

it does look a lot like a bosun's 'starter' which was a rope end used to 'encourage' a slow seaman to work faster, and was almost a badge of office. these were frequently embellished with fancy marlinspike knotwork and tarred. the monkey's fist at the end was frequently made up around a spherical core object like a musket ball to add 'authority'. the example in the ebay does appear to be similar to such knotwork, but in wood.

here is a related example, as 'starters' are now illegal to use for us poor sailor types, this one is a bell pull for a ships bell.....

29th July 2007, 05:29 PM	#5
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,214	it does look a lot like a bosun's 'starter' which was a rope end used to 'encourage' a slow seaman to work faster, and was almost a badge of office. these were frequently embellished with fancy marlinspike knotwork and tarred. the monkey's fist at the end was frequently made up around a spherical core object like a musket ball to add 'authority'. the example in the ebay does appear to be similar to such knotwork, but in wood. here is a related example, as 'starters' are now illegal to use for us poor sailor types, this one is a bell pull for a ships bell.....