My understanding is that a lot of "knot culture" developed during the Nantucket whaling days. There were knots before, of course, but the variety and intricacy

My understanding is that a lot of "knot culture" developed during the Nantucket whaling days. There were knots before, of course, but the variety and intricacy exploded. (a bit of a simplification of course, there are lots of cool Celtic knots and whatnot, too) It was a somewhat special time, where you had a lot of relatively well-paid capable people stuck on a boat with nothing to do for sometimes weeks on end. Encourages some creativity, I suppose (: Scrimshaw is another product of that time — some really intricate stuff out there (eg: [1]). For me, I feel like the bowline and trucker's hitch give you huge bang for the buck. Memorize those, and you can handle many things, with a bit of rope. [1] https://modelshipworld.com/topic/27614-prisoner-of-war-bone-model-c-1800-by-shipmodel-restoration-by-dan-pariser/ https://modelshipworld.com/topic/27614-prisoner-of-war-bone-...