An A.B., properly so called, is a skilled mechanic with great abilities. In the first place, he is able to splice hemp- or wire-rope, work that requires a considerable amount of technical skill, for splicing is not by any means simply the joining of two pieces of rope together in a certain way. There are many kinds of splices: short splices, long splices, eye-splices, sailmakers' splices, grummets, etc., etc. And it is not sufficient to be able to make a splice; it must be done neatly, in workmanlike fashion, so that when it is "wormed," "parcelled," and "served," it shall only show as a smoothly graduated enlargement in the rope, or, as in the case of a sailmaker's long splice, be without any covering, hardly visible at all as a splice. He must be able to make all the various "seizings," or securing of two parts of a rope together by a neatly passed lashing of tarred cord or wire--make them, too, in any position aloft, while the ship is tumbling about, and not merely in a comfortable corner on deck. He must know the right method of "bending" sails--that is, of fastening them to yards or stays, for setting by "robands" and "earrings," so that they shall remain doing their work, no matter how severe the weather. He must understand the technique of sending up or down yards and masts, be able to improvise lashings for the securing of sails when carried away in a gale, or broken spars dangling aloft like fractured limbs. He should know how to handle a "palm and needle"--that is, sew canvas for making or mending sails, and understand the manipulation of "purchases" (pulleys and ropes), the rigging of derricks, and the distribution of strains; how to "set up rigging," "rattle down," and "heave the lead," of course.