Post by leonardo on Jan 26, 2005 21:15:18 GMT
This is from Lee's wonderful magazine, The Brightonhelmstone Deacon. It is written By Bernard E. Jones.
The Cable Tow as a Measure of Length
The cable tow as a measure of length is not known outside freemasonry, and has given rise to much fruitless argument. The Master Mason swears to answer and obey all lawful signs and summonses sent to him from a Master Masons' lodge, "if within the length of his cable tow." Elsewhere in the ritual occurs the phrase, "a cable's length from the shore."
Such allusions are symbolical of the binding covenant into which the mason has entered, and of the 'length' beyond which he should not go. In the Royal Arch Degree a cable, or cord, has other significance; it is there regarded as the cord of amity and the cord of love, special emphasis in this respect being given to the cord in the Irish Royal Arch chapter. At the Wakefield Royal Arch Lodge in 1769 a toast was drunk "to him that first shake'd his cable." In a masonic catechism, dating back to early in the eighteenth century, the
'length of the cable' was a figure of speech relating to the concealment of secrets. What actually is a cable tow? We know that a cable s a strong rope made of cords twisted together, often around a centre cord.
One definition of 'tow' is the hemp or other fibre used in rope-making, but it is unlikely that this is the kind of 'tow' here meant, in spite of the use in a Bradford lodge of the phrase "a cable of hemp or tow." The cable tow, or cable rope-that is, a towing rope or tugging rope-may colloquially be called a 'tow,' and it seems very likely that the term comes from German masonry in which Kabel means 'ship's cable' or 'rope,' and tau, a 'cord' or 'rope,' whilst kabellaenge means 'cable's length.' The phrases 'a cable's length,' and 'the length of my cable tow,' can be regarded as having the same meaning. A cable's length is variously given at 100, 120, and 130 fathoms, equal to 200, 240, and 260 yards; but the length of an actual towing cable varies with conditions of water and wind, with the size and weight
of the vessel to be towed, and with the thickness of the cable itself.
A 'cable' is a measure of length at sea, and is then abot 100 fathoms, or about 200 yards-more accurately, one tenth of a nautical-mile, and just short Of 203 yards. No such length as any of the above was in the minds of those who arranged the early rituals, but eighteenth-century ideas of the length of a cable tow, as expressed by Dr Oliver and still earlier writers, were
arbitrary and unpractical. Every Brother was expected to attend his lodge if he was within the length of his cable tow, and that length is said to have been three miles-about as far, presumably, as he could b expected to walk.
An irregular print Of 1766 says in a footnote: "A cable tow is three miles in length; so that if a Fellow-Craft is that distance from his lodge, he is not culpable on account of his non-attendance." It is idle to suppose that a speculative mason's cable tow has, or ever did have, any physical length, in spite of Dr Oliver and other early writers. When a freemason is summoned to attend the duties of his lodge, the phrase "if within the length of my cable tow" can mean onl "if within all reasonable possibility," or "if within the scope of my ability," pleading no excuse thereto except "sickness or the pressing emergencies of my public or private avocations."
The old catechisms had many odd references to the cable tow.
The Cable Tow as a Measure of Length
The cable tow as a measure of length is not known outside freemasonry, and has given rise to much fruitless argument. The Master Mason swears to answer and obey all lawful signs and summonses sent to him from a Master Masons' lodge, "if within the length of his cable tow." Elsewhere in the ritual occurs the phrase, "a cable's length from the shore."
Such allusions are symbolical of the binding covenant into which the mason has entered, and of the 'length' beyond which he should not go. In the Royal Arch Degree a cable, or cord, has other significance; it is there regarded as the cord of amity and the cord of love, special emphasis in this respect being given to the cord in the Irish Royal Arch chapter. At the Wakefield Royal Arch Lodge in 1769 a toast was drunk "to him that first shake'd his cable." In a masonic catechism, dating back to early in the eighteenth century, the
'length of the cable' was a figure of speech relating to the concealment of secrets. What actually is a cable tow? We know that a cable s a strong rope made of cords twisted together, often around a centre cord.
One definition of 'tow' is the hemp or other fibre used in rope-making, but it is unlikely that this is the kind of 'tow' here meant, in spite of the use in a Bradford lodge of the phrase "a cable of hemp or tow." The cable tow, or cable rope-that is, a towing rope or tugging rope-may colloquially be called a 'tow,' and it seems very likely that the term comes from German masonry in which Kabel means 'ship's cable' or 'rope,' and tau, a 'cord' or 'rope,' whilst kabellaenge means 'cable's length.' The phrases 'a cable's length,' and 'the length of my cable tow,' can be regarded as having the same meaning. A cable's length is variously given at 100, 120, and 130 fathoms, equal to 200, 240, and 260 yards; but the length of an actual towing cable varies with conditions of water and wind, with the size and weight
of the vessel to be towed, and with the thickness of the cable itself.
A 'cable' is a measure of length at sea, and is then abot 100 fathoms, or about 200 yards-more accurately, one tenth of a nautical-mile, and just short Of 203 yards. No such length as any of the above was in the minds of those who arranged the early rituals, but eighteenth-century ideas of the length of a cable tow, as expressed by Dr Oliver and still earlier writers, were
arbitrary and unpractical. Every Brother was expected to attend his lodge if he was within the length of his cable tow, and that length is said to have been three miles-about as far, presumably, as he could b expected to walk.
An irregular print Of 1766 says in a footnote: "A cable tow is three miles in length; so that if a Fellow-Craft is that distance from his lodge, he is not culpable on account of his non-attendance." It is idle to suppose that a speculative mason's cable tow has, or ever did have, any physical length, in spite of Dr Oliver and other early writers. When a freemason is summoned to attend the duties of his lodge, the phrase "if within the length of my cable tow" can mean onl "if within all reasonable possibility," or "if within the scope of my ability," pleading no excuse thereto except "sickness or the pressing emergencies of my public or private avocations."
The old catechisms had many odd references to the cable tow.