Catch

When a ship arrives in port, the first line over the side is usually a thin heaving line with a balled “monkey fist” knot on the end that acts as a weight. Here, Peter Liarikos (foreground) chases down a monkey fist tossed by a member of the crew on R/V Atlantis as it pulls into the WHOI dock. Liarikos served as bosun, or senior member of the deck crew, on the recently retired R/V Knorr and will be serving in the same capacity on R/V Neil Armstrong when WHOI takes possession of the ship later in the summer. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)