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The Half Hitch is what you get when a granny knot capsizes.
Try this experiment. Tie a granny knot
around your finger and pull one of the ends with a jerk, it will spill into a half hitch. The Half Hitch is useful
when tying off the ends of certain knots when you need to ensure it won't come undone. This is usually done twice.
In the animation below you can see how easy the half hitch is to tie.
 The half hitch is an unsafe knot because it will run and come undone
unless tied twice. Try these next two experiments using the half hitch and granny knot. First tie a granny knot around
a pole or broom handle, keeping one long end on the right and the short on the left. Now pass the short end
under the right and continue to tie two half hitches When you have done this try jerking either end of the rope
and see what happens. The granny knot will have collapsed into a half hitch so you now have three half hitches,
the granny knot will form a hitch that is in reverse to your two half hitches.
Now try the experiment again only pass the short end over the right instead of under it and tie your two
half hitches. Did you see the difference? The granny knot should have collapsed into a half hitch that is in
the same direction as the two you tied after the granny knot.
The only safe way to use a granny knot so that it will not spill is to tie it in the bight of a rope and use
it as a terminal or stopper knot. This should be tied in the end of your rope rather than in the standing part.
Unless you are carefull with your use of the granny you can run into all sorts of problems and end up wtih
jammed equipment aboard your vessel which could prove to be dangerous.
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