Why is this Navy lanyard knotted this way?

[cannonmn]

Here are pix of what I believe to be an original Navy lanyard which came attached to the hammer and handle shown.

The entire lanyard cord is 38 inches long, and the knotted section is 19 inches long. The cord is oval in cross-section, which measures 0.22 x 0.3 inches.

The lanyard handle is steel.

I put a detailed writeup on this rig on the Company of Military Historians forum in case anyone is interested in the Dahlgren rifle it was once a part of, but all that wasn't needed for this question.

Why was the lanyard knotted up as shown?

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/c ... cc544c.pbw

[cannonmn]

I got this reply about 5 minutes after I posted the same queston on the Graybeard Blackpowder Artillery board:

chain sinnet knot that is used to shorten a line for storage.

Line in excess of the length requried was knotted up so in case the lanyard broke, one of the links could be easily undone to lengthen the lanyard as requried to make up for the damaged part. Breakage at the handle end probably occured often, given the current weakened condition of the part that goes though the steel handle.

[cannonmn]

Here are some photos of Dahlgren 12-pounder (3.4-inch) steel rifles. The last three pictues are of registry no. 298, dated 1863, now at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The lock (hammer) attached to the lanyard that started this discussion is marked for registry no. 300, which is not known to survive, but it would have been identical to no. 298. The last 3 photos were provided courtesy of the United States Navy.