“Nippers”
A short length of rope was used to bind an anchor cable to a messenger line for hauling the main anchor cable which was too thick for the capstan, so the messenger line was used to drag the cable along. The process was called “nipping,” and required small agile boys to hang over the side of the ship. The young boys who did this became known as “nippers”. Now just a term for a young boy.
Written by Lindsey