He was going aloft to fit a strap round the main-topmast head for ringtail halyards, and had the strap and block, a coil of halyards, and a marlin spike about his neck.
"The Worlds Greatest Books Vol. II: Fiction"
Arthur Mee, J. A. Hammerton, Eds.
They compared me to a marlin-spike, and a belaying-pin.
"The Boy Tar"
Mayne Reid
I know what a marlin-spike is, and a belaying-pin, too.
"The Boy Tar"
Mayne Reid