Of course, claims of originality are often refuted - and history had proven this many times.
As it turns out, Phil D Smith had already published his 'Riggers bend' in 1953 - some 25 years before The Times newspaper article! Oops...
I can just barely (no magnifying glass at hand)
make out the obituary's assertion that
SmitHunter's
bend was the first knot authenticated in 50yrs.
This seems at odds esp. given the dates as nylon
emerged within that time, and anglers seem to be
pretty active at coming up with new knots, esp.
for the then new material nylon!
Also, it was only subsequent to the Dr. Hunter
breakthrough (into public awareness) but prior
to the inclusion of his knot into
ABoK that
the
"zeppelin" joint broke out into a magazine;
too bad that that didn't go into the book as well.
(We are still guessing at its history.)
--dl*
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