marlinspike

noun

1. A tool, consisting of a pointed metal spike, used to manipulate the strands of rope or cable when knotting and splicing.

   “[…] the afterguard, of whom they have but a sorry opinion, chiefly landsmen, never going aloft except to reef or furl the mainsail and in no wise competent to handle a marlinspike or turn in a dead-eye, say.”

   “There was / that interval of moonless calm filled only / with the water's and the rigging's usual sounds, / then sudden movement, blows and snarling cries / and they had fallen on us with machete / and marlinspike.”