Sentence:  He really knew more of the ropes than half the mess did, though he had made no show; he could have managed to stow the mizen-royal in a squall by himself, if such had been now proper in his position; there were even two or three out-of-the-way knots, splices, and <WSD>flemishes</WSD> — practised by veteran A.B.'s alone, revealed to few, and only to be acquired with perfection in the studious solitude of the merchant service, with which Dick Diamond could be seen in sequestered corners to perplex raw hands of the waist or after-guard, he having singular instincts for that art --- but some of which Harry could have explained in passing by. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A rope that has been coiled into a neat mat; a flemish coil.