We are not 100% sure how they work, but Kelly’s Eyes are used in the fishing industry, in particular, on trawlers. We gave up trying to work out what they do after a few lines of a fishing manual. “ The small ring is connected to the back strop through a shackle. The other ring is for jamming the figure of ‘8’ link……8 is also called stop link/ stopper link” Anyway, sometime back in the 1950/60’s someone in the mountain rescue world realised that Kelly’s Eyes could be used the way we now use a figure of ‘8’ descendeur. Indeed, they were almost certainly the progenitor of the modern figure of 8. Too heavy to be carried by the average climber, these ones could be carried in rescue vehicles and used, often in tandem, for stretcher lowers where, up until Kelly’s Eyes arrived, body belays were the norm. It’s taken us a long time to work out the history of a Kelly’s Eye…all we need to know now is, who was Kelly?