ety. of "gilligan hitch"

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS has "gilligan hitch" (a chiefly nautical term for any unusual, loosely
tied, or unreliable knot or "hitch") from 1919.

I believe the following provides the etymology, if not the rationale:

1879 Robert C. Adams _On Board the "Rocket"_ (Boston: D. Lathrop) 66:  The
bunt gasket...was made fast with a knot that resisted all his efforts at
untying, being what sailors call "an anti-gallican hitch."

"Anti-gallican" means "anti-French."  If the word is not the direct origin
of "gilligan hitch," chosen simply for its own outlandish sound (from
the average seaman's point of view), then a loose (rather than a tight) knot
should be a "*gallican hitch" -- one used aboard one of those absurd,
despised, yes, _foreign_ French vessels.

Also cf.: John Sykes, _Local Records; or Historical Register of Remarkable
Events which Have Occurred in Northumberland and Durham,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed_ (ed. 2) Vol. I (Newcastle: J.
Sykes, 1833), p. 315:

"1779 *(March 6).*—The Anti-gallican, privateer, of Newcastle, sailed from
Shields on a six months' cruize, against the enemies of Great Britain, being
the first that ever sailed from that port, completely fitted and manned."

JL

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