Bitts
shipboard bitts
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shoreside bitts
Bitts are paired vertical wooden or iron posts mounted either aboard a ship or on a wharf, pier or quay. The posts are used to secure mooring lines, ropes, hawsers, or cables.[1] Bitts are carefully manufactured and maintained to avoid any sharp edges which might chafe and weaken the mooring lines.[2]
Use
Mooring lines may be laid around the bitts either singly or in a figure-8 pattern with the friction against tension increasing with each successive turn. As a verb bitt means to take another turn increasing the friction to slow or adjust a mooring ship's relative movement.[1]
Mooring fixtures of similar purpose:
- A bollard is a single vertical post useful to receive a spliced loop at the end of a mooring line.[1]
- A cleat has horizontal horns.[3]
References
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