BOWLINE HAUL. A hearty and simultaneous bowse. (_See_ ONE! TWO!! THREE!!!) In hauling the bowline it is customary for the leading man to veer, and then haul, three times in succession, singing out one, two, three--at the last the weight of all the men is thrown in together: this is followed by "belay, oh!" When the bowlines are reported "bowlines hauled, sir," by the officer in command of the fore-part of the ship, the hands, or the watch, return to their duties.
BOWLINE-KNOT. That by which the bowline-bridles were fastened to the cringles: the bowline-knot is made by an involution of the end and a bight upon the standing part of a rope. A further involution makes what is termed a bowline on a bight. It is very difficult to explain by words:--holding the rope some distance from the end by the left hand, the end held in the right is laid on the main part, and by a twist given screw-fashion to the right, a loop or kink is formed inclosing this end, which is then passed behind, and back in the same direction with the former, and then jammed home. It is rapidly done, easily undone, and one of the most seamanlike acts, exhibiting grace as well as power. It can be made by a man with but one arm.
BOW-LINES. In ship-building, longitudinal curves representing the ship's fore-body cut in a vertical section.
BOW-LOG TIMBERS. A provincial name for hawse-wood.
BOWMAN. In a single-banked boat he who rows the foremost oar and manages the boat-hook; called by the French "brigadier de l'embarcation." In double-banked boats there are always two bowmen. Also an archer, differently pronounced.
BOW-OAR. The foremost oar or oars, in pulling a boat.
BOW-PIECES. The ordnance in the bows; also in building.
BOWSE, TO. To pull upon any body with a tackle, or complication of pulleys, in order to remove it, &c. Hauling upon a tack is called "bowsing upon a tack," and when they would have the men pull all together, they cry, "Bowse away." Also used in setting up rigging, as "Bowse away, starboard;" "Bowse away, port." It is, however, mostly a gun-tackle term.--_Bowse up the jib_, a colloquialism to denote the act of tippling: it is an old phrase, and was probably derived from the Dutch _buyzen_, to booze.