bitts

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | 2006 | 483 words | Copyright

bitts, in the days of sail, a frame composed of two strong pillars of straight oak timber, fixed upright in the fore part of the ship and bolted to the deck beams. To them were secured the cables when the ship rode to an anchor. Smaller bitts were fitted in square-rigged sailing vessels for securing other parts of the running rigging. They all served the same purpose, providing a convenient means of taking a securing turn with the fall of whatever piece of rigging was involved.

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