mooring

mooring, a permanent position in harbours and estuaries to which ships can be secured without using their own anchors. For large ships, a mooring comprises two or three large anchors laid out on the bottom and connected with a chain bridle, from the centre of which a length of chain cable leads upwards to a large mooring buoy, usually cylindrical in shape, to the ring of which a ship can lie in safety by shackling on its own cable. The vertical cable is short enough to ensure that the ship swings with the tide within its own length. Smaller moorings for smaller ships may require only one anchor or a block of concrete, with a chain rising to a small buoy. For yachts, a very small buoy, light enough to be easily lifted on board, is attached by a length of rope to a light chain, itself attached to a concrete block. The buoy is brought aboard with a boathook, and the rope is hauled up until the chain reaches the surface and the yacht is then secured with it.

See also berthing hawsers; trot.