Hawser

Supply ratings handling a coil of 16 inches (410 mm) towing hawser (rope) at the Royal Navy's Naval Stores Department, Nore, Harwich, which supplies all sea-going ships with the stores and provisions that they need. Note that the coil is bigger than the men and they need a trolley to transport it.
The hawser is coiled on deck.

Hawser (/ˈhɔːzər/) is a nautical term for a thick rope used in mooring or towing a ship.[1] A hawser is not waterproof, as is a cable. A hawser passes through a hawsehole, also known as a cat hole,[2] located on the hawse.[3]

  1. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, p. 830 "hawser". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins.
  2. ^ "Cathole at dictionary.com".
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, pp. 829–30, ISBN 0-395-44895-6