Mooring bollard
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A mooring bollard is a sturdy, short, vertical post on a ship or quay used principally for mooring boats.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Etymology
The term is probably related to bole, meaning a tree trunk.<ref name=oed /><ref>New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The earliest citation given by the Oxford English Dictionary (referring to a maritime bollard) dates from 1844,<ref name=oed /> although an account describing bollards as "huge posts" in a shipyard is also known from 1817.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Maritime use
Template:See also In maritime contexts, a bollard is either a wooden or iron post found as a deck-fitting on a ship or boat, and used to secure ropes for towing, mooring and other purposes; or its counterpart on land, a short wooden, iron, or stone post on a quayside to which craft can be moored. The Sailor's Word-Book of 1867 defines a bollard in a more specific context as "a thick piece of wood on the head of a whale-boat, round which the harpooner gives the line a turn, in order to veer it steadily, and check the animal's velocity".<ref name=oed>Template:OED</ref><ref>Chris Roberts, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind Rhyme, Thorndike Press, 2006 (Template:ISBN)</ref> Bollards on ships, when arranged in pairs, may also be referred to as "bitts".<ref>Template:OED</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Bollards made from old cannon were called niggerheads.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A conventional measure of the pulling or towing power of a watercraft, defined as the force exerted on a shore-mounted bollard<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> through a tow-line by a vessel under full power, is known as bollard pull.
Gallery
- Different bollards
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Old cannon used as a mooring bollard, near the entrance of the Grand Harbour, Malta -
Mooring bollard, Lyme Regis -
Mooring bollards at Lepe Beach, Hampshire, England, installed in 1944 for the use of craft destined to take part in the D-Day landings
