Editing Bowline (section)

==History==
The bowline's name has an earlier meaning, dating to the [[age of sail]]. On a [[square rig|square-rigged ship]], a bowline (sometimes spelled as two words, ''bow line'') is a rope that holds the edge of a square [[sail]] towards the [[Bow (ship)|bow]] of the ship and into the wind, preventing it from being [[wikt:take aback|taken aback]].<ref>{{ cite book | first = Clifford W | last = Ashley | title = The Ashley Book of Knots | publisher = Doubleday |year = 1944 | page = 186 }}</ref> A ship is said to be on a "taut bowline" when these lines are made as taut as possible in order to sail [[points of sail|close-hauled]] to the wind.<ref>''Kemp's Yachting Dictionary''</ref>

The bowline knot is thought to have been first mentioned in [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith's]] 1627 work ''A Sea Grammar'' under the name '''Boling knot'''. Smith considered the knot to be strong and secure, saying, "The ''Boling knot'' is also so firmly made and fastened by the bridles into the [[cringle]]s of the sails, they will break, or the sail split before it will slip."<ref>{{ cite web | url = http://www.shipbrook.net/jeff/seamansgrammar/SeamansGrammar.pdf | title = The Seaman's Grammar and Dictionary (reprinting) | publisher = Randal and Taylor | date = 1691 | page = 25 }}</ref>{{efn|The [[orthography]] of this quote has been modernized for clarity.}}

Another possible finding was discovered on the rigging of the [[Ancient Egypt]]ian [[Pharaoh]] [[Khufu|Khufu's]] [[Khufu ship|solar ship]] during an excavation in 1954.<ref name="NYT19541212">{{Citation|last=Love|first=Kennett|title=Vessel of Cheops Appears Intact On Close Inspection From Above|newspaper=New York Times|date=1954-12-12|at=sec. 1, pp. 1, 3|quote=...as well as a curiously intricate knot on a piece of rigging that appeared to be basically akin to a bowline knot.}}</ref>