bitts

Wooden posts on the forecastle usually of a boat used to attach mooring lines. The term bitts is used plurally on the rivers inasmuch as they are invariably used in pairs: sturdy wood posts set upright and securely braced in the stern, arriving on the forecastle to a height of about three feet and spaced about two-three feet apart, a horizontal "cross piece" connecting them and securely bolted to each. Modern boats have bitts made of cast steel and welded to metal decks. Winding a line too tight on the bitts often caused it to part.

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