View source for Bitts

{{Short description|Deck-fitting on a ship or boat, and used to secure ropes}}
[[File:Bollard aboard the RV Thomas G. Thompson.jpg|thumb|Shipboard bitts]]
[[File:US Navy 070313-N-9486C-001 Fast attack submarine USS Bremerton (SSN 698) returns to the operational side of the Pacific Submarine Force as she returns to Pearl Harbor Naval Station.jpg|thumb|Shoreside bitts]]
'''Bitts''' are paired vertical wooden or metal posts mounted either aboard a ship or on a [[wharf]], [[pier]], or [[quay]]. The posts are used to secure [[Mooring (watercraft)|mooring]] lines, [[rope]]s, [[hawser]]s, or [[Wire rope|cables]].<ref name=amk>{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Austin M. |author-link =Austin M. Knight |title =Modern Seamanship |publisher =D. Van Nostrand Company |edition =Tenth |date =1937 |location =New York |pages =783 }}</ref> Bitts aboard wooden sailing ships (sometime called cable-bitts) were large vertical timbers mortised into the keel and used as the [[anchor]] cable attachment point.<ref>{{cite book |last =Keegan |first =John |author-link =John Keegan |title =The Price of Admiralty |publisher =Viking |date =1989 |location =New York |page =[https://archive.org/details/priceofadmiralty00keeg/page/n307 276] |isbn =0-670-81416-4 |url-access =registration |url =https://archive.org/details/priceofadmiralty00keeg }}</ref> Bitts are carefully manufactured and maintained to avoid any sharp edges that might chafe and weaken the mooring lines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Manning |first=George Charles |title =Manual of Naval Architecture |publisher =D. Van Nostrand Company |date =1930 |location =New York |pages =158 }}</ref>
==Use==
Mooring lines may be laid around the bitts either singly or in a figure-8 pattern with the [[friction]] against tension increasing with each successive turn. As a verb ''bitt'' means to take another turn increasing the friction to slow or adjust a mooring ship's relative movement.<ref name=amk/>
Mooring fixtures of similar purpose:
* A [[Bollard#Maritime bollards|bollard]] is a single vertical post useful to receive a [[eye splice|spliced]] loop at the end of a mooring line.<ref name=amk/>
* A [[Cleat (nautical)|cleat]] has horizontal horns.<ref>Knight, p.788</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Commons Category|Bitts}}
{{Sail Types}}
{{Sailing ship elements}}
[[Category:Watercraft components]]