Page 250 - Barbara Merry "The Splicing Handbook"

A mariner finds many needs for a loop in the end of a line, to slip over
something or to tie around something. Docklines, towlines, painters, lashing
lines—many is the line that spends some portion of its working life sporting a
loop in one or both ends. For a permanent loop, nothing beats an Eye Splice, but
for a temporary loop, the Bowline (above) is a workhorse of a knot. There are
many methods for tying it—all of them easy—and it’s just as easy to untie. A
Bowline on a Bight (opposite) is a good choice when you require two loops that
will be subjected to approximately equal tension in the same direction. It works
well as a bosun’s chair.

The French Bowline, properly tied, produces an excellent rescue sling. The
two loops adjust automatically to the parts of the body they encircle. The
Running Bowline produces a slip knot that is relatively easy to untie. To tie it in
a heavy dockline or hawser, one end of which is already belayed, make the small
loop (i.e., the “rabbit’s hole”), then “frame” the knot with a big loop, as shown.
Pass the end under the beginning of the big loop, then back up through the small

loop, behind the standing part; then down through the small loop again as for an
ordinary bowline. Now, when you pull a bight of the standing part up through
the big loop, you’ll have your slip-knotted loop to drop over a bitt or bollard (1).