Water Pillar top view

Technical

In the maritime contexts in which the term originates, 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". Mooring bollards are seldom exactly cylindrical, but typically have a larger diameter near the top to discourage mooring warps (docklines) from coming loose. Single bollards sometimes include a cross rod to allow the mooring lines to be bent into a figure eight. Small mushroom-bollards are found on lock approaches for advancing boats waiting for lock access. A conventional measure of the pulling or towing power of a watercraft is known as bollard pull, and is defined as the force exerted by a vessel under full power on a shore-mounted bollard through a tow-line.

Tags:

Water , pillar , bollard , marina , berth , boat , ship , concrete , steel , metal , post , sea , pier , quayside , rope , mooring , quay