A pipe or tube fitted through the hawsehole of a ship, serving as a liner to protect the hole and guide the cable.
Compound of 'hawse' and 'pipe,' describing the cylindrical protective fitting installed in the hawsehole to reduce wear from moving cables.
Modern hawsepipes revolutionized ship safety—before them, anchor cables would shred the wood around the hawsehole within a few voyages, making ships extremely vulnerable to sinking!
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