KNOTS of a Rope, among seamen, are distinguished
into three kinds, viz. whole knot, that made so with the lays of a rope that it cannot slip, serving for sheets, tacks, and stoppers: bowline knot, that so firmly made and fastened to the cringles of the sails, that they must break or the sail split before it slips; and sheep-shank knot, that made by shortening a rope without cutting it, which may be presently loosened, and the rope not the worse for it.