the act of confining and securing a ship in a particular station, by chains or cables, which are either fastened to the adjacent shore, or to anchors in the bottom.

A ship may be either moored by the head, or by the head and stern; that is to say, she may be secured by anchors before her, without any behind; or the may have anchors out, both before and behind her; or her cables may be attached to posts, rings, or moorings, which answer the same purpose.

When a ship is moored by the head with her own anchors, they are disposed according to the circumstances of the place where she lies and the time she is to continue therein. Thus, wherever the tide ebbs and flows, it is usual to carry one anchor out towards the flood, and another towards the ebb, particularly where there is little room to range about; and the anchors are laid in the same manner, if the vessel is moored head and stern in the same place. The situation of the anchors, in a road or bay, is usually opposed to the reigning winds, or those which are most dangerous; so that the ship rides therein with the effort of both her cables. Thus if she rides in a bay, or road, which is exposed to a northerly wind and heavy sea from the same quarter, the anchors passing from the opposite bows ought to lie east and west from each other; hence both the cables will retain the ship in her station with equal effort against the action of the wind and sea.