In the Navy we call it an unrep (underway replenishment) when two ships are transferring goods or people between each other. Sometimes goods go from the supply ship to the combat ship and people go from the combat ship to the supply ship (personnel transfer). The initial hookup is made with a weight on a light line. A crewman tosses the weighted line to the other ship, it is picked up and a heavier line is dragged aboard. You can't do it if the ships are too far apart.
I've seen them rig up a cradle thing between the ships
. That's a bosn's chair.
A bowline is a knot.
Knot of the Month
The Bowline
The Bowline (BOH'-LIN) is considered the boaters' prime knot. It is used to make a fixed-size loop in a line. The bowline is used to tie sheets and halyards (control lines) to sails, to temporarily tie a rode (anchorline) to an anchor, or, using one knot on each line, tie together 2 lines of different diameters. Two bowlines tied close together can be used to make an emergency bowswain's chair to go up the mast or bring an injured person aboard.
The benefits of the bowline are in its loop that will not slip, and in its ability to be untied after being exposed to a strain.
To tie a bowline:
* Begin with a small overhand loop (the loop goes over the standing part - attached or long end of the line.) Be sure to leave enough in the bitter end (free end) to form the loop.
* Form the loop of desired size.
* Pass the bitter end up through the small loop, around the standing part, and back through the small loop, this time going down.
* Tighten it up.
You know you have it correct when the bitter end is in the inside of the loop.
The plimsoll line is the painted line (or contrasting hull color, often red) that shows how low the ship rides when fully loaded. This might work
"she's down well below her plimsoll line"
because of the "well below" but it's iffy. It depends on how big a boat we're talking about. Now if one
end of the ship (bow or stern) was at an angle to the surface as indicated by the plimsoll line, that would be an indication. Also high seas over the gunwales would work, but then transferring a man is tough under those conditions. Also the plimsoll line would show a roll condition (left side lower in the water than the right, say) which is very dangerous.
Hope this helps
Artemis
