Bowline loop may pass around or through an object during the making of the knot. The knot tightens when loaded at (pulled by) the standing part of the line. The bowline is commonly used in sailing small craft, for example to fasten a halyard to the head of a sail or to tie a jib sheet to a clew of a jib. The bowline is well known as a rescue knot for such purposes as rescuing people who might have fallen down a hole, or off a cliff onto a ledge. This knot is particularly useful in such a situation because
USS Tom Bowline (1814) — only to be driven off by a gale. "Hornet" arrived five days later, but her landfall coincided with the appearance in the area of British brig-sloop . The two ships closed for action, and "Hornet" damaged "Penguin" seriously enough to warrant destruction of the Briton. The sighting of strange sail on the horizon hastened "Hornet's" burning of the prize, but apprehension turned to relief as the sails proved to be "Peacock" and "Tom Bowline" returning to Tristan da Cunha for the planned rendezvous. "Tom Bowline" embarked the "Penguin's" captive crew and took the prisoners to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.