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
Bowline Bowline The bowline ( or ) is an ancient and simple knot used to form a fixed 'eye' at the end of a rope. It has the virtues of being both easy to tie and untie; most notably, it is easy to untie after being subjected to a load. The bowline is sometimes referred to as "King of the knots" because of its importance. It is one of the four basic maritime knots (the other three are figure-eight knot, reef knot and clove hitch). The common (ABoK #1010) bowline shares some structural similarity with the sheet bend (ABoK #1431). Virtually