Bowline work "A Sea Grammar" under the name Boling knot. Smith considered the knot to be strong and secure, saying, "The "Boling knot" is also so firmly made and fastened by the bridles into the cringles of the sails, they will break, or the sail split before it will slip." Another possible finding was discovered on the rigging of the Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu's solar ship during an excavation in 1954. The bowline is used to make a loop at one end of a line. It is tied with the rope's working end also known as the "tail" or "end". The
Overhand knot There are a number of ways to tie the Overhand knot. In heraldry, the overhand knot is known as a "Stafford knot", owing to a representation of it being used first as a heraldic badge by the Earls of Stafford, and later as a general symbol of Staffordshire. As a defensive measure, hagfishes, which resemble eels, produce large volumes of thick slime when disturbed. A hagfish can remove the excess slime, which can suffocate it in a matter of minutes, by tying its own body into an overhand knot, then sliding the knot from its head down to the tail.