Hawse
F5. The Reference Layer: Glossary, Units, Signals and Information SourcesDefinition
Area at the bow where anchors are stowed and chains lead.
The hawse is the part of a ship’s bow where the hawse pipes lead the anchor cables out through the shell plating to the anchors; by extension it names the area of water ahead of an anchored vessel where the cables tend. The hawse pipe is the angled steel tube housing the stowed anchor and guiding the chain to the windlass on deck. “A foul hawse” means the two anchor cables of a moored ship have crossed or twisted; “a clear hawse” means they lead apart cleanly. Riding cable angle in the hawse indicates strain.
Source: Standard ground-tackle terminology; Bowditch, The American Practical Navigator (NGA Pub. No. 9), glossary.