Bowsprit
The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a pole (or spar) extending forward from the vessel's prow. It provides an anchor point for the forestay(s), allowing the fore-mast to be stepped farther forward on the hull.
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Famous quotes containing the word bowsprit:
“Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes:
A thing, as the Bellman remarked,
That frequently happens in tropical climes
When a vessel is, so to speak, snarked.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (18321898)