Yvonne Gallagher Aug 11, 2014:

@ Donal You're welcome. Yes, a mooring line or hawser is fine

DLyons (asker) Aug 11, 2014:

@Gallagy There is a buoy field. I went with your suggestion. Thanks!

Yvonne Gallagher Aug 10, 2014:

@ Donal
What I didn't understand is whether this ship is docked i.e. in at the dock or wharf or not. So this is moored to a mooring buoy aft? But the port bow is moored to a floating pontoon or to a dock? or do you have any further info? I just wanted to point out that if an anchor is being used then "chain" or "cable" is the correct term

Mooring buoys are used in some eco-sensitive areas instead of anchors for off-shore loading/unloading operations. So if this is the case I'd just use mooring "line" which would cover rope/wire etc.
http://www.marin.nl/web/Ships-Structures/Offshore-structures...

Yvonne Gallagher Aug 10, 2014:

@ Donal
I never heard anyone use the word "rode" when I worked on ships. If this is for an anchor then the word "chain" (UK) or cable (US) is usually used. I've never heard "mooring line" used with anchor but always anchor chain or cable. For mooring "mooring rope"/"wire mooring rope" or "mooring line" is most common but there are different kinds of these: "bow/head line", "spring line" and perhaps "breast lines" then "aft/stern lines" to moor ship to a dock.

http://www.moorcontrol.com.au/MooringSetUpAdvice.htm

https://www.google.ie/search?q=mooring ship lines&rlz=1C1CHM...

DLyons (asker) Aug 9, 2014:

A rode? Rode: a cable, chain, or rope, especially one attached to the anchor of a small boat.

But we're not talking about small boats here - although these are small tankers, they are still big boats.

DLyons (asker) Aug 9, 2014:

@Charles Thanks for that. Maybe there isn't a single word - none occurs to me, but that doesn't prove anything.

DLyons (asker) Aug 9, 2014:

@Chris I think my text is referring to a mooring line. But it's not clearcut.

Charles Davis Aug 9, 2014:

Do we have a word? I can't think of a single word that would cover a rope or line, a buoy or an anchor, which is what the DRAE says this covers. It's a hypernym of anchorage, moorage, hawser, etc.

Peter Guest would probably know, but he may not look at Petroleum Engineering questions. I'll change it to Maritime.

Chris Neill Aug 9, 2014:

@donal Do you mean a bollard or the mooring line?

liz askew Aug 9, 2014:

suggestion only: stern line