As a lad working on the tugs out of Newport, we used what we called a KANT rope, basically the same thing as a GOB rope already described.This rope was the only rope that we carried for towing, as we always used the ships ropes, the kant rope was a massive nylon rope made up of three sometimes four strands, each strand a big as a man,s forearm, we would have to splice these ourselves, when I say we, that would be two deckie,s aged 15/16, and a mate who was usually about 18, sometimes it would take all day, and was always booked in as overtme, The rope would have a great big shackle attached to the eye, and that would be shackled over the tow rope. Depending on what the skipper wanted , it would then be either made fast to the stern bollards, or run through the bollards, to a massive steam capstan, the kant rope was allowed to stay slack untill the tug turned and then the winch would be used bellowing great clouds of steam and pull the tow rope closer to the bollards, thus changing the angle of the tow from midships to the stern . On one occasion the kant rope was to made fast to the stern bollards, and the stain was so much that the bollards were torn out of the deck killing one of the young deckies. I also remember there was a tug at the time working out of Liverpool and she was turned over with the loss of 4 men when she girted.
Bosun