What is "to freshen the hawse"

Freshen \Fresh"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Freshened; p. pr. & vb. n. Freshening]

1. To make fresh; to separate, as water, from saline ingredients; to make less salty; as, to freshen water, fish, or flesh.

2. To refresh; to revive. [Obs.]
   --Spenser.

3. (Naut.) To relieve, as a rope, by change of place where friction wears it; or to renew, as the material used to prevent chafing; as, to freshen a hawse. -- Totten.

   To freshen ballast (Naut.), to shift Or restore it.

   To freshen the hawse, to pay out a little more cable, so as to bring the chafe on another part.

   To freshen the way, to increase the speed of a vessel.
   --Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Hawse \Hawse\ (h[add]z or h[add]s; 277), n. [Orig. a hawse hole, or hole in the bow of the ship; cf. Icel. hals, h[=a]ls, neck, part of the bows of a ship, AS. heals neck. See Collar, and cf. Halse to embrace.]

1. A hawse hole.
   --Harris.

2. (Naut.)

   1. The situation of the cables when a vessel is moored with two anchors, one on the starboard, the other on the port bow.

   2. The distance ahead to which the cables usually extend; as, the ship has a clear or open hawse, or a foul hawse; to anchor in our hawse, or athwart hawse.

   3. That part of a vessel's bow in which are the hawse holes for the cables.

      Athwart hawse. See under Athwart.

      Foul hawse, a hawse in which the cables cross each other, or are twisted together.

      Hawse block, a block used to stop up a hawse hole at sea; -- called also hawse plug.

      Hawse piece, one of the foremost timbers of a ship, through which the hawse hole is cut.

      Hawse plug. Same as Hawse block (above).

      To come in at the hawse holes, to enter the naval service at the lowest grade. [Cant]

      To freshen the hawse, to veer out a little more cable and bring the chafe and strain on another part.