The running bowline is a knot consisting of a bowline looped around its own standing end to create a noose. The running bowline is strong and secure. It slides easily and can be undone just as simply. 1117. The RUNNING BOWLINE KNOT is referred to by name, in A Four Years' Voyage by G. Roberts (1726), as the "RUNNING BOWLING KNOT." It is the knot universally used at sea when a NOOSE is called for. According to an old nautical authority it "is used for throwing over anything out of reach, or anything under water." Any lumber that has dropped overboard or any rigging that has gone adrift is recovered by its means.