When using mooring ropes, there is a general desirability for the additional elasticity provided by mooring tails. The additional elasticity reduces the loads induced in wire mooring lines under dynamic loadings by permitting the ship to respond more favorably to various combinations of wind, wave and current, as well as to ships passing at slow speeds in close proximity. Tails also tend to distribute the loadings more evenly in the mooring lines in the same service. The additional elongation of the mooring line system permitted by the tail reduces the risk associated with poor line tending and the frequency and precision of line tending, particularly in berths where large tidal variations in high loading- unloading rates. Tails are also valuable at berths having short breast or spring leads as they provide the same effect as a longer all wire line. And lastly, they facilitate the handling of wire lines by boatman and mooring gangs.