I have the OED on my PC. Here is what it says

   A cast-iron pipe fitted into a hawse-hole to prevent the cable from
abrading the wood.
    1865 Cornh. Mag. Apr. 465 The chain attached to the anchor, and made
fast through a hawse-pipe to the bow or forepart of the vessel, acts as a=
 
pivot on which it swings. 1888 Daily News 16 Feb. 2/7 Abbey Home+left this=
 
morning for Dover Harbour, with hawse-pipe broken.

So, what is a "hawse-hole"?

    A cylindrical hole, of which there are two in the bows of a vessel, for=
 
the cable to run through. Phr. to enter (come, creep, get in) by the
hawse-holes: to enter the service at the lowest grade, to rise from before=
 
the mast.

  1664 E. Bushnell Compl. Shipwright 8 Provided that the Rails+fall not
fowl of the halshols. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. iv. 330 We made a great
quantity of water through our hawse-holes. 1803 Phil. Trans. XCIII. 321
This+accident was owing to the hawse-holes being extremely large and low,=
 
the hawse-plugs not being in, and the holes being pressed under water by a=
 
crowd of sail on the ship. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xvii, Working my way up=
 
as regularly as one who gets in at the hawsehole and crawls aft to the
cabin windows. 1894 C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 341 Very few captains and=
 
flag-officers came in at the hawseholes.
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Received on Thu Jun 23 05:50:48 2005