Sentence:  [...] when a ship is to lie with all winds that may blow, the best anchor and open hawse should be towards the worst wind that may blow, to raise the waves, and give the ship a pitching motion [...] and must leave no more of the smallest moorings within board, than just enough to <WSD>freshen</WSD> the hawse on occasion; 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To relieve, as a rope, by change of place where friction wears it; or to renew, as the material used to prevent chafing.<ref>Benjamin J. Totten, "Naval Text-Book", Boston: Little and Brown, 1841, p.(nbsp)329.[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008602848]</ref>