Cat heads : Two strong short beams of timber, which project almost horizontally over the ship's bows, on each side of the bow-sprit, being like two radii which extend from a center taken in the direction of the bow-sprit
William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine, Glossary, Published by South Seas using the Web Academic Resource Publisher, London 1780. (http://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=glos sary, (Mrtm - Brit) {583}