At 08:31 PM 6/29/98 EDT, you wrote:
>     The words "pier," "slip," "dock," "wharf," etc., have or had very

I was under the impression, though admittedly from here-and-there readings,
remarks, and captions, that SLIP referred in one old sense to shore tyings
where the ship came in bow first (or was launched sternward), as still is
the case of the Staten Island Ferry, and where I hear the word slip still
used.
The word may have had use, again from memory only, to the securing of small
boats or even raft type transports, again, short end tied to shore,
actually with an inclined platform possibly involved.

Edward Martin