I'd not heard "sailing on a bowline" - but I've never sailed a square-rigger. Seems to mean close-hauled, or possibly "sailing on the wind".

The important thing to know about the bowline knot - which I and most people I know pronounce bo-lin - is when not to use it. You can't undo it under tension. So if you tie your boat to the land with a bowline at the end of your bow line you may have to cut it to leave quickly.

the round thing on piers that lines were attached to to hold vessels to the pier was called a bollard.

They still are, aren't they?