The word ‘coxswain’ comes from the early 14th century. He was the ‘officer in charge of a ship’s boat and its crew,’ from cock ‘ship’s boat’ + swain ‘boy’, from Old Norse sveinn ‘boy, servant’.
The expression ‘Down to the wire’ came from horse racing and is used in a close finish. Horse races would have a length of wire stretched across a racetrack at the finish line to help determine the winner.