This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".
(of a sail) Filled by the wind on the opposite side to the one normally used to move the vessel forward. On a square-rigged ship, any of the square sails can be braced round to be aback, the purpose of which may be to reduce speed (such as when a ship-of-the-line is keeping station with others), to heave to, or to assist moving the ship's head through the eye of the wind when tacking. A sudden shift in the wind can also cause a square-rigged vessel to be unintentionally "caught aback" with all sails aback. This is a dangerous situation that risks serious damage. In a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel, a headsail is backed either by hauling it across with the weather sheet or by tacking without releasing the sheet. It is used to heave to or to assist with tacking.[1][2] See also back and fill.
abaft
Toward the stern, relative to some object (e.g. "abaft the cockpit").[3]
abaft the beam
Farther aft than the beam; a relative bearing of greater than 90 degrees from the bow; e.g. "two points abaft the beam, starboard side" would describe "an object lying 22.5 degrees toward the rear of the ship, as measured clockwise from a perpendicular line from the right side, center, of the ship, toward the horizon".[4]
abandon ship
An imperative to leave the vessel immediately, usually in the face of some imminent overwhelming danger.[5] It is an order issued by the master or a delegated person in command, and must be a verbal order. It is usually the last resort after all other mitigating actions have failed or become impossible, when destruction or loss of the ship is imminent, and is customarily followed by a command to "man the lifeboats" or life rafts.[5][6]
abeam
On the beam; a relative bearing at right angles to the ship's keel; e.g. describing an object located at a bearing of 90 degrees (starboard) or 270 degrees (port) as measured clockwise from the ship's bow.[7]
A merchant seaman qualified to perform all routine duties on a vessel, or a junior rank in some navies.
aboard
On or in a vessel. Synonymous with "on board". See also close aboard.
about
To change the course of a ship by tacking. "Ready about" is the order to prepare for tacking.[8]
above board
On or above the deck; in plain view; not hiding anything. Pirates would often hide their crews below decks, thereby creating the false impression that an encounter with another ship was a casual matter of chance rather than a planned assault.
above-water hull
The section of a vessel's hull above the waterline; the visible part of a ship. See also topsides.
absentee pennant
A special pennant flown to indicate the absence of a ship's commanding officer, admiral, chief-of-staff, or an officer whose flag is nonetheless flying (a division, squadron, or flotilla commander).
A ship or hull used as housing, generally when there is a lack of quarters available ashore. An operational ship can be used, but more commonly a hull modified for accommodation is used.
A senior naval officer of flag rank. In ascending order of seniority in the Royal Navy: rear admiral, vice admiral, admiral, (until about 2001, when all British five-star ranks were discontinued) admiral of the fleet, and the Lord High Admiral. In the US Navy: rear admiral (lower half), rear admiral, vice admiral, admiral, and (unused since the Second World War) fleet admiral.
The body of law that deals with maritime cases. In the UK, it is administered by the Admiralty Court, a special court within the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. The Admiralty Court is now in the Rolls Building.
adrift
1. Afloat and unattached in any way to the shore or seabed, but not underway. When referring to a vessel, it implies that the vessel is not being or able to be controlled and therefore goes where the wind and current take her; a vessel in this condition may also be described as "loose from her moorings" or "out of place".[3]
2. Any gear not fastened down or stored properly.
3. Any person or thing that is misplaced or missing. When applied to a member of the Navy or Marine Corps, such a person is said to be "absent without leave" (AWOL) or, in US Navy and US Marine Corps terminology, is guilty of an "unauthorized absence" (UA).[9]
advance note
A note for one month's wages issued to a sailor on his signing a ship's articles.
1. Toward the stern or rear of a vessel.[2] Contrast fore.
2. The portion of a vessel behind the middle area of the vessel.
afterbrow
On larger ships, a secondary gangway rigged in the area aft of midship. On some military vessels, such as US naval vessels, enlisted personnel below E-7 board the ship at the afterbrow; officers and CPO/SCPO/MCPO board the ship at the brow.[10]
A stern structure behind the mizzenmast and above the transom on large sailing ships, much larger but less common than a forecastle. The aftercastle houses the captain's cabin and sometimes other cabins and is topped by the poop deck.
Resting on or touching the ground or land, or the bottom of a body of water (either unintentionally or deliberately, such as in a drying harbour), as opposed to afloat.[3]
An adjective indicating an un-seamanlike state of disarray. Used to describe something awry, askew, or even round but out of true.[11] E.g. "What a sad lubberly display is that craft underway! They're still dragging their fenders in the surf, and their sails are all ahoo!".
ahoy
A cry to draw attention. Used to hail a boat or a ship, e.g. "boat ahoy".[3]
1. Any device external to a vessel or aircraft specifically intended to assist navigators in determining their position or safe course, or to warn them of dangers or obstructions to navigation.
2. Any sort of marker that aids a traveler in navigation, especially with regard to nautical or aviation travel. Such aids commonly include lighthouses, buoys, fog signals, and day beacons.
A warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft while at sea, thereby acting as a seagoing airbase. Since 1918, the term generally has been limited to a warship with an extensive flight deck designed to operate conventional fixed-wing aircraft. In US Navy slang, also called a "flat top" or a "bird farm".
air draft
air draught
maximum vertical extent of any part of the vessel above the water surface. Clearance required for passing under a bridge.[12]
Bringing a person or thing up short; i.e. an unforeseen and sudden stop.[9]
allision
The impact of a moving vessel with a stationary object (not submerged), such as a bridge abutment or dolphin, pier or wharf, or another vessel made fast to a pier or wharf. More than incidental contact is required. The vessel is said to "allide" with the fixed object and is considered at fault. Contrast collision.
A wide variety of warships designed to land and support marines and ground forces in an amphibious assault. Amphibious warfare ships range in size and capability from large oceangoing ships, some with full-length flight decks, to small vessels designed to land personnel and equipment directly onto a beach.
1. Any object designed to prevent or slow the drift of a ship, attached to the ship by a line or chain; usually a metal, hook, or plough-like object designed to grip the solid seabed under the body of water. See also sea anchor.[3]
2. To deploy an anchor (e.g. "she anchored offshore").[3]
anchor ball
A round, black shape hoisted in the forepart of a vessel to show that it is anchored.
anchor bolster
A metal fabrication or casting on a vessel through which the anchor chain passes, and against which the anchor rests when fully housed. Also called bolster plate.
anchor buoy
A small buoy secured to a line attached to the crown of an anchor. The line allows the anchor to be unhooked from an obstruction, such as a rock or another vessel's anchor cable, so preventing raising the anchor in the normal way.[13]
A group of men who handle ground tackle when the ship is anchoring or getting under way.
anchor home
When the anchor is secured aboard the ship for sea; i.e. when it is not deployed. Typically rests just outside the hawsepipe on the outer side of the hull, at the bow of a vessel.
anchor light
A white light displayed by a ship to indicate that it is at anchor. Two such lights are displayed by a ship over 150 feet (46 m) in length.[3]
anchor rode
Also simply rode.
The anchor line, rope, or cable connecting the anchor chain to the vessel.
anchor sentinel
Also kellet.
A separate weight on a separate line that is loosely attached to the anchor rode so that it can slide down it easily. It is made fast at a distance slightly longer than the draft of the boat. It is used to prevent the anchor rode from becoming fouled on the keel or other underwater structures when the boat is resting at anchor and moving randomly during slack tide.
anchor watch
The crewmen assigned to take care of a ship while it is anchored or moored, and charged with such duties as making sure that the anchor is holding and the vessel is not drifting. Most marine GPS units have an anchor watch alarm capability.
anchor winch
A horizontal capstan in the bow used for weighing anchor.[2]
anchorage
Any place suitable for a ship to anchor, often an area of a port or harbor.
anchor's aweigh
Said of an anchor to indicate that it is just clear of the bottom and that the ship is therefore no longer anchored.
Andrew
Traditional lower-deck slang term for the Royal Navy.
A naval submariner's term for the angle between a target's course and the line of sight to the submarine. It is expressed as port or starboard, so never exceeds 180 degrees. This is one of the figures entered into the Torpedo Data Computer that makes all the calculations necessary for a torpedo attack on the target. Not to be confused with doubling the angle on the bow.
answer
The expected response of a vessel to control mechanisms, such as a turn "answering" to the wheel and rudder. "She won't answer" might be the report from a helmsman when turning the wheel under a pilot's order fails to produce the expected change of direction.
anti-rolling tanks
A pair of fluid-filled tanks mounted on opposite sides of a ship below the waterline. The tanks are cross-linked by piping or ducts to allow water to flow between them and at the top by vents or air pipes. The piping is sized so that as the fluid flows from side to side it damps the amount of roll.
A piece of wood fitted to the after side of the stem post and the fore side of the sternpost of a clinker-built boat, where the planking is secured.[14]
The combination of the true wind and the headwind caused by the boat's forward motion. For example, it causes a light side wind to appear to come from well ahead of the beam.
Regulations governing the military and naval forces of the UK and US; read to every ship's company on commissioning and at specified intervals during the commission.
as the crow flies
As measured by a straight line between two points (which might cross land), in the way that a crow or other bird would be capable of traveling rather than a ship, which must go around land. See also great circle.
Purportedly an acronym for Allied Submarine Devices Investigation Committee, and a type of SONAR used by the Allies for detecting submarines during the First and Second World Wars. The term has been generically applied to equipment for "under-water supersonic echo-ranging equipment" of submarines and other vessels.[16]
ashore
1. On the beach, shore, or land (as opposed to aboard or on board a vessel).
2. Towards the shore.
3. "To run ashore": to collide with the shore (as opposed to "to run aground", which is to strike a submerged feature such as a reef or sandbar).
The gear or gears that, when engaged with an engine or motor, result in backwards movement or force. Equivalent to reverse in a manual-transmission automobile.
asylum harbour
A harbour used to provide shelter from a storm. See harbor of refuge.
A raised bow with noticeable sheer and flare introduced in German warships in the late 1930s to improve seakeeping by keeping the forecastle drier and to allow easier operation of weapons.
athwart
athwartships
At right angles to the fore and aft or centerline of a ship.
auxiliary
1. An engine installed on a sailing vessel to provide mechanical power when entering harbour or in light or contrary winds.
2. A vessel in naval service but manned entirely or mostly by a civilian crew (as in Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service and Royal Naval Auxiliary Service)[17]
A naval ship designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant ships and other naval operations, including a wide range of activities related to replenishment, transport, repair, harbor services and research.
avast
Stop, cease or desist from whatever is being done. From the Dutch hou' vast ("hold on"), the imperative form of vasthouden ("to hold on to") or the Italian word basta.[9] Compare Ya basta.
aviso
Formerly also adviso.
A kind of dispatch boat or advice boat, surviving particularly in the French Navy. They are considered equivalent to modern sloops.
awash
So low in the water that the water is constantly washing across the surface.
aweigh
The position of an anchor that is just clear of making contact with the bottom.
axial fire
Fire oriented towards the ends of the ship; the opposite of broadside fire. In the Age of Sail, this was known as "raking fire".
aye, aye
(/ˌaɪˈaɪ/) A reply to an order or command to indicate that it, firstly, is heard; and, secondly, is understood and will be carried out (e.g. "Aye, aye, sir" to officers). Also the proper reply from a hailed boat, to indicate that an officer is on board.
azimuth circle
An instrument used to take the bearings of celestial objects.
An instrument employed for ascertaining the position of the Sun with respect to magnetic north. The azimuth of an object is its bearing from the observer measured as an angle clockwise from true north.
A style of standing rigging used on sailboats that lacks a backstay. The mast is said to be supported like a "tripod", with swept-back spreaders and a forestay. Used widely on Hunter brand sailboats, among others. Designed and named by Lars Bergstrom and Sven Ridder.[citation needed]
back
1. To make a sail fill with wind on the opposite side normally used for sailing forward. A fore and aft headsail is backed by either not moving the sail across when tacking, or by hauling it to windward with the weather sheet. A square sail is backed by hauling the yards round with the braces. The sail is then aback.[3]
2. (With oars) to push against the water with the oar in the opposite direction than normally used for moving the boat forward. This is used to slow the speed of the boat, or to move astern when manoeuvring.[3]
back and fill
A method of keeping a square-rigged vessel under control while drifting with the tide along a narrow channel. The ship lies broadside to the current, with the main topsail backed and the fore and mizzen topsail full: essentially a hove-to position. Selective backing and filling of these sails moves the ship ahead or astern, so allowing it to be kept in the best part of the channel. A jib and the spanker are used to help balance the sail plan. This method cannot be used if the wind is going in the same direction and at the same speed as the tide.[18]
Any device for removing water that has entered a vessel.
bail out
Tacking away from other boats to obtain clear air. Often used for starting situations.
baldie
A type of Scottish sailboat introduced in 1860, used for fishing. A baldie is carvel-built, with her mast far forward and rigged with a lug sail and sometimes a jib. Some historians believe "Baldie" is a contraction of "Garibaldi", a reference to the Italian general and nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi, whose name was a household word at the time the baldie was introduced.
balance rudder
Not usually a single rudder, but a set of three or four rudders operating together to maneuver a sternwheel steamboat. Placed just forward of the paddlewheels, the effectiveness of the balance rudder is increased by the flow of water generated by the paddles, giving such steamboats a high degree of maneuverability.[20]
balanced rudder
A rudder with a significant amount of area ahead of the rorational axis, which moves the hydrodynamic centre of the rudder nearer to the rotation axis and reduces the torque required to steer.[21]
Heavy material that is placed in a position low in the hull to provide stability. It can be moveable material, such as gravel or stones, permanently or semi-permanently installed, or integral to the hull, such as the (typically) lead or cast-iron ballast keel of a sailing yacht. See also in ballast.[3]
Mass of sand or earth raised above the general seabed depth by the motion of water. Bars are often found at the mouth of rivers or entrances to harbours and can make navigation over them extremely dangerous at some states of tide and current flow, but can also confer tranquility in the inshore waters by acting as a barrier to large waves. See also touch and go and grounding.
A technique of temporarily rigging a sailboat lazy sheet so as to allow the boat to sail closer to the wind; i.e. using the lazy jib sheet to pull the jib closer to the mid line, allowing a point of sail that would otherwise not be achievable.[citation needed]
1. A fixed armored enclosure protecting a ship's guns aboard warships without gun turrets, generally taking the form of a ring of armor over which guns mounted on an open-topped rotating turntable could fire, particularly on ships built during the second half of the 19th century.
2. The inside fixed trunk of a warship's turreted gun-mounting, on which the turret revolves, containing the hoists for shells and cordite from the shell-room and magazine, particularly on ships built after the late 19th century.
A two- or three-masted lugger used for fishing on the coasts of Spain and Portugal and more widely in the Mediterranean Sea in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The British Royal Navy also used them for shore raids and as dispatch boats in the Mediterranean.
An arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a vessel, whereby the vessel's owner provides no crew or provisions as part of the agreement; instead, the people who rent the vessel are responsible for crewing and provisioning her.
bare poles
Sailing without any canvas raised, usually in a strong wind.
1. A towed or self-propelled flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river, canal or coastal transport of heavy goods.
2. Admiral's barge: A boat (or aircraft) at the disposal of an admiral (or other high ranking flag officer) for his or her use as transportation between a larger vessel and the shore, or within a harbor. In Royal Navy service, the colour of the hull (or aircraft cheat-line) denotes the rank - green for Commanders-in-Chief and dark blue for other Flag Officers.[22][23]
In admiralty law, an act of gross misconduct against a shipowner or a ship's demise charterer by a ship's master or crew that damages the ship or its cargo. Acts of barratry can include desertion, illegal scuttling, theft of the ship or cargo and committing any actions that may not be in the shipowner's or demise charterer's best interests.
A type of large capital ship of the first half of the 20th century, similar in size, appearance, and cost to a battleship and typically armed with the same kind of heavy guns, but much more lightly armored (on the scale of a cruiser) and therefore faster than a battleship but more vulnerable to damage.
A type of large, heavily armored warship of the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, armed with heavy-caliber guns and designed to fight other battleships in a line of battle. It was the successor to the ship-of-the-line used during the Age of Sail.
beach
Or the beach
A term used broadly to refer to land or the shore, and not necessarily literally to a beach. For example, a ship which turns toward the shore can be said to have turned toward the beach, and a person or object on land can be said to be on the beach. See also on the beach.
Deliberately running a vessel aground so as to load or unload it (as with landing craft), or sometimes to prevent a damaged vessel from sinking or to facilitate repairs below the waterline.
1. The ram on the prow of a fighting galley of ancient and medieval times.
2. The protruding part of the foremost section of a sailing ship of the 16th to the 18th centuries, usually ornate, which was used as a working platform by sailors handling the sails of the bowsprit. It also housed the crew's heads (toilets).
The width of a vessel at its widest point, or a point alongside the ship at the midpoint of its length.
beam ends
The sides of a ship. To describe a ship as "on her beam ends" may mean the vessel is literally on her side and possibly about to capsize; more often, the phrase means the vessel is listing 45 degrees or more.
Sailing as close as possible towards the wind (perhaps only about 60°) in a zig-zag course so as to attain an upwind direction into which it is otherwise impossible to sail directly. See also tacking.
A scale describing wind speed, devised by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort in 1808, in which winds are graded by the effects of their force on the surface of the sea or on a vessel (originally, the amount of sail that a fully rigged frigate could carry).
becalm
To cut off the wind from a sailing vessel, either by the proximity of land or by another vessel.
becalmed
Unable to move due to a lack of wind, said of a sailing vessel; resigned merely to drift with the current rather to move by controlled management of sails.
becket
A short piece of line usually spliced into a circle or with an eye on either end.
before the mast
Literally, the area of a ship before the foremast (the forecastle). Most often used to refer to men whose living quarters are located here: officers were typically quartered in the sternmost areas of the ship (near the quarterdeck), while officer-trainees lived between the two ends of the ship and become known as "midshipmen". Crew members who started out as seamen and then became midshipmen, and later, officers, were said to have gone from "one end of the ship to the other". See also hawsepiper.
belay
1. To make fast a line around a fitting, usually a cleat or belaying pin.
2. To secure a climbing person in a similar manner.
3. An order to halt a current activity or countermand an order prior to execution.
A layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hull of a warship, typically on battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers and aircraft carriers, usually covering the warship from her main deck down to some distance below the waterline. If built within the hull, rather than forming the outer hull, the belt would be installed at an inclined angle to improve the warship's protection from shells striking the hull.
A triangular mainsail, without any upper spar, which is hoisted up the mast by a single halyard attached to the head of the sail. This configuration, introduced to Europe about 1920, allows the use of a tall mast, enabling sails to be set higher where wind speed is greater.
A fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel with a single mast setting a Bermuda rig mainsail and a single headsail. The Bermuda sloop is a very common type of modern sailing yacht.
A small European merchant sailing ship with two masts, the mainmastlateen-rigged with a trapezoidal mainsail, and the foremast carrying the conventional square course and square topsail. Used in the Netherlands for coast and canal traffic and occasionally in the North Sea, but more frequently used in the Mediterranean Sea.
1. The part of the hull that the ship rests on if it takes the ground; the outer end of the floors. The "turn of the bilge" is the part of the hull that changes from the (approximately) vertical sides of the hull to the more horizontal bottom of the ship.[28]
2. (Usually in the plural: "bilges") The compartment at the bottom of the hull of a ship or boat where water collects and must be pumped out of the vessel; the space between the bottom hull planking and the ceiling of the hold.[2]
3. To damage the hull in the area of the bilge, usually by grounding or hitting an obstruction.
4. To fail an academic course ("bilge") or curriculum ("bilge out").
One of a pair of keels on either side of the hull, usually slanted outwards. In yachts, they allow the use of a drying mooring, the boat standing upright on the keels (and often a skeg) when the tide is out.
The stand on which the ship's compass is mounted, usually near the helm, permitting ready reference by the helmsman.
binnacle list
A ship's sick list. The list of men unable to report for duty was given to the officer or mate of the watch by the ship's surgeon. The list was kept at the binnacle.
Verb used in reference to a rudder, as in "the rudder begins to bite". When a vessel has steerageway the rudder will act to steer the vessel, i.e. it has enough water flow past it to steer with. Physically this is noticeable with tiller or unassisted wheel steering by the rudder exhibiting resistance to being turned from the straight ahead – this resistance is the rudder "biting" and is how a helmsman first senses that a vessel has acquired steerageway.
bitt
1. A post or pair of posts mounted on the ship's bow for fastening ropes or cables.
2. A strong vertical timber or iron fastened through the deck beams that is used for securing ropes or hawsers.[2]
bitt heads
The tops of two massive timbers that support the windlass on a sailing barge.[2]
The last part or loose end of a rope or cable. The anchor cable is tied to the bitts; when the cable is fully paid out, the bitter end has been reached.
The engineering crew of the vessel, i.e. crew members who work in the vessel's engine room, fire room and/or boiler room, so called because they would typically be covered in coal dust during the days of coal-fired steamships.
blinker
A search light, used for signaling by code. Usually fitted with a spring controlled shutter.
A pulley with one or more sheaves or grooves over which a line is roved. It can be used to change the direction of the line, or in pairs used to form a tackle.[2]
block, fiddle
A block with two sheaves in the same plane, one being smaller than the other, giving the block a somewhat violin appearance.
block, snatch
A single sheave block with one end of the frame hinged and able to be opened, so as to admit a line other than by forcing an end through the opening.
A flag flown as an ensign by certain British ships. Prior to 1864, ships of the Royal Navy's Blue Squadron flew it; since the reorganisation of the Royal Navy in 1864 eliminated its naval use, it has been flown instead by British merchant vessels whose officers and crew include a certain prescribed number (which has varied over the years) of retired Royal Navy or Royal Naval Reserve personnel or are commanded by an officer of the Royal Naval Reserve in possession of a government warrant; Royal Research Ships by warrant, regardless of their manning by naval, naval reserve and Merchant Navy personnel; or British-registered yachts belonging to members of certain yacht clubs, although yachts were prohibited from flying the Blue Ensign during World War I and World War II.
A blue and white flag (the flag for the letter P) hoisted at the foretrucks of ships about to sail. Formerly a white ship on a blue ground, but later a white square on a blue ground.
A pole with a blunt tip and a hook on the end, sometimes with a ring on its opposite end to which a line may be attached. Typically used to assist in docking and undocking a boat, with its hook used to pull a boat towards a dock and the blunt end to push it away from a dock, as well as to reach into the water to help people catch buoys or other floating objects or to reach people in the water.
boat keeper
A boatkeeper was a sailor that knew the harbor thoroughly and was able to act as a pilot. He was in command after the last pilot had left to board a ship and brought the pilot boat back to harbor. He was required to know how to use a sextant as he could be 300 miles from port.
A building especially designed for the storage of boats, typically located on open water such as a lake or river. Boathouses are normally used to store smaller sports or leisure craft, often rowing boats but sometimes craft such as punts or small motor boats.
Also bosun's call, boatswain's pipe, bosun's pipe, boatswain's whistle or bosun's whistle.
A high-pitched pipe or a non-diaphragm-type whistle used on naval ships by a boatswain, historically to pass commands to the crew but in modern times limited to ceremonial use.
1. A short board or swatch of heavy canvas, secured in a bridle of ropes, used to hoist a man aloft or over the ship's side for painting and similar work. Modern boatswain's chairs incorporate safety harnesses to prevent the occupant from falling.
2. A metal chair used for ship-to-ship personnel transfers at sea while underway.
A stay that holds the bowsprit downwards, counteracting the effect of the forestay and the lift of sails. Usually made of wire or chain to eliminate stretching.[2]
body plan
In shipbuilding, an end elevation showing the contour of the sides of a ship at certain points of her length.
From "bol" or "bole", the round trunk of a tree. A substantial vertical pillar to which lines may be made fast. Generally on the quayside rather than the ship.
Also bomb, bombard, bombarde, bomb ketch or bomb ship.
A type of specialized naval wooden sailing vessel of the late 17th through mid-19th centuries designed for bombarding fixed positions on land, armed for this purpose with mortars mounted forward near the bow.
bombard
Also spelled bombarde.
1. A small, two-masted vessel common in the Mediterranean in the 18th and 19th centuries, similar in design to an English ketch.
2. An alternative name used in the 18th and 19th centuries for a bomb vessel.
Bombay runner
A large cockroach.
bonded jacky
A type of tobacco or sweet cake.
bone in her teeth
A phrase describing the appearance of a vessel throwing up a prominent bow wave while travelling at high speed. From a vantage point in front of the vessel, the wave rising in either side of the bow evokes the image of a dog carrying a bone in its mouth, and the vessel is said to have a bone in her teeth.
bonnet
An additional strip of canvas laced to the foot of a sail to increase its area in light winds.[29]
A sail control that lets one apply downward tension on a boom, countering the upward tension provided by the sail. The boom vang adds an element of control to sail shape when the sheet is let out enough that it no longer pulls the boom down. Boom vang tension helps control leech twist, a primary component of sail power.
2. Either side of the front (or bow) of the vessel, i.e. the port bow and starboard bow. Something ahead and to the left of the vessel is "off the port bow", while something ahead and to the right of the vessel is "off the starboard bow". When "bow" is used in this way, the front of the vessel sometimes is called her bows (plural), a collective reference to her port and starboard bows synonymous with bow (singular).
A spar projecting from the bow that is used as an anchor for the forestay and other rigging. On a barge it may be pivoted so it may be steeved up in harbor.[2]
bows under
Said of a vessel shipping water over her bow, e.g., "The ship was bows under during the storm."
A small propeller or water-jet at the bow, used for manoeuvring larger vessels at slow speed. May be mounted externally, or in a tunnel running through the bow from side to side.
A feature of some ships, particularly ferries and roll-on/roll-off ships, that allows a vessel's bow to articulate up and down to provide access to her cargo ramp and storage deck near the waterline.
bow wave
The wave created on either side of a vessel's bow as she moves through the water.
On square rigged ships, a line attached to the end of ayard to rotate it around a vertical axis, for trimming the sail. Braces are fitted in pairs to each yard, one at each end.
1. To furl a sail by pulling it in towards the mast and/or to the yard or gaff on which it is set . Where the brailing action is mostly moving towards the mast, it is termed "brailing in". If the sail is generally moving up to a spar, that is called "brailing up".[30]
2. A line used to haul the edges or corners of a sail up or in, either preparatory to furling or as the act of furling the sail. Some brails do not have a more specific name, especially on a fore and aft sail. In other cases, clewlines, buntlines and leechlines may be considered types of brails.[31]
brail net
A type of net incorporating brail lines on a small fishing net on a boat.
brailer
A device consisting of a net of small-mesh webbing attached to a frame, used aboard fishing vessels for unloading large quantities of fish.
brake
The handle of the pump, by which it is worked.
brass monkey, brass monkey weather
Used in the expression "it is cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey". Apocryphally, it is often claimed that a brass monkey was a frame used to hold cannon balls, and low temperature would cause the frame to contract to a greater degree than the iron balls and thus allow them to roll off. See brass monkey for the probable actual etymology.
brass pounder
Early 20th-century slang term for a vessel's radio operator, so-called because he repeatedly struck a brass key on his transmitter to broadcast in Morse code.
Goods that must be loaded aboard a ship individually and not in intermodal containers or in bulk, carried by a general cargo ship.
breaker
1. A shallow portion of a reef over which waves break.
2. A breaking wave that breaks into foam against the shore, a shoal, a rock or a reef. Sailors use breakers to warn themselves of their vessel's proximity to an underwater hazard to navigation or, at night or during periods of poor visibility, of their vessel's proximity to shore.
3. A ship breaker, often used in the plural, e.g. "The old ship went to the breakers".
4. A small cask of liquid kept permanently in a ship's boat in case of becoming separated from the ship or if used as a lifeboat.
breakwater
1. A structure constructed on a coast as part of a coastal defense system or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.
2. A structure built on the forecastle of a ship intended to divert water away from the forward superstructure or gun mounts.
A ring lifebuoy fitted with canvas breeches, functionally similar to a zip line, used to transfer people from one ship to another or to rescue people from a wrecked or sinking ship by moving them to another ship or to the shore.
breastrope
A mooring rope fastened anywhere on a ship's side that goes directly to the quay, so that it is roughly at right angles to both.[32]
A narrow walkway extending outward from both sides of a pilothouse to the full width of a ship or slightly beyond, to allow bridge personnel a full view to aid in the maneuvering of the ship, such as when docking.
2. An American term foe an interior area of a ship that is used to detain prisoners (possibly prisoners-of-war, in wartime) or stowaways, and to punish delinquent crew members. Usually resembles a prison cell with bars and a locked, hinged door.
A type of sloop-of-war introduced in the 1770s that had two square-rigged masts like a brig (in contrast to ship sloops of the time, which had three masts).
1. When a sailing or power vessel loses directional control when travelling with a following sea. The vessel turns sideways to the wind and waves and in more serious cases may capsize or pitchpole. Advice on dealing with heavy weather includes various strategies for avoiding this happening.[13][33]
2. An unintentional appearance above the surface of all or part of a submerged submarine, a dangerous event when the submarine is in proximity to enemy forces or near any ship which might collide with her.
broad
Wide in appearance from the vantage point of a lookout or other person viewing activity in the vicinity of a ship, e.g. another ship off the starboardbow with her side facing the viewer's ship could be described as "broad on the starboard bow" of the viewer's ship.
An area of the southern North Sea which is fairly consistently 14 fathoms (84 feet; 26 metres) deep. On a nautical chart with depths indicated in fathoms, it appears as a broad area with many "14" notations.
2. All the guns on one side of a warship or mounted (in rotating turrets or barbettes) so as to be able to fire on the same side of a warship.
3. The simultaneous firing of all the guns on one side of a warship or able to fire on the same side of a warship.
4. Weight of broadside: the combined weight of all projectiles a ship can fire in a broadside engagement, or the combined weight of all the shells which a group of ships that have formed a line of battle can collectively fire on the same side.
A route used by ships in the 17th century while sailing east from the Cape of Good Hope to the Netherlands East Indies which took advantage of the strong westerly winds in the southern Indian Ocean known as the "Roaring Forties" to speed the trip but required ships to turn north in the eastern Indian Ocean to reach the East Indies. With no accurate means of determining longitude at the time, ships which missed the northward turn ran the risk of being wrecked on the west coast of Australia.
A type of sailboat developed in the Chesapeake Bay by the early 1880s for oyster dredging, superseded as the chief oystering boat in the bay by the skipjack at the end of the 19th century.
A protruding bulb at the bow of a ship just below the waterline which modifies the way water flows around the hull, reducing drag and thus increasing speed, range, fuel efficiency and stability.
One of the lines leading from the foot of a square sail over a block at the head and down to the deck; and used to haul it up to the yard when furling.[35]
A floating object, usually anchored at a given position and fulfilling one of a number of uses, recognised by a defined shape and color for each, including aids to navigation, warnings of danger such as submerged wrecks or divers, or for attaching mooring lines, lobster pots, etc.
buoyed up
Lifted by a buoy, especially a cable that has been lifted to prevent it from trailing on the bottom.
The Builder's Old Measurement, expressed in "tons bm" or "tons BOM", a volumetric measurement of cubic cargo capacity, not of weight. This is the tonnage of a ship, based on the number of tuns of wine that it could carry in its holds. One 252-gallon tun of wine takes up approximately 100 cubic feet, and weighs 2,240 lbs (1 long ton, or Imperial ton).
A dish of ships biscuit crumbs and minced salt pork, usually a meal of last resort for officers when other food stores are exhausted.
butt
Where the butt of one plank joins with the butt of another.
by and large
By means into the wind, while large means with the wind. "By and large" is therefore used to indicate all possible situations, e.g. "the ship handles well both by and large".[citation needed]
A type of powered pleasure craft that provides accommodation for its crew and passengers inside the structure of the craft. A cabin cruiser usually is 7.6 to 13.7 metres (25 to 45 ft) in length, with a powered pleasure craft larger than that considered a motor yacht.
A measure of length or distance equivalent to 1⁄10 nautical mile (608 feet; 185 metres) in the United Kingdom and 100 fathoms (600 feet; 183 metres) in the United States; other countries use different equivalents.
The transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country along coastal routes by a vessel registered in another country. Originally applied only to shipping, the term now also is applied to analogous transport via aviation, railways, or road transport.
1. Loaded vessels lashed tightly, one on each side of another vessel, and then emptied to provide additional buoyancy that reduces the draft of the ship in the middle.
2. Floating platforms brought alongside for use by yard workers or crew.
can
A type of navigationalbuoy, often a vertical drum, but otherwise always square in silhouette, colored red in IALA region A (Europe, Africa, Greenland, and most of Asia and Oceania) or green in IALA region B (the Americas, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines). In channel marking its use is opposite that of a nun buoy.
canal boat
A specialized watercraft designed for operation on a canal. During the Age of Sail, canal boats typically lacked sails and masts and relied on towboats and mules to move from place to place.[36]
canal schooner
Also sailing canal boat or sailing canal schooner.
A specialized type of canal boat developed in North America in the early 19th century and used on the Great Lakes and in Lake Champlain. Unlike conventional canal boats of the era, which lacked a means of propulsion, canal schooners had a schoonerrig which allowed them to sail from place to place, but could lower their masts and raise their centreboards, allowing mules to tow them through canals. The design allowed their operators to save money by reducing their reliance on towing and paying fewer towing charges.[36]
canaller
A ship designed to transit the locks of the Welland Canal.
A type of antipersonnel cannon load in which lead balls or other loose metallic items were enclosed in a tin or iron shell. On firing, the shell would disintegrate, releasing the smaller metal objects with a shotgun-like effect.
canoe stern
A design for the stern of a yacht such that it is pointed like a bow, rather than squared off as a transom.
canvas
A collective term for all of the sails on a vessel; the total area of all sails aboard her may be expressed as the area of her canvas.
cap
A fitting or band used to connect the head of one mast to the lower portion of the mast above.[35]
Cape Horn fever
A feigned illness from which a malingerer is pretending to suffer.
Cape Horn roller
Also graybeard.
A type of large ocean wave commonly encountered in the stormy seas of the Southern Ocean south of South America's Cape Horn, often exceeding 60 feet (18.3 m) in height. The geography of the Southern Ocean, uninterrupted by continents, creates an endless fetch that is favorable for the propagation of such waves.
One of a set of ships considered a navy's most important warships, generally possessing the heaviest firepower and armor and traditionally much larger than other naval vessels, but not formally defined. During the Age of Sail, capital ships were generally understood to be ships of the line; during the second half of the 19th century and the 20th century, they were typically battleships and battlecruisers; and since the mid-20th century, the term may also include aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines.
(of a vessel) To list so severely that the vessel rolls over, exposing the keel. On large vessels, this often results in the sinking of the ship. Compare turtling.
A large winch with a vertical axis used to wind in anchors or to hoist other heavy objects, and sometimes to administer flogging over. A full-sized human-powered capstan is a waist-high cylindrical machine, operated by a number of hands who each insert a horizontal capstan bar in holes in the capstan and walk in a circle.
captain
1. The person lawfully in command of a vessel. "Captain" is an informal title of respect given to the commander of a naval vessel regardless of his or her formal rank; aboard a merchant ship, the ship's captain is called her master.
1. In the United Kingdom, a Royal Navy officer, usually a captain, responsible for the day-to-day operation of a naval dockyard.
2. In the United States, a US Coast Guard officer, usually a captain, responsible for enforcement of safety, security, and marine environmental protection regulations in a commercial port.
captain's daughter
Another name for the cat o' nine tails, which in principle is only used on board on the captain's (or a court martial's) personal orders.
A cargo ship specially designed or fitted to carry large numbers of automobiles. Modern pure car carriers have a fully enclosed, box-like superstructure that extends along the entire length and across the entire breadth of the ship, enclosing the automobiles. The similar pure car/truck carrier can also accommodate trucks.
A small, highly maneuverable sailing ship with a lateen rig, used by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean.
cardinal
Referring to the four main points of the compass: north, south, east, and west. See also bearing.
A type of merchant ship that became common just after the middle of the 19th century, configured primarily for the transportation of general cargo but also for the transportation of at least some passengers. Almost completely replaced by more specialized cargo ships during the second half of the 20th century.
Any ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another, including general cargo ships (designed to carry break bulk cargo), bulk carriers, container ships, multipurpose vessels, and tankers. Tankers, however, although technically cargo ships, are routinely thought of as constituting a completely separate category.
1. In the Age of Sail, a warrant officer responsible for the hull, masts, spars, and boats of a vessel, and also for sounding the well to see if the vessel was making water.
2. A senior rating responsible for all of the woodwork aboard a vessel.
carpenter's walk
On a tall ship, a is a narrow unlit passageway or bulkhead often with a low (four-foot) ceiling that is fitted around the hull at its waterline. The carpenter's walk allowed the ship's carpenter to tour the entire waterline area of a ship to inspect it for water leaks.[37][38] Because of its dark and seldom-visited nature and location far below decks, it was also sometimes used by mutinous sailors as a secluded place to plan a rebellion against the ship's officers.[39]
A short, smoothbore, cast-iron naval cannon, used from the 1770s to the 1850s as a powerful, short-range, anti-ship and anti-crew weapon.
carry away
To suddenly break a spar, rope or other part of a ship's equipment. May be caused, for example, by overloading, stress of weather, collision or battle damage.[3][32][40]
A ship employed on humanitarian voyages, in particular to carry communications or prisoners between belligerents during wartime. A cartel flies distinctive flags, including a flag of truce, traditionally is unarmed except for a lone signaling gun, and under international law is not subject to seizure or capture during her outbound and return voyages as long as she engages in no warlike acts.
A comparison of the clinker and carvel styles of boat construction A method of constructing a wooden hull in which planks are butted edge-to-edge on a robust frame, so giving a smooth hull surface; traditionally the planks are not attached to each other, only to the frame, and have only a caulking sealant between them to make them watertight.[29] Contrast clinker-built.
A light metal structure, usually incorporating a deck, built over the upper surface of a submarine's pressure hull to create a flat surface on which crew members can walk. A feature of submarines built prior to the mid-20th century, but not of more modern submarines.
cat
1. To prepare an anchor after raising it by lifting it with a tackle to the cathead, prior to securing (fishing) it alongside for sea. An anchor raised to the cathead is said to be catted.
A short, multi-tailed whip or flail kept by the bosun's mate to flog sailors (and soldiers in the army) who had committed infractions while at sea. When not in use, the cat was often kept in a baize bag, a possible origin for the term "cat out of the bag".[42] "Not enough room to swing a cat" also derives from this.
To create a watertight seal between structures. In traditional carvel construction, this involved hammering oakum (recycled rope fibres) or caulking cotton into the slightly tapered fine gaps between the hull or deck planks and, in older methods, covering with tar. The expansion of the fibres in water tightens up the hull, making it less prone to racking movement, as well as making the joint watertight.[28]
Navigation by the position of celestial objects, including the stars, Sun, and Moon, using tools aboard ship such as a sextant, chronometer, and compass, as well as published tables of the expected positions of celestial objects on specific dates. Celestial navigation was the primary method of navigation until the development of electronic global positioning systems such as LORAN and GPS.
ceiling
Planking attached to the inside of the frames or floors of a wooden hull. It serves to separate the cargo from the hull planking itself, but also has a structural role, contributing to the strength of the hull.. The ceiling has different names in different places; e.g. limber boards, spirketting, quickwork, etc. The lower part of the ceiling is, confusingly to a landsman, what you are standing on at the bottom of the hold of a wooden ship.[29][44]: glossary
Also center of pressure (American spelling) or centre of pressure (British spelling).
The point of origin of net aerodynamic force upon a sail, roughly located in the geometric center of the sail, though the actual position of the center of effort will vary with sail plan, sail trim, or airfoil profile, boat trim, and point of sail.
The point of origin of net hydrodynamic resistance on the submerged structure of a boat, especially a sailboat. This is the pivot point the boat turns about when unbalanced external forces are applied, similar to the center of gravity. On a perfectly balanced sailboat, the center of effort will align vertically with the center of lateral resistance. If this is not the case, the boat will be unbalanced and will exhibit either lee helm or weather helm and will be difficult to control.
Diagram of the position of a centerboard on a boat
Also centerplate (American spelling), centreplate (British spelling).
A wooden board or metal plate which can be pivoted through a fore-and-aft slot along the centerline in the hull of a sailing vessel, functioning as a retractable keel to help the boat resist leeway by moving its center of lateral resistance. Very common in dinghies, but also found in some larger boats. A daggerboard serves the same purpose but slides vertically rather than pivoting.
An imaginary line down the center of a vessel lengthwise. Any structure or anything mounted or carried on a vessel that straddles this line and is equidistant from either side of the vessel is said to be "on the centerline".
A space in the forward part of a ship, typically beneath the bow in front of the foremost collision bulkhead, that contains the anchor chain when the anchor is secured for sea.
Iron bars bolted to a ship's side to which the deadeyes or rigging screws of the lower figging and the back-stays are bolted.[35]
chain-wale
Also channel.
A broad, thick plank that projects horizontally from each of a ship's sides abreast a mast (distinguished as the fore, main, or mizzen channel accordingly), serving to extend the base for the shrouds, which support the mast.[35]
1. The impatient excitement in a ship's crew as the end of a voyage becomes imminent. Characteristics include crew members working harder to get the ship sailing faster, off-watch personnel being on deck to keep track of progress, and everyone being packed and in their shore-going clothes (ready to be paid off) the moment the vessel arrives in port.[45]
2. (obsolete usage) A crew member avoiding duties with a feigned illness, usually after leaving port.
A term used by the British East India Company from the 17th to the 19th centuries for a merchant ship it chartered to make a single, often one-way, voyage between England (later the United Kingdom) and ports east of the Cape of Good Hope, a trade over which the company held a strict monopoly. A charter ship during its single voyage was employed in much the same way as what the company called an extra ship, though the company usually hired charter ships on special terms and for much shorter periods.[46]
charthouse
A compartment from which the ship was navigated, especially in the Royal Navy.
chartplotter
An electronic instrument that places the position of the ship (from a GPS receiver) onto a digital nautical chart displayed on a monitor, thereby replacing all manual navigation functions. Chartplotters also display information collected from all shipboard electronic instruments and often directly control autopilots.
A cannon pointing forward or aft, often of longer range than other guns. Those on the bow (bow chasers) were used to fire upon a ship ahead, while those on the rear (stern chasers) were used to ward off pursuing vessels. Unlike guns pointing to the side, chasers could be brought to bear in a chase without slowing down the vessel.
A decked commercial sailing vessel engaged in the transportation of fresh fish directly from fishing grounds to ports in Brittany between the 18th century and around the third quarter of the 19th century. Three-mastedluggers replaced the vessels originally serving in this role; the luggers then were replaced successively by dundees, brigs, and schooners.
2. A line formed where the sides of a boat meet the bottom.[2] Soft chine is when the two sides join at a shallow angle, and hard chine is when they join at a steep angle.
chock
A hole or ring attached to the hull to guide a line via that point; an opening in a ship's bulwark, normally oval in shape, designed to allow mooring lines to be fastened to cleats or bits mounted to the ship's deck. See also Panama chock and Dutchman's chock.
chock-a-block
Rigging blocks that are so tight against one another that they cannot be further tightened.[2]
chop
Waves, usually created by the wind, which are smaller and shorter-lived than swell.
A timekeeping device accurate enough to be used aboard a ship to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation. The invention of the marine chronometer in the 18th century was a major technical achievement for maritime navigation.
A fortified safe room on a vessel to take shelter in the event of pirate attack. Previously, a fortified room to protect ammunition and machinery from damage.
The British Naval Ensign or flag of the British Merchant Navy, a red flag with the Union Flag in the upper left corner. Colloquially called the "red duster".
1. Strictly, a group of government ships, especially naval ships, of the same or similar design.
2. Informally, a group of private or commercial ships of the same or similar design.
3. A standard of construction for merchant vessels, including standards for specific types or specialized capabilities of some types of merchant vessels (see, for example, ice class). A ship meeting the standard is in class, while one not meeting it is out of class.
A certificate issued by a port indicating that a ship carries no infectious diseases. Also called a pratique.
clean slate
At the helm, the watchkeeper would record details of speed, distances, headings, etc. on a slate. At the beginning of a new watch the slate would be wiped clean.
A stationary device used to secure a rope aboard a vessel.[2]
clench
A method of fixing together two pieces of wood, usually overlapping planks, by driving a nail through both planks as well as a washer-like rove. The nail is then burred or riveted over to complete the fastening.
clew
One of the lower corners of a square sail, or, on a triangular sail, the corner at the end of the boom.[2]
A comparison of the clinker and carvel styles of boat construction A method of constructing hulls that involves overlapping planks and/or plates, much like Viking longships, resulting in speed and flexibility in small boat hulls. Contrast carvel-built.
1. A sailing vessel designed primarily for speed. While the square-rigged clipper ships of the middle of the 19th century are well known, others, such as Baltimore Clippers and opium clippers could be rigged differently, often as schooners, and a small number of 19th-century clippers were built as barques.
A bend used to attach a rope to a post or bollard. Also used to finish tying off the foresail.[2]
club hauling
A maneuver by which a ship drops one of its anchors at high speed in order to turn abruptly. This was sometimes used as a means of obtaining a good firing angle on a pursuing vessel. See kedge.
Loading coal for use as fuel aboard a steamship. A time-consuming, laborious, and dirty process often undertaken by the entire crew, coaling was a necessity from the early days of steam in the 19th century until the early 20th century, when oil supplanted coal as the fuel of choice for steamships.
A type of open traditional fishing boat with a flat bottom and high bow which developed on the northeast coast of England.
cockbill
To angle a square-riggedyard away from the horizontal so that it is out of the way for loading or unloading, or so that the ship may lie alongside another ship without the yards touching.
A type of sailing ship, with a single mast and a single square-riggedsail first developed in the 10th century and widely used, particularly in the Baltic Sea region, in seagoing trade from the 12th through the 14th centuries. It had a distinctive hull design: the flat bottom was carvel-built and the sides were clinker-built.[47]: 225–227
A way of loading a vessel that gives military forces embarked aboard her immediate access to weapons, ammunition, and supplies needed when conducting an amphibious landing. In combat loading, cargo is stowed in such a way that unloading of equipment will match up with the personnel that are landing and in the order they land, so that they have immediate access to the gear they need for combat as soon as they land. Combat loading gives primary consideration to the ease and sequence with which troops, equipment, and supplies can be made ready for combat, sacrificing the more efficient use of cargo space that ship operators seek when loading a ship for the routine transportation of personnel and cargo.
To formally place (a naval vessel) into active service, after which the vessel is said to be in commission. Sometimes used less formally to mean placing a commercial ship into service.
1. (rank) Prior to 1997, the title used in the Royal Navy for an officer of the rank of captain who was given temporary command of a squadron. At the end of the deployment of the squadron, or in the presence of an admiral, he would revert to his de facto rank of captain.
2. (rank) A military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain but below a rear admiral. Often equivalent to the rank of "flotilla admiral" or sometimes "counter admiral" in non-English-speaking navies.
3. (convoy commodore) A civilian put in charge of the good order of the merchant ships in British convoys during World War II, but with no authority over naval ships escorting the convoy.
A raised and windowed hatchway in a ship's deck, with a ladder leading below and the hooded entrance-hatch to the main cabins.
complement
1. The number of persons in a ship's crew, including officers.
2. A collective term for all of the persons in a ship's crew, including officers.
comprise
To include or contain. As applied to a naval task force, the listing of all assigned units for a single transient purpose or mission (e.g. "The task force comprises Ship A, Ship B, and Ship C"). "Comprise" means exhaustive inclusion – there are not any other parts to the task force, and each ship has a permanent squadron existence, independent of the task force.
A vessel constructed of steel and ferrocement (a type of reinforced concrete) rather than of more traditional materials, such as steel, iron, or wood.[48]
To direct a ship or submarine from a position of command. While performing this duty, an officer is said to have the conn.
conning officer
An officer on a naval vessel responsible for instructing the helmsman on the course to steer. While performing this duty, the officer is said to have the conn.
1. An armored control tower of an iron or steel warship built between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries from which the ship was navigated in battle.
2. A tower-like structure on the dorsal (topside) surface of a submarine, serving in submarines built before the mid-20th century as a connecting structure between the bridge and pressure hull and housing instruments and controls from which the periscopes were used to direct the submarine and launch torpedo attacks. Since the mid-20th century, it has been replaced by the sail (United States usage) or fin (European and Commonwealth usage), a structure similar in appearance that no longer plays a role in directing the submarine.
Unpowered Great Lakes vessels, usually a fully loaded schooner, barge, or steamer barge, towed by a larger steamer that would often tow more than one barge. The consort system was used in the Great Lakes from the 1860s to around 1920.
When two boats are approaching each other from any angle and this angle remains the same over time (constant bearing) they are on a collision course. Because of the implication of collision, "constant bearing, decreasing range" has come to mean a problem or an obstacle which is incoming.[49]
1. A flush-decked sailing warship of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries having a single tier of guns, ranked next below a frigate. In the US Navy, it is referred to as a sloop-of-war.
2. A lightly armed and armored warship of the 20th and 21st centuries, smaller than a frigate and capable of transoceanic duty.
A steam-powered wooden warship protected from enemy fire by bales of cotton lining its sides, most commonly associated with some of the warships employed by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861–1865).
counter
The part of the stern above the waterline that extends beyond the rudder stock culminating in a small transom. A long counter increases the waterline length when the boat is heeled, so increasing hull speed. See also truncated counter.
counterflood
To deliberately flood compartments on the opposite side from already flooded ones. Usually done to reduce a list.
country ship
A term used by the British East India Company from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century for a merchant ship owned by local owners east of the Cape of Good Hope which traded within that area and gathered cargoes for shipment west of the Cape to England (later the United Kingdom) by the company's "chartered ships", "extra ships", and "regular ships". "Country ships" were strictly prohibited from trading west of the Cape, which would violate the company's strict monopoly on that trade.[46] Country ships were also important in the opium trade from India into China until supplanted by the faster opium clipper.[53]: 51
course
1. The direction in which a vessel is being steered, usually given in degrees.
2. The lowest square sail on a square rigged mast, except where that mast is the mizzen – in which case the name cro'jack (cross-jack) or mizzen-sail is used.[54]
cowl
1. A ship's ventilator with a bell-shaped top that can be swiveled to catch the wind and force it below.
2. A vertical projection of a ship's funnel that directs the smoke away from the bridge.
The part of a naval vessel containing the residential quarters and wardroom for chief petty officers. CPO country is off-limits to more junior enlisted personnel unless they are there on official business.
crab
A winch used for raising the leeboard, with a barrel for pulling in the staysail sheets.[2]
A ship with a crane and specialized for lifting heavy loads.
cranse iron
Also crance, crans, or cranze iron.
The metal fitting mounted at the end of a bowsprit to which the forestay (or jibstay), bobstay, and bowsprit shrouds are attached. It is also where the tack of the outermost headsail is fastened.[13]
A term used in the United States to describe military high-speed offshore rescue boats, similar in size and performance to motor torpedo boats, used to rescue pilots and aircrews of crashed aircraft.
Crazy Ivan
US Navy slang for a maneuver in which a submerged Soviet or Russian submarine suddenly turns 180 degrees or through 360 degrees to detect submarines following it.
A vessel specialized for the transportation of offshore support personnel and cargo to and from offshore installations such as oil platforms, drilling rigs, drill ships, dive ships, and wind farms. Also known as a fast support vessel or fast supply vessel.
The services rendered by specialised shipping companies to manage the human resources and manning of all types of vessels, including recruitment, deployment to vessel, scheduling, and training, as well as the ongoing management and administrative duties of seafarers, such as payroll, travel arrangements, insurance and health schemes, overall career development, and day-to-day welfare. Also known as crewing.
cringle
A loop of rope, usually at the corners of a sail, for fixing the sail to a spar. They are often reinforced with a metal eye.[2]
cro'jack
Also crossjack.
The square sail set on the lower mizzen yard of a square-rigged ship. Many full-rigged ships would not set a sail in this position, as it would be interfered with by the spanker[55]
Two horizontal struts at the upper ends of the topmasts of sailboats, used to anchor the shrouds from the topgallant mast. Lateral spreaders for the topmast shrouds (standing back stays).[2]
A masthead constructed with sides and sometimes a roof to shelter the lookouts from the weather, generally by whaling vessels. The term has also become generic for what is properly called a masthead.
A passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are the purpose of the experience, as are the different destinations along the way. Transportation is not the prime purpose, as cruise ships operate mostly on routes that return passengers to their originating port. A cruise ship contrasts with a passenger liner, which is a passenger ship that provides a scheduled service between published ports primarily as a mode of transportation. Large, prestigious passenger ships used for either purpose are sometimes called ocean liners.
1. From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, a classification for a wide variety of gun- and sometimes torpedo-armed warships, usually but not always armored, intended for independent scouting, raiding, or commerce protection; some were designed also to provide direct support to a battle fleet. Cruisers carried out functions performed previously by the cruising ships (sailing frigates and sloops-of-war) of the Age of Sail.
2. From the early to the mid-20th century, a type of armored warship with varying armament and of various sizes, but always smaller than a battleship and larger than a destroyer, capable of both direct support of a battle fleet and of independent operations, armed with guns and sometimes torpedoes.
3. After the mid-20th century, various types of warships of intermediate size armed with guided missiles and sometimes guns, intended for air defense of aircraft carriers and associated task forces or for anti-ship missile attacks against such forces; virtually indistinguishable from large destroyers since the late 20th century.
4. A yacht with one or more cabins containing the facilities for living aboard, thus capable of making voyages.
crutches
Metal Y-shaped pins used to fix oars while rowing.
A join between two lines, similar to an eye-splice, where each rope end is joined to the other a short distance along, making an opening that closes under tension.
cuntline
The "valley" between the strands of a rope or cable. Before serving a section of laid rope, e.g. to protect it from chafing, it may be "wormed" by laying yarns in the cuntlines, giving that section an even cylindrical shape.
cut and run
When wanting to make a quick escape, a ship might cut lashings to sails or cables for anchors, causing damage to the rigging, or losing an anchor, but shortening the time needed to make ready by bypassing the proper procedures.
cut of his jib
The "cut" of a sail refers to its shape. Since this would often vary between ships, it could be used both to identify a familiar vessel at a distance, and to judge the possible sailing qualities of an unknown one. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the ships of different nations used visually distinctive types of jibs that could be determined at a distance, providing an easy way to determine friend from foe.[57] Also used figuratively of people.[58]
1. A sailing vessel defined by its rig. In European waters this is a single-masted fore and aft rig with two or more headsails In North American waters, the definition also considers whether or not the bowsprit is permanently fixed and also takes into account the position of the mast. A standing (permanently fixed) bowsprit and a forward mast position, but with two or more headsails would be classed as a sloop in the North American definition. A running bowsprit, a forestay (carrying a staysail) that is fixed to the stemhead, a jib that is set flying and a mast position that is more aft is a cutter.
2. A type of ship's boat powered by sail or oars, though more optimised for sail than many types of ship's boat.
3. A small- or medium-sized vessel used by governmental agencies or law enforcement in the exercise of official authority, such as harbor pilots' cutters, US Coast Guard cutters, and UK Border Agency cutters.
4. A type of decked sailing vessel originating in the early 18th century designed for speed. Many were used as small warships. Originally cutter referred only to a type of hull, but it came to refer to the rig, which was single-masted with both fore-and-aft and square sails. A cutter rig had very large sail areas available for use in light winds.
A surprise attack by small boats, often at night, against an anchored vessel in which the small-boat crews boarded and captured or destroyed the target vessel. Cutting out became a popular tactic in the latter part of the 18th century and saw extensive use during the Napoleonic Wars. Cutting out was still in use in the mid-19th century, in conflicts such as the Mexican-American War and American Civil War.
A type of light centerboard that is lifted vertically; sometimes in pairs, with the leeward one lowered when beating.
dan
dan-buoy
A temporary marker buoy consisting of a long pole with flag and/or light at the top and, lower down, a float and a ballast weight to make it float vertically. May be used with or without an anchor to attach it to the sea bed. In naval use often marks a swept channel created by minesweeping. In other uses may mark fishing equipment (nets or pots), an anchor, or, most commonly, is attached to a lifebuoy to throw into the sea to mark the position of a man overboard.[13][3]
An unlighted fixed structure equipped with a dayboard for daytime identification.
day-blink
The moment at dawn where, from some point on the mast, a lookout can see above low-lying mist around the ship.
dayboard
The daytime identifier of an aid to navigation presenting one of several standard shapes (square, triangle, or rectangle) and colors (red, green, white, orange, yellow, or black).
day boat
1. A sailing boat without overnight accommodation, sometimes with a small cabin, used for pleasure sailing. Typically around 20 feet (6.1 m) in length[13]
2. (United States): a steamboat built for daytime service; as opposed to a night boat.
dead ahead
Exactly ahead; directly ahead; directly in front.
dead horse
Debt owed for advanced pay.[41] The "flogging a dead horse" ceremony at sea celebrated discharge of the debt.
dead in the water
Not moving (used only when a vessel is afloat and neither tied up nor anchored). The term is abbreviated to DIW by the US Navy. It is often used to indicate that a pirate or drug runner vessel has been immobilised.
A wooden block with three holes (but no pulleys) spliced to a shroud. It adjusts the tension in the standing rigging of large sailing vessels, by lacing through the holes with a lanyard to the deck. It performs the same job as a turnbuckle.[2]
A method of navigation that estimates a ship's position from the distance run measured by the log and the course steered. If corrections for factors such as tide and leeway are then made, this provides an estimated position.[59] Dead reckoning contrasts with fixing a position with astronomical navigation or satellite navigation. Some sources consider that a dead reckoning position does include adjustments for wind and tide, so care is needed in interpretation of this term.[60]
deadrise
The angle of the hull surface, relative to horizontal, as measured on either side of the keel on a line drawn towards the turn of the bilge. Without any other qualifier, it is taken at the midships cross-section of the hull. This can be expressed in degrees or sometimes as a vertical linear measure (such as inches) at a standard distance from the keel. A hull with a lot of deadrise has an obvious "V" shape to the bottom of the hull, whereas no deadrise denotes sheer sides and a flat-bottomed hull. It is usually taken to be one of several measures of the "sharpness" of a hull. It can also be referred to as the "rise of floor".[61]
deadwood
In a traditional wooden hull, blocks of timber on the top of the keel that form the shape of the hull where its section is too narrow for the method of construction employed elsewhere. It is often used forward of the sternpost.[28]
In a keel boat, the act of broaching to windward, putting the spinnaker pole into the water and causing a crash-gybe of the boom and mainsail, which sweep across the deck and plunge down into the water. During a death roll, the boat rolls from side to side, becoming gradually more unstable until either it capsizes or the skipper reacts correctly to prevent it.
The process of leaving a ship or aircraft, or removing goods from a ship or aircraft.
debunk
The process of removing fuel from a vessel. After a shipwreck, a "debunkering" operation will be performed in an effort to minimize damage and protect the environment from fuel spills.
1. The top of a ship or vessel; the surface that is removed to accommodate the seating area.
2. Any of the structures forming the approximately horizontal surfaces in the ship's general structure. Unlike flats, they are a structural part of the ship.
A gun mounted on the deck of a submarine for use in surface combat. Common on submarines of the first half of the 20th century, deck guns became obsolete as submarines became capable of sustained underwater operations after World War II.
deck hand
Also decky.
A person whose job involves aiding the deck supervisor in (un)mooring, anchoring, maintenance, and general evolutions on deck.
deck supervisor
The person in charge of all evolutions and maintenance on deck; sometimes split into two groups: forward deck supervisor and aft deck supervisor.
The underside of the deck above. The inside of the boat is normally paneled over to hide the structure, pipes, electrical wires. It can be in thin wood planks, often covered with a vinyl lining, or in thin PVC or now even in fiberglass planks.
To formally take (a naval vessel) out of active service, after which the vessel is said to be out of commission or decommissioned. Sometimes used less formally to mean taking a commercial ship out of service.
A fee paid by a charter party to a shipowner if the time taken to load or unload a vessel exceeds the laytime – the amount of time stipulated for loading or unloading – specified in a voyage charter.
A ship that acts as a mobile or fixed base for other ships and submarines or that supports a naval base.
depth of hold
The distance between the underside of the main deck (or its supporting beams) and the top of the limber boards (the part of the ceiling that lies alongside the keelson), measured at the middle frame. It is one of the key measurements in working out the measurement tonnage in most systems.[28]
A fee paid by a shipowner to a charter party if the time taken to load or unload a vessel is less than the laytime – the amount of time stipulated for loading or unloading – specified in a voyage charter.
A type of fast and maneuverable small warship introduced in the 1890s to protect capital ships from torpedo boat attack, and since increased in size and capabilities to become a long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against submarines, surface ships, aircraft, or missiles. Originally torpedo boat destroyer. In US Navy slang, also called a tin can or small boy.
A US Navy term for a smaller, lightly armed warship built in large numbers during World War II (and in smaller numbers thereafter), cheaper, slower, and less-well-armed than a destroyer but larger and more heavily armed than a corvette and designed to escort convoys of merchant ships or naval auxiliaries or second-line naval forces. Employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also used to provide some protection against aircraft and smaller surface ships. Generally known as frigates in other navies, and designated as such in the US Navy as well by the 1970s.
A naval auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. Known in British English as a destroyer depot ship.
devil seam
The devil was possibly a slang term for the garboard seam, hence "between the devil and the deep blue sea" being an allusion to keel hauling, but a more popular version seems to be the seam between the waterway and the stanchions, which would be difficult to get at, requiring a cranked caulking iron, and a restricted swing of the caulking mallet.
devil to pay
Also devil to pay, and no pitch hot.
"Paying" the devil is sealing the devil seam. It is a difficult and unpleasant job (with no resources) because of the shape of the seam (up against the stanchions) or if the devil refers to the garboard seam, it must be done with the ship slipped or careened.
A type of chain stopper often used to secure an anchor in its hawsepipe. Consists of a two-pronged hook that fits over a link of chain, a turnbuckle and a short chain fastened to a strong point.
The generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region, typically weighing 300 to 500 tons, with a long, thin hull. They are trading vessels primarily used to carry heavy items, like fruit, fresh water, or merchandise. Crews vary from about thirty to around twelve, depending on the size of the vessel.
diamonds
Glass prisms that were laid between the wooden deck planks to allow natural light below were referred to as diamonds due to the sparkle they gave off in the sunlight.
1. A type of small boat, often carried or towed as a ship's boat by a larger vessel.
2. A small racing yacht or recreational open sailing boat, often used for beginner training rather than sailing full-sized yachts.
3. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor, but some are rigged for sailing.
dipping the eye
Dipping the eye A method of attaching more than one hawser to a single bollard, so that each can be lifted off without disturbing the other(s). The second hawser is passed under the first, then up through the eye of the first (hence the name), before being secured over the bollard.
A vessel ranging in size from a small boat to a large ship tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship, from ship to shore, or, occasionally, from shore to shore.
Also drogher, raft ship, timber drogher, or timber ship.
A barely seaworthy ship of the 19th century assembled from large timbers lashed or pegged together and designed to make a single voyage from North America to the United Kingdom and then to be disassembled so that her timbers could be sold, thus avoiding high British taxes on lumber imported as cargo. When British taxes on imported lumber fell, the construction of disposable ships ceased.
A flag flown to distinguish ships of one seagoing service of a given country from ships of the country's other seagoing service(s) when ships of more than one of the country's seagoing services fly the same ensign.
1. Especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a permanent battle formation of a fleet, often smaller than a squadron, equipped and trained to operate as a tactical unit under the overall command of a higher command, such as a fleet or squadron.
2. Especially in modern usage, an administrative naval command, smaller than a squadron and often subordinate to an administrative squadron, responsible for the manning, training, supply, and maintenance of a group of ships or submarines but not for directing their operations at sea.[citation needed]
In British usage, a shore-based naval officer responsible for the efficient working of the transports and boats of the flotilla, division, or squadron under his charge.
1. In American usage, a fixed structure attached to shore to which a vessel is secured when in port, generally synonymous with pier and wharf, except that pier tends to refer to structures used for tying up commercial ships and to structures extending from shore for use in fishing, while dock refers more generally to facilities used for tying up ships or boats, including recreational craft.
2. In British usage, the body of water between two piers or wharves that accommodates vessels tied up at the piers or wharves.
A facility where ships or boats are built and repaired. Routinely used as a synonym for shipyard, although dockyard is sometimes associated more closely with a facility used for maintenance and basing activities, while shipyard sometimes is associated more closely with a facility used in construction.
dodger
A hood forward of a hatch or cockpit to protect the crew from wind and spray. Can be soft or hard.
A short watch period, generally half the usual time (e.g., a two-hour watch rather than a four-hour one). Such watches might be included in order to rotate the system over different days for fairness, or to allow both watches to eat their meals at approximately normal times.
doghouse
A slang term (in the US, mostly) for a raised portion of a ship's deck. A doghouse is usually added to improve headroom below or to shelter a hatch.
dogvane
A small weather vane, sometimes improvised with a scrap of cloth, yarn, or other light material mounted within sight of the helmsman. See tell-tale.
A structure consisting of a number of piles driven into the seabed or riverbed as a marker.
dolphin striker
A spar protruding vertically beneath a bowsprit, usually attached to the boswprit cap, used provide a mechanically advantageous run for the martingale stay, and other ropes of a ship's rigging.
A small auxiliary engine used either to start a larger engine or independently, e.g. for pumping water on steamships.[63]
donkeyman
One of a ship's engineering crew. Often a crewman responsible for maintaining a steam donkey, or any machinery other than the main engines. On some ships, the Petty Officer in charge of engineroom ratings.
A dorade box (also called a dorade vent, collector box, or simply a "ventilator") is a type of vent that permits the passage of air in and out of the cabin or engine room of a boat while keeping rain, spray, and sea wash out.
A shallow-draft, lightweight boat, about 5 to 7 metres (16 to 23 ft) long, with high sides, a flat bottom, and sharp bows. Traditionally used as fishing boats, both in coastal waters and in the open sea.
double-banked
(of the arrangement of oars on a boat) having two oarsmen seated on each thwart, each of whom operates one oar on their side of the boat. This contrasts with single-banked, where only one oarsman is seated on each thwart operating one oar on one side of the boat, with the oars alternating between port and starboard along the length of the boat. A third arrangement is to have one rower on each thwart working two oars, one on each side of the boat.[64]: 135
double-shotted
The practice of loading smoothbore cannon with two cannonballs.
doubling the angle on the bow
A technique for establishing the distance from a point on land, such as a headland that is being passed. This is a type of running bearing which requires no plotting on the chart. The ship is sailed on a constant course and speed. The distance shown on the log is noted when the relative bearing of a fixed point is taken, and the increase in that bearing is watched until it is twice the original bearing, and the log is read again. The distance travelled between the two bearings is the distance of the ship from the fixed point when the second bearing was taken. Allowances for tidal streams may or may not be allowed for, depending on the accuracy required.[65][66]
Dover cliffs
A slang term for very rough seas with large white-capped waves.
downbound
1. Travel downstream, with a following current.[67]
The entry of water through any opening into the hull or superstructure of an undamaged vessel, such as an open door or porthole, loose or open hatch, ventilator opening, etc. Downflooding can occur due to a ship's trim, if she heels or lists, or if she becomes totally or partially submerged.
One of a family of traditional paddled long boats of various designs and sizes found throughout Asia, Africa, and the Pacific islands. For competitive events, they are generally rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails. Dragon boat races are traditionally held during the annual summer solstice festival.
A type of battleship designed with an "all-big-gun" armament layout in which the ship's primary gun power resided in a primary battery of its largest guns intended for use at long range, with other gun armament limited to small weapons intended for close-range defense against torpedo boats and other small warships. Most, but not all, dreadnoughts also had steam turbine propulsion. Predominant from 1906, dreadnoughts differed from earlier steam battleships, retroactively dubbed predreadnoughts, which had only a few large guns, relied on an intermediate secondary battery used at shorter ranges for most of their offensive power, and had triple-expansion steam engines.
To string International Code of Signals flags, arranged at random, from stemhead to masthead, between mastheads (if the vessel has more than one mast), and then down to the taffrail, on a ship in harbor as a sign of celebration of a national, local, or personal anniversary, event, holiday, or occasion. When a ship is properly dressed overall, ensigns fly at each masthead unless displaced by another flag (e.g. that of a flag officer on board), in addition to the ensign flown in the usual position at the stern.
dressing down
1. Treating old sails with oil or wax to renew them.
A device to slow a boat down in a storm so that it does not speed excessively down the slope of a wave and crash into the next one. It is generally constructed of heavy flexible material in the shape of a cone. See also sea anchor.
A technique of maintaining steerageway when going downstream with neither engine nor wind to sail. The vessel uses its anchor to draw itself head-to-stream, then lifts the anchor and drifts stern-first downstream, ferry gliding to maintain position within the stream. As steerage begins to reduce, the vessel anchors again and then repeats the whole procedure as required.
A narrow basin or vessel used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform.
drying harbour
Also drying mooring.
A harbour where the water wholly or partly recedes as the tide goes out, leaving any vessel moored there aground.
dunnage
1. Loose packing material used to protect a ship's cargo from damage during transport. See also fardage.
Any of several types of traditional flat-bottomed shoal-draught sailing barge, originally used for carrying cargo in the Zuyder Zee and on the rivers of the Netherlands.
Term of abuse implying shoddiness or (when directed at a person) stupidity or stubbornness, usually embellished with other oaths and insults tagged on fore and aft.
A condition in which a sailing vessel (especially one that sails poorly to windward) is confined between two capes or headlands by a wind blowing directly onshore.
en echelon
Diagram showing the Minas Geraes-class battleship with its central guns arranged en echelon. An arrangement of gun turrets whereby the turret on one side of the ship is placed further aft than the one on the other side, so that both turrets can fire to either side.
One of the machinery spaces of a vessel, usually the largest one, containing the ship's prime mover (usually a diesel or steam engine or a gas or steam turbine). Larger vessels may have more than one engine room.
ensign
1. (flag) The principal flag or banner flown by a ship to indicate her nationality.
An approximate geographical position obtained by making allowances for leeway, tide, and currents to a dead reckoning position (which is calculated from the distance run and the course steered).
A piece of ship's equipment used to produce fresh drinking water from sea water by distillation.
executive officer
The officer second in command on a warship. Also called "X.O." in the United States and "Number One" in the Royal Navy and Commonwealth navies.
extra ship
A term used by the British East India Company from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century for merchant ships it hired to make voyages for it between England (later the United Kingdom) and ports east of the Cape of Good Hope, a trade over which the company held a strict monopoly. "Extra ships" were chartered for a single round-trip voyage beginning during a single sailing season (September to April) and augmented the voyages of "regular ships", which were merchant ships under long-term charter to make repeated voyages for the company over many seasons. However, if an "extra ship" operated well and the company needed its services, the company often chartered it repeatedly over a number of seasons.[46]
extremis
Also in extremis.
The point under International Rules of the Road (Navigation Rules) at which the privileged (or stand-on) vessel on collision course with a burdened (or give-way) vessel determines it must maneuver to avoid a collision. Prior to extremis, the privileged vessel must maintain course and speed and the burdened vessel must maneuver to avoid collision.
A closed loop or eye at the end of a line, rope, cable, etc. It is made by unraveling its end and joining it to itself by intertwining it into the lay of the line. Eye splices are very strong and compact and are frequently employed in moorings and docking lines, among other uses.
A large oceangoing vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Some also serve as mother ships for smaller fishing or whaling vessels. Those used for processing fish are also known as fish processing vessels.
fair
1. A smooth curve, usually referring to a line of the hull with minimum localised deviations.
1. A navigable channel (e.g. in a harbor or offshore) that is the usual course taken by vessels in the area.
2. In military and naval terms, a channel from offshore, in a river, or in a harbor that has enough depth to accommodate the draft of large vessels.
fake
A single turn of rope in a coil or on a drum. A group of fakes is known as a tier. See also fake down.[13][3][40]: 200, 286
fake down
To lay a coil of rope down so that it will run easily; that is, with rope feeding off the top of the coil and the bitter end at the bottom. Often confused with flake. See also range.[3]
Also bear down, bear away, bear off, or head down.
To change the direction of sail so as to point in a direction that is more downwind; to bring the bowleeward. This is the opposite of pointing up or heading up.
fantail
The aft end of a ship, also known as the poop deck.
fardage
Wood placed in the bottom of a ship to keep cargo dry. See also dunnage.
fashion boards
Loose boards that slide in grooves to close off a companionway or cabin entrance.[2]
fast
Fastened or held firmly (e.g. "fast aground": stuck on the seabed; or "made fast": tied securely).[2]
A small, fast, agile warship armed with anti-ship missiles, guns, or torpedoes. The fast attack craft replaced the torpedo boat during the second half of the 20th century in the role of a cheap, offensively-oriented inshore warship.
The largest type of US Navy combat logistics ship, designed to serve as a combined oiler, ammunition ship, and supply ship. The first fast combat support ship entered service in the mid-1960s.
1. A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.8 m), roughly measured as the distance between a man's outstretched hands. Particularly used in sounding as a measurement of the depth of a body of water.
2. To measure the depth of water; to engage in sounding.
fathomer
A person engaged in sounding to determine the depth of water.
A traditional wooden sailing boat with a rig consisting of one or two lateen sails, used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean and particularly along the Nile in Egypt and Sudan, as well as in Iraq.
fend off
A command given to the crew to stop what they are now doing and to immediately manually prevent the boat from banging into the docks or other boats.
A merchant ship used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water.
ferry glide
To hold a vessel against and at an angle to the current/stream such that the vessel moves sideways over the bottom due to the effect of the current operating on the upstream side of the vessel.
the vertical space above a vessel's engine room extending into its stack, usually covered by an iron grating. Also applied to the framework around the opening itself
A sailing boat with two masts with a standard rig consisting of a main dipping lug sail and a mizzen standing lug sail. Developed in Scotland and used for commercial fishing from the 1850s until the 20th century.
fig
US Navy slang for a guided-missile frigate, especially of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, derived from its class designation ("FFG").
fight his ship
To fight his ship (or to fight her ship) is a naval term that denotes a captain taking his or her vessel into combat or directing his or her vessel in combat.
fighting top
An enlarged top designed to allow gunfire downward onto an enemy ship. A fighting top could have small guns installed in it or could serve as a platform for snipers armed with muskets or rifles.
A symbolic image, particularly a carved effigy, at the head of a traditional sailing ship or early steamer.
fin
A term used in European and Commonwealth countries for a tower-like structure on the dorsal (topside) surface of a submarine; called a sail in the United States.
fine
Narrow in appearance from the vantage point of a lookout or other person viewing activity in the vicinity of a ship, e.g. another ship off the starboardbow with her bow or stern facing the viewer's ship could be described as "fine on the starboard bow" of the viewer's ship.
fine lines
Descriptive term for a vessel with a hull shape designed for an efficient flow of water around the hull. Simply described by comparing the hull shape to a rectangular cuboid with the same length, breadth and height as the submerged part of the hull. The more that you have to carve off that cuboid to get the hull's shape, the finer the lines. More accurately this is measured as the block coefficient or the prismatic coefficient.
A ship loaded with flammable materials and explosives and sailed into an enemy port or fleet either already burning or ready to be set alight by its crew (who would then abandon it) in order to collide with and set fire to enemy ships.
The classification for the largest sailing warships of the 17th through the 19th centuries. Such vessels often had up to three masts, 850+ crew, and 100+ guns.
1. In the Royal Navy, the senior lieutenant on board; responsible to the commanding officer for the domestic affairs of the ship's company. Also known as 'Jimmy the One' or 'Number One'. Removes his cap when visiting the mess decks as a token of respect for the privacy of the crew in those quarters. Officer in charge of cables on the forecastle.
2. In the US Navy, the officer on a ship serving as the senior person in charge of all deck hands.
A sailing tactic for handling winds too strong for the sail area hoisted when reefing the sails is not feasible or possible. The headsail is set normally while the mainsail is let out until it is constantly luffing. This creates a loss of force on the main and also reduces the efficiency of the headsail while still retaining sailing control of the vessel.
fisherman's sail
On a staysailschooner, the fisherman is a quadrilateral sail set between the two masts above the main staysail. It is used in light to moderate airs.
The period after a ship is launched during which all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and she is readied for sea trials and delivery to her owners.
fixed propeller
A propeller mounted on a rigid shaft protruding from the hull of a vessel, usually driven by an inboard motor; steering must be done using a rudder. See also outboard motor and sterndrive.
The business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners, and flying that state's civil ensign on the ship. The practice allows the ship's owner to reduce operating costs or avoid the regulations of the owner's country.
1. A commissioned officer senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the ship or installation under their command, in English-speaking countries usually referring to the senior officers of a navy, specifically to those who hold any of the admiral ranks and in some cases to those holding the rank of commodore. In modern American usage, additionally applied to US Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps officers and general officers in the US Army, US Air Force, and US Marine Corps entitled to fly their own flags.
2. A formal rank in the mid-19th century US Navy, conveyed temporarily upon senior captains in command of squadrons of ships, soon rendered obsolete by the creation of the ranks of commodore and rear admiral.
1. A vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships. The term derives from the custom of commanders of such a group of ships, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag aboard the ship on which they are embarked.
2. Used more loosely, the lead ship in a fleet of naval or commercial vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or, in terms of media coverage, best-known.
flake
To set down in folds, as in stowing a sail or to range a cable on deck so that it is clear to run. Not to be confused with fake down.[13]
A rectangular, flat-bottomed boat with square ends used to transport freight and passengers on inland waterways in the United States during the 18th and 19th centuries.
1. Naval fleet: The highest operational echelon of command of ships commanded by a single person in a navy, and typically the largest type of naval formation commanded by a single person. In modern times, usually (but not necessarily) a permanent formation.
2. During the Age of Sail, a Royal Navy term for any naval command larger than a squadron in size, or commanded by a rear admiral and composed of five ships-of-the-line and any number of smaller vessels.
4. Fishing fleet: A term for an aggregate of commercial fishing vessels, commonly used either to describe all fishing vessels belonging to a single country, operating in a single region, operating out of a particular port, or engaged in particular type of fishing (e.g., the tuna fishing fleet). The term does not imply that the vessels operate as part of a single organization.
5. Informally, any grouping (based on physical proximity or sharing of a common organizational subordination) of naval or civilian vessels.
6. Of a person, to move from one location to another aboard a vessel, or to change positions within a naval organization.
7. To move up a rope – especially when drawing the blocks of a tackle part – to allow a greater advantage in hauling.
8. To cause a rope or chain to slip down the barrel of a capstan or windlass.
9. A former term for the process aboard a vessel of moving deadeyes when the shrouds become too long.
A naval force that extends a controlling influence on maritime operations without ever leaving port by forcing an opposing navy to maintain forces on station to blockade it in port and oppose it if it comes out to fight. A navy which operates its forces as a fleet in being generally seeks to avoid actual combat with an enemy fleet for fear of losing a naval battle and thereby its ability to influence events and activities at sea.[70]
flemish
To coil a line that is not in use so that it lies flat on the deck.
flettner rotor
A spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to propel a ship.
A flat deck on an aircraft carrier used for the launch and recovery of aircraft. In the United States Navy, the term flight deck also refers to a helicopter deck on other types of ships.
flog the glass
The act of vibrating or shaking a half-hour marine sandglass — used until the early 19th century to time the length of a watch — to speed the passage of the sand in order to get off watch duty earlier.[71]
floor
Transverse structural timbers which form that part of the lower frame of a traditional wooden ship's hull that sits immediately above the keel. The frames continue upwards as pieces called futtocks. A keelson is usually fastened over the top of the floors.[72]
floorhead
Any of the upper extremities of the floor of a vessel.
1. In naval usage, a group of warships under a single commander that is smaller than a fleet but otherwise not formally defined. A flotilla often is larger than a squadron, and usually is made up of smaller vessels than those assigned to a squadron, but some flotillas are smaller than squadrons and some include larger vessels. In some navies, the term flotilla is reserved for naval formations that operate on inland bodies of water, while the terms fleet and squadron denote naval formations that operate at sea. A flotilla may be a permanent or temporary formation. In modern times, a flotilla sometimes is an administrative naval unit responsible for maintaining and supporting vessels but not for commanding their operations at sea.
2. Informally, a group of naval or civilian vessels operating together or in close proximity to one another.
flotilla holiday
A group of chartered yachts that set out together on the same route.
A warship suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer, in the latter case known as a destroyer leader.
A Dutch transoceanic sailing cargo vessel, square-rigged with two or three masts that were much taller than the masts of a galleon, developed in the 16th century and widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Waves going in the same direction as a ship, or within 15° of the heading, at a speed slower than the ship. See overtaking sea for waves travelling faster than the ship.[24]
foo-foo band
An impromptu musical band on late 19th-century sailing vessels, made up from members of the ship's crew.[73][74]
A sailing rig consisting mainly of sails that are set along the line of the keel rather than perpendicular to it. Such sails, and the vessel itself, are said to be fore-and-aft-rigged.
fore-and-afters
Removable wooded beams running along the centre of the hold openings, beneath the hatches that they support.[2]
fore horse
A transverse wooden or iron beam afore the main mast to which the foresail sheet is attached.[2]
(pronounced /ˈfoʊksəl/) A partial deck above the upper deck and at the head of the vessel; traditionally the location of the sailors' living quarters. The name is derived from the castle fitted to bear archers in time of war.[2]
foredeck
The portion of the deck that is forward of the forward mast.
1. Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; the opposite of clear. For instance, a rope is foul when it does not run straight or smoothly, and an anchor is foul when it is caught on an obstruction.
2. A ship's bottom is foul when it is overgrown with marine life such as barnacles.
3. An area of water treacherous to navigation due to many shallow obstructions such as reefs, sandbars, rocks, etc.
4. A breach of racing rules.
5. Foul the range: To block another vessel from firing her guns at a target.
foulies
A slang term for oilskins, the foul-weather clothing worn by sailors.
In the British Royal Navy during the first half of the 18th century, a ship-of-the-line mounting between 46 and 60 guns.
frame
A transverse structural member that gives the hull strength and shape. Wooden frames may be sawn, bent, or laminated into shape; planking is then fastened to the frames. In traditional wooden ship building, an individual frame may be made of the following individual parts: floor, several futtocks, then a top timber as the last component closest to the deck. If the hull is built frame-first, these frame components are fastened to each other. In a planking-first construction, they may only be fastened to the hull planking.[75]
The height of a ship's hull (excluding the superstructure) above the waterline; the vertical distance from the current waterline to the lowest point on the highest continuous watertight deck. This usually varies from one part to another.
1. In the 17th century, any warship built for speed and maneuverability.
2. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a sailing warship with a single continuous gun deck, typically used for patrolling, blockading, etc., but not in line of battle.
3. In the second half of the 19th century, a type of warship combining sail and steam propulsion, typically of ironclad timber construction, with all guns on one deck.
4. In the 20th and 21st centuries, a warship, smaller than a destroyer, originally introduced during World War II as an anti-submarine vessel but now general-purpose.
Sailing into the wind (by), but not as close-hauled as might be possible, so as to make sure the sails are kept full. This provides a margin for error to avoid being taken aback in a tricky sea (a serious risk for square-rigged vessels). Figuratively it implies getting on with the job but in a steady, relaxed way, without undue urgency or strain.
Strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 50 and 60 degrees. They are stronger than the similar "Roaring Forties" to their north.
A method of improving the stability of a wooden vessel by increasing the breadth of the hull. The planking is removed and pieces of wood are added to the outside of the frames. Then the planking is replaced. An increase in breadth of about 1 foot (300 mm) could typically be achieved on each side. This was a common remedial technique at a time before shipwrights were able to carry out mathematical stability calculations.[44]: ch 6 the Gresham Ship
A narrow, light, and fast ship with a shallow draft, powered both by oars and sail, with a single mast carrying a lateen sail; a favorite of North African corsairs during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Rope, wire, or chain links in the rigging of a traditional square-rigged ship running from the outer edges of a top downwards and inwards to a point on the mast or lower shrouds. They carry the load of the shrouds that rise from the edge of the top, preventing the top from tilting relative to the mast.[69]
futtock
The part of a ship's frame that continues the structure above the floors. These often exist as individual pieces termed first futtock, second futtock and third futtock, numbered moving away from the keel.[75]
The typical Scottish sailingbarge or lighter of the 17th through 19th centuries, used mainly on inland waterways and especially on the River Clyde. A gabbart was a long, narrow, flat, single-masted vessel with a hatchway that extendied almost the full length of her deck, and some gabbarts had a mast that could be lowered to allow them to pass under bridges. Most later Scottish canal craft had their design origins in that of the gabbart.
gaff
1. (gaff rig) A spar that holds the upper edge of a four-sided fore-and-aft-mounted sail. On a hoisting gaff, the lower end is supported by gaff jaws which partly encircle the mast; it is hoisted using peak and throathalliards. A standing gaff remains aloft, its sails brailed when not in use.[69]
2. (fishing gaff) A hook on a long pole used to haul in fish.
A boat rigged with a four-sided fore-and-aft sail set abaft the mast, its head being spread by a gaff. The gaff may be standing (permanently in position) with the sail being brailed up to the gaff when not in use, or, more commonly, is hoisted using two halliards: the peak and the throat.[69]
1. Also foist and fuste, a narrow, light, and fast ship with a shallow draft, powered both by oars and sail, with a single mast carrying a lateen sail; a favorite of North Africancorsairs during the 16th and 17th centuries.
2. A type of Dutch or German merchant ship of the 17th through 19th centuries, similar to a ketch, with a rounded bow and stern like a fluyt and a nearly flat bottom, used especially for coastal navigation in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Modernized after 1830 with a sharper bow similar to a schooner.
3. Also galiote, a type of French warship of the 17th through 19th centuries with one or two masts, lateen sails, and a bank of oars. When built with only one mast, little more than a large chaloupe or launch. A galiote a bombes was a galiote armed with a mortar for use in bombarding the coast.
4. Also galiote, a horse-drawn barge used on canals and rivers in France from the mid-17th century through the 19th century.
5. Also galiote or scute, a flat-bottomed boat with a simple sail used to transport wine in the Anjou region of France.
Illustration of a typical 15th-century galleon A large, multi-decked sailing ship with a prominent, squared-off, raised stern, generally carrying three or more masts, typically lateenfore-and-aft-rigged on the rear mast and square-rigged on the mainmast and foremast. Galleons were used primarily as armed cargo carriers and sometimes as warships by European states from the 16th to the 18th centuries.
galley
1. (galley (kitchen)) The compartment of a ship where food is cooked or prepared; a ship's kitchen.
2. (galley) A type of ship propelled by oars, used especially in the Mediterranean for warfare, piracy, and trade from the 8th century BC to the 16th century AD, with some in use until the early 19th century.
3. A type of oared gunboat built by the United States in the late 18th century, akin to a brigantine but termed "galley" for administrative and funding purposes.
A meeting of two (or more) whaling ships at sea. The ships each send out a boat to the other, and the two captains meet on one ship, while the two chief mates meet on the other.[76]
A movable bridge used in boarding or leaving a ship at a pier.
gangway
An opening in the bulwark of a ship to allow passengers to board or leave the ship.
gantline
A rope running through a block at or near the masthead, with both ends reaching the deck. It is used solely for hoisting and lowering crew members and/or tools into the rigging for maintenance and repair work.
garbling
The illegal practice of mixing cargo with garbage.
garboard
The strake closest to the keel (from Dutch gaarboard).
garboard planks
The planks immediately on either side of the keel.
gash
Any refuse or rubbish discarded into a refuse container or dustbin, also known as "gash fanny" (South African Navy).
gasket
A rope used to secure a sail (particularly the topsail) when stowed.[2]
Any of several types of galley-like ships from the Nusantara archipelago in Southeast Asia. The term refers both to Mediterranean vessels built by local people and to native vessels with Mediterranean influence.
ghost
To sail slowly when there is apparently no wind.
ghost fleet
In the modern United States, an informal term for a reserve fleet.
A type of open boat designed primarily for propulsion under oar, but often fitted with a sailing rig for appropriate conditions. Used most often for the swift transport of one or a few people, as in a pilot gig or as a naval ship's boat. In US Navy usage, a captain's gig is reserved for use by a ship's captain and, in modern times, is a power-boat.
A fishing vessel that employs gillnetting as its means of catching fish.
gin-pole
Also jin-pole.
A pole that is attached perpendicular to a mast, to be used as a lever for raising the mast.
girt
1. Said of a vessel moored by cables to two anchors in such a way that the force of a current or tide causes her to swing against one of the cables.
2. To capsize because of forces exerted on a cable by another vessel attached to it. Tug girting specifically refers to girting that causes a tugboat to capsize because of forces placed on a cable attached to her by another vessel attached to the same cable.
give-way
In a situation where two vessels are approaching one another so as to involve a risk of collision, the vessel directed to keep out of the way of the other.
glass
1. A marine barometer. Older barometers used mercury-filled glass tubes to measure and indicate barometric pressure.
A satellite-based radionavigation system providing continuous worldwide coverage of geolocation and time information to air, marine, and land users wherever there is an unobstructed line of sight to at least four GPS satellites developed and operated by the United States Department of Defense but publicly available for use by anyone with an enabled GPS receiver.
A small, fast boat designed with a long narrow platform and a planing hull to enable it to reach high speeds. Colloquially equivalent to a "rum-runner" or a "cigarette boat".
(of a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel) Sailing directly away from the wind, with the sails set on opposite sides of the vessel (e.g. with the mainsail to port and the jib to starboard) so as to maximize the amount of canvas exposed to the wind. See also running.
Small balls of lead fired from a cannon, analogous to shotgun shot but on a larger scale; similar to canister shot but with larger individual shot. Intended specifically to injure personnel and damage rigging more than to cause structural damage.
A narrow basin, usually made of earthen berms and concrete, closed by gates or by a caisson, into which a vessel may be floated and the water pumped out, leaving the vessel supported on blocks; the classic form of drydock.
The practice of navigating a vessel along the arc of a great circle. Such routes yield the shortest possible distance between any given pair of points on the surface of the Earth.
green-to-green
A passage of two vessels moving in the opposite direction on their starboard sides, so called because the green navigation light on one of the vessels faces the green light on the other vessel.
A British term used in the 18th and 19th centuries for any whaling ship operating in the Arctic Ocean or northern waters near the Arctic.
green water
1. That portion of the ocean lying generally within a few hundred nautical miles of shore but beyond the edge of the continental shelf, and thus between "brown water" over the continental shelf and "blue water" farther out to sea.
2. A large amount of water on or passing over or across a ship's deck or superstructure after a large wave strikes her, e.g., The ship took green water over her bow during the storm.
green-water navy
A navy capable of sustained operations beyond coastal areas out to a few hundred nautical miles from shore, i.e., in "green water," but not farther into the open ocean, i.e., in "blue water." While a green-water navy can possess ships capable of operating farther out to sea than in "green water," it requires logistical support from foreign countries to sustain such longer-range operations.
gridiron
A large metal cross-frame on which vessels are placed at high water for examination, cleaning, and repairs after the tide falls.
The tendency of a ship to turn into the wind despite the efforts of the helmsman, usually due to either the design of a ship or more commonly the incorrect distribution of weight on and within the hull.
Watered-down pusser's rum consisting of half a gill with an equal part of water, issued to all seamen over twenty (CPOs and POs were issued with neat rum). From the British Admiral Vernon who, in 1740, ordered the men's ration of rum to be watered down. He was called "Old Grogram" because he often wore a grogram coat, and the watered rum came to be called grog. Specific quantities of grog were often traded illegally as a form of currency; a sailor might repay a colleague for a favour by giving him part or all of his grog ration, ranging from "sippers" (a small amount) via "gulpers" (a larger quantity) to "grounders" (the entire tot). Additional issues of grog were made on the command "splice the mainbrace" for celebrations or as a reward for performing especially onerous duties. The Royal Navy discontinued the practice of issuing rum in 1970.
The bed of the sea; the underwater surface or sea floor to which an anchor holds.
grounding
When a ship (while afloat) touches the bed of the sea, or runs aground. A moored vessel that grounds as the tide goes out is said to "take the ground".
French
Deutsch
.png)
.svg)
