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Glossary of nautical terms (A–L)

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".

Further information on nautical terminology may also be found at Nautical metaphors in English, and additional military terms are listed in the Multiservice tactical brevity code article. Terms used in other fields associated with bodies of water can be found at Glossary of fishery terms, Glossary of underwater diving terminology, Glossary of rowing terms, and Glossary of meteorology.

This glossary is split into two articles:

Contents: Top

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

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S

T

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V

W

X

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Z

See also

References

A edit

AAW
An acronym for anti-aircraft warfare.
aback
(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]
able seaman (AB)

Also able-bodied seaman.

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).
absolute bearing
The bearing of an object in relation to north: either true bearing, using the geographical or true north, or magnetic bearing, using magnetic north. See also bearing and relative bearing.
accommodation ladder
A portable flight of steps down a ship's side.
accommodation ship

Also accommodation hull.

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.
Act of Pardon

Also Act of Grace.

A letter from a state or power authorising action by a privateer. See also letter of marque.
action stations
See battle stations.
admiral
A senior naval officer of flag rank. In ascending order of seniority in the Royal Navy: rear admiral, vice admiral, admiral, and (until about 2001, when all British five-star ranks were discontinued) admiral of the fleet. In the U.S. Navy: rear admiral (lower half), rear admiral, vice admiral, admiral, and fleet admiral. The term is derived from the Arabic Amir al-Bahr ("ruler of the sea").
admiralty
1.  A high naval authority in charge of a state's navy or a major territorial component. In the Royal Navy (UK), the Board of Admiralty, executing the office of the Lord High Admiral, promulgates naval law in the form of King's Regulations and admiralty instructions.
2.  Another name for admiralty law.
admiralty law
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 U.S. Navy and U.S. 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.
adviso
See aviso.
afloat
1.  (of a vessel) Floating freely (not aground or sunk). The term may also be used more generally of any floating object or person.
2.  In service, even if not currently underway, but not stranded, crewless, in repair, or under construction (e.g. "the company has 10 ships afloat").
afore
1.  In, on, or toward the fore or front of a vessel.[3]
2.  In front of a vessel.
aft
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 U.S. 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]
aftercastle

Also sterncastle.

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.
afterdeck
The portion of the deck that is aft of amidships.
afternoon watch
The 1200–1600 watch.[3]
aground
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]
ahead
Forward of the bow.
ahoo
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]
ahull
1.  Lying broadside to the sea.
2.  To ride out a storm with no sails and helm held to leeward.
aid to navigation (ATON)

Also navigational aid.

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.
aircraft carrier

Also simply carrier.

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 U.S. 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]
aka
Structural section of a vessel that joins the hulls of a multihulled vessel together.
alee
1.  On the lee side of a ship.
2.  To leeward.
all hands
A ship's entire company, including both officers and enlisted personnel.[3]
all night in
Having no night watches.
all standing
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.
aloft
1.  In the rigging of a sailing ship.[3]
2.  Above the ship's uppermost solid structure.[3]
3.  Overhead or high above.
alongside
By the side of a ship or pier.[3]
ama
A secondary hull or float attached to the primary hull of a vessel for stability, or the hulls of a modern catamaran.
amidships
1.  A position half way along the length of a ship or boat.[13]
2.  A position half way between the port and starboard sides of a ship or boat, as in "helm amidships", when the rudder is in line with the keel.[13]
ammunition ship
A naval auxiliary ship specifically configured to carry ammunition, usually for combatant ships and aircraft.
amphibious warfare ship
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.
anchor
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 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]
anchor chain

Also anchor cable.

A chain connecting a ship to an anchor.
anchor detail
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.
anemometer
An instrument used to measure wind speed.
aneroid barometer
An instrument used to measure air pressure, often with the aim of predicting changes in weather.
angle of attack
The angle between the apparent wind and the chord line of the sail.
angle on the bow
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.
anti-submarine net

Also anti-submarine boom.

A heavy underwater net attached to a boom and placed so as to protect a harbor, anchorage, or strait from penetration by submerged submarines.
apeak
More or less vertical. Having the anchor rode or chain as nearly vertical as possible without freeing the anchor.[citation needed]
aport
Toward the port side of a vessel.
apron
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]
apparent wind
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.
arc of visibility
The portion of the horizon over which a lighted aid to navigation is visible from seaward.
archboard
A plank along the stern where the name of a ship is commonly painted.[15]
armament
A ship's complement of weapons.
armor belt
See belt armor.
armory
Area on a warship for storage of small arms and ammunition.
Articles of War
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.
ASDIC
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).
assembly station
See muster station.
astarboard
Toward the starboard side of a vessel.
astern
1.  Toward the stern or rear of a vessel.
2.  Behind a vessel.
astern gear
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.
ASW
An acronym for anti-submarine warfare.
Atlantic bow
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 ship

Also simply auxiliary.

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
(/ˌ ˈ/) 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.
azimuth compass
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.
azimuth thruster
A steerable drive leg fitted through the bottom of a hull, carrying a propeller. Compare stern drive and sail drive.

Contents: Top

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

See also

References

B edit

B & R rig
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.[17]
backstay
A stay or cable, reaching from the mast heads, of the topmast, the topgallant-mast the royal-mast, the skysail-mast to the ship's side abaft the lower rigging; used to support the mast.[18]
back wash
Water forced astern by the action of the propeller. Also, the receding of waves.
baggywrinkle
A soft covering for standing rigging (such as shrouds and stays) that reduces sail chafing.[3]
bailer
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.[19]
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.[20]
ballast
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]
ballast tank
A compartment which can be filled or partly filled with water, used on ships, submarines and other submersibles to control buoyancy and stability.
Baltimore Clipper
A fast sailing ship – an early form of clipper – built on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard of the United States, especially at Baltimore, Maryland. Popular as merchant ships in both the United States and the United Kingdom by the late 18th century, Baltimore Clippers usually were two-masted schooners or brigantines.
balls to four watch
U.S. Navy slang for the 0000–0400 watch.
bank
A large area of elevated sea floor, deep enough to allow navigation.[3]
banyan
A traditional Royal Navy term for a day or less of rest and relaxation.
bar
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.
bar pilot
A navigator who guides a ship over dangerous sandbars at the mouths of rivers and bays.
barber hauler
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]
barbette
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.
barca-longa
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.
bareboat charter
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.
barge
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 at the disposal of an admiral for his or her use as transportation between a larger vessel and the shore, or within a harbor.
barge slip
A specialized docking facility designed to receive a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water.
bark
An alternate spelling of barque.
barkentine
An alternate spelling of barquentine.
barque

Also spelled bark.

A sailing vessel of three or more masts, with all masts square-rigged except the sternmost, which is fore-and-aft-rigged.
barquentine

Also spelled barkentine.

A sailing vessel with three or more masts, with all masts fore-and-aft-rigged except the foremast, which is square-rigged.
barrack ship
A ship or craft designed to function as a floating barracks for housing military personnel.
barratry
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.
barometer
An instrument for measuring air pressure. Used in weather forecasting.
barrelman
A sailor stationed in the crow's nest.
batten
1.  A stiff strip used to support the roach of a sail, increasing the sail area.
2.  Any thin strip of material (wood, plastic, etc.).
batten down the hatches
To prepare for inclement weather by securing the closed cargo hatch covers with wooden battens so as to prevent water from entering from any angle.
battle stations

Also general quarters or action stations.

1.  An announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare for battle, imminent damage, or any other emergency (such as a fire).
2.  Specific positions in a naval warship to which one or more crew members are assigned when battle stations is called.
battlecruiser
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.
battleship
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.
beaching
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.
beacon
A lighted or unlighted fixed aid to navigation attached directly to the Earth's surface. Examples include lighthouses and daybeacons.
beakhead
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).
beam
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.
beam reach
Sailing with the wind coming across the vessel's beam. This is normally the fastest point of sail for a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel.
beam sea
A sea in which waves are moving perpendicular to a vessel's course.[21]
beam wind
A wind blowing perpendicular to a vessel's course.
bear
A large, squared-off stone used with sand for scraping wooden decks clean.
bear down

Also bear away, bear off, or fall off.

To turn or steer a vessel away from the wind, often with reference to a transit.[2]
bear up
To turn or steer a vessel into the wind.[2]
bearing
The horizontal direction of a line of sight between two objects on the surface of the Earth. See also absolute bearing and relative bearing.
beat to quarters
Prepare for battle (in reference to beating a drum to signal the need for battle preparation).
beating or beat to
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.
Beaufort scale
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.
belaying pin
A short movable bar of iron or hard wood to which running rigging may be secured, or "belayed". Belaying pins are inserted in holes in a pin-rail.[18]
bell
See ship's bell.
bell rope
A short length of line made fast to the clapper of the ship's bell.
bell buoy
A type of buoy with a large bell and hanging hammers that sound by wave action.[22]
below
On or into a lower deck.
below decks
In or into any of the spaces below the main deck of a vessel.
belt armor

Also armor belt.

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.
bend
1.  A knot used to join two ropes or lines. See also hitch.[2]
2.  To attach a rope to an object.[2]
3.  Fastening a sail to a yard.[23]
Bermuda rig or Bermudan rig
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.
Bermuda sloop
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.
berth
1.  A location in a port or harbor used specifically for mooring vessels while not at sea.
2.  A safe margin of distance to be kept by a vessel from another vessel or from an obstruction, hence the phrase "to give a wide berth".[24]
3.  A bed or sleeping accommodation on a boat or ship.
4.  A job or position of employment on a boat or ship.
best bower (anchor)
The larger of two anchors carried in the bow; so named as it was the last, "best" hope for anchoring a vessel.
between the devil and the deep blue sea
See devil seam.
between wind and water
The part of a ship's hull that is sometimes submerged and sometimes brought above water by the rolling of the vessel.
bight
1.  A loop in a rope or line – a hitch or knot tied "on the bight" is one tied in the middle of a rope, without access to the ends.[2]
2.  An indentation in a coastline.
bilander

Also billander or be'landre.

A small European merchant sailing ship with two masts, the mainmast lateen-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.
bilge
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.[25]
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").
bilge keel
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.
bilged on her anchor
A ship that has run upon her own anchor such that the anchor cable runs under the hull.
bill
The extremity of the arm of an anchor; the point of or beyond the fluke.
billethead
1.  On smaller vessels, a smaller, non-figural carving, most often a curl of foliage, might be substituted for a figurehead.
2.  A round piece of timber at the bow or stern of a whaleboat, around which the harpoon line is run out when the whale darts off.
Bimini top
An open-front canvas top for the cockpit of a boat, usually supported by a metal frame.
bimmy
A punitive instrument.
binnacle
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.
bird farm
United States Navy slang for an aircraft carrier.
bite
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]
bitter end
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.
black gang
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.
block
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.
blockship
A vessel sunk deliberately to block a waterway to prevent the waterway′s use by an enemy.
Blue Ensign
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.
Blue Peter
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.
blue water
1.  That part of the ocean lying more than a few hundred nautical miles from shore, and thus beyond the outer boundary of green water.
2.  More generally, the open ocean or deep sea.
blue-water navy
1.  A navy capable of sustained operations in the open ocean, beyond a few hundred nautical miles from shore.
2.  That portion of a navy capable of sustained operations in the open ocean, beyond a few hundred nautical miles from shore.
bluejacket

also blue-jacket

1.  A sailor or enlisted person of the Royal Navy, Commonwealth navies, the United States Navy, or the United States Coast Guard. Bluejacket derives from a blue jacket naval enlisted personnel once wore while ashore. In the Royal Navy and Commonwealth navies, the term generally is synonymous with rating and often includes petty officers and chief petty officers. In the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, the term excludes chief petty officers.
2.  More loosely, a sailor or enlisted person of any navy.
Bluejacket's Manual
A basic handbook for U.S. Navy personnel.
board
1.  To step onto, climb onto or otherwise enter a vessel.
2.  The side of a vessel.
3.  The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward.
boat
1.  Any small craft or vessel designed to float on and provide transport over or under water.
2.  Naval slang for a submarine of any size.
3.  A term used in Canada and the United States for a ship of any size used on the Great Lakes.
boat hook
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.
boathouse
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.
boatsteerer
A member of the crew of a 19th-century whaling ship responsible for pulling the forward oar of a whaleboat and for harpooning whales.
boatswain

Also bosun.

A non-commissioned officer responsible for the sails, ropes, rigging and boats on a ship who issues "piped" commands to seamen.
boatswain's call

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.
boatswain's chair or bosun's chair
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.
boatswain's pipe
See boatswain's call.
boatswain's whistle
See boatswain's call.
boatwright
A maker of boats, especially of traditional wooden construction.
bob or bobfly
A pennant or flag bearing the owner's colors and mounted on the topsail trunk.[2]
bobstay
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.
boiler
A power generation system component that produces steam.
boilerman
See fireman.
boiler room
See fire room.
boiler uptake
The exhaust of a boiler, excluding the funnel.
bolt rope
A rope, sewn on to reinforce the edges of a sail.[2]
bollard
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.
bomb vessel

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.[26]
booby
A type of bird that has little fear and therefore is particularly easy to catch.
booby hatch
A raised framework or hood like covering over a small hatchway on a ship.
boom
1.  A floating barrier to control navigation into and out of rivers and harbors.
2.  A spar attached to the foot of a fore-and-aft sail.[18]
3.  A spar to extend the foot of gaffsail, trysail or jib.[18]
3.  A spar to extend the yards of square-rigged masts to allow the carrying of studding sails.[18]
boom defence vessel
An alternative term for a net laying ship.
boomer
Slang term in the U.S. Navy for a ballistic missile submarine.
boom crutch
A frame in which the boom rests when the sail is not hoisted.
boom gallows
A raised crossmember that supports a boom when the sail is lowered (and which obviates the need for a topping lift).
boomie or booms'l rig
A ketch-rigged barge with gaff (instead of spritsail) and boom on main and mizzen. Booms'l rig could also refer to cutter-rigged early barges.[2]
boom vang or vang
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.
boomkin
See bumpkin or boomkin.
booms
Masts or yards, lying on board in reserve.
boot-top
The area on the ship's hull along the waterline, usually painted a contrasting color.
bore, as in bore up or bore away
To assume a position to engage, or disengage, the enemy ships.
bosun
See boatswain.
bosun's call
See boatswain's call.
bosun's chair
See boatswain's chair.
bosun's pipe
See boatswain's call.
bosun's whistle
See boatswain's call.
bottlescrew
A device for adjusting tension in stays, shrouds and similar lines.[2]
bottom
1.  The underside of a vessel; the portion of a vessel that is always underwater.
2.  A ship, most often a cargo ship.
3.  A cargo hold.
bottomry
Pledging a ship as security in a financial transaction.
bow
1.  The front of a vessel.
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).
bow chaser
See chase gun.
bowline
1.  A type of knot producing a strong loop of a fixed size, topologically similar to a sheet bend.[2]
2.  A rope attached to the side of a sail to pull it towards the bow (for keeping the windward edge of the sail steady).[2]
3.  A rope attached to the foresail to hold it aback when tacking.[2]
4.  "Sailing on a bowline" means sailing to weather close-hauled.
bowman
The person, in a team or among oarsmen, positioned nearest the bow.
bowpicker
A gillnetter that fishes by deploying a gillnet from her bow.
bowse
To pull or hoist.
bow sea
Seas approaching a vessel from between 15° and 75° to port or starboard.[21]
bows on
Said of a vessel directly approaching an observer, e.g., "The ship approached us bows on."
bowsprit
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."
bow thruster
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.
bow visor
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.
boxing the compass
To state all 32 points of the compass, starting at north and proceeding clockwise. Sometimes applied to a wind that is constantly shifting.
boy seaman
A young sailor, still in training.
brace
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.
brace abox
To bring the foreyards flat aback to stop the ship.
brail
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".[27]
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.[28]
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 or 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. The probable actual etymology is given here
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.
breachway
1.  The shore along a channel.
2.  The whole area around the place where a channel meets the ocean.
break bulk cargo

Also breakbulk cargo.

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.
breeches buoy
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.[29]
bridge
A structure above the weather deck, extending the full width of the vessel, which houses a command center, itself called by association the bridge.
bridge wing
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.
brig
1.  A vessel with two square-rigged masts.
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.
brig sloop
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).
brigantine

Also hermaphrodite brig.

A two-masted vessel, square-rigged on the foremast but fore-and-aft-rigged on the mainmast.
brightwork
Exposed varnished wood on a boat or ship.[29]
bring to
To cause a ship to be stationary by arranging the sails.
broach
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][30]
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 starboard bow with her side facing the viewer's ship could be described as "broad on the starboard bow" of the viewer's ship.
Broad Fourteens
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.
broadhorn
An alternate term for a flatboat.
broadside
1.  One side of a vessel above the waterline.
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.
Brouwer Route
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.
brow
See gangplank.
brown water
1.  A collective term for rivers and coastal waters.
2.  Maritime waters which lie over the continental shelf.
brown-water navy
1.  A navy capable of operating on rivers and/or in coastal environments.
2.  That portion of a navy designed and intended to operate on rivers and/or in coastal environments.
3.  A navy whose capabilities limit it to operating on rivers and/or in coastal environments.
bucket
Alternative name for a paddle on a paddlewheel.
buffer
The chief bosun's mate (in the Royal Navy), responsible for discipline.
bug shoe
A length of hardened material placed on a skeg to protect the skeg from damage by shipworms.[31]
bugeye
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.
bulbous bow
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.
bulk cargo
Commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities.
bulk carrier

Also bulk freighter or bulker.

A merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo in its cargo holds.
bulkhead
An upright wall within the hull of a ship, particularly a watertight, load-bearing wall.
bulwark

Also bulward.

The extension of a ship's side above the level of the weather deck.
 
Bulwark (or bulward)
bull ensign

Also boot ensign or George ensign.

The senior ensign of a U.S. Navy command (i.e., a ship, squadron or shore activity).
bullseye
A glass window above the captain's cabin to allow viewing of the sails above deck.
bumboat
A private boat selling goods.
bumpkin or boomkin
1.  A spar, similar to a bowsprit, but which projects from the stern rather than the bow. May be used to attach the backstay or mizzen sheets [18]
2.  An iron bar projecting outboard from a ship's side to which the lower and topsail brace blocks are sometimes hooked.
bunk
A built-in bed on board ship.
bunker
A container for storing coal or fuel oil for a ship's engine.
bunker fuel

Also bunkers

Fuel oil for a ship.
bunt
1.  Middle cloths of a square sail. [32]
2.  Centre of a furled square sail. [32]
bunt-gasket
Canvas apron used to fasten the bunt of a square sail to the yard when furled. [32]
bunting tosser
A signalman who prepares and flies flag hoists. Also known in the United States Navy as a skivvy waver.
buntline
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.[32]
buoy
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.
burthen
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).
burgee
A small flag, typically triangular, flown from the masthead of a yacht to indicate yacht-club membership.
burgoo
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]
by the board
Anything that has gone overboard.

Contents: Top

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

See also

References

C edit

cabin
An enclosed structure with at least one room on a deck or flat, especially one used as living quarters.
cabin boy
An attendant to passengers and crew, often a young man.
cabin cruiser
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.
cable
1.  An especially large or thick rope.
2.  A cable length.
cable length

Sometimes simply called a cable.

A measure of length or distance equivalent to 110 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.
caboose
A small ship's kitchen or galley on deck.
cabotage
The transport of goods or passengers between two points within the same country, alongside coastal waters, by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country.
cage mast
See lattice mast.
camels
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 navigational buoy, 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.[33]
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 schooner rig 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.[33]
canaller
A ship designed to transit the locks of the Welland Canal.
canister shot

Also langrage or simply canister.

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. Care needs to be taken in understanding what may appear to be an area of canvas for a sail; a stated number may be the length of canvas that is needed off the roll, and it was made several different standard widths.
cap
A fitting or band used to connect the head of one mast to the lower portion of the mast above.[32]
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.
cap-stay
A backstay leading from a mast cap to the ship's side.[32]
capital ship
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.
capsize
(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.
capstan
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.
2.  A naval officer with a rank between commander and commodore.
3.  In the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Public Health Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a commissioned officer of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral (lower half), equal in grade or rank to a U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, or U.S. Air Force, or U.S. Space Force colonel.
Captain of the Port
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 U.S. 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.
car carrier
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.
car float

Also railroad car float or rail barge.

An unpowered barge with railroad tracks mounted on its deck, used to move railroad cars across water obstacles.
caravel

Also caravelle.

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.
careening

Also heaving down.

Tilting a ship on its side, usually when beached, to clean or repair the hull below the waterline.
cargo liner

Also passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman.

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.
cargo ship
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.
cargoman
A cargo ship.
carpenter
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.[34][35] 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.[36]
carrack

Also nau.

A three- or four-masted oceangoing sailing ship used by Western Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th through the early 17th centuries.
carrier
An aircraft carrier.
carronade
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][29][37]
carry on
Resume work or assigned duties.[38]
cartel
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.
carvel-built
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.[26] Contrast clinker-built.
 
A comparison of the clinker and carvel styles of boat construction
casing
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.
2.  The cat o' nine tails.
3.  A cat-rigged boat or catboat.
cat o' nine tails

Also the cat.

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".[39] "Not enough room to swing a cat" also derives from this.
catamaran
Any vessel with two hulls. Compare trimaran.
catboat
A cat-rigged vessel with a single mast mounted close to the bow and only one sail, usually on a gaff.
catenary

Also catenary curve.

The curve of a deployed anchor chain.[40]
catharpin
A short rope or iron clamp used to brace in the shrouds toward the masts so as to give a freer sweep to the yards.
cathead
A beam extending out from the hull used to support an anchor when raised in order to secure or "fish" it.
cat's paws
Light, variable winds on calm waters producing scattered areas of small waves.
caulk
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.[25]
celestial navigation
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.[26][41]: glossary 
center of effort

Also center of pressure.

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.
center of lateral resistance
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.
centerline
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".
centreboard

Also centerplate.

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.
 
Diagram of the position of a centerboard on a boat
chafing
Wear on a line or sail caused by constant rubbing against another surface.
chafing gear
Material applied to a line or spar to prevent or reduce chafing. See baggywrinkle and puddening.[32]
chain locker
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.
chain-shot
Cannonballs linked with short lengths of chain, designed to be especially damaging to rigging and masts.
chain plates
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.[32]
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.[32]
chains
Small platforms built into the sides of a ship to spread the shrouds to a more advantageous angle. Also used as a platform for manual depth sounding.
chalupa
1.  A small boat that functions as a shallop, water taxi, or gondola.
2.  In Portuguese, a small boat used for cabotage, propelled by either oars or sails. Those equipped with sails have a single mast.
3.  A type of whaling boat used by the Basques in the mid-16th century in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador.
change tack

Also switch tack.

To change course or heading.
channel fever
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.[42]
2.  (obsolete usage) A crew member avoiding duties with a feigned illness, usually after leaving port.
Charlie/Charley Noble
The metal stovepipe chimney from a cook shack on the deck of a ship or from a stove in a galley.
chartered ship

Also charter ship.

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.[43]
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.
chase gun

Also chase piece or chaser.

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.
chasse-marée
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-masted luggers replaced the vessels originally serving in this role; the luggers then were replaced successively by dundees, brigs, and schooners.
cheeks
1.  Wooden blocks at the side of a spar.
2.  Flat plates of iron or wood bolted to the masthead to form angle supports for the cross-trees.[32]
3.  The sides of a block or gun-carriage.
chief engineer
The senior engineering officer (abbreviated ChEng).
chine
1.  An angle in the hull.
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.
chronometer
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.
cigarette boat
See go-fast boat.
citadel
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.
civil Red Ensign
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".
class
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.
class leader
Synonym for lead ship.
classification society

Also classification organisation or classification organization

See ship classification society.
clean bill of health
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.
clear
1.  To perform customs and immigration legalities prior to leaving port.
2.  More loosely, to leave port.
cleat
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]
clewlines
Lines used to truss up the clews, the lower corners of square sails. Used to reduce and stow a barge's topsail.[2]
clinker-built
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.
 
A comparison of the clinker and carvel styles of boat construction
clipper
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.
2.  A tuna clipper.
close aboard
Very near (the ship).
close-hauled
(of a vessel) Beating as close to the wind direction as possible.
clove hitch
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.
C.O. (or CO)
An abbreviation for commanding officer.
coal hulk
A hulk used to store coal.
coal trimmer

Also simply trimmer.

A person responsible for ensuring that a coal-fired vessel remains in "trim" (evenly balanced) as coal is consumed on a voyage.
coaling
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.
coaming
The raised edge of a hatch, cockpit, or skylight, designed to help keep out water that pools on the surface above.
coaster

Also skoot.

A coastal trading vessel; a shallow-hulled ship used for trade between locations on the same island or continent.
coble
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-rigged yard 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.
cockpit
A seating area (not to be confused with the deck) towards the stern of a small-decked vessel that houses the rudder controls.
cofferdam
An insulating space between two watertight bulkheads or decks within a ship.
cog
A type of sailing ship, with a single mast and a single square-rigged sail 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.[44]: 225–227 
coign
A wedge used to assist in the aiming of a cannon; an older form of "quoin".
collier
A bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal, especially such a ship in naval use to supply coal to coal-fired warships.
combat loading
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.
comber
A long, curving wave breaking on the shore.
come about
1.  To tack.
2.  To change tack.
3.  To manoeuvre the bow of a sailing vessel across the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
4.  To position a vessel with respect to the wind after tacking.
come to
To stop a sailing vessel, especially by turning into the wind.
commanding officer
The officer in command of a warship. Also called "CO", "captain" (regardless of rank), "skipper", or "the old man".
commission
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.
commissioning pennant
A pennant flown from the masthead of a warship. Also called a masthead pennant.
commodore
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.
4.  (commodore (yacht club)) An officer of a yacht club.
5.  (Commodore (Sea Scouts)) A position in the Boy Scouts of America's Sea Scouts program.
communication tube

Also speaking tube or voice tube.

An air-filled tube, usually armored, allowing speech between the conning tower and the below-decks control spaces on a warship.
companionway
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.
concrete ship
A vessel constructed of steel and ferrocement (a type of reinforced concrete) rather than of more traditional materials, such as steel, iron, or wood.[45]
confined waters
Waters where there is little space to maneuver
conn

Also con, conne, conde, cunde, or cun.

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.
conning tower
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.
consort
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.
constant bearing, decreasing range (CBDR)
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.[46]
container ship
A cargo ship that carries all of her cargo in truck-size intermodal containers.
convoy
A group of ships traveling together for mutual support and protection.
corinthian
An amateur yachter.[47][48]
corrector
A device used to correct the ship's compass, e.g. by counteracting errors due to the magnetic effects of a steel hull.
corsair
1.  A French privateer, especially one from the port of St-Malo.
2.  Any privateer or pirate.
3.  A ship used by privateers or pirates, especially of French nationality.
4.  (corsair (dinghy)) A class of 16-foot (4.9-metre) three-handed sailing dinghy.
corvette

Also corvetto.

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 U.S. 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.
cotchel
A partial load.[49]
cottonclad
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.[43] Country ships were also important in the opium trade from India into China until supplanted by the faster opium clipper.[50]: 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.[51]
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.
coxswain

Also cockswain.

The helmsman or crew member in command of a boat.
CPO country
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]
crabber
A fishing vessel rigged for crab fishing.
crane vessel or crane ship
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]
crash rescue boat or crash boat
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
U.S. 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.
crew
1.  On warships and merchant ships, all of those members of a ship's company who are not officers.
2.  On leisure vessels with no formal chain of command, all of those persons who are not the skipper or passengers.
crew boat
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.
crew management
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
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[52]
cross the line
Cross the equator.
crosstrees
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]
crow's nest
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.
cruise ship
A passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as 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.
cruiser
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.
cuddy
A small cabin in a boat; a cabin, for the use of the captain, in the after part of a sailing ship under the poop deck.
Cunningham
A line invented by Briggs Cunningham, used to control the shape of a sail.[53]
cunt splice or cut splice
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.[54] Also used figuratively of people.[55]
cutter
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, U.S. 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 typical cutter rigging: one mast bearing a fore-and-aft-rigged mainsail (A) and foresail (forestaysail) (B), a bowsprit (C), a jib (D), and a flying jib (E)
cutting out
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.
cutwater
The forward curve of the stem of a ship.

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daggerboard
A type of light centerboard that is lifted vertically; sometimes in pairs, with the leeward one lowered when beating.
dan or 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]
dandy
1.  A rig with a small mizzen abaft the steering post.[2]
2.  In British usage, another name for a yawl.
3.  In British usage, a small after-sail on a yawl.
danlayer
A mine warfare vessel, usually a small trawler, fitted for laying dans. Danlayers served as a part of minesweeping flotillas during and immediately after World War II (1939–1945).
dart
To run dart; to run dead before the wind.[2]
davit
1.  A spar formerly used on board ships as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow without injuring the sides of the ship.
2.  A crane, often working in pairs and usually made of steel, used to lower things over the side of a ship, including lifeboats.
Davy Jones' Locker
An idiom for the bottom of the sea.
day beacon
An unlighted fixed structure equipped with a dayboard for daytime identification.
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.[38] 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 U.S. Navy. It is often used to indicate that a pirate or drug runner vessel has been immobilised.
dead run
See running.
dead slow
See steerageway.
dead wake
The trail of a fading disturbance in the water. See also wake.
deadeye
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]
deadhead
A snag.
deadlight
A strong shutter fitted over a porthole or other opening that can be closed in bad weather.
dead reckoning
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.[56] 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.[57]
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".[58]
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.[25]
death roll
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.
debarcation or disembarkation
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.
deck
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.
deck gun
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.
deckhead
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.
deckhouse
A cabin that protrudes above a ship's deck.
decks awash
A situation in which the deck of the vessel is partially or wholly submerged, possibly as a result of excessive listing or a loss of buoyancy.
decommission
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.
degaussing
A process to reduce a warship's magnetic signature.
demurrage
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.
depot ship
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.[25]
derrick
A lifting device composed of one mast or pole and a boom or jib hinged freely at the bottom.
despatch
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.
despatch boat
An alternate spelling of dispatch boat.
destroyer
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 U.S. Navy slang, also called a tin can or small boy.
destroyer depot ship
See destroyer tender.
destroyer escort
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 U.S. Navy as well by the 1970s.
destroyer leader
A large destroyer suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships; a type of flotilla leader.
destroyer tender
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.
devil's claw
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.
dhow
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.
dinghy
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
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.
 
Dipping the eye
dipping the flag
A method of rendering honors at sea by lowering and raising a ship's flag.
directional light
A light illuminating a sector or very narrow angle and intended to mark a direction to be followed.
dispatch boat
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.
displacement
The weight of water displaced by the immersed volume of a ship's hull, exactly equivalent to the weight of the whole ship.
displacement hull
A hull designed to travel through the water, rather than planing over it.
disposable ship

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.
disrate
To reduce in rank or rating; to demote.
distinctive mark
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.
ditty bag
Bag or box for personal items.[38]
division
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]
Divisional Transport Officer

Also Divisional Naval Transport Officer

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.
dock
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.
3.  To tie up along a pier or wharf.
dockyard
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.
dog

Also door dog and hatch dog.

Device to secure doors and hatches. Typically used for watertight openings, but can apply elsewhere. "Dogging the hatches" is a common phrase.
dog watch
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.
doldrums

Also equatorial calms.

The equatorial trough, with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds generally encountered there.[59]
dolly winch
A small winch mounted on the windlass, used as an alternative to the brails winch when that is obstructed in some way (e.g. by deck cargo).[2]
dolphin
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.
donkey engine
A small auxiliary engine used either to start a larger engine or independently, e.g. for pumping water on steamships.[60]
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.
dorade box
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.
dory

Also doree, dori, or (Royal Navy) dorey.

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.[61]: 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.[62][63]
Dover cliffs
A slang term for very rough seas with large white-capped waves.
downbound
1.  Travel downstream, with a following current.[64]
2.  Eastward travel in the Great Lakes region (terminology used by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation).[65]
downflooding
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.
downhaul
A line used to control either a mobile spar, or the shape of a sail. A downhaul can also be used to retrieve a sail back on deck.
drabbler
An extra strip of canvas secured below a bonnet, further to increase the area of a course.
draft

Also draught.

The depth of a ship's keel below the waterline.
dragger
1.  A fishing trawler.
2.  A dredger.
dragon boat
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.
draught
Alternative spelling of draft.
dreadnought
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.
dredger
A vessel specialized for use in the excavation of material from a water environment and equipped with heavy machinery for this purpose.
dress overall
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.
2.  A verbal reprimand.
dressing lines
Lines running from stemhead to masthead, between mastheads, and then down to the taffrail, to which flags are attached when a ship is dressed overall.
drifter
A type of fishing boat designed to catch herring in a long drift net, long used in the Netherlands and Great Britain.
drink
Overboard and into the water (e.g. "it fell into the drink").
driver
The large sail flown from the mizzen gaff.
driver-mast
The fifth mast of a six-masted barquentine or gaff schooner. It is preceded by the jigger mast and followed by the spanker mast. The sixth mast of the only seven-masted vessel, the gaff schooner Thomas W. Lawson, was normally called the pusher-mast.
drogher
See disposable ship.
drogue
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.
drudging
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.
drydock
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.
2.  Personal baggage.
Dutch barge

Also schuyt.

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.
Dutch built
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.

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earings
Small lines by which the uppermost corners of the largest sails are secured to the yardarms.
East Indiaman
Any ship operating under charter or license to the East India Company (England), or to the Danish East India Company, French East India Company, Dutch East India Company, Portuguese East India Company, or Swedish East India Company from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
echo sounding
The measurement of the depth of a body of water using a SONAR device. See also sounding and swinging the lead.
embayed
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
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.
 
Diagram showing the Minas Geraes-class battleship with its central guns arranged en echelon.
engine order telegraph

Also chadburn.

A communications device used by the pilot to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed.
engine room
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.
2.  (rank) The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy.
escort carrier
A type of aircraft carrier, smaller and slower than a fleet carrier, used by some navies in World War II to escort convoys, ferry aircraft, and provide air support for amphibious operations.
estimated position
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).
evaporator
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.[43]
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.
eye splice
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.

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factory ship
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.
2.  To make something flush.
3.  A line is fair when it has a clear run.
4.  A wind or current is fair when it offers an advantage to a boat.
fair winds and following seas
A blessing wishing the recipient a safe journey and good fortune.
fairlead
A device used to keep a line or chain running in the correct direction or to give it a fair lead to prevent it rubbing or fouling.[2]
fairing
1.  (n) A structure that improves the streamlining of a vessel.
2.  (v) The process of making a curve or structure fair.
fairwater
1.  A structure that improves the streamlining of a vessel.
2.  On submarines: The superstructure (conning tower, sail, etc) of the boat.
fairway
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][37]: 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]
falkuša
A traditional fishing boat with a lateen sail on a single mast used by fishermen from the town of Komiža on the Adriatic island of Vis.
fall
The part of the tackle that is hauled upon.[2]
fall off

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 bow leeward. 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]
fast attack craft
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.
fast combat support ship
The largest type of U.S. 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.
fast supply vessel
See crew boat.
fast support vessel
See crew boat.
fathom
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.
fathometer
A depth finder that uses sound waves to determine the depth of water.
favored side
The side of the course that gets you to the next mark faster, due to more wind, favorable shifts, less current, smaller waves, etc.
felucca
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.
fender
A flexible bumper used in boating to keep boats from banging into docks or each other. Often an old car tire.[2]
ferry

Also ferryboat

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.
ferry slip
A specialized docking facility designed to receive a ferryboat or train ferry.
fetch
1.  The distance across water a wind or waves have traveled.
2.  To reach a mark without tacking.
fid
1.  A tapered wooden tool used for separating the strands of rope for splicing.
2.  A bar used to fix an upper mast in place.[66]
Fiddley
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
fife rail
A freestanding pinrail surrounding the base of a mast and used for securing that mast's sails' halyards with a series of belaying pins.[66]
Fifie
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
U.S. 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.
figure of eight
A stopper knot.[2]
figurehead
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 starboard bow 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.
fireboat
A specialized vessel equipped with firefighting equipment such as pumps and nozzles for fighting shipboard and shoreline fires.
fireman

Also stoker, boilerman, or watertender.

1.  A job associated with tending the fire for a boiler.
2.  A U.S. Navy rate in the engineering department equivalent to seaman.
fire ship
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.
fire room

Also boiler room.

The compartment in which a ship's boilers or furnaces are stoked and fired.
first-rate
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.
first lieutenant
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 U.S. Navy, the officer on a ship serving as the senior person in charge of all deck hands.
first mate
The second-in-command of a commercial ship.
fish
1.  To repair a mast or spar with a fillet of wood.
2.  To secure an anchor on the side of a ship for sea (otherwise known as "catting".)
3.  A slang term for a self-propelled torpedo.
fisherman's reef
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 staysail schooner, the fisherman is a quadrilateral sail set between the two masts above the main staysail. It is used in light to moderate airs.
fitting-out
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.
flag hoist
A number of signal flags strung together to convey a message, e.g. "England expects that every man will do his duty".
flag of convenience
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.
flag officer
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 U.S. Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps officers and general officers in the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marine Corps entitled to fly their own flags.
2.  A formal rank in the mid-19th century U.S. 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.
flagship
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]
flank
The maximum speed of a ship. Faster than "full speed".
flare
1.  A curvature of the topsides outward towards the gunwale.
2.  A pyrotechnic signalling device, usually used to indicate distress.
flatback
A Great Lakes slang term for a vessel without any self-unloading equipment.
flatboat

Also broadhorn.

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.
flattop
A slang term for an aircraft carrier.
fleet
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.
3.  Merchant fleet, a collective term for the merchant marine (known in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries the merchant navy) of a particular country.
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.
10.  A location where barges are secured.
fleet in being
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 oppose it in case it comes out to fight or to blockade it in port. 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.[67]
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.
flight deck
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.[68]
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.[69]
floorhead
Any of the upper extremities of the floor of a vessel.
flotilla
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.
flotilla leader
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.
flotsam
Debris or cargo that remains afloat after a shipwreck. See also jetsam.
fluke
The wedge-shaped part of an anchor's arms that digs into the solid bottom beneath a body of water.
flush deck
An upper deck of a vessel that extends unbroken from stem to stern.
flush decker
1.  Any vessel with a flush deck.
2.  A U.S. Navy destroyer of the World War I-era Caldwell, Wickes, or Clemson class, produced in very large numbers.
flushing board
A board inserted vertically in a cabin entrance.[2]
fluyt

Also fluit or flute.

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.
fly by night
A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.
folding propeller
A propeller with folding blades, furling so as to reduce drag on a sailing vessel when not in use.
following sea
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.[21]
foo-foo band
An impromptu musical band on late 19th-century sailing vessels, made up from members of the ship's crew.[70][71]
1.  The lower edge of any sail.[2]
2.  The bottom of a mast.
3.  An Imperial unit of length equivalent to 12 inches (30 cm).
footloose
If the foot of a sail is not secured properly, it is footloose, blowing around in the wind.
footboat
A barge's boat or dinghy.[2]
footrope
Each yard on a square-rigged sailing ship is equipped with a footrope for sailors to stand on while setting or stowing the sails.
force
See Beaufort scale.
fore

Also forward (often written as for'ard).

Toward the bow of a vessel.
fore-and-aft rig
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]
forecastle
(pronounced /ˈfksəl/) 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.
forefoot
The lower part of the stem of a ship.
forehold
The forward (i.e., front) part of a hold.
foremast jack
An enlisted sailor, one who is housed before the foremast.
forepeak
The part of the hold of a ship within the angle of the bow.
foresail
1.  A fore-and-aft-rigged sail set on the foremast.
2.  The lowest sail set on the foremast of a full-rigged ship or other square-rigged vessel.
forestay
A long line or cable reaching from the bow of the vessel to the mastheads, used to support the mast.[2]
forestaysail
A triangular sail set on the forestay.[2]
foul
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.
founder
To fill with water and sink.
four piper
A term sometimes used to refer to United States Navy four-funneled destroyers of the Bainbridge, Paulding, Wickes, and Clemson classes, all built for service in World War I.
fourth rate
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.[72]
freeboard
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.
freighter
A cargo ship.
frigate
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.
5.  In the U.S. Navy from the 1950s until the 1970s, a type of guided-missile antiaircraft ship built on a destroyer-sized hull, all of which were reclassified as "guided-missile cruisers" in 1975.
full and by
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.
full-rigged ship
A sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a "ship rig".
full steam ahead
With as much speed as possible.
funnel
1.  (funnel) Also stack. The smokestack of a ship, used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust.
2.  Ventilation funnel: A curved, rotatable tube protruding from the deck of a vessel, designed to direct fresh air into her interior.
Furious Fifties
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.
furl
To roll or gather a sail against its mast or spar.[66]
furnace
Boiler component where fuel is burned.
furring
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.[41]: ch 6 the Gresham Ship 
fusta

Also fuste, foist, or galliot.

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.
futtock shrouds
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.[66]
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.[72]

Contents: Top

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

See also

References

G edit

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 throat halliards. A standing gaff remains aloft, its sails brailed when not in use.[66]
2.  (fishing gaff) A hook on a long pole used to haul in fish.
gaff rig
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.[66]
gaff topsail
A fore-and-aft sail set above a gaff-rigged sail, with the clew sheeted to the end of the gaff.[66]
gaff vang
A line rigged to the end of a gaff and used to adjust a gaff sail's trim.
gale
See ghali.
gali
See ghali.
galleass
1.  An oared warship of the 16th century equipped with a gun deck; larger and equipped with more sails than a galley.
2.  A flat-bottomed commercial sailing vessel of the North Sea and western Baltic Sea.
galleon
A large, multi-decked sailing ship with a prominent, squared-off, raised stern, generally carrying three or more masts, typically lateen fore-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.
 
Illustration of a typical 15th-century galleon
galley
1. 

glossary, nautical, terms, glossary of nautical terms a l. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Glossary of nautical terms A L news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message 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 nautes sailor from naus ship Further information on nautical terminology may also be found at Nautical metaphors in English and additional military terms are listed in the Multiservice tactical brevity code article Terms used in other fields associated with bodies of water can be found at Glossary of fishery terms Glossary of underwater diving terminology Glossary of rowing terms and Glossary of meteorology This glossary is split into two articles terms starting with the letters A to L are at Glossary of nautical terms A L terms starting with the letters M to Z are at Glossary of nautical terms M Z Contents Top A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also ReferencesA editAAW An acronym for anti aircraft warfare aback 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 able seaman AB Also able bodied seaman 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 absolute bearing The bearing of an object in relation to north either true bearing using the geographical or true north or magnetic bearing using magnetic north See also bearing and relative bearing accommodation ladder A portable flight of steps down a ship s side accommodation ship Also accommodation hull 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 Act of Pardon Also Act of Grace A letter from a state or power authorising action by a privateer See also letter of marque action stations See battle stations admiral A senior naval officer of flag rank In ascending order of seniority in the Royal Navy rear admiral vice admiral admiral and until about 2001 when all British five star ranks were discontinued admiral of the fleet In the U S Navy rear admiral lower half rear admiral vice admiral admiral and fleet admiral The term is derived from the Arabic Amir al Bahr ruler of the sea admiralty 1 A high naval authority in charge of a state s navy or a major territorial component In the Royal Navy UK the Board of Admiralty executing the office of the Lord High Admiral promulgates naval law in the form of King s Regulations and admiralty instructions 2 Another name for admiralty law admiralty law 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 U S Navy and U S 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 adviso See aviso afloat 1 of a vessel Floating freely not aground or sunk The term may also be used more generally of any floating object or person 2 In service even if not currently underway but not stranded crewless in repair or under construction e g the company has 10 ships afloat afore 1 In on or toward the fore or front of a vessel 3 2 In front of a vessel aft 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 U S 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 aftercastle Also sterncastle 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 afterdeck The portion of the deck that is aft of amidships afternoon watch The 1200 1600 watch 3 aground 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 ahead Forward of the bow ahoo 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 ahull 1 Lying broadside to the sea 2 To ride out a storm with no sails and helm held to leeward aid to navigation ATON Also navigational aid 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 aircraft carrier Also simply carrier 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 U S 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 aka Structural section of a vessel that joins the hulls of a multihulled vessel together alee 1 On the lee side of a ship 2 To leeward all hands A ship s entire company including both officers and enlisted personnel 3 all night in Having no night watches all standing 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 aloft 1 In the rigging of a sailing ship 3 2 Above the ship s uppermost solid structure 3 3 Overhead or high above alongside By the side of a ship or pier 3 ama A secondary hull or float attached to the primary hull of a vessel for stability or the hulls of a modern catamaran amidships 1 A position half way along the length of a ship or boat 13 2 A position half way between the port and starboard sides of a ship or boat as in helm amidships when the rudder is in line with the keel 13 ammunition ship A naval auxiliary ship specifically configured to carry ammunition usually for combatant ships and aircraft amphibious warfare ship A wide variety of warship s designed to land and support marine s 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 anchor 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 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 anchor chain Also anchor cable A chain connecting a ship to an anchor anchor detail 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 anemometer An instrument used to measure wind speed aneroid barometer An instrument used to measure air pressure often with the aim of predicting changes in weather angle of attack The angle between the apparent wind and the chord line of the sail angle on the bow 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 anti submarine net Also anti submarine boom A heavy underwater net attached to a boom and placed so as to protect a harbor anchorage or strait from penetration by submerged submarines apeak More or less vertical Having the anchor rode or chain as nearly vertical as possible without freeing the anchor citation needed aport Toward the port side of a vessel apron 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 apparent wind 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 arc of visibility The portion of the horizon over which a lighted aid to navigation is visible from seaward archboard A plank along the stern where the name of a ship is commonly painted 15 armament A ship s complement of weapons armor belt See belt armor armory Area on a warship for storage of small arms and ammunition Articles of War 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 ASDIC 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 assembly station See muster station astarboard Toward the starboard side of a vessel astern 1 Toward the stern or rear of a vessel 2 Behind a vessel astern gear 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 ASW An acronym for anti submarine warfare Atlantic bow A raised bow with noticeable sheer and flare introduced in German warship s 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 ship Also simply auxiliary 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 ˌ aɪ ˈ aɪ 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 azimuth compass 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 azimuth thruster A steerable drive leg fitted through the bottom of a hull carrying a propeller Compare stern drive and sail drive Contents Top A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also ReferencesB editB amp R rig 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 17 backstay A stay or cable reaching from the mast heads of the topmast the topgallant mast the royal mast the skysail mast to the ship s side abaft the lower rigging used to support the mast 18 back wash Water forced astern by the action of the propeller Also the receding of waves baggywrinkle A soft covering for standing rigging such as shrouds and stays that reduces sail chafing 3 bailer 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 19 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 20 ballast 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 ballast tank A compartment which can be filled or partly filled with water used on ships submarines and other submersibles to control buoyancy and stability Baltimore Clipper A fast sailing ship an early form of clipper built on the Mid Atlantic seaboard of the United States especially at Baltimore Maryland Popular as merchant ships in both the United States and the United Kingdom by the late 18th century Baltimore Clippers usually were two masted schooners or brigantines balls to four watch U S Navy slang for the 0000 0400 watch bank A large area of elevated sea floor deep enough to allow navigation 3 banyan A traditional Royal Navy term for a day or less of rest and relaxation bar 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 bar pilot A navigator who guides a ship over dangerous sandbars at the mouths of rivers and bays barber hauler 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 barbette 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 barca longa 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 bareboat charter 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 barge 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 at the disposal of an admiral for his or her use as transportation between a larger vessel and the shore or within a harbor barge slip A specialized docking facility designed to receive a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water bark An alternate spelling of barque barkentine An alternate spelling of barquentine barque Also spelled bark A sailing vessel of three or more masts with all masts square rigged except the sternmost which is fore and aft rigged barquentine Also spelled barkentine A sailing vessel with three or more masts with all masts fore and aft rigged except the foremast which is square rigged barrack ship A ship or craft designed to function as a floating barracks for housing military personnel barratry 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 barometer An instrument for measuring air pressure Used in weather forecasting barrelman A sailor stationed in the crow s nest batten 1 A stiff strip used to support the roach of a sail increasing the sail area 2 Any thin strip of material wood plastic etc batten down the hatches To prepare for inclement weather by securing the closed cargo hatch covers with wooden battens so as to prevent water from entering from any angle battle stations Also general quarters or action stations 1 An announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare for battle imminent damage or any other emergency such as a fire 2 Specific positions in a naval warship to which one or more crew members are assigned when battle stations is called battlecruiser 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 battleship 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 beaching 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 beacon A lighted or unlighted fixed aid to navigation attached directly to the Earth s surface Examples include lighthouses and daybeacons beakhead 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 beam 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 beam reach Sailing with the wind coming across the vessel s beam This is normally the fastest point of sail for a fore and aft rigged vessel beam sea A sea in which waves are moving perpendicular to a vessel s course 21 beam wind A wind blowing perpendicular to a vessel s course bear A large squared off stone used with sand for scraping wooden decks clean bear down Also bear away bear off or fall off To turn or steer a vessel away from the wind often with reference to a transit 2 bear up To turn or steer a vessel into the wind 2 bearing The horizontal direction of a line of sight between two objects on the surface of the Earth See also absolute bearing and relative bearing beat to quarters Prepare for battle in reference to beating a drum to signal the need for battle preparation beating or beat to 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 Beaufort scale 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 belaying pin A short movable bar of iron or hard wood to which running rigging may be secured or belayed Belaying pins are inserted in holes in a pin rail 18 bell See ship s bell bell rope A short length of line made fast to the clapper of the ship s bell bell buoy A type of buoy with a large bell and hanging hammers that sound by wave action 22 below On or into a lower deck below decks In or into any of the spaces below the main deck of a vessel belt armor Also armor belt 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 bend 1 A knot used to join two ropes or lines See also hitch 2 2 To attach a rope to an object 2 3 Fastening a sail to a yard 23 Bermuda rig or Bermudan rig 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 Bermuda sloop 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 berth 1 A location in a port or harbor used specifically for mooring vessels while not at sea 2 A safe margin of distance to be kept by a vessel from another vessel or from an obstruction hence the phrase to give a wide berth 24 3 A bed or sleeping accommodation on a boat or ship 4 A job or position of employment on a boat or ship best bower anchor The larger of two anchors carried in the bow so named as it was the last best hope for anchoring a vessel between the devil and the deep blue sea See devil seam between wind and water The part of a ship s hull that is sometimes submerged and sometimes brought above water by the rolling of the vessel bight 1 A loop in a rope or line a hitch or knot tied on the bight is one tied in the middle of a rope without access to the ends 2 2 An indentation in a coastline bilander Also billander or be landre A small European merchant sailing ship with two masts the mainmast lateen 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 bilge 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 25 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 bilge keel 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 bilged on her anchor A ship that has run upon her own anchor such that the anchor cable runs under the hull bill The extremity of the arm of an anchor the point of or beyond the fluke billethead 1 On smaller vessels a smaller non figural carving most often a curl of foliage might be substituted for a figurehead 2 A round piece of timber at the bow or stern of a whaleboat around which the harpoon line is run out when the whale darts off Bimini top An open front canvas top for the cockpit of a boat usually supported by a metal frame bimmy A punitive instrument binnacle 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 bird farm United States Navy slang for an aircraft carrier bite 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 bitter end 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 black gang 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 block 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 blockship A vessel sunk deliberately to block a waterway to prevent the waterway s use by an enemy Blue Ensign 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 Blue Peter 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 blue water 1 That part of the ocean lying more than a few hundred nautical mile s from shore and thus beyond the outer boundary of green water 2 More generally the open ocean or deep sea blue water navy 1 A navy capable of sustained operations in the open ocean beyond a few hundred nautical miles from shore 2 That portion of a navy capable of sustained operations in the open ocean beyond a few hundred nautical miles from shore bluejacket also blue jacket 1 A sailor or enlisted person of the Royal Navy Commonwealth navies the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard Bluejacket derives from a blue jacket naval enlisted personnel once wore while ashore In the Royal Navy and Commonwealth navies the term generally is synonymous with rating and often includes petty officers and chief petty officers In the U S Navy and U S Coast Guard the term excludes chief petty officers 2 More loosely a sailor or enlisted person of any navy Bluejacket s Manual A basic handbook for U S Navy personnel board 1 To step onto climb onto or otherwise enter a vessel 2 The side of a vessel 3 The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward boat 1 Any small craft or vessel designed to float on and provide transport over or under water 2 Naval slang for a submarine of any size 3 A term used in Canada and the United States for a ship of any size used on the Great Lakes boat hook 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 boathouse 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 boatsteerer A member of the crew of a 19th century whaling ship responsible for pulling the forward oar of a whaleboat and for harpooning whales boatswain Also bosun A non commissioned officer responsible for the sails ropes rigging and boats on a ship who issues piped commands to seamen boatswain s call 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 boatswain s chair or bosun s chair 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 boatswain s pipe See boatswain s call boatswain s whistle See boatswain s call boatwright A maker of boats especially of traditional wooden construction bob or bobfly A pennant or flag bearing the owner s colors and mounted on the topsail trunk 2 bobstay 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 boiler A power generation system component that produces steam boilerman See fireman boiler room See fire room boiler uptake The exhaust of a boiler excluding the funnel bolt rope A rope sewn on to reinforce the edges of a sail 2 bollard 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 bomb vessel 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 26 booby A type of bird that has little fear and therefore is particularly easy to catch booby hatch A raised framework or hood like covering over a small hatchway on a ship boom 1 A floating barrier to control navigation into and out of rivers and harbors 2 A spar attached to the foot of a fore and aft sail 18 3 A spar to extend the foot of gaffsail trysail or jib 18 3 A spar to extend the yards of square rigged masts to allow the carrying of studding sails 18 boom defence vessel An alternative term for a net laying ship boomer Slang term in the U S Navy for a ballistic missile submarine boom crutch A frame in which the boom rests when the sail is not hoisted boom gallows A raised crossmember that supports a boom when the sail is lowered and which obviates the need for a topping lift boomie or booms l rig A ketch rigged barge with gaff instead of spritsail and boom on main and mizzen Booms l rig could also refer to cutter rigged early barges 2 boom vang or vang 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 boomkin See bumpkin or boomkin booms Masts or yards lying on board in reserve boot top The area on the ship s hull along the waterline usually painted a contrasting color bore as in bore up or bore away To assume a position to engage or disengage the enemy ships bosun See boatswain bosun s call See boatswain s call bosun s chair See boatswain s chair bosun s pipe See boatswain s call bosun s whistle See boatswain s call bottlescrew A device for adjusting tension in stays shrouds and similar lines 2 bottom 1 The underside of a vessel the portion of a vessel that is always underwater 2 A ship most often a cargo ship 3 A cargo hold bottomry Pledging a ship as security in a financial transaction bow 1 The front of a vessel 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 bow chaser See chase gun bowline 1 A type of knot producing a strong loop of a fixed size topologically similar to a sheet bend 2 2 A rope attached to the side of a sail to pull it towards the bow for keeping the windward edge of the sail steady 2 3 A rope attached to the foresail to hold it aback when tacking 2 4 Sailing on a bowline means sailing to weather close hauled bowman The person in a team or among oarsmen positioned nearest the bow bowpicker A gillnetter that fishes by deploying a gillnet from her bow bowse To pull or hoist bow sea Seas approaching a vessel from between 15 and 75 to port or starboard 21 bows on Said of a vessel directly approaching an observer e g The ship approached us bows on bowsprit 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 bow thruster 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 bow visor 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 boxing the compass To state all 32 points of the compass starting at north and proceeding clockwise Sometimes applied to a wind that is constantly shifting boy seaman A young sailor still in training brace 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 brace abox To bring the foreyards flat aback to stop the ship brail 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 27 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 28 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 or 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 The probable actual etymology is given here 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 breachway 1 The shore along a channel 2 The whole area around the place where a channel meets the ocean break bulk cargo Also breakbulk cargo 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 breeches buoy 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 29 bridge A structure above the weather deck extending the full width of the vessel which houses a command center itself called by association the bridge bridge wing 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 brig 1 A vessel with two square rigged masts 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 brig sloop 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 brigantine Also hermaphrodite brig A two masted vessel square rigged on the foremast but fore and aft rigged on the mainmast brightwork Exposed varnished wood on a boat or ship 29 bring to To cause a ship to be stationary by arranging the sails broach 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 30 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 starboard bow with her side facing the viewer s ship could be described as broad on the starboard bow of the viewer s ship Broad Fourteens 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 broadhorn An alternate term for a flatboat broadside 1 One side of a vessel above the waterline 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 Brouwer Route 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 brow See gangplank brown water 1 A collective term for rivers and coastal waters 2 Maritime waters which lie over the continental shelf brown water navy 1 A navy capable of operating on rivers and or in coastal environments 2 That portion of a navy designed and intended to operate on rivers and or in coastal environments 3 A navy whose capabilities limit it to operating on rivers and or in coastal environments bucket Alternative name for a paddle on a paddlewheel buffer The chief bosun s mate in the Royal Navy responsible for discipline bug shoe A length of hardened material placed on a skeg to protect the skeg from damage by shipworms 31 bugeye 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 bulbous bow 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 bulk cargo Commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities bulk carrier Also bulk freighter or bulker A merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo in its cargo holds bulkhead An upright wall within the hull of a ship particularly a watertight load bearing wall bulwark Also bulward The extension of a ship s side above the level of the weather deck nbsp Bulwark or bulward bull ensign Also boot ensign or George ensign The senior ensign of a U S Navy command i e a ship squadron or shore activity bullseye A glass window above the captain s cabin to allow viewing of the sails above deck bumboat A private boat selling goods bumpkin or boomkin 1 A spar similar to a bowsprit but which projects from the stern rather than the bow May be used to attach the backstay or mizzen sheets 18 2 An iron bar projecting outboard from a ship s side to which the lower and topsail brace blocks are sometimes hooked bunk A built in bed on board ship bunker A container for storing coal or fuel oil for a ship s engine bunker fuel Also bunkers Fuel oil for a ship bunt 1 Middle cloths of a square sail 32 2 Centre of a furled square sail 32 bunt gasket Canvas apron used to fasten the bunt of a square sail to the yard when furled 32 bunting tosser A signalman who prepares and flies flag hoists Also known in the United States Navy as a skivvy waver buntline 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 32 buoy 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 burthen 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 burgee A small flag typically triangular flown from the masthead of a yacht to indicate yacht club membership burgoo 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 by the board Anything that has gone overboard Contents Top A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also ReferencesC editcabin An enclosed structure with at least one room on a deck or flat especially one used as living quarters cabin boy An attendant to passengers and crew often a young man cabin cruiser 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 cable 1 An especially large or thick rope 2 A cable length cable length Sometimes simply called a cable 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 caboose A small ship s kitchen or galley on deck cabotage The transport of goods or passengers between two points within the same country alongside coastal waters by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country cage mast See lattice mast camels 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 navigational buoy 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 sail s and mast s and relied on towboat s and mules to move from place to place 33 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 schooner rig which allowed them to sail from place to place but could lower their mast s 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 33 canaller A ship designed to transit the locks of the Welland Canal canister shot Also langrage or simply canister 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 Care needs to be taken in understanding what may appear to be an area of canvas for a sail a stated number may be the length of canvas that is needed off the roll and it was made several different standard widths cap A fitting or band used to connect the head of one mast to the lower portion of the mast above 32 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 cap stay A backstay leading from a mast cap to the ship s side 32 capital ship 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 capsize 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 capstan 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 2 A naval officer with a rank between commander and commodore 3 In the U S Navy U S Coast Guard U S Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration a commissioned officer of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral lower half equal in grade or rank to a U S Army U S Marine Corps or U S Air Force or U S Space Force colonel Captain of the Port 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 U S 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 car carrier 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 car float Also railroad car float or rail barge An unpowered barge with railroad tracks mounted on its deck used to move railroad cars across water obstacles caravel Also caravelle 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 careening Also heaving down Tilting a ship on its side usually when beached to clean or repair the hull below the waterline cargo liner Also passenger cargo ship or passenger cargoman 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 cargo ship 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 cargoman A cargo ship carpenter 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 34 35 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 36 carrack Also nau A three or four masted oceangoing sailing ship used by Western Europeans in the Atlantic Ocean from the 15th through the early 17th centuries carrier An aircraft carrier carronade 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 29 37 carry on Resume work or assigned duties 38 cartel 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 carvel built 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 26 Contrast clinker built nbsp A comparison of the clinker and carvel styles of boat constructioncasing 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 2 The cat o nine tails 3 A cat rigged boat or catboat cat o nine tails Also the cat 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 39 Not enough room to swing a cat also derives from this catamaran Any vessel with two hulls Compare trimaran catboat A cat rigged vessel with a single mast mounted close to the bow and only one sail usually on a gaff catenary Also catenary curve The curve of a deployed anchor chain 40 catharpin A short rope or iron clamp used to brace in the shrouds toward the masts so as to give a freer sweep to the yards cathead A beam extending out from the hull used to support an anchor when raised in order to secure or fish it cat s paws Light variable winds on calm waters producing scattered areas of small waves caulk 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 25 celestial navigation 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 26 41 glossary center of effort Also center of pressure 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 center of lateral resistance 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 centerline 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 centreboard Also centerplate 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 nbsp Diagram of the position of a centerboard on a boatchafing Wear on a line or sail caused by constant rubbing against another surface chafing gear Material applied to a line or spar to prevent or reduce chafing See baggywrinkle and puddening 32 chain locker 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 chain shot Cannonballs linked with short lengths of chain designed to be especially damaging to rigging and masts chain plates 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 32 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 32 chains Small platforms built into the sides of a ship to spread the shrouds to a more advantageous angle Also used as a platform for manual depth sounding chalupa 1 A small boat that functions as a shallop water taxi or gondola 2 In Portuguese a small boat used for cabotage propelled by either oars or sails Those equipped with sails have a single mast 3 A type of whaling boat used by the Basques in the mid 16th century in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador change tack Also switch tack To change course or heading channel fever 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 42 2 obsolete usage A crew member avoiding duties with a feigned illness usually after leaving port Charlie Charley Noble The metal stovepipe chimney from a cook shack on the deck of a ship or from a stove in a galley chartered ship Also charter ship 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 43 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 chase gun Also chase piece or chaser 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 chasse maree 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 masted luggers replaced the vessels originally serving in this role the luggers then were replaced successively by dundees brigs and schooners cheeks 1 Wooden blocks at the side of a spar 2 Flat plates of iron or wood bolted to the masthead to form angle supports for the cross trees 32 3 The sides of a block or gun carriage chief engineer The senior engineering officer abbreviated ChEng chine 1 An angle in the hull 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 chronometer 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 cigarette boat See go fast boat citadel 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 civil Red Ensign 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 class 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 class leader Synonym for lead ship classification society Also classification organisation or classification organization See ship classification society clean bill of health 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 clear 1 To perform customs and immigration legalities prior to leaving port 2 More loosely to leave port cleat 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 clewlines Lines used to truss up the clews the lower corners of square sails Used to reduce and stow a barge s topsail 2 clinker built 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 nbsp A comparison of the clinker and carvel styles of boat constructionclipper 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 2 A tuna clipper close aboard Very near the ship close hauled of a vessel Beating as close to the wind direction as possible clove hitch 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 C O or CO An abbreviation for commanding officer coal hulk A hulk used to store coal coal trimmer Also simply trimmer A person responsible for ensuring that a coal fired vessel remains in trim evenly balanced as coal is consumed on a voyage coaling 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 coaming The raised edge of a hatch cockpit or skylight designed to help keep out water that pools on the surface above coaster Also skoot A coastal trading vessel a shallow hulled ship used for trade between locations on the same island or continent coble 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 rigged yard 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 cockpit A seating area not to be confused with the deck towards the stern of a small decked vessel that houses the rudder controls cofferdam An insulating space between two watertight bulkheads or decks within a ship cog A type of sailing ship with a single mast and a single square rigged sail 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 44 225 227 coign A wedge used to assist in the aiming of a cannon an older form of quoin collier A bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal especially such a ship in naval use to supply coal to coal fired warships combat loading 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 comber A long curving wave breaking on the shore come about 1 To tack 2 To change tack 3 To manoeuvre the bow of a sailing vessel across the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other 4 To position a vessel with respect to the wind after tacking come to To stop a sailing vessel especially by turning into the wind commanding officer The officer in command of a warship Also called CO captain regardless of rank skipper or the old man commission 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 commissioning pennant A pennant flown from the masthead of a warship Also called a masthead pennant commodore 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 4 commodore yacht club An officer of a yacht club 5 Commodore Sea Scouts A position in the Boy Scouts of America s Sea Scouts program communication tube Also speaking tube or voice tube An air filled tube usually armored allowing speech between the conning tower and the below decks control spaces on a warship companionway 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 concrete ship A vessel constructed of steel and ferrocement a type of reinforced concrete rather than of more traditional materials such as steel iron or wood 45 confined waters Waters where there is little space to maneuver conn Also con conne conde cunde or cun 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 conning tower 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 consort 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 constant bearing decreasing range CBDR 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 46 container ship A cargo ship that carries all of her cargo in truck size intermodal containers convoy A group of ships traveling together for mutual support and protection corinthian An amateur yachter 47 48 corrector A device used to correct the ship s compass e g by counteracting errors due to the magnetic effects of a steel hull corsair 1 A French privateer especially one from the port of St Malo 2 Any privateer or pirate 3 A ship used by privateers or pirates especially of French nationality 4 corsair dinghy A class of 16 foot 4 9 metre three handed sailing dinghy corvette Also corvetto 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 U S 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 cotchel A partial load 49 cottonclad 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 43 Country ships were also important in the opium trade from India into China until supplanted by the faster opium clipper 50 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 51 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 coxswain Also cockswain The helmsman or crew member in command of a boat CPO country 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 crabber A fishing vessel rigged for crab fishing crane vessel or crane ship 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 crash rescue boat or crash boat 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 U S 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 crew 1 On warships and merchant ships all of those members of a ship s company who are not officers 2 On leisure vessels with no formal chain of command all of those persons who are not the skipper or passengers crew boat 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 crew management 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 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 52 cross the line Cross the equator crosstrees 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 crow s nest 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 cruise ship A passenger ship used for pleasure voyages where the voyage itself and the ship s amenities are part of the experience as well as 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 cruiser 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 cuddy A small cabin in a boat a cabin for the use of the captain in the after part of a sailing ship under the poop deck Cunningham A line invented by Briggs Cunningham used to control the shape of a sail 53 cunt splice or cut splice 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 54 Also used figuratively of people 55 cutter 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 U S 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 warship s Originally cutter referred only to a type of hull but it came to refer to the rig which was single mast ed with both fore and aft and square sails A cutter rig had very large sail areas available for use in light winds nbsp A typical cutter rigging one mast bearing a fore and aft rigged mainsail A and foresail forestaysail B a bowsprit C a jib D and a flying jib E cutting out 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 cutwater The forward curve of the stem of a ship Contents Top A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also ReferencesD editdaggerboard A type of light centerboard that is lifted vertically sometimes in pairs with the leeward one lowered when beating dan or 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 dandy 1 A rig with a small mizzen abaft the steering post 2 2 In British usage another name for a yawl 3 In British usage a small after sail on a yawl danlayer A mine warfare vessel usually a small trawler fitted for laying dans Danlayers served as a part of minesweeping flotillas during and immediately after World War II 1939 1945 dart To run dart to run dead before the wind 2 davit 1 A spar formerly used on board ships as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow without injuring the sides of the ship 2 A crane often working in pairs and usually made of steel used to lower things over the side of a ship including lifeboats Davy Jones Locker An idiom for the bottom of the sea day beacon 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 38 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 U S Navy It is often used to indicate that a pirate or drug runner vessel has been immobilised dead run See running dead slow See steerageway dead wake The trail of a fading disturbance in the water See also wake deadeye 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 deadhead A snag deadlight A strong shutter fitted over a porthole or other opening that can be closed in bad weather dead reckoning 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 56 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 57 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 58 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 25 death roll 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 debarcation or disembarkation 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 deck 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 deck gun 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 deckhead 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 deckhouse A cabin that protrudes above a ship s deck decks awash A situation in which the deck of the vessel is partially or wholly submerged possibly as a result of excessive listing or a loss of buoyancy decommission 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 degaussing A process to reduce a warship s magnetic signature demurrage 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 depot ship 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 25 derrick A lifting device composed of one mast or pole and a boom or jib hinged freely at the bottom despatch 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 despatch boat An alternate spelling of dispatch boat destroyer 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 U S Navy slang also called a tin can or small boy destroyer depot ship See destroyer tender destroyer escort 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 U S Navy as well by the 1970s destroyer leader A large destroyer suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships a type of flotilla leader destroyer tender 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 devil s claw 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 dhow 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 dinghy 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 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 nbsp Dipping the eyedipping the flag A method of rendering honors at sea by lowering and raising a ship s flag directional light A light illuminating a sector or very narrow angle and intended to mark a direction to be followed dispatch boat 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 displacement The weight of water displaced by the immersed volume of a ship s hull exactly equivalent to the weight of the whole ship displacement hull A hull designed to travel through the water rather than planing over it disposable ship 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 disrate To reduce in rank or rating to demote distinctive mark 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 ditty bag Bag or box for personal items 38 division 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 Divisional Transport Officer Also Divisional Naval Transport Officer 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 dock 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 3 To tie up along a pier or wharf dockyard 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 dog Also door dog and hatch dog Device to secure doors and hatches Typically used for watertight openings but can apply elsewhere Dogging the hatches is a common phrase dog watch 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 doldrums Also equatorial calms The equatorial trough with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds generally encountered there 59 dolly winch A small winch mounted on the windlass used as an alternative to the brails winch when that is obstructed in some way e g by deck cargo 2 dolphin 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 donkey engine A small auxiliary engine used either to start a larger engine or independently e g for pumping water on steamships 60 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 dorade box 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 dory Also doree dori or Royal Navy dorey 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 61 135 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 62 63 Dover cliffs A slang term for very rough seas with large white capped waves downbound 1 Travel downstream with a following current 64 2 Eastward travel in the Great Lakes region terminology used by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation 65 downflooding 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 downhaul A line used to control either a mobile spar or the shape of a sail A downhaul can also be used to retrieve a sail back on deck drabbler An extra strip of canvas secured below a bonnet further to increase the area of a course draft Also draught The depth of a ship s keel below the waterline dragger 1 A fishing trawler 2 A dredger dragon boat 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 draught Alternative spelling of draft dreadnought 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 dredger A vessel specialized for use in the excavation of material from a water environment and equipped with heavy machinery for this purpose dress overall 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 2 A verbal reprimand dressing lines Lines running from stemhead to masthead between mastheads and then down to the taffrail to which flags are attached when a ship is dressed overall drifter A type of fishing boat designed to catch herring in a long drift net long used in the Netherlands and Great Britain drink Overboard and into the water e g it fell into the drink driver The large sail flown from the mizzen gaff driver mast The fifth mast of a six masted barquentine or gaff schooner It is preceded by the jigger mast and followed by the spanker mast The sixth mast of the only seven masted vessel the gaff schooner Thomas W Lawson was normally called the pusher mast drogher See disposable ship drogue 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 drudging 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 drydock 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 2 Personal baggage Dutch barge Also schuyt 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 Dutch built 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 Contents Top A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also ReferencesE editearings Small lines by which the uppermost corners of the largest sails are secured to the yardarms East Indiaman Any ship operating under charter or license to the East India Company England or to the Danish East India Company French East India Company Dutch East India Company Portuguese East India Company or Swedish East India Company from the 17th to the 19th centuries echo sounding The measurement of the depth of a body of water using a SONAR device See also sounding and swinging the lead embayed 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 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 nbsp Diagram showing the Minas Geraes class battleship with its central guns arranged en echelon engine order telegraph Also chadburn A communications device used by the pilot to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed engine room 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 2 rank The lowest grade of commissioned officer in the U S Navy escort carrier A type of aircraft carrier smaller and slower than a fleet carrier used by some navies in World War II to escort convoys ferry aircraft and provide air support for amphibious operations estimated position 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 evaporator 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 43 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 eye splice 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 Contents Top A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also ReferencesF editfactory ship 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 2 To make something flush 3 A line is fair when it has a clear run 4 A wind or current is fair when it offers an advantage to a boat fair winds and following seas A blessing wishing the recipient a safe journey and good fortune fairlead A device used to keep a line or chain running in the correct direction or to give it a fair lead to prevent it rubbing or fouling 2 fairing 1 n A structure that improves the streamlining of a vessel 2 v The process of making a curve or structure fair fairwater 1 A structure that improves the streamlining of a vessel 2 On submarines The superstructure conning tower sail etc of the boat fairway 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 37 200 286 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 falkusa A traditional fishing boat with a lateen sail on a single mast used by fishermen from the town of Komiza on the Adriatic island of Vis fall The part of the tackle that is hauled upon 2 fall off 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 bow leeward 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 fast attack craft 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 fast combat support ship The largest type of U S 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 fast supply vessel See crew boat fast support vessel See crew boat fathom 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 fathometer A depth finder that uses sound waves to determine the depth of water favored side The side of the course that gets you to the next mark faster due to more wind favorable shifts less current smaller waves etc felucca 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 fender A flexible bumper used in boating to keep boats from banging into docks or each other Often an old car tire 2 ferry Also ferryboat 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 ferry slip A specialized docking facility designed to receive a ferryboat or train ferry fetch 1 The distance across water a wind or waves have traveled 2 To reach a mark without tacking fid 1 A tapered wooden tool used for separating the strands of rope for splicing 2 A bar used to fix an upper mast in place 66 Fiddley 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 fife rail A freestanding pinrail surrounding the base of a mast and used for securing that mast s sails halyards with a series of belaying pins 66 Fifie 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 U S 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 figure of eight A stopper knot 2 figurehead 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 starboard bow 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 fireboat A specialized vessel equipped with firefighting equipment such as pumps and nozzles for fighting shipboard and shoreline fires fireman Also stoker boilerman or watertender 1 A job associated with tending the fire for a boiler 2 A U S Navy rate in the engineering department equivalent to seaman fire ship 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 fire room Also boiler room The compartment in which a ship s boilers or furnaces are stoked and fired first rate 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 first lieutenant 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 U S Navy the officer on a ship serving as the senior person in charge of all deck hands first mate The second in command of a commercial ship fish 1 To repair a mast or spar with a fillet of wood 2 To secure an anchor on the side of a ship for sea otherwise known as catting 3 A slang term for a self propelled torpedo fisherman s reef 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 staysail schooner the fisherman is a quadrilateral sail set between the two masts above the main staysail It is used in light to moderate airs fitting out 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 flag hoist A number of signal flags strung together to convey a message e g England expects that every man will do his duty flag of convenience 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 flag officer 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 U S Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps officers and general officers in the U S Army U S Air Force and U S Marine Corps entitled to fly their own flags 2 A formal rank in the mid 19th century U S 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 flagship 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 flank The maximum speed of a ship Faster than full speed flare 1 A curvature of the topsides outward towards the gunwale 2 A pyrotechnic signalling device usually used to indicate distress flatback A Great Lakes slang term for a vessel without any self unloading equipment flatboat Also broadhorn 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 flattop A slang term for an aircraft carrier fleet 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 3 Merchant fleet a collective term for the merchant marine known in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries the merchant navy of a particular country 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 10 A location where barges are secured fleet in being 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 oppose it in case it comes out to fight or to blockade it in port 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 67 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 flight deck 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 68 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 69 floorhead Any of the upper extremities of the floor of a vessel flotilla 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 flotilla leader 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 flotsam Debris or cargo that remains afloat after a shipwreck See also jetsam fluke The wedge shaped part of an anchor s arms that digs into the solid bottom beneath a body of water flush deck An upper deck of a vessel that extends unbroken from stem to stern flush decker 1 Any vessel with a flush deck 2 A U S Navy destroyer of the World War I era Caldwell Wickes or Clemson class produced in very large numbers flushing board A board inserted vertically in a cabin entrance 2 fluyt Also fluit or flute 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 fly by night A large sail used only for sailing downwind requiring little attention folding propeller A propeller with folding blades furling so as to reduce drag on a sailing vessel when not in use following sea 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 21 foo foo band An impromptu musical band on late 19th century sailing vessels made up from members of the ship s crew 70 71 foot 1 The lower edge of any sail 2 2 The bottom of a mast 3 An Imperial unit of length equivalent to 12 inches 30 cm footloose If the foot of a sail is not secured properly it is footloose blowing around in the wind footboat A barge s boat or dinghy 2 footrope Each yard on a square rigged sailing ship is equipped with a footrope for sailors to stand on while setting or stowing the sails force See Beaufort scale fore Also forward often written as for ard Toward the bow of a vessel fore and aft rig 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 forecastle pronounced ˈ f oʊ k s el 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 forefoot The lower part of the stem of a ship forehold The forward i e front part of a hold foremast jack An enlisted sailor one who is housed before the foremast forepeak The part of the hold of a ship within the angle of the bow foresail 1 A fore and aft rigged sail set on the foremast 2 The lowest sail set on the foremast of a full rigged ship or other square rigged vessel forestay A long line or cable reaching from the bow of the vessel to the mastheads used to support the mast 2 forestaysail A triangular sail set on the forestay 2 foul 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 founder To fill with water and sink four piper A term sometimes used to refer to United States Navy four funneled destroyers of the Bainbridge Paulding Wickes and Clemson classes all built for service in World War I fourth rate 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 72 freeboard 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 freighter A cargo ship frigate 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 5 In the U S Navy from the 1950s until the 1970s a type of guided missile antiaircraft ship built on a destroyer sized hull all of which were reclassified as guided missile cruisers in 1975 full and by 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 full rigged ship A sailing vessel with three or more masts all of them square rigged A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig full steam ahead With as much speed as possible funnel 1 funnel Also stack The smokestack of a ship used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust 2 Ventilation funnel A curved rotatable tube protruding from the deck of a vessel designed to direct fresh air into her interior Furious Fifties 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 furl To roll or gather a sail against its mast or spar 66 furnace Boiler component where fuel is burned furring 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 41 ch 6 the Gresham Ship fusta Also fuste foist or galliot 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 futtock shrouds 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 66 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 72 Contents Top A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z See also ReferencesG editgaff 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 throat halliards A standing gaff remains aloft its sails brailed when not in use 66 2 fishing gaff A hook on a long pole used to haul in fish gaff rig 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 66 gaff topsail A fore and aft sail set above a gaff rigged sail with the clew sheeted to the end of the gaff 66 gaff vang A line rigged to the end of a gaff and used to adjust a gaff sail s trim gale See ghali gali See ghali galleass 1 An oared warship of the 16th century equipped with a gun deck larger and equipped with more sails than a galley 2 A flat bottomed commercial sailing vessel of the North Sea and western Baltic Sea galleon A large multi decked sailing ship with a prominent squared off raised stern generally carrying three or more masts typically lateen fore 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 nbsp Illustration of a typical 15th century galleongalley 1, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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