Appendix IV
Definitions of Sea Terms
- Barnacle.--
- A shellfish often found on a vessel's bottom.
- Battens.--
- Strips of wood such as those secured over the tarpaulins
of a hatch to batten down in bad weather; also
strips of wood fastened to spars to take chafe of gears
(chafing battens); also strips of wood on which a sight
may be lined up.
- Beacon.--
- A post or buoy placed over a shoal or bank to warn
vessels of danger. Also a signal mark on land.
- Bearing.--
- The direction of an object from the person looking.
- Belay.--
- To make fast.
- Bends.--
- The strongest part of a vessel's side to which the
beams, knees, and futtocks are bolted. The part between
the water's edge and the bulwarks.
- Berth.--
- An anchorage; a station; a sleeping billet.
- Betwixt wind and water.--
- That portion of the vessel along the
water line which when the vessel rolls is alternately above
and below water.
- Bitter end.--
- The end of a rope.
- Boarding.--
- The act of going on board a vessel, either for the
purpose of getting information or extending courtesies.
- Boat cloak.--
- A cloak used by officers.
- Booby hatch.--
- A raised small hatch.
- Bos'n's chair.--
- The piece of board on which a man working
aloft is swung.
- Brackish.--
- Half salt and half fresh water.
- By the head.--
- A term applied to a vessel when she is deeper
forward than aft.
- By the stern.--
- Applied to vessel when she is deeper aft than forward.
- Cast.--
- To pay a vessel's head off and bring the wind on the
desired side, as to cast to port. Hence, to head in a certain
direction bringing up the anchor. To take a sounding or
cast the lead. The throw with a heaving line.
--186--
- Chock-a-block.--
- Full; filled to the extreme limit.
- Coaster.--
- A vessel engaged only in running up and down the coast.
- Cockbill.--
- A yard is cockbilled when one yardarm is cocked
up above the other; and anchor, when hanging by ring stopper
up and down.
- Conning.--
- Directing the helmsman in steering a vessel.
- Dead reckoning.--
- A reckoning kept so as to give the theoretical
position of a ship without the aid of objects on land,
sights, etc. It consists of plotting on a chart (map) the
distance believed to have been covered along each course
which has been steered. On a long voyage the navigator
runs it from noon to noon.
- Dead water.--
- The eddy under a vessel's counter when she is in motion.
- Dismantle.--
- To unrig a vessel and discharge all stores.
- Dog vane.--
- A small wind vane placed on the truck or above
the rail.
- Dolphin.--
- A piling or a nest of piles off a wharf or beach, or
off the entrance to a dock for mooring purposes.
- Ease off.--
- To slack away a line.
- Ebb.--
- The outflow of the tide.
- Eddy.--
- A circular motion in the water caused by the meeting
of opposite currents.
- Fend off.--
- To shove off.
- Field day.--
- Day for cleaning up of all parts of a ship.
- Forging ahead.--
- Going ahead slowly.
- Freeboard.--
- That portion of a vessel out of water.
- Freshen the nip.--
- To set up again; to veer on the cable or
pull upon a backstay to shift the chafe from a particular spot.
- Full due.--
- To secure permanently; secure for a full due.
- Furl.--
- To roll up snugly and secure, as a sail or awning.
- Heave to.--
- TO put a vessel in the position of being stopped.
- Holystone.--
- A sandstone, used in holystoning decks.
- Hull down.--
- Said of a vessel when due to its distance only the
spars are visible.
- Irish pennants.--
- Rope yarns or loose ends hanging about the
rigging or deck.
- Jury mast.--
- A temporary mast rigged in place of one lost or broken.
--187--
- Labor.--
- To roll or pitch heavily.
- Landfall.--
- Sighting land. A good landfall is made when a
vessel sights the land as intended.
- Lanyards.--
- Pieces of small line used for securing.
- Latitude.--
- Distance north or south of the equator, expressed
in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
- Lee side.--
- The side away from the wind.
- Lee shore.--
- A shore onto which the wind is blowing. Dangerous.
- Leeward.--
- The direction toward which the wind is blowing;
away from the wind.
- Leeway.--
- The lateral movement of a ship to leeward of her
course, owing to the side thrust of the wind.
- Lend a hand.--
- To assist; to aid.
- Let go by the run.--
- To let go all at once, as by throwing a
rope off a pin.
- Life lines.--
- Lines to prevent men falling overboard.
- Lighter.--
- A craft used in loading and unloading vessels.
- Longitude.--
- Distance east or west of the meridian which runs
through Greenwich, England, Expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds.
- Lookouts:
- Battle.--
- In time of war and in battle problems battle
lookouts are stationed in the top and secondary battery
control stations.
- Foretop.--
- Duties same as masthead lookout and also as
specially ordered.
- Port bow.--
- Watch fog buoy of ship ahead and keep lookout
on port bow.
- Port bridge.--
- From ahead to abeam.
- Port quarter and astern.--
- To watch a ship's own fog
buoy and keep lookout aft.
- Starboard bridge.--
- From ahead to abeam.
- Starboard bow.--
- Watch fog buoy of ship ahead and keep
lookout on starboard bow.
- Starboard quarter and astern.--
- To watch ship's own fog
buoy and keep lookout aft.
- Lower booms.--
- Swinging spars along the ship's side to which
ship's boats secure. Usually placed a little forward of amidships.
--188--
- Oakum.--
- Stuff made by picking rope yarns to pieces. Used
for calking and other purposes.
- Off and on.--
- Coming alternately near the land and then
standing off again.
- Overhaul.--
- To take apart, thoroughly examine, and repair; to overtake.
- Pipe down.--
- A boatswain's call denoting the completion of an
all-hands evolution, and that you can go below. This expression
is also used to mean keep quiet.
- Quarter booms.--
- Boat booms aft.
- Rake.--
- The incline which most masts have toward the stern
of the ship. Also, an instrument for estimating fall of shot.
- Ride.--
- To be held by the cable, as a vessel riding to her anchor.
- Round in.--
- To haul in, as round in the main brace.
- Run down.--
- One vessel fouling or sinking another by running into her.
- Scotchman.--
- A piece of iron with ring attached, seized to the shrouds.
- Screw.--
- The propeller.
- Scuttle.--
- To make holes in a ship's bottom to sink her. A
round or square opening in the deck.
- Sea painter.--
- A bow painter which leads well forward of the
bow of the lifeboat and outboard of all rail stanchions, etc.
- Sheer off.--
- To shove off; to separate by altering course.
- Ship.--
- To take on board. To enlist; to serve on board ship.
- Slack.--
- To lessen tension on a rope by letting it run out.
- Snub.--
- To check a rope or chain suddenly.
- Spring tides.--
- The highest and lowest course of tides, occurring
every new and full moon.
- Spur shores.--
- Long timbers used to keep a ship off a dock.
The heel of the spar is lashed to the ship's side and the
other end rests on the dock.
- Strike the colors.--
- To lower the flag in surrender.
- Strongback.--
- A spar which is lashed between davits at their
upper bends against which the lifeboat is griped when
secured for sea.
- Surge.--
- A large, swelling wave. To surge a rope or cable is
to slack it up suddenly where it renders around a pin or
around the windlass or capstan. This gives in an irregular
jerky movement.
- Swamp.--
- To sink by filling with water.
--189--
- Swing.--
- A ship turns or swings to her anchor with the wind or tide.
- Swing ship.--
- To head the ship successively on various points
of the compass for obtaining the error of the compass. The
error may be obtained on one heading without swinging.
- Tack (noun).--
- One leg of the zigzag course steered in beating to windward.
- Tonnage rules:
-
- Deadweight.--
- Expresses the number of tons (of 2,240
pounds) of cargo, stores, and bunker fuel that a vessel
can transport. It is the difference between the number
of tons of water a vessel displaces light and the number
of tons it displaces when submerged to the load water
line. Deadweight tonnage is used interchangeably
with deadweight carrying capacity. A vessel's capacity
for weight cargo is less than its total deadweight tonnage.
- Cargo.--
- Either weight or measurement. The weight ton
in the United States and in British countries is the
English long or gross ton of 2,240 pounds. In France
and other countries having the metric system a weight
ton is 2,204.6 pounds. A measurement ton is usually
40 cubic feet, but in some instances a larger number of
cubic feet is taken for a ton.
- Gross registered.--
- Applies to vessels, not to cargo. It is
determined by dividing by 100 the contents in cubic
feet of the vessel's closed-in spaces. A register ton is
100 cubic feet. the register of a vessel states both
gross and net tonnage.
- Net registered.--
- A vessel's gross tonnage minus deductions
of space occupied by accommodations for crew,
by the propelling power plant, fuel, and spaces necessary
for operating the vessel. A vessel's net tonnage
expresses the space available for the accommodation
of passengers and the stowage of cargo. A ton of
cargo in most instances occupies less than 100 cubic
feet; hence the vessel's cargo tonnage usually exceeds
its net tonnage, and may in some instances exceed the
gross tonnage.
- Displacement (of a vessel).--
- The weight, in tons of 2,240
pounds, of the vessel and its contents. Displacement
--190--
-
- light is the weight of the vessel without stores, fuel, or
cargo. Displacement loaded is the weight of the vessel
plus cargo, fuel, and stores.
- Transoms.--
- Pieces of timber going across the sternpost, to
which they are bolted. Raised platforms in small vessels
and yachts, officers' quarters, etc., and used for seats.
- Truck.--
- A cap at the summit of a flagstaff or masthead.
- Turnbuckle.--
- A link with an adjustable screw for connecting
two parts of a bar or a rod together; used on Jacob's ladders,
ridge ropes, guys, etc. It allows them to be tautened
after they are rigged.
- Typhoon.--
- A violent whirlwind. Those which are encountered
in the Fat East are usually the only ones so called.
- Unship.--
- To take anything from the place where it is installed for use.
- Veer and haul.--
- To veer on one part of a line and haul on the
other, both being connected to the same spar or movable
article; also the shifting of the wind.
- Waterlogged.--
- When a vessel is so full of water as to be heavy
and unmanageable.
- Weather gage.--
- To windward of; to get the better of.
- Wind ship.--
- To turn her end for end; at a dock for instance
(pronounced w·EYE·nd).
- Windfall.--
- A rush of wind from the high land; a stroke of good luck.
- Yaw.--
- To veer suddenly and unintentionally off the course.
--191--
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