If you want to learn to sail, the first step is to learn the language.

Sailors
communicate in a special way that can seem daunting for beginners. This book
includes the Top 10 nautical terms every sailor should know and the most
common rules of engagement. Most important, the simple definitions of more
than 1,500 nautical terms are included so that you can begin to get your sea legs
and speak like a sailor right now!

HOW TO SPEAK LIKE A SAILOR

1500 NAUTICAL TERMS EVERY MARINER SHOULD KNOW

Compiled BY MICHELLE SEGREST

©2021 Navigate Content, Inc., Alabama, USA.

All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer

The information provided within this book is for general informational purposes only. The information was gathered
through the combination of research, cited articles and resources, and the author’s own experiences battling seasickness
while sailing the world. The author is not a doctor and doesn’t claim to give medical advice. Contained herein are the
experiences and opinions of the author, combined with expert research, which is cited.

There are no representations or warranties, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or
availability with respect to the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in this book for any purpose.

No part of this book, including written passages, video content, and photographs, may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

Copyright ©2021, Navigate Content, Inc.,

Alabama, USA.

All Rights Reserved

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2
 CONTENTS
Top 10 Nautical Terms for Beginning Sailors 4

1,500 Nautical Terms – A to Z 5

A 5
B 9
C 17
D 23
E 27
F 28
G 32
H 35
I 38
J 39
K 40
L 41
M 44
N 46
O 47
P 48
Q 52
R 53
S 57
T 74
U 82
V 83
W 84
X 89
Y 89
Z 89

Rules of Engagement 90

About the Author 91

Books by Michelle Segrest 92

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 TOP 10 NAUTICAL TERMS FOR BEGINNING SAILORS
1. Aft - The back of a ship. If something is located aft, it is at the back of the sailboat. The aft is also
known as the stern.

2. Bow - The front of the ship is called the bow. Knowing the location of the bow is important for
defining two of the other most common sailing terms: port (left of the bow) and starboard (right of the
bow).

3. Port - Port is always the left-hand side of the boat when you are facing the bow. Because “right” and
“left” can become confusing sailing terms when used out in the open waters, port is used to define the
left-hand side of the boat as it relates to the bow, or front.

4. Starboard - Starboard is always the right-hand side of the boat when you are facing the bow.
Because “right” and “left” can become confusing sailing terms when used out in the open waters,
starboard is used to define the right-hand side of the boat as it relates to the bow, or front.

5. Leeward - Also known as lee, leeward is the direction opposite to the way the wind is currently
blowing (windward).

6. Windward - The direction in which the wind is currently blowing. Windward is the opposite of
leeward (the opposite direction of the wind). Sailboats tend to move with the wind, making the
windward direction an important sailing term to know.

7. Boom - The boom is the horizontal pole which extends from the bottom of the mast. Adjusting the
boom towards the direction of the wind is how the sailboat is able to harness wind power in order to
move forward or backwards.

8. Rudder - Located beneath the boat, the rudder is a flat piece of wood, fiberglass, or metal that is
used to steer the ship. Larger sailboats control the rudder via a wheel, while smaller sailboats will have a
steering mechanism directly aft.

9. Tacking - The opposite of jibing, this basic sailing maneuver refers to turning the bow of the boat
through the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the boat to the other side. The boom of a
boat will always shift from one side to the other when performing a tack or a jibe.

10. Jibing - The opposite of tacking, this basic sailing maneuver refers to turning the stern of the boat
through the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the boat to the other side. The boom of a
boat will always shift from one side to the other when performing a tack or a jibe. Jibing is a less
common technique than tacking, since it involves turning a boat directly into the wind.

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 1,500 NAUTICAL TERMS – A TO Z

ABACK – A sail is aback when the wind fills it from the opposite side to the one normally used to move
the vessel forward.
ABAFT – Toward the rear (stern) of the boat. Behind.
ABAFT THE BEAM – Farther aft than the beam. A relative bearing of greater than 90 degrees from
the bow.
ABANDON SHIP – An imperative to leave the vessel immediately, usually in the face of imminent
and overwhelming danger.
ABEAM – At right angles to the keel of the boat, but not on the boat.
ABOARD – On or within the boat.
ABOUT – To change the course of the ship by tacking.
ABOVE BOARD – On or above the deck. In plain view and not hiding anything.
ABOVE DECK – On the deck.
ABOVE-WATER HULL – The hull section of a vessel above the waterline. The visible part of a ship.
ABREAST – Side by side; by the side of. To define abreast in non-sailing terms would be alongside
something.
ABSENTEE PENNANT – A special pennant flown to indicate the absence of a ship’s commanding
officer.
ABSOLUTE BEARING – The bearing of an object in relation to north. Also called True North.
ACCOMMODATION LADDER – A portable flight of steps down a ship’s side.
ACCOMMODATION SHIP – A ship or hull used as housing when there is a lack of quarters available
ashore.
ACT OF PARDON or ACT OF GRACE – A letter from a state or power authorizing action by a
privateer. Also called a Letter of Marque.
ACTION STATION – Battle stations.
ADMIRAL – A senior naval officer of flag rank.
ADMIRALTY – A high naval authority in charge of a state’s navy or major territorial component.
ADMIRALTY LAW – The body of law that deals with maritime cases.
ADRIFT – Loose, not on moorings or towline. Afloat and unattached.
ADVANCE NOTE – A note for one month’s wages issued to sailor’s on their signing of a ship’s
articles.

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AFLOAT – A vessel that is floating freely.
AFFREGHTMENT – Hiring of a vessel.
AFORE – Toward the front of a vessel.
AFT – Toward the stern of the boat. The aft of a ship is towards the rear of the ship, or the back of a
boat.
AFTERBROW – On larger ships, a secondary gangway rigged in the area aft of midship.
AFTERDECK – Deck behind a ship’s bridge.
AFTERGUARD – Crew who work the aft sails on the quarterdeck and poop deck.
AFTERNOON WATCH – The 12:00 to 16:00 watch.
AGROUND – Touching or fast to the bottom.
AHEAD – In a forward direction.
AHOY – A cry to draw attention. Used to hail a boat or ship.
AHULL – With sails furled and helm lashed to the lee side.
AIDS TO NAVIGATION (ATON) – Artificial objects to supplement natural landmarks indicating
safe and unsafe waters.
ALEE – Away from the direction of the wind. Opposite of windward.
ALL HANDS – When the entire ship’s crew, including officers, are enlisted to operate a mission or
function.
ALL NIGHT IN – When there are no night watches.
ALL STANDING – An unforeseen or sudden stop.
ALLISION – The impact of a stationary object, such as a bridge abutment or dolphin, pier or wharf, or
other vessel.
ALOFT – Above the deck of the boat.
ALONGSIDE – By the side of a ship or pier.
AMIDSHIPS – In or toward the center of the boat—midway between the bow and the stern of a ship.
AMMUNITION SHIP – A naval auxiliary ship specifically configured to carry ammunition, usually
for naval ships and aircraft.
ANCHOR – An object designed to prevent or slow the drift of a ship, generally attached to the ship by
a line or a chain.
ANCHORAGE – A place suitable for dropping anchor in relation to the wind, seas and bottom.
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 by a light line to an anchor to indicate the position of the
anchor on bottom.
ANCHOR CHAIN – A chain connecting a ship to an anchor.

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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 for sea.
ANCHOR LIGHT – A white light displayed by a ship to indicate that it is at anchor.
ANCHOR RODE – The anchor line, rope, or cable connecting the anchor chain to the vessel.
ANCHOR SENTINEL – A separate weight on a separate line that is loosely attached to the anchor
rode so that it can slide down it easily.
ANCHOR WATCH – The crewmen assigned to take care of a ship while it is anchored or moored.
ANCHOR WINCH – A horizontal capstan in the bow used for weighing anchor.
ANCHOR’S AWEIGH – Said of an anchor to indicate it is clear of the bottom and that the ship is no
longer anchored.
ANDREW – Traditional lower-deck slang term for the Royal Navy.
ANEMOMETER – An instrument to measure wind speed.
ANEROID BAROMETER – An instrument to measure air pressure, used to predict changes in
weather.
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 it never exceeds 180 degrees.
ANSWER – The expected response of a vessel to control mechanisms, such as “answering” to the
wheel and rudder.
ANTI-ROLLING TANKS – A pair of fluid-filled tanks mounted on opposite sides of a ship below the
waterline.
ANTI-SUBMARINE NET or ANTI-SUBMARINE BOOM – A heavy underwater net attached to a
boom placed to protect a harbor or anchorage.
APEAK – More or less vertical.
APORT – Toward the port side of a vessel.
APRON – A piece of wood fitted to the aft side of the stern post and the fore side of the stern post of a
clinker built boat.
APPARENT WIND – The combination of the true wind and the headwind caused by the boat’s
forward motion.
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.
ARNAMENT – A ship’s complement of weapons.
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.

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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.
ASHORE – On the beach, shore or land.
ASTARBOARD – Toward the starboard side of a vessel.
ASTERN – In back of the boat, opposite of ahead—at the stern of a ship.
ASTERN GEAR – The gear that when engaged with an engine or motor results in backward
movement.
ASYLM HARBOR – A harbor used to provide shelter from a storm.
ATHWARTSHIPS – At right angles to the centerline of the boat; rowboat seats are generally athwart
ships.
AUXILIARY SHIP – A naval ship designed to operate in any number of roles supporting combatant
ships and other naval operations.
AVAST – Stop, cease, or desist from whatever is being done.
AVISO – A kind of dispatch boat or advice boat, mostly in the French Navy.
AWEIGH – The position of anchor as it is raised clear of the bottom.
AXIAL FIRE – Fire toward the end of a ship.
AYE, AYE – A reply to an order or command to indicate it has been heard and understood.
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.

8
B

B&R RIG – A style of standing rigging used on sailboats that lack a backstay.
BACK – To make a sail fill with wind on the opposite side. Normally used for sailing forward.
BACK AND FILL – A method of keeping a square-rigged vessel under control while drifting with the
tide along a narrow channel.
BACKSTAY – Stay extending from the ship’s mastheads to the side of the ship.
BACK WASH – Water forced astern by the action of the propeller. Also, the receding of the waves.
BAGGYWRINKLE – A soft covering for standing rigging that prevent sail chafing.
BAILER – Any device for removing water that has entered a vessel.
BALDIE – A type of Scottish sailboat introduced in 1860, used for fishing.
BALANCE RUDDER – A set of three or four rudders operating in tandem to maneuver a sternwheel
steamboat.
BALLAST – Material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure.
BALLAST TANK – A compartment with a boat, ship, submarine, or other floating structure that holds
water. Water should move in and out from the ballast tank to balance the ship
BALLASTER – One who supplies ships with ballast.
BANK – A large area of elevated sea floor.
BANYAN – A traditional Royal Navy term for a day (or less) of rest and relaxation.
BAR – Any large mass of sand or earth formed and raised above the water surface by the surge of the
sea.
BARGEMASTER – Owner of a barge.
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.
BARBETTE – A fixed armored enclosure protecting a ship’s guns.
BARCA-LONGA – A two- or three-masted lugger used for fishing on the coasts of Spain and Portugal
and in the Mediterranean Sea in the late 17th and 18th centuries.
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.
BARE POLES – Sailing without any canvas raised, usually in a strong wind.
BARGE – A towed or self-propelled flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river, canal, or coastal
transport of heavy goods.

9
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 or BARQUE – A sailing vessel of three or more masts, with all masts square-rigged except the
sternmost, which is fore-and-aft-rigged.
BARKENTINE or BARQUENTINE – 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 floating barracks for housing military
personnel.
BAROMETER – An instrument for measuring air pressure, used in weather forecasting.
BARRELMAN – A sailor stationed in the crow’s nest.
BATTEN – A stiff strip used to support the roach of a sail, increasing the sail area.
BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES– Secure hatches and loose objects both within the hull and on
deck.
BATTLE STATIONS – An announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare
for battle, imminent danger, or any other emergency.
BATTLECRUISER – A large capital ship of the first half of the 20th century, similar in size,
appearance and cost to a battleship and typically armored with the same kind of heavy guns.
BATTLESHIP – A large, heavily armored warship of the second half of the 19th century and the first
half of the 20th century, armed with heavy-caliber guns and designed to fight other battleships.
BEACHING – Deliberately running a vessel aground so as to load or unload it, or to prevent a
damaged vessel from sinking or to facilitate repairs below the waterline.
BEAKHEAD – The ram on the prow of a fighting galley or ancient and medieval times. The protruding
part of the foremost section of a sailing ship, used as a working platform by sailors handling the sails of
the bowsprit.
BEAM – The greatest width of the boat.
BEAM ENDS – The sides of a ship.
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.
BEAR – A large, squared-off stone used with sand for scraping wooden decks clean.
BEAR UP – To turn or steer a vessel into the wind.
BEARING – The direction of an object expressed either as a true bearing as shown on the chart, or as a
bearing relative to the heading of the boat.
BEATING or BEAT TO – Sailing as close as possible toward the wind in a zig-zag course so as to
attain an upwind direction into which it is otherwise impossible to sail directly.

10
BEAUFORT SCALE – A scale describing wind speed, devised by Admiral Sir Frances Beaufort in
1808, in which winds are graded by the effects of their force on the surface of the sea or on a vessel.
BECALM – To cut off the wind from a sailing vessel, either by the proximity of land or by another
vessel.
BECKET – A short piece of line usually spliced into a circle or with an eye on either end.
BEE – Hardwood on either side of the bowsprit through which forestays are reeved.
BEFORE THE MAST – Literally, the area of a ship before the foremast. Most often used to refer to
men whose living quarters are located there.
BELAY – To secure a rope by winding on a pin or cleat.
BELAYING PIN – A short movable bar of iron or hard wood to which running rigging may be
secured.
BELL – A 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.
BELOW – Beneath the deck.
BELT ARMOR – A layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hull of a warship,
typically on battleships, battlecruisers, cruiser, and aircraft carriers.
BEND – A knot used to join two ropes or lines.
BERMUDA 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.
BERMUDA SLOOP – A fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel with a single mast setting a Bermuda rig
mainsail and a single headsail.
BERTH – A location in port or harbor used specifically for mooring vessels while not at sea.
BEST BOWER – The larger of two anchors carried in the bow.
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA or DEVIL SEAM – The devil was possibly
a slang term for the garboard seam. The phrase is an allusion to keel hauling, but a more popular
version seems to be the seam between the waterway and the stanchions, requiring a cranked caulking
iron, and a restricted swing of the caulking mallet.
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 – The part of the rope or line, between the end and the standing part, on which a knot is
formed. Also, an indentation in a coastline.
BILANDER – 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.
BILGE – The interior of the hull below the floorboards—the lower point of the inner hull of a ship.

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BILGE KEEL – One of a pair of keels on either side of the hull, usually slanted outward.
BILGE PUMP – A pump used to remove water from a ship or other structure.
BILL – The extremity of the arm of an anchor.
BILLETHEAD – On smaller vessels, a smaller, non-figural carving, most often a curl or foliage (might
be substituted for a figurehead).
BIMINI TOP – An open-front canvas top for the cockpit of a boat, usually supported by a metal frame.
BIMMY – A punitive instrument.
BINNACLE – A case that holds a ship’s compass.
BIRD FARM – United States Navy slang for an aircraft carrier.
BITE – Verb used in reference to the rudder. When a vessel has steerageway, the rudder will act to
steer the vessel with only the water to power it.
BITTER END – The last part of a rope or chain. The inboard end of the anchor rode.
BITTS – Posts mounted on a ship for fastening ropes.
BLACK GANG – The engineering crew of a vessel, so called because they would be typically covered in
coal dust from working in the engine room, fire room, and boiler room.
BLINKER – A search light, used for signaling by code.
BLOCK – A pulley with one or more sheaves or grooves over which a line is roved.
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 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.
BLUEJACKET – A sailor or enlisted person of the Royal Navy, Commonwealth navies, the U.S. Navy,
or the United States Coast Guard.
BLUEPETER – Blue flag with white square in the center that is used by ships as a signal that it is
preparing to leave port. It was intended to alert crew and passengers ashore that they should return to
the ship. The flag is hoisted at the fore-topmasthead or main-topmasthead in ships with only one mast.
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 – A fairly indefinite term. A waterborne vehicle smaller than a ship. One boat definition is a
small craft carried aboard a ship.
BOAT HOOK – A short shaft with a fitting at one end shaped to facilitate use in putting a line over a
piling, recovering an object dropped overboard, or in pushing or fending off.

12
BOATHOUSE – A building especially designed for the storage of boats, typically located on open
water such as a lake or river.
BOAT KEEPER – A sailor who 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.
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 – The ship’s crewmember who is in charge of equipment and maintenance. Also called
bo’s’n, bos’n, or bosun, the boatswain is also known as a petty officer, deck boss, or a qualified member
of the deck department. It is the crew who is the seniormost rate of th deck department and responsible
for the components of the ship’s hull.
BOATSWAIN’S CHAIR or BOSUN CHAIR – 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.
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.
BOBSTAY – A rope used on ships to steady the bowsprit.
BOLLARD – Short post on a wharf or ship to which the lines are tied.
BOLTROPE – A strong rope or line that is stitched to the edges of a sail.
BOMB VESSEL – A type of specialized naval wooden sailing vessel of the late 17 th through mid-19th
centuries designed for bombarding fixed positions on land.
BOMBAY RUNNER – A large cockroach.
BONE IN HER TEETH – A phrase describing the appearance of a vessel throwing up a prominent
bow wave while traveling at high speed.
BONNET – An additional strip of canvas laced to the foot of a sail to increase its area in light winds.
BOOBY HATCH – A raised framework or hood like covering over a small hatchway on a ship.
BOOM – A spar attached to the foot of a sail.
BOOM CRUTCH – A frame in which the boom rests when the sail is not hoisted.
BOOMIE or BOOMS’L RIG – A ketch-rigged barge with gaff and boom on main and mizzen.
BOOM VANG – A sail control that lets one apply downward tension on a boom, countering the
upward tension provided by the sail.
BOOT TOP – A painted line that indicates the designed waterline.
BORE – To assume a position to engage, or disengage, the enemy ships.
BOTTLESCREW – A device for adjusting tension in stays, shrouds and similar lines.
BOTTOM – The underside of a vessel (most often called the cargo hold).

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BOTTOMRY or BOTTOMAGE – An arrangement in which the master of a ship uses the vessel as
collateral to finance a sea voyage. The ship’s owner borrows money upon the bottom or keel, forfeiting
the ship to the creditor, if the money (with interest) is not paid at the time of the ship’s safe return.
BOW – The forward part or front of a ship. The bow of a boat can also be referred to as the front. It’s
the opposite of the stern of a boat in sailing terms.
BOWER – The anchor carried at the bow of a ship.
BOWLINE – A docking line leading from the bow.
BOWLINE KNOT – An ancient and simple knot used to form a temporary loop in the end of a line. It
has the virtues of being both easy to tie and easy to untie. Because of its importance, it is often called the
King of the Knots.
BOWMAN – The person, in a team or among oarsmen, positioned nearest the bow.
BOWSE – To pull or hoist.
BOWSPRIT – The spar that extends at the bow of a ship to which the forestays are attached. The
bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays.
BOWS UNDER – Said of a vessel shipping water over her bow.
BOW THRUSTER – A small propeller or water-jet at the bow, used for maneuvering larger vessels at
slower speeds.
BOW VISOR – A feature of some 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 yard to turn it, for trimming the sail.
BRACE ABOX – To bring the foreyards flat aback to stop the ship.
BRAILS – Ropes on the edge of a sail, used for hauling up. On a ship rig, the brails are most often
found on the mizzen sail. The command is, “Hale up the brails!” or “Brail up the Sails!”
BRASS MONKEY or BRASS MONKEY WEATHER – 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 allowed them to roll off. It is used in the expression, “it is cold
enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.”
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 – The shore along a channel.
BREAK BULK CARGO – Goods that must be loaded aboard a ship individually and not in
intermodal containers or in bulk.

14
BREAKER – 1) A shallow portion of a reef over which waves break. 2) A breaking wave that breaks
into foam against the shore. 3) A small cask of liquid kept permanently in a ship in case of shipwreck.
BREAKWATER – Constructed on a coast as part of a coastal defense system or to protect an
anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.
BREAM – To clean a ship’s bottom by burning off seaweed—to clean a wooden ship’s hull by applying
heat to soften the pitch, and then scraping.
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.
BREECHES BUOY – A ring lifebuoy fitted with canvas breeches, similar to a zip line, used to transfer
people from one ship to another.
BRIDGE – The location from which a vessel is steered and is speed controlled. “Control Station” is
really a more appropriate term for small craft.
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 maneuvering the ship.
BRIDLE – A line or wire secured at both ends in order to distribute a strain between two points.
BRIG – 1) A vessel with two square-rigged masts. 2) An interior area of a ship that is used to detain
prisoners or stowaways and to punish delinquent crew members.
BRIGHTWORK – Varnished woodwork and/or polished metal.
BRING TO – To cause a ship to be stationary by arranging the sails.
BROACH – When a sailing or power vessel loses directional control when traveling with a following
sea. The vessel turns sideways to the wind and waves and in more serious cases may capsize or
pitchpole.
BROAD FOURTEENS – An area of the southern North Sea which is fairly consistently 14 fathoms.
BROAD REACH – A course further away from the true wind than a beam reach, but above a run. In a
broad reach, the wind is coming from behind the sailing craft at an angle. This represents a range of
wind angles between beam reach and running downwind. On a sailboat the sails are eased out away
from the sailing craft, but not as much as on a run or dead run (downwind run). This is the furthest
point of sail, until the sails cease acting substantially like a wing.
BROADSIDE – One side of a vessel above the waterline.
BROUWER ROUTE – Sailing east from the Cape of Good Hope to the Netherlands East Indies, which
takes advantage of the strong westerly winds in the southern Indian Ocean.
BUFFER – The chief bosun’s mate (in the Royal Navy) responsible for discipline.
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 increasing speed, fuel efficiency, and stability.
BULK CARGO – Commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities.
BULK CARRIER – A merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo in its
cargo holds.

15
BULKHEAD – A vertical partition separating compartments.
BULL ENSIGN – The senior ensign of a US Navy command.
BULLSEYE – A glass window above the captain’s cabin to allow viewing of the sails above the deck.
BULWARK – The side of a ship above the deck.
BUMBOAT – A private boat selling goods.
BUMPKIN or BOOMKIN– Also called a boomkin or bumkin, the bumpkin is the spar projecting
from the either the stern or the bow of a ship, depending on its function. Historically, boomkins were
employed in pairs—one on either side of the vessel, often canted downward over the main headrail.
BUNK – A built-in bed onboard a ship.
BUNKER – A container for storing coal or fuel oil for a ship’s engine.
BUNT – The middle of a sail, fish net, or cloth when slack.
BUNTLINE – A rope attached to the middle of a square sail designed for restraining the loose center
when it is furled.
BUNT-GASKET – Canvas apron used to fasten the bunt of a square sail to the yard when furled.
BUNTING TOSSER – A signalman who prepares and flies flag hoists. Also known in the American
Navy as a skivvy waver.
BUOY – An anchored float used for marking a position on the water or a hazard or a shoal and for
mooring.
BURDENED VESSEL – That vessel which, according to the applicable Navigation Rules, must give
way to the privileged vessel. The term has been superseded by the term “give-way”.
BURGEE – A small ship’s flag that is used for identification or for signaling.
BURTHEN – The Builder’s Old Measurement of cubic cargo capacity. This is the tonnage of a ship,
based on the number of tuns of wine it could carry in its holds.
BUTT – Where the butt of one plank joins with the butt of another.
BY THE BOARD – Anything that goes overboard.

16
C

CABIN – A compartment for passengers or crew.

CABLE – A heavy rope or chain used for mooring a ship.
CABLE LENGTH – A measure of length or distance equivalent to 1/10 nautical mile in the UK and
100 fathoms in the US.
CABOOSE – A small ship’s kitchen, or galley on deck.
CABOTAGE – Shipping and sailing between points in the same country. It originally applied to
shipping along coastal routes—port to port—but now it applies to aviation, railways, and road transport,
as well.
CAMELS – 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.
CAMBER – A slight arch or convexity to a beam or deck of a ship.
CAN – A type of navigational buoy, often a vertical drum, but otherwise always square in silhouette,
colored in red or green used for channel marking.
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 general term for sails.
CAP – A fitting or band used to connect the head of one mast to the lower portion of the mast above.
CAPE HORN ROLLER – A large ocean wave commonly encountered in the stormy seas of the
Southern Ocean south of South America’s Cape Horn, often exceeding 60 feet in height.
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.
CAPSIZE – To turn over. Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is turned on its side or
when it is upside down in the water. If a capsized vessel has enough flotation to prevent sinking, it may
recover on its own in changing conditions or through mechanical work if it is not stable inverted.
CAPSTAN – An upright device for winding in heavy ropes or cables used on ships to multiply the force
of seamen. The principle is similar to a windlass, which has a horizontal axle.
CAP-STAY – A backstay leading from a mast cap to the ship’s side.
CAPTAIN – The person lawfully in command of a vessel.
CARAVEL – A small, highly maneuverable sailing ship with lateen rig.
CAR CARRIER – A cargo ship specially designed or fitted to carry large numbers of automobiles.
CARDINAL – Referring to the four main points of the compass – north, south, east, and west.
CAREEN – To turn a ship on its side in order to clean or repair it.

17
CARGO LINER – A merchant ship configured primarily for the transportation of general cargo but
also for some passengers.
CARGO SHIP – Any ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another.
CARPENTER – A warrant officer responsible for the hull, masts, spars, and boats of a vessel—
responsible for sounding the well if the vessel was taking on water.
CARRACK – A three- or four-masted sailing ship.
CARTEL – A ship employed by humanitarian voyages.
CARVEL-BUILT – A method of constructing a wooden hull by fixing planks on the frames edge-to-
edge to give a smooth hull surface.
CATHEAD – A projection near the bow of a ship to which the anchor is secured.
CAT O' NINE TAILS – A short, nine-tailed whip kept by the bosun's mate to flog sailors (and soldiers
in the army). When not in use, the cat was often kept in a baize bag, a possible origin for the term "cat
out of the bag". "Not enough room to swing a cat" also derives from this.
CAST OFF – To untie a boat so it can leave the dock.
CATAMARAN – A twin-hulled boat, with hulls side by side.
CATBOAT – A cat-rigged vessel with a single mast mounted close to the bow and only one sail, usually
on a gaff.
CATHARPIN – A short rope or iron clamp used to brace in the shrouds toward the masts to give a
freer sweep to the yards.
CATHEAD – A beam extending out from the jull used to support an anchor when raised in order to
secure it.
CAT’S PAWS – Light variable winds on calm waters producing scattered areas of small waves.
CAULK – To create a watertight seal between structures.
CELESTIAL NAVIGATION – Navigation using the position of celestial objects, including the stars,
Sun and Moon, using tools like a sextant, chronometer, and compass, and the published tables of the
position of celestial objects.
CEILING – Planking attached to the inside of the frames or floors of a wooden hull, usually to separate
the cargo from the hull planking itself.
CENTER OF EFFORT or CENTER OF PRESSURE – The point of origin of net aerodynamic force
on sails, roughly located in the geometric center of a sail, but the actual position of the center of effort
will vary with sail plan, sail trim, 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.
CENTERBOARD – A board or plate lowered through the hull of a sailing vessel on the centerline to
resist leeway. Serves as a keel on small boats.
CENTERLINE – An imaginary line down the center of a vessel lengthwise.

18
CHAFING – Wear on a line or sail caused by constant rubbing against another surface.
CHAFING GEAR – Tubing or cloth wrapping used to protect a line from chafing on a rough surface.
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 PLATES – Iron bars bolded to a ship’s side to which the dead-eyes or rigging screws of the
lower figging and the back-stays are bolted.
CHAIN-WALE of CHANNEL – A broad, thick plank that projects horizontally from each of a ship’s
sides abreast a mast.
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 – A small boat that functions as a shallop.
CHANNEL FEVER – The impatient excitement in a ship’s crew as the end of a voyage becomes
imminent.
CHARLEY NOBLE – The metal stovepipe chimney from a cook shack on the deck of a ship or from a
stove in the galley.
CHART – A map for use by navigators.
CHARTERED SHIP – A term used by the British East India Company from the 17 th to 19th century for
a merchant ship it chartered to make a single, often only one-way, voyage.
CHARTHOUSE – A compartment, especially in the Royal Navy, from which the ship was navigated.
CHARTPLOTTER – An electronic instrument that places the position of a ship onto a digital nautical
chart displayed on a monitor, replacing all manual navigation functions.
CHEEKS – Wooden blocks at the side of a spar.
CHINE – The intersection of the bottom and sides of a flat or v-bottomed boat.
CHOCK – A fitting through which anchor or mooring lines are led. Usually U-shaped to reduce chafe.
CHOCK-A-BLOCK – Rigging blocks that are so tight against one another that they cannot be further
tightened.
CHRONOMETER – A timekeeping device accurate enough to be used to determine longitude by
means of celestial navigation.
CITADEL – A fortified safe room on a vessel to take shelter in the event of a pirate attack.
CLASS – A group of naval ships of the same or similar design.
CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH – A certificate issued by a port indicating that a ship carries no infectious
diseases.
CLEAN SLATE – At the helm, the watch keeper 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 – To perform customs and immigration legalities prior to leaving port.

19
CLEAT – A fitting to which lines are made fast. The classic cleat to which lines are belayed is
approximately anvil-shaped.
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 – The corner of a sail with a hole used to attach lines.
CLEWLINES – Used to truss up the clews, the lower corners of square sails. Used to reduce and stow
a barge’s topsail.
CLIPPER – A sailing vessel designed primarily for speed.
CLOSE ABOARD – Near a ship.
CLOVE HITCH – A knot for temporarily fastening a line to a spar or piling.
CLUB HAULING – A maneuver by which a ship drops one of its anchors at high speed in order to
turn abruptly.
COAMING – A vertical piece around the edge of a cockpit, hatch, etc. to prevent water on deck from
running below.
COASTER – A shallow-hulled ship used for trade between locations on the same island or continent.
COCKBILL – Use of spars, to stow by swinging askew.
COCKET – Official shipping seal. Customs clearance form.
COCKPIT – An opening in the deck from which the boat is handled.
COFFERDAM – The narrow vacant space between two bulkheads of a ship.
COG – A single-masted, square-sailed ship with a raised stern.
COIL – To lay a line down in circular turns.
COMBER – A long, curving wave breaking on the shore.
COME ABOUT – To tack, to change tack, to maneuver the bow of a sailing vessel across the wind so
that the wind changes from one side of the vessel to the other.
COME TO – To stop a sailing vessel, especially by turning into the wind.
COMMISSION – To formally place a naval vessel into active service.
COMMODORE – A military rank in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear
admiral.
COMPANIONWAY – Stairs from the upper deck of the ship to the lower deck.
COMPLEMENT – The number of people in a ship’s crew, including officers.
CONN – To direct a ship or submarine from a position of command.
CONNING OFFICER – An officer on a naval vessel responsible for instructing the helmsman on the
course to steer.

20
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.
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.
CORDAGE – Ropes in the rigging of a ship.
CORINTHIAN – An amateur yachter.
CORRECTOR – A device used to correct the ship’s compass by counteracting errors due to the
magnetic effects of a steel hull.
CORSAIR – Any privateer or pirate.
CORVETTE – A flush-decked sailing warship of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries having a single tier of
guns, ranked next below a frigate.
COTCHEL – A partial load.
COUNTER – The part of the stern above the waterline that extends beyond the rudder stock
culminating in a small transom.
COUNTERFLOOD – To deliberately flood compartments on the opposite side from already flooded
ones.
COURSE – The direction in which a boat is steered.
COURSES – The lowest square sail on each mast.
COWL – A ship’s ventilator with a bell-shaped top that can be swiveled to catch the wind and force it
below.
COXSWAIN or COCKSWAIN – The helmsman or crew member in command of a boat.
CRAB – A winch used for raising the leeboard, with a barrel for pulling in the staysail sheets.
CRANE VESSEL – A ship with a crane specializing in lifting heavy loads.
CRANSE IRON – The metal fitting mounted at the end of a bowsprit to which the forestay, bobstay,
and bowsprit shrouds are attached. It is also where the tack of the outermost headsail is fastened.
CRASH RESCUE BOATS – Used in the US to describe military high-speed offshore rescue boats
used to rescue pilots and aircrews of crashed aircraft.
CREW – All the members of a ship’s company who are not officers.
CRINGLE – The loop at the corner of a sail to which a line is attached.
CRO’JACK – The square sail set on the lower mizzen yard of a square-rigged ship.
CROSSTREES – Horizontal crosspieces at a masthead used to support the ship’s mast.
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.

21
CRUISE SHIP – Passenger ship used for pleasure voyages.
CRUTCHES – Metal Y-shaped pins used to fix oars while rowing.
CUDDY – A small shelter cabin in a boat.
CUNNINGHAM – A line invented by Briggs Cunningham, used to control the shape of a sail.
CUNT SPLICE or CUT SPLICE – A joint 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.
CURRENT – The horizontal movement of water.
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.
CUTTER – A small, single-masted boat, bore-and-aft rigged, with two or more headsails and often a
bowsprit. The mast is set farther back than on a sloop.
CUTTING OUT – A surprise attack by small boats, often at night, against an anchored vessel in which
the small-blat crews boarded and captured or destroyed the target vessel.
CUTWATER – The forward curve of the stern of a ship.

22
D

DAGGERBOARD – The type of light centerboard that is lifted vertically, often in pairs, with the
leeward one lowered when beating.
DAN or DAN-BUOY – A temporary marker buoy consisting of a long pole with a flag and/or light at
the top. Lower down, a float and ballast weight it to make it float vertically.
DANDY – A rig with a small mizzen abaft the steering post.
DANLAYER – A mine warfare vessel, usually a small trawler, fitted for laying dans.
DART – To run dart – to run dead before the wind.
DAVIT – Device for hoisting and lowering a boat or dinghy.
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 and colors.
DEAD AHEAD – Directly ahead.
DEAD IN THE WATER – Not moving.
DEAD ASTERN – Directly aft.
DEADEYE – A rounded wooden block with a hole that is used to set up a ship’s stays.
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.
DEADRISE – The angle of the hull surface, relative to horizontal, either side of the keel and on a line
drawn toward the turn of the bilge.
DEAD WAKE – The trail of fading disturbance in the water.
DEADWOOD – Timbers built into the ends of a ship when it is too narrow to permit framing.
DEATH ROLL – In a keel boat, the act of broaching to winward, putting the spinnaker pole into the
water and causing a crash-gybe of the boom and mainsail.
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.

23
DECK – A permanent covering over a compartment, hull or any part thereof.
DECK HAND – A person whose job involves aiding the deck supervisor in mooring, anchoring,
maintenance, an general evolutions on deck.
DECKHEAD – The underside of the deck above.
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 loss of buoyancy.
DECOMMISSION – To formally take a naval vessel out of service.
DEMURRAGE – The delay of a vessel’s departure or loading with cargo.
DEPOT SHIP – A ship that acts as a mobile or fixed base for other ships and submarines 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.
DERRICK – A lifting device composed of one mast or pole and a boom or jib hinged freely at the
bottom.
DESTROYER – A fast and maneuverable small warship introduced in the 1890s to protect capital
ships from torpedo boat attack.
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 – A small open boat often used as a tender for a larger craft.
DIRECTIONAL LIGHT – A light illuminating a sector or very narrow angle and intended to mark a
direction to be followed.
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 others.
DISPLACEMENT – The weight of water displaced by a floating vessel, thus, a boat’s weight.
DISPLACEMENT HULL – A type of hull that plows through the water, displacing a weight of water
equal to its own weight, even when more power is added.
DISTINGUISHING MARK – A flag flown to distinguish ships of one seagoing service of a given
country from ships of the country’s other seagoing service when ships of more than one country’s
seagoing services fly the same ensign.
DOCK – A protected water area in which vessels are moored. The term is often used to denote a pier or
a wharf.
DOCKYARD – A facility where ships or boats are built and repaired.
DODGER – A shield against rain or spray on a ship’s bridge.
DOGHOUSE – A slang term for a raised portion of a ship’s deck.

24
DOGVANE – A small weather vane mounted within sight of the helmsman.
DOGWATCH – A short, evening period of watch duty on a ship.
DOLDRUMS or EQUATORIAL CALMS – The equatorial trough, with special reference to the light
and variable nature of the winds generally encountered there.
DOLLY WINCH – A small winch mounted on the windlass, used as an alternative to the brails winch
when that is obstructed in some way.
DOLPHIN – A group of piles driven close together and bound with wire cables into a single structure.
DONKEY ENGINE – A small auxiliary engine used either to start a larger engine or independently for
pumping water on steamships.
DONKEYMAN – One of a ship’s engineering crew.
DORADE BOX – A 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 – A shallow-draft, lightweight boat about 5 to 7 meters with high sides, a flat bottom, and sharp
bows.
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.
DOVER CLIFFS – A slang term for very rough seas with large white-capped waves.
DOWNFLOODING – The entry of water through any opening into the hull of an undamaged vessel.
DOWNHAUL – A rope for holding down or hauling down a sail or spar.
DRABBLER – An extra strip of canvas secured below a bonnet, further to increase the area of a
course.
DRAFT – The depth of water a boat draws. The depth of a ship’s keel below the waterline.
DRESS OVERALL – To string International Code of Signals flags, arranged at random, on a ship as a
sign of celebration.
DRESSING DOWN – Treating old sails with oil or wax to renew them. Also, 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.
DRINK – Overboard and into the water.
DRIVER – The large sail flown from the mizzen gaff.
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.
DROMOND – A large single-sailed ship powered by rowers.
DRUDGING – A technique of maintaining steerageway when going downstream with neither engine
nor wind to sail.

25
DRYDOCK – A narrow basin or vessel used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships,
boats, and other watercraft.
DUNNAGE – Loose packing material used to protect a ship’s cargo from damage during transport.
DUNSEL – A part on a ship that has no use.
DYOGRAM – A ship’s chart indicating compass deflection due to the ship’s iron.

26
E

EARING – Line for fastening the corner of a sail to the gaff or yard.
EBB – A receding current.
ECHO SOUNDING – The measurement of the depth of a body of water using a sonar device.
EMBAYED – A condition in which a sailing vessel is confined between two capes or headlands by a
wind blowing directly onshore.
ENGINE ROOM – One of the machinery spaces of a vessel, usually the largest one, containing the
ship’s prime mover.
ENSIGN – A large naval flag that is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The
ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. Large versions of
naval ensigns, called battle ensigns, are used when a warship goes into battle.
ESCUTCHEON – Part of the ship’s stern where the name is displayed.
ESTIMATED POSITION – An approximate geographical position obtained by making allowances for
leeway, tide, and currents to a dead reckoning position.
EXTREMIS – The point under International Rules of the Road at which the privileged vessel on a
collision course with a burdened vessel determines it must maneuver to avoid a collision.
EYE SPLICE – A closed loop or eye and the end of a line, rope or cable.

27
F

FAIR – A smooth curve, usually referring to a line of the hull with no deviations.
FAIR WINDS and FOLLOWING SEAS – A blessing wishing the recipient a safe journey and good
fortune.
FAIRLEAD – The ring through which a rope is led to change its direction without friction.
FAIRWATER – A structure that improves the streamlining of a vessel.
FAIRWAY – A navigable channel that is the usual course taken by vessels in the area.
FAKE – A single turn of rope in a coil or on a drum.
FAKE DOWN – To lay a coil of rope down so that it will run easily.
FALL – The part of the tackle that is hauled upon.
FALL OFF – To change the direction of sail so as to point in a direction that is more downwind, to
bring the bow leeward.
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.
FASHION BOARDS – Loose boards that slide in grooves to close off a companionway or cabin
entrance.
FAST – Fastened or held firmly.
FATHOM – Six feet.
FATHOMETER – A depth finder that uses sound waves to determine the depth of water.
FELUCCA – A traditional wooden sailing boat with a rig consisting of one or two lateen sails.
FEND OFF – A command given to the crew to stop what they are doing and immediately manually
prevent the boat from banging into the docks or other boats.
FENDER – A cushion, placed between boats, or between a boat and a pier, to prevent damage.
FERRY – 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.
FETCH – The distance across water a wind or waves have traveled. Also, to reach a mark without
tacking.
FID – A tapered wooden tool used for separating the strands of rope for splicing.
FIDDLEY – Iron framework around the hatchway opening.

28
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.
FIFLE – A sailing boat with two masts with a standard rig consisting of a main dipping lug sail and a
mizzen standing lug sail.
FIG – US Navy slang for a guided-missile frigate.
FIGURE EIGHT KNOT – A knot in the form of a figure eight, placed in the end of a line to prevent
the line from passing through a grommet or a block. A stopper knot.
FIGUREHEAD – An ornament (usually female) bust attached to the bow of a ship.
FIRE ROOM or BOILER ROOM – The compartment in which a ship’s boilers or furnaces are stoked
and fired.
FIRST MATE – The second in command of a commercial ship.
FISH – To repair a mast or spar with a fillet of wood. To secure an anchor on the side of a ship for sea.
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.
FLAG HOIST – A number of signal flags strung together to convey a message.
FLAGSTAFF – Flag pole at the stern of a ship.
FLAG OFFICER – A commissioned officer senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the ship
or installation under their command.
FLAGSHIP – A vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships.
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.
FLANK – The maximum speed of a ship.
FLARE – The outward curve of a vessel’s sides near the bow. Also, a distress signal.
FLATBACK – A Great Lakes slang term for a vessel without any self-unloading equipment.
FLATBOAT – A rectangular, flat-bottomed boat with square ends used to transport freight and
passengers on inland waterways in the US during the 18th and 19th centuries.
FLATTOP – A slang term for an aircraft carrier.
FLEET – Ships commanded by a single person.
FLEMISH – To coil a line that is not in use so that it lies flat on the deck.
FLOOD – A incoming current.
FLOORBOARDS – The surface of the cockpit on which the crew stand.
FLOTILLA – A group of vessels operating close together and headed in the same direction.
FLOTSAM – Debris or cargo that remains afloat after a shipwreck.
FLUKE – The palm of an anchor—the part of the anchor that fastens in the ground.
FLUSH DECK – An upper deck of a vessel that extends unbroken from stern to stern.

29
FLUSHING BOARD – A board inserted vertically in a cabin entrance.
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 – An overtaking sea that comes from astern.
FOOT – The lower edge of any sail. The bottom of a mast.
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.
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.
FORE – Toward the bow of a vessel.
FORE-AND-AFT – In a line parallel to the keel.
FOREBITT – Post for fastening cables at a ship’s foremast.
FORECABIN – The cabin in the front of a ship.
FORECASTLE – A short raised deck at the fore end of a ship—the fore of a ship under the main deck.
FOREFOOT – The foremost end of a ship’s keel.
FOREHOLD – The forward part of a hold.
FORE HORSE – A transverse wooden or iron beam afore the main mast to which the foresail sheet is
attached.
FOREMAST – The mast nearest to the bow of a ship.
FOREMAST JACK – An enlisted sailor, one who is housed before the foremast.
FOREPEAK – A compartment in the bow of a small boat.
FORESAIL – The lowest sail set on the foremast of a square-rigged ship.
FORESTAY – The stay leading from the foremast to the bow of a ship.
FORWARD – Toward the bow (front) of the boat.
FOULED – Any piece of equipment that is jammed, entangled, or dirtied.
FOULIES – A slang term for oilskins, the foul-weather clothing worn by sailors.
FOUNDER – To fill with water and sink.
FRAME – A transverse structural member that gives the hull strength and shape.
FRAP – To draw a sail tight with ropes or cables.
FREEBOARD – The minimum vertical distance from the surface of the water to the gunwale—
distance between the waterline and the main deck of a ship.
FREIGHTER – A cargo ship.

30
FRIGATE – A warship built for speed.
FULL AND BY – Sailing into the wind, but not as close-hauled as might be possible, so as to make
sure the sails are kept full.
FULL-RIGGED SHIP – A sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged.
FUNNEL – The smokestack of a ship.
FURL – To roll or gather a sail against its mast or spar.
FUSTA – A narrow, light, and fast ship with a shallow draft, powered by oars and sail.
FUTTOCK – The rib of a ship.

31
G

GAFF – The spar on which the head of the fore-and-aft sail is extended.
GAFF-TOPSAIL – A Triangular topsail with its foot extended upon the gaff.
GAFF VANG – A line rigged to the end of a gaff and used to adjust a gaff sail’s trim.
GALE – Strong winds of about 30 to 60 miles per hour.
GALLEY – The kitchen area of a boat.
GAM – A meeting of two or more whaling ships at sea.
GAMMON IRON – The bow fitting that clamps the bowsprit to the stern.
GANGPLANK – A movable bridge used in boarding or leaving a ship at a pier.
GANGWAY – The area of a ship’s side where people board and disembark.
GANTLINE – A rope funning through a block at or near the masthead, with both ends reaching the
deck.
GARBLING – The illegal practice of mixing cargo with garbage.
GARBOARD – The plank on a ship’s bottom next to the keel.
GASH – Any refuse or rubbish discarded into a refuse container or dustbin.
GASKET – A rope used to secure a sail when stowed.
GEAR – A general term for ropes, blocks, tackle, and other equipment.
GENNAKER – A large, ligthtweight sail used for sailing a fore-and-aft rig down or across the wind,
intermediate between a genoa and a spinnaker.
GENOA – A large jib or staysail that extends past the mast and overlaps the main sail when viewed
from the side.
GHOST – To sail slowly when there is apparently no wind.
GHOST FLEET – An informal term for a reserve fleet.
GIG – A boat on naval ships at the disposal of the ship’s captain for his or her use in transportation to
other ships or to the shore.
GIN-POLE – A pole that is attached perpendicular to a mast, to be used as a lever for raising the mast.
GIRT – To capsize because of forces exerted on a cable by another vessel attached to it.
GIVE-WAY VESSEL – A term used to describe the vessel which must yield in meeting, crossing, or
overtaking situations.
GLASS – A marine barometer.

32
GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) – A satellite-based radionavigation system providing
continuous worldwide coverage of navigation, position, and timing information to air, marine, and land
users.
GOAT LOCKER – A mess hall reserved for chief petty officers in the US Navy.
GOING ABOUT – Changing from one tack to another by going through the wind.
GOOSENECK – A fitting that attaches a boom to a mast yet allows it to move freely.
GOOSEWINGED – Of a fore-and-aft rigged vessel sailing directly away from the wind, with the sails
set on opposite sides of the vessel so as to maximize the amount of canvas exposed to the wind.
GRAPNEL – A small anchor used for dragging or grappling.
GRAB RAILS – Hand-hold fittings mounted on cabin tops and sides for personal safety when moving
around the boat.
GRAVE – To clean a ship’s bottom.
GREAT-CIRCLE NAVIGATION – The practice of navigating a vessel along the arc of a great circle.
GREEN-TO-GREEN – A passage of two vessels moving in the opposite direction on their starboard
sides, so called because the green navigation light on one of the vessels faces the green light on the other
vessel.
GRIDIRON – A large metal cross-frame on which vessels are placed at high water for examination,
cleaning, and repairs after the tide falls.
GRIPE – A temporary eye in a line.
GRIPING – The tendency of a ship to turn into the wind despite the efforts of the helmsman, usually
due to either the design of a ship or more commonly the incorrect distribution of weight on and within
the hull.
GROMMET – A ring of rope.
GROUND – The bed of the sea—the underwater surface or sea floor to which an anchor holds.
GROUNDAGE – A charge on a ship in port.
GROUNDING – When a ship, while afloat, touches the bed of the sea, or runs aground.
GROUND TACKLE – A collective term for the anchor and its associated gear.
GROUNDWAY – A substantial foundation of wood or stone for the blocks on which a vessel is built,
typically lying on either side of the keel of a ship under construction.
GROWLER – A small iceberg or ice floe barely visible above the surface of the water.
GUARD SHIP – Any vessel that makes the rounds of a fleet at anchor to see that due watch is kept at
night.
GUDGEON – A metal socket into which the pintle of a boat’s rudder fits.
GUNNAGE – A number of guns carried on a warship.

33
GUNTER RIG – A fore-and-aft sail set abaft (behind) the mast, triangular in shape, with the top half
of the luff of the sail attached to a yard which extends the sail above the top of the mast.
GUNWALE – The upper edge of a boat’s sides. These are found on the sides of a boat.
GURDY – A mechanical crank used to set and retrieve fishing lines.
GUY – A rope or stay leading to the side of the vessel. Also, a rope used to steady a boom.
GYBE – To swing a sail from one side to another.

34
H

HALYARD – The rope or tackle for hoisting and lowering sails.

HAMMOCK – Canvas sheets, slung from the deckhead in messdecks, in which seamen slept.
HAMPER – Articles that normally are indispensable aboard a ship but at certain times are in the way.
HAND – To furl a sail.
HAND OVER FIST – To climb steadily upward, from the motion of a sailing climbing shrouds on a
sailing ship.
HAND BILLY – A loose block and tackle with a hook or tail on each end, which can be used whenever
it is needed. It is usually made up of one single and one double block.
HANGAR DECK – An enclosed deck on an aircraft carrier, usually beneath the flight deck and
intended for use as a hangar in servicing and storing aircraft.
HANK – A series of rings or clips used to attach a jib or staysail to a stay.
HARBOR or HAVEN – A place where ships or smaller craft may shelter from the weather, or
unloaded/loaded, or stored.
HARBOR MASTER – A person in charge of the harbor.
HARBOR OF REFUGE – An artificial harbor constructed on a coast without a natural harbor to
provide shelter for small vessels.
HARD – A section of otherwise muddy shoreline suitable for mooring or hauling out.
HARDEN IN – To haul in the sheet and tighten the sails.
HARDEN UP – To turn toward the wind, to sail closer to the wind.
HARD CHINE – An abrupt intersection between the hull side and the hull bottom of a boat so
constructed.
HARDTACK – A hard and long-lasting dry biscuit, used as food on long journeys.
HARNESS TUB – A large, usually round tub lashed to a vessel’s deck and containing dried and salted
provisions for daily use.
HATCH – An opening in a boat’s deck fitted with a watertight cover.
HATCHWAY – A covered opening in a ship’s deck through which cargo can be loaded or access made
to a lower deck. The cover to the opening is called a hatch.
HAUL – To steer a vessel closer to the direction of the wind.
HAULING WIND – Pointing the ship toward the direction of the wind, generally not the fastest point
of travel on a sailing vessel.
HAWSE – The distance between a ship’s bow and its anchor.
HAWSEHOLE – A hole for a ship’s cable.

35
HAWSEPIPE – The shaft or hole in the side of a vessel’s bow through which the anchor chain passes.
HAWSER – Large line or rope used for mooring or towing a ship.
HEAD – A marine toilet. Also, the upper corner of a triangular sail.
HEAD OF NAVIGATION – The farthest point above the mouth of a river that can be navigated by
ships.
HEAD RAIL – A curved rail that extends from the figurehead to the bow of the ship.
HEAD ROPE – The mooring rope that goes from the bow of a vessel to a point on a jetty a distance
ahead of the bow.
HEAD SEA – A sea in which waves are directly opposing the motion of the ship, or approaching within
15 degrees of ahead.
HEAD-STAYS – Stays between the bowsprit and the foremost mast.
HEADER – A change in the wind direction that forces the helmsman of a close-hauled sailboat to steer
away from its current course to a less favorable one. This is the opposite of a lift.
HEADING – The direction in which a vessel’s bow points at any given time.
HEADWAY – The forward motion of a boat. Opposite of sternway.
HEADSAIL – A sail set forward of the foremast of a ship.
HEADSTICK – The spar laced to the head of the topsail.
HEAVE – A vessel’s transient, vertical, up-and-down motion.
HEAVE DOWN – To turn a ship on its side (for cleaning), a process which is also known as careening.
HEAVE HO! – An exclamation sailors make when pulling forcefully on a rope.
HEAVY WEATHER – A combination of high winds and rough seas that may be dangerous for a ship
or boat, sometimes requiring changes to a passage plan.
HEEL – The lean or tilt caused by the wind’s force on the sails of a sailing vessel.
HELM – The wheel or tiller controlling the rudder of a ship.
HELMSPERSON – Also called helmsman, the person who steers the boat.
HIGHFIELD LEVER – A type of tensioning lever, usually for running backstays.
HITCH – A knot used to secure a rope to another object or to another rope, or to form a loop or a
noose in a rope.
HOG – A fore-and-aft structural member of the hull fitted over the keel to provide a fixing for the
garboard planks. Also, a rough, flat scrubbing brush for cleaning a ship’s bottom under water.
HOGGING – A condition in which the hull of a vessel bends upward so the ends of the keel are lower
than in the middle.
HOGGING LEAK – A line passed under a ship from side to side to pull a collision mat into place over
a leak.

36
HOIST – The height of a fore-and-aft-rigged sail as measured next to the mast or stay.
HOLD – A compartment below deck in a large vessel, used solely for carrying cargo.
HOLIDAY – A gap in the coverage of newly applied paint, slush, tar, or another preservative.
HOLYSTONE – Sandstone material used to scrape a ship’s deck.
HOME PORT – The port at which a vessel is based.
HOMEWARD BOUNDER – A slang term for a sail repair, especially one done with large
herringbone stitches.
HOOP – Wooden or metal hoops used to secure the topsail to the topmast so it can be speedily raised
or lowered.
HORN – A sound signal that uses electricity or compressed air to vibrate a disc diaphragm.
HORNS – Shaped ends to the chocks where the main horse is bolted.
HORN TIMBER – A fore-and-aft structural member of the hull sloping up and backward from the
keel to support the counter.
HORSE – Sheets attached to the deck of a vessel.
HORSE LATITUDES – The latitudes between 30 and 35 degrees in the Northern Hemisphere and
between 30 and 35 degrees in the Southern Hemisphere in which weather patterns often result in
sailing vessels being becalmed in mid-ocean.
HOUNDS – Attachments of stays to masts.
HOVE TO or HEAVE TO – Stopping a sailing vessel by backing some of the sails and lashing the
helm to leeward.
HOVELLER – A man who makes his living by claiming salvage on a vessel laboring in a heavy seaway.
HOW’S YOUR HEAD – A question to the helmsman to report the course the vessel is on at the
moment.
HULK – An abandoned wreck or shell of a ship.
HULL – The main body of a vessel.
HULL-DOWN – Of a vessel when only her upper parts are visible on the horizon but her hull remains
below the horizon.
HULL SPEED – The maximum efficient speed of a displacement-hulled vessel.
HULL-UP – Of a vessel when her hull as well as her upper parts are visible on the horizon.
HYDROFOIL – A boat with wing-like foils mounted on struts below the hull, lifting the hull entirely
out of the water at speed and therefore greatly reducing water resistance.

37
I

ICEBREAKER – A special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered
waters.
ICING – A serious hazard where cold temperatures below about 10 degrees C, combined with high
wind speed (typically force 8 or above on the Beaufort scale) result in spray blown off the sea freezing
immediately upon contact with the ship.
IDLERS – Members of a ship’s company not required to serve watches.
INBOARD – More toward the center of a vessel; inside; a motor fitted inside a boat. Inside the line of a
ship’s bulwarks or hull.
INGLEFIELD CLIP – A type of clip for attaching a flag to a flag halyard.
IN IRONS – When a sailing vessel has lost its forward momentum while heading into the wind,
rendering it unable to steer.
INSHORE – Near or toward the shore.
IRON MIKE – A slang term for autopilot.
IRON TOPSAIL – An auxiliary motor on a schooner.
IN-WATER SURVEY – A method of surveying the underwater parts of a ship while it is still afloat
instead of having to drydock it for examination of these areas as was conventionally done.
IN WAY OF – In the vicinity of.
ISLAND – The superstructure of an aircraft carrier that extends above the flight deck.
INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY – ICW: bays, rivers, and canals along the coasts (such as the
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts), connected so that vessels may travel without going into the sea.

38
J

JACK – A ship’s lag flown from the jack-staff at the bow of a vessel.
JACK-BLOCK – A pulley system for raising topgallant masts.
JACK-CROSS-TREE – The single iron cross-tree at the head of a topgallant mast.
JACKLINE – On a yacht, a deck lifeline of rope or flat tape, running fore and aft, to which the crew
can clip their harnesses for safety. Sometimes called a jackstay.
JACKSTAFF – The short staff at a ship’s bow from which the jack is hoisted.
JACKSTAY – Iron or wooden bar running along the yard of a ship to which the sails are fastened.
JACKYARD – A spar used to spread the foot of a gaff-topsail.
JACOBS LADDER – A rope ladder, lowered from the deck, as when pilots or passengers come
aboard.
JETSAM – Floating debris ejected from a ship.
JETTY – A structure, usually masonry, projecting out from the shore that may protect a harbor
entrance.
JIB – A small triangular sail extending from the head of the foremast.
JIB BOOM – A spar forming an extension of the bowsprit.
JIBE – To change a ship’s course to make the boom shift sides.
JIB TOP – A high-clewed overlapping headsail for beam reaching in medium to strong winds.
JIGGER-MAST – The fourth mast on a ship, or the aftmost mast where it is smallest on vessels of less
than four masts.
JONAH – A person who carries a jinx and whose presence onboard brings bad luck.
JONAH’S LIFT – The throwing overboard of a man considered to be a Jonah, almost always in the
dark of night.
JUNK – Old cordage past its useful service life.
JURYMAST – A mast erected on a ship in place of one that is lost.
JURY RIG – Both the act of rigging a temporary mast and sails and the name of the resulting rig. A
jury rig would be built at sea when the original rig was damaged, and then used to sail to a harbor for
permanent repairs.

39
K

K BO LINE – A line or mark on the aft end of a ship indicating the true centerline of the transom.
KEDGE – A small anchor to keep a ship steady.
KEEL – The centerline of a boat running fore and aft. The backbone of a vessel.
KEELHAUL – To punish by dragging underneath the keep of a ship.
KEELSON – The lengthwise wooden or steel beam in a ship for bearing stress.
KENTLEDGE – Pig-iron used as a ballast in a ship’s hold.
KETCH – A two-masted fore-and-aft-rigged sailboat with the aft mast (the mizzen) mounted afore the
rudder.
KICKING STRAP – A rope, tackle, or hydraulic ram running from the mast at or just above deck level
to a point partway along the boom of a yacht’s mainsail or mizzen.
KILLICK – A small anchor.
KING PLANK – The centerline plank of a laid deck.
KINGSTON VALVE – A type of seacock designed so that the water pressure from the sea keeps it
closed under normal operating conditions, but can be opened from the inside of the ship.
KITE – A spinnaker.
KNEE – Connects two parts roughly at right angles.
KNOCKDOWN – The condition of a sailboat being pushed abruptly over on its side to horizontal or
on its beam ends, with the masts parallel to the water surface.
KNOT – A measure of speed equal to one nautical mile (6,076 feet) per hour.
KNOT – A fastening made by interweaving rope to form a stopper, to enclose or bind an object, to form
a loop or a noose, to tie a small rope to an object, or to tie the ends of two small ropes together.

40
L

LACE – To attach a sail to a spar by passing a rope through eyelet holes and around the spar or its
jackstay.
LADDER – On board a ship, all “stairs” are called ladders, except for literal staircases aboard
passenger ships.
LAGAN – Cargo jettisoned from a ship but marked by buoys for recovery.
LAND LUBBER – A person unfamiliar with being on the sea.
LANDMARK – An object ashore that is visible from sea and sufficiently distinct such that it is marked
on nautical charts for the purpose of fixing position while at sea.
LANDSMAN – A military rank for a naval recruit.
LANYARD – A rope or line for fastening something in a ship.
LARBOARD – The left side of a ship.
LATITUDE – The distance north or south of the equator measured and expressed in degrees.
LASTAGE – Room for stowing goods on a ship.
LATEEN – A triangular sail rigged on a ship’s spar.
LATERAL SYSTEM – A system of aids to navigation in which characteristics of buoys and beacons
indicate the sides of the channel or route relative to a conventional direction of buoyage.
LATTICE MAST – Observation mast constructed with a hyperboloid structure using an array of thin
columns at angles, crossing each other in a double helical spiral configuration.
LAUNCH – To put into water.
LAVEER – To sail against the wind.
LAY – To direct the course of the vessel. To come and go. To twist the strands of a rope together.
LAY DAY – An unexpected delay time during a voyage often spent at anchor or in a harbor.
LAY TO – To bring a ship vessel into the wind and hold her stationary.
LAYING DOWN – Laying the keel of a ship in a shipyard, beginning her construction.
LAZARETTE – A storage space in a boat’s stern area.
LAZY JACKS – The network of cordage rigged to a point on the mast and to a series of points on
either side of the boom that cradles and guides the sail onto the boom when the sail is lowered.
LEACH – The after edge of a sail.
LEAD – A plummet or mass of lead attached to a lie, used in sounding depth at sea.
LEADLINE – An instrument used in navigation to measure water depth.
LEADSMAN – A sailor who takes soundings with a lead, measuring the depth of water.

41
LEAGUE – A unit of length, normally equal to three nautical miles.
LEARN THE ROPES – An apprentice sailor on a sailing trip needs to know which rope does which
job.
LEE – The side sheltered from the wind.
LEE HELM – The tendency of a sailboat to turn leeward in a strong wind when there is no change in
the rudder’s position.
LEEBOARD – Wood or metal planes attached to the hull to prevent leeway.
LEEBOARD PENDANT—A wire connecting the fan of the leeboard to a winch on the barges quarter.
LEECH – A vertical edge of a square sail.
LEE-OH – A command to come about.
LEEWARD – The direction away from the wind. The opposite of windward.
LEEWAY – The sideways movement of the boat caused by either wind or current.
LEG – In navigation, a segment of a voyage between two waypoints.
LENGTH BETWEEN PERPENDICULARS – The length of a vessel along the waterline from the
forward surface of the stern or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the sternpost or
main stern perpendicular member.
LENGTH OVERALL (LOA) – The maximum length of a vessel’s hull measured parallel to the
waterline, usually measured on the hull alone, and including overhanging ends that extend beyond the
main bow and main stern perpendicular members. For sailing vessels, this may exclude the bowsprit
and other fittings added to the hull, but sometimes bowsprits are included.
LET GO AND HAUL – An order indicating that the ship is now on the desired course relative to the
wind and that the sails should be trimmed to suit.
LIBERTY – A relatively short period when a sailor is allowed ashore for recreation.
LIE TO – To have the ship’s sails arranged so that they counteract each other.
LIFEBELT or LIFE VEST– A portable or wearable device such as a buoyant ring or inflatable jacket
designed to keep a person afloat in the water.
LIFE RAFT – An inflatable, sometimes covered, raft used in the event of a vessel being abandoned or
in the evacuation of an aircraft after a water landing.
LIFT – An enabling wind shift that allows a close-hauled sailboat to point up from its current course to
a more favorable one. This is the opposite of a header.
LIGHT IRONS – Iron bars mounted near the main shrouds that support the navigation lights.
LIGHT SCREENS – Boards on which the navigation lights are hooked and which shield the direction
that the red or green light shows.
LIGHTER – A flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods and passengers to and from moored ships.
LIMBER HOLE – A channel cut in the underside of a frame, close to the keel, to allow bilge water to
drain away to the pump well, rather than being trapped between each set of frames.

42
LIMBER BOARD – A part of the ceiling alongside the keelson, easily removable for cleaning out the
limber holes.
LINE – Rope and cordage used aboard a vessel.
LIST – A vessel’s angle of lean or tilt to one side, in the direction called roll.
LIZARD – A short length of rope with an eye, used to hold another rope in position.
LOG – A record of courses or operation. Also, a device used to measure speed.
LOFTING – The technique used to convert a scaled drawing to full size used in boat construction.
LOGGERHEAD – An iron ball attached to a long handle, used for driving caulking into seams.
LOLLING – An uncontrollable list caused by inadequate transverse stability in the upright condition.
LONGITUDE – The distance in degrees east or west of the meridian at Greenwich, England.
LONG STAY – The relative slackness of an anchor chain.
LOOKOUT – A member of the crew specifically assigned to watch surrounding waters for other
vessels, land, objects in the water, hazards, threats, etc.
LOOSE CANNON – An irresponsible and reckless individual whose behavior endangers the group.
LOOSE-FOOTED – A mainsail that is not connected to a boom along its foot.
LOWER DECK – The deck of a ship immediately above the hold.
LOWERS – The lower brails on the mainsail.
LUBBER’S HOLE – A port cut into the bottom of a masthead or top (crow’s nest) allowing easy entry
and exit.
LUBBER’S LINE – A vertical line inside a compass case indicating the direction of the ship’s head.
LUFF – The forward edge of a sail. The fullest or roundest part of a ship’s bow.
LUFF AND TOUCH HER – To bring the vessel so close to wind that the sails shake.
LUFF PERPENDICULAR (LP) – The shortest distance between the clew and the luff.
LUFF UP – To steer a sailing vessel more toward the direction of the wind until the pressure is eased
on the sheet.
LUFFING – When a sailing vessel is steered far enough to windward that the sail is no longer
completely filled with wind.
LOXODOGRAPH – A device used to record a ship’s travels.
LUGSAIL – The four-sided sail bent to an obliquely hanging yard.
LUTCHET – The fitting on a ship’s deck that allows the mast to pivot to pass under bridges.
LYING AHULL – Waiting out a storm by dousing all sails and simply letting the boat drift.

43
M

MAGNETIC BEARING – An absolute bearing using magnetic north.

MAGNETIC NORTH – The direction toward the North Magnetic Pole. Varies slowly over time.
MAINBRACE – One of the braces attached to the yard of the mainsail on a square-rigged vessel.
MAIN DECK – The uppermost continuous deck extending from bow to stern.
MAINMAST – A sailing ship’s principal mast.
MAINSAIL – A principal sail on a ship’s mainmast.
MAINSHEET – A rope by which the mainsail is trimmed and secured.
MAINSTAY – A stay that extends from the main-top to the foot of the foremast.
MAKING WAY – When a vessel is moving under its own power.
MANROPE – A rope used as a handrail on a ship.
MAN OVERBOARD – An emergency call that alerts the crew that someone aboard has gone
overboard and must be rescued.
MAN THE RAILS – To station the crew of a naval vessel along the rails and superstructure of the
vessel as a method of saluting or rendering honors.
MAN THE YARDS – To have all of the crew of a sailing vessel not required on deck to handle the
ship, go aloft, and spread out along the yards.
MANIFEST – A document listing the cargo, passengers, and crew of a ship used for customs and other
officials.
MARINA – A docking facility for small ships and yachts.
MARINE – A solder trained for service afloat.
MARINER – A sailor.
MARLINSPIKE – A tool for opening the strands of a rope while splicing.
MARTINGALE – The lower stay of rope used to sustain the strain of the forestays.
MAST – A vertical pole on a ship that supports sails or rigging.
MAST CASE – A yachtsman’s tabernacle. The iron fitting in which the heel of the mast is mounted.
MAST STEPPING – The process of raising a mast.
MASTHEAD – A small platform partway up the mast, just above the height of the mast’s main yard.
MASTER – The captain of a commercial vessel.
MERCHANT MARINE – A civilian officer or sailor who serves in the merchant marine.
MESS – An eating place onboard.

44
METACENTER – The midway point between a vessel’s center of buoyancy when upright an her center
of buoyancy when tilted.
METACENTRIC HEIGHT (GM) – A measurement of the initial static stability of a vessel afloat,
calculated as the distance between the center of gravity and her metacenter.
MIDDLES – The middle brails on the mainsail, higher than the lowers, and lower than the mains.
MIDSHIP – Approximately in the location equally distant from the bow and stern.
MIDSHIP HOUSE – A superstructure built over the midships section of the hull.
MIDSHIPMAN – Experienced seaman, an apprentice naval officer.
MIDSHIPMAN’S HITCH – Made by first forming a Blackwall hitch, and then taking the underneath
part and placing it over the bill of the hook.
MIDSHIPMAN’S ROLL – A slovenly method of rolling up a hammock transversely and lashing it
endways by one clue.
MILLERS – Shipboard rats.
MISSTAY – To be in irons when changing tack.
MIZZEN – The aft sail of a two- or three-masted vessel.
MIZZENMAST – The mast aft or next aft of the mainmast in a ship.
MOLE – A massive structure, usually of stone or concrete, used as a pier, breakwater, or causeway
between places separated by water.
MONKEY BRIDGE – A high platform above the wheelhouse offering better visibility to the operator
while maneuvering.
MONKEY’S FIST – A ball woven out of line used to provide heft to heave the line to another location.
MOONRAKER – The topmost sail of a ship.
MOOR – A place to moor a vessel.
MOORING – An arrangement for securing a boat to a mooring buoy or a pier.
MOTHER SHIP – A vessel that leads, serves, or carries smaller vessels, in the latter case either
releasing them and then proceeding independently or also recovering them after they have completed a
mission or operation.
MOULD – A template of the shape of a hull in transverse section.
MOULD LOFT – Where the lines of the ship are drawn out full-size and the templates for the timbers
are made.
MOUSING – Several turns of light line around the mouth of a hook, to prevent unhooking accidents.
MUSTER DRILL – An exercise conducted by the crew of a ship prior to embarking on a voyage.
MUZZLE – Iron ban around the mast to hold the heel of the sprit.

45
N

NATURAL HARBOR – A body of water that is protected from the weather.

NARROWS – A narrow part of a navigable waterway.
NAUTICAL – The all-encompassing word for anything concerning sailors or maritime travel. All of the
boat terminology here can be defined as nautical words.
NAUTICAL CHART – A map designed specifically for navigation at sea.
NAUTICAL MILE – One minute of latitude; approximately 6076 feet – about 1/8 longer than the
statute mile of 5280 feet.
NAVIGATION – The art and science of conducting a boat safely from one point to another.
NAVIGATION LIGHTS – Used to alert other ships while sailing at night. The port (left) side light is
red, while the starboard (right) side light is green.
NAVIGATION RULES – The regulations governing the movement of vessels in relation to each
other, generally called steering and sailing rules.
NAY – No. The opposite of aye.
NIPPER – A short rope used to bind a cable to the messenger so that the cable is dragged along too.
NOCK – The throat of the mainsail.
NUN – A navigational buoy, often cone-shaped, but always triangular in silhouette.

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O

OAKUM – Old ropes that are untwisted and used for caulking the seams of ships.
OFFING – The more distant part of the sea as seen from the shore and generally beyond anchoring
ground.
OFFSHORE – At some distance from the shore.
OILSKINS – Foul weather clothing for sailors.
OLD SALT – Slang for an experienced mariner.
ON HER OWN BOTTOM – Said of a vessel making a voyage without being carried aboard another
vessel.
ON STATION – A ship’s destination, typically an area to be patrolled or guarded.
ON THE HARD – A boat that has been hauled and is now sitting on dry land.
ORLOP – The lowest deck in a ship with four or more decks.
OUTBOARD – Toward or beyond the boat’s sides. A detachable engine mounted on a boat’s stern or
dinghy.
OUTBOARD MOTOR – A motor mounted externally on the transom of a small boat.
OUTHAUL – A rope used to haul a sail taut along a spar.
OUTRIGGER – A spar extended from the side of a ship to help secure the mast.
OUTWARD BOUND – To leave the safety of port, heading for open ocean.
OVER-REACHING – Holding a course too long while tacking.
OVERBOARD – Over the side or out of the boat.
OVER-REACHING – Holding a course too long while tacking.
OVERBEAR – To sail downwind directly at another ship, stealing the wind from its sails.
OVERFALLS – Dangerously steep and breaking seas due to opposing currrents and wind in a shallow
area, or strong currents over a shallow rocky bottom.
OVERHEAD – The ceiling of any enclosed space below decks in a vessel.
OVERHAUL – Hauling the buntline ropes over the sails to prevent them from chafing.
OVERTAKING SEA – Seas approaching a vessel from between 15 degrees to port or starboard of
astern at a speed greater than that of the vessel.
OVERWHELMED – Capsized or foundered.
OX-EYE – A cloud of other weather phenomenon that may be indicative of an upcoming storm.

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P

PADDLE BOX – A covering, usually made of wood, for the upper part of a paddle wheel on a paddle
steamer.
PAINTER – A rope attached to the bow of a boat to attach it to a ship or a post.
PALLOGRAPH – An instrument measuring a ship’s vibration.
PANTING – The pulsation in and out of the bow and stern plating as the ship alternately rises and
plunges deep into the water.
PARAVANE – A device stabilized by vanes that functions as an underwater glider and is usually
streamed from the bow of a vessel and towed alongside so that the cable attaching it to the vessel cuts
the moorings of submerged mines.
PARBUCKLE – A method of lifting a roughly cylindrical object like a spar. One end of a rope is made
fast above the object, a loop of rope is lowered and passed around the opbject, which can be raised by
hauling on the free end of the rope.
PARLEY – A discussion or conference, especially between enemies, over terms of a truce or other
matters.
PARREL – A band by which a yard is fastened to a mast.
PART BRASS RAGS – Fall out with a friend—from the days when cleaning materials were shared
between sailors.
PATROON – The captain of a ship. The coxswain of a longboat.
PAWLS – Small bars used to stop the barrel of a winch or capstan moving backward under an
increased load or if the turning power was reduced.
PAY OFF – to let a vessel’s head fall off from the wind to leeward.
PAYING – Filling a seam (with caulk or pitch), lubricating the running rigging.
PAYMASTER – The officer responsible for all the money matters in Royal Navy ships.
PEAK – 1) The upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail. 2) The narrow part of a vessel’s bow, or
the hold within it. 3) The extremity of an anchor fluke.
PELAGIC – Living in the open ocean rather than coastal or inland waters.
PENDANT – A length of wire or rope secured at one end to a mast or spar and having a block or other
fitting at the lower end.
PENNANT – A long, thin triangular flag flown from the masthead of a military ship (as opposed to a
burgee, which is flown on yachts).
PICAROON – An obsolete term for a pirate.
PIER – A loading platform extending at an angle from the shore.
PIER-HEAD JUMP – When a sailor is drafted to a warship at the last minute, just before she sails.

48
PILE – A wood, metal or concrete pole driven into the bottom. Craft may be made fast to a pile or it
may be used to support a pier.
PILING – Support and protection for wharves, piers, etc.
PILOT – A specially-knowledgeable person qualified to navigate a vessel through difficult waters.
PILOT BOAT – A boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound
of ships they are piloting.
PILOTING – Navigation by use of visible references, the depth of the water, etc.
PILOT LADDER – A highly specialized form of rope ladder, typically used to embark and disembark
pilots over the side of a ship. Sometimes confused with Jacob’s ladders, but the design and construction
of pilot ladders is governed tightly by international regulation and includes spreaders.
pIM – Points (or plan) of intended movement. The charted course for a naval unit’s movements.
PINNANCE – A small, light boat propelled by oars or a sail, used as a tender to larger vessels.
PINTLE – The pin or bolt on which a ship’s rudder pivots. The pintle rests in the gudgeon.
PIPE – A whistle used by boatswains to issue commands.
PIPE DOWN – A signal on the bosun’s pipe to signal the end of the day, requiring lights (and smoking
pipes) to be extinguished and silence from the crew.
PIPING THE SIDE – A salute on the bosun’s pipe performed in the company of the deck watch on the
starboard side of the quarterdeck or at the head of the gangway, to welcome or bid farewell to the ship’s
captain, senior officers, and honored visitors.
PIRACY – An act of robbery or criminal violence at sea by the occupants of one vessel against the
occupants of another vessel. Piracy is distinguished from privateering, which is authorized by national
authorities and therefore a legitimate form of war-like activity by non-state actors.
PIRATE – One who engages in an act of piracy.
PITCH – A vessel’s motion, rotating about the beam/transverse axis, causing the fore and aft ends to
rise and fall repetitively.
PITCHPOLE – To capsize a boat stern over bow, rather than by rolling over.
PIVOTTING – To turn a sailing barge in shallow water by dropping the leeboard so it drags in the
mud, putting the helm hard over.
PLANING – A boat is said to be planing when it is essentially moving over the top of the water rather
than through the water.
PLANING HULL – A type of hull shaped to glide easily across the water at high speed.
PLIMSOLL LINE – A special marking, positioned midships, that indicates the draft of the vessel and
the legal limit to which the vessel may be loaded for specific water types and temperatures.
POINT – A unit of bearing equal to 1/32 of a circle—11.25 degrees. A turn of 32 points is a complete
turn through 360 degrees.

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POINT UP – To change the direction of a sailboat so that it is more upwind. To bring the bow
windward. This is the opposite of falling off.
POINTS OF SAIL – The course of a sailing vessel in relation to the direction of the wind, divided into
six points: in irons (pointed directly to the wind), close hauled (sailing as close into the direction of
wind as possible), close reach (between close hauled and beam reach), beam reach (perpendicular to the
wind), broad reach (wind behind the vessel at an angle), and running downwind or running before the
wind (wind directly behind the vessel).
POLACCA or PLACRE – A 17th-century sailing vessel commonly seen in the Mediterranean.
PONTOON – A flat-bottomed vessel used as a ferry, barge, or car float, or a float moored alongside a
jetty or a ship to facilitate boarding.
POOP DECK – An enclosed structure at the stern of a ship above the main deck.
POOPED – Swamped by a high, following sea. Also means exhausted.
PORT – The left side of a boat looking forward. A harbor.
PORT OF REGISTRY – The port listed on a vessel’s registration documents and lettered on her stern.
PORT TACK – When sailing with the wind coming from the port side of the vessel. Vessels on port
tack must give way to those on starboard tack.
PORTHOLE – An opening on a ship’s side, especially a round one for admitting light and air, filled
with glass and often a hinged metal cover, used as a window.
PORTOLAN – An obsolete form of nautical chart.
POWDER HULK – A hulk used to store gunpowder.
POWDER MAGAZINE – A small room/closet area in the hull of a ship used for storing gunpowder in
barrels or kegs.
PRATIQUE – The license given to a ship to enter a port on assurance from her captain that she is free
from contagious disease. A ship can signal a request for pratique by flying a square solid-yellow flag (Q
flag, or Quarantine flag).
PREDREADNOUGHT – A term used retrospectively after 1906 for a wide variety of steam
battleships built between the 1880s and 1905 designed with only a few large guns for long-range fire.
PRESS GANG – Formed body of personnel from a ship of the Royal Navy that would identify and
force “press” men, usually merchant sailors, into service on naval ships—usually against their will.
PREVENTER – A sail control line originating at some point on the boom leading to a fixed point on
the boat’s deck or rail—used to prevent or moderate the effects of an accidental jibe.
PRIMAGE – A fee paid to loaders for loading a ship.
PRINCIPAL NAVAL TRANSPORT OFFICER – In British usage, a shore-based flag officer or
captain responsible for sea transport duties.
PRINCIPAL WARFARE OFFICER (PWO) – One of a number of Warfare branch specialist officers.

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PRISON SHIP or PRISON HULK – A vessel used as a prison, often to hold convicts awaiting
transportation to penal colonies.
PRIVATE SHIP – A commission warship in active service that is not being used as the flagship of a
flag officer. The term does not imply in any way that the ship is privately owned.
PRIVATEER – A privately-owned ship authorized by a national power to conduct hostilities against
an enemy.
PRIVELEGED VESSEL – A vessel which, according to the applicable Navigation Rule, has right-of-
way (this term has been superseded by the term “stand-on”).
PRIZE – A property captured at sea in virtue of the rights of war, as a vessel.
PRIZE CREW – Members of a warship’s crew assigned to man a vessel taken as a prize.
PROPELLER (FIXED) – A propeller mounted on the rigid shaft protruding from the hull of a vessel,
usually driving by an outboard motor.
PROPELLER (FOLDING) – A propeller with folding blades, furling to reduce drag on a sailing vessel
when not in use.
PROPELLER WALK – The tendency for a propeller to push the stern sideways. In theory, a right-
hand propeller in reverse will walk the stern to port.
PROW – The forwardmost part of a vessel’s bow above her waterline. Also, an alternative term for the
bow of a vessel, sometimes used poetically.
PUDDENING – Fibres of old rope packed between spars or used as a fender.
PURCHASE – A mechanical method of increasing force, such as a tackle or lever.
PURSER – A ship’s officer in charge of finances and passengers.

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Q

QUARTER – The sides of a boat aft of amidships.

QUARTERDECK – Part of a ship’s deck set aside by the captain for ceremonial functions.
QUARTERING – Sailing nearly before the wind.
QUARTERING SEA – Sea coming on a boat’s quarter.
QUEEN’S REGULATIONS – The standing orders governing the British Royal Navy.
QUAY – A stone or concrete structure on navigable water used for loading and unloading vessels.
QUICKWORK – The ceiling inside the hull above the turn of the bilge.
QUOIN – A wedge used to assist in the aiming of a cannon.

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R

RABBET – A groove cut in wood to form part of a joint.

RADAR – A electronic system designed to transmit radio signals and receive reflected images of those
signals from a “target” in order to determine the bearing and distance to the target. The term is an
acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging.
RADAR REFLECTOR – A special fixture fitted to a vessel or incorporated into the design of certain
aids to navigation to enhance their ability to reflect radar energy.
RAFT – A flat structure used for support or transportation over water, lacking a hull and kept afloat by
buoyant materials.
RAIL MEAT – Members of a sailboat crew that are using body weight to control the angle of heel of
the boat.
RAKE – The inclination from perpendicular of a mast or another part of a ship.
RANGE – 1) To lay out a rope or chain on deck in a zig-zag or figure eight pattern so that it can run
freely. 2) The difference between the height of high and low tide. 3) Distance from observer to object.
RANGE CLOCK – A clockwork device used aboard a warship to continuously calculate the range to an
enemy ship.
RANGE LIGHTS – Two lights associated to form a range, which often indicates the channel
centerline.
RATING – In British usage, an enlisted member of a country’s navy, who are not officers. In
contemporary US Navy and US Coast Guard usage, the occupational specialty of an enlisted member of
the service.
RATLINE – A small rope forming a rung of a rope ladder on a ship.
RAZEE – A sailing ship that has been cut down to reduce the number of decks.
REACHING – Sailing across the wind—from about 60° to about 160° off the wind. Reaching consists
of "close reaching" (about 60° to 80°), "beam reaching" (about 90°), and "broad reaching" (about 120°
to 160°).
REACHING SAIL – A sail specifically designed for tighter reaching legs. Reaching sails are often used
in racing with a true wind angle of 35 to 95 degrees. They are generally used before the wind angle
moves aft enough to permit spinnakers to be flown.
READY ABOUT or GOING ABOUT– A call to indicate imminent tacking.
RECEIVING HULK – A hulk used in harbor to house newly recruited sailors before they are assigned
to a crew.
RED DUSTER or RED ENSIGN – Red British flag flown by civilian vessels of the UK.
RED RIGHT RETURN – A phrase used as a mnemonic to remember that the navigational standard
for a vessel entering ("returning to") a port in the Americas (excluding Greenland), Japan, South Korea,

53
and the Philippines is for her to steer so that red-marked navigational aids lie to starboard (to the
"right") of an observer facing forward on the vessel, while green-marked aids must lie to port (i.e., to the
left). This contrasts with the rest of the world, where the standard is the opposite, i.e., green markers
must lie to starboard and red ones to port.
RED-TO-RED – A passage of two vessels moving in the opposite direction on their port sides, so
called because the red navigation light on one of the vessels faces the red light on the other vessel.
REDUCED CAT – A light version of the cat o'nine tails for use on boys.
REEF – 1) To reduce the area of a sail by rolling or folding part of it. 2) Rock or coral that is either
partially submerged or fully submerged, but shallow enough that a vessel could run aground.
REEF POINTS – Lengths of rope attached to a sail and used to tie up part of the sail.
REEF BANDS – Long pieces of rough canvas sewed across the sails to give them additional strength.
REEF-TACKLES – Ropes employed in the operation of reefing.
REEFER – A refrigerated cargo ship used to carry perishable goods. Also, a shipboard refrigerator.
REEVE – To pass a rope through a ring.
REGATTA – A series of boat races, usually of sailboats or rowboats but occasionally of powered boats.
REGULAR SHIPS – Merchant ships that made regular voyages.
RELATIVE BEARING – A bearing relative to the direction of the ship—the clockwise angle between
the ship’s direction and an object.
REPAIR SHIP – A naval auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to other ships.
REPLENISHMENT OILER – A ship designed and equipped to carry out research at sea.
RESERVE FLEET – A collection of naval vessels fully equipped for service but partially or fully
decommissioned because they are not currently needed.
RIB TICKLER – A bargeman’s name for the tiller.
RIDING LIGHT – A light hung from the forestay when at anchor.
RIGGING – The system of masts and lines on ships and other sailing vessels.
RIGGING CHOCKS – Thick blocks of wood fixed outside the rails to take the chain plates for the
shrouds.
RIGGING SCREW – The bottle screw used to keep wires taut.
RIGHTING COUPLE – The force that tends to restore a ship to equilibrium once a heel has altered
the relationship between her center of buoyancy and her center of gravity.
RIGOL – The rim or "eyebrow" above a porthole or scuttle.
RIP RAP – A man-made pile of rocks and rubble used as a base to support an aid to navigation, often
an offshore lighthouse.
ROACH – The curved cut in the edge of a sail for preventing chafing.
ROADSTEAD or ROADS – A sheltered area outside a harbor where a ship can lie safe at anchor.

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ROARING FORTIES – Strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between
the latitudes of 40 and 50 degrees. During the Age of Sail, ships took advantage of the Roaring Forties
to speed their trips, and yacht sailors still do today.
ROBAND – A piece of yarn used to fasten a sail to a spar.
RODE – The anchor line and/or chain.
ROGUE WAVE – Any surprisingly large wave for a given sea state; formally, a wave whose height is
more than twice the significant wave height (i.e. the mean of the largest third of waves in a wave
record).
ROLL – 1) The side-to-side motion of a vessel as it rotates about the fore-aft (longitudinal)
axis. Listing is a lasting, stable tilt, or heel, along the longitudinal axis. 2) Another name for the
longitudinal axis itself (e.g. the "roll axis").
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF SHIP or RORO or RO-RO – A vessel designed to carry wheeled cargo that
can drive on and off the ship on its own wheels.
ROLLING-TACKLE – A number of pulleys, engaged to confine the yard to the weather side of a mast;
this tackle is much used in a rough sea.
ROLLING VANG – A second set of sprit-head vangs played out forward to rail near the bows, used to
give additional control and support when needed in a seaway.
ROMPER – In a convoy, a ship that breaks ranks and "romps" ahead
ROPE – In general, cordage as it is purchased at the store. When it comes aboard a vessel and is put to
use it becomes line.
ROPE'S END – A summary punishment device.
ROPE YARN – 1) A period, traditionally on Wednesday afternoons, when a tailor boarded a sailing
warship while the vessel was in port; the crew was excused from most duties and had light duty
mending uniforms and hammocks and darning socks. When the ship was at sea, the crew similarly was
excused from most duties on Wednesday afternoons to engage in mending chores. Wednesday
afternoons, like Sundays, thus were a more social time when crewmen rested from normal duties,
similar to a Sunday, and, because the crew used rope yarn for mending, Wednesday afternoon became
known as rope yarn Sunday. 2) After uniforms began to require less care, and through the mid-20th
century, a period on Wednesday afternoons when naval crew members were excused from their regular
duties to run personal errands. 3) One of the threads in a rope.
ROSTRUM – A spike on prow of warship for ramming.
ROUND TO – To turn the bow of a vessel into the wind.
ROVE – Past tense of reeve.
ROWLOCK – A contrivance serving as a fulcrum for an oar.
ROYAL – A small sail on a royal mast just above the topgallant sail.
RUBBING STRAKE – An extra plank fitted to the outside of the hull, usually at deck level, to protect
the topsides.

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RUDDER – A vertical plate or board for steering a boat.
RUN – To allow a line to feed freely.
RUMMAGE or ROMAGE – 1) A place or room for the stowage of cargo in a vessel. 2) The act of
stowing cargo aboard a vessel. 3) To arrange (cargo, goods, etc.) in the hold of a vessel; to move or
rearrange such goods; the pulling and moving about of packages incident to close stowage aboard a
vessel. 4) To search a vessel for smuggled goods, e.g. "The customs officers rummaged the ship."
RUMMAGE SALE – A sale of damaged cargo.
RUN – 1) The stern of the underwater body of a ship from where it begins to curve upward and inward.
2) A voyage, particularly a brief or routine one.
RUNNING BEFORE THE WIND or RUNNING – Sailing more than about 160° away from the
wind. If directly away from the wind, it is called a dead run.
RUNNING BACKSTAYS – A backstay that can be released and moved out of the way so that it does
not interfere with sails or spars on the leeward side. On tacking, the new windward running backstay
must be set up promptly to support the mast.
RUNNING GEAR – The propellers, shafts, struts, and related parts of a motorboat. The running
rigging (q.v.) of a sailing vessel.
RUNNING LIGHTS – Lights required to be shown on boats underway between sundown and sunup.
RUNNING RIGGING – Rigging used to manipulate sails, spars, etc. in order to control the
movement of a sailing vessel. Contrast standing rigging.

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S

SAFE HARBOR or SAFE HAVEN – A harbor that provides safety from bad weather or attack.
SADDLE CHOCK – A transverse beam placed over the transom with fairleads for mooring warps.
SAGGING – A condition in which the hull of a vessel deflects downward so the ends of the keel are
higher than the middle. The opposite of hogging. Sagging can occur when the trough of a wave
is amidships or during loading or unloading of a vessel and can damage her or even break her in half.
SAIL – 1) A piece of fabric attached to a vessel and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the
vessel along. Sails are typically attached to the vessel via a combination of mast, spars, and ropes. 2)
The power harnessed by a sail or sails to propel a vessel. 3) To use sail power to propel a vessel. 4) A trip
in a boat or ship, especially a sailboat or sailing ship. 5) In American usage, a sail is a tower-like
structure on the dorsal (topside) surface of submarines constructed since the mid-20th century—similar
in appearance to a fabric sail or fin, and originally containing instruments and controls for the
periscopes to direct the submarine and launch torpedo attacks. Modern sails or fins do not perform
these functions.
SAIL LOFT – A large open space used by sailmakers to spread out sails.
SAIL-PLAN – A set of drawings showing various sail combinations recommended for use in various
situations.
SAILMAKER – A craftsman who makes and repairs sails, working either on shore in a sail loft or
aboard a large, oceangoing sailing ship.
SAILORMAN – London term for a sailing barge, or a bargeman.
SALLY SHIP – A method of freeing a vessel grounded on mud, in which the crew forms a line and
runs back and forth athwartships to cause her to rock back and forth, breaking the mud's suction and
freeing her with little or no damage to the hull. When this is required, the crew is given the order "Sally
ship!"
SALOON – A social lounge on a passenger ship.
SALTIE – Great Lakes term for a vessel that sails the oceans.
SALTY DOG – Slang for a sailor, especially for a seaman in the navy.
SALVAGE TUG – Sometimes called a wrecking tug. A specialized tugboat used to assist ships in
distress or in danger of sinking, or to salvage ships which have already sunk or run aground.
SALVOR – A person engaged in the salvage of a ship or items lost at sea.
SAMPAN – A relatively flat-bottomed Chinese wooden boat from 3.5 to 4.5 meters (11 to 15 ft) long,
generally used in coastal areas or rivers and as traditional fishing boats. Some have a small shelter, and
they may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. It is unusual for sampans to sail far from
land as they are not designed to survive rough weather.
SAMPSON POST – A strong vertical post used to support a ship's windlass and the heel of a
ship's bowsprit.

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SANDSUCKER – A barge that collects sand from the bottom of lakes.
SATELLITE NAVIGATION – A form of position finding using radio transmissions from satellites
with sophisticated on-board automatic equipment.
S.B. or SB – Prefix for "Sailing Barge", used before a ship's name.
SCANDALIZE – To reduce the area and efficiency of a sail by expedient means (slacking the peak and
tricing up the tack) without properly reefing, thus slowing boat speed. Also used in the past as a sign of
mourning.
SCANTLINGS – Dimensions of a ship's structural members, e.g. frame, beam, girder, etc.
SCHOONER – A type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or
more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts. First used by the Dutch in the
16th or 17th century. A topsail schooner has a square topsail (and may also have a topgallant) on the
foremast.
SCHOONER BARGE – A type of barge either converted from a schooner or purpose-built as a barge
with a schooner rig, primarily in use from the 1860s to the 1940s, initially on the Great Lakes and later
in salt-water environments as well. A schooner barge required a smaller crew than a schooner and
needed to be towed, but under favorable conditions could hoist sails to reduce fuel consumption by the
vessel towing her.
SCOPE – Technically, the ratio of length of anchor rode in use to the vertical distance from the bow of
the vessel to the bottom of the water. Usually, it is six-to-seven-to-one for calm weather and more scope
in storm conditions.
SCOW SLOOP – A vessel with a scow-like hull and a sloop rig. Scow sloops were common in North
America by 1725.
SCREAMING SIXTIES or SHRIEKING SIXTIES – Strong westerly winds found in the Southern
Hemisphere, south of 60 degrees. They are stronger than the similar "Roaring Forties" to their north.
SCREECHER – A specialty sail which can be used as an upwind genoa sail, reaching sail, or
downwind sail. The name comes from combining "spinnaker" and "reaching".
SCREW – A boat’s propeller.
SCUD – To sail swiftly before a gale.
SCUDDING – A term applied to a vessel when carried furiously along by a tempest.
SCULL – 1) An oar used for sculling. 2) A boat propelled by sculling, generally for recreation or racing.
SCULLING – A method of using oars to propel watercraft in which the oar or oars touch the water on
both the port and starboard sides of the craft, or over the stern. On sailboats with transom-
mounted rudders, forward propulsion can be made by a balanced side-to-side movement of the tiller, a
form of sculling.
SCUPPERS – Drain holes on deck, in the toe rail, or in bulwarks or (with drain pipes) in the deck
itself. These holes allow water to drain from the ship’s deck.
SCUTTLEBUTT – A cask of drinking water aboard a ship.

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SCUTTLES – Portholes on a ship.
SCUTTLING – Making a hole in the hull of a vessel or opening seacocks, especially in order to sink a
vessel deliberately.
SEA ANCHOR – A stabilizer deployed in the water for heaving to in heavy weather. It acts as a brake
and keeps the hull in line with the wind and perpendicular to the waves. Often in the form of a large bag
made of heavy canvas.
SEA CHEST – A watertight box built against the hull of the ship communicating with the sea through
a grillage, to which valves and piping are attached to allow water in for ballast, engine cooling, and
firefighting purposes. Also, a wooden box used to store a sailor's effects.
SEA COCK – A through hull valve, a shut off on a plumbing or drain pipe between the vessel’s interior
and the sea.
SEA STATE – The general condition of the free surface on a large body of water with respect to wind
waves and swell at a certain location and moment, characterized by statistics, including the wave
height, period, and power spectrum. The sea state varies with time, as the wind conditions or swell
conditions change.
SEA TRIAL – The testing phase of a boat, ship, or submarine, usually the final step in her
construction, conducted to measure a vessel's performance and general seaworthiness before her
owners take delivery of her.
SEABOAT – 1) A ship's boat kept ready for immediate use at sea, and used, for example, for retrieving
a man overboard, or taking a boarding party to another vessel. Usually rigged with patent disengaging
gear that allows both falls to be released simultaneously and quickly, so enabling the boat to be
launched from a ship with way on. 2) A term used for any vessel when assessing her physical behavior
at sea. A vessel that performs well in challenging weather or sea conditions such as heavy seas is a good
seaboat, while one which does not is a bad seaboat.
SEABOOTS – High waterproof boots for use at sea. In leisure sailing, known as sailing wellies.
SEALER – A vessel designed for or engaged in seal hunting.
SEALING – 1) The hunting of seals. 2) The caulked floor of the hold.
SEAMAN – A generic term for a sailor, or (part of) a low naval rank.
SEAMANSHIP – All the arts and skills of boat handling, ranging from maintenence and repairs to
piloting, sail handling, marlinespike work, and rigging.
SEA ROOM – A safe distance from the shore or other hazards.
SEAWORTHY – A boat or a boat’s gear ability to meet the usual sea conditions.
SECOND MATE or SECOND OFFICER – A licensed member of the deck department, customarily
the ship’s navigator. Third or fourth in command.
SECURE – To make fast.
SEIZE – To bind two ropes together with small line.

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SELF-SUSTAINING – A merchant ship that can unload herself with no assistance from harbor
facilities is self-sustaining, while a ship that needs harbor facilities to unload is non-self-sustaining.
Self-sustaining ships are more expensive to build, maintain, and operate than non-self-sustaining ships,
but have the advantage of being able to operate in less-developed ports that lack infrastructure.
SELF-UNLOADER – Great Lakes slang term for a vessel with a conveyor or some other method of
unloading the cargo without shoreside equipment.
SENNET – A chord formed by plaiting rope-yarn by hand. There are many types of plait and many
uses.
SENNET WHIP – A summary punitive implement.
SERVE – Covering a rope with thin line to protect it.
SET – Direction toward which the current is flowing.
SEXTANT – A navigational instrument used to measure a ship's latitude.
SHACKLE – U-shaped iron, with a screw pin at the open end used for securing stays to sails, allowing
easy removal.
SHAFT – 1) A propeller shaft. The term shaft can be used instead of "propeller" to describe the number
of propellers a ship has, e.g., The ship has two shafts or the ship's engines drive three shafts. 2) To push
or propel (a boat) with a pole.
SHAFT ALLEY – The section of a ship that houses the propulsion shaft, running from the engine
room to the stuffing box.
SHAFT LOG – A shaped piece of timber or metal fitted to a vessel's deadwood, keel, or keelson at the
point where the stern tube passes through the hull.

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SHAKEDOWN CRUISE or SHAKEDOWN – A cruise performed before a ship enters service or
after major changes such as a crew change, repair, or overhaul during which the performance of the
ship and her crew are tested under working conditions.
SHAKES – Pieces of barrels or casks broken down to save space. They are worth very little, leading to
the phrase "no great shakes."
SHALLOP – 1) A term used for a variety of boats and small ships used for coastal navigation beginning
in the 17th century. 2) A large boat armed with cannon used by the Danes as gunboats during
the Gunboat War (1807–1814).
SHANGHAIED – The condition of a crewman involuntarily impressed into service on a ship.
SHEAVE – (traditionally pronounced "shiv") The wheel in a block, which rotates as the rope runs.
SHEAVE-HOLE – A hole or slot in a spar, fitted with a sheave to allow a rope to run.
SHEER – The fore-and-aft curvature of a ship from the bow to the stern.
SHEER LINE – The intersection of the external hull surface and the main deck surface, shown by a
line on the sheer plan.
SHEER PLAN – In shipbuilding, a diagram showing an elevation of the ship's sheer viewed from
the broadside.
SHEET – A rope attached to the clew and used to control the setting of a sail in relation to the direction
of the wind. The sheet is often passed through a tackle before being attach to fixed points on the deck,
or in the case of a barge, to a traveller on the main horse.
SHEET ANCHOR – Historically, the heaviest anchor aboard a sailing ship, to be used only in case of
emergency, and located amidships. In more general usage, the term has come to mean a person or thing
that is very reliable in times of emergency.
SHEET BEND – A bend to attach a rope to a small eye or clew, e.g. to attach a hammock to a clew or
a painter to the Jacobs Ladder.
SHELL – An extremely narrow, and often disproportionately long, rowing boat outfitted with
long oars, outriggers to hold the oarlocks away from the boat, and sliding seats, specifically designed for
racing or exercise.
SHELTER DECK – An upper deck having no overhead protection from the weather itself, but
sheltering the deck below it.
SHIFT COLORS – 1) Changing the flag and pennant display when a moored vessel becomes
underway, and vice versa. A highly coordinated display that ships take pride in; the desired effect is that
of one set of flags vanishing while another set flashes out at precisely the same time. 2) Slang for
changing out of one's Navy uniform into civilian clothes to go ashore. (The US Navy's newsletter for
retired personnel is nicknamed Shift Colors for this reason.)
SHIFT TIDES – Sighting the positions of the Sun and Moon using a sextant, using a nautical
almanac to determine the location and phase of the Moon, and calculating the relative effect of
the tides on the navigation of the ship.

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SHIP – A larger vessel usually thought of as being used for ocean travel. A vessel able to carry a “boat”
on board.
SHIP BREAKING – Also called ship cracking, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship recycling.
The demolition of ships for spare parts and scrap metal. A ship on her way to be scrapped is said to be
going to the breakers.
SHIP-OF-THE-LINE – A type of sailing warship constructed from the 1600s through the mid-1800s
to serve as part of the line of battle; one of the largest and most powerful warships of the era.
SHIP GRAVEYARD or SHIP CEMETERY – 1) A location where the hulls of discarded ships are left
to decay and disintegrate. 2) An area where shipwrecks accumulate due to hazardous navigation
conditions, deliberate scuttling, or losses in combat. 3) An anchorage for ships of a reserve fleet.
SHIP OVER – To reenlist. When a sailor extends his or her service another term.
SHIP SLOOP – A type of sloop-of-war introduced in the 1740s that had three square-rigged masts (in
contrast to the brig sloop introduced in the 1770s, which had two masts).
SHIP STORES – The materials, supplies and equipment required for the navigation, maintenance,
operation and upkeep of a ship.
SHIP'S BELL – Striking the ship's bell is the traditional method of marking time and regulating the
crew's watches. Each bell (from one to eight) represents a 30-minute period since the beginning of a
four-hour watch. For example, in the classical system, "Three bells in the morning watch" represents 90
minutes since the beginning of the morning watch, or 5:30 AM. "Eight bells" indicates the end of a
watch.
SHIP'S COMPANY – The crew of a ship.
SHIP'S COMPLEMENT – The number of persons in a ship's crew, including officers.
SHIP'S HUSBAND – A legal term for an agent appointed by the owner of a ship, who has authority to
make repairs and attend to the management, equipment, and other concerns of the ship in the home
port.
SHIPS HUSBANDRY – All aspects of maintenance, cleaning, and general upkeep of the hull, rigging,
and equipment of a ship. It may also be used to refer to aspects of maintenance which are not
specifically covered by the technical departments.
SHIPBREACH – Another name for a shipwreck.
SHIPPING – 1) Passage or transport on a ship; maritime transport. 2) The body of ships belonging to
one country, port, or industry.
SHIPWRECK – 1) The remains of a ship that has sunk. 2) The remains of a ship that has
run aground such that she is no longer seaworthy. 3) An event in which a ship sinks or otherwise
becomes a wreck.
SHIPWRECKING – To wreck a ship through a mishap.
SHIPWRECKED – A person marooned due to the loss of a ship he or she was aboard is said to
be shipwrecked.
SHIPWRIGHT – A person who designs, builds, and repairs ships, especially wooden ones.

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SHIPYARD – A facility where ships or boats are built and repaired. Routinely used as a synonym
for dockyard, 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.
SHOAL – Shallow water that is a hazard to navigation.
SHOAL DRAUGHT – An especially shallow draught on a vessel, making the vessel capable of sailing
in unusually shallow water.
SHORE LEAVE – Free time given to officers and crew of a naval vessel when they are off duty and
allowed to disembark and spend time on land.
SHORT STAY – The relative slackness of an anchor chain; "short stay" means the chain is somewhat
slack, and neither vertical nor fully extended.
SHORTEN – 1) To take in the slack of (a rope). 2) To reduce (sail) by taking it in, e.g. "shorten sail".
SHOT ACROSS THE BOW – A shot fired close to and in front of a moving vessel to warn her to stop,
often for boarding.
SHRIMPER – A fishing vessel rigged for shrimp fishing.
SHROUDS – Ropes supporting the mast of a ship.
SICK BAY – A compartment reserved for medical purposes.
SIDEBOY – One of an even-numbered group of seamen posted in two rows on the quarterdeck when a
visiting dignitary boards or leaves the ship, historically to help (or even hoist) him aboard.
SIDELIGHT – Colored lights on the side of a ship used when underway at night. Also called
navigation lights.
SIDEWHEEL – 1) A side-mounted paddle wheel used for propulsion by a paddle steamer. 2)
Propelled by sidewheels (e.g. "sidewheel steamer").
SIDEWHEELER – A paddle steamer propelled by a pair of paddle wheels, one mounted on each side.
SIREN – A sound signal that uses electricity or compressed air to actuate either a disc or a cup-shaped
rotor.
SISTER SHIP – A ship of the same class as, and therefore virtually identical in design and appearance
to, another ship. Sister ships share an identical or nearly identical hull and superstructure layout,
similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment. Often, sister ships become
more differentiated during their service lives as their equipment (and, in the case of military ships, their
armament) are separately altered.
SKAFFIE – A type of small sailing vessel used for fishing, primarily during the 19th century and
mostly in the Moray Firth region of Scotland.
SKEG – The part of a ship that connects the keel with the bottom of the rudderpost.
SKELETON CREW – A minimal crew, usually employed during an emergency or when a vessel is
inactive, generally consisting of the minimum number of personnel required to maintain or operate the
vessel.

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SKIFF – A small boat, traditionally a coastal or river craft, for leisure or fishing, with a single person or
small crew. Sailing skiffs have developed into high-performance competitive classes.
SKIPJACK – A type of sailboat used as a traditional fishing boat on the Chesapeake Bay for oyster
dredging. It arose around the end of the 19th century as the successor to the bugeye as the chief
oystering boat on the bay.
SKIPPER – The captain of a ship.
SKYSAIL – The sail above the royal sail.
SKYSCRAPER – A triangular sail on a ship above the royal.
SLACK – Not fastened or loose. Also, to loosen.
SLACK TIDE – The period between rising tide and falling tide, or the period between falling tide and
rising tide when there is no tidal-induced current.
SLAVE SHIP or SLAVER – A large cargo ship specially converted for the transportation of slaves in
the slave trade.
SLIDE – The cabin hatch on a barge.

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SLING – 1) To pass a rope around something in preparation for attaching a hoisting or
lowering tackle to it. 2) A band of rope or iron for securing a yard to a mast; chiefly used in the
plural, slings.
SLIP – 1) To let go a rope at a precise moment, such as when releasing the last attachment to a buoy,
when getting under way. 2) To slip an anchor: to let go the anchor cable, abandoning the anchor so as to
get under way in an emergency, rather than spend time hauling in the cable to raise the anchor in the
normal way. The released anchor cable is usually buoyed to aid recovery later. 3) The difference
between the theoretical distance traveled per revolution of a vessel's propeller and the actual advance of
the vessel. 4) In marine engineering, the motion of the center of resistance of the float of a paddle wheel
or the blade of an oar through the water horizontally. 5) In marine engineering, the difference between
a vessel's actual speed and the speed it would have if the propelling instrument acted upon a solid. 6) In
marine engineering, the velocity of the backward current of water produced by the propeller relative to
still water. 7) In marine insurance, a memorandum of the particulars of a risk for which a policy is to be
executed, usually bearing the broker's name and initialled by the underwriters.
SLIP ROPE – A mooring rope that is intended to be the last to be released when getting under way
and is arranged so that it can be released from on-board. An example of this would be a rope that is led
from the ship (or boat), through a ring on a mooring buoy, and then back to the ship.
SLIPWAY – A ramp sloping into water for supporting a ship.
SLOOP – In modern usage (from circa 1850s), a single-masted fore and aft sailing rig with one
headsail set on the forestay, and a mainsail abaft the mast. The sloop rig is very common in modern
leisure sailing vessels. In older usage, a sloop may have more than one headsail, but with the jib (the
outer headsail) also set on a stay. This differentiates from a cutter of the same era, where the jib would
be set flying and a running bowsprit was used. Any bowsprit that might be fitted on a sloop was part of
the standing rigging and remained in place at all times.
SLOP CHEST – A ship's store of merchandise, such as clothing, tobacco, etc., maintained aboard
merchant ships for sale to the crew.
SLUSH – Greasy substance obtained by boiling or scraping the fat from empty salted meat storage
barrels, or the floating fat residue after boiling the crew's meal. In the Royal Navy, it was a perquisite of
the ship's cook, who could sell it or exchange it (usually for alcohol) with other members of the crew.
Used for greasing parts of the running rigging of the ship and therefore valuable to
the master and bosun.
SLUSH FUND – The money obtained by the cook selling slush ashore. Used for the benefit of the crew
(or the cook).
SMACK – A traditional fishing boat used off the coast of England and the Atlantic coast of America for
most of the 19th century and in small numbers up to the mid-20th century. Originally a cutter-rigged
sailing boat, after about 1865 lengthened and given a ketch rig. Some had a topsail on the mizzen mast,
others a bowsprit carrying a jib.
SMALL BOWER – The smaller of two anchors carried in the bow.
SNAG or DEADHEAD – 1) A tree or tree branch fixed in the bottom of a navigable body of water and
partially submerged or rising nearly to the surface that can pierce and sink vessels. Snags were a
particularly severe hazard in the 19th and early 20th centuries; to be snagged is to suffer damage from

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or to be sunk by such a hazard. 2) An underwater obstruction on which equipment trailed from a vessel,
such as fishing lines and nets, becomes caught, sometimes resulting in loss of the equipment.
SNATCH BLOCK – A block with one cheek that is hinged, so that the bight of a rope can be inserted
in the block (as opposed to threading the end of the rope into an ordinary block).
SNOTTER – A short rope, spliced together at the ends and covered with hide, that is seized to
the mast to hold the lower end of a sprit.
SNOTTY – A naval midshipman.
SNOW – A form of brig where the gaff spanker or driver is rigged on a "snow mast", a
lighter spar supported in chocks close behind the mainmast.
SNUG LOADED – When all the cargo on a barge is stowed below in the hold and there is nothing
on deck. In contrast to carrying a stack.
SOFT EYE – An eye splice without a thimble fitted.
SOG (SPEED OVER GROUND) – The speed of the vessel relative to the Earth (and as shown by a
GPS).
SOLE – Cabin or saloon floor. Timber extensions on the bottom of the rudder. Also, the molded
fiberglass deck of a cockpit.
SONAR – An acronym for SOund Navigation And Ranging, a method of using sound pulses to detect,
range, and sometimes image underwater targets and obstacles or the bed of the sea. The equipment
used to conduct such searches, ranging, and imaging.
SOUL or SOULS – With a quantifier, can apply to the number of people on board ship; hence, sOS,
“Save Our Souls.”
SOUNDING – A measurement of the depth of water.
SOU'WESTER – 1) A storm originating from the southwest. 2) A type of waterproof hat with a wide
brim over the neck, worn in storms.
SPANKER – The sail on the mast nearest the stern of a square-rigged ship.
SPANKER-MAST – The aftmost mast of a fore-and-aft or gaff-rigged five masted vessel.
SPAR – Any ship’s mast, boom, yard, or gaff.
SPENCER – A trysail.
SPINDRIFT – Finely divided water swept from the crests of waves by strong winds.
SPINNAKER – A large triangular sail opposite the mainsail used while heading downwind.
SPINNAKER POLE – A spar used to help control a spinnaker or other headsail.
SPIRKETTING – The inside planking between ports and waterways of a ship.
SPLICE – To join lines by unraveling their ends and intertwining them to form a continuous line.
SPLICE THE MAINBRACE – An order given aboard naval vessels to issue the crew with a drink,
traditionally grog. The phrase "splice the mainbrace" is used idiomatically meaning to go ashore
on liberty, intending to go out for an evening of drinking.

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SPLIT LUGSAIL – Two sails, foresail and mainsail on a lugsail yard, removing the need to dip the
yard around the mast every time the vessel tacked.
SPONSON – A platform jutting from the ship’s deck for gun or wheel.
SPONSOR – The person, traditionally a woman, who christens a ship at its launching ceremony.
SPOTTING TOP – A platform on a mast used to aid in gun laying.
SPREADER – A spar on a sailboat used to deflect the shrouds to allow them to better support
the mast.
SPRING – A mooring warp that goes from the bow to a position on the quayside level with
the stern (backspring) or led forward from the stern to a point level with the bow (forespring). A spring
may be used in conjunction with the engine to swing the bow or stern away from a quayside to enable
safe departure.
SPRING LINE – A pivot line used in docking, undocking, or to prevent the boat from moving forward
or astern while made fast to a dock.
SPRINGS – Big tides caused by the alignment of the Moon and Sun.
SPRIT – A spar that supports a spritsail. It is attached to the mast near the deck and extends
diagonally up to the peak of the sail. It is steadied by vangs.
SPRITSAIL – 1) A fore-and-aft sail, where the peak is supported by a sprit. It may be free-footed or
use a boom. 2) A rig that uses a spritsail. 3) A square-sail flown beneath the bowsprit.
SPRITTIE – A spritsail-rigged barge.
SPURLING PIPE – A pipe that connects to the chain locker, from which the anchor chain emerges
onto the deck at the bow of a ship.

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SQUADRON – 1) In general, any significant group of warships considered too small to be a fleet, but
otherwise not strictly defined by size. In some navies, the term flotilla may be used instead of or in
addition to squadron. 2) Such a group of warships assigned to and named after a particular ocean, sea,
or geographical region, commanded by an admiral who may be the naval commander-in-chief in that
theatre, e.g. the Asiatic Squadron, the North Atlantic Squadron, etc.; generally synonymous with similar
naval formations known as stations. 3) During the Age of Sail, a temporary subdivision of a fleet. 4) A
temporary detachment of ships from a fleet. 5) Especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a
permanent battle formation of a fleet, equipped and trained to operate as a tactical unit under the
overall command of the fleet or when detached from the fleet. 6) Especially in modern usage, an
administrative naval command responsible for the manning, training, supply, and maintenance of a
group of ships or submarines but not for directing their operations at sea.
SQUALL – A sudden, violent wind often accompanied by rain.
SQUARE – To place at right angles with the mast or keel and parallel to the horizon, e.g. "to square the
yards."
SQUARE KNOT – A knot used to join two lines of similar size. Also called a reef knot.
SQUARE MEAL – A sufficient quantity of food. Meals on board ship were served to the crew on a
square wooden plate in harbor or at sea in good weather. Food in the Royal Navy was invariably better
or at least in greater quantity than that available to the average landsman. However, while square
wooden plates were indeed used on board ships, there is no established link between them and this
particular term. The OED gives the earliest reference from the US in the mid-19th century.
SQUARE RIG – A generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are
carried on yards that are perpendicular, or "square", to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. A ship
mainly so rigged is said to be square-rigged.
SQUARE RIGGER – A square-rigged ship.
SQUARED AWAY – Yards held rigidly perpendicular to their masts and parallel to the deck. This was
rarely the best trim of the yards for efficiency but made a pretty sight for inspections and in harbor. The
term is applied to situations and to people figuratively to mean that all difficulties have been resolved or
that the person is performing well and is mentally and physically prepared.
SQUAT EFFECT – The phenomenon by which a vessel moving quickly through shallow water creates
an area of lowered pressure under its keel that reduces the ship's buoyancy, particularly at the bow. The
reduced buoyancy causes the ship to "squat" lower in the water than would ordinarily be expected, and
thus its effective draught is increased.
S.S. (or SS) – To the purist, a prefix for Screw Steamer (i.e. with screw propulsion, meaning
propellors). It is used before the name of a ship. Compare with "PS", which stands for "Paddle
Steamer". Widely used as an abbreviation for "Steam Ship".
STACK or FUNNEL – Another name for a funnel. Also, Deck cargo.
STACK MARKING – A logo or other type of livery on a ship′s stack indicating which private entity,
such as a shipping line, or government agency owns or operates her. Generally, all the ships belonging
to the fleet of a single company or agency will have the same stack marking.

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STACKIE – A barge designed to take a large deck cargo, usually of hay or straw needed to feed working
horses.
STANCHION – A vertical post near the edge of a deck that supports life-lines; a timber fitted in
between the frame heads on a wooden hull or a bracket on a steel vessel, approx one meter high, to
support the bulwark plank or plating and the rail.
STAND – (of a ship or its captain) To steer, sail, or steam, usually used in conjunction with a specified
direction or destination, e.g. "The ship stood out of the harbor" or "The ship stood toward the east" or
"The ship stood toward the missing vessel's last known position."
STAND-ON – (vessel) A vessel directed to keep her course and speed where two vessels are
approaching one another so as to involve a risk of collision.
STANDING PART – That part of a line which is made fast. The main part of a line as distinguished
from the bight and the end.
STANDING RIGGING – Rigging that supports masts and spars and is not manipulated during
normal operations. Contrast running rigging.
STANLIFF – A heavy wire cable attached to the mast at the hounds to support the weight of
a spritsail at the heel.
STARBOARD – The right side of a boat when looking forward.
STARBOARD TACK – When sailing with the wind coming from the starboard side of the vessel.
Vessels on starboard tack generally have the right-of-way over vessels on the port tack.
STARBOLINS – Sailors of the starboard watch.
STARTER – A rope used as a punitive device.
STATEROOM – A superior cabin for a vessel's officer.
STATION SHIP – A ship assigned to a particular station, such as a port or a geographic area, usually
to support naval vessels and operations. A station ship may patrol the local area, or provide personnel
to other ships, or provide fuel or services such as repairs.
STAY – 1) A large rope or cable used to support a mast. 2) To incline forward, aft, or to one side by
means of stays, e.g. to "stay a mast." 3) To tack; put on the other tack, e.g. to "stay ship." 4) To change;
tack; go about; be in stays, as a ship. 5) A station or fixed anchorage for vessels. 6) In stays or hove in
stays: in the act of going about while tacking. 7)Miss stays: an unsuccessful attempt to tack.
STAYFALL – A flexible wire cable rove through blocks, one on the stemhead and one on the end of the
forestay. This is the means by which the mast is lowered.
STAYSAIL – The fore-and-aft sail that is hoisted on stay.
STEAMER or STEAMBOAT or STEAMSHIP – A vessel equipped with steam propulsion.
STEERAGE – 1) The effect of the helm on a vessel; the act of steering a vessel. 2) A 19th- and early
20th-century term for the section of a passenger ship that provided inexpensive accommodation with
no individual cabins.

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STEERAGEWAY – The minimum speed at which a vessel answers the helm, below which she cannot
be steered. Speed sufficient for the rudder to "bite."
STEERING FLAT – The compartment on a vessel that contains the steering gear.
STEERING OAR or STEERING BOARD – A long, flat board or oar that went from the stern to well
underwater, used to steer vessels before the invention of the rudder. Traditionally on the starboard side
of a ship (the "steering board" side).
STEERSMAN – Another name for a helmsman.
STEEVE – To set a ship’s bowsprit at an upward inclination.
STEM – An extension of the keel at the forward end of the ship.
STEMSON – The supporting timber of a ship.
STERN – The back part of a ship.
STERN LINE – A docking line leading from the stern.
STERN TUBE – 1) The tube under the hull bearing the tailshaft for propulsion (usually at the stern).
2) A torpedo tube mounted in the stern of a submarine.
STERNDRIVE – A propeller drive system similar to the lower part of an outboard motor extending
below the hull of a larger power boat or yacht, but driven by an engine mounted within the hull. Unlike
a fixed propeller (but like an outboard), the boat may be steered by twisting the drive. See also inboard
motor.
STERNPICKER – A gillnetter that fishes by deploying a gillnet from the stern.
STERNPOST – The main member at the stern of a ship extending from the keel to the deck.
STERNWALK – An external walkway or gallery for the use of officers installed on the stern.
STERNWAY – The backward movement of a ship.
STERNWHEEL – A stern-mounted paddle wheel.
STEVEDORE – The dock worker who loads and unloads ships.
STEWARD – A member of a vessel’s crew involved in commissary duties or in personal services to
passengers or other crew members
STOKEHOLD – A ship’s furnace chamber.
STOCKS – The frame that supports a ship or boat when it is being built.
STOPPER KNOT – A knot tied in the end of a rope, usually to stop it passing through a hole; most
commonly a figure-eight knot.
STOPPERS – A short rope to check a cable in a fixed position. Anchor stoppers hold the anchor when
catted, bitt stoppers and deck stoppers are used to retain the cable when at anchor, shroud
stoppers contain a damaged shroud, and foretack and sheet stoppers secure the tacks until they are
belayed.
STORESHIP – 1) During the Age of Sail and immediately afterwards, a captured ship used to stow
supplies and other goods for naval purposes. 2) Since the mid-20th century, a type of naval ship that

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provides supplies, such as frozen, chilled, and dry provisions, and propulsion and aviation fuel
to warships at sea for an extended period. In some navies, synonymous with replenishment oiler, fleet
replenisher, or fleet tanker.
STOVE or STOVE IN – (past tense of stave, often applied as present tense) To smash inward; to force
a hole or break in, as in a cask, door, ship's hull, or other (wooden) barrier.
STOW – To store or put away, e.g. personal effects, tackle, or cargo.
STOWAGE – The amount of room for storing materials on board a ship.
STOWAWAY – A trespasser on a ship; a person aboard a ship without permission and/or without
payment, who usually boards undetected, remains hidden aboard, and jumps ship just before
making port or reaching a port's dock; sometimes found aboard and imprisoned in the brig until the
ship makes port and the prisoner can be transferred to the custody of police or military.
STRAGGLER – In a convoy, a ship that is unable to maintain speed and falls behind.
STRAKE – A continuous band of plates on the side of a ship.
STRETCHER – An inclined foot rest attached to the boat, to which a rower may place and in some
instances (usually in competition) attach his feet.
STRIKE – 1) To haul down or lower (a flag, mast, etc.). 2) To surrender the vessel to the enemy, from
"strike the colors." 3) To remove a naval vessel's name from a country's naval register (after which the
vessel is considered stricken).
STRIKE THE COLORS – To surrender the vessel to an enemy, from the custom during the Age of
Sail of lowering the vessel's ensign to indicate that she is surrendering.
STUDDING SAILS – Long and narrow sails, used in lighter winds, on the outside of the large square
sails.
STUFT – British and Commonwealth acronym for Ship Taken Up From Trade, which refers to a
civilian ship requisitioned for naval or other government service.
STUMPY – A spritsail barge without a topmast. Normal form before 1850, the stumpies sprit was
longer than those used in topsail barges, as the mainsail was cut with a higher peak.
STUNSAIL – A light auxiliary sail to the side of principal sails.
STEM – The forward most part of the bow.
STW – An abbrevation of "speed through (the) water.” The speed of the vessel relative to the
surrounding water (and as shown by a Log). Used in navigation.
SUBMARINE – Generally, a watercraft capable of independent operations underwater, able to renew
its own power and breathing air. A submarine differs from a submersible, which has more limited
underwater capabilities. By naval tradition, any submarine is referred to informally as a "boat"
regardless of its size.
SUBMARINE TENDER – A naval auxiliary ship designed to supply submarines and support their
operations. Known in British English as a submarine depot ship.

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SUBMERSIBLE – A small watercraft capable of operating underwater but which requires the support
of a surface vessel, a surface platform, a shore team, or a larger undersea vessel such as a submarine. A
submersible contrasts with a submarine in that a submarine is capable of fully autonomous operations,
including generation of its own power and breathing air. However, colloquially, the term "submarine"
often indiscriminately refers to any vessel capable of underwater operations, including those that
technically are submersibles.
SUNFISH – A personal-sized, beach-launched sailing dinghy with a pontoon-type hull, daggerboard,
and lateen sail mounted to an un-stayed mast.
SUPERCARGO – A ship’s official in charge of business affairs.
SUPERSTRUCTURE – The parts of a ship or boat, including a sailboat, fishing boat, passenger ship,
or submarine, that project above her main deck. This does not usually include its masts or any
armament turrets.
SURFBOAT – An oar-driven boat designed to enter the ocean from a beach in heavy surf or large
waves. Surfboats often play a lifesaving or rescue role when rescuers need to reach victims of a mishap
directly from a beach.
SURGE – 1) A vessel's transient motion in a fore and aft direction. 2) To gently slacken a rope so that it
slides up the capstan.
SURVEY VESSEL – Any type of ship or boat that is used for mapping a body of water's
bottom, benthic zone, full water column, and surface for purposes of hydrography,
general oceanography, marine salvage, dredging, marine archaeology, or the study of marine habitats.
S/V – An abbreviation of "Sailing Vessel," used before the ship's name.
SWAMP – To fill with water, but not settle to the bottom.
SWATCHWAY – A twisting channel navigable by shallow vessels at high water, generally found
between sandbanks (e.g. in the Thames Estuary) or between a sandbank and the shore.
SWAY – 1) A vessel's lateral motion from side to side. 2) To hoist, e.g. "sway up my dunnage."
SWEEP – A long oar used to steer an unpowered lighter.
SWIGGING – To take up the last bit of slack on a line such as a halyard, anchor line, or dockline by
taking a single turn round a cleat and alternately heaving on the rope above and below the cleat while
keeping the tension on the tail.
SWIMMIE or MUFFIE – A barge with a square overhanging bow, such as a swimhead lighter.
SWEAT – A technique to finally tension a halyard, by pulling alternatively on the tail from
the cleat and at right angles on the taut standing line.
SWINGING THE COMPASS – Measuring the accuracy in a ship's magnetic compass so its readings
can be adjusted, often accomplished by turning the ship and taking bearings on reference points.
Essentially synonymous with swinging the ship.
SWINGING THE LAMP – Telling sea stories. Refers to lamps slung from the deckhead that swing
while at sea, and often used to describe a storyteller who is exaggerating.

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SWINGING THE LEAD – 1) Measuring the depth of water beneath a ship using a lead-
weighted sounding line. Regarded as a relatively easy job/ 2) Feigning illness, etc., in order to avoid a
difficult job.
SWINGING THE SHIP – Turning the ship and steadying her on various headings while taking
bearings on reference points to measure the accuracy of her magnetic compass. Essentially synonymous
with swinging the compass.

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T

TABERNACLE or MAST CASE – A large bracket attached firmly to the deck, to which the foot of
the mast is fixed. It has two sides or cheeks and a bolt forming the pivot around which the mast is raised
and lowered.
TACK – 1) A leg of the route of a sailing vessel, particularly in relation to tacking and to starboard
tack and port tack. 2) Another name for hard tack. 3) The front bottom corner of a sail. 4) A rope or
purchase holding down the clew of a course.
TACKING – Zig-zagging so as to sail directly towards the wind (and for some rigs also away from it).
Another name for going about.
TACKING DUELS – In sailboat racing, on an upwind leg of the race course, the complex maneuvers
of lead and overtaking boats to vie for the aerodynamic advantage of clear air. This results from the
ongoing strategy of the lead boat's effort to keep the following boat(s) in the blanket of disturbed bad air
he is creating.
TACKLE – A pair of blocks through which is rove a rope to provide an advantageous purchase. Used
for lifting heavy loads and to raise and trim sails.
TACTICAL DIAMETER – The perpendicular distance between a ship's course when the helm is
put hard over and her course when she has turned through 180 degrees; the ratio of the tactical
diameter divided by the ship's length between perpendiculars gives a dimensionless parameter that can
be used to compare the maneuverability of ships.
TAFFRAIL – A rail at the stern of a boat that covers the head of the counter timbers.
TAIL – The loose end of a rope that has been secured to a winch or a cleat.
TAILSHAFT – A kind of metallic shafting (a rod of metal) to hold the propeller and connected to the
power engine. When the tailshaft is moved, the propeller may also be moved for propulsion.
TAKEN ABACK – An inattentive helmsman might allow the dangerous situation to arise where the
wind is blowing into the sails "backwards", causing a sudden (and possibly dangerous) shift in the
position of the sails.
TAKING THE WIND OUT OF HIS SAILS – To sail in a way that steals the wind from another ship.
TAKING ON WATER – Also taking water and taking in water. Said of a vessel, to fill with water
slowly, either because of a leak or because of waves washing across the deck. The term can be used to
describe water entering the vessel by waves washing over her bow or stern, e.g., "The freighter took
water over her bow," or "The motorboat took water over her stern." A vessel which continues to take on
water eventually will sink.
TALL SHIP – A large, traditionally-rigged sailing vessel.
TALLY – The operation of hauling aft the sheets, or drawing them in the direction of the ship's stern.
TANKER – Also tank ship or tankship. A ship designed to transport liquids in bulk.

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TARGET SHIP – A vessel, typically an obsolete or captured warship, used for naval gunnery practice
or for weapons testing. The term includes both ships intended to be sunk and ships intended to survive
and see repeated use as targets.
TARTANE or TARTAN – A small, lateen-rigged, single-masted sailing ship used in the
Mediterranean for fishing and coastal trade from the 16th century to the late 19th century.
TASK FORCE – Any temporary naval organization composed of particular ships, aircraft, submarines,
military land forces, or shore service units, assigned to fulfill certain missions. Seemingly drawn
originally from Royal Navy heritage, the emphasis is placed on the individual commander of the unit,
and references to "CTF" are common for "Commander Task Force".
TATTLE TALE – Light cord attached to a mooring line at two points a few inches apart with a slack
section in between (resembling an inchworm) to indicate when the line is stretching from the ship's
rising with the tide. Obviously only used when moored to a fixed dock or pier and only on watches with
a flood tide.
TELL-TALE or TELL-TAIL – A light piece of string, yarn, rope, or plastic (often magnetic audio tape)
attached to a stay or a shroud to indicate the local wind direction. They may also be attached to the
surface and/or the leech of a sail to indicate the state of the air flow over the surface of the sail. They are
referenced when optimizing the trim of the sails to achieve the best boat speed in the prevailing wind
conditions.
TENDER or SHIP'S TENDER – 1) A type of naval auxiliary ship designed to provide advanced
basing services in undeveloped harbors to seaplanes, flying boats, torpedo boats, destroyers, or
submarines. 2) A vessel used to provide transportation services for people and supplies to and from
shore for a larger vessel. 3) A vessel used to maintain navigational aids, such as buoys and lighthouses.
T.E.V. (or TEV) – A prefix for "turbo-electric vesse,l" used before a ship's name.
TEXAS – A structure or section of a steamboat that includes the pilothouse and the crew's quarters,
located on the hurricane deck, in this case also called the texas deck.
TEXAS DECK or HURRICANE DECK – The deck of a steamboat on which its texas is located.
THIMBLE – A round or heart-shaped grooved ring of iron inserted into an eye-splice.
THIRD MATE or THIRD OFFICER – A licensed member of the deck department of a merchant
ship, typically fourth, or on some ocean liners fifth, in command; a watchkeeping officer, customarily
also the ship's safety officer, responsible for the ship's firefighting equipment, lifeboats, and other
emergency systems. Other duties of the third mate vary depending on the type of ship, its crewing, and
other factors.
THOLE – A vertical wooden peg or pin inserted through the gunwale to form a fulcrum for oars when
rowing. Used in place of a rowlock.
THROAT – 1) The forward top corner of a square fore-and-aft sail. 2) The end of the gaff, next to
the mast.
THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND – On a three-masted ship, having the sheets of the three lower
courses loose will result in the ship meandering aimlessly downwind. Also used to describe a sailor who
has drunk strong spirits beyond his capacity.

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THUNDERBOAT – Alternative term for a hydroplane.
THWART – A bench seat across the width of an open boat.
THWARTSHIPS – At right angles to the centerline of the boat.
TIDE – The periodic rise and fall of water level in the oceans.
TIER – Vessels moored alongside each other offshore.
TILLER – A lever used for steering, attached to the top of the rudder stock. Used mainly on smaller
vessels, such as dinghies and rowing boats.
TILT BOAT – A square sail ferry operating out of Gravesend. Not less than 15 tons, carrying no more
that 37 passengers, it had 5 oarsmen afore the mast.
TIMBER DROGHER – Another name for a disposable ship.
TIMBERHEAD – The top end of a ship’s timber used above the gunwale.
TIMBER SHIP – Another name for a disposable ship.
TIMENOGUY – A rope stretched from place to place on a ship.
TIMONEER – A name given, on particular occasions, to the steersman of a ship. From the
French timonnier.
TIN CAN – United States Navy slang for a destroyer; often shortened to can.
TINCLAD – A lightly armored steam-powered river gunboat used by the United States Navy during
the American Civil War (1861–1865). Also called a light draft. A tinclad had thin iron armor, or in some
cases thick wooden bulwarks rather than armor, sufficient to protect her machinery spaces and
pilothouse against rifle fire but not against artillery fire. A tinclad contrasted with an ironclad, which
had armor thick enough for protection against artillery fire.
TINGLE – A thin temporary patch.

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TOE-RAIL – A low strip running around the edge of the deck like a low bulwark. It may be shortened
or have gaps in it to allow water to flow off the deck.
TOE THE LINE – Also toe the mark. At parade, sailors and soldiers were required to stand in line,
their toes in line with a seam of the deck.
TOMPION or TAMPION – A block of wood inserted into the barrel of a gun on a 19th-
century warship to keep out the sea spray; also used for covers for the ends of the barrels of the guns on
more modern ships, the larger of which are often adorned with the ship's crest or other decoration.
TONNAGE – Any of various measures of the size or cargo-carrying capacity of a ship in terms of
weight or volume.
• Builder's Old Measurement, also tons burden: a volumetric measurement of cubic capacity used
to calculate the cargo capacity of a ship, used in England and later the United Kingdom, from
approximately 1650 to 1849 and in the United States from 1789 to 1864. It estimated the
tonnage of a vessel based on her length and maximum beam. The British formula yielded a
slightly higher value than the U.S. formula.
• Deadweight tonnage: the total weight a vessel can carry, exclusive of the mass of the vessel itself.
• Displacement tonnage: the total weight of a vessel.
• Gross register tonnage: the total internal volume of a vessel, with one gross register ton equal to
100 cubic feet (2.8316846592 cubic meters).
• Gross tonnage: a function of the volume of all of a ship's internal spaces.
• Lightship or lightweight tonnage: the weight of a ship without any fuel, cargo, supplies, water,
passengers, etc. on board.
• Net register tonnage: the volume of cargo a vessel can carry.
• Net tonnage: the volume of all cargo spaces on a ship.
• Thames Measurement tonnage: the volume of a small vessel, calculated based on her length and
beam.
TOP – The platform at the upper end of each (lower) mast of a square-rigged ship, typically one-fourth
to one-third of the way up the mast. The main purpose of a top is to anchor the shrouds of
the topmast that extend above it. Also fighting top.
TOPGALLANT – The mast or sails above the tops. See topgallant mast and topgallant sail.
TOPHAMPER – 1) A collective term for the masts, yards, sails, and rigging of a sailing ship, or for
similarly insubstantial structures above the upper deck of any ship. 2) Unnecessary spars and rigging
kept aloft on a vessel′s masts.
TOPMAN – A crewmember stationed in a top.
TOPMAST – The second section of the mast above the deck; formerly the upper mast, later
surmounted by the topgallant mast; carrying the topsails.
TOPMAST POLE – Part of the spar between the hounds and the truck.
TOPPING LIFT – A line that is part of the rigging on a sailing boat; it applies upward force on
a spar or boom. The most common topping lift on a modern sailing boat is attached to the boom.

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TOPSAIL – The second sail (counting from the bottom) up a mast. These may be either square sails
or fore-and-aft ones, in which case they often "fill in" between the mast and the gaff of the sail below.
TOPSAIL SCHOONER – A schooner that sets a square topsail on yards carried on the foremast.
A topgallant may also be set above the topsail. (The term does not apply to a schooner setting just fore
and aft topsails above gaff sails.) There is some terminological variation, both over time and place, on
what square sails a vessel may set and still be termed a schooner.
TOPSIDES – The part of the hull between the waterline and the deck.
TORPEDO – 1) Prior to about 1900, the term for a variety of explosive devices designed for use in
water, including mines, spar torpedoes, and, after the mid-19th century, "automotive," "automobile,"
"locomotive," or "fish" torpedoes (self-propelled weapons which fit the modern definition of torpedo).
2) Since about 1900, a term used exclusively for a self-propelled weapon with an explosive warhead,
launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to
detonate either on contact with its target or in proximity to it.
TORPEDO NET – A heavy net a ship could deploy around herself using booms or spars while at
anchor, moored, or otherwise stationary to protect herself from torpedo attack. A torpedo net hung at a
distance from the hull sufficient to detonate a torpedo without significant damage to the ship. Torpedo
nets first appeared in the late 1870s and were used through the World War I era, and they were used
again during World War II.
TOUCH AND GO – 1) The bottom of the ship touching the bottom, but not grounding. 2) Stopping at
a dock or pier for a very short time without tying up, to let off or take on crew or goods. 3) The practice
of aircraft on aircraft carriers touching the carrier deck and taking off again without dropping hooks.
TOWING – The operation of drawing a vessel forward by means of long lines.
TRAFFIC SEPARATION SCHEME (TSS) – Shipping corridors marked by buoys that separate
incoming from outgoing vessels. Sometimes improperly called sea lanes.
TRAILBOARD – A decorative board at the bow of a vessel, sometimes bearing the vessel's name.
TRAINING SHIP – A ship used to train students as sailors, especially a ship employed by a navy or
coast guard to train future officers. The term refers both to ships used for training at sea and to old,
immobile hulks used to house classrooms.
TRANSHIP – To transfer from one ship to another.
TRANSHIRE – A ship’s customs warrant for clearing goods.
TRAMP FREIGHTER – A cargo ship engaged in the tramp trade.
TRAMP STEAMER – A steamship engaged in the tramp trade.
TRAMP TRADE – The shipping trade on the spot market in which the vessels involved do not have a
fixed schedule or itinerary or published ports of call. This contrasts with freight liner service, in which
vessels make regular, scheduled runs between published ports.
TRAMPER – Any vessel engaged in the tramp trade.
TRANSMITTING STATION – British term for a room located in the interior of a ship containing
computers and other specialised equipment needed to calculate the range and bearing of a target from

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information gathered by the ship's spotters and range finders. These were designated "plotting rooms"
by the United States Navy.
TRANSOM – 1) A lateral member fastened inside the sternpost, to which the hull and deckplanks are
fitted. 2) The aft "wall" of the stern; often the part to which an outboard unit or the drive portion of
a sterndrive is attached. 3) A more or less flat surface across the stern of a vessel. Dinghies tend to have
almost vertical transoms, whereas yachts' transoms may be raked forward or aft.
TRAVELLERS – 1) Small fittings that slide on a rod or line. The most common use is for the inboard
end of the mainsheet. 2) A more esoteric form of traveller consists of "slight iron rings, encircling
the backstays, which are used for hoisting the top-gallant yards, and confining them to the backstays.”
An iron ring that moves on the main horse on a sailing barge. It is fitted with an eye onto which is
hooked the main sheet, of the loose-footed mainsail.
TRAWLER – 1) Commercial trawler: a fishing boat that uses a trawl net or dragnet to catch fish. 2) A
fisherman who uses a trawl net. 3) Naval trawler: a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used
for naval purposes. 4) Recreational trawler: a pleasure boat built in the style of a trawler.
TREENAIL – Also trenail, trennel, or trunnel. A wooden peg, pin, or dowel used to fasten pieces of
wood together, such as the hull, gunwales, thwarts, etc.
TRIANGULAR TRADE – A historical term for a pattern of trade among three ports or regions in
which each port or region imports goods from one of the other two ports or regions in which there is no
market for its exports, thus rectifying trade imbalances between the three ports or regions as well as
allowing vessels to take the best advantage of prevailing winds and currents along the three trade
routes. The best known example is the Atlantic triangular trade pattern of the late 16th through the
early 19th centuries, in which vessels carried finished goods from northeastern North America or
Europe to Africa, slaves from Africa to the Americas, and cash crops and raw materials from the
Americas to either northeastern North America or Europe.
TRICE – To haul and tie up by means of a rope, to make it less inconvenient.
TRICK – A period of time spent at the wheel, e.g. "my trick's over."
TRIM – 1) The relationship of a ship's hull to the waterline. 2) Adjustments made to sails to maximize
their efficiency.
TRIMARAN – A vessel with three hulls.
TRIMMER – Sometimes coal trimmer. A person responsible for ensuring that a vessel remains "in
trim" (that the cargo and fuel are evenly balanced). An important task on a coal-fired vessel, as it could
get "out of trim" as coal is consumed.
TRIPOD MAST – A type of mast introduced aboard warships in the first decade of the 20th century,
consisting of three large cylindrical tubes or columns supporting a raised platform for lookouts and fire
control equipment and later for radar antennas and receivers. In succeeding decades, tripod masts
replaced the earlier pole masts and lattice masts. Tripod masts persisted in some navies until the 1960s,
when plated-in structures began to replace them, and in other navies until the early 2000s,
when stealth designs began to move away from any type of open mast.
TROLLER – A fishing vessel rigged to fish by trolling.

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TROOPING – Operating as a troopship.
TROOPSHIP – Also troop ship, troop transport, or trooper. Any ship used to carry soldiers.
Troopships are not specially designed for military operations and, unlike landing ships, cannot land
troops directly onto a shore; instead they unload troops at a harbor or onto smaller vessels for
transportation to shore.
TRUCK – 1) A circular disc or rectangle of wood or a wooden ball- or bun-shaped cap near or at the top
of a wooden mast, usually with holes or sheaves in it through which signal halyards can be passed.
Trucks are also used on wooden flagpoles to keep them from splitting. The main truck is located on
the main mast, the mizzen truck on the mizzen mast, and so on. 2) A temporary or emergency place for
a lookout.
TRUE BEARING – An absolute bearing using true north.
TRUE NORTH – The direction of the geographical North Pole.
TRUNCATED COUNTER – A counter stern that has been truncated to provide a kind of transom. It
may have windows, serving a large aft stateroom. Popular on larger cruising yachts.
TRUNNEL – A wooden shipbuilding peg used for fastening timbers.
TRUSS – The rope or iron used to keep the center of a yard to the mast.
TRYSAIL or SPENCER – A small, strong, fore-and-aft sail set abaft (behind) the mainmast or other
mast of a sailing vessel in heavy weather.
TUCK – A part of a ship where the ends of the lower planks meet under the stern.
TUGBOAT or TUG – A boat that maneuvers other vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs are
powerful for their size and strongly built, and some are ocean-going.
TUMBLEHOME – A hull shape, when viewed in a transverse section, in which the widest part of the
hull is someway below deck level.

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TURN – A knot passing behind or around an object.
TURN TO (TURN TWO) – A term meaning "get to work," often hand-signed by two fingers and a
hand motion in turning fashion.
TURRET – 1) Originally (in the mid-to-late 19th century), a rotating, enclosed, armored, cylindrical
box with guns that fired through gunports. Turret-equipped ships contrasted sharply with those
equipped with barbettes, which in the second half of the 19th century were open-topped armored rings
over which rotating gun(s) mounted on a turntable could fire. 2) Since the late 19th century, an
enclosed, armored, rotating gunhouse mounted above a barbette, with the gun(s) and their rotating
turntable mounted in the barbette protected by the gunhouse; in 20th- and 21st-century usage, this
generally is any armored, rotating gun installation on a warship.
TURTLEBACK DECK – 1) A deck that has slight positive curvature when viewed in cross-section.
The purpose of this curvature is usually to shed water, but in warships it also functions to make the deck
more resistant to shells. 2) "deck, turtle nautical: A term applied to a weather deck that is rounded over
from the shell of the ship so that it has a shape similar to the back of a turtle. Used on ships of
the whaleback type and on the forward weather deck of torpedo boats."
TURTLING – In dinghy sailing especially (but also in other boats), a boat is said to be "turtling" or to
"turn turtle" when the boat is fully inverted with the mast pointing down to the lake bottom or seabed.
TWEENDECK – A deck on a general cargo ship located between the main deck (or weather deck) and
the hold space. A general cargo ship may have one or two tweendecks (or none at all).
TWEENDECK SPACE – The space on a tweendeck available for carrying cargo or other uses.
TWEENDECKER – A general cargo ship equipped with one or more tweendecks.
TWO SIX HEAVE – A command used to co-ordinate a group of people pulling on a rope. Originally a
sailing navy term referring to the two members of a gun crew (numbers two and six) who ran out the
gun by pulling on the ropes that secured it in place.
TWO BLOCKS – When the two blocks in a tackle have become so close that no further movement is
possible as in chock-a-block.
TYE – A chain or rope used for hoisting or lowering a yard. A tye runs from the horizontal center of a
given yard to a corresponding mast and from there down to a tackle. Sometimes more specifically called
a chain tye or a rope tye.

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U

UNASSISTED SAILING or SOLO SAILING – Any sailing voyage, usually single-handed, with no
intermediate stops or physical assistance from external sources.
UNDER THE WEATHER – Serving a watch on the weather side of the ship, exposed to wind and
spray.
UNDERWAY or UNDER WAY – A vessel is underway when not at anchor, made fast to the shore,
or aground. This definition has legal importance in the International Regulations for Preventing
Collisions at Sea.
UNDERWATER HULL or UNDERWATER SHIP – The underwater section of a vessel beneath
the waterline, normally not visible except when in drydock or, historically, when careened.
UNDERWAY REPLENISHMENT (UNREP) – A method employed by navies to transfer fuel,
munitions, and stores from one ship to another while underway.
U.N.P.O.C. – An abbreviation for Unable to navigate, probably on course; a 19th-century term used in
log books of vessels left without accurate navigational guidance due to poor visibility and/or proximity
to the North Pole. Dropped out of common usage in the 1950s with improvements in maritime
navigational aids.
UNREEVE – To pull a rope from a sheave or block.
UNSHIP – 1) To remove from a vessel. 2) To remove an oar or mast from its normal position.
UP-AND-DOWN – The description given to the position of the anchor chain, usually used when the
anchor is being raised and indicates that the chain has been hauled in tightly so that the vessel is above
the anchor, which is just about to be broken out of the ground. Used more rarely to refer to a situation
where the anchor chain is slack and hangs vertically down from the hawsepipe.
UP-BEHIND – Slack off quickly and run slack to a belaying point. This order is given when a line or
wire has been stopped off or falls have been four-in-hand and the hauling part is to be belayed.
UPBOUND – 1) Traveling upstream, against the current. 2) In the Great Lakes region, traveling
westward (terminology used by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation).
UPPERS – The brails above the mains; synonym of peaks.
UPPER-YARDMEN – Specially selected personnel.

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V

V-BERTH – A V-shaped cabin on a ship.

V BOTTOM – A hull with the bottom section in the shape of a V.
V-HULL – The shape of a boat or ship in which the contours of the hull come in a straight line to
the keel.
VANG – 1) A rope (line) leading from the gaff to either side of the deck, used to prevent the gaff from
sagging. 2) One of a pair of ropes leading from the deck to the head of a spritsail. It steadies
the sprit and can be used to control the sail's performance during a tack. The vang fall blocks are
mounted slightly afore the main horse while rolling vangs are extra preventers which lead forward to
keep the sail to leeward in heavy weather.
VANISHING ANGLE – The maximum degree of heel after which a vessel becomes unable to return
to an upright position.
VEDETTE or VEDETTE BOAT – A small naval patrol boat used for scouting enemy forces.
VEER AWAY – To let go a rope gently.
VERY GOOD – An affirmative response given by a senior to the report of a junior, e.g. if
the helmsman reports, "Rudder is amidship, sir," an officer might respond, "Very good."
VERY WELL – An affirmative response given by a senior to the report of a junior, e.g. if the helmsman
reports, "Rudder is amidship, sir," an officer might respond, "Very well."
VESSEL – Any craft designed for transportation on water, such as a ship or boat.
VIOL or VOYL or VOIL – A large rope used to unmoor or heave up the anchor.
VOYAGE – 1) A long journey by ship. 2) To go on such a journey.

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W

WAFT – A signal flag on a vessel.

WAIST – The central deck of a ship between the forecastle and the quarterdeck.
WAIST CLOTHES – Colored cloths or sheets hung around the outside of a ship's upper works, used
as an adornment and as a visual screen during times of action
WAKE – Turbulence behind a vessel. Not to be confused with wash.
WALE – A thicker plank (or group of planks) in the outer skin of the hull, running in a fore and aft
direction, to provide extra stiffening in selected regions.
WALTY – Inclined to tip over or lean.
WARDROOM – 1) The living quarters of a naval ship designated for the use of commissioned
officers other than the captain. 2) A collective term for the commissioned officers of a naval ship
excluding her captain; e.g., The captain rarely referred to his wardroom for advice, and this led to their
discontent.
WARP – 1) To move a vessel by hauling on a line or cable that is fastened to an anchor or pier;
especially to move a sailing ship through a restricted place such as a harbor. 2) A line or cable used in
warping a ship. 3) The length of the shrouds from the bolster to the deadeye.
WASH – The waves created by a vessel. Not to be confused with wake.
WASHBOARD – A broad thin plank along a ship’s gunwale to keep out sea water.
WATCH – A period of time during which a part of the crew is on duty. Changes of watch are marked by
strokes on the ship's bell.
WATCHING – Fully afloat.
WATCHSTANDING – The allocation of crew or staff to a watch.
WATER BUS – A watercraft used, usually in an urban environment, to provide transportation on a
scheduled service with multiple stops, analogous to the way a bus operates on land. It differs from
a water taxi (q.v.), which is a similar watercraft that provides transport service on demand to various
locations, analogous to the way a taxicab operates on land, although in North America the terms water
bus and water taxi are considered roughly synonymous. A water bus also differs from a ferry (q.v.), a
term which usually refers to a watercraft that shuttles between two points.
WATER TAXI – A watercraft used, usually in an urban environment, to provide transportation on
demand to various locations, analogous to the way a taxicab operates on land. It differs from a water
bus (q.v.), which is a similar watercraft that provides transportation on a scheduled service with
multiple stops, analogous to the way a bus operates on land, although in North America the terms water
bus and water taxi are considered roughly synonymous. A water taxi also differs from a ferry (q.v.), a
term which usually refers to a watercraft that shuttles between two points.
WATERCRAFT – Water transport vessels. Ships, boats, personal water craft, etc.
WATERLINE – The line where the hull of a ship meets the water's surface.

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WATERSAIL – A sail hung below the boom on gaff rig boats for extra downwind performance when
racing.
WATERWAY – 1) A navigable body of water. 2) A strake of timber laid against the frames or bulwark
stanchions at the margin of a laid wooden deck, usually about twice the thickness of the deck planking.
WAVESON – Goods floating on the sea after a shipwreck.
WAY – Speed, progress, or momentum, or more technically, the point at which there is sufficient water
flow past a vessel's rudder for it to be able to steer the vessel (i.e., the rudder begins to "bite," sometimes
also called "steerage way.") To make way is to move; to "have way on" or "to have steerage way" is to
have enough speed to control the vessel with its rudder; to lose way is to slow down or to not have
enough speed to control with the rudder. "Way enough" is a coxswain's command that the oarsmen stop
rowing and allow the boat to proceed with its existing way.
WAY-LANDING – An intermediate stop along the route of a steamboat.
WAY-LAY – The verb's origin, from wegelage, means "lying in wait, with evil or hostile intent." So, to
be waylaid referred to a ship taken off its course, route, or way, by surprise, typically by unfortunate or
nefarious means. In H. Melville's novel, 'Moby Dick', the great white whale waylaid the ship and sank it
with only a few souls surviving in lifeboats.
WAYPOINT – A location defined by navigational coordinates, especially as part of a planned route.
WAYS – The timbers of shipyard stocks that slope into the water and along which a ship or large boat
is launched. A ship undergoing construction in a shipyard is said to be on the ways, while a ship
scrapped there is said to be broken up in the ways.
WEAR – To turn a ship’s stern to windward to alter its course.
WEARING SHIP – Tacking away from the wind in a square-rigged vessel. See also gybe.
WEATHERBOARD – The weather side of a ship.
WEATHER DECK – Whichever deck is that exposed to the weather – usually either the main deck or,
in larger vessels, the upper deck.
WEATHER GAGE or WEATHER GAUGE or WEATHER-BEAM – Favorable position over
another sailing vessel with respect to the wind.
WEATHER HELM – The tendency of a sailboat to turn to windward in a strong wind when there is
no change in the rudder's position. This is the opposite of lee helm and is the result of a dynamically
unbalanced condition. See also Center of lateral resistance.
WEATHER SHIP – A ship stationed in the ocean as a platform for surface and upper air
meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting.
WEATHER SIDE – The side of a ship exposed to the wind.
WEATHERLY – A ship that is easily sailed and maneuvered; makes little leeway when sailing to
windward.
WEIGH ANCHOR – To heave up (an anchor) preparatory to sailing.
WELL – Place in the ship's hold for pumps.

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WELL-FOUND – Properly set up or provisioned.
WEST INDIAMAN – A British term used in the 18th and 19th centuries for any merchant sailing ship
making voyages between the Old World and the West Indies or east coast of the Americas. The term
most frequently was applied to British, Danish, Dutch, and French ships.
WET – In reference to a ship, prone to taking water over her decks at sea. For example, a ship that
tends to take water over her bow can be said to be "wet forward."
WETTED AREA – In sailboating, portion of the hull immersed in water.
WHALEBACK
• A type of cargo steamship of unusual design formerly used on the Great Lakes of North America,
notably for carrying grain or ore. The hull continuously curved above the waterline from vertical
to horizontal, and when the ship was fully loaded, only the rounded portion of her hull (the
"whaleback" proper) was visible above the waterline. With sides curved in towards the ends,
whalebacks had a spoon bow and a very convex upper deck.
• A type of high-speed launch first designed for the Royal Air Force during World War II, or
certain smaller rescue and research vessels most common in Europe that, like the Great Lakes
vessels, have hulls that curve over to meet the deck, although the "whaleback" designation
comes not from the curve along the gunwale as in the Great Lakes vessels, but from the fore-
and-aft arch in the deck.
• A sheltered portion of the forward deck on certain British fishing boats designed, in part, so that
water taken over the bow is more easily shed over the sides. The feature has been incorporated
into some pleasure craft – aboard which it is known as a whaleback deck – based on the hull
design of older whaling boats.
WHALEBOAT
• A type of open boat that is relatively narrow and pointed at both ends, enabling it to move either
forwards or backwards equally well.
• On modern warships, a relatively light and seaworthy boat for transport of ship's crew.
• A type of vessel designed as a lifeboat or "monomoy" used for recreational and competitive
rowing in the San Francisco Bay area and coastal Massachusetts.
• Informally, any whaler of any size.
• Informally, any vessel engaged in whale watching.
WHALER
• A specialized vessel designed for catching or processing whales.
• A person engaged in the catching or processing of whales.
• In the Royal Navy, a Montagu whaler, a ship's boat often used as a seaboat.
WHARF – A structure on the shore of a harbor or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock
to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (i.e., mooring
locations), and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.
The term "wharf' is generally synonymous with "quay" (q.v.), although the solid foundations of a quay
contrast with the closely spaced piles of a wharf. When "quay" and "wharf" are used as synonyms, the
term "quay" is more common in everyday speech in the United Kingdom,

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many Commonwealth countries, and the Republic of Ireland, while "wharf" is more commonly used in
the United States.
WHARFAGE – 1) A collective term for docks, piers, quays, and wharfs. 2) A collective term for
all wharfs in a given port, area, country, region, etc. 3) A fee charged for the use of a wharf.
WHEEL or SHIP'S WHEEL – The usual steering device on larger vessels: a wheel with a horizontal
axis, connected by cables to the rudder.
WHEELHOUSE – Location on a ship where the wheel is located; also called pilothouse or bridge.
WHELKIE – A small sailing pram.
WHERRY – A type of boat traditionally used for carrying cargo or passengers on rivers and canals in
England, particularly on the River Thames and the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads.
WHIFF – A chiefly British term for a narrow clinker-built skiff having outriggers, for one oarsman.
WHIP – A small single block tackle, used to raise light loads from a hold.
WHIP UPON WHIP – Connecting two whips together. This runs more smoothly than using a double
block with single block tackle, which would have the equivalent purchase. Can be used for topsail and
top-gallant halliards.
WHIPPING – The binding with twine of the loose end of a rope to prevent it unravelling.
WHIPSTAFF – A vertical lever connected to a tiller, used for steering on larger ships before the
development of the ship's wheel.
WHISKERS – Spreaders from the bows to spread the bowsprit shrouds.
WHISKERSTAY – One of the pair of stays that stabilize the bowsprit horizontally affixed to forward
end of the bowsprit and just aft the stem.
WHITE HORSES or WHITECAPS – Foam or spray on wave tops caused by stronger winds (usually
above Force 4).
WHITE ENSIGN – A British flag flown as an ensign by certain British ships. Prior to 1864, ships of
the Royal Navy′s White Squadron flew it; since the reorganisation of the Royal Navy in 1864, it has been
flown by all Royal Navy ships and shore establishments, yachts of members of the Royal Yacht
Squadron, and ships of Trinity House escorting the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom.
WIDE BERTH – To leave room between two ships moored (berthed) to allow space for maneuver.
WINCH – A mechanical device for pulling on a rope (such as a sheet or halyard), usually equipped
with a pawl to assist in control. It may be hand operated or powered.
WIND-OVER-TIDE – Sea conditions with a tidal current and a wind in opposite directions, leading to
short, heavy seas.
WINDAGE – Resistance of the boat.
WINDBOUND – A condition wherein the ship is detained in one particular station by contrary winds.
WINDING TACKLE – A tackle formed of two triple blocks or a triple and a double, used to raise
heavy loads such as guns and anchor.

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WINDJAMMER – A large iron- or steel-hulled square-rigged sailing ship of the late 19th and early
20th centuries with three, four, or five masts, built mainly between the 1870s and 1900 to carry cargo
on long voyages.
WINDLASS – A winch mechanism, usually with a horizontal axis. Used where mechanical advantage
greater than that obtainable by block and tackle was needed (such as raising the anchor on small ships).
WINDSAIL – A wide tube or funnel of canvas, used to convey a stream of air into the lower
compartments of a ship for ventilation.
WINDWARD – In the direction that the wind is coming from.
WING – An extension on the side of a vessel. A bridge wing is an extension of the bridge to both sides,
intended to allow bridge personnel a full view to aid in the maneuvering of the ship.
WIPER – The most junior rate among personnel who work in the engine room of a ship, responsible
for cleaning the engine spaces and machinery and assisting the engineers as directed. A wiper is
considered to be serving an apprenticeship to become an oiler (q.v.).
WORKING UP – Training, usually including gunnery practice.
WORM, PARCEL AND SERVE – To protect a section of rope from chafing by: laying yarns
(worming) to fill in the cuntlines, wrapping marline or other small stuff (serving) around it, and
stitching a covering of canvas (parceling) over all.
WRECKING TUG – Alternative term for a salvage tug.

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X

XEBEC – Small, three-masted pirate ship.

XEBEC-FRIGATE – A European warship that appeared late in the history of the xebec (q.v.). It was
fully square-rigged (q.v.) but otherwise designed like a xebec.

YACHT – A pleasure vessel or pleasure boat. In American usage, the idea of size and luxury is
conveyed, either sail or power.
YARD – Tapering spar attached to a ship’s mast to spread the head of a square sail.
YARD NUMBER – Each shipyard typically numbers the ships that it has built in consecutive order.
One use is to identify the ship before a name has been chosen.
YARDARM – Either end of the yard of a square-rigged ship.
YAR – Quick, agile, and easy to steer.
YARR – Acknowledgement of an order, or agreement. (Also aye, aye).
YAW – To swing or steer off course, as when running with a quartering sea.
YAWL – A ship’s small boat. A sailboat carrying the mainsail and one or more jibs.

ZABRA – A small Spanish sailing vessel.

ZULU – A type of Scottish sailboat introduced in 1879, used for fishing. A zulu is carvel-built, with the
vertical stem of a fifieand the steeply raked stern of a skaffie – two masts rigged with three sails (fore,
mizzen, and jib); and a longer deck and shorter keel than previous Scottish fishing boats, allowing
greater maneuverability. The term "zulu" came from the Zulu War, which the United Kingdom fought in
1879 at the time the zulu was introduced.

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 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
An overview of basic sailing rules, based on the COLREGS (International Regulations for Avoiding
Collisions at Sea):

1. Always maintain a proper lookout by sight as well as hearing to avoid colliding with other
boats

2. Maintain a safe speed at all times so that you remain in control of your boat

3. Use common sense when assessing risk of collision with other boats near and around you

4. Port tack gives way to starboard tack: If two sailboats are approaching each other and the wind
is on a DIFFERENT side of each boat, then sailing rules are that the sailboat which has the wind on the
port side must always give right of way to the other. (The port side is the left-hand side of the boat when
you are facing the front.)

5. Windward gives way to leeward: If two sailboats are approaching each other and the wind is on
the SAME side of each boat, then sailing rules are that the vessel which is to windward (the direction of
the wind) must give the right of way to the vessel which is leeward (the opposite direction of the wind).

6. If you are at risk of colliding with another boat and all else fails, then agreed sailing rules
are that whichever boat has the other boat on its starboard side must yield right of way. (The starboard
is the right-hand side of the boat when you are facing the front.)

7. Any vessel overtaking another should always keep out of the way of the vessel being overtaken.

8. A sailboat should always keep out of the way of any boat that is: a) not under command, b)
restricted in its ability to maneuver, and c) engaged in fishing

9. When passing through a narrow channel, sailing instructions are to keep as close to the outer
edge as possible.

10. Non-commercial powerboats usually give way to sailboats, unless the sailboat is
overtaking it. However, general sailing instructions are also that sailboats should try to stay out of the
way of large vessels and ferryboats that may find it harder to slow or change direction—especially in
narrow channels.

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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Segrest has been a professional journalist for more
than 30 years. She is the president of Navigate Content,
Inc., a full-service content creation firm, and works hard
for her clients even while sailing the world.

Michelle is a proud Southern girl from Sweet Home

Alabama. She sailed for the first time with a longtime friend
in Hamburg, Germany in 2013 and was immediately
hooked. Sailing became a part of her soul as this journalist
found a passion that would burn deeply within her forever.
She still delights in researching and learning the finer
details of sailing.

In 2018, she embarked on a year-long sailing adventure that included an Atlantic Crossing with
passages across the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay, around the
Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal, around the western coast of Africa, across the Atlantic to
Brazil, and then up the South American coast.

She chronicles her adventures in her award-winning blog, “How to Get Your Sea Legs.”

If you thought sailing the world is an endless holiday of bikinis and martinis, get ready for a bucket-list
adventure of a lifetime. Gripping true stories open a window into the liveaboard lifestyle and complex
challenges of blue water sailing - where simple decisions have real-life consequences and where the
most provocative obstacles live inside a sailor's soul. If you are intrigued by an escape from the
ordinary, come aboard as a sailor and two seadogs discover how to live life sideways.

Start reading Living Life Sideways now on Kindle Vella!

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 BOOKS BY MICHELLE SEGREST
How to Battle Seasickness
100 Tips to Help You Get Your Sea Legs
If you've ever experienced motion sickness or seasickness, you'll try
anything to find a remedy. This book is the ultimate guide to seasickness
relief!
Since the beginning of time, humans have battled their way
through motion sickness and seasickness—even experienced captains and
seasoned sailors. While there is no sure-fire cure, it is important to learn
how to function and fight your way through the incredibly uncomfortable
symptoms and effects of seasickness.
In this book, experienced sailor Michelle Segrest combines
exhaustive research with a few of her own grueling experiences. Most
important, she offers 100 proven tips to help you understand the
phenomenon, prevent it, and battle your way through it.
Some of these methods are pharmaceutical, some are natural, some
are psychological. Michelle includes advice from doctors, sailors, mariners, fishermen, and seasoned boat captains
in addition to her advice after trying possibly every so-called remedy herself.
You don’t have to be sailing offshore blue waters in a small sailboat to benefit from the knowledge shared
in this book. These tips will help you whether you are in a sailboat, motorboat, fishing boat, kayak, canoe, car,
airplane, spaceship, or cruise ship.
There is no cure for seasickness. However, this book will help you find your sea legs and battle your way
through it.

How to Sail with Dogs

100 Tips for a Pet-Friendly Voyage
This is the ultimate guide for sailing with dogs!
Through exhaustive research and real-life experiences sailing
the world with two beagles, we share 100 tips about how to plan,
prepare, and potty train for fun, safe sailing with your four-legged crew
members. Learn about traveling with pets by air and by sea, potty
training and exercising on board, first aid at sea, establishing routines,
and keeping your pet SAFE! We also cover detailed customs
requirements for U.S.- and European-based dogs entering into dozens
of countries in Europe, Northwest Africa, Atlantic South America, the
Caribbean, and North America.
Chapters include: Pet-Friendly Boats, Traveling with Dogs by
Air, Traveling with Dogs by Sea, First Aid for Dogs at Sea, Safety at Sea,
Potty Training on Board, Establishing Routines, When the Destination is not Dog Friendly, Surviving Extreme
Temperatures (Staying Warm/Keeping Cool), The Downside and the Upside of Sailing with Pets, Bonus: How to
Sail with Dogs Survival Kit, General Guidelines and Requirements by Country.

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 Sailing Logbook & Journal
Captain’s Log | Sailing Adventures |
Inspirational Quotes
This sailing logbook & journal is designed to inspire you to pursue
grand adventures. Come along for the ride on a few worldwide sailing
adventures, enjoy some of the most inspirational sailing quotes of all time
with stunning images, and document your adventures and memories in an
easy-to-use captain's logbook.
With more than 100 pages of stunning, full color images, this
logbook and journal includes more than 80 sailing quotes that will inspire
your wanderlust, four swashbuckling real-world sailing adventures, and
detailed captain’s log for 12 sailing passages with room to record your most
detailed sailing adventure memories.
Captain’s Logbook entries include prompts for date, departure port, destination port, weather, forecast,
wind, sea conditions, visibility, ETA, Captain, crew, guests, time, course, speed, distance, navigation notes, time
completed, average speed, days run, fuel used, nautical miles, time of passage, observations, wildlife, obstacles,
milestones, maintenance, notes, and memories.
This 6x9 sailing logbook and journal is handy and efficient enough to use onboard while beautiful enough
to set out on your coffee table to share memories with family and friends. It is designed by a sailor for sailors to
inspire your grand adventures. It makes a perfect gift for sailors and adventurers!

Inspirational Notebooks & Journals

Be Grateful Everyday: Gratitude Journal with 365 Inspiring Quotes and Thought -Provoking Prompts
Adventure is worthwhile: Travel Journal with 100 Quotes to Inspire Wanderlust for Your Bucket List
Fishing Logbook and Journal plus 100 Inspirational Quotes: Notebook for Fishermen
Gone Fishing: Ultimate Journal and Logbook for Fishermen with 100 Inspirational Quotes

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