Nautical
Terminology| aback | With
sails set on the weather side so that they slow the ship |
| abaft | Toward the stern |
| abeam | To the side of a ship |
| abreast | Situated
nearby and to the side of the ship |
| afterhook | The joint between the keel timber and stern timber of a wooden vessel |
| ahull | Lying adrift in heavy seas without sail set |
| allision | An event when a ship strikes a fixed object, such as a reef, dock or piling |
| anchor rode | The line or chain connected to the anchor |
| apeak | In a vertical position, or as nearly vertical as possible |
| athwart | Across a ship from side to side |
| avast | Stop or
cease |
| awash | Intermittently flooded by waves or tide |
| aweigh | Anchorage raised clear of the bottom indicating that the ship is under way |
| backstay | A wire or rope support extending from the masthead aft and fastening to chain plates abaft the step |
| baggywrinkle | A soft covering for cables or any other obstruction to mitigate sail chafing |
| ballantine | To flake (or fake) the foresail halyards in a large coil, then three overlapping smaller coils within, then repeating. The system is used by schoonermen to keep the halyards ready to run free in the event the sail must be doused quickly. |
| batten | A thin strip of wood that is inserted into a fitted pocket in a sail to flatten the leach or is employed to cover the seams in planking or hatches |
| becket | The metal ring extending from the end of a stationary block by which it is shackled in place |
| beetle | A heavy mallet used for driving caulking into a seam with a caulking iron |
| belay | To secure a line by taking turns on a bit, cleat or pin |
| bibb | A timber secured at the hounds which support the trestletrees. |
| bight | A loop
in a length of line |
| bimmy | A punitive instrument or act of flogging |
| binnacle | A stand or housing for the ship’s compass placed where it is easily seen from the helm |
| bitt | A heavy post substantially mounted on deck or on dockside, having a wider shape or cap or pin near the top, and used for securing lines such as the anchor rode, dock lines, or towing hawser (a bollard) |
| bitter end | The end of a line, especially of an anchor rode, which is usually turned around a bitt |
| boom vang | Tackle leading downward from a bridle on the boom used to flatten the sail and adjust the angle of the boom when sailing off the wind |
| bottomry | Pledging a ship as security in a financial transaction. |
| bouse | To haul in using block and tackle |
| brail | A line
used to secure a furled sail |
| brit | floating marine vegetation such as sargassum or gufweed |
| brow | A moveable ladder or ramp used for boarding a vessel from the dock (gangplank) |
| brume | Mist or
light fog |
| bumboat | A small commercial vessel used to bring provisions and supplies from shore |
| bumpkin | A mizzen boom hanging well over the stern of a yawl or ketch (boomkin) |
| buntline | One of the lines used to haul a squaresail up to the yard for furling |
| capstan | A bollard-shaped drum which rotates, and around which a hauling line is wrapped several times to get a purchase, for the purpose of lifting heavy weights such as the anchor |
| captain's daughter | cat'o'ninetails |
| careen | To moor a boat in the shallows so that when the tide falls the boat is left high and dry, for the purpose of cleaning and repairing the bottom |
| carling | The fore-and-aft deck supports in a wooden ship, and the fore-and-aft framing around a hatch opening |
| chippy | ship's carpenter |
| clew | The lower aft corner of a fore and aft sail, or the lower corner at the foot of a square sail |
| crance | An iron band, at the end of a bowsprit, fitted with eyes to take the bowsprit shrouds and the bobstay |
| cringle | A heavily reinforced grommet at the corner of a sail to which a line is fastened |
| cuddy | A very small cabin usually affording only sitting headroom on a small sailboat or launch |
| devil to pay | An arduous, unpleasant task, especially caulking a seam near the water line |
| dink | Slang term for dinghy |
| dodger | A piece of fitted material lashed or mounted around the cockpit to provide some protection from spray |
| fiddle | A small
strip of wood around the edges of a table on board ship
to keep the dishes from sliding off |
| flaw | A sudden gust of wind, or a brief storm |
| flemish | To lay out a decorative tight coil of line on deck |
| full and by | Making best speed to weather by keeping the sails full |
| gadget | Slang for Cadet/Apprentice |
| garbling | Garbling was the (illegal) practice of mixing cargo with garbage |
| groin | A sturdy structure of large stones, timbers or cement built perpendicular to a beach to reduce erosion |
| handsomely | Describing a shipboard task that is done with care and attention to detail |
| hockle | A knob of cordage which forms when the line is twisted opposite the lay |
| hounds | The part of the mast near the top where the lower shrouds are mounted or the reinforcing timbers at the top of the mainmast where the topmast is mounted |
| in irons | When the bow of a sailboat is headed into the wind and the boat has stalled and is unable to maneuver |
| kedge | To move a ship using an anchor and winch |
| killick | A small stone anchor sometimes mounted in a wooden frame |
| leach | The trailing edge of a three sided marconi rig sail |
| limbers | Openings let in the frames next to the keelson that allow bilge water to flow to the pump location |
| loggerhead | A stick with an iron ball at the end, used as a tool to pay deck seams with tar |
| lubberly | In a fashion that shows poor seamanship |
| mark twain | The shouted report from a riverboatman taking soundings at the bow of the boat indicating the depth of the water under the keel |
| matelot | A traditional Royal Navy term for an ordinary sailor |
| nipper | Short rope used to bind a cable to the "messenger" |
| outfoot | To sail faster than another sailboat |
| overfall | A breaking wave, or that part of a wave that falls down the face of an advancing mass of water |
| pipe down | To release the crew from deck duties and allow them to go below, signaled by the bosun's pipe |
| pooped | Suddenly overwhelmed by a sea breaking over the stern |
| proud | Describing a faulty joint or finish where a part protrudes above the surrounding area |
| queue | A short braided pigtail of a seaman’s hair, often payed with tar |
| rack | To be driven at high speed over the water by a brisk wind |
| ratlines | Ropes lashed across the shrouds like steps that allow crew to easiliy climb into the rigging |
| rhumb | Any of the points on a marine compass or a course line on a single heading |
| roach | An arc of sail material added to the shape of the leech of the sail supported by battens |
| rode | Anchor line or chain |
| schooner | A sailing ship carrying multiple masts with fore and aft sails and with the mizzen forward of the mainmast |
| scudding | Sailing fast with the wind astern |
| scuppers | The
openings in the bulwarks that allow drainage over the
side |
| scuttlebutt | A barrel containing a ration of drinking water for the crew |
| seizing | Whipping or lashing with tarred small stuff |
| shiver me timbers | Oath of annoyance; literally, a split along the grain in wood but meant more like "curse ye like a leak at sea." |
| sill | A shallow waterway connecting two deeper bodies of water |
| skerry | A reef or rocky obstruction |
| 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 |
| slush fund | The money obtained by the cook selling slush |
| snorter | A light line fastened on the mast with a grommet at the end on which a sprit is suspended |
| spanker | A fore-and-aft sail at the aftermost mast of a square rigged ship |
| spindrift | Spray blowing off the top of breaking waves |
| starter | A rope used as a punitive device |
| steeve | To stow in a ship’s hold or to rake a bowsprit upward |
| sway up | To
handle slack out of a halyard by looping a bight under a
belaying pin, then taking a grip with the other hand
high on the line and leaning backward to put full body
weight into the effort, then repeated. |
| 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 |
| tabernacle | A substantial fitting for mounting the mast on deck so that it can be lowered easily |
| tabling | Reinforcing material sewn around a bolt rope at the edge of a sail |
| tabnab | A small item of food offered at break times |
| tally | The operation of hauling aft the sheets, or drawing them in the direction of the ship's stern |
| taunt | Describing a ship’s mast as extremely tall |
| thwartship | Describing any feature that lies from side to side across the deck or rigging |
| trice | To tie down a sail with a quick temporary lashing of smallstuff |
| trick | A full watch at the helm |
| truck | A covering disc mounted on top of the masthead |
| trunk | A cabin structure built up through the deck to allow headroom below |
| unbend | To remove a sail from a stay or spar |
| under the weather |
Serving a watch on the weather side of the ship, exposed to wind and spray |
| unstep | To haul a mast out of the vessel |
| wales | A number of strong and thick planks running length-wise along the ship, covering the lower part of the ship's side |
| wung out | Setting of sails on a boat sailing dead downwind with a jib set on one side and the main on the other |
| yare | Describing
a boat that handles with little effort |
| yarr | Acknowledgement of an order, or agreement |
Find more nautical terms at Sea Talk Nautical Dictionary and NauticEd: Sailing Terms.
The poem Schooner Or Later contains some of the above nautical terms.
"A craft might be well stretched on a rack but a rack is always crafted to stretch well."
- Solomon Tall (7/8/2016)
more Tall-isms here
Copyright © 2016 by Joe Pivetti