Marine Engineering Management

Marine Acronyms and Definitions
Re-posted and updated on an ongoing basis since first published in September 17, 1997

AABW Antarctic Bottom Water
AAC Aquaculture Association of Canada
AAIW Antarctic Intermediate Water
AANII Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, State Committee on Hydrometeorology, Leningrad, USSR
Abaft – Toward the stern, relative to some object (”abaft the fore hatch”).
Abaft the beam – Further aft than the beam: a relative bearing of greater than 90 degrees from the bow: “two points abaft the port beam”.
Abaft the beam: Said of the bearing of an object which bears between the beam and the stern (further back than the ship’s middle).
Abaft: A relative term used to describe the location of one object in relation to another, in which the object described is farther aft than the other. Thus, the mainmast is abaft the foremast (in back of).
Abandon ship! – An imperative to leave the vessel immediately, usually in the face of some imminent danger.
Abandon ship: Get away from the ship, as in an emergency.
Abeam – On the beam, a relative bearing at right angles to the centerline of the ship’s keel.
Abeam: The bearing of an object 90 degrees from ahead (in a line with the middle of the ship).
Abel Brown – A sea song (shanty) about a young sailor trying to sleep with a maiden. [1]
Able bodied seaman: The next grade above the beginning grade of ordinary seaman in the deck crew.
Aboard – On or in a vessel (see also “close aboard”).
Aboard: In the vessel (on the ship).
Above board – On or above the deck, in plain view, not hiding anything.
Aboveboard: Above decks; without concealment of deceit (out in the open).
Above-water hull – The hull section of a vessel above waterline, the visible part of a ship. Also, topsides.
Abreast: Abeam of (alongside of).
ABS American Bureau of Shipping (classification society)
Absentee pennant – Special pennant flown to indicate absence of commanding officer, admiral, his chief of staff, or officer whose flag is flying (division, squadron, or flotilla commander).
Absolute bearing – The bearing of an object in relation to north. Either true bearing, using the geographical or true north, or magnetic bearing, using magnetic north. See also “bearing” and “relative bearing”.
ACC Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Accommodation ladder – A portable flight of steps down a ship’s side.
Accommodation ladder: The portable steps from the gangway down to the waterline.
ACCP Atlantic Climate Change Program (of NOAA, USA)
ACM Aanderaa current meter.
Act of Pardon / Act of Grace – A letter from a state or power authorizing action by a privateer. Also see Letter of marquee.
ADCP Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (of NASDA)
Admiral – Senior naval officer of Flag rank. In ascending order of seniority, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral and Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy). Derivation Arabic, from Amir al-Bahr (”Ruler of the sea”).
Admiral: Comes from the Arabic “Emir” or “Amir” which means “First commander” and “Al-bahr which means “the sea”. Emir-al-barh evolved into Admiral.
Admiralty – A high naval authority in charge of a state’s Navy or a major territorial component. In the Royal Navy (UK) the Board of Admiralty, executing the office of the Lord High Admiral, promulgates Naval law in the form of Queen’s (or King’s) Regulations and Admiralty Instructions.
Admiralty law – Body of law that deals with maritime cases. In the UK administered by the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.
Adrift – Afloat and unattached in any way to the shore or seabed, but not under way. It implies that a vessel is not under control and therefore goes where the wind and current take her (loose from moorings, or out of place). Also refers to any gear not fastened down or put away properly. It can also be used to mean “absent without leave”.
Adrift: Loose from the moorings (not tied or secured).
Advance note – A note for one month’s wages issued to sailors on their signing a ship’s articles.
Afloat – Of a vessel which is floating freely (not aground or sunk). More generally of vessels in service (”the company has 10 ships afloat”).
Afloat: Floating.
Aframax tanker < 80,000 dwt (average freight rate assessment)
Aft – Towards the stern (of the vessel).
Aft: At, near, or toward the stern (back end).
Afternoon watch – The 1200-1600 watch.
AGCM Atmospheric General Circulation Model
Aground – Resting on or touching the ground or bottom.
Aground: Resting on the bottom.
AGU American Geophysical Union
Ahead – Forward of the bow.
Ahoy – A cry to draw attention. Term used to hail a boat or a ship, as “Boat ahoy!”
Ahoy: A call used in hailing a vessel or boat (hey!).
Ahull – When the boat is lying broadside to the sea. To ride out a storm with no sails and helm held to leeward.
Aid to Navigation – (ATON) Any device external to a vessel or aircraft specifically intended to assist navigators in determining their position or safe course, or to warn them of dangers or obstructions to navigation.
Air tank: A metal air-tight tank built into a boat to insure flotation even when the boat is swamped.
AIS automatic identification system
AKIN Acoustical Institute, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR
ALACE Autonomous Lagrangian Circulation Explorer (float)
Alee: To the leeward side (away from the wind).
ALFOS Long-life, multi-cycle, pop-up RAFOS floats
Alive: Alert (pep it up!).
All hands – Entire ship’s company, both officers and enlisted personnel.
All hands: The entire crew.
All night in – Having no night watches.
All standing: To bring to a sudden stop.
Aloft – In the rigging of a sailing ship. Above the ship’s uppermost solid structure; overhead or high above.
Aloft: Above the upper deck (above).
Alongside – By the side of a ship or pier.
Alongside: Side to side.
ALS Autonomous listening station
AMI Active Microwave Instrument
Amidships (or midships) – In the middle portion of ship, along the line of the keel.
Amidships: In or towards the middle of a ship in regard to length or breadth (center of).
AMNI Associate Member of The Nautical Institute
AMS Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, measures isotopic abundance
AMSU Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit
AMUSE A Mediterranean Undercurrent Seeding Experiment
AMVER US Coast Guard’s Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System
Anchor – An object designed to prevent or slow the drift of a ship, attached to the ship by a line or chain; typically a metal, hook-like or plough-like object designed to grip the bottom under the body of water (but also see sea anchor).
Anchor ball – Round black shape hoisted in the forepart of a vessel to show that it is anchored.
Anchor bar: Wooden bar with an iron shod, wedge: shaped end, used in prying the anchor or working the anchor or working the anchor chain. Also used to engage or disengage the wild-cat.
Anchor buoy – A small buoy secured by a light line to anchor to indicate position of anchor on bottom.
Anchor chain or anchor cable – Chain connecting the ship to the anchor.
Anchor chain: Heavy, linked chain secured to an anchor for mooring or anchoring.
Anchor detail – Group of men who handle ground tackle when the ship is anchoring or getting underway.
Anchor home – The term for when the anchor is secured for sea. Typically rests just outside the hawse pipe on the outer side of the hull, at the bow of a vessel.
Anchor light – White light displayed by a ship at anchor. Two such lights are displayed by a ship over 150 feet (46 m) in length.
Anchor lights: The riding lights required to be carried by vessels at anchor.
Anchor rode – The anchor line, rope or cable connecting the anchor chain to the vessel. Also Rode
Anchor watch – The crewmen assigned to take care of the ship while anchored or moored, charged with such duties as making sure that the anchor is holding and the vessel is not drifting. Most marine GPS units have an Anchor Watch alarm capability.
Anchor watch: The detail on deck at night, when at anchor, to safeguard the vessel (not necessarily at the anchor; a general watch).
Anchor: A device or iron so shaped to grip the bottom and holds a vessel at anchor by the anchor chain.
Anchorage – A suitable place for a ship to anchor. Area of a port or harbor.
Anchorage: A place suitable for anchoring.
Anchor’s aweigh – Said of an anchor when just clear of the bottom.
Anchor’s aweigh: Said of the anchor when just clear of the bottom (leaving or moving).
Andrew – Traditional lower-deck slang term for the Royal Navy.
AO Announcement of Opportunity
AODC Australian Oceanographic Data Center
AOML Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (of NOAA, USA)
API American Petroleum Industry
Apparent wind – The combination of the true wind and the headwind caused by the boat’s forward motion. For example, it causes a light side wind to appear to come from well ahead of the beam.
Arc of Visibility – The portion of the horizon over which a lighted aid to navigation is visible from seaward.
ARCS Admiralty Raster Chart Service
ARI Accelerated Research Initiative (of ONR, USA)
ARISTOTELES Applications and Research Involving Space Techniques for the Observation of the Earth’s fields from Low-Earth-orbit Spacecraft
Armament – A ship’s weapons.
ARPA Automatic Radar Plotting Aids
Articles of War – Regulations governing the military and naval forces of UK and USA; read to every ship’s company on commissioning and at specified intervals during the commission.
As the crow flies – A direct line between two points (which might cross land) which is the way crows travel rather than ships which must go around land.
ASDIC – A type of sonar used by the Allies for detecting submarines during the Second World War.
ASF Air Sea Fluxes
Ashore – On the beach, shore or land.
Ashore: On the shore (on land).
Astern – Toward the stern; an object or vessel that is abaft another vessel or object.
Astern: The bearing of an object 180 degrees from ahead (behind).
ASW – Anti-submarine warfare.
Asylum Harbor – A harbor used to provide shelter from a storm.
Athwart, athwartships – At right angles to the fore and aft or centerline of a ship
Athwartships: At right angles to the fore-and-aft line of the vessel (sideways-across).
ATS Applied Technology Satellite
ATSR Along-Track Scanning Radiometer
Avast – Stop! Cease or desist from whatever is being done.
Avast: An order to stop or cease hauling (stop action at once).
AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
AVISO French Group for Analysis, Validation and Investigation of Satellite Oceanography
AVNIR Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer
Awash – So low in the water that the water is constantly washing across the surface.
Awash: Level with the water (water ready to, or slightly covering decks).
Aweigh – Position of an anchor just clear of the bottom.
AWI Alfred Wegener Institut fur Polar und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Awning: A canvas canopy secured over the ship’s deck as a protection from the weather (covering).
Aye, aye (pronounced /??? ‘??/) – Reply to an order or command to indicate that it, firstly, is heard; and, secondly, is understood and will be carried out. (”Aye, aye, sir” to officers).
Aye, aye, sir: The reply to an officer’s order signifying that he is understood and will be obeyed (I understand).
Azimuth circle – Instrument used to take bearings of celestial objects.
Azimuth compass – An instrument employed for ascertaining position of the sun with respect to magnetic north. The azimuth of an object is its bearing from the observer measured as an angle clockwise from true north.
-B-
B BC Code of Safe Practice for Solid Bulk Cargoes
Back and fill – To use the advantage of the tide being with you when the wind is not.
Backstays – Long lines or cables, reaching from the rear of the vessel to the mast heads, used to support the mast.
Baggywrinkle – A soft covering for cables (or any other obstructions) that prevents sail chafing from occurring.
Bail: To throw water out of a boat; a yoke, as a ladder bail (rung).
Ballast tanks: Double bottoms for carrying water ballast and capable of being flooded or pumped out at will.
Ballast: Heavy weights packed in the bottom of a boat or ship to give her stability.
BAMS Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Bank – A large area of elevated sea floor.
Banyan – Traditional Royal Navy term for a day or shorter period of rest and relaxation.
Bar – Large mass of sand or earth, formed by the surge of the sea. They are mostly found at the entrances of great rivers or havens, and often render navigation extremely dangerous, but confer tranquility once inside. See also: Touch and go, grounding. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Crossing the bar”, an allegory for death.
Bar pilot – A bar pilot guides ships over the dangerous sandbars at the mouth of rivers and bays.
Barrelman – A sailor that was stationed in the crow’s nest.
BATS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Station
Batten down: To make watertight. Said of hatches and cargo (tie up or secure).
BBSR Bermuda Biological Station for Research
BDI Baltic Dry Index
Beachcomber: A derelict seaman found unemployed on the waterfront, especially in a foreign country (seaman without a ship).
Beaching – Deliberately running a vessel aground, to load and unload (as with landing craft), or sometimes to prevent a damaged vessel sinking.
Beacon – A lighted or unlighted fixed aid to navigation attached directly to the earth’s surface. (Lights and daybeacons both constitute beacons.)
Beam – The width of a vessel at the widest point, or a point alongside the ship at the mid-point of its length.
Beam ends – The sides of a ship. “On her beam ends” may mean the vessel is literally on her side and possibly about to capsize; more often, the phrase means the vessel is listing 45 degrees or more.
Beam wind: A wind at right angles to a vessel’s course (wind blowing at the ship’s side.)
Bear – Large squared off stone used for scraping clean the deck of a sailing man-of-war.
Bear a hand: To assist or help.
Bear down or bear away – Turn away from the wind, often with reference to a transit.
Bear down: To approach (overtake or come up to).
Bearing – The horizontal direction of a line of sight between two objects on the surface of the earth. See also “absolute bearing” and “relative bearing”.
Bearing: The direction of an object (with reference to you, your ship, another object).
Beating – Sailing closer to the wind than about 60° (see also reaching, running and tacking).
Beaufort scale – The scale describing wind force devised by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort in 1808, in which winds are graded by the effect of their force (originally, the amount of sail that a fully-rigged frigate could carry). Scale now reads up to Force 17.
Becalmed: A sailing vessel dead in the water due to lack of wind (not moving).
Becket: A rope eye for the hook of a block. A rope grommet used in place of a rowlock. Also, a small piece of rope with an eye in each end to hold the feet of a sprit to the mast. In general any small rope or strap used as a handle.
Before the mast – Literally, the area of a ship before the foremast (the forecastle). Most often used to describe men whose living quarters are located here, officers being quartered in the stern-most areas of the ship (near the quarterdeck). Officer-trainees lived between the two ends of the ship and become known as “midshipmen”. Crew members who started out as seamen, then became midshipmen, and later, officers, were said to have gone from “one end of the ship to the other” (also see hawsepiper).
Belay – To make fast a line around a fitting, usually a cleat or belaying pin. An order to halt a current activity or countermand an order prior to execution.
Belay: To make fast as to a pin or cleat. To rescind an order (tie up).
Belaying pin: A wooden or iron pin fitting into a rail upon which to secure ropes.
Belaying pins – Bars of iron or hard wood to which running rigging may be secured, or belayed.
Bells: see Ships Time
Belly strap: A rope passed around (center) a boat or other object for hanging.
Below: Beneath the deck (under).
Bend – A knot used to join two ropes or lines. Also see hitch.
Bend: The twisting or turning of a rope so as to fasten it to some object, as a spar or ring.
Bermudan rig – A triangular mainsail, without an upper spar, which is hoisted up the mast by a single halyard attached to the head of the sail. This configuration, introduced to Europe about 1920, allows the use of a tall mast, enabling sails to be set higher where wind speed is greater.
Berth (moorings) – A location in a port or harbour used specifically for mooring vessels while not at sea.
Berth (sleeping) – A bed or sleeping accommodation on a boat or ship.
Berth: A vessel’s place at anchor or at a dock. Seaman’s assignment.
Best bower (anchor) – The larger of two anchors carried in the bow; so named as it was the last, best hope.
Between decks: The space between decks. The name of the deck or decks between the ceiling and main deck.
Between the Devil and the deep blue sea – See Devil seam.
BFI Baltic Freight Index
Bight (pronounced /’b??t/) –
Bight, a loop in rope or line – a hitch or knot tied on the bight is one tied in the middle of a rope, without access to the ends. An indentation in a coastline.
Bight: Formed by bringing the end of a rope around, near to, or across its own part.
Bilge – The bilge is the compartment at the bottom of the hull of a ship or boat where water collects so that it may be pumped out of the vessel at a later time.
Bilge keels – A pair of keels on either side of the hull, usually slanted outwards. In yachts, they allow the use of a drying mooring, the boat standing upright on the keels (and often a skeg) when the tide is out.
Bilge: The curved part of a ship’s hull where the side and the flat bottom meet.
Bilged on her anchor – A ship that has run upon her own anchor, so the anchor cable runs under the hull.
Bimco Baltic and International Maritime Council
Bimcosale The Bimco standard form of bill of sale
Bimini top – Open-front canvas top for the cockpit of a boat, usually supported by a metal frame.
Bimmy – A punitive instrument
Binnacle – The stand on which the ship’s compass is mounted.
Binnacle list – A ship’s sick list. The list of men unable to report for duty was given to the officer or mate of the watch by the ship’s surgeon. The list was kept at the binnacle.
Binnacle: The stand, usually of brass or non-magnetic material in which the compass rests and which contains the compensating magnets (compass holder).
Bitt – A post mounted on the ship’s bow, for fastening ropes or cables.
Bitter end – The anchor cable is tied to the bitts, when the cable is fully paid out, the bitter end has been reached. The last part of a rope or cable.
Bitter end: The last part of a rope or last link in an anchor chain.
Bitts: A pair of vertical wooden or iron heads on board ship, used for securing mooring or towing lines. Similar to dock bollards.
Black gang: Member of the engine-room force, which included the engineers, firemen, oilers, and wipers.
Block and block: Same as two blocks.
Block: An apparatus consisting of an outside shell and a sheave through which a rope may be passed (pulley).
Blue Peter – A blue and white flag (the flag for the letter “P”) hoisted at the foretrucks of ships about to sail. Formerly a white ship on a blue ground, but later a white square on a blue ground.
BM Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Australia
BMSL Battelle Marine Sciences Laboratory
BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory
Boat – A craft or vessel designed to float on, and provide transport over, water.
Boat-fall: A purchase (block and tackle) for hoisting a boat to its davits.
Boat-hook – A pole with a hook on the end, used to reach into the water to catch buoys or other floating objects.
Boatswain or bosun (both pronounced /’bo?s?n/) – A non-commissioned officer responsible for the sails, ropes and boats on a ship who issues “piped” commands to seamen.
Bobstay – A stay which holds the bowsprit downwards, counteracting the effect of the forestay. Usually made of wire or chain to eliminate stretch.
BODC British Oceanographic Data Center
Bollard – From ‘bol’ or ‘bole’, the round trunk of a tree. A substantial vertical pillar to which lines may be made fast. Generally on the quayside rather than the ship.
Bollard: An upright, wooden or iron post to which hawsers or mooring lines may be secured.
Bombay runner – Large cockroach.
Bonded jacky – A type of tobacco or sweet cake.
Booby – A type of bird that has little fear and therefore is particularly easy to catch.
Booby hatch – A sliding hatch or cover.
Boom – A spar attached to the foot of a fore-and-aft sail.
Boom cradle: A rest for a cargo-boom when lowered for securing for sea.
Boom vang or vang – A sail control that lets one apply downward tension on a boom, countering the upward tension provided by the sail. The boom vang adds an element of control to sail shape when the sheet is let out enough that it no longer pulls the boom down. Boom vang tension helps control leech twist, a primary component of sail power.
Boom: A spar used for fore and aft sails.
Booms – Masts or yards, lying on board in reserve.
Boot-topping: The anti-corrosive paint used on and above the waterline.
Bos’n: Shortening of the old term “boatswain,” an unlicensed member of the crew who supervises the work of the deck men under direction of the first mate.
Bos’n’s chair: The piece of board on which a man working aloft is swung.
Bos’n’s chest: The deck chest in which the bos’n keeps his deck gear.
Bos’n’s locker: The locker in which the bos’n keeps his deck gear.
BOSVABritish Offshore Support Vessel Owners Association
Bottomry – Pledging a ship as security in a financial transaction.
Bow – The front of a ship.
Bow chaser – See chase gun
Bow thruster – A small propeller or water-jet at the bow, used for manoeuvring larger vessels at slow speed. May be mounted externally, or in a tunnel running through the bow from side to side.
Bow: The forward part of a vessel’s sides (front).
Bowline – A type of knot, producing a strong loop of a fixed size, topologically similar to a sheet bend. Also a rope attached to the side of a sail to pull it towards the bow (for keeping the windward edge of the sail steady).
Bowse – To pull or hoist.
Bowsprit – A spar projecting from the bow used as an anchor for the forestay and other rigging.
Bowsprit: A spar extending forward from the stem.
Boxing the compass – To state all 32 points of the compass, starting at north, proceeding clockwise. Sometimes applied to a wind that is constantly shifting.
Boxing the compass: Calling names of the points of the compass in order.
Boy Seaman – a young sailor, still in training
BPI Baltic Panamax Index
Brail – To furl or truss a sail by pulling it in towards the mast, or the ropes used to do so.
Brake – The handle of the pump, by which it is worked.
Brass monkey or brass monkey weather – Used in the expression “it is cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” (origin uncertain, see WP entry linked above)
Break ground: Said of anchor when it lifts clear of the bottom.
Breaker: A small cask for fresh water carried in ship’s boats. A sea (wave) with a curl on the crest.
Bridge – A structure above the weather deck, extending the full width of the vessel, which houses a command centre, itself called by association, the bridge.
Bridge: The raised platform extending athwartships, the part of the ship from which the ship is steered and navigated.
Bright work: Brass work, polished (also varnished wood work in yachts).
Bring to – Cause a ship to be stationary by arranging the sails.
BROA British Rig Owners Association
Broach – When a sailing vessel loses control of its motion and is forced into a sudden sharp turn, often heeling heavily and in smaller vessels sometimes leading to a capsize. The change in direction is called broaching-to. Occurs when too much sail is set for a strong gust of wind, or in circumstances where the sails are unstable.
BSH Bundesamt fur Seeschiffahrt und Hydrographie, Hamburg, Germany
Buffer – The chief bosun’s mate (in the Royal Navy), responsible for discipline.
Bulkhead – An upright wall within the hull of a ship. Particularly a load bearing wall.
Bulkhead: Transverse or longitudinal partitions separating portions of the ship (”walls” in a ship).
Bull of Barney – A beast mentioned in an obscene sea proverb.
Bulwark (pronounced /’b?l?k/ in nautical use) – The extension of the ship’s side above the level of the weather deck.
Bumboat – A private boat selling goods.
Bumpkin or Boomkin – 1. A spar, similar to a bowsprit, but which projects from the stern. May be used to attach the backstay or mizzen sheets. 2. An iron bar (projecting out-board from a ship’s side) to which the lower and topsail brace blocks are sometimes hooked.
Bunk: Built-in bed aboard ship.
Bunker: Compartment for the storage of oil or other fuel.
Bunting tosser – A signalman who prepares and flies flag hoists. Also known in the American Navy as a skivvy waver.
Buntline – One of the lines tied to the bottom of a square sail and used to haul it up to the yard when furling.
Buoy – A floating object of defined shape and color, which is anchored at a given position and serves as an aid to navigation.
Buoyed up – Lifted by a buoy, especially a cable that has been lifted to prevent it from trailing on the bottom.
BV Bureau Veritas (classification society)
By and large – By means into the wind, while large means with the wind. By and large is used to indicate all possible situations “the ship handles well both by and large”.
By the board – Anything that has gone overboard.
By the board: Overboard (over the side).
By the head: Deeper forward (front end deepest in water).
By the Run: To let go altogether.
-C-
C French Group for Processing ERS-1 low-bit-rate oceanic data
C&GC Climate and Global Change Program (of NOAA, USA)
Cabin – an enclosed room on a deck or flat.
Cabin boy – attendant on passengers and crew.
Cabin: The captain’s quarters. The enclosed space of decked-over small boat.
Cable – A large rope.
Cable length – A measure of length or distance. Equivalent to (UK) 1/10 nautical mile, approx. 600 feet; (USA) 120 fathoms, 720 feet (219 m); other countries use different values.
Cable: A chain or line (rope) bent to the anchor.
Cable-laid: The same as hawser-laid.
Cable-length: 100 fathoms or 600 feet (6 feet to a fathom).
CAD computer assisted design
CALCOFI California Co-operative Fisheries Investigation
CALK Carbonate alkalinity (func of carbonate & bicarbonate ion concentrat)
Calm: A wind or force less than one knot (knot: 1 nautical mile per hour).
Camel: A wooden float placed between a vessel and a dock acting as a fender.
Canister – a type of antipersonnel cannon load in which lead balls or other loose metallic items were enclosed in a tin or iron shell. On firing, the shell would disintegrate, releasing the smaller metal objects with a shotgun-like effect.
Canoe stern – A design for the stern of a yacht which is pointed, like a bow, rather than squared off as a transom.
CAP Condition Assesment Programme Survey
Cape Horn fever – The name of the fake illness a malingerer is pretending to suffer from.
Capsize – When a ship or boat lists too far and rolls over, exposing the keel. On large vessels, this often results in the sinking of the ship.
Capstan – A large winch with a vertical axis. A full-sized human-powered capstan is a waist-high cylindrical machine, operated by a number of hands who each insert a horizontal capstan bar in holes in the capstan and walk in a circle. Used to wind in anchors or other heavy objects; and sometimes to administer flogging over.
Capstan: The vertical barrel device used to heave in cable or lines.
Capstan-bar: A wooden bar which may be shipped in the capstan head for heaving around by hand (to heave up anchor or heavy objects by manpower).
Captain of the Head: A guy who gets Head (toilet) cleaning detail.
Captain’s daughter – The cat o’ nine tails, which in principle is only used on board on the captain’s (or a court martial’s) personal orders.
Cardinal – Referring to the four main points of the compass: north, south, east and west. See also “bearing”.
Cardinal points: The four principal points of the compass: North, East, South and West.
Careening – Tilting a ship on its side, usually when beached, to clean or repair the hull below the water line.
Cast off: To let go.
Cat – 1. To prepare an anchor, after raising it by lifting it with a tackle to the cat head, prior to securing (fishing) it alongside for sea. (An anchor raised to the cat head is said to be catted). 2. The cat o’ nine tails (see below). 3. A cat-rigged boat or catboat.
Cat head – A beam extending out from the hull used to support an anchor when raised in order to secure or ‘fish’ it.
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 kept in a baize bag, hence the term “cat out of the bag”. “Not enough room to swing a cat” also derives from this.
Catamaran – A vessel with two hulls.
Catboat – A cat-rigged vessel with a single mast mounted close to the bow, and only one sail, usually on a gaff.
Caulk: To fill in the seams with cotton or oakum.
CBI computer-based information
CBT computer-based training
CCC Carrier container council
CCCO Committee on Climatic Changes and the Ocean (of IOC and SCOR)
CCP Contolable Pitch Propeller
CCS China Classification Society
CD compact disc
CD Rom compact disc read-only memory
CDW Circumpolar Deep Water
CEN European Committee for Standardisation
CENELEC European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation
Centreboard – A board or plate lowered through the hull of a dinghy on the centreline to resist leeway.
CES coast earth station
CESMA Confederation of European Union Shipmasters Associations
CFC Chlorofluorocarbon
CFM Chlorofluoromethane
CG coast guard
Chafe: To wear the surface of a rope by rubbing against a solid object.
Chafing – Wear on line or sail caused by constant rubbing against another surface.
Chafing gear – Material applied to a line or spar to prevent or reduce chafing. See Baggywrinkle.
Chafing gear: A guard of canvas or rope put around spars, mooring lines, or rigging to prevent them from wearing out by rubbing against something.
Chain locker – A space in the forward part of the 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 locker: A compartment forward where the chain cable is stowed.
Chain-shot – Cannon balls linked with chain used to damage rigging and masts.
Chain-wale or channel – A broad, thick plank that projects horizontally from each of a ship’s sides abreast a mast, distinguished as the fore, main, or mizzen channel accordingly, serving to extend the base for the shrouds, which supports the mast.
Charley Noble: The galley smoke-pipe (cook’s stove pipe), named after The English sea captain who was noted for the scrupulous cleanliness and shine of the brass aboard his ship.
Chase gun’, chase piece or chaser – A cannon pointing forward or aft, often of longer range than other guns. Those on the bow (bow chaser) were used to fire upon a ship ahead, while those on the rear (stern chaser) were used to ward off pursuing vessels. Unlike guns pointing to the side, chasers could be brought to bear in a chase without slowing.
Check: To ease off gradually (go slower and move carefully).
Cheeks – 1. Wooden blocks at the side of a spar. 2. The sides of a block or gun-carriage.
Chief mate: Another term for first mate.
Chief: The crew’s term for the chief engineer.
Chine – 1. A relatively sharp angle in the hull, as compared to the rounded bottoms of most traditional boat hulls. 2. A line formed where the sides of a boat meet the bottom. Soft chine is when the two sides join at a shallow angle, and hard chine is when they join at a steep angle.
CHN Carbon-Hydrogen-Nitrogen Analyzer
Chock: A heavy wooden or metal fitting secured on a deck or on a dock, with jaws, used for the lead or to guide lines or cables.
Chock-a-block – Rigging blocks that are so tight against one another that they cannot be further tightened.
Choked: The falls foul in a block. The falls may be chocked or jammed intentionally for a temporary securing (holding).
CI Coordinating Investigator
CIRM International radio maritime committee
CIT Chartered Institute of Transport
Civil Red Ensign – The British Naval Ensign or Flag of the British Merchant Navy, a red flag with the Union Flag in the upper left corner. Colloquially called the “red duster”.
Class Category in classification register
CLC International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage
Clean bill of health – A certificate issued by a port indicating that the ship carries no infectious diseases. Also called a pratique.
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.
Cleat – A stationary device used to secure a rope aboard a vessel.
Cleat: A fitting of wood or metal, with horns, used for securing lines (tying up).
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 lower corners of square sails or the corner of a triangular sail at the end of the boom.
Clew-lines – Used to truss up the clews, the lower corners of square sails.
Clipper bow: A stem curving up and forward in graceful line.
Close aboard – Near a ship.
Close-hauled – Of a vessel beating as close to the wind direction as possible.
Club hauling The ship drops one of its anchors at high speed to turn abruptly. This was sometimes used as a means to get a good firing angle on a pursuing vessel.
CME Community Modelling Effort
CNES Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France
COA contract of affreightment
COADS Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set
Coaming – The raised edge of a hatch, cockpit or skylight to help keep out water.
Coaming: The raised frame work around deck openings, and cockpit of open boats (hatch coaming).
COARE Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment
Cockpit: The well of a sailing vessel, especially a small boat, for the wheel and steerman.
CODATA Committee on Data for Science and Technology
Cofferdam: The space between two bulkheads set close together, especially between fuel tanks (two walls separated to use for drainage or safety).
Coil: To lay down rope in circular turns.
Colors: The national ensign.
Colreg International Convention on Collision Regulations,IMO
Coming around: To bring a sailing vessel into the wind and change to another tack. One who is influenced to a change of opinion.
Companionway – A raised and windowed hatchway in the ship’s deck, with a ladder leading below and the hooded entrance-hatch to the main cabins.
Compass – Navigational instrument showing the direction of the vessel in relation to the earth’s geographical poles or magnetic poles. Commonly consists of a magnet aligned with the earth’s magnetic field, but other technologies have also been developed, such as the gyrocompass.
Consort – Unpowered Great Lakes vessels, usually a fully loaded schooner, barge, or steamer barge, towed by a larger steamer that would often tow more than one barge. The consort system was used in the Great Lakes from the 1860s to around 1920.
CONVEX Control Volume Experiment
Cork fenders: A fender made of granulated cork and covered with woven tarred stuff.
Corrector – A device to correct the ship’s compass, for example counteracting errors due to the magnetic effects of a steel hull.
CoSWPCode of Safe Working Practices For Merchant Seamen
Counter – The part of the stern above the waterline that extends beyond the rudder stock culminating in a small transom. A long counter increases the waterline length when the boat is heeled, so increasing hull speed.
Courses the lowest square sail on each mast– The mainsail, foresail, and the mizzen on a four masted ship (the after most mast usually sets a gaff driver or spanker instead of a square sail).
COW crude oil washing
Coxswain or cockswain (pronounced /’k?ks?n/) – The helmsman or crew member in command of a boat.
Cradle: A stowage rest for a ship’s boat.
Crance/Crans/Cranze iron – A fitting, mounted at the end of a bowsprit to which stays are attached.
Cringle – A rope loop, usually at the corners of a sail, for fixing the sail to a spar. They are often reinforced with a metal eye.
CRM Certified Reference Material
Cro’jack or crossjack – a square yard used to spread the foot of a topsail where no course is set, e.g. on the foremast of a topsail schooner or above the driver on the mizzen mast of a ship rigged vessel.
Cross Trees – A strong cross piece that allows to spread the top mast stays allowing for taller masts, larger top sails. Allows to extend the height of the ships mast.
Crossing the line: Crossing the Equator.
Crow’s nest – Specifically a masthead constructed with sides and sometimes a roof to shelter the lookouts from the weather, generally by whaling vessels, this term has become a generic term for what is properly called masthead. See masthead.
Crow’s nest: The platform or tub on the mast for the look-out.
Crutches – Metal Y shaped pins to hold oars whilst rowing.
CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (AA)
CSNET Computer Science Network
CSS Code of Shipmanagement Standards
CTD Conductivity, Temperature, Depth (Profiler)
CTDO Conductivity-Temperature-Depth-Oxygen Profiler
CTU cargo transport unit
Cuddy – A small 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 join between two lines, similar to an eye-splice, where each rope end is joined to the other a short distance along, making an opening which closes under tension.
Cuntline – The “valley” between the strands of a rope or cable. Before serving a section of laid rope e.g. to protect it from chafing, it may be “wormed” by laying yarns in the cuntlines, giving that section an even cylindrical shape.
Cut and run – When wanting to make a quick escape, a ship might cut lashings to sails or cables for anchors, causing damage to the rigging, or losing an anchor, but shortening the time needed to make ready by bypassing the proper procedures.
Cut of his jib – The “cut” of a sail refers to its shape. Since this would vary between ships, it could be used both to identify a familiar vessel at a distance, and to judge the possible sailing qualities of an unknown one. Also used figuratively of people.
Cut-water: The foremost part of the stem, cutting the water as the vessel forges ahead.
CZCS Coastal Zone Color Scanner
-D-
DAC Data Assembly Center (of WOCE data system)
Daggerboard – A type of light centerboard that is lifted vertically; often in pairs, with the leeward one lowered when beating.
Davit: A curved metal spar for handling a boat or other heavy objects.
Davy Jones’ Locker – An idiom for the bottom of the sea.
Day beacon – An unlighted fixed structure which is equipped with a dayboard for daytime identification.
Dayboard – The daytime identifier of an aid to navigation presenting one of several standard shapes (square, triangle, rectangle) and colors (red, green, white, orange, yellow, or black).
DBCP Drifting Buoy Cooperation Panel (of WMO and IOC)
DBE Deep Basin Experiment
DBMS Data Base Management System
DDC Drifter Data Center (of WOCE data system)
Dead ahead: Directly ahead on the extension of the ship’s fore and aft line.
Dead light: Steel disc, that is dogged down over a porthole to secure against breakage of the glass and to prevent light from showing through.
Dead run – See running.
Deadeye – A wooden block with holes which is spliced to a shroud. It is used to adjust the tension in the standing rigging of large sailing vessels, by lacing through the holes with a lanyard to the deck. Performs the same job as a turnbuckle.
Deadrise – The design angle between the keel (q.v.) and horizontal.
Deadwood – A wooden part of the centerline structure of a boat, usually between the sternpost and amidships.
Deck hand – A person whose job involves aiding the deck supervisor in (un)mooring, anchoring, maintenance, and general evolutions on deck.
Deck supervisor – The person in charge of all evolutions and maintenance on deck; sometimes split into two groups: forward deck supervisor, aft deck supervisor.
Deckhead – The under-side of the deck above. Sometimes paneled over to hide the pipe work. This paneling, like that lining the bottom and sides of the holds, is the ceiling.
Decks – the structures forming the approximately horizontal surfaces in the ship’s general structure. Unlike flats, they are a structural part of the ship.
DERA Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (UK)
Derelict: An abandoned vessel at sea (a danger to navigation).
Derrick – A lifting device composed of one mast or pole and a boom or jib which is hinged freely at the bottom.
DETR Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (UK)
Devil seam – The devil was possibly a slang term for the garboard seam, hence “between the devil and the deep blue sea” being an allusion to keel hauling, but a more popular version seems to be the seam between the waterway and the stanchions which would be difficult to get at, requiring a cranked caulking iron, and a restricted swing of the caulking mallet.
Devil to pay (or Devil to pay, and no pitch hot) – ‘Paying’ the Devil is sealing the devil seam. It is a difficult and unpleasant job (with no resources) because of the shape of the seam (up against the stanchions) or if the devil refers to the garboard seam, it must be done with the ship slipped or careened.
DFFA Department of Fisheries, Food and Agriculture
DFO Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada
DGPS Differential Global Positioning System
DIC Dissolved inorganic carbon; total CO2
Dip: A position of a flag when lowered part way in salute (method of salute between vessels, like planes dipping wings).
Directional light – A light illuminating a sector or very narrow angle and intended to mark a direction to be followed.
DIS Draft international standard (ISO)
Displacement hull – A hull designed to travel through the water, rather than planing over it.
Displacement: The weight of the water displaced by a vessel.
Disrate – To reduce in rank or rating; demote.
Distress signal: A flag display or a sound, light, or radio signal calling for assistance.
Ditty-bag: A small bag used by seamen for stowing small articles.
DIU Data Information Unit (of WOCE data system)
DLat difference in latitude
DLong difference in longitude
DMC Data Management Committee (of WOCE)
DMDO Distilate Marine Deisel Oil
DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
DNC Digital Nautical Chart
DND Department of National Defence
DNV Det Norske Veritas (classification society)
DOC document of compliance (as per ISM Code)
DOD Deutsches Ozeanographisches Datenzentrum
DOE Department of Energy (USA)
DOE Department of Environment Canada
Dog watch – A short watch period, generally half the usual time (e.g. a two hour watch between two four hour ones). Such a watch might be included in order to slowly rotate the system over several days for fairness, or to allow both watches to eat their meals at approximately normal times.
Doldrums: The belt on each side of the Equator in which little or no wind ordinarily blows.
Dolphin – A structure consisting of a number of piles driven into the seabed or riverbed in a circular pattern and drawn together with wire rope.
Dolphin: A cluster of piles for mooring.
DORIS Doppler Orbit and Radio Positioning Integration by Satellite
DOT Department of Transportation
Double up: To double a vessel’s mooring lines.
Downhaul – A line used to control either a mobile spar, or the shape of a sail.
Dowse: To take in, or lower a sail. To put out a light. To cover with water.
DP dynamic positioning
DQU Data Quality Expert (of WOCE data system)
DR dead reckoning
Draft or draught (both pronounced /’dr??ft/) – The depth of a ship’s keel below the waterline.
Draft: The distance from the surface of the water to the ship’s keel (how deep the ship is into the water).
Drag: A sea anchor contrived to keep a vessel’s head to the wind and sea.
Dressing down – Treating old sails with oil or wax to renew them, or a verbal reprimand.
Dressing ship: A display of national colors at all mastheads and the array of signal flags from bow to stern over the masthead (for special occasions and holidays).
Driver – The large sail flown from the mizzen gaff.
Driver-mast – The fifth mast of a six-masted barquentine or gaff schooner. It is preceded by the jigger mast and followed by the spanker mast. The sixth mast of the only seven-masted vessel, the gaff schooner Thomas W. Lawson, was normally called the pusher-mast.
Dry dock: A basin for receiving a vessel for repairs, capable of being pumped dry (to repair vessel and scrape marine growth from bottom).
DSC Dangerous Goods,Solid Cargoes and Containers,IMO
DSP Digital signal processing
DSRT Deep Sea Reversing Thermometer
DSS decision support system
DSUWG Data System Users Working Group (of NASA, USA)
DSV Diving Support Vessel
Dungarees: Blue working overalls.
Dunnage (pronounced /’d?n?d?/) – 1. Loose packing material used to protect a ship’s cargo from damage during transport. 2. Personal baggage.
DVNIGMI Far East Hydrometeorological Institute, State Committee on Hydrometeorology, Vladivostok, USSR
DWBC Deep Western Boundary Current
Dwt deadweight tonnes
DX.90 Format for digital cartographic data
-E-
Eagle Flies: Pay day
Earrings – Small lines, by which the uppermost corners of the largest sails are secured to the yardarms.
Easy: Carefully (watch what you’re doing).
EAZO Energetically Active Zones of the Ocean
EBC Eastern Boundary Current
EC European Comunity or European Commission
ECDIS electronic chart display and information system
Echo sounding – Measuring the depth of the water using a sonar device. Also see sounding and swinging the lead.
ECMWF European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting
ECS electronic chart system
EEZ exclusive economic zone
EGCM Eddy-Resolving General Circulation Model
Embayed – The condition where a sailing vessel is confined between two capes or headlands by a wind blowing directly onshore.
EN European Standard
ENC electronic navigation chart
End seizing: A round seizing at the end of a rope.
End-for-end: Reversing the position of an object or line.
Engine order telegraph – a communications device used by the pilot to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed. Also Chadburn.
Ensign: (1) The national flag. (2) A junior officer.
ENSO El Nino Southern Oscillation
EOS Earth Observing System (NASA, USA)
EPA Environmental Protection Agency (USA)
EPFS Electronic Position Fixing System
EPIRB emergency position indicating radio beacon
EPSIMO performance standard for ECDIS
ERFEN Estudio Regional del Fenomeno El Nino
EROS Earth Resources Observing Satellite (USA)
ERS-1 Earth Resources Satellite – 1 (of ESA)
ESA European Space Agency
ESSP Eddy Statistics Scientific Panel
ETA estimated time of arrival
ETD estimated time of departure
ETSFElectronic Trading Stasndard Format
ETSI European Telecommunications
EU European Union
Even keel: Floating level (no list).
Extremis – (also known as “in extremis”) the point under International Rules of the Road (Navigation Rules) at which the privileged (or stand-on) vessel on collision course with a burdened (or give-way) vessel determines it must maneuver to avoid a collision. Prior to extremis, the privileged vessel must maintain course and speed and the burdened vessel must maneuver to avoid collision.
-F-
Fair – 1. A smooth curve, usually referring to a line of the hull which has no deviations. 2. To make something flush. 3. A rope is fair when it has a clear run. 4. A wind or current is fair when it offers an advantage to a boat.
Fake down: To fake line back and forth on deck.
Fake: A single turn of rope when a rope is coiled down.
Fall Off – To change the direction of sail so as to point in a direction that is more down wind. To bring the bow leeward. Also bear away, bear off or head down. The opposite of heading up.
Fantail: After deck over counter. The part of a rounded stern which extends past the rearmost perpendicular.
FAO Fisheries and Agriculture Organization
Fast – Fastened or held firmly (fast aground: stuck on the seabed; made fast: tied securely).
Fathom (pronounced /’fæð?m/) – A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.8 m), roughly measured as the distance between a man’s outstretched hands. Particularly used to measure depth.
Fathom: Six feet. Comes from the Dutch word “fadom” which was the distance between fingertips of outstretched hands.
FCC Fisheries Conservation Chair
FCC fully cellular containership
FCO financed,constructed and operated
Fend off: To push off when making a landing.
Fender – An air or foam filled bumper used in boating to keep boats from banging into docks or each other.
Fender: Canvas, wood or rope used over the side to protect a vessel from chafing when alongside another vessel or a dock.
Fetch – 1. The distance across water which a wind or waves have traveled. 2. To reach a mark without tacking.
FFAW Fisheries Food & Allied Workers
FGGE First GARP Global Experiment
Fid – 1. A tapered wooden tool used for separating the strands of rope for splicing. 2. A bar used to fix an upper mast in place.
Fid: A tapered wooden pin used to separate the strands when splicing heavy rope.
Field day: A day for general ship cleaning.
Figurehead – symbolic image at the head of a traditional sailing ship or early steamer.
Fire ship – A ship loaded with flammable materials and explosives and sailed into an enemy port or fleet either already burning or ready to be set alight by its crew (who would then abandon it) in order to collide with and set fire to enemy ships.
First Lieutenant – In the Royal Navy, the senior lieutenant on board; responsible to the Commander for the domestic affairs of the ship’s company. Also known as ‘Jimmy the One’ or ‘Number One’. Removes his cap when visiting the mess decks as token of respect for the privacy of the crew in those quarters. Officer i/c cables on the forecastle. In the U.S. Navy the senior person in charge of all Deck hands.
First Mate – The Second in command of a ship.
First-rate – The classification for the largest sailing warships of the 17th through 19th centuries. They had 3 masts, 850+ crew and 100+ guns.
Fish – 1. To repair a mast or spar with a fillet of wood. 2. To secure an anchor on the side of the ship for sea (otherwise known as “catting”.)
Fixed propeller – A propeller mounted on a rigid shaft protruding from the hull of a vessel, usually driven by an inboard motor; steering must be done using a rudder. See also outboard motor and sterndrive.
Flag hoist – A number of signal flags strung together to convey a message, e.g. ‘England expects…’.
Flank – The maximum speed of a ship. Faster than “full speed”.
Flare – 1. A curvature of the topsides outward towards the gunwale. 2. A pyrotechnic signalling device, usually used to indicate distress.
Flatback – A Great Lakes slang term for a vessel without any self unloading equipment.
Flemish down: To coil flat down on deck, each fake outside the other, beginning in the middle and all close together.
Flotsam – Debris or cargo that remains afloat after a shipwreck. See also jetsam.
Fluke – The wedge-shaped part of an anchor’s arms that digs into the bottom.
Fly by night – A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.
FNI Fellow of The Nautical Institute
FNOC Fleet Numerical Oceanography Center (USA Navy)
FO fuel oil
FOCAL Francais Ocean et Climat dans l’Atlantique Equatorial
Fo’c’sle: A modem version of the old term “forecastle,” or bow section of the ship, where the crew lived.
Fog horn: A sound signal device (not necessarily mechanically operated).
Fog-bound: Said of a vessel when forced to heave to or lie at anchor due to fog.
Folding propeller – A propeller with folding blades, furling to reduce drag on a sailing vessel when not in use.
Following sea – Wave or tidal movement going in the same direction as a ship
Foot – 1. The lower edge of any sail. 2. The bottom of a mast. 3. A measurement of 12 inches.
Footloose – If the foot of a sail is not secured properly, it is footloose, blowing around in the wind.
Footrope – Each yard on a square rigged sailing ship is equipped with a footrope for sailors to stand on while setting or stowing the sails
Force – See Beaufort scale.
Fore peak: The part of the vessel below decks at the stem.
Fore, foreward (pronounced /’f?r?rd/, and often written “for’ard”) – Towards the bow (of the vessel).
Forecastle – A partial deck, above the upper deck and at the head of the vessel; traditionally the sailors’ living quarters. Pronounced /’fo?ks?l/, “fo’csle”. The name is derived from the castle fitted to bear archers in time of war.
Forecastle: A compartment where the crew lives.
Forefoot – The lower part of the stem of a ship.
Forefoot: The heel of the stem where it connects to the keel.
Foremast jack – An enlisted sailor, one who is housed before the foremast.
Forestays – Long lines or cables, reaching from the front of the vessel to the mast heads, used to support the mast.
Foul – 1. The opposite of clear. For instance, a rope is foul when it does nor run straight or smoothly, and an anchor is foul when it is caught on an obstruction. 2. A breach of racing rules.
Foul: Jammed, not clear.
Fouled hawse: Said of the anchor chain when moored and the chain does not lead clear of another chain.
Founder – To fill with water and sink ? Founder (Wiktionary)
Founder: To sink (out of control).
FPPC Float Program Planning Committee
FPSO floating production,storage and offloading system
FRAM Fine Resolution Antarctic Model
Frame – A transverse structural member which gives the hull strength and shape. Wooden frames may be sawn, bent or laminated into shape. Planking is then fastened to the frames. A bent frame is called a timber.
FRCC Fisheries Resource Conservation Council
Freeboard – The height of a ship’s hull (excluding superstructure) above the waterline. The vertical distance from the current waterline to the lowest point on the highest continuous watertight deck. This usually varies from one part to another.
Freeboard: The distance from the surface of the water to the main deck or gunwale.
Freeing port: A port in the bulwark for the purpose of freeing the deck of water.
Freighter: A ship designed to carry all types of general cargo, or “dry cargo.”
FSA formal safety assessment
FSU Florida State University
FTP file transfer protocol
FTP File transfer protocol
Full and by – Sailing into the wind (by), but not as close-hauled as might be possible, so as to make sure the sails are kept full. This provides a margin for error to avoid being taken aback (a serious risk for square-rigged vessels) in a tricky sea. Figuratively it implies getting on with the job but in a steady, relaxed way, without undue urgency or strain.
Furl – To roll or gather a sail against its mast or spar.
Futtocks – Pieces of timber that make up a large transverse frame.
-G-
G.I.: Anything of Government Issue.
Gaff – 1. The spar that holds the upper edge of a four-sided fore-and-aft mounted sail. 2. A hook on a long pole to haul fish in.
Gaff rigged – A boat rigged with a four-sided fore-and-aft sail with its upper edge supported by a spar or gaff which extends aft from the mast.
Galley – the kitchen of the ship
Gam – A meeting of two (or more) whaling ships at sea. The ships each send out a boat to the other, and the two captains meet on one ship, while the two chief mates meet on the other.[3]
Gammon iron – The bow fitting which clamps the bowsprit to the stem.
Gangplank – A movable bridge used in boarding or leaving a ship at a pier; also known as a “brow”.
Gangway – An opening in the bulwark of the ship to allow passengers to board or leave the ship.
Gantline: A line rove through a single block secured aloft.
Garbling – The (illegal) practice of mixing cargo with garbage.
Garboard – The strake closest to the keel (from Dutch gaarboard).
Garboard planks – The planks immediately either side of the keel.
Garboard strake: The strake next to the keel (running fore and aft).
GARP Global Atmospheric Research Program
GATE GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment
Gather way: To attain headway (to get going or pick up speed).
GCM General Circulation Model
GCOS Global Climate Observing System (WMO,IOC,ICSU)
GDC Global Drifter Center (of WOCE data system)
GDR Geophysical Data Record
Gear: The general name for ropes, blocks and tackles, tools, etc. (things).
GEK Geomagnetic Electrokinetograph
Genoa or genny (both pronounced /’d??n?/) – A large jib, strongly overlapping the mainmast.
GEOS Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GEOSAT Geodetic Satellite (launched March 1985 USA)
GEOSECS Geochemical Oceans Sections Study
GEWEX Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment
GF3 General Format No. 3 (for data exchange)
GFDL Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (of NOAA, USA)
Ghost – To sail slowly when there is apparently no wind.
Gibe – See gybe.
Gilguy (or gadget): A term used to designate an object for which the correct name has been forgotten.
Gipsey (gypsey): A drum of a windlass for heaving in line.
GIS Geographic Information System
Give-way (vessel) – Where two vessels are approaching one another so as to involve a risk of collision, this is the vessel which is directed to keep out of the way of the other.
GL Germanischer Lloyd (classification society)
GLA General Lighthouse Authority
Glass: Term used by mariners for a barometer.
Global Positioning System – (GPS) A satellite based radionavigation system providing continuous worldwide coverage. It provides navigation, position, and timing information to air, marine, and land users.
Glonass Global navigation satellite system
Glory hole: Steward’s quarters.
GLOSS Global Sea Level Observing System (of IOC)
GMDSS global maritime distress and safety system
GMT Greenwich mean time
Go adrift: Break loose.
GOC general operators’ certificate with regard to GMDSS
GOFS Global Ocean Flux Study
GOIN State Oceanographic Institute, State Committee on Hydrometeorology, Moscow, USSR
Going about or tacking – Changing from one tack to another by going through the wind (see also gybe). When ready to go about the helmsman or skipper calls “Ready about”, the crew then each call “Ready!”, and as the turn is made the helmsman calls “Lee oh!”.
Golden Slippers: Tan work shoes issued to U.S. Maritime Service trainees
GOOS Global Ocean Observing System (IOC)
Gooseneck – Fitting that attaches the boom to the mast, allowing 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 – for example with the mainsail to port and the jib to starboard, to maximize the amount of canvas exposed to the wind. Also see running.
GPS global positioning system
GPS Global Positioning System – Satellite Navigation System
GRADO CNES Gravity Satellite (France)
Grapeshot – Small balls of lead fired from a cannon, analagous to shotgun shot on a larger scale. Similar to canister shot but with larger individual shot. Used to injure personnel and damage rigging more than to cause structural damage.
Grapnel: A small anchor with several arms used for dragging purposes.
Grating: A wooden lattice-work covering a hatch or the bottom boards of a boat; similarly designed gratings of metal are frequently found on shipboard.
Grave – To clean a ship’s bottom.
Graveyard watch: The middle watch.
Green sea: A large body of water taken aboard (ship a sea).
GRM Geopotential Research Mission (USA satellite)
Grog – Watered-down pusser’s rum consisting of half a gill with equal part of water, issued to all seamen over twenty. (CPOs and POs were issued with neat rum) From the British Admiral Vernon who, in 1740, ordered the men’s ration of rum to be watered down. He was called “Old Grogram” because he often wore a grogram coat), and the watered rum came to be called ‘grog’. Often used (illegally) as currency in exchange for favours in quantities prescribed as ’sippers’ and ‘gulpers’. Additional issues of grog were made on the command ’splice the mainbrace’ for celebrations or as a reward for performing especially onerous duties. The RN discontinued the practice of issuing rum in 1970. A sailor might repay a colleague for a favour by giving him part or all of his grog ration, ranging from “sippers” (a small amount) via “gulpers” (a larger quantity) to “grounders” (the entire tot).
Groggy – Drunk from having consumed a lot of grog.
Ground – The bed of the sea.
Ground tackle: A term used to cover all of the anchor gear.
Grounding – When a ship (while afloat) touches the bed of the sea, or goes “aground” (qv).
Grounding: Running ashore (hitting the bottom).
GRP Glass Reinforced Plastic
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center (of NASA, USA)
GT gross tonnage
GTS WMO Global Telecommunication System
GTSP Global Tracer Scientific Panel
GTSPP Global Temperature and Salinity Pilot Program
Gunner’s daughter – see kissing the gunner’s daughter.
Gunwale (pronounced /’g?n?l/, “gun’ll”) – Upper edge of the hull.
Gunwale: The upper edge of a vessel or boat’s side.
Gybe or jibe (both pronounced /’d???b/) – To change from one tack to the other away from the wind, with the stern of the vessel turning through the wind. When ready to gybe the helmsman or skipper calls “Ready to gybe”, the crew then each call “Ready!”, and as the turn is made the helmsman calls “Gybe oh!”. A gybe may also happen accidentally when sailing downwind. (See also going about and wearing ship.)
-H-
Hail: To address a vessel, to come from, as to hail from some port (call).
Half-mast: The position of a flag when lowered halfway down.
Halliards or halyards: Ropes used for hoisting gaffs and sails, and signal flags.
Halyard or halliard – Originally, ropes used for hoisting a spar with a sail attached; today, a line used to raise the head of any sail.
Hammock – Canvas sheets, slung from the deckhead in messdecks, in which seamen slept. “Lash up and stow” a piped command to tie up hammocks and stow them (typically) in racks inboard of the ship’s side to protect crew from splinters from shot and provide a ready means of preventing flooding caused by damage.
Hand bomber – A ship using coal-fired boilers shoveled in by hand.
Hand lead: A lead of from 7 to 14 pounds used with the hand lead line for ascertaining the depth of water in entering or leaving a harbor. (Line marked to 20 fathoms.)
Hand over fist – To climb steadily upwards, from the motion of a sailor climbing shrouds on a sailing ship (originally “hand over hand”).
Hand rail: A steadying rail of a ladder (banister).
Hand rope: Same as “grab rope” (rope).
Hand taut: As tight as can be pulled by hand.
Hand: A member of the ship’s company.
Handsomely – With a slow even motion, as when hauling on a line “handsomely”.
Handy billy – A loose block and tackle with a hook or tail on each end, which can be used wherever it is needed. Usually made up of one single and one double block.
Handybilly: A watch tackle (small, handy block and tackle for general use).
Hang from the yards: Dangle a man from one of the yard arms, sometimes by the neck, if the man was to be killed, and sometimes by the toes, if he was merely to be tortured. A severe punishment used aboard sailing ships long ago. Today, a reprimand.
Hank – A fastener attached to the luff of the headsail that attaches the headsail to the forestay. Typical designs include a bronze or plastic hook with a spring-operated gate, or a strip of cloth webbing with a snap fastener.
Harbor – A harbor or harbour, or haven, is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbours can be man-made or natural.
Hard – A section of otherwise muddy shoreline suitable for mooring or hauling out.
Harden up – Turn towards the wind; sail closer to the wind.
Hardtack – A hard and long-lasting dry biscuit, used as food on long journeys. Also called ship’s biscuit.
Hatch: An opening in a ship’s deck for passageway or for handling cargo or stores.
Hatchway, hatch – 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.
Hauling wind – Pointing the ship towards the direction of the wind; generally not the fastest point of travel on a sailing vessel.
Hawse buckler: An iron plate covering a hawse hole.
Hawse pipe, hawse-hole or hawse (pronounced /h??z/) – The shaft or hole in the side of a vessel’s bow through which the anchor chain passes.
Hawsepiper – An informal term for a merchant ship’s officer who began their career as an unlicensed merchant seaman, and so did not attend a traditional maritime academy to earn their officer’s licence (also see before the mast).
Hawse-pipes: A pipe lead-in for anchor chain through ship’s bow.
Hawser – Large rope used for mooring or towing a vessel.
Hawser: A rope used for towing or, mooring.
Hawser-laid: Left-handed rope of nine strands, in the form of three three-stranded, right-handed ropes.
HBL Hydrostatic Balanced Loading
HCRFHydrographic Chart Raster Format
HD Hydrographic Department
Head – The toilet or latrine of a vessel, which in sailing ships projected from the bows
Head of navigation – A term used to describe the farthest point above the mouth of a river that can be navigated by ships.
Head room: The height of the decks, below decks.
Head: The ship’s water closet (toilet or wash-room). The upper edge of a quadrilateral sail.
Headsail – Any sail flown in front of the most forward mast.
Heart: The inside center strand of rope.
Heave – A vessel’s transient, vertical, up-and-down motion.
Heave around: To revolve the drum of a capstan, winch or windlass. (Pulling with mechanical deck heaving gear).
Heave away: An order to haul away or to heave around a capstan (pull).
Heave down – Turn a ship on its side (for cleaning).
Heave in: To haul in.
Heave short: To heave in until the vessel is riding nearly over her anchor.
Heave taut: To haul in until the line has a strain upon it.
Heave the lead: The operation of taking a sounding with the hand lead (to find bottom).
Heave to: To bring vessel on a course on which she rides easily and hold her there by the use of the ship’s engines (holding a position).
Heave: To haul or pull on a line; to throw a heaving line.
Heaving line: A small line thrown to an approaching vessel, or a dock as a messenger.
Heaving to – Stopping a sailing vessel by lashing the helm in opposition to the sails. The vessel will gradually drift to leeward, the speed of the drift depending on the vessel’s design.
Heeling – Heeling is the lean caused by the wind’s force on the sails of a sailing vessel.
Helmsman – A person who steers a ship
Hemp: Rope made of the fibers of the hemp plant and used for small stuff or less than 24 thread (1.75 inch circumference). (Rope is measured by circumference, wire by diameter.)
HF High Frequency
HGE Harmonisation Group on ECDIS
HHP High holding power (anchors)
High, wide and handsome: Sailing ship with a favorable wind, sailing dry and easily. A person riding the crest of good fortune
Highfield lever – A particular type of tensioning lever, usually for running backstays. Their use allows the leeward backstay to be completely slackened so that the boom can be let fully out.
Hitch – A knot used to tie a rope or line to a fixed object. Also see bend.
HNS Convention on the Carriage of Noxious and Hazardous Substances by Sea
HO Hydrographic Office, observed height
Hog – 1. A fore-and-aft structural member of the hull fitted over the keel to provide a fixing for the garboard planks. 2. A rough flat scrubbing brush for cleaning a ship’s bottom under water.
Hogging – When the peak of a wave is amidships, causing the hull to bend so the ends of the keel are lower than the middle. The opposite of sagging.
Hoist away: An order to haul up.
Hold – In earlier use, below the orlop deck, the lower part of the interior of a ship’s hull, especially when considered as storage space, as for cargo. In later merchant vessels it extended up through the decks to the underside of the weather deck.
Hold: The space below decks utilized for the stowage of cargo and stores.
Holiday – A gap in the coverage of newly applied paint, slush, tar or other preservative.
Holiday: An imperfection, spots left unfinished in cleaning or painting.
Holy stone: The soft sandstone block sailors use to scrub the deck, so-called, because seamen were on their knees to use it.
Holystone – A chunk of sandstone used to scrub the decks. The name comes from both the kneeling position sailors adopt to scrub the deck (reminiscent of genuflection for prayer), and the stone itself (which resembled a Bible in shape and size).
Horn – A sound signal which uses electricity or compressed air to vibrate a disc diaphragm.
Horn timber – A fore-and-aft structural member of the hull sloping up and backwards from the keel to support the counter.
Horse – 1. Attachment of sheets to deck of vessel (main-sheet horse). 2. (v.) To move or adjust sail by brute hand force rather than using running rigging.
Horse latitudes: The latitudes on the outer margins of the trades where the prevailing winds are light and variable.
HOTS Hawaii Ocean Time-Series
Hounds – Attachments of stays to masts.
House flag: Distinguishing flag of a merchant marine company flown from the mainmast of merchant ships.
House: To stow or secure in a safe place. A top-mast is housed by lowering it and securing it to a lowermast.
HP high pressure
HSC International Code of Safety for High-Speed Craft,IMO
HSE health safety and environmental,Health and Safety Executive
HSWA Health and Safety at Work Act
Hug: To keep close.
Hulk: A worn out vessel.
Hull – The shell and framework of the basic flotation-oriented part of a ship.
Hull down: Said of a vessel when, due to its distance on the horizon, only the masts are visible.
Hull speed – The maximum efficient speed of a displacement-hulled vessel.
Hull-down – Of a vessel when only its upper parts are visible over the horizon.
Hurricane: Force of wind over 65 knots.
Hydrofoil – A boat with wing-like foils mounted on struts below the hull, lifting the hull entirely out of the water at speed and allowing water resistance to be greatly reduced.
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IABO International Association of Biological Oceanography (ICSU)
IACS International Association of Classification Societies
IADC International Association of Ddrilling Contractors
IAIN International Association of Institutes of Navigation
IALA International Association of Lighthouse Authorities
IAMAP International Association of Metereology and Atmospheric Physics (ICSU)
IAPH International Association of Ports and Harbors
IAPSO International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean (ICSU)
IAPU Inst of Automatics and Control Processes, Far East Department of the Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, USSR
IASST International Association for Sea Survival Training
IBC Code International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk, IMO
IBCS Integrated bridge control system
IBIA International Bunker Industry Association Ltd
ICAB International Cargo Advisory Bureau
Ice-bound: Caught in the ice.
ICES International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
ICHCA International Cargo Handling Coordination Association
Icing – A serious hazard where cold temperatures (below about -10°C) combined with high wind speed (typically force 8 or above on the Beaufort scale) result in spray blown off the sea freezing immediately on contact with the ship
ICS International Chamber of Shipping: Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers: international code of signals
ICSU International Council of Scientific Unions
Idlers – Members of a ship’s company not required to serve watches. These were in general specialist tradesmen such as the carpenter and the sailmaker.
IDOE International Decade of Ocean Exploration
IERS International Ellipsoid Referance System
IFA Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR
IFMH Institut fur Meereskunde der Universitat Hamburg
IFMK Institut fur Meereskunde der Universitat Kiel
IFO Intermediate Fuel Oil
IFREMER French Marine Research Institute
IFSMA International Federation of Ship Masters’ Associations
IFTPA International Forest Product Transport Association
IGBP International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (Global Change)
IGC Code International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk,IMO
IGO inter-governmental organisation
IGOSS Integrated Global Ocean Services System (of IOC and WMO)
IGS inert gas system
IGY International Geophysical Year
IHB International Hydrographic Bureau
IHMA International Harbour Masters’ Association
IHO International Hydrographic Association
IHO International Hydrographic Organisation
IICLInstitute of Internatioanl Container Lessors
IIMS International Institute of Marine Surveyors
ILO International Labour Organisation
IMarE Institute of Marine Engineers
IMB International Maritime Bureau
IMDG Code International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, IMO
IMLA International Maritime Lecturers Association
IMO International Maritime Organisation
IMPA International Marine Purchasing Association
IMPA International Maritime Pilots’ Association
In irons – When the bow of a sailboat is headed into the wind and the boat has stalled and is unable to maneuver
In the offing – In the water visible from on board a ship, now used to mean something imminent.
Inboard motor – An engine mounted within the hull of a vessel, usually driving a fixed propeller by a shaft protruding through the stern. Generally used on larger vessels. Also see sterndrive and outboard motor.
Inboard: Towards the center line of a ship (towards the center).
Inboard-Outboard drive system – See sterndrive.
INDIGO French Program, Indien Gaz Ocean
Inglefield clip – A type of clip for attaching a flag to a flag halyard.
INLS-code International Noxious Liquid Substances
Inmarsat International Marine Satellite Organisation
Intercargo International Association fo Dry Cargo Shipowners
Intertanko International Association of Independent Tanker Owners
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.
IOAN P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR
IOC Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (of UNESCO)
IOCARIBE IOC Sub-Commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions
IODE International Oceanographic Data/Information Exchange (IOC)
IOLTInstitute of Logistics and Transport
IOPC International Oil Pollution Fund
IOS Institute of Ocean Sciences (Canada)
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (WMO,UNEP)
IPF Institute of Applied Physics (USSR)
IPO WOCE International Project Office
IR Infra-red (Radiometers)
IRIS International Radio Interferometric Surveying
Irish pennant: An untidy loose end of a rope (or rags).
IRP Income Recovery Program
IS information systems
ISDN integrated services digital network
ISDP integrated ship design and production
ISF International Shipping Federation
ISGOTT International Safety Guide for Oil Tankers and Terminals
ISM Code International Safety Management Code, IMO
ISMA International Ship Managers’ Association
ISO International Standards Organisation
ISOS International Southern Ocean Studies
ISSAInternational Ship Supplies Association
ISSN international standard serial number
ISUInternational Salvage Union
IT information technology
ITEF Institute of Thermo- and Electrophysics, Estonian Academy of Sciences, Tallinn, USSR
ITF International Transport Workers Federation
ITOPF International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation
ITPO International TOGA Project Office
IUA International Underwiting Association
IWP Intergovernmental WOCE Panel
-J-
Jack – 1 – A sailor. Also jack tar or just tar. 2 – A flag. Typically the flag was talked about as if it were a member of the crew. Strictly speaking, a flag is only a “jack” if it is worn at the jackstaff at the bow of a ship.
Jack Tar – A sailor dressed in ’square rig’ with square collar. Formerly with a tarred pigtail.
Jack Tar: Sailors were once called by their first names only, and Jack was their generic name. Tar came from seamen’s custom of waterproofing clothing using tar.
Jack: The flag similar to the union of the national flag.
Jacklines or jack stays – Lines, often steel wire with a plastic jacket, from the bow to the stern on both port and starboard. The Jack Lines are used to clip on the safety harness to secure the crew to the vessel while giving them the freedom to walk on the deck.
Jacob’s ladder: A ladder of rope with rungs, used over the side.
Jam: To wedge tight.
JAMSTEC Japan Marine Science and Technology Center
JASIN Joint Air-Sea Interaction Project
JASL Joint Archive for Sea Level
JEDA Joint Environmental Data Analysis Center (of Scripps and NODC, USA)
Jenny – See genoa
JERS-1 Japanese Earth Resources Satellite
Jetsam – Debris ejected from a ship that sinks or washes ashore. See also flotsam.
Jettison: To throw goods overboard.
Jetty: A landing wharf or pier; a dike at a river s mouth.
Jews harp: The ring bolted to the upper end of the shank of an anchor and to which the bending shackle secures.
JFA Japan Fisheries Agency
JGOFS Joint Global Ocean Flux Study
Jib – A triangular staysail at the front of a ship.
Jibboom – A spar used to extend the bowsprit.
Jibe – See gybe.
Jigger-mast – The fourth mast, although ships with four or more masts were uncommon, or the aft most mast where it is smallest on vessels of less than four masts.
JIMAR Joint Inst. for Marine and Atmospheric Research (of U HI and NOAA, USA)
JMA Japan Meteorological Agency
JOC Joint Organizing Committee (for GARP)
JODC Japan Oceanographic Data Center
Joggle – a slender triangular recess cut into the faying surface of a frame or steamed timber to fit over the land of clinker planking, or cut into the faying edge of a plank or rebate to avoid feather ends on a streak of planking. The feather end is cut off to produce a nib. The joggle and nib in this case is made wide enough to allow a caulking iron to enter the seam.
JOI Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc., Washington DC, USA
Jollies – Traditional Royal Navy nickname for the Royal Marines.
Jolly Roger: A pirate’s flag carrying the skull and cross-bones.
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif, USA
JSC Johnson Space Center (USA)
JSC Joint Scientific Committee, World Climate Research Program
Jump ship: To leave a ship without authority (deserting).
Junk – Old cordage past its useful service life as lines aboard ship. The strands of old junk were teased apart in the process called picking oakum.
Jury rig: Makeshift rig (emergency rig).
-K-
Kb/s Kilobits per second
Keel – The central structural basis of the hull
Keel: The timber or bar forming the backbone of the vessel and running from the stem to the stempost at the bottom of the ship.
Keel-haul: To tie a rope about a man and, after passing the rope under the ship and bringing it up on deck on the opposite side, haul away, dragging the man down and around the keel of the vessel. As the bottom of the ship was always covered with sharp barnacles, this was a severe punishment used aboard sailing ships long ago. Today, a reprimand.
Keelhauling – Maritime punishment: to punish by dragging under the keel of a ship.
Keep a sharp look-out: A look-out is stationed in a position to watch for danger ahead. To be on guard against sudden opposition or danger.
Kelson – The timber immediately above the keel of a wooden ship.
KER Kuroshio Extension Recirculations (USA Navy)
KERE Kuroshio Extension Regional Experiment (USA Navy)
Killick – A small anchor. A fouled killick is the substantive badge of non-commissioned officers in the RN. Seamen promoted to the first step in the promotion ladder are called ‘Killick’. The badge signifies that here is an Able Seaman skilled to cope with the awkward job of dealing with a fouled anchor.
King plank – The centerline plank of a laid deck. Its sides are often recessed, or nibbed, to take the ends of their parallel curved deck planks.
King-spoke: The upper spoke of a steering wheel when the rudder is amidships, usually marked in some fashion (top spoke of neutral steering wheel).
Kink: A twist in a rope.
Kissing the gunner’s daughter – bend over the barrel of a gun for punitive beating with a cane or cat
Kitchen rudder – Hinged cowling around a fixed propeller, allowing the drive to be directed to the side or forwards to manoeuvre the vessel.
Knee – Connects two parts roughly at right angles, eg. deck beams to frames.
Knock off: To stop, especially to stop work.
Knocked down: The situation of a vessel when listed over by the wind to such an extent that she does not recover.
Knot – A unit of speed: 1 nautical mile (1.8520 km; 1.1508 mi) per hour. Originally speed was measured by paying out a line from the stern of a moving boat. The line had a knot every 47 feet 3 inches (14.4 m), and the number of knots passed out in 30 seconds gave the speed through the water in nautical miles per hour.
Knot: A twisting, turning, tying, knitting, or entangling of ropes or parts of a rope so as to join two ropes together or make a finished end on a rope, for certain purpose.
Knot: Speed of 1 nautical mile per hour (1.7 land miles per hour).
Know the ropes – A sailor who ‘knows the ropes’ is familiar with the miles of cordage and ropes involved in running a ship.
KR Korean Register of Shipping (classification society)
KRZ Klimarechenzentrum, Hamburg (Germany)
KTI Kalingrad Technological Institute, Kaliningrad, USSR
-L-
Labor: A vessel is said to labor when she works heavily in a seaway (pounding, panting, hogging and sagging).
Ladder – On board a ship, all “stairs” are called ladders, except for literal staircases aboard passenger ships. Most “stairs” on a ship are narrow and nearly vertical, hence the name. Believed to be from the Anglo-Saxon word hiaeder, meaning ladder.
Ladder: A metal, wooden or rope stairway.
Laker –Great Lakes slang for a vessel who spends all its time on the 5 Great Lakes.
Lame duck: Term for disabled vessel that had to fall out of a convoy and thus became easy prey for submarines.
LAN local apparent noon (nautical),local area network
Land lubber – A person unfamiliar with being on the sea.
Landlubber: The seaman’s term for one who does not go to sea.
Lanyard – A rope that ties something off.
Lanyard: A rope made fast to an article for securing it (knife lanyard, bucket lanyard, etc.), or for setting up rigging.
Larboard – Obsolete term for the left side of a ship. Derived from “lay-board” providing access between a ship and a quay, when ships normally docked with the left side to the wharf. Replaced by port side or port, to avoid confusion with starboard.
Large – See by and large.
Lash lighter aboard ship
Lashing: A passing and repassing of a rope so as to confine or fasten together two or more objects; usuafly in the form of a bunch.
Lat latitute, local apparent time
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 (usually upstream).
Launch: To place in the water.
Lay – To come and go, used in giving orders to the crew, such as “lay forward” or “lay aloft”. To direct the course of vessel. Also, to twist the strands of a rope together.
Lay aloft: The order to go aloft (go up above).
Laying down – Beginning construction in a shipyard.
Lazarette – Small stowage locker at the aft end of a boat.
Lazaretto: A low headroom space below decks used for provisions or spare parts, or miscellaneous storage.
LBP length between perpendiculars
LBS lifeboat stations
LCB longitudinal centre of buoyancy
LCD liquid crystal display
LCF longitudinal centre of flotation
LDT light displacement tonnage, lost during transhipment
League – A unit of length, normally equal to three nautical miles.
LED light emitting diode
Lee shore – A shore downwind of a ship. A ship which cannot sail well to windward risks being blown onto a lee shore and grounded.
Lee shore: The land to the leeward of the vessel (wind blows from the ship to the land).
Lee side – The side of a ship sheltered from the wind (cf. weather side).
Leech – The aft or trailing edge of a fore-and-aft sail; the leeward edge of a spinnaker; a vertical edge of a square sail. The leech is susceptible to twist, which is controlled by the boom vang and mainsheet.
Leeward – In the direction that the wind is blowing towards.
Leeward: The direction away from the wind.
Leeway – The amount that a ship is blown leeward by the wind. See also weatherly.
LEL lower explosive limit (lower flammable limit)
LEM lower explosive mixture
Length overall, LOA – the length of a ship.
LEO low earth orbit (satellite configuration)
Let go and haul – An order indicating that the ship is in line with the wind.
Letter of marque and reprisal – A warrant granted to a privateer condoning specific acts of piracy against a target as a redress for grievances.
LF summer fresh water load line (timber)
LGMI Leningrad Hydrometeorological Institute, Leningrad, USSR
Liberty: Permission to be absent from the ship for a short period (authorized absence).
Lifebelt, lifejacket, life preserver or Mae West – A device such as a buoyant ring or inflatable jacket which keeps a person afloat in the water.
Lifeboat – 1. Shipboard lifeboat, kept on board a vessel and used to take crew and passengers to safety in the event of the ship being abandoned. 2. Rescue lifeboat, usually launched from shore, used to rescue people from the water or from vessels in difficulty.
Life-line: A line secured along the deck to lay hold of in heavy weather; a line thrown on board a wreck by life-saving crew; a knotted line secured to the span between life-boat davits for the use of the crew when hoisting and lowering.
Liferaft – An inflatable, covered raft, used in the event of a vessel being abandoned.
Line – the correct nautical term for the majority of the cordage or “ropes” used on a vessel. A line will always have a more specific name, such as mizzen topsail halyard, which describes its use.
Line: A general term for light rope.
Liner – Ship of the line: a major warship capable of taking its place in the main (battle) line of fighting ships. Hence modern term for prestigious passenger vessels: ocean liner.
List – The vessel’s angle of lean or tilt to one side, in the direction called roll.
LLA Local Lighthouse Authority
LMT local mean time
LNG liquefied natural gas
LO lubricating oil
LOA length over all
Loaded to the gunwales – Literally, having cargo loaded as high as the ship’s rail; also means extremely drunk.
LOC letter of credit,letter of compliance (USCG)
LODYC Laboratoire d’Oceanographie et Dynamique du Climat, Paris, France
Logbook: A book containing the official record of a ship’s activities together with remarks concerning the state of the weather, etc.
Loggerhead – An iron ball attached to a long handle, used for driving caulking into seams and (occasionally) in a fight. Hence: ‘at loggerheads’.
LOL limitation of owner’s liability, loss of life
LONG LINES Long Hydrographic Sections Program (USA)
Long stay – A description for the relative slackness of an anchor chain; this term means taught and extended.
Longitudinal: A fore and aft strength member of a ship’s structure.
Longshoreman: A laborer who works at loading and discharging cargo.
Lookout: The man stationed aloft or in the bows for observing and reporting objects seen.
Loom: The part of an oar between the blade and handle. The reflection of a light below the horizon due to certain atmospheric conditions.
Loose cannon – An irresponsible and reckless individual whose behavior (either intended or unintended) endangers the group he or she belongs to. A loose cannon, weighing thousands of pounds, would crush anything and anyone in its path, and possibly even break a hole in the hull, thus endangering the seaworthiness of the whole ship.
Loose footed – A mainsail that is not connected to a boom along its foot.
Loose: To unfurl.
LOP line of position
LOR letter of readiness
LORAN-”C” Long Range Area Navigation System “C”
LOS line of sight, Law of the Sea
LOTUS Long-Term Upper Ocean Study, Woods Hole, 1983
LP liquid petroleum,low pressure
LPC London Processing Centre
LPCM Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Marines, Paris, France
LPG liquefied petroleum gas
LR Lloyd’s Register (classification society)
LSA life saving appliances,Lloyd’s standard form of salvage agreement
LSPU Long Shoreman’s Protective Union
LST local standard time
Lubber line: The black line parallel with ship’s keel marked on the inner surface of the bowl of a compass, indicating the compass direction of the ship’s head.
Lubber’s hole – A port cut into the bottom of the mizzentop (crow’s-nest) allowing easy entry and exit. It was considered “un-seamanlike” to use this easier method rather than going over the side from the shrouds, and few sailors would risk the scorn of their shipmates by doing so (at least if there were witnesses)
Lubber’s line – A vertical line inside a compass case indicating the direction of the ship’s head.
LUCIE Study of Circulation north and west of Australia (Leeuwin Current)
Luff – The forward edge of a sail.
Luff up – To steer a sailing vessel more towards the direction of the wind until the pressure is eased on the [sheet].
Luffing 1. When a sailing vessel is steered far enough to windward that the sail is no longer completely filled with wind (the luff of a fore-and-aft sail begins to flap first). 2. Loosening a sheet so far past optimal trim that the sail is no longer completely filled with wind. 3. The flapping of the sail(s) which results from having no wind in the sail at all.
Lumber hooker is a nautical term for a Great Lakes ship designed to carry her own deck load of lumber and to tow one or two barges. The barges were big old schooners stripped of their masts and running gear to carry large cargoes of lumber.
Lurch: The sudden heave of the ship.
LV Large Volume water samples
LVS Large Volume Sampling
LW low water, winter load line (timber)
LWL length on water line , low water line
Lying ahull – Waiting out a storm by dousing all sails and simply letting the boat drift.
Lyle gun: A gun used in the life-saving services to throw a life line to a ship in distress or from ship to shore and used when a boat cannot be launched.
-M-
Mae West – A Second World War personal flotation device used to keep people afloat in the water; named after the 1930s actress Mae West, well-known for her pneumatic torso.
MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (UK)
Magnetic bearing – An absolute bearing (qv) using magnetic north.
Magnetic north – The direction towards the North Magnetic Pole. Varies slowly over time.
MAIB Marine Accident Investigation Branch
MAIIF Marine Accident Investigators’ International Forum
Mainbrace – One of the braces attached to the mainmast.
Mainmast (or Main) – The tallest mast on a ship.
Mainsheet – Sail control line that allows the most obvious effect on mainsail trim. Primarily used to control the angle of the boom, and thereby the mainsail, this control can also increase or decrease downward tension on the boom while sailing upwind, significantly affecting sail shape. For more control over downward tension on the boom, use a boom vang.
Make colors: Hoisting the ensign at 8 a.m. and down at sunset.
Make the course good: Steering; keeping the ship on the course given (no lazy steering).
Make the land: Landfall. To reach shore.
Make water: To leak; take in water.
Making way – When a vessel is moving under its own power.
Man of war or man o’ war – a warship from the Age of Sail
Man overboard! – A cry let out when a seaman has gone overboard.
Man ropes: Ropes hung and used for assistance in ascending and descending.
Manhole: An opening into a tank or compartment designed to admit a man.
Manila: Rope made from the fibers of the abaca plant.
Marconi rig – Another term for bermudan rig. The mainsail is triangular, rigged fore-and-aft with the lead edge fixed to the mast. Refers to the similarity of the tall mast to a radio aerial.
Marina – a docking facility for small ships and yachts.
Marines Soldiers afloat. Royal Marines formed as the Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot in 1664 with many and varied duties including providing guard to ship’s officers should there be mutiny aboard. Sometimes thought by seamen to be rather gullible, hence the phrase “tell it to the marines”.
Marisat maritime satellite system
Marlinspike: Pointed iron implement used in separating the strands of rope in splicing, marling, etc.
Maroon: To put a person ashore with no means of returning.
Marpol 73/78 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships,IMO
Marry: To temporarily sew the ends of two ropes together for rendering through a block. Also to grip together parts of a fall to prevent running out. To marry strands to prepare for splicing.
Mast – A vertical pole on a ship which supports sails or rigging.
Mast step: The frame on the keelson of boat (does not apply on ships) to which the heel of a mast is fitted.
Master – Either the commander of commercial vessel, or a senior officer of a naval sailing ship in charge of routine seamanship and navigation but not in command during combat.
Master: A term for the captain, a holdover from the days when the captain was literally, and legally, the “master” of the ship and crew. His word was law.
Master-at-arms – A non-commissioned officer responsible for discipline on a naval ship. Standing between the officers and the crew, commonly known in the Royal Navy as ‘the Buffer’.
Masthead – A small platform partway up the mast, just above the height of the mast’s main yard. A lookout is stationed here, and men who are working on the main yard will embark from here. See also Crow’s Nest.
Masthead light: The white running light carried by steam vessel underway on the foremast or in the forepart of the vessel.
Masthead: The top part of the mast.
Matelot – A traditional Royal Navy term for an ordinary sailor.
Mb megabyte
MB Megabyte
MCA Maritime and Coastguard Agency
MDO marine diesel oil
MED Marine Emergency Duties
MEDS Marine Environmental Data Service (Canada)
MEO medium earth orbit (satellite configuration)
MEPC Marine Environment Protection Committee, IMO
MERSAR Merchant Ship Search and Rescue Manual
Mess – An eating place aboard ship. A group of crew who live and feed together,
Mess deck catering – A system of catering in which a standard ration is issued to a mess supplemented by a money allowance which may be used by the mess to buy additional victuals from the pusser’s stores or elsewhere. Each mess was autonomous and self-regulating. Seaman cooks, often members of the mess, prepared the meals and took them, in a tin canteen, to the galley to be cooked by the ship’s cooks. As distinct from “cafeteria messing” where food is issued to the individual hand, which now the general practice.
Mess gear: Equipment used for serving meals.
Messenger: A light line used for hauling over a heavier rope or cable.
Messman: A member of the steward’s department who served meals to officers and crew.
MESSR Multispectral Electronic Self-Scanning Radiometer
MFENET Defense data network
MGI Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Ukraine Academy of Sciences Sevastopol, USSR
MGNMarine Guidance Note
MGO Marine Gas Oil
MGU Moscow State University, USSR
MIAS Marine Information Advisory Service (UK)
Midshipman – A non-commissioned officer below the rank of Lieutenant. Usually regarded as being “in training” to some degree. Also known as ‘Snotty’. ‘The lowest form of animal life in the Royal Navy’ where he has authority over and responsibility for more junior ranks, yet, at the same time, relying on their experience and learning his trade from them.
Midshipman’s hitch – An alternative to the Blackwall Hitch, preferred if the rope is greasy. Made by first forming a Blackwell hitch and then taking the underneath part and placing over the bill of the hook.[5]
Midshipman’s nuts – Broken pieces of biscuit as dessert. [4]
Midshipman’s roll – A slovenly method of rolling up a hammock transversely, and lashing it endways by one clue.[4]
Mile – see nautical mile.
MIMUN Marine Institute of Memorial University
MIP Mooring Implementation Panel
MIR Orbital System (USSR)
MIS management information system
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
Mizzen staysail – Sail on a ketch or yawl, usually lightweight, set from, and forward of, the mizzen mast while reaching in light to moderate air.
Mizzenmast (or Mizzen) – The third mast, or mast aft of the mainmast, on a ship.
MLS Moored listening station
MNI Member of The Nautical Institute
MOD Ministry of Defence (UK)
MODE Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment
Mole: A breakwater used as a landing pier.
Monkey fist: A knot worked into the end of a heaving line (for weight).
Monkey island: A flying bridge on top of a pilothouse or chart house.
Monkey’s fist – a ball woven out of line used to provide heft to heave the line to another location. The monkey fist and other heaving-line knots were sometimes weighted with lead (easily available in the form of foil used to seal e.g. tea chests from dampness) although Clifford W. Ashley notes that there was a “definite sporting limit” to the weight thus added.
Moor – to attach a boat to a mooring buoy or post. Also, to a dock a ship.
Mooring: Securing to a dock or to a buoy, or anchoring with two anchors.
MOP mobile offshore production
MOS Marine Observation Satellite (Japan)
Mother Carey’s chickens: Small birds that foretell bad weather and bad luck.
MOU memorandum of understanding (often refers to PSC)
Mould – A template of the shape of the hull in transverse section. Several moulds are used to form a temporary framework around which a hull is built.
Mousing: Small stuff seized across a hook to prevent it from unshipping (once hooked, mousing keeps the hook on).
MPI Max Planck Institut fur Meteorologie, Hamburg, Germany
MRCC maritime rescue coordination centre
MRF Medium Range Forecast
MSA Maritime Safety Agency (Japan)
MSC Marine Safety Committee, IMO
MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center
MSN merchant shipping notice ‘M- Notice’,UK
MSR Microwave Scanning Radiometer
Mud scow: A large, flat: bottomed boat used to carry the mud from a dredge.
Mushroom anchor: An anchor without stock and shaped like a mushroom.
-N-
NADW North Atlantic Deep Water
NAFC Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Center
NAFO North Atlantic Fisheries Organization
Nantucket sleigh ride: A term for what frequently happened to Nantucket whalers when they left the whaling ship in a small boat to go after a whale. If they harpooned the whale without mortally wounding it, the animal took off with the whaleboat in tow.
NAS National Academy of Sciences (USA)
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration (USA)
NASDA National Space Development Agency (Japan)
NATRE North Atlantic Tracer Release Experiment
Nautical mile – A distance of 1.852 kilometres (1.151 mi). Approximately the distance of one minute of arc of latitude on the Earth’s surface. A speed of one nautical mile per hour is called a knot (qv).
Navigation rules – Rules of the road that provide guidance on how to avoid collision and also used to assign blame when a collision does occur.
NAVTEX navigational and meteorological warning broadcast service
NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research (USA)
NCARP Northern Cod Adjustment Recovery Program (renamed as TAGS)
NCDC National Climatic Data Center (of NESDIS)
NCDS NASA Climate Data System
NCOB no cargo on board
NDBC National Data Buoy Center (of NWS)
NDT non-destructive testing
NEC North Equatorial Current
NECC North Equatorial Countercurrent
NECSANavigational Electronic Chart System Association
NEG Numerical Experimentation Group (WOCE Working Group)
Neptune: The mythical god of the sea.
NERC Natural Environment Research Council (UK)
NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Info Svc (of NOAA, USA)
Net tonnage: The cubical space available for carrying cargo and passengers.
Netting: A rope network.
NFTZ non free trade zone
NI The Nautical Institute
NIHQ Nautical Institute Headquarters, London
NIMBUS Atmospheric Research Satellite (NASA-USA)
NIOZ Netherlands Institute of Ocean Sciences
Nipper – Short rope used to bind a cable to the “messenger” (a moving line propelled by the capstan) so that the cable is dragged along too (used where the cable is too large to be wrapped round the capstan itself). During the raising of an anchor the nippers were attached and detached from the (endless) messenger by the ship’s boys. Hence the term for small boys: ‘nippers’.
NK (NKK) Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (classification society)
NM nautical mile
NMC National Meteorological Center (of NWS)
NMEA National Marine Electronics Association
NMWG Numerical Modeling Working Group (of WOCE)
NNR national nature reserve
No room to swing a cat – The entire ship’s company was expected to witness floggings, assembled on deck. If it was very crowded, the bosun might not have room to swing the ‘cat o’ nine tails’ (the whip).
NOAA National Marine and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA)
NOBREX North Brazilian Current Experiment
NODC National Oceanographic Data Center (of NOAA, USA)
NODS NASA Ocean Data System (USA)
NOR notice of readiness
NORPAX North Pacific Experiment
NOS National Ocean Service (of NOAA)
Not under command: Said of a vessel when unable to maneuver.
Not under control: Same as not under command.
NPO”Vega” Scientific-Industrial Corporation “Vega” (Moscow)
NPS Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif, USA
NRC National Research Council (of the NAS)
NROSS Navy Remote Ocean Sensing System (satellite)
NSCAT NROSS Scatterometer
NSF National Science Foundation (USA)
NSIDC National Snow and Ice Data Center (of U of Colorado and NOAA, USA)
NSSDC National Space Science Data Center (Of NASA, USA)
NT net tonnage
NUMAST National Union of Mrine, Aviation & Shipping Transport Officers
NWS National Weather Service (of NOAA, USA)
NZOI New Zealand Oceanographic Institute
-O-
O/B on board
Oakum – Material used for caulking hulls. Often hemp picked from old untwisted ropes.
Oakum: Material used for caulking the seams of vessels and made from the loose fibers of old hemp rope.
OBO ore/bulk/oil carrier
OCEANIC Ocean Information Center (USA)
OCIMF Oil Companies International Marine Forum
OCR optical character recognition
OCRC Ocean Climate Research Committee (of the OSB)
OCTS Ocean Colour and Temperature Sensor
ODF Oceanographic Data Facility (of SIO)
ODP Ocean Drilling Program
ODU Old Dominion University
OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Off and on: Standing toward the land and off again alternately.
Officer of the watch: The officer in charge of the watch.
OGCM Ocean General Circulation Model
Oil bag: A bag filled with oil and triced over the side for making a slick in a rough sea (to keep seas from breaking).
Oilskin: Waterproof clothing.
Oilskins or oilies – Foul-weather clothing worn by sailors.
Old man: The captain of the ship.
OM Order of Merit
OMBOOne man Bridge Operation
On report: In trouble.
On soundings: Said of a vessel when the depth of water can be measured by the lead (within the 100 fathom curve).
ONR Office of Naval Research (USA)
OOD officer of the deck
OOSDP Ocean Observing Systems Development Panel (CCCO/JSC)
OOW officer of the watch
OPA 90 Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (USA)
Opec Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
OPPR oil pollution preparedness and response
OPRC International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness,Response and Co-operation, IMO
Ordinary seaman: The beginning grade for members of the deck department. The next step is able bodied seaman.
Oreboat – Great Lakes term for a vessel primarily used in the transport of iron ore.
Orlop deck – The lowest deck of a ship of the line. The deck covering in the hold.
OSB Ocean Studies Board (of the NRC)
OSU Oregon State University (USA)
OSV Offshore Support Vessel
Out of trim: Not properly trimmed or ballasted (not on even keel; listing).
Outboard motor – A motor mounted externally on the transom of a small boat. The boat may be steered by twisting the whole motor, instead of or in addition to using a rudder.
Outboard: Towards the sides of the vessel (with reference to the centerline).
Outdrive – The lower part of a sterndrive (qv).
Outhaul – A line used to control the shape of a sail.
Outward bound – To leave the safety of port, heading for the open ocean.
Over the barrel – Adult sailors were flogged on the back or shoulders while tied to a grating, but boys were beaten instead on the posterior (often bared), with a cane or cat, while bending, often tied down, over the barrel of a gun, known as (kissing) the gunner’s daughter.
Over-all: The extreme deck fore and aft measurement of a vessel.
Overbear – To sail downwind directly at another ship, stealing the wind from its sails.
Overfalls – Dangerously steep and breaking seas due to opposing currents and wind in a shallow area, or strong currents over a shallow rocky bottom.
Overhang: The projection of the stern beyond the sternpost and of the bow beyond the stem.
Overhaul – Hauling the buntline ropes over the sails to prevent them from chaffing.
Overhaul: Get gear in condition for use; to separate the blocks of a tackle to lengthen the fall (ready for use again).
Overhead – The “ceiling,” or, essentially, the bottom of the deck above you.
Over-reaching – When tacking, holding a course too long.
Overtaking: Said of a vessel when she is passing or overtaking another vessel.
Overwhelmed – Capsized or foundered.
OVM Dept of Computational Mathematics, Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR
Owner – traditional Royal Navy term for the Captain, a survival from the days when privately-owned ships were often hired for naval service.
OWS Ocean Weather Station
Ox-eye – A cloud or other weather phenomenon that may be indicative of an upcoming storm.
-P-
P and I (P&I) club protection and indemnity club
Pad eye: A metal eye permanently secured to a deck or bulkhead (for mooring any blocks and tackle).
PAF Processing Archiving Facility (ESA)
Painter: A short piece of rope secured in the bow of a small boat used for making her fast.
Palm and needle: A seaman’s sewing outfit for heavy work.
Panamax Market category of ships notionally within the limit for transit of the Panama Canal.
Panting – The pulsation in and out of the bow and stern plating as the ship alternately rises and plunges deep into the water
PAR Photosynthetically available radiation
Parbuckle – A method of lifting a roughly cylindrical object such as a spar. One end of a rope is made fast above the object, a loop of rope is lowered and passed around the object, which can be raised by hauling on the free end of rope.
Parrel – A movable loop or collar, used to fasten a yard or gaff to its respective mast. Parrel still allows the spar to be raised or lowered and swivel around the mast. Can be made of wire or rope and fitted with beads to reduce friction.
Part brass rags – Fall out with a friend. From the days when cleaning materials were shared between sailors.
Part: To break.
Pass a line: To reeve and secure a line.
Pass a stopper: To reeve and secure a stopper (hold a strain on a line while transferring it).
Pass down the line: Relay to all others in order (a signal repeated from one ship to the next astern in column).
Pass the word: To repeat an order for information to the crew.
Pay off: To turn the bow away from the wind; to pay the crew.
Pay out: To slack out a line made fast on board (let it out slowly).
Pay: To fill the seams of a vessel with pitch.
Paying – Filling a seam (with caulking or pitch), lubricating the running rigging; paying with slush (q.v.), protecting from the weather by covering with slush. See also: The Devil to pay. (French from paix, pitch)
Paymaster – The officer responsible for all money matters in RN ships including the paying and provisioning of the crew, all stores, tools and spare parts. See also: purser.
PC personal computer
pCO2 Partial pressure of carbon dioxide; dissolved CO2
PDR Precision depth recorder
PEGASUS Current profiling system
PFD position fixing device, personal floatation device
PI Principal Investigator
PIANC Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses
Pier head jump: Making a ship just as it is about to sail.
Pier-head jump – When a sailor is drafted to a warship at the last minute, just before she sails.
Pile: A pointed spar driven into the bottom and projecting above the water; when driven at the corners of a dock, they are termed fender piles.
Pilot – Navigator. A specially knowledgeable person qualified to navigate a vessel through difficult waters, e.g. harbour pilot etc.
Pilot boat: A power or sailing boat used by pilots (men who have local knowledge of navigation hazards of ports).
PIM – Points (or plan) of intended movement. The charted course for a naval unit’s movements.
Pin: The metal axle of a block upon which the sheave revolves.
Pipe (Bos’n’s), or a bos’n’s call – A whistle used by Boatswains (bosuns or bos’ns) to issue commands. Consisting of a metal tube which directs the breath over an aperture on the top of a hollow ball to produce high pitched notes. The pitch of the notes can be changed by partly covering the aperture with the finger of the hand in which the pipe is held. The shape of the instrument is similar to that of a smoking pipe.
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 bos’n’s pipe(s) 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 honoured visitors.
Pitch – A vessel’s motion, rotating about the beam/transverse axis, causing the fore and aft ends to rise and fall repetitively.
Pitch: A tar substance obtained from the pine tree and used in paying the seams of a vessel. Motion of vessel.
Pitchpole – To capsize a boat end over end, rather than by rolling over.
Pitting: Areas of corrosion.
Plait: To braid; used with small stuff.
Planing – When a fast-moving vessel skims over the water instead of pushing through it.
Planking: Broad planks used to cover a wooden vessel’s sides, or covering the deck beams.
Play: Freedom of movement.
PLB personal locator beacon
Plimsoll mark: A figure marked on the side of merchant vessels to indicate allowed loading depths. Named after Samuel Plimsoll, English Member of Parliament and maritime reformer.
Plug: A wooden wedge fitting into a drainage hole in the bottom of a boat for the purpose of draining the boat when she is out of water.
PMS planned maintenance system
pN2O Partial pressure of nitrous oxide
POB pilot on board/persons on board
POD Precise Orbit Determination
PODS Pilot Ocean Data System (of NASA, USA)
Point: To taper the end of a rope; one of the 32 divisions of the compass card. To head close to the wind.
POMS Pilot Ocean Monitoring Study
Pontoon – A flat-bottomed vessel used as a ferry, barge, car float or a float moored alongside a jetty or a ship to facilitate boarding.
Poop deck – A high deck on the aft superstructure of a ship.
Poop deck: A partial deck at the stern above the main deck, derived from the Latin “puppio” for the sacred deck where the “pupi” or doll images of the deities were kept.
Pooped – 1. Swamped by a high, following sea. 2. Exhausted.
Pooped: An opening in a ship’s side, such as an air port, or cargo port.
Port – Towards the left-hand side of the ship facing forward (formerly Larboard). Denoted with a red light at night.
Port side: The left side of a vessel when looking forward.
Port tack – When sailing with the wind coming from the port side of the vessel. Must give way to boats on starboard tack.
Port: The left side of the ship.
Porthole or port – an opening in a ship’s side, esp. a round one for admitting light and air, fitted with thick glass and, often, a hinged metal cover, a window
POSEIDON Satellite Program (France)
Posh: elegant, luxurious. Originally an acronym for Port Over Starboard Home. Created by British travelers to India or Australia, describing the preferred accommodations aboard ship, which lessened effects of the tropical sun on the cabins during the voyage.
Pouring oil on troubled waters: Heavy-weather practice of pouring oil on the sea so as to form a film on the surface, thus preventing the seas from breaking. To smooth out some difficulty.
PPE Personal Protective Equipment
PRARE Precise Range and Range Rate Equipment (ERS-1)
Pratique: A permit by the port doctor for an incoming vessel, being clear of contagious disease, to have the liberty of the port.
Press gang – Formed body of personnel from a ship of the Royal Navy (either a ship seeking personnel for its own crew or from a ‘press tender’ seeking men for a number of ships) that would identify and force (press) men, usually merchant sailors into service on naval ships usually against their will.
Preventer (gybe preventer, jibe preventer) – A sail control line originating at some point on the boom leading to a fixed point on the boat’s deck or rail (usually a cleat or pad eye) used to prevent or moderate the effects of an accidental jibe.
Preventer: A rope used for additional support or for additional securing, e.g., preventer stay.
Pricker: Small marlinespike.
Principal Warfare Officer – PWO, one of a number of Warfare branch specialist officers.
Privateer – A privately-owned ship authorised by a national power (by means of a Letter of marque) to conduct hostilities against an enemy. Also called a private man of war.
Privileged vessel: One which has the right of way.
Prolonged blast: A blast of from 4 to 6 seconds’ duration.
Propeller walk or prop walk – tendency for a propeller to push the stern sideways. In theory a right hand propeller in reverse will walk the stern to port.
Prow – a poetical alternative term for bows.
Prow: The part of the bow above the water.
PRS Polish Register of Shipping – classification society
PSC port state control
PSMSL Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (UK)
PSP Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
Punt: A rectangular flat- bottomed boat used by vessels for painting the ship’s side and general use around the ship’s water: line, fitted with oar-locks on each side and usually propelled by sculling.
Purchase – A mechanical method of increasing force, such as a tackle or lever.
Purchase: A tackle (blocks and falls).
Pusser – Purser, the person who buys, stores and sells all stores on board ships, including victuals, rum and tobacco. Originally a private merchant, latterly a warrant officer. Also, in modern use, a term for the Navy in general (pussers) or a sailor in particular (a pusser).
Put to sea: To leave port.
PV pressure/vacuum,prime vertical
-Q-
QA quality assurance
QCE Quality Control Expert
Quarantine: Restricted or prohibited intercourse due to contagious disease.
Quarter: That portion of a vessel’s side near the stern.
Quarterdeck – The aftermost deck of a warship. In the age of sail, the quarterdeck was the preserve of the ship’s officers.
Quartering sea: A sea on the quarter (coming from a side of the stern).
Quarters bill: A vessel’s station bill showing duties of crew.
Quarters: Living compartments.
Quay: A cargo-discharging wharf.
Quayside – Refers to the dock or platform used to fasten a vessel to
Queen’s (King’s) Regulations – The standing orders governing the British Royal Navy issued in the name of the current Monarch.
-R-
R R&D research and development
Rabbet or rebate (pronounced /’ræb?t/) – A groove cut in wood to form part of a joint.
Radar – Acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging. An 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”.
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. In general, these fixtures will materially improve the visibility for use by vessels with radar.
RADARSAT Radar Satellite (Canada)
RAFOS Listening floats (SOFAR spelled backwards)
Rake: The angle of a vessel’s masts from the vertical.
RAM random access memory
Range lights – Two lights associated to form a range (a line formed by the extension of a line connecting two charted points) which often, but not necessarily, indicates the channel centerline. The front range light is the lower of the two, and nearer to the mariner using the range. The rear light is higher and further from the mariner.
Ratline: A short length of small rope “ratline stuff” running horizontally across shrouds, for a ladder step.
Ratlines – Rope ladders permanently rigged from bulwarks and tops to the mast to enable access to top masts and yards.
RCC rescue coordination centre
RCDS Raster Chart Display Systems
RCM Recording current meter (of Aanderaa)
RDF radio direction finder
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°). See also beating and running.
Ready about – A call to indicate imminent tacking (see going about).
Red Duster – Traditional nickname for the Red Ensign, the civil ensign (flag) carried by United Kingdom civilian vessels.
Reduced cat – A light version on the cat o’nine tails for use on boys; also called “boys’ pussy”.
Reef 1. Reef: To temporarily reduce the area of a sail exposed to the wind, usually to guard against adverse effects of strong wind or to slow the vessel. 2. Reef: Rock or coral, possibly only revealed at low tide, shallow enough that the vessel will at least touch if not go aground.
Reef points – Small lengths of cord attached to a sail, used to secure the excess fabric after reefing.
Reef: To reduce the area of a sail by making fast the reef points (used in rough weather).
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.
Reeve: To pass the end of a rope through any lead such as a sheave or fair: lead.
Registry: The ship’s certificate determining the ownership and nationality of the vessel. Relieving tackle: A tackle of double and single blocks rove with an endless line and used to relieve the strain on the steering engine in heavy weather or emergency.
Relative bearing – A bearing relative to the direction of the ship: the clockwise angle between the ship’s direction and an object. See also absolute bearing and bearing.
RENCRegional Electronic Navigational Chart Co-Ordinating Centre
RF range finder, radio frequency
Ride: To lie at anchor; to ride out; to safely weather a storm whether at anchor or underway.
Rig: A general description of a vessel’s upper: works; to fit out.
Rigging – The system of masts and lines on ships and other sailing vessels.
Rigging: A term applied to ship’s ropes generally.
Right: To return to a normal position, as a vessel righting after heeling over.
Righting couple – The force which tends to restore a ship to equilibrium once a heel has altered the relationship between her centre of buoyancy and her centre of gravity.
Rigol – The rim or ‘eyebrow’ above a port-hole or scuttle.
RINA Royal Institution of Naval Architects, Registro Italiano Navale (classification society)
Ringbolt: A bolt fitted with a ring through its eye, used for securing, running, rigging, etc.
Rips: A disturbance of surface water by conflicting current or by winds.
Rise and shine: A call to turn out of bunks.
RMT National Union of Rail, Maritime And Transport Workers
RNCRaster Navigational Chart
Roaring forties: That geographical belt located approximately in 40 degrees south latitude in which are encountered the prevailing or stormy westerlies.
ROB remain on board (cargo, bunkers)
Rode – The anchor line, rope or cable connecting the anchor chain to the vessel. Also Anchor Rode.
Roll – A vessel’s motion rotating from side to side, about the fore-aft/longitudinal axis. List (qv) is a lasting tilt in the roll direction.
Rolling-tackle – A number of pulleys, engaged to confine the yard to the weather side of the mast; this tackle is much used in a rough sea.
Rom read only memory
Rope’s end – A summary punishment device.
Ro-ro roll on/roll off
ROV Remotely operated vehicle
Rowlock (pronounced /’r?l?k/) – A bracket providing the fulcrum for an oar. Also see thole.
RS Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (classification society)
RSMAS Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Miami, FL, USA
RT (R/T) radio telegraph, telegraphy, telephone
RTCM Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services
Rubbing strake – An extra plank fitted to the outside of the hull, usually at deck level, to protect the topsides.
Rudder post: That part of a rudder by which it is pivoted to the sternpost.
Rummage sale – A sale of damaged cargo (from French arrimage).
Run down: To collide with a vessel head on.
Running before the wind or running – Sailing more than about about 160° away from the wind. If directly away from the wind, it’s a dead run.
Running rigging – Rigging used to manipulate sails, spars, etc. in order to control the movement of the ship. Cf. standing rigging.
Rustbucket: Sailors’ term for an old ship that needed a lot of paint and repairs.
-S-
SAC Special Analysis Center (WOCE)
SAC special area of conservation
Sagging – When the trough of a wave is amidships, causing the hull to deflect so the ends of the keel are higher than the middle. The opposite of hogging.
Sailing free: Sailing other than close; hauled or into the wind (wind astern).
Sail-plan – A set of drawings showing various sail combinations recommended for use in various situations.
Saltie – Great Lakes term for a vessel that sails the oceans.
Salty character: A nautical guy, often a negative connotation.
Salvage: To save a vessel or cargo from total loss after an accident; recompense for having saved a ship or cargo from danger.
Sam surface to air missile
Sampson post – A strong vertical post used to support a ship’s windlass and the heel of a ship’s bowsprit.
SAR search and rescue
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar (Satellite)
SART search and rescue radar transponder
SAS safety at sea
SAVE South Atlantic Ventilation Experiment
Scale: To climb up. A formation of rust over iron or steel plating.
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.
SCAR Scientific Commitee on Antarctic Research (ICSU)
School: A large body of fish.
SCOPE Scientific Commitee on Problems of the Environment (ICSU)
SCOPICSpecial Compensation P&I Clause
SCOR Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (of ICSU)
Scow – 1. A method of preparing an anchor for tripping by attaching an anchor cable to the crown and fixing to the ring by a light seizing (also known as becue). The seizing can be broken if the anchor becomes fouled. 2. A type of clinker dinghy, characteristically beamy and slow.
SCRSpecial Casualty Representative (P&I)
Scud – A name given by sailors to the lowest clouds, which are mostly observed in squally weather.
Scudding – A term applied to a vessel when carried furiously along by a tempest.
Scuppers – Originally a series of pipes fitted through the ships side from inside the thicker deck waterway to the topside planking to drain water overboard, larger quantities drained through freeing ports, which were openings in the bulwarks.
Scuppers: Openings in the side of a ship to carry off water from the waterways or from the drains.
Scuttle – A small opening, or lid thereof, in a ship’s deck or hull.
Scuttle butt story: An unauthoritative story (a tall story).
Scuttle butt: The container of fresh water for drinking purpose used by the crew; formerly it consisted of a cask.
Scuttle: To sink a vessel by boring holes in her bottom or by opening sea valves.
Scuttlebutt – A barrel with a hole in used to hold water that sailors would drink from. Also: gossip.
Scuttling – Cutting a hole in an object or vessel, especially in order to sink a vessel deliberately.
SDW summer dead weight
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 waves. Often in the form of a large bag made of heavy canvas.
Sea anchor: A drag (drogue) thrown over to keep a vessel to the wind and sea.
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.
Sea chest: A sailor’s trunk; the intake between the ship’s side and a sea valve.
Sea dog: An old sailor.
Sea going: Capable of going to sea.
Sea lawyer: A seaman who is prone to argue, especially against recognized authority (big mouth).
Sea painter: A line leading from forward on the ship and secured to a forward inboard thwart of the boat in such a way as to permit quick release.
Seaboots – High waterproof boots for use at sea. In leisure sailing, known as sailing wellies.
Seacock – a valve in the hull of a boat.
Seaman – Generic term for sailor, or (part of) a low naval rank
SEAS Shipboard Environmental Data Aquisition System (of NOS, USA)
Seaworthy – Certified for, and capable of, safely sailing at sea.
Seaworthy: Capable of putting to sea and able to meet sea conditions.
SECTIONS Oceanographic Program of the USSR
Secure for sea: Prepare for going to sea, extra lashing on all movable objects.
Secure: To make fast; safe; the completion of a drill or exercise on board ship.
Seize: To bind with small rope.
Self-unloader – Great Lakes slang term for a vessel with a conveyor or some other method of unloading the cargo without shoreside equipment.
Semaphore: Flag signaling with the arms.
SENC System Electronic Navigational Chart
Sennet whip – A summary punitive implement
SEQUAL Seasonal Response of the Equatorial Atlantic program
SES satellite earth station,Seafarers’ Education Service
Set the course: To give the steersman the desired course to be steered.
Set up rigging: To take in the slack and secure the standing rigging.
Settle: To lower, sink deeper.
Sextant – Navagational instrument used to measure a ship’s latitude and longitude.
SFDU Standard format data unit
Shackle: A U-shaped piece of iron or steel with eyes in the end closed by a shackle pin.
Shaft alley: Covered tunnels within a ship through which the tail shafts pass.
Shake a leg: An order to make haste.
Shakedown cruise: A cruise of a new ship for the purpose of testing out all machinery, etc. Shank: The main piece of the anchor having the arms at the bottom and the Jew’s harp at the top.
Shakes – Pieces of barrels or casks broken down to save space. They are worth very little, leading to the phrase “no great shakes”.
Shanghaied: The practice of obtaining a crew by means of force. Crews were hard to get for long voyages, and when the unwilling shipmate regained consciousness, he found himself bound for some remote port, such as Shanghai. One who is forced to do something against his will.
Shape a course: To ascertain the proper course to be steered to make the desired point or port. Shark’s mouth: The opening in an awning around the mast.
Sheave: The wheel of the block over which the fall of the block is rove.
Sheer – The upward curve of a vessel’s longitudinal lines as viewed from the side.
Sheer: A sudden change. The longitudinal dip of the vessel’s main deck.
Sheet – A rope used to control the setting of a sail in relation to the direction of the wind.
Sheet: The rope used to spread the clew of head sails and to control the boom of boom sails.
Shell: The casing of a block within which the sheave revolves.
Shift tides – Sighting the positions of the sun and moon using a sextant and 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.[6][7]
Ship – Strictly, a three-masted vessel square-rigged on all three masts, or on three masts of a vessel with more than three. Hence a ship-rigged barque would be a four master, square-rigged on fore, main and mizzen, with spanker and gaff topsail only on the Jigger-mast. Generally now used to describe most medium or large vessels outfitted with smaller boats. As a consequence of this submarines may be larger than small ships, but are called boats because they do not carry boats of their own.
Ship: To enlist; to send on board cargo; to put in place; to take on board.
Ship’s bell – Striking the ship’s bell is the traditional method of marking time and regulating the crew’s watches.
Ship’s biscuit – See hard tack.
Ship’s company – The crew of a ship.
Ships time: Ships time was counted by the half hour, starting at midnight. A half hour after twelve was one bell; one o’clock, two bells; and so on until four o’clock, which was eight bells. The counting then started over again, with 4:30 being one bell.
Shoal – Shallow water that is a hazard to navigation.
Shoal draught – Shallow draught, making the vessel capable of sailing in unusually shallow water.
Short stay – A description for the relative slackness of an anchor chain; this term means somewhat slack, but not vertical nor fully extended.
Short stay: When the scope of chain is slightly greater than the depth of water.
Shorthanded: Without sufficient crew.
Shot: A short length of chain, usually 15 fathoms (90 feet). (Method of measuring chain.)
Shove in your oar: To break into a conversation.
Shrouds – Standing rigging running from a mast to the sides of a ships.
Shrouds: Side stays from the masthead to the rail..
Sick bay – The compartment reserved for medical purposes.
Side lights: The red and green running lights, carried on the port and starboard sides respectively, of vessels under-way.
Sing out: To call out.
SIO Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif, USA
Sire ship’s inspection report:a database system of the OCIMF
Siren – A sound signal which uses electricity or compressed air to actuate either a disc or a cup shaped rotor.
Sister hooks: Two iron flatsided hooks reversed to one another.
Skeg – A downward or sternward projection from the keel in front of the rudder. Protects the rudder from damage, and in bilge keelers may provide one “leg” of a tripod on which the boat stands when the tide is out.
Skids: Beams sometimes fitted over the decks for the stowage of heavy boats or cargo.
Skipper – The captain of a ship.
Skipper: The captain.
Sky pilot: A chaplain.
Skylight: A covering, either permanent or removable, to admit air and light below decks.
Skysail – A sail set very high, above the royals. Only carried by a few ships.
Skyscraper – A small, triangular sail, above the skysail. Used in light winds on a few ships.
Slack water: The condition of the tide when there is no horizontal motion.
Slack: The part of a rope hanging loose; the opposite of taut.
Slip: To let go by unshackling, as a cable.
Slop chest – A ship’s store of merchandise, such as clothing, tobacco, etc., maintained aboard merchant ships for sale to the crew.
Slop chest: Stock of merchandise, such as clothing, tobacco, etc., maintained aboard merchant ships for sale to the crew
SLP Sea Level Pressure
SLSP Surface Layer Scientific Panel (of WOCE)
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 the perquisite of the 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).
Slush: White-lead and tallow used on standing rigging.
Small bower (anchor) – The smaller of two anchors carried in the bow.
SMarT Support for Maritime Training scheme (UK)
Smart: Snappy, seamanlike; a smart ship is an efficient one.
SMC safety management certificate (as per ISM Code)
SMMR Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer
Smothering lines: Pipe lines to a compartment for smothering a fire by steam or by a chemical.
SMS safety management system
Snatch: block: A single block fitted so that the shell or hook hinges to permit the bight of a rope to be passed through.
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 main-mast.
Snub: To check suddenly.
Sny: A small toggle used on a flag.
SOC Specialised Oceanographic Center (IGOSS)
SODSSWG Satellite Ocean Data Systems Scientific Working Group
SOFAR Sound Fixing and Ranging floats
Solas International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea,IMO
Son of a gun – The space between the guns was used as a semi-private place for trysts with prostitutes and wives, which sometimes led to birth of children with disputed parentage. Another claim is that the origin the term resulted from firing a ship’s guns to hasten a difficult birth.
Sonar – A method of using sound pulses to detect, range and sometime image underwater targets and obstacles, or the bed of the sea. Also see echo sounding and ASDIC.
SOP standard operating procedure
SOPEPShipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan
SOSREP Secretary of State’s Representative for Marine salvage and Intervention
Sound out a person: To obtain his reaction to something.
Sound: To measure the depth of the water with a lead. Also said of a whale when it dives to the bottom.
Sounding – Measuring the depth of the water. Traditionally done by swinging the lead, now commonly by echo sounding.
Southwester: An oil-skin hat with broad rear brim.
Sou’wester – 1. A storm from the south west. 2. A type of waterproof hat with a wide brim over the neck, worn in storms.
SPA special protection area
SPAN Space Physics Analysis Network
Span: A wire rope or line between davit heads.
Spanker – A fore-and-aft or gaff-rigged sail on the aft-most mast of a square-rigged vessel and the main fore-and-aft sail (spanker sail) on the aft-most mast of a (partially) fore-and-aft rigged vessel such as a schooner, a barquentine, and a barque.
Spanker-mast – The aft-most mast of a fore-and-aft or gaff-rigged vessel such as schooners, barquentines, and barques. A full-rigged ship has a spanker sail but not a spanker-mast (see Jigger-mast).
Spanner: A tool for coupling hoses.
Spar – A wooden, in later years also iron or steel pole used to support various pieces of rigging and sails. The big five-masted full-rigged tall ship Preussen (German spelling: Preußen) had crossed 30 steel yards, but only one wooden spar – the little gaff of its spanker sail.
Sparks: The radio operator.
Speak: To communicate with a vessel in sight.
SPI ship-port interface, IMO
Spill: To empty the wind out of a sail.
Spindrift – Finely-divided water swept from crest of waves by strong winds.
Spinnaker – A large sail flown in front of the vessel while heading downwind.
Spinnaker pole – A spar used to help control a spinnaker or other headsail.
Splice – To join lines (ropes, cables etc.) by unravelling their ends and intertwining them to form a continuous line. To form an eye or a knot by splicing.
Splice: The joining of two ends of a rope or ropes by so intertwining the strands, as but slightly to increase the diameter of the rope.
SPM single point mooring
Spring line: Usually of the best wire hawsers; one of the first lines sent out in mooring. “Springs in and springs out” a vessel.
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.
Squall: A sudden and violent gust of wind.
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 ship, there is no established link between them and this particular term. The OED gives the earliest reference from the U.S. in the mid 19th century.
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 is 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.
Squeegee: A deck dryer composed of a flat piece of wood shod with rubber, and a handle. Stanchions: Wooden or metal uprights used as supports (posts).
SSC Science Steering Committee (for US WOCE)
SSG Scientific Steering Group for WOCE (of JSC/CCCO)
SSM/I Special Sensor Microwave Imager
SSMI Special Sensor Microwave Instruments
SST Sea Surface Temperature
Stack: The ship’s funnel or smokestack.
STACS Subtropical Atlantic Climate Study (of NOAA, USA)
Stanchion – vertical post near a deck’s edge 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 by: A preparatory order (wait: be ready).
Standard compass: The magnetic compass used by the navigator as a standard.
Standing part: That part of a line or fall which is secured.
Standing rigging – Rigging which is used to support masts and spars, and is not normally manipulated during normal operations. Cf. running rigging.
Standing rigging: That part of the ship’s rigging which is permanently secured and not movable, such as stay, shrouds, etc.
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.
STAR Store-and-report
Starboard – Towards the right-hand side of a vessel facing forward. Denoted with a green light at night. Derived from the old steering oar or steerboard which preceded the invention of the rudder.
Starboard tack – When sailing with the wind coming from the starboard side of the vessel. Has right of way over boats on port tack.
Starboard The right side of the ship.
Starter – A rope used as a punitive device. See teazer, togey.
Station bill: The posted bill showing stations of the crew at maneuvers and emergency drills.
Staunch: Still, seaworthy, able.
Stay – Rigging running fore (forestay) and aft (backstay) from a mast to the hull.
Stay: A rope of hemp, wire or iron leading forward or aft for supporting a mast.
Staysail – A sail whose luff is attached to a forestay.
STCW International Convention on Standards of Training,Certification and Watchkeeping, IMO
STD Salinity, Temperature, Depth profiler
Steady: An order to hold a vessel on the course she is heading.
Steerage way: The slowest speed at which a vessel steers.
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).
Steering wheel: The wheel operating the steering gear and by which the vessel is steered.
Stem – The extension of keel at the forward end of a ship.
Stem the tide: Stemming the tide or sea means to head the vessel’s bow directly into the current or waves. Overcome adverse circumstances.
Stem: The timber at the extreme forward part of a boat secured to the forward end of the keel.
Stern – The rear part of a ship, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter to the taffrail.
Stern anchor: An anchor carried at the stern.
Stern board: Progress backwards.
Stern chaser – See chase gun.
Stern tube – The tube under the hull to bear the tailshaft for propulsion (usually at stern).
Stern: The after part of the vessel (back of).
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. Also see inboard motor and outboard motor.
Stevedore: A professional cargo loader and unloader.
STMW Sub-Tropical Mode Water
Stonnacky – A punitive device.
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.
Stopper: A short length of rope secured at one end, and used in securing or checking a running rope, e.g., deck stopper, boat fall stopper, etc.
Storeroom: The space provided for stowage of provisions or other materials.
Storm warning: An announced warning of an approach of a storm.
Stove: Broken in.
Stow: To put in place.
Stowaway: A person illegally aboard and in hiding.
Strake – One of the overlapping boards in a clinker built hull.
Strake: A continuous planking or plating fitted out to and from stem to stern of a vessel’s side.
Strand: A number of yarns, twisted together and which in turn may be twisted into rope; a rope is stranded when a strain is broken; rope may be designated by the number of strands composing. Rope is commonly three-stranded. A vessel run ashore is said to be stranded.
Strap: A ring of rope made by splicing the ends, and used for slinging weights, holding the parts of a block together, etc. A rope, wire or iron binding, encircling a block and with a thimble seized into it for taking a hook. Small straps used to attach a handybilly to the hauling part of a line.
Strongback: A light spar set fore and aft on a boat, serving as a spread for the boat cover.
Studding-sails (pronounced /’st?ns?l/, “stunsail”) – Long and narrow sails, used only in fine weather, on the outside of the large square sails.
SUBC self-unloading bulk carrier
Surge – A vessel’s transient motion in a fore and aft direction.
Surge: To ease a line to prevent it from parting or pulling, meanwhile holding the strain.
SURTROPAC Survey of the Tropical Pacific Experiment (France)
SV Small Volume water samples (<101)
SVP Surface Velocity Program (of WOCE)
Swab: A mop.
Swamp: Sink by filling with water.
Sway – 1. A vessel’s lateral motion from side to side. 2. (v) To hoist: “Sway up my dunnage”.
Swell: A large wave.
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.
Swing ship: The evolution of swinging a ship’s head through several headings to obtain compass errors for the purpose of making a deviation table.
Swinging over: Swing of the boom from one side of the ship to the other when the tack is changed.
Swinging the compass – Measuring the accuracy in a ship’s magnetic compass so its readings can be adjusted – often by turning the ship and taking bearings on reference points.
Swinging the lamp – Telling sea stories. Referring to lamps slung from the deckhead which swing while at sea. Often used to indicate that the story teller is exaggerating.
Swinging the lead – 1. Measuring the depth of water beneath a ship using a lead-weighted sounding line. Regarded as a relatively easy job, thus: 2. Feigning illness etc to avoid a hard job.
SWL safe working load
SWT Science Working Team
-T-
T/C Temperature/Conductivity sensor chains on Drifters
T/S Temperature/Salinity
Tabernacle – 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.
TAC Total Allowable Catch
Tack – 1. A leg of the route of a sailing vessel, particularly in relation to tacking (qv) and to starboard tack and port tack (also qv). 2. Hard tack: qv.
Tacking – 1. Zig-zagging so as to sail directly towards the wind (and for some rigs also away from it). 2. Going about (qv).
Taffrail – A rail at the stern of the boat that covers the head of the counter timbers.
Taffrail log: The log mounted on the taffrail and consisting of a rotator, a log line and recording device (to measure distance run through the water).
TAGS The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy
Tail shaft: The after section of the propeller shaft.
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.
Take a turn: To pass a turn around a belaying pin or cleat.
Take in: To lower and furl the sails.
Taken aback – An inattentive helmsmen 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 on more than you can carry: Loaded with more cargo than a ship can safely navigate with. Drunk.
Taking the wind out of his sails – To sail in a way that steals the wind from another ship. cf. overbear.
Tally – The operation of hauling aft the sheets, or drawing them in the direction of the ship’s stern.
TAMU Texas A&M University (USA)
Tanker: A ship designed to carry various types of liquid cargo, from oil and gasoline to molasses, water, and vegetable oil.
Tarpaulin: Heavy canvas used as a covering.
Taut: With no slack; strict as to discipline.
TC/OPC Technical Committee on Ocean Processes and Climate (IOC)
TDC Tropical Data Center
Teazer – A rope used as a punitive device.
TEU twenty foot equivalent unit (containers)
TF tropical fresh load line
That’s high: An order to stop hoisting.
The Doldrums – Also called the “equatorial calms”, is a nautical term for the equatorial trough, with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds.[2]
The ropes – the lines in the rigging.
Thimble: An iron ring with a groove on the outside for a rope grommet or splice.
Thole – Vertical wooden peg or pin inserted through the gunwale to form a fulcrum for oars when rowing. Used in place of a rowlock.
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, a sailor who has drunk strong spirits beyond his capacity.
Three sheets to the wind: Sailing with three sheet ropes running free, thus making the ship barely able to keep headway and control. Drunk.
Throwing a Fish: Saluting
Thwart (pronounced /’?w?rt/) – A bench seat across the width of an open boat.
Thwart: The athwartships seats in a boat on which oars-men sit.
Thwartships: At right angles to the fore and aft line (across the ship).
Tiller – a lever used for steering, attached to the top of the rudder post. Used mainly on smaller vessels, such as dinghies and rowing boats.
Timoneer – From the French timonnier, is a name given, on particular occasions, to the steersman of a ship.
Tingle – A thin temporary patch.
TIWE Tropical Instability Wave Experiment
TLL timber load line
Toe the line or Toe the mark – At parade, sailors and soldiers were required to stand in line, their toes in line with a seam of the deck.
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.
TOGA Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Program
Togey – A rope used as a punitive device
Toggle: A small piece of wood or bar of iron inserted in a knot to render it more secure, or to make it more readily unfastened or slipped.
TOI Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far East Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Vladivostok)
TOPEX/POSEIDON Ocean Topography Experiment (NASA/CNES satellite program)
Topgallant – The mast or sails above the tops.
Top-heavy: Too heavy aloft.
Topmast – The second section of the mast above the deck; formerly the upper mast, later surmounted by the topgallant mast; carrying the topsails.
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.
Topsides – the part of the hull between the waterline and the deck. Also, Above-water hull
Touch and go – The bottom of the ship touching the bottom, but not grounding.
Tow: To pull through water; vessels towed.
Towing – The operation of drawing a vessel forward by means of long lines.
TPI tonnes per inch immersion
TQM total quality management
Track: The path of the vessel.
Trades: The practically steady winds blowing toward the equator, N.E. in the northern and SE. in the southern hemisphere.
Traffic Separation Scheme – Shipping corridors marked by buoys which separate incoming from outgoing vessels. Improperly called Sea Lanes.
TRANSIT Satellite Navigation (position Location) System (USA)
Transom – 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.
TRANSPAC Trans-Pacific Experiment
Travellers – Small fittings that slide on a rod or line. The most common use is for the inboard end of the mainsheet; 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”.
TRE Tracer Release Experiment
TREM Tropical Rainfall Experimental Mission
Trice – To haul and tie up by means of a rope.
Trice: To lash up.
Tricing line: A line used for suspending articles.
Trick – A period of time spent at the wheel (”my trick’s over”).
Trick: The period of time during which the wheelsman remains at the wheel.
Trim – Relationship of ship’s hull to waterline.
Trim: The angle to the horizontal at which a vessel rides.
Trip: To let go.
Tripping line: A line used for capsizing the sea anchor and hauling it in.
Truck: The flat circular piece secured on the top of the mast.
True bearing – An absolute bearing (qv) using true north.
True north – The direction of the geographical North Pole.
TSDC TOGA Subsurface Data Center
TSLC TOGA Sea Level Center
TTO Transient Tracers in the ocean
Tug boat: A small vessel fitted for towing.
Tumblehome – A description of hull shape when viewed in a transverse section, where the widest part of the hull is someway below deck level.
Turn – A knot passing behind or around an object.
Turn in all standing: Go to bed without undressing.
Turn to: An order to commence ship’s work.
Turn turtle: To capsize.
Turn-buckle: A metal appliance consisting of a thread and screw capable of being set up or slacked back and used for setting up on rigging.
Turtling – When a sailboat (in particular a dinghy) capsizes to a point where the mast is pointed straight down and the hull is on the surface resembling a turtle shell.
Two blocks: When the two blocks of a tackle have been drawn as close together as possible.
-U-
UB Universitat Bremen
UBS universal bulk ship
UCSB University of California, Santa Barbara
UCSC University of California, Santa Cruz
UCSD University of California, San Diego, CA (USA)
UEL upper explosive limit
UFL upper flammable limit
UH University of Hawaii (USA)
UKOOAUnited Kingdom Offshore Operators Association
ULBC ultra large bulk carrier
ULCC ultra large crude carrier
Umbrella: The cone-shaped shield at the top of the smokestack.
UMSUniversal Measurement System
UN United Nations
UN United Nations
Unbend: To untie.
Unclos United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Under below: A warning from aloft (heads up).
Under the weather – Serving a watch on the weather side of the ship, exposed to wind and spray.
Under way – A vessel that is moving under control: that is, neither at anchor, made fast to the shore, aground nor adrift.
Undermanned: Insufficient number of crew; shorthanded.
Undertow: A subsurface current in a surf.
Underwater hull or underwater ship – The underwater section of a vessel beneath the waterline, normally not visible except when in drydock.
Underway: Said of a vessel when not at anchor, nor made fast to the shore, or aground.
UNEP United Nations Environmental Program
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
UNOLS University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (USA)
Unship: To take apart or to remove from its place.
Unwatched: Said of a lighthouse not tended.
UOT Upper Ocean Thermal
Up anchor: Hoist or haul in the anchor.
Up-and-down – A description for the relative slackness of an anchor chain; this term means that the anchor chain is slack and hangs vertically down from the hawse pipe.
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.
Upper-yardmen – Specially selected personnel destined for high office.
UPS uninterrupted power supply
URI University of Rhode Island
USCG United States Coast Guard
USM University of Southern Mississippi (USA)
UTC universal time (coordinated)
UW University of Washington (USA)
-V-
VACM Vector Averaging Current Meter
Vang 1 – A rope leading from gaff to either side of the deck, used to prevent the gaff from sagging. 2 – See boom vang.
Vanishing angle – The maximum degree of heel after which a vessel becomes unable to return to an upright position.
Vast: An order to cease (stop).
VAT value added tax
VCB vertical centre of buoyancy
VCG vertical centre of gravity
VDR voyage data recorder
VDU visual display unit
Veer: To slack off or move off; also said of a change of direction of wind, when the wind shifts to a different direction.
Ventilator cowl: The swiveled opening at the top of a ventilator.
Ventilator: A wooden or metal pipe used to supply or to exhaust air.
V-hull – The shape of a boat or ship which the shape of the hull comes to a straight line to the keel.
VLBC very large bulk carrier
VLBI Very Long Baseline Inferometry
VLCC very large crude carrier
VMCM Vector Measuring Current Meter
VOF Volunteer Observing Fleets
VOS Volunteer Observing Ships
VP vapour pressure
VPP variable pitch propeller
VRP vessel response plan
VTIR Visible and Thermal Infrared Radiometer
VTIS vessel traffic information system
VTMS vessel traffic management services
VTs SO AN SSSR Computing Center of Siberian Department of Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, USSR
VTS vessel traffic service/system
VTSS vessel traffic separation scheme
-W-
Waist – the central deck of a ship between the forecastle and the quarterdeck.[8]
Waist: The portion of the deck between the forecastle and quarterdeck of a sailing vessel.
Wake – Turbulence behind a vessel. Not to be confused with wash.
Wake: A vessel’s track through the water.
Wales – A number of strong and thick planks running length-wise along the ship, covering the lower part of the ship’s side.
Wash – The waves created by a vessel. Not to be confused with wake.
Waste: Cotton yarn used for cleaning purposes.
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.
Watch cap: A canvas cover secured over a funnel when not in use. Sailor’s headwear, woolen type, capable of covering the ears in cold weather.
Watch officer: An officer taking his turn as officer of the watch.
Water breaker: A small cask carried in ship’s boats for drinking purposes.
Watercraft – Water transport vessels. Ships, boats, personal water craft etc.
Waterline: The line painted on the side of the vessel at the water’s edge to indicate the proper trim.
Water-logged: Filled with water but afloat.
Water’s edge: The surface of the water.
Watertight: Capable of keeping out water.
Waterway – 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 plank.
Waterway: The gutter at the sides of a ship’s deck to carry off water.
WATTS Western Atlantic Thermohaline Transport Study
Waypoint – A location defined by navigational coordinates, especially as part of a planned route.
WBC Western Boundary Current
WCP World Climate Program (of WMO, IOC, ICSU, SCOR)
WCRP World Climate Research Program (of WMO, IOC, ICSU, SCOR)
WDC World Data Center (of ICSU)
WDCA World Data Center A, Washington DC, USA
WDCB World Data Center B, Obninsk, USSR
WDMWG WOCE Data Management Working Group (USA)
Wearing ship – Tacking away from the wind in a square-rigged vessel. See also Gybe.
Weather deck – Whichever deck is that exposed to the weather – usually either the main deck or, in larger vessels, the upper deck.
Weather eye: To keep a weather eye is to be on the alert (heads up).
Weather gage – Favorable position over another sailing vessel to with respect to the wind.
Weather side – The side of a ship exposed to the wind.
Weather side: The windward side (from where the wind is blowing).
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.
Weigh: Lift anchor off the bottom.
Well enough: An order meaning sufficient (enough).
Wells – Places in the ship’s hold for the pumps.
WEND World Electronic Navigation Database
WEPOCS Western Equatorial Pacific Ocean Circulation Study
WESTRAX Western Tropical Atlantic Experiment
WFPPC WOCE Float Program Planning Committee (USA)
WG Working Group
WGASF Working Group on Air/Sea Fluxes (JSC/CCCO)
Wheel or ship’s wheel – The usual steering device on larger vessels, a wheel connected by cables to the rudder.
Wheelhouse – Location on a ship where the steering wheel is located, often interchanged with pilothouse and bridge.
Where away: A call requesting direction in answer to the report of a lookout that an object has been sighted.
Whipping: A method of preventing the ends of a line from unlaying or fraying by turns of small stuff, stout twine or seizing wire with the ends tucked.
Whipstaff – A vertical lever connected to the tiller, used for steering on larger ships before the development of the ship’s wheel.
White cap: The white froth on the crests of waves.
White horses or whitecaps – Foam or spray on wave tops caused by stronger winds (usually above Force 4).
WHO World Health Organisation
WHOI Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA)
WHP WOCE Hydrographic Program
WHPIP WOCE Hydrographic Program Implementation Panel
WHPPC WOCE Hydrographic Program Planning Committee
Wide berth – To leave room between two ships moored (berthed) to allow space for maneuver.
Wide berth: At a considerable distance.
Wildcat: A sprocket wheel on the windlass for taking links of the chain cable.
Winch: An engine for handling drafts of cargo secured on deck and fitted with drums on a horizontal axle.
Windage – Wind resistance of the boat.
Windbound – A condition wherein the ship is detained in one particular station by contrary winds.
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).
Windlass: An anchor engine used for heaving in the chain cable and anchor.
Wind-over-tide – Sea conditions with a tidal current and a wind in opposite directions, leading to short, heavy seas.
Windward – In the direction that the wind is coming from.
WIP WOCE Implementation Plan (USA)
Wiper: A general handyman in the engine room.
WL water line
WMC World Meteorological Center
WMO World Meteorological Organisation
WMO World Meteorological Organization
WMU World Maritime University
WOCE World Ocean Circulation Experiment
Worm, serve, and parcel – 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.
WT watertight
WWW World Weather Watch (of WMO)
WWW world wide web (Internet facility)
-X-
XBT Expendable Bathyothermograph
XCTD Expendable Conductivity, Temperature, Depth Instrument
Yard – The horizontal spar from which a square sail is suspended.
Yardarm – The very end of a yard. Often mistaken for a “yard”, which refers to the entire spar. As in to hang “from the yardarm” and the sun being “over the yardarm” (late enough to have a drink).
Yarr – Acknowledgement of an order, or agreement. Also aye, aye.
Yaw – A vessel’s rotational motion about the vertical axis, causing the fore and aft ends to swing from side to side repetitively.
Yaw: To steer wildly or out of line of course.
-Z-
ZD zone description