merchant navy

Owing to its location at the entrance to the River Tyne, South Shields was of strategic importance in the Second World War, especially to the merchant navy, and the town was heavily hit by a Luftwaffe strike in October 1941.

2021 September 8, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Electric tramways at the heart of our seaside story”, in RAIL, number 939, page 57:

A civilian maritime fleet dedicated to the sea transport of goods and merchandise; especially, such a fleet of any particular nationality.


first mate

(nautical) An officer on a merchant ship next in rank to the captain and responsible to the captain for the safety and security of the ship.

大副

nautical: officer next in rank to the captain


ocean-going

(nautical) Designed and equipped to be capable of sailing on an ocean.


chalupa

/t͡ʃəˈluːpə/

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish chalupa. Doublet of shallop and sloop.


bilge keel

(nautical) a strake, or small keel or blister, running along much of the length of the hull. It is used to reduce the hull's tendency to roll. They are typically fitted one on each side, low down on the side of the hull, so as not to increase the draft of the vessel. In battleships they were often quite large and used as part of the torpedo protection system.


in irons

(nautical) The "trapped" condition a sailing ship finds itself in when the bow of the ship is headed into the wind and the ship has stalled and is unable to maneuver.


cabin boy

(dated) A boy or young man who is employed to serve as an attendant for passengers or crew members on a ship.


pleasure boat

Steaming up the Adriatic aboard ex-King Farouk's former pleasure boat (now renamed Freedom), Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser arrived last week at the beautiful Yugoslav seaport of Dubrovnik.

1958 July 14, “When Soldiers Meet”, in Time:

A boat used for recreational activities, such as sport fishing or touring. [from 17th c.]


cabin cruiser

A hundred yards away a cluster of boys on the deck of a sturdy cabin-cruiser swung their caps and sent a hail across.

1917, Ralph Henry Barbour, chapter 4, in The Adventure Club Afloat:

Today the ubiquitous cabin cruiser seems to many a Sunday skipper like nothing more than a watertight version of the car he left parked at the marina.

1963 July 5, “Perils of the Surface”, in Time:

The Franks were lost on July 5, shortly after leaving Grenada on their cabin cruiser Reel Lucky.

2007 November 5, Denyse Renne, “Lost at sea; no sign of brothers for 3 months”, in Trinidad and Tobago Express:

(nautical) A motorboat which has enclosed living quarters, especially a privately owned pleasure craft.


berthing

(obsolete, nautical) The planking outside of a vessel, above the sheer strake.

(nautical) An instance of a ship being brought to be berthed, to rest at some docking facility.

ūnga

The occasion of a ship being brought to rest at a docking facility


mouchard

Borrowed from French mouchard, from mouche (“a fly”).

(nautical) An inverted compass hanging above the captain's bed


high seas

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. . . . For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

(nautical) Regions of the ocean that are far from shore, especially those regions that do not belong to any country.


belowdecks

Lastly, Lundberg went belowdecks to inspect the boat's bulkheads and hull—for what, it was not clear, since he had absolutely no knowledge of steamboat design.

2003, Edward T. O'Donnell, Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum, page 54:

(nautical) Below the main deck of a ship.


sing out

en-verb

sing out (third-person singular simple present sings out, present participle singing out, simple past sang out, past participle sung out)

sings out (present singular third-person)
singing out (participle present)
sang out (past)
sung out (participle past)

The pilot would sing out, “Ready about ship,” and the seamen would return answer, “Ay, ay, Sir,”—again he would sing out, “All ready,” and would be answered with “All ready, Sir.”

1836, Richard Weston, A Visit to the United States and Canada in 1833, page 9:

Vehemently pausing, he [Ahab] cried:—"What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?" "Sing out for him!" was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed voices.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “ch. 36”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

This was the first time I had taken a weather earing, and I felt not a little proud to sit astride of the weather yard-arm, pass the earing, and sing out, “Haul out to leeward!”

1854, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, page 143:


warcraft

en-noun

warcraft (countable and uncountable, plural warcrafts or warcraft)

/ˈwɔːkɹɑːft/

(uncountable) The art or skill of conducting a war.


coast

en-verb

coast (third-person singular simple present coasts, present participle coasting, simple past and past participle coasted)

coasts (present singular third-person)
coasting (participle present)
coasted (participle past)
coasted (past)

From Middle English costeien (“to travel along a border or coast; to go alongside (something), skirt; to accompany, follow; to travel across, traverse; to be adjacent to, to border;”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman [Term?], Old French costoier (“to be at the side of”) […] (modern French côtoyer (“to pass alongside; (figuratively) to rub shoulders”)), from Latin costicāre, from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”); see further at etymology 1.

nb...

cost, costay, coste, costey, costie, coost, coostie, costen, costien

cog

The Ancients coasted only in their Navigations.

1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations:

The bold little ships even broke through the Gates of Hercules to the open ocean, coasting then northward to take the gold of Ireland and the tin of Cornwall, as well as southward, around the bulge of Senegal, to remote Yorubaland and the distant marts of ivory, gold, and slaves.

1968, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd edition, London: Fontana Press, published 1993, page 14:

(intransitive, nautical) To sail along a coast.


lay by

en-verb

lay by (third-person singular simple present lays by, present participle laying by, simple past and past participle laid by)

lays by (present singular third-person)
laying by (participle present)
laid by (participle past)
laid by (past)

(nautical) (of a sailing vessel) To remain stationary while heading into the wind; to come to a standstill; heave to; lay to.


lazaret

Borrowed from French lazaret, from Italian lazzareto (archaic), lazzaretto, lazzeretto; see further at lazaretto. Doublet of lazaretto.

(nautical) A place at the front of the tweendecks of a merchant ship where provisions are stored.


shifter

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-shifter.wav

(nautical) An assistant to the ship's cook in washing, soaking, and shifting the salt provisions.


plain sailing

From plain (adjective) + sailing.
Sense 2 (“something that is easy, simple, or straightforward”) is attested slightly later than plain-sailing (adjective), and so could have been derived from it.

The navigation of waters free from hazards or unfavourable winds.

sujuva purjehdus

[…] I hired a Tonquineſe for about a Dollar to be my guide. This, tho but a ſmall matter, vvas a great deal out of my Pocket, vvho had not above 2 Dollars in all, vvhich I had gotten on board, by teaching ſome of our young Seamen Plain Sailing.

1699, William Dampier, Voyages and Descriptions. Vol. II. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, part I (His Voyage from Achin in Sumatra, to Tonquin, […]), page 90:

[…] Me[r]cators Sailing gives the correct Difference of Latitude and Longitude both; Middle Latitude Sailing, only the correct Difference of Longitude; Plain Sailing gives neither correctly; and therefore their Merits are in Proportion.

1735, Benjamin Martin, “The Use of Decimals in Plain Trigonometry, and Other Mathmatical Sciences Depending thereon”, in A New Compleat and Universal System or Body of Decimal Arithmetick, […], London: […] J[ohn] Noon, […], →OCLC, page 322:

I doubt as hovv I've ſteered by a vvrong chart, d'ye ſee—as for the matter of the ſciences, to be ſure, I knovv plain ſailing and mercator; and am an indifferent good ſeaman, […]

1760 January – 1761 December, [Tobias George Smollett], “In which the Knight Resumes His Importance”, in The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves. […], Dublin: […] James Hoey, junior, published 1762, →OCLC, page 78:

[W]e have determined to go by way of Lisbon, […] and so on our old route to Malta and Constantinople, if so be that Captain Kidd, our gallant commander, understands plain sailing and Mercator and takes us on our voyage all according to the chart.

1809 June 25, Lord Byron, “Letter XXXV. To Mr. Henry Drury.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, →OCLC, page 188:

Obsolete spelling of plane sailing (“a technique for navigation using the assumption that the journey occurs over a plane or flat surface rather than the actual curved surface of the Earth, which is sufficiently accurate over short distances”).


clubhauling

en-noun

clubhauling (usually uncountable, plural clubhaulings)

(nautical) A risky maneuver whereby a sail-boat tacks (turns into and through the wind) by dropping one of the front anchors, the intent being to turn the boat in a tighter space than would be possible using the rudder and sails alone, especially when difficult conditions such as light winds or heavy swell make tacking more difficult than usual.


spindrift

spindrift (countable and uncountable, plural spindrifts)

Oxford English Dictionary
Scottish National Dictionary

Borrowed from Scots spindrift; further etymology uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it is a variant of spoondrift (archaic), apparently due to the pronunciation of this word in southwestern Scotland, which is derived from spoon + drift (“mass of matter driven or forced onward together in a body, etc., especially by wind or water”); spoon is a variant of spoom (“to sail briskly with the wind astern, with or without sails hoisted”). However, this is doubted by the Scottish National Dictionary because spoondrift is attested later than spindrift and it seems unlikely that the Scots spelling would have superseded the English one, and because the early use of the Scots word in the form spenedrift by James Melville (1556–1614) is unlikely to have derived from spoondrift.
The word was popularized in English from the late 19th century by its use in the novels of the Scottish-born author William Black (1841–1898): see, for example, the 1878 quotation.

compound

There was no snow as yet up here at Dare; but wild tempests shaking the house to its foundations; and brief gleams of stormy sunlight lighting up the grey spindrift as it was whirled shorewards from the breaking seas; […]

1878, William Black, “First Impressions”, in Macleod of Dare. […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 252:

The ocean waves are broken up by wind, ultimately producing the storm-wrack and spin-drift of the tempest-tossed sea.

1900, John E[dward] Marr, “Production of Dominant Forms”, in The Scientific Study of Scenery, New York, N.Y.: New Amsterdam Book Co.; London: Methuen & Co., →OCLC, page 22:

[T]ogether they watched the bobbing black specks as they crawled out of the estuary into the grey spindrift which marked the harbour mouth.

1921 August–September, John Buchan, “The Gorbals Die-hards Go into Action”, in Huntingtower, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, published July 1924, →OCLC, page 271:

The tide rocks were spouting spray and the wind drove the spindrift in their faces, and they scrambled awkwardly over and round the rock masses tumbled from the cliff face on the flat ledge at sea-level.

1938, Norman Lindsay, chapter XXI, in Age of Consent, London: T[homas] Werner Laurie […], →OCLC, page 225:

(nautical) Sea spray (clouds of water droplets) blown from the tops of waves by the wind and whipped along the surface of the sea.

водни пръски

sea spray blown from the tops of waves by the wind and whipped along the surface of the sea


puttock

From Middle English puttock, puttok, potok, puttoc, of uncertain origin; perhaps representing an unattested Old English *putta (“hawk”) + -ock; or perhaps from Old English *pūthafoc (literally “pout-hawk”), equivalent to pout (“a kind of fish”) + hawk. Compare also pout (“a young bird”), poult.


quahogger

From quahog + -er (occupational suffix) or + -er (relational noun suffix).

(US, nautical) A boat used to harvest quahogs.


running mate

(nautical) One of a pair of ships with coordinated, often reciprocal, sailing schedules.

systerfartyg

one of a pair of ships with coordinated, often reciprocal, sailing schedules


navigation channel

en-noun

navigation channel (plural navigation channels)

(nautical) A deeper channel cut into the sea or river bed, to enable larger ships to pass through to a port.

vaargeul

deeper channel cut into the sear or river bed


dogwatch

From dog + watch, perhaps a calque of German Hundewache.

[…] in the last dog-watch when the drawing near of twilight induced revery […]

1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XII.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:

(nautical) Aboard a ship, either of the two short two-hour watches that take place between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

At that time, Captain Thomas G. Peyton, U.S. Navy, who had only served a dog watch as Captain of the Port at Noumea, New Caledonia, reported for this important billet.

1972, George Carroll Dyer, The Amphibians Came to Conquer, page 265:

(nautical) A very brief period of naval service.


closest point of approach

closest point of approach (plural closest points of approach)

(nautical, navigation) An estimated point in which the distance between two objects, of which at least one is in motion, will reach its minimum value; abbreviated CPA. The estimate is used to evaluate the risk of a collision of e.g. two ships.


fathometer

From fathom (“nautical length measurement used for depth”) + -meter.

suffix

A Fathometer is just a vertical echo-ranger; its pings would sound the same and could drive a submarine out of position just as effectively as horizontal echo-ranging and might even make a contact.

1977, Richard O'Kane, Clear the Bridge: The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang, Ballantine Books, published 2003, page 347:

(nautical) A depth finder that uses sound waves to determine the depth of water.


light air

(meteorology, nautical) A light wind with wind speed between 0.3 and 1.5 m/s; a Force 1 wind strength on the Beaufort scale.


merchant marine

en-noun

merchant marine (plural merchant marines)

(countable) Synonym of merchant navy: a fleet of commercial vessels.

Captain Robert Dollar of San Francisco, dean of American ship owners, […] is still, although nearly 80, the eager champion of an American privately owned merchant marine.

1923 May 28, “Captain Dollar Speaks”, in Time:

(countable) Synonym of merchant ship: a single vessel in such a fleet.

merchant mariner
merchant mariner#English

(countable, proscribed, nonstandard) Synonym of merchant mariner: a sailor in such a fleet.


grappling iron

/ˈɡɹæp(ə)lɪŋ ˌaɪɚn/

(nautical) A metal hook, attached to the end of a line, used to hold two ships together.

entraushaka

metal hook used to hold two ships together


shore leave

shore leave (usually uncountable, plural shore leaves)

(military, nautical) Free time given to sailors of the military navy when they are off duty and allowed to disembark and spend time on land.


GY

(nautical, slang, obsolete) Initialism of galley yarn.


MY

(nautical) Initialism of motor yacht (diesel-driven yacht)


HN

(military, US, nautical) Abbreviation of hospitalman.


roadstead

The shores of Protection island form on its south side, which is about two miles long, a most excellent roadstead, and a channel into port Discovery, near 2 miles wide on either side […]

1798, George Vancouver, chapter V, in A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World, volume I, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, page 248:

[…] I found we were lying in a roadstead among many low and rocky islets, hovered about by an innumerable cloud of sea-fowl.

1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson, “Story of the Fair Cuban”, in More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 171:

[…] that was the time when at the mast-heads of the three-deckers and seventy-fours moored in her own roadstead […] the blue-jackets, to be numbered by thousands, ran up with huzzas the British colors with the union and cross wiped out […]

1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter III.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:

Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent. It was like a roadstead crowded with tall fairy-shipping.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

In 1620 junks began to arrive from China depositing hundreds of migrants, and with the resumption of China's official trade to Southeast Asia in 1683, the numbers of junks arriving annually in Batavia's roadstead grew from an average of three or four to about twenty.

1992, Leonard Y. Andaya, “Interactions with the Outside World and Adaptation in Southeast Asian Society, 1500-1800”, in Nicholas Tarling, editor, The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, volume 1, Cambridge University Press, page 349:

(nautical) A partly sheltered anchorage; a stretch of water near the shore where vessels may ride at anchor, but with less protection than a harbour.

рейд

partly sheltered anchorage outside a harbour


parceling

(nautical) Alternative form of parcelling


parcelling

The wind continuing very light; all hands were sent aloft to strip off the chafing gear; and battens, parcellings, roundings, hoops, mats, and leathers, came flying from aloft, and left the rigging neat and clean, stripped of all its sea bandaging.

1840, Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, page 453:

This effectively prepares the way for the parcelling to produce a smooth finish, prior to serving.

2018, D.J. House, Seamanship Techniques: Shipboard and Marine Operations:

(nautical) One of the long, narrow slips of canvas daubed with tar and wound about a rope like a bandage, before it is served; used also in mousing on the stays, etc.


shiver my timbers

A reference to a wooden ship being pounded heavily in stormy seas to the extent that its timbers shake, causing awe and fear to the sailors on board.

I was informed I ſhould meet my dear Anna ſomewhere in theſe woods: I have been ſteering all points of the compaſs, but in vain. However, after having given chaſe to an enemy, ſhall I tamely haul my wind when my miſtreſs is in view? No;—ſhiver my timbers if I do. The man who meanly deſerts his King or his miſtreſs, deſerves to be ſhot for a traitor to both!

1794, James Roberts, Rule Britannia! A Loyal Sketch, in Two Acts, as Performed with Universal Applause at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London: Printed for Hookham and Carpenter, Old and New Bond-street, →OCLC, act II, scene i, page 26:

I weighed anchor inſtantly, and bore up right a-head to Dynevawr-houſe as faſt as my wooden leg would carry me. […] Shiver my timbers! what do you think I found 'em at? Split my wind if there was not a gang, with Mrs. Martha at the head, working away at the temple which was built for us to take our grog in.

1799, [Edward Dubois], chapter XII, in A Piece of Family Biography. In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for J[ohn] Bell, no. 148, Oxford-Street, opposite New Bond-Street, →OCLC, page 216:

"The score!" he burst out. "Three goes o' rum! Why, shiver my timbers, if I hadn't forgotten my score!" And, falling on a bench, he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “At the Sign of the ‘Spy-Glass’”, in Treasure Island, London, Paris, New York, N.Y.: Cassell & Company, Limited, published 1883, →OCLC, page 66:

When I wake up the next morning there's a seagull on my windowsill. […] They're such big birds, seagulls, so loud and cocksure and arrogant. If they could speak they would all sound like sailors. All avast! and ahoy there! and shiver me timbers! and they'd smoke reedy pipes and down flagons of foamy ale.

2005, Daisy Jordan, chapter 19, in Wild about Harry, London: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 263:

A mild oath expressing surprise, disbelief or annoyance. It is stereotypically regarded as being uttered by pirates.

Aert Anthoniszoon
National Maritime Museum

u sta hromů

mild oath stereotypically regarded as being uttered by pirates


leading light

(nautical, navigation) A light that helps to guide vessels into a port.


overblow

en-verb

overblow (third-person singular simple present overblows, present participle overblowing, simple past overblew, past participle overblown)

overblows (present singular third-person)
overblowing (participle present)
overblew (past)
overblown (participle past)

From Middle English overblowen, equivalent to over- + blow.

Finding it was like to overblow, we took in our Sprit-ſail, and ſtood by to hand the Fore-ſail; but making foul Weather, we look'd the Guns were all faſt, and handed the Miſſen.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page 151:

(intransitive, nautical, archaic) Of the wind: to blow very hard, often resulting in ships unable to carry full sail.


MOB

(nautical) Initialism of man overboard, used e.g. on the emergency button of a satellite navigator. By pushing the button the operator stores the coordinates of a man overboard incident for easy access.


HMAS

The Defence Abuse Response Taskforce (Dart)[…]accepted as true allegations of abuse made by 207 former young recruits of HMAS Leeuwin at Fremantle, Western Australia, however it stopped short of recommending a royal commission.

2014 June 17, Helen Davidson, “Blackballing and blanket beatings: decades of abuse at defence training school revealed”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(initialism, nautical, military, Australia) Her Majesty's Australian Ship. The designation of Australian ships and naval bases.

(initialism, nautical, military, Australia) His Majesty's Australian Ship.

(initialism, nautical, military, UK, obsolete) His Majesty's Auxiliary Ship

(initialism, nautical, military, UK, obsolete) Her Majesty's Auxiliary Ship

(initialism, nautical, military, UK, obsolete) His Majesty's Armed Schooner

(initialism, nautical, military, UK, obsolete) Her Majesty's Armed Schooner


CCGS

Canadian Coast Guard Ship
w:en:Canadian Coast Guard Ship

(nautical, military) Initialism of Canadian Coast Guard Ship.. The designation for vessels operated by the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG).


HMCS

(Canada, nautical, military) Initialism of Her (or His) Majesty's Canadian Ship; ship prefix of the Royal Canadian Navy

Her

(UK, nautical, military, historical) Initialism of Her (or His) Majesty's Colonial Ship.


PWC

Clearly, Yamaha saw a trend coming when it designed this big PWC. Since the Callaway Gardens introduction, Bombardier debuted its own 3-person watercraft, the Sea-Doo GT.

1990 March, Cliff Gromer, “Firsthand Report: Yamaha WaveRunner III”, in Popular Mechanics, page 104:

Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, serious criticism of our culture of consumption and domination, symbolized nicely by PWC, was very often thought un-American and unacceptable.

2000, South Carolina Environmental Law Journal, volumes 9-10, page 17:

(g) Personal water craft (PWC). (1) PWC may operate on Lake Meredith except in the following closed areas: stilling basin below Sanford Dam, within 750 feet of the Sanford Dam intake tower, and on the waters of the Canadian River.

2010, Office of the Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36: Parks, Forests, and Public Property, page 120:

personal water craft
personal water craft#English


bunkering

en-noun

bunkering (countable and uncountable, plural bunkerings)

The number of bunkerings at the port has been increasing.

Our company provides bunkering services throughout the region.

(nautical) The taking on board of bunker fuel.


funnel mark

(nautical) The identifying mark of a shipping company, displayed on the ship's funnel (smokestack).


puttocks

S. Davy: They look like puttocks; these should be they.

1611, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl:

The topmast shrouds were set up with deadeyes and lanyards, of which the lower deadeye was either connected to an iron plate at the rim of the top, and by that means to the puttocks (for so what is now called the futtock rigging was named) or else directly to the puttocks (Smith, 1653).

1912, Leonard George Carr Laughton, Roger Charles Anderson, William Gordon Perrin, The Mariner's Mirror - Volume 2, page 303:

The shrouds were set up in the usual way to the puttocks by means of a pair of deadeyes. According to the "Treatise on Rigging" there were iron cross-trees beneath the knee on the bowsprit and the puttocks came to them.

2012, R. C. Anderson, The Rigging of Ships: in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast, 1600-1720, →ISBN:

(nautical) A small shroud which goes from the shroud of the mainmast, foremast, or mizenmast, to the topmast shrouds


tackle fall

(nautical) The rope, or rather the end of the rope, of a tackle, to which the power is applied.


fall down

en-verb

fall down (third-person singular simple present falls down, present participle falling down, simple past fell down, past participle fallen down)

falls down (present singular third-person)
falling down (participle present)
fell down (past)
fallen down (participle past)

(nautical) To sail or drift toward the mouth of a river or other outlet.


light up

light up (third-person singular simple present lights up, present participle lighting up, simple past and past participle lighted up)

lights up (present singular third-person)
lighting up (participle present)
lighted up (participle past)
lighted up (past)

Phrasal verb from light (“to make less heavy”, verb) + up (“to a higher degree”, adverb).

affix

to light up the jib-sheets

(transitive, nautical) To loosen, slacken, or ease off.


fairleader

(nautical) A fitting used to guide a line, cable or sheet with minimal friction. Used for anchor lines, and for rigging on sailing ships.


yachtsmanship

en-noun

yachtsmanship (usually uncountable, plural yachtsmanships)


work up

en-verb

work up (third-person singular simple present works up, present participle working up, simple past and past participle worked up)

works up (present singular third-person)
working up (participle present)
worked up (participle past)
worked up (past)

(obsolete, nautical) To set at an irksome or needless task.


ballow

(nautical) Deep water inside a shoal or bar.


cockboat

Haue care, I pray, to guide the cock-bote well, / Least worse on sea then vs on land befell.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

The Malabar, that huge sea monster, in whose capacious belly so many human creatures lived and suffered, had dwindled to a walnut-shell, and yet beside her bulk how infinitely small had their own frail cockboat appeared as they shot out from under her towering stern!

1874, Marcus Clarke, “Chapter V”, in For the Term of His Natural Life:

(nautical) A small rowing boat, especially one pulled behind a larger ship, or used to ferry goods between a ship and the shore.


lapper

(sailing) A headsail that overlaps the mast.


spring line

(nautical) A line stretched longways between a docked vessel and a cleat on the pier, or used during berthing to guide the vessel into its slip; a warp


sea rover

Compare Danish sørøver, German Seeräuber, Norwegian sjørøver, Swedish sjörövare.

1549, “A Proclamacion, for tale tellers” in All such proclamacions, as haue been sette furthe by the Kynges Maiestie, London, 1551, pp. lvi-lvij,
[…] there be dispersed and seuered abrode, sundery light, leude, idle, sedicious, busie, and disordered persones, whereof the moste part haue neither place to inhabite in neither seketh any staye to liue by, but hauyng been either condempned of Felonies, & prison breakers, runne from the warres and sea rouers, departed from the kynges guarrisons, and loyterers, whereby thei become desperate persons […]

1843 April 18, New York Insurance Co. et al., "To Commander A.S. Mackenzie", Niles National Register vol. 64 http://books.google.com/books?id=ZSqY7wD2xYgC, page 179, originally published in the New York American,
The turning of your ship into a sea-rover would have made the entire ocean a scene of outrage, rapine, and murder.

It was a ridiculous scheme, both as to the force which was to take the ship, and her employment as a buccaneer -- the state of the ocean and of navigation being such at that time as to leave a sea-rover, pursued as he would be by the fleets of all nations, without a sea to sail in, without a coast to land on, without a rock or corner to hide in.

1858, Thomas Hart Benton, Thirty Years' View: Or, A History of the Working of the American Government, vol. 2, page 546:

A pirate, buccaneer or privateer; an ocean-going marauder.


shallop

Borrowed from French chaloupe, possibly from Dutch sloep. Doublet of chalupa and sloop.

Into the same she leapt, and with the ore / Did thrust the shallop from the floting strand: / So safetie found at sea, which she found not at land.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Thou eſpiedſt the ſhallop’s ſcarlet ſtreamer from far, and joyfully ſhoutedſt: Behold Lars cometh!

1767, David Crantz, “Of the Sciences of the Greenlanders”, in [John Gambold], transl., The History of Greenland: Containing a Description of the Country, and Its Inhabitants: […], London: […] [F]or the Brethren’s Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel among the Heathen; and sold by J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, § 48, page 239:

The first event in the Indian wars of New England, as related to its settlement by our forefathers, occurred on the 8th of December, 1620, while a company of the Pilgrims were coasting along the shores towards Plymouth Bay, in their shallop.

1906, George Madison Bodge, “Introductory Chapter”, in Soldiers in King Philip's War: Being a Critical Account of that War, with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620–1677, 3rd edition, page 1:

(archaic) A kind of light boat; a dinghy.


life raft

A usually inflatable raft carried aboard a ship or airplane, used to save lives in case the vessel has to be abandoned in an emergency on the sea.


accommodation ladder

en-noun

accommodation ladder (plural accommodation ladders)

(nautical) a flight of stairs or a ladder for lowering over the side of a ship for access to and from a small boat.


aport

(nautical, archaic) on the left side of the boat


staysail

(nautical) A fore-and-aft rigged sail whose luff can be affixed to a stay running forward from a mast to the deck, the bowsprit or to another mast.


flying jib

Next thing, rigging is heaved down directly over our heads, and a long-drawn cry and a rattling of hanks announce that the flying-jib has come in.

1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC:

(nautical) The foremost of the jibs of a square-rigged sailing vessel.


Northwest Passage

Ah, for just one time / I would take the Northwest Passage / To find the hand of Franklin / Reaching for the Beaufort Sea

1981, Stan Rogers (lyrics and music), “Northwest Passage”, in Northwest Passage, Fogarty's Cove Music, →OCLC:

Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Canadian Arctic Archipelago

(geography, nautical) The sea route through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, between the Baffin Bay and the Beaufort Sea.

Noordwestelijke Doorvaart

Sea route connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean


bogue

en-verb

bogue (third-person singular simple present bogues, present participle boguing, simple past and past participle bogued)

bogues (present singular third-person)
boguing (participle present)
bogued (participle past)
bogued (past)

Related to Spanish bogar (“to row”), Old French voguer (“to sway, move along”).

cog

(nautical) To fall off from the wind; to edge away to leeward.


unship

en-verb

unship (third-person singular simple present unships, present participle unshipping, simple past and past participle unshipped)

unships (present singular third-person)
unshipping (participle present)
unshipped (participle past)
unshipped (past)

(nautical) To unload cargo from a ship or other vessel.

Dan sluiced the pen energetically, unshipped the table, set it up to dry in the moonlight, ran the red knife-blades through a wad of oakum, and began to sharpen them on a tiny grindstone […]

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

(nautical, transitive) To remove (an oar, a mast, etc.) from its normal position.


commerce raider

en-noun

commerce raider (plural commerce raiders)

(historical) A naval vessel tasked with disrupting enemy merchant shipping.


first port of call

first port of call (plural first ports of call)

After leaving from Southampton, our first port of call will be Gibraltar.

(nautical) The first port that a vessel calls in at after the start of a voyage


SSBN

(US, military, nautical) Sub-surface ballistic nuclear: a nuclear-powered submarine carrying and launching ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons.


SSGN

(US, military, nautical) Subsurface guided nuclear: a nuclear-powered submarine carrying and launching guided missiles


(nautical) A class of two-handed double-trapeze dinghy (from its maximum length of 16 feet, approx. 4900 millimetres).


keelboat

By and by the steamboat intruded. Then for fifteen or twenty years, these men continued to run their keelboats down-stream, and the steamers did all of the upstream business, the keelboatmen selling their boats in New Orleans, and returning home as deck passengers in the steamers.

1870, Mark Twain, chapter 3, in Life on the Mississippi:

(sailing) Any sailboat having a keel (as opposed to a centerboard or daggerboard).


wheft

(nautical) A waft (flag used to indicate wind direction or, with a knot tied in the center, as a signal)


RCN

Royal Canadian Navy
w:Royal Canadian Navy

Canadian Forces Maritime Command
Canadian Forces Maritime Command

(Canada, military, nautical) Initialism of Royal Canadian Navy, predecessor of the Canadian Forces Maritime Command (CF MARCOM), being the Canadian navy and royal under the British Crown.


IJN

Imperial Japanese Navy
w:Imperial Japanese Navy

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of Imperial Japanese Navy, the navy of Imperial Japan, predecessor of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, usually in reference to WWII.


IJN

Coordinate term: JS

(US, military, nautical) Imperial Japanese Navy ship, informal ship prefix used for a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, usually in reference to WWII.


passenger liner

passenger liner (plural passenger liners)


ocean liner

(nautical) a narrow-beam passenger ship designed for high speed transoceanic travel


cruise liner

The storm has passed when I arrive at Southampton Central, but more fun is to come. The station platforms and waiting rooms are crammed with people, many toting enormous amounts of baggage as they have just come off a cruise liner.

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:


bulker

The bulker began to swerve from side to side, as sharply as it could, creating large waves behind it, sending a churning wake towards the pirate boats.

(nautical) A person employed to ascertain the bulk or size of goods, in order to fix the amount of freight or dues payable on them.


saltie

Ah, but when will the first oceangoing boat arrive [in Duluth, Minnesota]? . . . In 2015, the first saltie to arrive was the Malta-flagged Kom, which arrived April 13 with a Bulgarian crew to load durum wheat headed for Italy.

“The season's first ships”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Midwest Weekends, 2015 April 16, archived from the original on 2015-04-29

(Canada, US, nautical) An ocean-going ship that enters the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway.


backwash

backwash (countable and uncountable, plural backwashes)

I looked back to a ferry passing the Statue of Liberty now, its backwash a curving line upon the bay.

1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 166:

(nautical) The backward flow of water from oars or propeller or breaking waves.


slip off

en-verb

slip off (third-person singular simple present slips off, present participle slipping off, simple past and past participle slipped off)

slips off (present singular third-person)
slipping off (participle present)
slipped off (participle past)
slipped off (past)

(nautical) To leave a port, anchorage or mooring


hawse

Alteration of Middle English halse, from Old Norse hals (“neck”) (compare Icelandic háls (“neck”)).

(nautical) The part of the bow containing the hawseholes.

(nautical) The horizontal distance or area between an anchored vessel's bows and the actual position of her anchor(s).


hawse

(nautical) In a position relative to the course and position of a vessel, somewhat forward of the stem.


hawse

(nautical, of a vessel) Lying to two anchors, streamed from either bow.


hawse

hawse (third-person singular simple present hawses, present participle hawsing, simple past and past participle hawsed)

hawses (present singular third-person)
hawsing (participle present)
hawsed (participle past)
hawsed (past)

(intransitive, nautical, of a vessel) To lie uneasily to an anchor, typically due to a weather tide.


head of navigation

(nautical) The farthest point above the mouth of a river that can be navigated by ships. This term can be somewhat subjective on many streams, as this point may vary greatly with the size of the ship being contemplated for navigation. On others it is quite objective, being caused by a waterfall, dam or lock.


latching

(nautical) A loop or eye formed on the head rope of a bonnet, by which it is attached to the foot of a sail.


foreplane

(nautical, aeronautics) A relatively flat surface located well forward of a vehicle's center of gravity used for stability and, when movable, used for steering and attitude control; common on submarines, also used on surface ships and aircraft.


bowplane

From bow (“forward part of marine craft”) + plane (“surface”).

(nautical) A surface, usually horizontal, near the bow of a marine vessel, used for stability or control.


sidewheel

(nautical) One of a pair of paddle wheels positioned one each side of a vessel


metacentre

From French métacentre or meta- + centre.

A ship's metacenter (M) is the virtual intersection of two successive lines of action of the force of buoyancy when the ship heels through a very small angle. The initial position of the metacenter is used as a reference in stability calculations. The distance from a ship's center of gravity (G) to its metacenter is known as the metacentric height (GM). GM is a measure of the vessel's ability to right itself when experiencing an overturning moment. For the same vessel, a higher GM value indicates a greater initial static stability.

2017 December 12, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.12 Stability Information - 1.12.1 Concepts”, in Marine Accident Report: Sinking of US Cargo Vessel SS El Faro, Atlantic Ocean, Northeast of Acklins and Crooked Island, Bahamas, October 1, 2015, archived from the original on 2022-05-15, page 132:

(physics, nautical) The point where a vertical line through a tilted vessel's center of buoyancy intersects the originally-vertical (but-now-tilted) line that passed through the center of buoyancy when the vessel was upright; it must be above the vessel's center of gravity for the vessel to have positive static stability (to tend to return to an upright orientation if rolled to one side, rather than to continue rolling to an inverted orientation).


sternwheeler

Williams's steamboat crossed paths with a boat that was at the start of its voyage upstream, a long, boxy sternwheeler with a funnel and pilothouse on its top deck.

1998, Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost, Pan, published 2012, page 140:

(nautical) A vessel (especially a paddle steamer) propelled by a single paddle wheel positioned at the stern


schoolship

(nautical) A vessel used for the education and training of sailors.

(nautical) A vessel used as a reformatory.


sternwheel

The current was more rapid now, the steamer seemed at her last gasp, the stern–wheel flopped languidly, and I caught myself listening on tiptoe for the next beat of the boat, for in sober truth I expected the wretched thing to give up every moment.

1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:

(nautical) A paddle wheel positioned at the stern of a vessel.


paddle wheel

(nautical) A large wheel, fitted with paddles, used to propel a vessel (especially a paddle steamer)


sidewheeler

(nautical) A vessel (especially a paddle steamer) propelled by a pair of paddle wheels positioned one on each side

siipiratasalus, jonka siipirattaat ovat aluksen kyljillä


ropework

en-noun

ropework (countable and uncountable, plural ropeworks)

(nautical) The making, repairing, knotting, splicing and storing of rope, and the manufacture of devices from rope, mostly by use of the marlinspike.


paddle steamer

In the second volume of his autobiography, he writes of a journey up the Padma by paddle steamer (built, as it happens, on the river outside my window), where the dry season had exposed many sandbanks...

2014 September 16, Ian Jack, “Is this the end of Britishness”, in The Guardian:

By the 1880s, the pretty harbour village of Lynmouth was enjoying an influx of holidaymakers brought by paddle steamers from the likes of Bristol and Swansea.

2021 January 13, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Spectacular funiculars”, in RAIL, issue 922, page 53:

(nautical) A steam-powered vessel propelled by one or two paddle wheels

caixell de paletes

steam-powered vessel propelled by paddle wheel(s)


capful

"I warrant you were frighted, wer'n't you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind?"

1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, page 9:

" Last night, at sunset, there were plenty of the most respectable wind-clouds, but now there isn't a capful."

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 182:


radeau

Then three vessels under sail, and one at anchor, above Split Rock, and behind it the radeau Thunderer, noted in the last year's naval fight.

1859, Washington Irving, Life of Washington:


manrope

Halting for an instant at the foot of the ladder, and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of the man-ropes, Father Mapple cast a look upwards, and then with a truly sailor-like but still reverential dexterity, hand over hand, mounted the steps as if ascending the main-top of his vessel.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

(nautical) Each of the ropes used in ascending the side of a sailing ship.


affreightment

(nautical) The act of hiring, or the contract for use of, a vessel, or some part of it, to convey cargo.


leeboard

From Middle English lebord, leburd, probably from Old Norse *hléborð, equivalent to lee + board. Cognate with Icelandic hléborð.

[…] on the port side a sofa bed was put up and fitted with a leeboard. On the starboard side a short seat with a folding cot above, which folded […]

1909, Thomas Fleming Day, The Rudder, page 24:

Forward of the mizzenmast was an iron box in which the mainsheets worked, and to port and starboard were the leeboard winches, hand-worked.

2014, Tristan Jones, A Steady Trade: A Boyhood at Sea, Open Road Media, →ISBN:

I lowered the starboard leeboard. I sent Kester up forward with the binoculars. 'Any buoy,' I told him, 'just yell and point.'

2015, Tom Cunliffe, In the Wake of Heroes: Sailing's Greatest Stories Introduced by Tom Cunliffe, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

(nautical) A board, or frame of planks, lowered over the side of a sailboat to lessen its leeway.

laitaköli

board lowered over the side of a sailboat to lessen its leeway


frap

en-verb

frap (third-person singular simple present fraps, present participle frapping, simple past and past participle frapped)

fraps (present singular third-person)
frapping (participle present)
frapped (participle past)
frapped (past)

From Middle English frapen, from Old French fraper.

Next take two turns not round the spars at all but in between them round the rope itself. These turns are called "frapping" turns and must be very tight too.

1941, Boy Scout Tests and How to Pass Them, Boy Scouts Association, page 20:

(nautical) To draw together tightly; to secure by many turns of a lashing.


topgallant

en-adj

topgallant (comparative more topgallant, superlative most topgallant)

more topgallant (comparative)
most topgallant (superlative)

the topgallant yards, braces, etc.

(nautical) Situated above the topmast and below the royal mast.


topgallant

(nautical) The sail suspended from the topmost section of a mast.

(nautical) The topmost section of a mast; topgallant mast.


dead calm

Dead calm prevails over the Atlantic.

(nautical) The condition of a perfectly flat sea with no waves and no wind.


canaller

(nautical, chiefly Canada) A vessel of a design modified for use in a particular canal.


breeching

en-noun

breeching (countable and uncountable, plural breechings)

/bɹiːt͡ʃiːŋ/

(nautical) A rope used to secure a cannon.


flag of convenience

flag of convenience (plural flags of convenience)

bekvemmelighedsflag

flag of a chosen country of registration

(literally) The flag flown by a ship so registered (which flag then corresponds to the country of registration).


stopper knot

(nautical) A knot placed in a rope either to prevent the end from fraying, or to prevent it from passing through a hole.

nœud d’arrêt

knot to prevent a rope passing through a hole


buoy rope

(nautical) The rope that secures a buoy to an anchor on the seabed


bolt rope

Bolt rope, a rope sewed to the edges of a sail to strengthen them and prevent their splitting.

1858, P.L. Simmonds, A Dictionary of Trade Products, Commercial, Manufacturing, and Technical Terms, London, New York: G. Rutledge & Co., page 44:

(nautical) Rope sewn around the edges of a sail to prevent tearing or fraying.


heel over

en-verb

heel over (third-person singular simple present heels over, present participle heeling over, simple past and past participle heeled over)

heels over (present singular third-person)
heeling over (participle present)
heeled over (participle past)
heeled over (past)

(nautical, of a vessel) to tilt to one side


sponson

He and Gerald usually challenged the rollers in a sponson canoe when Gerald was there for the weekend; or, when Lansing came down, the two took long swims seaward or cruised about in Gerald's dory, clad in their swimming-suits ; and Selwyn's youth became renewed in a manner almost ridiculous,[…].

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

(nautical, aviation, military) A projection from the side of an aircraft, watercraft, or land vehicle.


sponson

sponson (third-person singular simple present sponsons, present participle sponsoning, simple past and past participle sponsoned)

sponsons (present singular third-person)
sponsoning (participle present)
sponsoned (participle past)
sponsoned (past)

The belted cruiser Pamiat Azova or Remembrance of Azoff, is 377 feet long. She is an improved Dmitri Dontskoi, and carries her two 8-inch guns in sponsoned barbettes on either broadside

1899, John Scott-Keltie, editor, Statesman's Year-Book 1899:

(nautical, aviation, military, transitive, often with the particle "out") To mount on a projection on the side of a vessel.


CGN

(military, nautical) nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser (warship)


sternwards

en-adv

sternwards (comparative more sternwards, superlative most sternwards)

more sternwards (comparative)
most sternwards (superlative)


well deck

(nautical) A sunken deck between the forecastle and the poop


sea legs

(idiomatic, nautical) The ability, when walking aboard a ship, to anticipate the motion of the deck so as to walk steadily without losing balance.


harpings

(nautical) The front part of the wales of a vessel, around the bow and fastened to the stem; used to provide protection from the seas.


fairlead

(nautical) A device to guide a line, rope or cable around an object or out of the way, or to stop it from moving laterally


below decks

[O]n the wind shifting and becoming more violent, the landsmen soon retired below decks.

1817, Maria Edgeworth, chapter 31, in Ormond:

Phaidor and I were taken below decks, where, still fast bound, we were thrown into a small compartment which contained a single port-hole.

1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Under Arrest”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1918 September, →OCLC, page 117:

(nautical) In or into any of the spaces below the main deck of a vessel.


bidarka

A kayak constructed by covering a light wooden frame (lashed together with sinew) in sea lion hides.


reefed

en-adj

reefed (comparative more reefed, superlative most reefed)

more reefed (comparative)
most reefed (superlative)

(nautical) Having part of a sail tied up in order to adapt the size of the sail to the force of the wind.


ATB

(nautical) Abbreviation of articulated tug and barge.


victualling

The High Treasurer of the Armie […] hath […] the superintendencie of the victualling of the campe […]

1598, Robert Barret, The Theorike and Practike of Moderne Warres, London: William Posonby, Book 5, Dialogue 4, p. 164:

[…] Lieutenant Hirsch appeared with a sheaf of signals in his hand. He took these from the young man and read them through. Mostly they dealt with routine matters of the fuelling and victualling, but one from the Third Naval Member’s office was unexpected.

1957, Neville Shute, chapter 2, in On the Beach, New York: William Morrow & Co:

(especially nautical, military) The process of supplying food.

1624, Patrick Simson (editor), The Historie of the Church, London: John Bellamie, Book 2, Centurie VI, p. 361,
Zosymas a monke is commended […] for the miracle of the Lyon, who slew the Asse that caried his victualing to Caesarea, and likewise the Lyon by his mandate was compelled to beare that same burden which the Asse had borne to the portes of Caesarea.

He was oblig’d often to set upon the Enemy, and skirmish with them; for he wanted both Victualling for his Men, and Forage for his Horse […]

1693, George Smalridge, “Julius Caesar”, in Plutarch’s Lives, Translated from the Greek by Several Hands, volume 4, London: Jacob Tonson, page 459:

[…] as each man has a vote in all the affairs of his parish, and for his own sake must wish well to the public, the land is let in very small farms, which makes employment for a greater number of hands, and makes more victualling of all kinds be raised.

1796, Thomas Spence, The Meridian Sun of Liberty; or, the Whole Rights of Man Displayed and Most Accurately Defined, London: for the author, page 10:

(especially nautical, military) Provisions of food.


rackie

A diminutive ( + -ie) formed from Middle English rak, rack, rakke (“parrel”), from Old English racca (“parrel”), from Proto-West Germanic *rakkō, from Proto-Germanic *rakkô (“rope, cord”), from Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- (“to tie, bind”). Cognate with dialectal Norwegian rakke (“parrel”).


parrel

From French appareil. Doublet of apparel.

Excavating with the suction dredge, the field crew located a parrel, and a second parrel was found a short distance away.

1998, Donna J. Souza, The Persistence of Sail in the Age of Steam: Underwater Archaeological Evidence from the Dry Tortugas, Springer, page 76:

The batten parrels are best made of large diameter polypropylene line because it slides well.

2007, Derek Van Loan, The Chinese Sailing Rig: Design and Build Your Own Junk Rig, 2nd edition, Paradise Cay Publications, page 64:

The earliest form of parrel was probably a rope loosely lashed about the mast and yard.

2012, Henry B. Culver, The Book of Old Ships: From Egyptian Galleys to Clipper Ships, Dover Publications, page 229:

(nautical) A sliding loop of rope or metal, around the mast of a ship, to which a yard or gaff is fitted.

rackie

sliding loop to which yard or gaff is fitted


raftage

(nautical) The beams used in the rigging of a ship

(nautical) Rafts considered as a group; the use of rafts


raft-up

(nautical) The roping together of a number of small vessels to form a raft-like structure.


moorer

(nautical, rare) The person who moors a vessel


longue-vue

From French longue-vue; Literally, “long view”. From longue (“long”)+vue (“view”).

(nautical) A ship's navigational monocular spyglass telescope


traverse

From Middle English traversen, from Old French traverser, from Latin trans (“across”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of Latin vertere (“to turn”).

(nautical) The zigzag course or courses made by a ship in passing from one place to another; a compound course.

The whole care of the vessel rested, therefore, upon me, and I was obliged to direct her by my former experience, not being able to work a traverse.

1789, Olaudah Equiano, chapter 7, in The Interesting Narrative, volume I:


BIC

en-noun

BIC (countable and uncountable, plural BICs)

(shipping) Initialism of Bureau International des Containers (the International Container Bureau)


afterpeak

The compartment nearest the stern in the hold of a ship


Dogger Bank

From 1660s; origin obscure, but see Dutch dogger (“fishing boat for cod or haddock”) and bank (“shallow part of sea near coast”). Compare Dutch Doggersbank, Danish Doggerbanke, German Doggerbank.

der

(nautical) A large sandbank, and associated fishing ground, in the North Sea between Great Britain and Denmark.


verge staff

(nautical) A flag pole that protrudes from a low deck off the back of a ship.


fin keel

(nautical) A type of keel common in sailing yachts, its shape resembling the fin of a fish.


longtail boat

A type of watercraft native to Southeast Asia, which uses a common automotive engine as a powerplant; there is much variation among them, and in rural areas they may be improvised from bamboo and traditional materials with the sole defining characteristic being a secondhand car or truck engine.


radio officer

(nautical) The person, on board ship, who sends and receives radio messages


coxless four

(nautical) A boat, used in competitive rowing, having four rowers, each with a single oar


single scull

(nautical) A light, narrow rowing boat, especially one used in competitive rowing, in which a single rower has two oars


quadruple scull

en-noun

quadruple scull (plural quadruple sculls)

(nautical) A light, narrow rowing boat, especially one used in competitive rowing, in which a four rowers each have two oars


coxless pair

(nautical) A boat, used in competitive rowing, having two rowers, each with a single oar


rowing boat

(British, nautical) Alternative form of rowboat


double scull

(nautical) A light, narrow rowing boat, especially one used in competitive rowing, in which two rowers each have two oars


multihull

The marina was filled with yachts and powerboats, sleek multihulls fitted with the latest satellite-navigation gear that would steer the owners painlessly towards similar luxury berths at Portofino and Bandol.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 141:


Yngling

From Norwegian yngling, Danish yngling, Swedish yngling (“youngster”); from Old Norse ungr (“young”) + -lingr (diminutive suffix, compare -ling), also a surname in Old Norse. Doublet of youngling.

A surname from Old Norse, especially used of members of the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty, the Ynglings, who were supposedly descended from Frey.


soogee-moogee

(nautical, slang, dated) A type of strong cleaning product for wood and paint on board a boat.


soogee

en-verb

soogee (third-person singular simple present soogees, present participle soogeeing, simple past and past participle soogeed)

soogees (present singular third-person)
soogeeing (participle present)
soogeed (participle past)
soogeed (past)

(nautical, transitive) To clean with soogee.


rear admiral (lower half)

en-noun

rear admiral (lower half) (plural rear admirals (lower half))

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps

Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

rear admiral (upper half)
rear admiral (upper half)

(US, military, nautical) A commissioned officer in the United States Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, or PHS Corps of a grade superior to a captain and junior to a rear admiral (upper half). A rear admiral (lower half) is equal in grade or rank to an Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force brigadier general.

(US, military, nautical) A naval officer of equivalent grade or rank in the navy of other countries, such as commodore.


rear admiral (upper half)

rear admiral (upper half) (plural rear admirals (upper half))

United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard

rear admiral (lower half)
rear admiral (lower half)

(US, military, nautical) A flag officer in the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, or Public Health Service Commissioned Corps of a grade superior to a rear admiral (lower half) and junior to a vice admiral. A rear admiral (upper half) is equal in grade or rank to an Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force major general. A rear admiral (upper half) wears a two star insignia on most uniforms and a gold stripe above a broad gold stripe on the sleeve of certain dress uniforms.

(US, military, nautical) A naval officer of equivalent grade or rank in the navy of other countries.


MTB

MTB (countable and uncountable, plural MTBs)

motor torpedo boat
motor torpedo boat#English

(military, nautical) Initialism of motor torpedo boat.


ghost ship

When Hayes turned to Jephson's contribution, he found that it commenced with a description of the famous ghost ship, the Marie Celeste, being towed into Gibraltar harbor.

2014, Valerie Martin, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

(nautical) An abandoned ship, or (science fiction, by extension) spaceship, that is haunted and possibly adrift.

vaixell fantasma

abandoned, possibly adrift ship that is haunted


bumkin

(nautical) A short outrigger projecting from the side of the aft part of a square-rigged sailing ship, used as an attachment point for a rope (brace) used to set a yard-arm at different angles to a mast so to allow the ship to sail at different angles to the wind.


vigia

From Spanish vigía (“lookout; reef”), from Portuguese vigia, ultimately from Latin vigilare.

(nautical) A warning on a navigational chart indicating a reef or other hazard which has been reported but which has not been confirmed to exist, or whose exact location is unknown.


cloff

(historical, shipping) An allowance of two pounds in every three hundredweight after the tare and tret are subtracted; now used only in a general sense, of small deductions from the original weight.


suttle

(shipping) The weight of a commodity shipment after deduction of the weight of the container, before allowance of tret.


tret

From Old French traire, from Latin trahēre.

(obsolete, shipping) An allowance to purchasers, for waste or refuse matter, of four pounds on every 104 pounds of suttle weight, or weight after the tare is deducted.


set sail

en-verb

set sail (third-person singular simple present sets sail, present participle setting sail, simple past and past participle set sail)

sets sail (present singular third-person)
setting sail (participle present)
set sail (participle past)
set sail (past)

We set sail for the Caribbean.


Dunkirker

(historical) A commerce raider who operated a warship in the service of the Spanish Empire, during the Dutch Revolt, from the ports of the Flemish coast: Nieuwpoort, Ostend, and in particular Dunkirk.


broken-backed

en-adj

broken-backed (comparative more broken-backed, superlative most broken-backed)

more broken-backed (comparative)
most broken-backed (superlative)

(nautical, of a ship) Drooping at each end because of a damaged spine.


foul anchor

One stone in particular attracts me. It bears a beautiful ‘foul anchor’ and the simple inscription: Dummy 1879-1918.

1978, Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea, Vintage, published 1999, page 13:

(nautical) An anchor which has become entangled or caught up in something, or an image of this.


caique

Borrowed from French caïque, from Italian caicco, from Ottoman Turkish قایق (kayık), from Proto-Turkic *kiayguk (“boat, oar”). Cognate with modern Turkish kayık.

Shipping of every sort, from passenger liners to ferry steamers, tramps to tugs and trailing barges, feluccas to speedboats and yachts, from warships to caiques, chugs, hoots, glides or churns its way in all directions.

1950 July, J. C. Mertens, “By the "Taurus Express" to Baghdad”, in Railway Magazine, page 435:

(nautical) A small wooden trading vessel, brightly painted and rigged for sail, traditionally used for fishing and trawling.


futtock plate

(nautical) A plate (usually metal) attached horizontally near the top of the lower mast of a square rigged ship in order to secure the topmast. Rigging runs both upwards (topmast rigging) and downwards (futtock shrouds) to maintain stability.


futtock shroud

[H]e laid hold of the first ratline with his right hand, then sprung to the second, with his left, and so on alternately, right and left, up to the last, close to the futtock shrouds.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 80

(nautical) Any of a set of ropes, wires or chains that brace the futtock plate from a band on the lower mast.


taken aback

taken aback (comparative more taken aback, superlative most taken aback)

more taken aback (comparative)
most taken aback (superlative)

From taken + aback, first attested in 1840.

(nautical) Said of a ship, when the wind, suddenly changing, forces the sails aft against the mast.


dress down

en-verb

dress down (third-person singular simple present dresses down, present participle dressing down, simple past and past participle dressed down)

dresses down (present singular third-person)
dressing down (participle present)
dressed down (participle past)
dressed down (past)

Dan could bait up trawl or lay his hand on any rope in the dark; and at a pinch, when Uncle Salters had a gurry-sore on his palm, could dress down by sense of touch.

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

(nautical) To prepare (caught fish) by gutting them, removing the heads and backbones, etc.


jackstaff

en-noun

jackstaff (plural jackstaffs or jackstaves)

(nautical) a short spar, at the bows of a ship, that serves as a flagpole to fly a flag (a jack)


graveyard watch

graveyard watch (plural graveyard watches)

(nautical) The middle watch on a ship, from midnight to 4 am.


dygogram

Blend of dynamic + goniometric + diagram

blend

(nautical) A chart showing the horizontal variation in the magnetic force acting on a ship's compass needle by the iron within the ship, as a function of course steered


minesweeping

en-noun

minesweeping (usually uncountable, plural minesweepings)

(nautical) The detection and safe disposal of mines.


crossjack

(nautical) On a mizzenmast, the lowest square sail


mizzen course

(nautical) On a mizzenmast, the lowest sail


swept path

(nautical) The width of the lane swept by a minesweeper


weatherboard

(nautical) The windward side of a vessel.

(nautical) A plank placed over an opening to keep out driven water.


pre-dreadnought

(nautical, military, historical) A late 19th-century or early 20th-century battleship with a small number of big guns (typically no more than four) and a large number of quick-firing medium-caliber guns. It was made largely obsolete in 1906 by the dreadnought type of battleship.

Japanese battleship Mikasa
Pre-dreadnought battleship

קְדַם דְּרֶדְנוֹט

late 19th or early 20th century battleship


FS

(military, nautical, exonym) Initialism of French ship (a ship of the military of the Fifth Republic of France (used as a ship prefix)).


navaid

instrument landing system
instrument landing system

Any form of aid to navigation, particularly applying to shipping and aviation. Examples: lighthouse, or ILS (instrument landing system)


N/S

Alternative forms: NS, N.S., N. S.

(nautical) Initialism of nuclear ship: a ship's prefix for shipnames of nuclear-powered ships.


tops'l

(nautical) Alternative spelling of topsail


caramoussal

/ˌkæɹəmuːˈsɑːl/

(historical) A high-pooped Turkish ship.


saic

From French saïque, from Italian saicca, from Ottoman Turkish شایقه (şayka), from Bulgarian ша́йка (šájka) (a variant of Bulgarian ча́йка (čájka)), from Proto-Slavic *čajьka. Doublet of Czajka.

A kind of ketch heavily used in the Black Sea, Tisa, Danube and Sava


torpedo tube

The Canet torpedo tube, mounted on a movable carriage of a special type, somewhat like that mounted on the decks of ships, can be usefully employed for the defence of narrow channels and rivers.

1889, C. Sleeman, Torpedoes and Torpedo Warfare: Containing a Complete Account of the Progress of Submarine Warfare; […], 2nd edition, Portsmouth: Griffin, page 200:

The armament consists of a torpedo tube, which is provided with five Whitehead torpedoes.

1901 June 22, “Launch of the Submarine Torpedo Boat ‘Fulton’”, in Scientific American, volume 84, number 25, New York: Munn, page 388:

A new feature which has not before been adopted in the United States navy is the submerged torpedo tube, of which the “Missouri” will carry two. The dangers of above-water torpedo tubes were well exemplified in the Spanish war and in the battle of the Yalu between China and Japan. In both wars a vessel which carried above-water tubes was completely wrecked by the detonation of its own torpedoes–the result of their being hit by the enemy's shell fire.

1902 January 11, “The Launch of the Battleship ‘Missouri’”, in Scientific American, volume 86, number 2, New York: Munn, page 20:

(nautical) A metal tube mounted in a submarine or surface warship into which a torpedo may be loaded and launched through the hull or from the deck; a torpedo launcher.

魚雷管

tube through which torpedoes are launched


SWATH

(nautical) Acronym of small waterplane area twin hull: a ship design philosophy for reducing pitching and rolling, and increasing stability, in all sea states.


azipod

A trademark, from a blend of azimuth thruster + pod

(nautical) An azimuth thruster, an engine and ships' propeller in an underslung pod that is azimuth adjustable, to replace a fixed-azimuth propeller and rudder configuration.


azimuth thruster

azimuth thruster (plural azimuth thrusters)

A propulsive thruster located in an adjustable-azimuth mounting.

(nautical) A ship's engine and propeller in an underslung adjustable-azimuth pod, used to replace a fixed-azimuth propeller and rudder configuration.


bow thruster

A propulsion unit mounted in or on the bow of a vehicle.

(nautical) A sideways-pointing thruster mounted in a tunnel in the bow or under the bow in a pod, for increased maneuverability.

keulapotkuri

nautical: sideways thruster at the bow of a vessel


stand off

en-verb

stand off (third-person singular simple present stands off, present participle standing off, simple past and past participle stood off)

stands off (present singular third-person)
standing off (participle present)
stood off (participle past)
stood off (past)

Here were ſome marks of the ſavages along the ſhore ; for the ſhip ſtood off and on a good way down ; but no drift-wood, beaſts or fiſh were found, nor any thing uſeful except a few fowls, one of which they shot.

1768, Edward Cavendish Drake, A New Universal Collection of Authentic Voyages and Travels, page 321:

A boat was then dispatched to sound the channel, and attempt and entrance; but returned without success, there being a tremendous swell, and breakers. Signal guns were fired again in the evening, but equally in vain, and once more the ship stood off to sea for the night.

1836 October, Washington Irving, chapter XII, in Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. […], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 108:

When the tropic night closed down upon the battered Renown, as she stood off the land under easy sail, just enough to stiffen her to ride easily over the Atlantic rollers that the trade wind, reinforced by the sea breeze, sent hurrying under her bows, Buckland sat anxiously discussing the situation with his new first lieutenant.

1952, C. S. Forester, chapter 8, in Lieutenant Hornblower:

(nautical, dated) To move away from shore.


length overall

(nautical) Length of a ship from bow to stern.


aplustre

(historical, nautical) An ornamental appendage of wood at the stern of a Roman ship, usually spreading like a fan and curved like a bird's feather.

צֶפֶת הַיַרְכָתַיִם

an ornamental appendage of wood at the stern of a Roman ship


harbourage

en-noun

harbourage (countable and uncountable, plural harbourages)


harborage

harborage (countable and uncountable, plural harborages)

(US, nautical) A place for refuge for a vessel.


Flying Dutchman

(nautical folklore) A mythical Dutch-flagged ghost clipper that is very fast sailing, and never makes it to port, seen on the high seas, where upon being hailed, occupants request information on persons long dead, or leave messages for said people. In European naval folklore, it was considered to portend bad luck.


harbourmaster

(British, Canada) Alternative spelling of harbormaster


harbormaster

(US, nautical) An official responsible for the enforcement of regulations in a port.


HOV

/eɪt͡ʃ əʊ ˈviː/

human-occupied vehicle
human-occupied vehicle#English

(nautical) Initialism of human-occupied vehicle.


flag carrier

(military, nautical) An aircraft carrier serving as a flagship


ride out

en-verb

ride out (third-person singular simple present rides out, present participle riding out, simple past rode out, past participle ridden out)

rides out (present singular third-person)
riding out (participle present)
rode out (past)
ridden out (participle past)

(transitive, nautical) To survive in a storm (about a ship) and keep afloat.


PLAN

People's Liberation Army Navy
w:People's Liberation Army Navy

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China#English

(nautical, military) Abbreviation of People's Liberation Army Navy. The national navy of the People's Republic of China.


en-noun

emergency position indicating radio beacon (plural emergency position indicating radio beacons)

(communication, nautical) An emergency location radio beacon, used on ships.

emergency position indicating radiobeacon

emergency position indicating radio-beacon


groaner

/ˈɡɹəʊnə(ɹ)/

From Middle English groner, gronar, equivalent to groan + -er.


bluewater

From blue + water, from the blue of deep oceanic waters.

Almost every maritime country has some kind of bluewater navy.

(nautical) Oceangoing, capable of travelling in rough seas.


hatchwork

The sailors must be familiar with the cargo and hatchwork.

(uncountable, shipping) The apparatus around the hatches of a vessel, particularly the cargo hatch


storm jib

(nautical) A small jib, used in a storm to reduce the sail area to the minimum required for maintaining manoeuvrability of the vessel.


run afoul

en-verb

run afoul (third-person singular simple present runs afoul, present participle running afoul, simple past ran afoul, past participle run afoul)

runs afoul (present singular third-person)
running afoul (participle present)
ran afoul (past)
run afoul (participle past)

At last we hove in sight of the Pacific, and run afoul one of those villainous head winds which you know often set into the west end of the Straits.

1857, Thomas Jefferson Farnham, Life, Adventures, and Travels in California, page 407:

Propellers can run afoul in heavy seaweed, and ships are said to be afoul when they collide.

1995, James Laurence Pelletier, Mariner's Employment Guide, page 514:

(transitive, intransitive, nautical) To become entangled or in conflict with.


main-truck

"Main" refers to the mainmast, whereas a truck on another mast may be called (on the mizzenmast, for example) "mizzen-truck".

But oh! shipmates! on the starboard hand of every woe, there is a sure delight; and higher the top of that delight, than the bottom of the woe is deep. Is not the main-truck higher than the kelson is low?

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 9”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high; I never see anybody so polite.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

(nautical) On a wooden mast, a circular disc (or sometimes a rectangle) of wood near or at the top of the mast, usually with holes or sheaves to reeve signal halyards; also a temporary or emergency place for a lookout.

isomärssy

nautical: circular disc at or near the top of main mast


floaty

en-adj

floaty (comparative floatier, superlative floatiest)

floatier (comparative)
floatiest (superlative)

From float (noun or verb) + -y (suffix meaning ‘inclined to’ forming adjectives). Compare Middle English floti, floty (“of a place: well supplied with water”).

kelluva

tending to float on a liquid or rise in air or a gas — see also buoyant

I then told my Lord of Eſſex that mine vvas a floaty ſhip and vvell appointed for that ſervice; […]

a. 1610 (date written), Francis Vere, “The Calis-journey”, in William Dillingham, editor, The Commentaries of Sr. Francis Vere, Being Diverse Pieces of Service, wherein He had Command, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] John Field, printer to the famous University [of Cambridge], published 1657, →OCLC, page 28:

The extream length of a Ship makes her unapt to ſtay, eſpecially if ſhe be floatie and vvant ſharpneſſe of vvay forvvard.

a. 1612 November 16 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Walter Raleigh, “[Sir Walter Raleigh’s Letters.] Sr. Walter Raleigh's Letter to Prince Henry, Touching the Model of a Ship.”, in Remains of Sir Walter Raleigh; […], London: […] William Sheares […], published 1661, →OCLC, page 253:

Girdling the ship would make her one of the finest ships in the whole universe, for it would make her much more floatier and carry her guns higher, and she would bear the better sail and be a better and securer ship to receive shot, and I believe it will not prejudice her sailing.

1672 April 15 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Nicholas A[ndrew] M[artin] Rodger, quoting John Narbrough, “Great Frigates: Ships 1649–1714”, in The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815, Allen Lane in association with the National Maritime Museum, published 2014, →ISBN, page 218:

[H]e had been concerned in a Collier, but did not care to be concerned in a Ship that drevv ſo much VVater as Fourteen Foot and a half; but if he vvould buy a Floaty Ship, ſuch an one as he could recommend to him at Yarmouth, he vvould be concerned vvith him, and go 100 l. vvith him, and begin the Trade vvith him aſſoon as he pleaſed.

1729 March 23 (Gregorian calendar), George Collcott, Robert Jones, The Joint and Separate Account or Narrative of George Collcott, and Robert Jones, Mariners, Relating to what Passed at Their Several Meetings with Others, about the Affair of Dunkirk, [London]: [Nathaniel Rich], →OCLC, page 2:

The reason of my particularizing, and making choice of the Vigilant is, that she is the most Floaty Ship of her Class in this Harbour.

1775 October 10, Molyneux Shuldham, “European Theatre, Aug. 11, 1775 – Oct. 31, 1775 [Rear Admiral Molyneux Shuldham to Philip Stephens]”, in William Bell Clark, editor, Naval Documents of the American Revolution, volume 2, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 1966, →OCLC, page 754:

Tending to float on a liquid or to rise in air or a gas; buoyant.

(nautical, archaic) Of a ship: having a shallow draft (the depth from the waterline to the bottom of a vessel's hull), and thus drawing less (that is, floating higher in) water.


knockabout

We sailed our knockabout around Cape Cod.

(sailing) A small sailboat lacking a bowsprit, of a type found primarily in the Massachusetts area.


boatyard

A place where boats are built and repaired.


powder hoy

(obsolete, nautical) A vessel, often painted red and carrying a red flag, that carried gunpowder to a man-of-war.


foretop

From Middle English fore-top, for-top, equivalent to fore- + top.

His station was in the fore-top, and often from there he looked down, with the contempt of a man destined to shine in the midst of dangers, at the peaceful multitude of roofs cut in two by the brown tide of the stream, while scattered on the outskirts of the surrounding plain the factory chimneys rose perpendicular against a grimy sky, each slender like a pencil, and belching out smoke like a volcano.

1903, Joseph Conrad, chapter 1, in Lord Jim:

(nautical) A platform at the top of the foremast, supported by the trestle trees.

keulamärssy

nautical: platform at the top of the foremast


drillship

(nautical) Any vessel fitted with drilling equipment


battlewagon

It made no difference that the battlewagon had been commissioned in 1921 and the DE in 1944, or that the battleship's skipper was a regular captain

2000, Edward P. Stafford, Little Ship, Big War: The Saga of DE343, page 281:

(military) A heavily-armed combat vehicle.

A heavily-armed combat vehicle.
A battleship.


afterguard

There were times when the whole crew refused their duty; and we of the afterguard were twice got under arms—being the first time that ever I bore weapons—in the fear of mutiny.

1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter IX, in The Master of Ballantrae, Cassell:

Yet from something in the outline and carriage, Billy took him to be, and correctly, one of the afterguard.

1924, Herman Melville, chapter 12, in Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co.:

(historical, nautical) The seaman or seamen stationed on the poop or after part of a ship, to attend the after-sails.

This is his sixth Cup campaign but his first as skipper, a position he inherited after the helmsman Russell Coutts, Butterworth’s longtime alter ego in the afterguard, bolted from Alinghi in 2004.

2007 July 3, Christopher Clarey, “A Familiar Foe Blocks New Zealand’s Path”, in New York Times:

(sailing) The members of a yacht's crew who attend to the aft sails


lubber's hole

(nautical) A hole through the platform surrounding the upper part of a ship's mast, through which one may climb to go aloft.


mastman

“I just said to the boys that when Australia won in Newport, they were 3-1 down, and we all know what happened there,” said Matt Mason, Team New Zealand’s mastman.

2007 July 1, Christopher Clarey, “Alinghi Within One Victory of America’s Cup”, in New York Times:

(nautical, sailing) A sailor who is charged with tending the halyards and other lines near the mast


passagemaker

(nautical) A vessel designed for, or capable of, making a long-distance voyage.


haul off

en-verb

haul off (third-person singular simple present hauls off, present participle hauling off, simple past and past participle hauled off)

hauls off (present singular third-person)
hauling off (participle present)
hauled off (participle past)
hauled off (past)

(nautical) To alter course so as to get farther away from an object.


newbuild

(US, nautical) A newly constructed vessel.


helideck

(nautical) A platform (on a vessel or offshore structure) allowing helicopters to land and take off.


SSRN

(US, military, nautical, obsolete) Sub Surface Radar Nuclear - a nuclear-powered radar picket submarine


mahaila

A large riverboat, formerly used as a naval vessel in Arabian countries.


mailboat

Stephen stood up and went over to the parapet. Leaning on it he looked down on the water and on the mailboat clearing the harbourmouth of Kingstown.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

[…] the news and propaganda in imperialistic papers imported once a month by the mail-boat from the South lacked power because it lacked continuity and was stale.

1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter VIII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 120:

This train has to await the arrival at Kingsbridge of a train from Dun Laoghaire pier which leaves the latter on arrival of the mailboat from Holyhead.

1939 July, “Overseas Railways: Timetable Alterations, G.S.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 55:


mainbrace

(nautical) The rope (or sheet) used to control the main yard. The main yard is the spar set across the mast, from which the mainsail is hung.


splice the mainbrace

splice the mainbrace (third-person singular simple present splices the mainbrace, present participle splicing the mainbrace, simple past and past participle spliced the mainbrace)

splices the mainbrace (present singular third-person)
splicing the mainbrace (participle present)
spliced the mainbrace (participle past)
spliced the mainbrace (past)

From splice + mainbrace. Splicing the mainbrace, a heavy piece of running rigging that supported the main yard, was a skilful and arduous task, so that the men responsible would be rewarded with an extra tot of rum. Nowadays, a ceremonial order to pour a drink for a ship's company.

(nautical, idiomatic) To have an alcoholic drink.


paddleboat

It also caused major problems for businesses which relied on the lake and river, including the city's paddleboat operator and the river cruise company.

2009 February 12, “Weir gate fault drains city lake”, in Herald Sun:

(nautical) A boat propelled by a paddle wheel

Naval sources report the amazing rescue of two 65-year-old women who were found floating 400 miles off the coast of California — in a tiny paddleboat!

1996 April 2, Lisa Merakis, “Two women found floating in paddleboat — 400 miles from shore!”, in Weekly World News, →ISSN, page 33, [satirical]:

Outdoors, guests can take a paddleboat and pedal their way around shaded waterways filled with swans and Nile perch

2010, Anne Anderson, Insiders' Guide® to the Greater Tampa Bay Area (Insiders' Guide Series), Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 70:

(nautical, US, Canada, Australia) a pedalo


polyreme

poly- + Latin rēmus (“oar”). See trireme.

A very large galley with more than five rows of oars on each side.


monoreme

(nautical) A galley with a single row of oars on each side


IMDG

(shipping) Initialism of International Maritime Dangerous Goods (code): a code designed to standardize safety of dangerous goods being transported by sea.


sail-plan

(nautical) A diagram showing the number and possible arrangements and sizes of the sails for a sailing vessel.


beartrap

(aviation, nautical) A device that traps a probe on a rotorcraft, securing it to the helicopter deck of a vessel.

(aviation, nautical) A system of rotorcraft recovery aboard watercraft in heavy sea states, which uses the beartrap device to land securely and transport the aircraft into the hangar.


slip sheet

(shipping) A strong, thin pallet-sized sheet of plastic or fiberboard used to transport heavy items.


beakhead

(nautical) A protruding part of the foremost section of a sailing ship.

galioon

protruding part at the bow of a sailing ship


Marconi rig

Named after the inventor of radio, Guglielmo Marconi, because the wires that stabilize the mast of such a rig reminded observers of the wires on radio masts.


commodore admiral

en-noun

commodore admiral (plural commodore admirals)

(US, military, nautical, historical) a flag officer of a rank between a captain and a rear admiral, having a O7 NATO rank scale equivalency.


CADM

commodore admiral
commodore admiral#English

(US, military, nautical, historical) Abbreviation of commodore admiral.


COMO

(US, military, nautical) Abbreviation of commodore.


fleet captain

(military, nautical) A captain in command of a fleet, convoy, or flotilla.

(military, nautical) The holder of a non-flag naval rank above that of captain and below that of the admiralty ranks, having an O7 NATO rank scale equivalency.


yeoperson

yeoperson (plural yeopersons or yeopeople)


mashua

A type of simple fishing vessel found on the coast of East Africa.


boathook

After that, Hanukkah curled up on the steps of the mosque and withdrew into sleep and his dream of Sarah, of the faint smell of burning sandalwood when she took his head into her lap, a dream from which Amram’s horny toe now dislodged him with all the tenderness of a boathook.

2007 March 11, Michael Chabon, “Gentlemen of the Road”, in New York Times:

A hook attached to a pole used for pulling or pushing boats, rafts, logs or other objects to or from the side of a boat.

баго́р

hook attached to a pole to push out or pull in things — see also setting pole


masula

The catamarans accompany the masulah boats through the surf, and when an accident happens endeavour to pick up the unfortunate passengers.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 90

A type of boat used on the Coromandel Coast of southeast India, typically for travelling between ships and shore. Also more fully masula boat.


athwartship

athwartship bulkheads; an athwartship berth

The Nan-Shan had an athwartship bunker which, being frequently used as cargo space, communicated by an iron door with the fore ’tween-deck.

1902, Joseph Conrad, chapter 14, in Typhoon, New York: Putnam, page 107:

(nautical) Oriented across the vessel sideways, i.e. in a direction at right angles to the fore-and-aft line of the vessel.


sea shanty

(nautical, music) A work song that sailors historically sang in rhythm to their movement.


boatbuilding

boatbuilding (countable and uncountable, plural boatbuildings)


cutlass bearing

cutlass bearing (plural cutlass bearings)

When you replace a drive shaft on your boat, it is also a good idea to replace the cutlass bearing where the drive shaft exits the boat.

(nautical) A bearing on the drive shaft of a vessel, usually made of brass with an inner grooved rubber lining that is lubricated by the surrounding water entering the grooves as it rotates. It is a variant of the stave bearing.


unmast

en-verb

unmast (third-person singular simple present unmasts, present participle unmasting, simple past and past participle unmasted)

unmasts (present singular third-person)
unmasting (participle present)
unmasted (participle past)
unmasted (past)


dhoni

Guests at the new Anantara Resort Maldives, opened in September on a five-acre island in the South Male Atoll, can shove off at sunset to fish from an indigenous dhoni sailboat, trailing local tackle — that is, a baited hook on a fishing line.

2007 January 28, Elaine Glusac, “It’s Night. Shall We Snorkel, Cycle or Hike?”, in New York Times:

A handcrafted sailboat with a motor or lateen sails, resembling a dhow, that is used in the Maldives.


gennaker

/ˈd͡ʒɛnəkə(ɹ)/

(nautical) A sail having characteristics of a genoa and a spinnaker.


mokihi

A Māori raft made from dried flower stalks bound together with flax twine.


shift one's tides

shift one's tides (third-person singular simple present shifts one's tides, present participle shifting one's tides, simple past and past participle shifted one's tides)

shifts one's tides (present singular third-person)
shifting one's tides (participle present)
shifted one's tides (participle past)
shifted one's tides (past)

(dated, nautical) To record the variations of the tide and the positions of the sun and moon using a nautical almanac and sextant to determine the location and phase of the moon and to calculate the relative effect of the tides on the navigation of the ship.


ro-ro

en-noun

ro-ro (countable and uncountable, plural ro-ros)

roll-on roll-off
roll-on roll-off#English

(transport, nautical) Abbreviation of roll-on roll-off.


roll-on roll-off

Stranraer Harbour station was the traditional connection for ferry services. But as competition from roll-on/roll-off traffic intensified P&O Ferries started a new service from Cairnryan in 1973, which reduced the shipping distance.

2020 November 18, “Industry Insider: Improving rail connectivity”, in Rail, page 68:

(transport, nautical) Of a form of marine vessel which allows wheeled vehicles to be driven on and off.


ogin

Unclear. Among various suggestions, it may be a corrupted form of hogwash (“swill”), of noggin (“a small measure of an alcoholic drink”), or of ocean.

Nobody has yet put up a suitable argument for *never* going into the ogin to help someone who can't raise their own head above the surface...

2004 April 6, DannyBoy, “Man Overboard Statistics....”, in uk.rec.sailing (Usenet):

(UK, chiefly nautical and navy) A large body of water including the sea or the ocean.


pump-jet

(nautical) A marine system that creates a jet of water for propulsion of watercraft.

vesisuihkumoottori

a marine system that creates a jet of water for propulsion


port city

A city built around a port, for its defence, to provide infrastructural support, or as parasitic urban sprawl.


GMDSS

(nautical, aviation) Initialism of Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. (an international set of safety procedures, equipment types, and communication protocols)


AIS

AIS (countable and uncountable, plural AISs or AISes or AIS's)

AISs (plural)
AISes (plural)
AIS's (plural)

/ˈeɪ ˈaɪ ˈɛs/

Having spotted an unknown contact on radar, the navigation officer attempted to identify the vessel using the ship's AIS.

(nautical) Initialism of automatic identification system, as an element of the Global Marine Distress and Safety System GMDSS.


hitchment

(shipping) The marrying of two or more portions of one shipment that originate at different locations, moving under one bill of lading, from one shipper to one consignee.


isophase light

(nautical) A rhythmic light (in a lighthouse) in which all durations of light and darkness are equal.


middle body

In those experiments the different models used had varying lengths of parallel middle body distributed equally forward and abaft the midship section.

1919, William McEntee, “The Propulsion of Cargo Ships with Parallel Middle Body”, in Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, volume 31, page 263:

(nautical) The part of a vessel adjacent to the midship section having a uniform or nearly uniform cross-section, usually referred to as the parallel middle body.


forebody

From Middle English forebodi, forbody, equivalent to fore- + body.

The wear-off is intensified in heavily loaded areas, such as the ice belt in the ship's forebody, and during operations in heavy ice and especially in presence of soil or sand mixed in ice.

1995, D. S. Sodhi, Northern Sea Route Reconnaissance Study: A Summary of Icebreaking Technology, →ISBN, page 22:

(nautical) The part of the vessel forward of amidships.


afterbody

After the diagonals are drawn in the plane of the projection, the ribbands may be laid down in the horizontal plane, and from thence all the other frames may be laid down in the plane of projection, in the very same manner that the horizontal ribbands and the frames for the afterbody were laid down.

1754, Mungo Murray, chapter 6, in A treatise on ship-building and navigation, page 45:

As well as could be judged by looking down through the water under the counters, there was no injury whatever to the afterbody of the ship.

1882, John Wilson Danenhower, Lieutenant Danenhower's Narrative of the "Jeannette", page 32:

The extension of slender-body theory to account for the interaction of the afterbody with vortex sheets shed upstream has been carried out by Newman and Wu (1973) in the general case where the local lateral velocity of the body differs from the downwash of the trailing vortices.

1977, John Nicholas Newman, chapter 7, in Marine Hydrodynamics, →ISBN, page 343:

(nautical) The part of a vessel abaft midships.


lower deck

(nautical) The deck of a ship immediately above the hold.

podpalubí

(nautical, by extension) The members of a ship's company who are not officers.


patache

Borrowed from Spanish patache, of uncertain origin. The carriage sense is after French.

A horse-drawn carriage with two wheels used in France.


cuny

I early found my way to ships to become a sea-cuny.


Bermuda rig

(nautical) A sailing rig consisting of a single stayed mast with a fore-and-aft rigged mainsail on a boom and a jib or genoa on the forestay


gullwing

(nautical) Synonym of goose wing (sail position).


cable-laid

(nautical, of rope) Consisting of three or four hawser-laid ropes twisted together left-handed (turning in an anticlockwise direction).


under sail

A ship under full sail.

(idiomatic, nautical) With sails unfurled; powered by the wind.


mainyard

The sails were split, the mainyard shivered, the wind blowing fresh, the night setting in; and all our chance was to make for Corfu--or, as F. pathetically called it, 'a watery grave.'

A long line of red and white flags extends from the top of the mainyard to the helm and streamers flutter from the mastheads.

1914, E.H. Aitken, Concerning Animals and Other Matters:

(sailing) The yard of the mainmast, from which the mainsail is hung

grand' vèrgue

the yard of the mainmast, from which the mainsail is hung


stunsail

And, when running into more sufferable latitudes, the ship, with mild stun’sails spread, floated across the tranquil tropics […]

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 41”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:


destroyer escort

destroyer escort (plural destroyer escorts)

(US, military, nautical, historical) A type of warship, lighter in armor and armament, and slower than a destroyer, originally used for convoy escort during World War II; now considered a frigate.


destroyer leader

destroyer leader (plural destroyer leaders)

(military, nautical) a warship, a type of destroyer used to lead a division, flotilla or squadron at sea and in combat, a heavy destroyer variant with larger displacement for command and control.


barkentine

There was a barkentine in Halifax harbor. That was a thing worth looking at in the year 1933.

1937 August, Theodore G. Roberts, “Lay Aft, Mr. Dutton!”, in Boys' Life, volume 27, number 8, page 16:

The William Olsen, a San Francisco barkentine, kedged out into the lagoon as fast as possible, and through the tearing sheets of rain I glimpsed other vessels reaching for a holding-ground.

1937, Frederick O'Brien, Mystic Isles of the South Seas.:

She is passenger on the square-rigged barkentine Speedwell, now lying off the coast of Virginia.

1990 May 18, Patrick Daugherty, “Reading: Fare for Flying”, in Chicago Reader:

(sailing) Alternative spelling of barquentine


JRM

Abbreviation of Serbo-Croatian Jugoslavenska Ratna Mornarica (“Yugoslav War Navy”).

der

(military, nautical) ship prefix for ship names of the Yugoslav navy


AOR

en-noun

AOR (countable and uncountable, plural AORs)

auxiliary replenishment oiler
auxiliary replenishment oiler#English

(US, military, nautical) Initialism of auxiliary replenishment oiler.


clew-garnet

(nautical) A rope attaching to the clew (lower corner) of a sail, used to furl it.

sometimes used the pen name Mayn Clew Garnett


mokoro

The mokoro owner I hired happily piled us all into a single, rather small craft and we set off over a flooded meadow, covered with barely half a metre of water.

Several companies offer trips by mokoro, lasting from one to three days, although almost all these trips are run by the same community trust.

2007, Chris McIntyre, Botswana, Bradt Travel Guides, page 165:

A dugout canoe, especially as used in the Okavango Swamps of Botswana.


gabbart

(nautical) A lighter or barge; a small one-masted sailing or coasting vessel designed for inland navigation.


lay day

(nautical) A day in which a vessel may load or unload a cargo without paying an extra charge.


loblolly

loblolly (countable and uncountable, plural loblollies)

From Yorkshire dialect lob (“boil”, literally “bubbling up”) + dialect lolly (“broth”).


deadeye

(nautical) A wooden disk having holes through which the lanyard is passed, used for tightening shrouds.

jufferblok

nautical: wooden disk for tightening shrouds


burton

(archaic) Storage of cargo athwartships.


forrard

Here and there an adventurous genius coins a phrase for the benefit of posterity,--as we once heard a mate order a couple of men to "go forrard and trim the ship's whiskers," to the utter bewilderment of his captain, who, in thirty years' following of the sea, had never heard the martingale chains and stays so designated.

1858, Various, The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 12, October, 1858:

Off, here, Masser Mile--larboard bow, well forrard; look sharp and soon see him, yourself, sir."

1863, James Fenimore Cooper, Miles Wallingford:

The old chap who had just come off the look-out, had returned forrard again, and I was alone on that part of the deck.

1909, William Hope Hodgson, The Ghost Pirates:


flying bridge

(nautical) A (usually open) area on top of, or at the side of, a ship's pilothouse, serving as an operating station for the officers in good weather or when manoeuvring in port.