save-all

Save-all sails I believe are commonly laced on to the foot of other sails, in light weather—she had something of this description under her lower studding sails.

1835, John Jeremie, Recent events at Mauritius, page 83:

Sloops, cutters, smacks, hoys &c. have a main-sail abaft the mast, as the brigs; upon and before the mast they have a square sail, or cross-jack; and, above the cross-jack, a small sail, called a save-all top-sail; above that is a top-sail, called a swallow-tailed top-sail, and the next is the top-gallant-sail.

1843, The Art of Sail-Making as practised in the Royal Navy, page 12:

There are a few other sails, such as a gaff-topsail, which sets over the spanker; a ring-tail, which sets abaft the spanker; a save-all, under the lower studding-sail boom, and a jib-topsail, which sets flying over the job. These are never met with now in the service.

1863, Stephen Bleecker Luce, Seamanship, page 463:

(nautical, now historical) A small sail sometimes set under the foot of another sail, to catch the wind that would pass under it.


hatchboat

(nautical, UK, historical) A type of fishing boat found mostly in southern England in the 19th century, whose deck consisted of many movable hatches.


drabbler

(nautical) A piece of canvas fastened by lacing to the bonnet of a sail, to give it a greater depth or more drop.


billethead

we painted her on the outside, giving her open ports in her streak, and finishing off the nice work upon the stern, where sat Neptune in his car, holding his trident, drawn by sea-horses; and re-touched the gilding and coloring of the cornucopia which ornamented her billet-head.

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) A carved wooden decoration, usually at the bow of a vessel, generally smaller than a figurehead


iron-sick

en-adj

iron-sick (comparative more iron-sick, superlative most iron-sick)

more iron-sick (comparative)
most iron-sick (superlative)

(nautical) Denoting ironwork that loose or corroded; said of a ship where the bolts and nails are so degraded with rust as to cause leaks.


barcon

From Italian barcone, from barca (“a bark”).

A freight vessel used in the Mediterranean.


chelandion

From Ancient Greek χελάνδιον (khelándion).

(historical, nautical) a Byzantine bireme used primarily for cargo transport


dromon

(historical, nautical) A Byzantine bireme, similar to the chelandion, but used primarily for naval combat.


rudderhead

(nautical) The upper part of the rudderstock, to which a tiller is attached.


forestaff

en-noun

forestaff (plural forestaffs or forestaves)

with a Forestaff, take the Altitude of the North Star

1722, Andrew Wakely, The Mariner's Compass:

(nautical) An instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies, later replaced by the sextant.


tongkang

(nautical, historical) A kind of light wooden boat used in the early 19th century to carry goods along rivers in Maritime Southeast Asia.


triaconter

From Ancient Greek τριακοντήρης (triakontḗrēs).

der

τριακοντήρης

(Ancient Greece) A vessel with thirty banks of oars, or thirty ranks of rowers.


skullfish

(nautical, whaling, obsolete) A whale more than two years old.


wung-out

(nautical, slang) Having the sails set in the manner called wing and wing.


atrip

The captain's anchor is pretty nigh atrip; I shouldn't wonder if he croaked afore morning.

1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

(nautical, of an anchor) Just clear of the ground.

(nautical, of sails) Sheeted home, hoisted taut up and ready for trimming.

(nautical, of yards) Hoisted up and ready to be swayed across.


crankness

(nautical) Liability to be overset; said of a ship or other vessel.


gallied

en-adj

gallied (comparative more gallied, superlative most gallied)

more gallied (comparative)
most gallied (superlative)

Best, therefore, withhold any amazement at the strangely gallied whales before us, for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 87, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

(nautical) worried; flurried; frightened


cubbridge-head

(nautical) A bulkhead on the forecastle and halfdeck of a ship.


halfdeck

(nautical) The portion of the deck next below the spar deck which is between the mainmast and the cabin.


forereach

en-verb

forereach (third-person singular simple present forereaches, present participle forereaching, simple past and past participle forereached)

forereaches (present singular third-person)
forereaching (participle present)
forereached (participle past)
forereached (past)

(nautical, intransitive) To shoot ahead, especially when going in stays.

(nautical, transitive) To advance or gain upon; said of a vessel that gains upon another when sailing close-hauled.


lodemanage

Court of Lodemanage ― a court which sat at Dover to appoint pilots of the Cinque Ports


luffer

So even if the luffer to leeward does react quickly enough in the stopping of his boat, he'll also have to start going bacckwards to prevent you breaking away and going for the mark ahead of him.

1975, Yacht Racing - Volume 14, page 38:

The obsessive luffer seems to want a threat to windward for the sheer pleasure of upholding the right to luff, even though a luff almost always costs more places than it saves.

2013, Eric Twiname, Start to Win, page 107:

Some lost places at training events are worthwhile to enhance your reputation as a luffer—you can buy the poor windward boat a beer later!

(sailing, yacht racing) One who luffs (sails close to the wind) in order to threaten a windward opponent.


mahone

In this Charge one of the Turks Mahones was sunk , and two disabled

1680, Paul Rycaut, The History of the Turkish Empire […] :

(historical) A large Turkish warship. [from 16th c.]


gangboard

From gang (“way, path, course of travel”) + board (“plank”).

compound

(nautical) A board or plank used as a temporary footbridge between a ship and a dockside or any gap such as scaffolding.

loopplank

board used as a temporary footbridge between a ship and a dockside

The brigantine's yawl under the port gangboard was put over, and three volunteers offered to row for help.

2005, Edward Rowe Snow, Jeremy D'Entremont, William Quinn, Storms and Shipwrecks of New England, Applewood Books, →ISBN, page 45:

(nautical) A board or plank placed within or without the bulwarks of a vessel's waist for lookouts to walk or stand on.


magged

en-adj

magged (comparative more magged, superlative most magged)

more magged (comparative)
most magged (superlative)

a magged brace


reef point

(nautical) A short line, stitched through a sail, for tying a reef


woolding

(nautical) The act of winding or wrapping anything with a rope.

(nautical) A rope used for binding masts and spars.


skysail

(nautical) On historical square-rigged ships, the sail above the royal. Normally it is the uppermost sail, but in some cases it is below the moonraker.


houseline

[…]marled on to the sail with marline or houseline, as far as it is sewed

1796, David Steel, The Art of Sail-making, as Practised in the Royal Navy:

(nautical) A small line of three strands used for seizing.


patela

A large flat-bottomed trading boat peculiar to the river Ganges in India.


pleyt

From Middle Dutch pleyt (“flat”). Doublet of flat and plat.

In the second group a variety of ships may be placed: a boeyer, a pleyt, a krayer, an ever, a cogge, a bark, a hulk, and from the middle of the 15th century onwards a carvel.

1954, Nelly Johanna Martina Kerling, Commercial Relations of Holland and Zeeland with England from the Late 13th Century to the Close of the Middle Ages:

The model on display belongs to the family of the "pleyt" or "pleitscip"."

2011, Money and Beauty, Giunti Editore, →ISBN, page 186:


swabber

(nautical, historical) An interior officer on British warships, responsible for seeing that the ship was kept clean.


laveer

en-verb

laveer (third-person singular simple present laveers, present participle laveering, simple past and past participle laveered)

laveers (present singular third-person)
laveering (participle present)
laveered (participle past)
laveered (past)

But those that 'gainst stiff Gales laveering go
Must be at once resolv'd and skilful too.

(nautical, obsolete) To beat against the wind; to tack.


thurrock

From Middle English thurrok, from Old English þurruc (“hold of a ship; bilge”), from Proto-West Germanic *þurruk, from Proto-Indo-European *terg-, *terǵ- (“to rub, wipe, clean, make holes”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian durk (“sewer, bilge-water, lowest part in the hold of a ship”), Middle Dutch durck, dorck (“the hold of a ship”) (Dutch durk, dork (“a spout-hole”)), Middle Low German dork (“keel room, the lowest part of a ship's hold”), Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌺𐍉 (þairkō, “hole, eye (of a needle)”), Latin tergō, tergeō (“wipe, scour, clean”, verb), Old English þurh, þuruh (“through”). More at through, thorough.

cog

(nautical, obsolete) The hold of a ship; also, the bilge.


gunter rig

(nautical) a rigging configuration consiting of a fore and aft sail set abaft (behind) the mast. The lower half of the luff (front) of the sail is attached to the mast, and the upper half is fastened to a spar which is approximately vertical and reaches above the top of the mast, in such a way that the yard can slide up and down the lower mast.


woolder

(nautical) A stick used to tighten the rope in woolding.


trestletree

For, besides one of the bibs being defective, the larboard trestletree, and one of the cross-trees were sprung

1813, William Fordyce Mavor, Cook's 3rd Voyage:

(nautical) One of two strong bars of timber, fixed horizontally on the opposite sides of the masthead to support the crosstrees and the frame of the top.


spirketing

en-noun

spirketing (countable and uncountable, plural spirketings)

At some point on the upper edge of the gun-deck spirketing, a shore, that is, the truss, firmly cleated at its heel , extended upwards and aft

1840, Augustin Francis Bullock Creuze, Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Naval Architecture:

(nautical) The planking from the waterways up to the portsills.


tindal

From Malayalam തണ്ടല് (taṇṭal) or Telugu తండేలు (taṇḍēlu), ultimately from Proto-Dravidian *tanḍal-.

One thing that continued unchanged was the division of the crew into two watches, each led by a tindal.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 16:

(India, dated) A petty officer among lascars; a boatswain's mate; a cockswain.


patamar

In may 1831, I proceeded from Bombay to Panoovellee in a small Patamar, I sailed in the afternoon and arrived there before day break, I paid for the whole Patamar five Rupees, but a boat usually sails every day from Bombay to Panoovellee at the cost of a quarter of a Rupee for each person, […]

1832, David D'Beth Hillel, The Travels of Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel: From Jerusalem, Through Arabia, Koordistan, Part of Persia, and India to Madras, page 138:

(nautical) A sailing vessel resembling a grab, formerly used in the coasting trade of Bombay and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).


shallow-waisted

en-adj

shallow-waisted (comparative more shallow-waisted, superlative most shallow-waisted)

more shallow-waisted (comparative)
most shallow-waisted (superlative)

(nautical) Having a flush deck, or with only a moderate depression amidships; said of a vessel.


sternage

Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,
And leave your England as dead midnight still.

1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, prologue], lines 18-19:

(obsolete, nautical) The stern of a vessel.


topcloth

(nautical) A piece of canvas used to cover the hammocks which are lashed to the top in action to protect the topmen.


bilander

Borrowed from Dutch bijlander, equivalent to by- + lander. See also belandre.

Why choose we, then, like bilanders to creep / Along the coast, and land in view to keep?

1687, [John Dryden], “(please specify the page number)”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

it being fine weather , all the bilanders and fiſhing boats , that had returned after the first imbarkation, into the harbour, went out again with another body of troops

March 1744, Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany:

(nautical, historical) A small two-masted merchant vessel, fitted only for coasting, or for use in canals, as in Holland.


tide-rode

To cast a ship when tide-rode with the wind ahead, the same practice must be followed with the sails, as to cast a ship when wind-rode and no current.

1822, Thomas Arnold, The American Practical Lunarian:

It is advisable to moor, as vessels are always tide rode

1943, United States Hydrographic Office, Sailing Directions for the Coast of China:

Freighters and tankers are anchored in the busy basin too, often tide-rode, their anchor chains bar tight and seeming eager to cut you in half as wind and tide drive you down on them.

(nautical) Swung by the tide when anchored.


stemson

See stem and keelson, and compare sternson.

(nautical) A piece of curved timber bolted to the stem, keelson, and apron in a ship's frame near the bow.


chopboat

From chop (“stamp, mark of quality, license”) + boat.

compound

In taking in cargo, the receiving officer should not be interrupted, for he has need of all his carefulness to see that the coolies in the chopboat do not slily pass up a chest with two tallies stuck in it, or slip a package off sideways from the board

1856, Samuel Wells Williams, A Chinese Commercial Guide:

(in China) A licensed lighter (watercraft) employed in the transportation of goods to and from larger vessels.


apeak

From French à pic (“at its summit; vertically”), compare with Italian a picco.

Thus the good we should cherish, the bad never seek, / For death will too soon bring each anchor apeak.

a 1796, Charles Dibdin, "Nautical Philosophy"

I found the New Shoreham with her anchor apeak and, within a quarter of an hour after I reached her, running seven knots an hour, right before the wind.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 163

(nautical, of an anchor) In a vertical line, the cable having been sufficiently hove in to bring the ship over it.


unbit

en-verb

unbit (third-person singular simple present unbits, present participle unbitting, simple past and past participle unbitted)

unbits (present singular third-person)
unbitting (participle present)
unbitted (participle past)
unbitted (past)

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(nautical, transitive) To remove the turns of (a rope or cable) from the bits.


coal-whipper

[W]e were in among the tiers of shipping […] [H]ere, were colliers by the score and score, with the coal-whippers plunging off stages on deck, as counterweights to measures of coal swinging up, which were then rattled over the side into barges […]

1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:

(UK, dated) One who raises coal out of the hold of a ship.


gobline

The gobline helps prevent the tug from being tripped or capsized when working on a towline especially if the tug is being towed stern first.

1986, George H. Reid, Shiphandling with Tugs, page 66:

This is not so important if the towline is bowsed to the stern of the tug with a gobline.

1996, Graham Danton, The Theory and Practice of Seamanship:

(nautical) One of the ropes or chains serving as stays for the dolphin striker or the bowsprit.


razee

From French vaisseau rasé, from raser (“to rase, to cut down ships”). See raze and rase (verbs).

an old line-of-battle ship, (21 years of age,) cut down to a razee

1838, Edmund Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas […] :

(nautical) An armed ship with its upper deck cut away, and thus reduced to the next inferior rate, such as a seventy-four cut down to a frigate.


razee

razee (third-person singular simple present razees, present participle razeeing, simple past and past participle razeed)

razees (present singular third-person)
razeeing (participle present)
razeed (participle past)
razeed (past)

(transitive, nautical) To cut (a ship) down to a smaller number of decks, and thus to an inferior rate or class.


flyboat

Borrowed from Dutch vlieboot, but re-analysed as fly + boat.

August 14, 1595, Thomas Treffry, letter to Sir Robert Cecil
a ship of Bristol was chased into this harbour by two Spanish fly-boats, and they report […] that there are five men of war, Spanish, in the road of Conquet

A large flat-bottomed Dutch coasting vessel.


spoondrift

en-noun

spoondrift (countable and uncountable, plural spoondrifts)

Probably a variant of Scots spindrift. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it is derived from spoon + drift (“mass of matter driven or forced onward together in a body, etc., especially by wind or water”), spoon being a variant of spoom (“to sail briskly with the wind astern, with or without sails hoisted”), but this is doubted by the Scottish National Dictionary: see spindrift.

compound

(nautical, archaic) Alternative form of spindrift

Oxford English Dictionary
Scottish National Dictionary


weather-bit

(nautical) A turn of the cable about the end of the windlass, without the bits.


goosewinged

(nautical) Having a goose wing; said of a fore-and-aft sailboat with the foresail set on one side (e.g. starboard) and mainsail on the other (e.g. port), often used when the boat is running (with the wind almost directly at the stern).


spurnwater

(nautical) A channel at the end of a deck to restrain the water.


slatch

(nautical) The loose part of a rope; slack.


reef-band

The rope passed from below up through a sister-block in the rigging at the topmast-head, thence through the end of the yard to a block in the reef-band of the sail, &c.

1846, “Improvements in Ships”, in Boston Journal:

(nautical) A piece of canvas sewn across a sail to strengthen it in the part where the eyelet holes for reefing are made.


panchway

From Bengali পানসি (panośi, “pinnace”), from English pinnace.

[A] Bengal boat called a paunceway came alongside, which Colonel Watson engaged to convey him to Calcutta.

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 205

With a gesture of acknowledgement, Parimal retreated down the ladder and soon afterwards, a slim paunchway pulled away from the Raskhali budgerow to nudge up alongside the Ibis.

2008, Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies, Penguin, published 2015, page 42:

(India, now historical) A Bengalese four-oared passenger boat.


voyol

(nautical) The block through which a messenger passes.


wall-sided

en-adj

wall-sided (comparative more wall-sided, superlative most wall-sided)

more wall-sided (comparative)
most wall-sided (superlative)

(nautical) Having sides nearly perpendicular, rather than flaring or tumbling home.


misstay

en-verb

misstay (third-person singular simple present misstays, present participle misstaying, simple past and past participle misstayed)

misstays (present singular third-person)
misstaying (participle present)
misstayed (participle past)
misstayed (past)

(nautical) To become caught in irons when changing tack.


zabra

A small sailing vessel used off the coasts of Spain and Portugal.


camber-keeled

en-adj

camber-keeled (comparative more camber-keeled, superlative most camber-keeled)

more camber-keeled (comparative)
most camber-keeled (superlative)

(nautical) Having the keel arched upwards, but not actually hogged.


fardage

Borrowed from French fardage. See fardel.

The next morning at sun rising, Cortez departed with his Army in good order, and in the midst of them went the Fardage and Artillerie

1648, Thomas Gage, A New Survey of the West-Indies:

(nautical, archaic) Scrap material, used to fill space and/or prevent goods from moving about during transport


starbowline

So, so, (thrusts his head down the scuttle,) Star-bo-l-e-e-n-s, a-h-o-y! Eight bells there below! Tumble up!

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 40”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

(nautical, obsolete) Any of the men in the starboard watch.


feazings

(nautical) The unlaid or ragged end of a rope.


whaleship

For many years past the whaleship has been the pioneer in ferreting out the remotest and least known parts of the earth. She has explored seas and archipelagoes which had no chart, where no Cook or Vancouver had ever sailed.


unrigged

As she drew nigh, all eyes were fixed upon her broad beams, called shears, which, in some whaling-ships, cross the quarter-deck at the height of eight or nine feet; serving to carry the spare, unrigged, or disabled boats.

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

(nautical) Not rigged; not having the rigging up.


dogshore

(nautical) One of several shores used to prevent a ship from moving while the blocks are knocked away before launching.


Exocet

From French Exocet, from exocet (“flying fish”).

(military, nautical) A French antiship missile.


bowsman

From bow (“front of vessel”) + -s- + man.

Being the savage's bowsman, that is, the person who pulled the bow-oar in his boat (the second one from forward), it was my cheerful duty to attend upon him while taking that hard-scrabble scramble upon the dead whale's back.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Monkey-Rope”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 355–356:

(nautical) A sailor who works in the bow of a vessel.


selvagee

(nautical) A skein or hank of rope yarns wound round with yarns or marline, used for stoppers, straps, etc.


caburn

(nautical) A small line made of spun yarn, to bind or worm cables, seize tackles, etc.


gaff-topsail

(nautical) A small triangular sail having its foot extended upon the gaff and its luff upon the topmast.


top-chain

(nautical) A chain for slinging the lower yards, in time of action, to prevent their falling, if the ropes by which they are hung are shot away.


rigol

→ Welsh: rhigol (“groove, furrow”)

From Middle English rigol, from Middle French rigole. Doublet of rail, regal, regula, and rule.

doublet

(nautical) A ridge or channel above a porthole to redirect water flow from dripping inside the vessel.


closehauled

(nautical) Alternative form of close-hauled


stoak

en-verb

stoak (third-person singular simple present stoaks, present participle stoaking, simple past and past participle stoaked)

stoaks (present singular third-person)
stoaking (participle present)
stoaked (participle past)
stoaked (past)

The pump is stoaked.

(nautical, transitive) To stop; to choke.


snatch block

(nautical) A kind of block with an opening in one side to receive the bight of a rope.


portoise

Perhaps from Old French porteis (“portative, portable”).


close-reefed

About noon we saw a vessel on a wind to leeward of us, which was a source of great delight to us all, and we bore down to her. We soon made her out to be an hermaphrodite brig, under her close-reefed topsails and trysails.

1846, Frederick Marryat, The Privateersman:

(nautical, of a sail) fully reefed; using all the reefs.


top-rope

(nautical) A rope used for hoisting and lowering a topmast, and for other purposes.


thimbleeye

Each end of the runner has a thimble-eye splice , with a strong hook at the end of the standing part.

1878, Dixon Kemp, A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing, page 105:

Thimbleeye nuts are installed on through bolt, and pole is protected with curved washers.

2006, Thomas M. Shoemaker, Thomas Shoemaker, James E. Mack, Lineman and Cableman's Handbook, page 12-29:

AT least three clips should be used when making any prepared loop or thimble-eye termination for wire rope, especially for hoisting.

(nautical) A loop at the end of a rope that is protected from chafing by a thimble (metal ring).


top-hamper

(nautical) The upper rigging, spars, etc., of a ship.

rigín uachtair

the upper rigging, spars, etc., of a ship


crayer

Ultimately probably from Dutch/Middle Dutch. Related to Danish krejert, kraier.

(nautical) A two- or three-masted sailing vessel formerly used for transporting cargo in the Baltic Sea.


cold chain

(commerce) A supply chain which is temperature-controlled, important for the supply of certain foods or pharmaceuticals.


sternson

(nautical) The end of a ship's keelson, to which the sternpost is bolted.


cockbill

en-verb

cockbill (third-person singular simple present cockbills, present participle cockbilling, simple past and past participle cockbilled)

cockbills (present singular third-person)
cockbilling (participle present)
cockbilled (participle past)
cockbilled (past)

to cockbill the yards as a sign of mourning

(nautical, transitive) To tilt up one end of, so as to make almost vertical.

(nautical, transitive) To suspend (the anchor) from the cathead preparatory to letting it go.


chinse

chinse (third-person singular simple present chinses, present participle chinsing, simple past and past participle chinsed)

chinses (present singular third-person)
chinsing (participle present)
chinsed (participle past)
chinsed (past)

(nautical) To thrust oakum into (seams or chinks) with a chisel, the point of a knife, or a chinsing iron; to calk slightly.


after-sail

On this final leg home, these experiments were taken a step further by putting an extra-large sail on the after mast, increasing sail area and changing the balance of the rig in that the after sail was then larger than the forward sail.

1994, Ben Finney, Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey Through Polynesia:

(nautical) One of the sails on the mizzenmast, or on the stays between the mainmast and mizzenmast.


sternforemost

(nautical, archaic) astern, to the rear.


coursey

Compare Old French corsie, coursie (“passageway to the stern”). See course (noun).

(nautical) A space in the galley; a part of the hatches.


chebacco

From Chebacco, the former name of Essex, a town in Massachusetts where such vessels were built, and the still current name of bodies of water in its environment. The town's name derives from Agawam, an Eastern Algonquian language.

On an evening soon after the first of the year, we went on board a felucca boat (much less than a chebacco) for Leghorn.

1830, Silas Pinckney Holbrook, Sketches, by a Traveller:

(nautical) A (relatively small) narrow-sterned boat formerly much used in the Newfoundland fisheries.


double-bank

double-bank (third-person singular simple present double-banks, present participle double-banking, simple past and past participle double-banked)

double-banks (present singular third-person)
double-banking (participle present)
double-banked (participle past)
double-banked (past)

(nautical) To row (a vessel) by rowers sitting side by side in twos on a bank or thwart.

(nautical) To set two rowers to pulling (a single oar).


lie to

lie to (third-person singular simple present lies to, present participle lying to, simple past lay to, past participle lain to)

lies to (present singular third-person)
lying to (participle present)
lay to (past)
lain to (participle past)

(nautical, of a ship) To have the sails arranged so as to counteract each other.


HSF

(military, nautical, historical) Initialism of High Seas Fleet.


HSF

en-noun

HSF (countable and uncountable, plural HSFs)

(nautical) Initialism of high speed ferry.

(nautical) Initialism of high speed freighter.


jettage

(UK, nautical) Certain charges levied upon incoming vessels at a port.


down bubble

From the bubble of air in the glass tube of the inclinometer, a gauge that indicates the submarine's vertical trim.

Two degrees down bubble. Hold her at 60.

Dissatisfied with Sailfin's sluggish response, he turned the iron wheel a bit more until the bubble rode backward, indicating that the submarine's stern had lifted relative to the dipping bow. A glance at the calibrations etched into the brass plate behind the liquid-filled glass tubing told him that Sailfin's nose has dipped the required amount. "We have ten degrees down bubble, sir."

2000, Overdue and Presumed Lost, by Arthur MacMahan, page 181

(nautical) Having a downward trim (of a submarine); usually follows the number of degrees.


TBT

target bearing transmitter
target bearing transmitter#English

(nautical) Initialism of target bearing transmitter.


bootstripe

(nautical) A stripe of paint or tape between the topsides and bottom of a vessel.


ship's company

ship's company (plural ships' companies)

[T]he whole ship's company consisted of sixty-five men.

1719, Daniel Defoe, chapter 10, in The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe:

[T]he regulations enjoin the attendance of the entire ship's company, from the corpulent Captain himself to the smallest boy who strikes the bell.

1850, Herman Melville, chapter 33, in White Jacket:

The Aries had a ship's company of twenty-four men, besides four passengers.

1863 April 7, “The Prize Steamer Aries”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-08-03:

Before the outgunned ship was overtaken and captured, a crewman was wounded, and he later died. The 82 other members of the ship's company underwent 11 months of brutal captivity.

1988 December 25, “Pueblo's Veterans Look Back on '68 in Anger”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-08-03:

(nautical) The entire crew of a ship, including the officers

The whole ship's company, captain, officers, quarter-masters, passengers, and all, were quite sure that she had succeeded in getting a promise of marriage from him.

1879, Anthony Trollope, chapter 8, in John Caldigate:

(nautical, possibly nonstandard) All of the occupants of a ship, including crew and passengers.


silent service

silent service (usually uncountable, plural silent services)

Germany has four times as many subs as when the war started. . . . The number of highly trained men in Berlin's silent service is limited.

1943 January 7, “News Behind the News”, in Modesto Bee, US, page 16:

As befits advocates of the “Silent Service,” the Naval Submarine League keeps a low profile.

1986 August 4, Richard Halloran, “Washington Talk: Speaking Out for the Silent Service”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-08-06:

A sailor with 33 years experience in the silent service and once a fabled commander of the Northern Fleet nuclear submarines, Chernov contends that the raising operation was intentionally launched as a cover-up to leave the Kursk on the sea floor.

2001 August 16, Yuri Zarakhovich, “Will We Ever Know What Sank the Kursk?”, in Time:

(military, informal, sometimes capitalized) The submarine service.


bed screw

(nautical) A form of jack screw for lifting large bodies and assisting in launching.


wapp

(nautical) A rope with wall knots in it with which the shrouds are set taut.


spoom

en-verb

spoom (third-person singular simple present spooms, present participle spooming, simple past and past participle spoomed)

spooms (present singular third-person)
spooming (participle present)
spoomed (participle past)
spoomed (past)

17th century: Samuel Pepys
We might have spooned before the wind as well as they.

17th century: John Dryden
When virtue spooms before a prosperous gale, / My heaving wishes help to fill the sail.

(nautical) To sail briskly with the wind astern, with or without sails hoisted.


top-armour

(nautical) A top railing supported by stanchions and equipped with netting.


from stem to stern

My father, as nurse said, did never fear, / But cried ‘Good seaman!’ to the sailors […] / Never was waves nor wind more violent; / And from the ladder-tackle washes off / A canvas-climber. ‘Ha!’ says one, ‘wilt out?’ / And with a dropping industry they skip / From stem to stern.

c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

The very name of a Sioux became a watchword of terror. Not an elk, a wolf, or any other animal, could appear on the hills, but the boats resounded with exclamations from stem to stern, "voila les Sioux!" "voila les Sioux!" (there are the Sioux! there are the Sioux!)

1836 October, Washington Irving, chapter XVI, in Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 192:

From stem to stern, the [U.S.S.] Enterprise measures 1,040 ft.—roughly the height of the 102-story Empire State Building.

1961 December 1, “Armed Forces: The Mightiest Ever”, in Time:

[T]he Monterey was ablaze from stem to stern as Lieutenant Ford stood near the helm, awaiting his orders.

2006 December 28, Robert Drury, Tom Clavin, “How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-08-23:

(nautical) Over the full length of a ship or boat, from the front end of the vessel to the back end.


foc's'le

(nautical) Alternative spelling of forecastle


top-block

Underneath this Cap are Eye - bolts (b) , on each side : one is for the top Block, and the foremost one for the Fore Lift Block to hook to

1819, Darcy Lever, The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor:

(nautical) A large ironbound block strapped with a hook, and, when used, hung to an eyebolt in the cap, used in swaying and lowering the topmast.


dog

dog (third-person singular simple present dogs, present participle dogging, simple past and past participle dogged)

dogs (present singular third-person)
dogging (participle present)
dogged (participle past)
dogged (past)

Inherited from Middle English dogge (akin to Scots dug), from Old English dogga, docga, of uncertain origin.
The original meaning seems to have been a common dog, as opposed to a well-bred one, or something like 'cur', and perhaps later came to be used for stocky dogs. Possibly a pet-form diminutive with suffix -ga (compare frocga (“frog”), *picga (“pig”)), appended to a base *dog-, *doc- of unclear origin and meaning. One possibility is Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”) (compare frocga from frox). Another proposal is that it derives from Proto-West Germanic *dugan (“to be suitable”), the origin of Old English dugan (“to be good, worthy, useful”), English dow, Dutch deugen, German taugen. The theory goes that it could have been an epithet for dogs, commonly used by children, meaning "good/useful animal". Another is that it is related to *docce (“stock, muscle”), from Proto-West Germanic *dokkā (“round mass, ball, muscle, doll”), whence English dock (“stumpy tail”).
In 14th-century England, hound (from Old English hund) was the general word for all domestic canines, and dog referred to a subtype resembling the modern mastiff and bulldog. By the 16th century, dog had become the general word, and hound had begun to refer only to breeds used for hunting. In the 16th century, the word dog was adopted by several continental European languages as their word for mastiff.
Despite similarities in forms and meaning, not related to Mbabaram dog.

m+

It is very important to dog down these hatches.

(transitive, nautical) To fasten a hatch securely.


LCC

en-noun

LCC (countable and uncountable, plural LCCs)

large crude carrier
large crude carrier#English

(nautical) Abbreviation of large crude carrier.


squilgee

(nautical, historical) A small swab used for drying a vessel's deck.


shot across the bow

shot across the bow (plural shots across the bow)

/ˈʃɒt əˌkɹɒs ðə ˈbaʊ/

/ˈʃɑt əˌkɹɑs ðə ˈbaʊ/

From the naval tactic of firing a warning shot across the bow or front portion of a ship in order to force it to stop or alter its course.

President [Franklin] Pierce, like a great war ship, fired two shots across the bows of the Congress, to bring matters to.

1856 March, “Monthly Summary. [United States.]”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume XLVIII, number 3, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham, […], →OCLC, page 267, column 1:

Scientists considered collectively are remarkably single-minded in their views about what is important and what is not. If a graduate student gives a seminar and no one comes or no one asks a question, it is very sad, but not so sad as the question gallantly put by a senior or a colleague that betrays that he hasn't listened to a word. But it is a warning sign, a shot across the bows.

1979, P[eter] B[rian] Medawar, “What Shall I Do Research on?”, in Advice to a Young Scientist (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation series), New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN, pages 13–14:

Though I have fired a few shots across the bows of some of my critics, notably the late Professor Lon Fuller and Professor R[onald] M[yles] Dworkin, I have hitherto made no general comprehensive reply to any of them; I have preferred to watch and learn from a most instructive running debate in which some of the critics have differed from others as much as they have differed from me.

1992, H[erbert] L[ionel] A[dolphus] Hart, “Postscript”, in The Concept of Law, 3rd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, published 2012, →ISBN, pages 238–239:

That part of the release wouldn't so much be a warning shot across the bow as one aimed right at the bridge, Kealty thought.

1994 August 17, Tom Clancy, Debt of Honor, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN; republished as Debt of Honor, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, 2014, →ISBN:

In fact, many members of Congress sought to influence or halt decision making altogether—firing shots across the bow designed to intimidate the adjudicators before a decision could be made. This sort of interference was and is entirely inconsistent with the rule of law.

2000, William B. Gould IV, “Congress Instructs the NLRB”, in Labored Relations: Law, Politics, and the NLRB—A Memoir, Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT Press, →ISBN; 1st paperback edition, Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT Press, 2001, →ISBN, pages 167–168:

While I'm persuaded by the Chairman's bona fides in this area, I think this is a shot across the bow. I'm sure the Attorney General and his representatives can discern what import and I hope the sentiment of the full Committee are.

2001 July 10, John Conyers Jr., “Amendment to H.R. 2215 Offered by Mr. Conyers”, in 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act: … Report together with Additional Views: […] (House of Representatives, 107th Congress, 1st Session, Report; 107-125), [Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office], →OCLC, page 107:

This is often used as a "shot across the bow," warning the borrower how seriously the lender views the default.

2007, David Geltner, Norman G. Miller, Jim Clayton, Piet Eicholtz, Commercial Real Estate Analysis & Investments, 2nd edition, Mason, Oh.: Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 397:

This was a shot across the bow of the Florida justices, a warning against further activism in this case, but one with relatively little practical significance at this late date.

2007, Jeffrey Toobin, “To the Brink”, in The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, →ISBN; 1st Anchor Books edition, New York, N.Y.: Anchor Books, September 2008, →ISBN, page 180:

Before punishing, place a shot across the bow—provide a clear warning to let people know exactly what negative things will happen should they continue down their current path, but don't actually administer discipline yet.

2008, Chris Lauer et al., The Management Gurus: Lessons from the Best Management Books of All Time (Soundview Executive Book Summaries), New York, N.Y.: Portfolio, →ISBN:

Perhaps her refusal to marry him would be the shot across the bows Jack needed to help him face his demons. But somehow she doubted it.

2013, Lucinda Riley, chapter 28, in The Midnight Rose, London: Macmillan, →ISBN; republished London: Pan Books, 2014, →ISBN, page 379:

(idiomatic) A warning that negative consequences will be faced if something is carried out or allowed to continue.


short-tack

en-verb

short-tack (third-person singular simple present short-tacks, present participle short-tacking, simple past and past participle short-tacked)

short-tacks (present singular third-person)
short-tacking (participle present)
short-tacked (participle past)
short-tacked (past)

I started short-tacking every hour down the coast, heading further offshore, as I knew I'd find better wind there.

2010, Mike Perham, Sailing the Dream, page 143:

(nautical) To tack several times in rapid succession when sailing upwind in a narrow waterway.


raff

(nautical) A three-cornered sail set on a schooner when before the wind.


ship's husband

(dated, nautical) An agent who has the authority to repair and outfit a particular ship


iqyax

Each pain was a wave, and she tried to float above it, as though she were back in that small iqyax with Sok, riding the North Sea when she came as his bride to the River People.

2000, Sue Harrison, Cry of the Wind, page 51:

An especially genuine example is in the hands of a young Aleut man named Chris Lokanin, who aims to carry on his ancestral iqyax-building […]


meaking iron

(nautical, obsolete) A tool for picking old oakum from the seams of a vessel which is to be recalked.


steady as she goes

(nautical) A cry to a helmsman to keep on the current course.


at the helm

(nautical, literally) Steering a vessel.


paulin

Plain white paulins, made of duck without seams. Furnished with snaps and rings or grommets.

1938, Victor M. Linoff, Saddle and Western Gear Catalog, page 121:

The complainant's tents and paulins were manufactured and packed according to detailed specifications.

1956, L. K. Strouse, Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States, volume 294, page 114:

The sawmill was expected soon, and in the meantime fatigue details were erecting picket huts for temporary use — rows of raw logs stood on end in trenches forming rectangles, with roofs also of wood, covered by paulins and daubed with a layer of dirt.

2000, Richard Irving Dodge, edited by Wayne R. Kime, The Indian Territory Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, page 207:


abandon ship

abandon ship (third-person singular simple present abandons ship, present participle abandoning ship, simple past and past participle abandoned ship)

abandons ship (present singular third-person)
abandoning ship (participle present)
abandoned ship (participle past)
abandoned ship (past)

However, an 8-inch shell takes out what's left of Hoels engines, and the ship is rapidly overwhelmed by incoming fire. The order to abandon ship' is given ten minutes later after trading fire with a Tone-class cruiser, and, fifteen minutes after that, the ship rolls over and sinks, Hoel clearly not showing quite the same level of luck as Johnston.

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 28:44 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03:

(nautical, literal) To leave or forsake a ship due to its impending doom.

jättää laiva

to leave or forsake a ship due to its impending doom


BAE

(military, nautical, initialism) The ship prefix for ships of the navy of Ecuador.


lenj

[…] in between a lenj fishing boat and a row of dhows. He cut the engine and glided the motor launch in. A dockhand was sat at the quayside edge, feet dangling over the water.

2015 September 17, I. D. Roberts, For Kingdom and Country, Allison & Busby, →ISBN:

A type of traditional fishing boat, typically hand-built, used in the Persian Gulf.


ringsail

(nautical) A light sail set abaft and beyond the leech of a boom-and-gaff sail.


close to the wind

en-adv

close to the wind (comparative closer to the wind, superlative closest to the wind)

closer to the wind (comparative)
closest to the wind (superlative)

/ˈkləʊs tə‿ðə ˈwɪnd/

(nautical) In a direction almost opposite to that from which the wind is blowing.


rolly

en-adj

rolly (not generally comparable, comparative more rolly, superlative most rolly)

more rolly (comparative)
most rolly (superlative)

From roll + -y. Compare older roly-poly.

San Diego’s legacy to America’s Cup history has little to do with the light-air, rolly-sea conditions off Point Loma

1995 January, Tim Murphy, “The San Diego uncertainty principle”, in Cruising World, page 63:

As soon as the Wave passed by—our earlier complacency had only cost us a few hours of discomfort, but no real danger—we up anchored to see if we could find somewhere in the anchorage that was less rolly.

2005, Lona Gray, Caught by the Lure of the Sea, page 168:

(nautical, of the sea, comparable) Rough, turbulent, characterized by large or rapid waves.


heave in sight

en-verb

heave in sight (third-person singular simple present heaves in sight, present participle heaving in sight, simple past hove in sight, past participle hove in sight or hoven in sight)

heaves in sight (present singular third-person)
heaving in sight (participle present)
hove in sight (past)
hove in sight (participle past)
hoven in sight (participle past)

The captain of the schooner is abaft with his glass in his hand, occasionally sweeping the offing in expectation of a vessel heaving in sight [...]

1836, Frederick Marryat, The Pirate, chapter 7:

Till on Thursday at nine, to the joy of your friend, I was told we were heaving in sight of Ostend;
And heaving in sight on't (yon won't feel a doubt of it) Was good news to one who 'd been long heaving out of it.

1850, “The progress to Ostend”, in Punch:

The smoke of Falk's tug hove in sight, far away at the mouth of the river.

Having crossed the Caribbean in the teeth of contrary winds, it was not until the early days of April that the French fleet hove in sight of Cartagena […]

1922, Rafael Sabatini, Captain Blood, Chapter XXVII:

(nautical) To appear at a distance, to emerge in the field of vision.


swordfishing boat

en-noun

swordfishing boat (plural swordfishing boats)


snubbing post

(nautical) A post on a dock or shore, around which a rope is thrown to stop the motion of a vessel.


plain-laid

(nautical, of rope) Consisting of three strands twisted together right-handed (turning in a clockwise direction).


hand over hand

Max went up the rigging hand over hand, and brought his red head with a bump against the base of Harry’s back.

1849, Herman Melville, “chapter 50”, in Redburn: His First Voyage. […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

(nautical) by passing the hands alternately one before or above the other, especially with rope


gunter

Named after Edmund Gunter, English mathematician and geometer. Compare Gunter's chain. For the surname, see Gunter.

(sailing) A device used in sailing, for two main configurations of rig:

A wire that leads from a point near the end of a gaff to a point near the other end. A block travels along this wire, and a halyard is attached to the block. This allows the gaff to be raised to the vertical by a single halyard.

A set of hoops or parrel beads which secure the gaff loosely to the mast in a vertical position.


stempost

(nautical) A vertical post, at the front of the keel, that forms the main part of the bow


LCT

landing craft tank
landing craft tank#English

(nautical, military) Initialism of landing craft tank.


landing craft tank

landing craft tank (plural landing craft tanks)

(military, nautical) an amphibious assault water vessel designed to transport a tank across water to directly onto shore, where the tank may roll off the vessel onto the shore, while under enemy fire.


caracore

(historical, nautical) A light vessel or proa used by the native Filipinos up until the 18th century.


sea lawyer

Well, I will say, I think the sea lawyer is worse than the chaps on shore. I would rather see Mother Carey's chickens any day than a shark following a ship.

1852, The Spectator - Volume 25, page 807:

The extraordinary number of these sea lawyers present, was equalled only by their rapacity. Before we began cutting-in, they had already commenced their meal. Taking advantage of a heave of the swell, a shark would wriggle up on top of the whale, and setting his wide opened mouth against the solid blubber, would bite out a piece as round as and about the size of a man's head.

1859, The boy's own sea stories; the adventures of a sailor, narrated by himself:

On rising, and casting another hasty glance at the big head and huge back fin of my enemy, I saw that he was evidently hungry and excited, and making frantic efforts to get at me; but that, being a big shark, success in his laudable attempts was not within the resources of science -- in fact, morally and physically impossible, for there was scarcely water enough to swim a good-sized salmon. Being convinced of this highly comfortable state of things, I at once became cool and jolly; and, calling out to Frank to run to the United States Hotel, and fetch my rifle and a little bag of ammunition, which I always kept handy for chance occasions of sport, I prepared to have a little “chaff” with the “sea lawyer".

1878, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Once a Week, page 112:


mistic

From Spanish místico. Compare Catalan místic, French mistique, Italian mistico, and Ottoman Turkish مستقو (mistiko). These all refer to sailing ships of the Mediterranean, but not necessarily to the same kind of ship. The number of masts is variously two or three and the sails are lateen or square. The New English Dictionary traces the origin to an Arabic word misṭeḥ "flat surface" (compare مُسَطَّح (musaṭṭaḥ)) but Kahane et al. disagree.

A kind of small sailing vessel historically used in the Mediterranean, rigged partly like a xebec and partly like a felucca.


stemhead

[...] and a man, all in a heap in the bows of the boat, slept with both arms embracing the stem-head and with his cheek laid on the gunwale.

(nautical) The top and foremost end of a stem on a marine vessel.


aburton

From a- (“in”) + burton (“athwartship”).


ACU

Assault Craft Unit
Assault Craft Unit#English

(military, nautical, US) Initialism of Assault Craft Unit.


maintopman

(nautical) A sailor on duty on a maintop.


shiplord

From Middle English schyplord, from Old English sċiphlāford (“shipmaster, skipper”, literally “ship-lord”), equivalent to ship + lord.

inh

“And what would you have us do then, shiplord?” Nish na'am spoke bitterly.

The position of shiplord came with pay.

2002, Harry Turtledove, Colonization: Aftershocks - Page 427:

Since it seemed to lead in the right direction and its banks were virtually uninhabited, the shiplord declared it good fortune and chose to press on.

2003, Dave Duncan, Paragon Lost: A Chronicle of the King's Blades - Page 373:


counterflood

en-verb

counterflood (third-person singular simple present counterfloods, present participle counterflooding, simple past and past participle counterflooded)

counterfloods (present singular third-person)
counterflooding (participle present)
counterflooded (participle past)
counterflooded (past)

(nautical, transitive) To flood (part of a vessel) deliberately in order to counterbalance flooding already occurring on the other side or end of the vessel, so as to remain on an even keel and avoid capsizing or plunging.


counterflooding

New Jersey has taken another underwater hit, this time amidships, and reports are coming in of one of the boiler rooms beginning to flood. Damage-control crews are doing their best, but, between this and the earlier hit, New Jersey is having to engage in some rather extensive counterflooding to stay on something approximating an even keel, and is falling back as speed begins to drop off.

2021 May 5, Drachinifel, 34:20 from the start, in Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?, archived from the original on 2022-08-08:

(nautical) The action of deliberately flooding spaces in one part (of a ship, boat, or other vessel) in order to counterbalance flooding occurring elsewhere in the vessel and keep the vessel level and on an even keel.


boyer

From Dutch boeijer, so called because these vessels were employed for laying the boeijen, or buoys: compare French boyer.

they have many advantages of us; the one is, by their fashioned ships called boyers, hoybarks, hoys, and others[…]

1651, Walter Raleigh, Observations touching trade and commerce with the Hollander and other nations:

(nautical) A Flemish sloop with a castle at each end.


rowboater

(nautical) Someone who rows in a rowboat.


towboater

(nautical) Someone who pilots a towboat or generally works on towboats in the entercoastal waterways of the U.S.


harbor gasket

(US, nautical) A line or band used to lash a furled sail when in port.


asymmetrical spinnaker

en-noun

asymmetrical spinnaker (plural asymmetrical spinnakers)

(nautical, yachts) A headsail which, like ordinary spinnaker is attached to the boat only in its corners, but is asymmetrically shaped. The shape makes is suitable for winds from beam reach to broad reach whereas ordinary symmetrical spinnaker is best suited for winds from run to broad reach. The tack of the asymmetrical spinnaker is usually attached to a bowsprit instead of a spinnaker pole.


thowel

See thole; other dialectal forms include thoal.

[…] I would sit impatiently thinking with what an unusual amount of noise the oars worked in the thowels.

1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XV, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, pages 247–248:


tailer

The next step was the invention of the self-tailing device, whereby the need for a tailer, holding the sheet or halyard while another person operated the winch, was eliminated.

(nautical) A worker on a yacht, responsible for furling and setting the sails.


crare

From Old French craier, creer, croyer (“ship of war”), Late Latin craiera, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic (compare German Krieger (“warrior”), or Dutch krijger).

Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? find / The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare / Might easiliest harbour in?

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:


gaffsail

(nautical) A topsail above the uppermost or only spanker.


oversparred

en-adj

oversparred (comparative more oversparred, superlative most oversparred)

more oversparred (comparative)
most oversparred (superlative)

/ˌəʊvəˈspɑːd/

According to the definitions of character adopted by the association of Lake underwriters at Buffalo, (see March number, vol. 3 page 440,) the “model” is to be taken into account—an important element in the calculation. They provide that “no vessel past six years old, however well rebuilt or repaired, shall be placed in class A, nor one that is oversparred, or hogged, strained from loading, launching, or other cause.”

1856, “Marine Insurance and Its Influence upon Ship-Building”, in The U.S. Nautical Magazine, and Naval Journal, volume V, number 1, page 6:

When such a measurement is established, we may hope for the substitution of correctly modelled yachts, in lieu of the oversparred and overmanned vessels which are to be found at the starting buoys of every regatta.

1865, P. R. Marett, Yachts and Yacht Building: being a treatise on the construction of Yachts, and other matters relating to Yachting, page 80:

The Rockland men believed the yacht oversparred for coasting and eight feet was taken off each of her masts.

1904, Thomas Fleming Day, The Rudder, page 243:

(nautical) Having spars larger than the usual dimension.


birlinn

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic bìrlinn, from Old Norse byrðingr.

(Scotland, historical) A type of boat used especially in the Hebrides and West Highlands of Scotland in the Middle Ages.


cigarette-boat

From their use as cigarette smuggling boats between the USA and Canada.

a small, fast boat designed with a long narrow platform and a planing hull to enable it to reach high speeds.


sugar scoop

(nautical, informal) A reverse transom which flexes inwardly, usually with swim steps.


mastrope

From Middle English *mast-roop, *mastrap, from Old English mæstrāp (“mastrope”), equivalent to mast + rope.

(nautical) A rope used in supporting a mast; a stay.


gentleman's cruiser

en-noun

gentleman's cruiser (plural gentleman's cruisers)

(nautical, informal) A style of traditional motor yacht, typically low-set with vertical all-round windows and traditional woodwork.


cranse iron

(nautical) a fitting on the end of a bowsprit of a sailing vessel to which the forestay is attached


newbuilding

(nautical) The construction of a new ship.


jiggermast

(nautical) The fourth-tallest mast on a ship with more than three masts; particularly a full-rigged ship.


floorhead

(nautical) Any of the upper extremities of the floor of a vessel.


hullock

(sailing) A small part of a sail lowered in a gale to keep the ship’s head to the sea.


snakeline

(nautical) A small line wrapped around two ropes in order to keep them together.


self-righting

a self-righting life raft

a self-righting robot

(originally nautical) Able to right itself if overturned.


supply vessel

A ship used to transport supplies to offshore installations such as oil and gas platforms.


barocyclonometer

(nautical) A type of aneroid barometer that has accompanying diagrams and directions that help predict storms


reef line

(nautical) A small rope used to reef square sails by being passed spirally round the yard and through the holes of the reef.


RFS

Coordinate term: HIRMS

Russian Federation Ship
Russian Federation Ship#English

(nautical, military, US, unofficial, exonym) Initialism of Russian Federation Ship. (a commissioned warship of the Russian navy.)


hydronautics

From hydro- (“water”) + -naut (“travel”) + -ics (“a practice, field of knowledge or skill”).

affix

(nautical) The science of the design and construction of ships, their engines, and their instrumentation


DR

(nautical, navigation) Initialism of dead reckoning.


thundersquall

“And pray, sir,” said he, looking thundersqualls at me, “ where did you learn them?”

1855, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Nature and Human Nature, Stringer and Townsend, page 279:

Then Dick began a suit. for the recovery of wages due him, which Podlong resisted on the ground that Dick had broken his contract, and subjected him to great loss and inconvenience by striking work in the midst of a thundersquall in the hayfield.

1863, John Townsend Trowbridge, Woodie Thorpe's Pilgrimage and Other Stories, Boston, Lee and Shepard, page 228:

The 25th brought yet more storms and a violent thundersquall in Norfolk caused a great deal of damage in Stratton Strawless?

(rare, nautical, meteorology) A squall accompanied by thunder.


eat to windward

en-verb

eat to windward (third-person singular simple present eats to windward, present participle eating to windward, simple past ate to windward, past participle eaten to windward)

eats to windward (present singular third-person)
eating to windward (participle present)
ate to windward (past)
eaten to windward (participle past)

(nautical, dated, of a vessel) To keep the course when close-hauled with minimal steering.


load water line

en-noun

load water line (plural load water lines)


load line

(nautical) The line on the outside of a vessel indicating the depth to which it sinks in the water when loaded.


chafing gear

(nautical) Any material, usually rope or canvas, used to protect sails, rigging, etc., at points where they are exposed to friction.


maritime loan

(nautical, especially historical) A loan secured by bottomry or respondentia bonds.


depress the pole

en-verb

depress the pole (third-person singular simple present depresses the pole, present participle depressing the pole, simple past and past participle depressed the pole)

depresses the pole (present singular third-person)
depressing the pole (participle present)
depressed the pole (participle past)
depressed the pole (past)

(nautical) To cause the sidereal pole to appear lower or nearer the horizon, as by sailing toward the equator.


luff tackle

(nautical) A purchase composed of a double and single block and fall, used for various purposes.


round in

round in (third-person singular simple present rounds in, present participle rounding in, simple past and past participle rounded in)

rounds in (present singular third-person)
rounding in (participle present)
rounded in (participle past)
rounded in (past)

Moncrieff rounded in the slack of the rope and landed the captain most beautifully.

1891, William Gordon Stables, Our Home in the Silver West:

(nautical) To haul up; usually, to haul the slack of (a rope) through its leading block, or to haul up (a tackle which hangs loose) by its fall.


revenue cutter

(dated) An armed government vessel employed to enforce revenue laws, prevent smuggling, etc.


let go by the run

let go by the run (third-person singular simple present lets go by the run, present participle letting go by the run, simple past and past participle let go by the run)

lets go by the run (present singular third-person)
letting go by the run (participle present)
let go by the run (participle past)
let go by the run (past)

(nautical, dated) To loosen and let run freely (lines)

(nautical, dated) To let fall freely (sail)


let drive

let drive (third-person singular simple present lets drive, present participle letting drive, simple past and past participle let drive)

lets drive (present singular third-person)
letting drive (participle present)
let drive (participle past)
let drive (past)

And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 27:15:

1625, Nicholas Downton, “Extracts of the Journall of Captaine NICHOLAS DOWNTON” in Samuel Purchas, Purchas His Pilgrimes, London: Henry Fetherstone, Book 4, Chapter 11, Section 3, p. ,
The Nabob sent Lacandas to informe me, that these supplyes were not for warre, but fild full of combustible matter to fire, and so to be let driue with the tyde vpon our ships in the night […]

Finding that they left us we consulted which way to steer, and resolved to let drive before the Wind.

1683, chapter 17, in John Morrison, transl., The Perillous and Most Unhappy Voyages of John Struys, London: Samuel Smith, page 207:

[…] he ordered our Boats to be heaved overboard and let drive with the Wind.

1768, Henry Brooke, chapter 13, in The Fool of Quality, volume 3, Dublin: for the author, page 169:

Before Lefty Bill could drop his hammer, the spiggoty had turned around, drawed and let drive.

1938, L. Ron Hubbard, Six-Gun Caballero:

(obsolete, nautical) To allow (a vessel) to be propelled by the wind, current or tide.


breeze up

breeze up (third-person singular simple present breezes up, present participle breezing up, simple past and past participle breezed up)

breezes up (present singular third-person)
breezing up (participle present)
breezed up (participle past)
breezed up (past)

(nautical, intransitive, dated, of the wind) To blow increasingly cooler.


tripping line

Shot-plug and lead were lowered through the chute, tending the tripping-line of the toggle.

1863, Stephen Bleecker Luce, Text-Book of Seamanship:

(nautical) A small rope attached to the topgallant or royal yard, used to trip the yard, and in lowering it to the deck; also, a line used in letting go the anchor.


reefing bowsprit

en-noun

reefing bowsprit (plural reefing bowsprits)

(nautical) A bowsprit rigged so that it can be easily run in, or shortened by sliding inboard. It was popular with cutters.


back and fill

en-verb

back and fill (third-person singular simple present back and fills, present participle back and filling, simple past and past participle back and filled)

back and fills (present singular third-person)
back and filling (participle present)
back and filled (participle past)
back and filled (past)

(nautical) To manage the sails of a ship so that the wind strikes them alternately in front and behind, in order to keep the ship in the middle of a river or channel while the current or tide carries the vessel against the wind.


crowd sail

crowd sail (third-person singular simple present crowds sail, present participle crowding sail, simple past and past participle crowded sail)

crowds sail (present singular third-person)
crowding sail (participle present)
crowded sail (participle past)
crowded sail (past)

the Spaniards busied themselves in making the most of a sudden favourable change of wind, and, without much regard to order, were crowding sail to get near the land.

1827, William James, The Naval History of Great Britain […] :

(nautical, dated, idiomatic) To carry an unusual amount of sail in an attempt to accelerate the speed of a vessel.


baffling wind

(nautical) A wind that frequently shifts from one point to another.


slushbreaker

(Canada, derogatory, shipping) an icebreaker with poor icebreaking capabilities, unable to operate year-round in Arctic or polar conditions


babystay

(nautical) A stay just forward of the mast, used to support the mast.


stiffening order

en-noun

stiffening order (plural stiffening orders)

(nautical, historical) A permission granted by the customs department to take cargo or ballast on board before the old cargo is out, in order to steady the ship.


tode

Possibly related to Low German todden (“to drag”).


tode

(obsolete) Clipping of tode-boat: a small fishing boat used in the Netherlands.


homeport

The port where a vessel is based (not necessarily the one where it is registered).


furious fifties

Its official demarcation is forty degrees south latitude. It includes the latitudes sailors long-ago nicknamed the roaring forties, the furious fifties, and the screaming sixties. It's an area of almost constant high wind and frequent gales, often exceeding hurricane strength.

1998, Derek Lundy, chapter 1, in Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters, page 5:

The area of the earth between 50 and 60 degrees south, prone to strong winds.


tanky

From tank + -y. The noun sense is from the fact that the assistant of the navigator of a ship was also in charge of the ship’s water tanks, and later its rations when refrigeration was introduced.

(nautical, slang) A sailor who assists the navigator of the ship; a sailor in charge of the ship's hold, and thus responsible for the provision of rations and water.


undog

en-verb

undog (third-person singular simple present undogs, present participle undogging, simple past and past participle undogged)

undogs (present singular third-person)
undogging (participle present)
undogged (participle past)
undogged (past)

(transitive, nautical) To unfasten (a hatch or door).


upperworks

On the Visby-Västerhejde Railway there is a steam car. [...] The upperworks consist of a short clerestory coach body with end platforms and the engine chimney protruding from the roof like a stovepipe.

1939 July, “Overseas Railways: Baltic Island Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 49:


midwatch

(nautical) A watch kept from midnight until four o'clock in the morning.


mainchain

(nautical, usually in the plural) A chain securing the lower shrouds of the mainmast.


forechain

"Slip into the lee forechains, Billy; there is something in the wind. […]"

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

(nautical, usually in the plural) A chain securing the lower shrouds of the foremast.


forehatch

(nautical) A hatch in a fore position, typically near the foremast.


paddle box

As these [paddle] steamers have not the usual paddle boxes with vents, they look like modern screw steamers, and their good looks are improved by their two masts.

1939 June, G. W. Tripp, “The Modern Railway Steamer”, in Railway Magazine, page 397:

(nautical) An enclosed structure around a paddlewheel.


have legs

have legs (third-person singular simple present has legs, present participle having legs, simple past and past participle had legs)

has legs (present singular third-person)
having legs (participle present)
had legs (participle past)
had legs (past)


monocaliber

(nautical, of a battleship etc) Having guns all of the same calibre


polycaliber

(nautical, of a battleship etc) Having guns of two or more different calibres


East Indiaman

1833, A History of Shipwrecks, and Disasters at Sea, from the Most Authentic Sources, Volume 2, Constable's Miscellany of Original and Selected Publications, Volume 79, page 183,
Thb shipwreck of the Grovesnor East Indiaman, in 1782, on her homeward-bound voyage from Ceylon, was attended with circumstances of more than common interest.

Even Dutch East Indiamen are not all the same size, but for the benefit of such of my readers as are curious after knowledge, and have never had an opportunity of seeing for themselves big, ocean-going vessels, I will try to describe the general type to which most Indiamen belong.

1919, O. F. Mentzel, Life at the Cape in Mid-eighteenth Century, page 163:

As the smaller chambers would then not have the opportunity to hire a junior merchant—because they built and equipped only East Indiamen of the second charter—the rule was adjusted in 1772.

2009, Femme S. Gaastra, “Chapter 4: Soldiers and Merchants: Aspects of Migration from Europe to Asia in the Dutch East India Company in the Eighteenth Century”, in Wim Klooster, editor, Migration, Trade, and Slavery in an Expanding World, page 111:

(historical) Any ship operating under charter or licence to one of the East India Companies, which were each granted monopoly trading rights with the East Indies by one of several of the major trading powers of the 17th—19th centuries.

kinafarer

ship sailing for a European East India company


round to

round to (third-person singular simple present rounds to, present participle rounding to, simple past and past participle rounded to)

rounds to (present singular third-person)
rounding to (participle present)
rounded to (participle past)
rounded to (past)

In less than an hour she was close to the reef, where she rounded to, and backed her topsails in order to survey the coast.

1857, R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island:

1899', Henry Billings Brown, The New York
she received a signal of two blasts from the steamer Burlington, which, with four barges in tow, had gone down the Canadian side of the river, and was then rounding to at the coal dock on the American side, exhibiting her masthead and green lights to the Conemaugh.

(nautical, intransitive, dated) To turn the head of a ship toward the wind, especially in order to drop speed.


false flag

(nautical) A ruse, in the days of sail, in which an attacking ship would fly the colours of its enemy until close enough to open fire.


broach to

broach to (third-person singular simple present broaches to, present participle broaching to, simple past and past participle broached to)

broaches to (present singular third-person)
broaching to (participle present)
broached to (participle past)
broached to (past)

(nautical) To incline suddenly to windward, so as to lay the sails aback, and expose the vessel to the danger of oversetting.


slab line

when Kings are hailing up their topgallants , Subjects lay hold on their slablines

1713, Nathaniel Ward, The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America:

(nautical) A line or small rope by which sailors haul up the foot of the mainsail or foresail.


taut hand

"[…]I'm no Tartar nor a slavedriver. But I am a taut hand, and a taut ship where every man jack works clearly for me, our ship, his mates, and our Fleet is a happy ship.[…]"

(nautical, dated) An officer who is severe in discipline.

"Twas the first time I did that part of the duty in command, and I felt, in the circumstances, I was in for carrying it out with a taut hand."

1879, George Cupples, The Green Hand: Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant:


gain the wind

gain the wind (third-person singular simple present gains the wind, present participle gaining the wind, simple past and past participle gained the wind)

gains the wind (present singular third-person)
gaining the wind (participle present)
gained the wind (participle past)
gained the wind (past)

(nautical, archaic) To reach the windward side of another ship.


Samson post

After the Biblical character, renowned for his strength.

(nautical) A strong post resting on the keelson and supporting a beam of the deck.

(nautical) A temporary or movable pillar carrying a leading block or pulley for various purposes.


pig yoke

(nautical, slang, archaic) A quadrant or sextant.


foo-foo band

We sighted the Jennie Harkness, obviously American, at daylight right ahead in the S.E. trades; at noon we were alongside her, and our Foo-Foo band played "Yankee-Doodle" as we passed her.

1921, Basil Lubbock, The Colonial Clippers, pages 158–159:

(nautical) An impromptu musical band on late 19th-century sailing vessels, made up of members of the ship's crew.


tally on

tally on (third-person singular simple present tallies on, present participle tallying on, simple past and past participle tallied on)

tallies on (present singular third-person)
tallying on (participle present)
tallied on (participle past)
tallied on (past)

“Now then — to the main topsail now! Tally on to that gantline. Don't stand about there!”

1897, Joseph Conrad, The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC:

(nautical) To man a rope for hauling, the men standing in a line or tail.


box off

box off (third-person singular simple present boxes off, present participle boxing off, simple past and past participle boxed off)

boxes off (present singular third-person)
boxing off (participle present)
boxed off (participle past)
boxed off (past)

(nautical) To turn the head of a vessel either way by bracing the headyards aback.


paunch mat

(nautical) A thick mat made of strands of rope, used to prevent the yard or rigging from chafing.


topping lift

(nautical) A line used to raise or top the end of a gaff, or of a boom.

dirkki

strong tackle to raise the end of a gaff or boom


gather way

gather way (third-person singular simple present gathers way, present participle gathering way, simple past and past participle gathered way)

gathers way (present singular third-person)
gathering way (participle present)
gathered way (participle past)
gathered way (past)

(nautical, idiomatic, dated) To begin to move

The boat beginning to gather way, too, I threw Sennit the end of a lower-studding-sail halyards, that were brought aft for the purpose, ordered his bowman to let go his hold of the tackle, and dropped the boat a safe towing distance astern

1844, James Fenimore Cooper, Afloat and Ashore:

The ship tacked with the same admirable precision as before, and on gathering way was found to be looking well up for the entrance to the narrow channel.

1889, Harry Collingwood, The Missing Merchantman:

(nautical, idiomatic, dated) to move with increasing speed

(nautical, idiomatic, dated) to get headway by sail or steam so as to answer the helm.


thick stuff

In order to prove the efficacy of this plan , six pieces of rough and six of sided timber were put into the mast - pond at Deptford , and twelve pieces of rough , and twelve of sided timber , and six pieces of thick-stuff , were placed in the mast

1821, John Knowles, An Inquiry Into The Means Which Have Been Taken To Preserve The British Navy, From The Earliest Period To The Present Time:

(nautical) All plank that is more than four inches thick and less than twelve.


best bower

(nautical) The main bower (anchor from the bow) of a boat.


sub-admiral

(nautical) A naval rank, in some systems, that is the lowest rank of admiral.


tumble home

tumble home (third-person singular simple present tumbles home, present participle tumbling home, simple past and past participle tumbled home)

tumbles home (present singular third-person)
tumbling home (participle present)
tumbled home (participle past)
tumbled home (past)

(nautical) To incline inward, as the sides of a vessel, above the bends or extreme breadth.


thick-and-thin block

en-noun

thick-and-thin block (plural thick-and-thin blocks)


sister block

(nautical) A tackle block having two sheaves, one above the other.


sprayhood

(nautical) A frame-supported canvas over the companionway (entrance) of a sailboat providing the on-deck crew partial cover from the splashes of the seas that break against the hull of the boat.


ship's corporal

(nautical) A petty officer who assists the master-at-arms in his various duties.


with a will

/ˌwɪθ‿ə ˈwɪl/

From with + a + will (“firmity of purpose, fixity of intent”), originally often used to refer to rowing a boat vigorously.

«Yes!» muttered the Rover, with bitter irony, as his boat rowed under the stern of the cruiser of the Crown; «yes! I, and my officers, will taste of your banquet! But the viands shall be such as these hirelings of the King shall little relish!—Pull with a will, my men, pull; in an hour, you shall rummage the store-rooms of that fool, for your reward!»

1827 November 27, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter VIII, in The Red Rover, […], volume III, Paris: […] [Lachevardiere] for Hector Bossange, […], →OCLC, page 179:

So Willy and I were wedded: I wore a lilac gown; / And the ringers rang with a will, and he gave the ringers a crown.

1859 July 16, Alfred Tennyson, “The Grandmother”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], published 1864, →OCLC, stanza XV, page 121:

Now, nobody does anything well that they cannot help doing: work is only done well when it is done with a will; and no man has a thoroughly sound will unless he knows he is doing what he should, and is in his place.

1866, John Ruskin, “Lecture I. Work. (Delivered before the Working Men’s Institute, at Camberwell.)”, in The Crown of Wild Olive. Three Lectures on Work, Traffic, and War, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 44:

Swimming with his right arm, he held up his left to hail them, splashing upon the waves, and shouting with all his might. […] Backing their oars and putting the boat about, they pulled towards him with a will, and in five or six minutes from the time of his first halloo, two of the sailors hauled him in over the stern.

1874, Thomas Hardy, “Adventures by the Shore”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 208:

And then the whole crew bore chorus:— / "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" / And at the third "ho!" drove the bars before them with a will.

1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Voyage”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part II (The Sea Cook), pages 77–78:

Under the wide and starry sky, / Dig the grave and let me lie. / Glad did I live and gladly die, / And I laid me down with a will.

1884 May (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Requiem”, in Underwoods, London: Chatto and Windus, […], published 1887, →OCLC, book I (In English), page 43:

Then an impromptu square dance, the men devising original figures. What merriment! Jimmy took his part with a will; this was seeing life, at least.

1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “After the Race”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 56:

Many a reader whose appetite rejoices in hearty fare tucked in his napkin, smacked his lips and fell to with a will.

1934 March 26, “Books: Hurstwurst [review of Anitra’s Dance (1934) by Fannie Hurst]”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-12-24, page 70:

He got Jagu's permission to spend the slack afternoon hours at the watchmender's without any trouble – Jagu was taciturn, but good-natured – and he set to learning the craft with a will.

1982, Anita Desai, chapter 9, in The Village by the Sea, New Delhi; New York, N.Y.: Puffin Books, published 1992, →ISBN, page 174:

(idiomatic, originally nautical, dated) With willingness and zeal; with all one's heart or strength; earnestly, heartily.

innolla

with willingness and zeal — see also earnestly, heartily


shoulder block

(nautical) A block with a projection, or shoulder, near the upper end, so that it can rest against a spar without jamming the rope.


jewel block

(nautical) A block at the extremity of a yard, through which the halyard of a studding sail is rove.


free board

(nautical) A vessel's side between waterline and gunwale.


haul around

en-verb

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

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

(nautical, of the wind) To shift to any point of the compass.


in ordinary

(nautical) Out of commission and laid up; said of a naval vessel.


throw about

throw about (third-person singular simple present throws about, present participle throwing about, simple past threw about, past participle thrown about)

throws about (present singular third-person)
throwing about (participle present)
threw about (past)
thrown about (participle past)

That now vnto despaire I gin to growe,
And meane for better winde about to throwe.

1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale.”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:

when they were got about two miles a-head, they threw about, and stood for us again

1805, The Naval Chronicle: Volume 14, July-December 1805:

(obsolete, nautical) To change direction; to change from one tack to another.


gross register ton

en-noun

gross register ton (plural gross register tons)

(nautical, obsolete) A measure of the total enclosed volume of a ship, equal to 100 cubic feet or 2.83 m³.


net register ton

net register ton (plural net register tons)

(nautical, obsolete) A measure of the cargo capacity of a ship, equal to 100 cubic feet or 2.83 m³.


square stern

(nautical) A stern having a transom and joining the counter timbers at an angle, as distinguished from a round stern, which has no transom.


well room

A depression in the bottom of a boat or ship, into which water may run, and whence it is thrown out with a scoop.


make ship

en-verb

make ship (third-person singular simple present makes ship, present participle making ship, simple past and past participle made ship)

makes ship (present singular third-person)
making ship (participle present)
made ship (participle past)
made ship (past)

(nautical) To embark in a ship or other vessel.


dghaisa

Mediterranean peoples are thought to be excitable, but the Maltese stood up to the blitz with great aplomb, especially the dghaisa men who plowed back and forth across the harbours regardless of the raids, the mateys who made the devastated dockyard work, and all who served in units of the armed forces.

2011, Gordon W. Stead, A Leaf upon the Sea, page 63:

A small boat resembling a gondola, common in Malta.


luzzu

The island’s small fishing boats (Luzzus) and karrozzins (horse-drawn carriages) provided a welcome change-of-pace from the flattop Shangri-La’s sailors and airmen had been riding since October.

1964, R[obert] Franklin Brown, Jr., USS Shangri-La, Attack Carrier, Boston, Mass.: Burdette, →OCLC, page 205, column 1:

A traditional, brightly painted Maltese fishing boat.


fashion piece

(nautical) One of the timbers which terminate the transom and define the shape of the stern.


shoulder-of-mutton sail

en-noun

shoulder-of-mutton sail (plural shoulder-of-mutton sails)

(nautical) A triangular sail carried on a boat's mast.


leechline

(nautical) A line attached to the leech ropes of sails, passing up through blocks on the yards, to haul the leeches by.


cable buoy

(nautical) An empty cask employed to buoy up the cable in rocky anchorage.


deck hook

A horizontal knee or frame in the bow of a ship, on which the forward part of the deck rests.


dead freight

A sum of money paid by a person who charters a whole vessel but fails to make out a full cargo. The payment is made for the unoccupied capacity.

kuollut rahti

Sum of money paid by one who charters a vessel but does not fill it

Ausfallfracht

the exact correspondence of legal implications is controversial, see BGH 12.10.1987 – II ZR 62/87 – juris = TranspR 1988, 199, and BGH 04.12.1989 – II ZR 305/88 – juris = NJW 1990, 2257


jack block

(nautical) A block fixed in the topgallant or royal rigging, used for raising and lowering light masts and spars.


sail coat

(nautical) A canvas cover laced over furled sails etc. to keep them dry and clean.


mast coat

(nautical) A piece of canvas nailed around a mast, where it passes through the deck, to prevent water from getting below.


chain pipe

(nautical) An opening in the deck, lined with iron, through which the cable is passed into the lockers or tiers.


landing stage

Close by, across the Parade, are the Customs Examination Rooms and the floating landing stage.

1950 June, K. Longbottom, “Liverpool Riverside Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 372:

He helped Crabbe along to the rough landing-stage, a groaning Crabbe sorry for himself, a Crabbe with a bandaged foot, looking like a gouty uncle[.]

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 576:

(nautical) A floating platform attached at one end to a wharf so as to rise and fall with the tide, and thus facilitate passage between the wharf and a vessel lying beside the stage.


monkey gaff

(nautical) A light gaff attached to the topmast for the better display of signals at sea.


monkey rail

(nautical) A second and lighter rail raised about six inches above the quarter rail of a ship.


blue pigeon

"Now I'll learn you something Long Jack can't," shouted Tom Platt, as from a locker by the stern he produced a battered deep-sea lead hollowed at one end, smeared the hollow from a saucer full of mutton tallow, and went forward. "I'll learn you how to fly the Blue Pigeon. Shooo!"
[…] The lead sung a deep droning song as Tom Platt whirled it round and round.

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

(nautical, slang) The lead used for sounding.


compass card

(nautical) The circular card attached to the needles of a mariner's compass, on which are marked the thirty-two points or rhumbs.

לוּחַ הַמַּצְפֵּן

the circular card attached to the needles of a mariner's compass


bear off

en-verb

bear off (third-person singular simple present bears off, present participle bearing off, simple past bore off, past participle borne off)

bears off (present singular third-person)
bearing off (participle present)
bore off (past)
borne off (participle past)

to bear off a blow; to bear off a boat

(nautical) To remove to a distance; to keep clear from rubbing against anything.


black frost

en-noun

black frost (countable and uncountable, plural black frosts)

The question was raised because of the trawlers of the lost Hull trawlers Lorella and Roderigo, which, it has been suggested, were not adequately warned of the freak black frost conditions by shore-based radio stations.

1955, World Fishing, IPC Industrial Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 106:

‘Black Frost is like a dense mist and when it lifts it leaves ice all over the ship the ropes round the masts are sometimes 1½ feet in diameter. When black frost hits a ship men are allowed to drink rum by the bottle to keep themselves warm.’

1962, Jeremy Tunstall, The Fishermen, MacGibbon & Kee, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 97:

The air temperature is most important and a sudden drop may well indicate imminent icing conditions. This drop is often made obvious by the formation of Arctic frost-smoke fog , or ‘black frost’ as it is known by fishermen. It occurs quite frequently in these waters when a sea-air temperature difference exceeds 10 degC and is regarded by fishermen with some apprehension, but there seems little justification for this unless the portent of icing conditions developing is the reason.

1970, The Marine Observer. Published by the Authority of the Meteorological Committee, Air Ministry, London. The Review of the Marine Division in Cooperation with Voluntary Marine Observers, page 29:

The dreaded black frost, that penetrated into every part of ones body and the ship, that enveloped everything, spread a thick coating of ice on rigging, stays and all it embraced, running up the masts, surmounting the superstructure and even the very clothes we wore.

2009 June 30, Ernest Cleveland, Trawlers and Trawler Folk, Pneuma Springs Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 100:

The ship was iced up worse than Dai had ever known it and a heavy swell was running, so when the black frost began to rise from the water everyone had been too busy to notice it. You can't see black frost, but you can feel it; it is black frost which causes each breath you take to include tiny particles of ice, and ice in the lungs can kill a man.

2011 June 30, Katie Flynn, Liverpool Taffy: Family Saga, Random House, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 175:

(chiefly nautical) A mist of very cold droplets that freeze upon impact and coat objects (such as parts of a ship) with ice, potentially causing a ship to capsize.

huurre

mist of droplets that freeze upon impact and coat something with ice


sword mat

So called from a wooden implement used in its manufacture.

(nautical) A mat closely woven of yarns.


monkey block

(nautical) A small single block strapped with a swivel.


significant wave height

significant wave height (plural significant wave heights)

(oceanographics, nautical) A standardized measure of trough-to-crest wave height calculated for the needs of seafarers; exact mathematical definition has varied over time and currently it is defined as four times the standard deviation of the surface elevation.


fancy line

(nautical) A line rove through a block at the jaws of a gaff; used to haul it down.


up sticks

en-verb

up sticks (third-person singular simple present ups sticks, present participle upping sticks, simple past and past participle upped sticks)

ups sticks (present singular third-person)
upping sticks (participle present)
upped sticks (participle past)
upped sticks (past)

up + sticks, plural of stick (“a mast or part of a mast of a ship; a yard”).

(UK, Ireland, sailing, slang) To put up the mast of a ship in preparation for sailing.


countersea

(nautical) A sea running in an opposite direction from the wind.


blue light

en-noun

blue light (countable and uncountable, plural blue lights)

Blue lights, or blue fire, is a preparation in which zinc and sulphur, or sulphur alone, are used. The particular colour is communicated by the zinc and sulphur.

1828, Samuel Frederick Gray, The Operative Chemist, page 499:

The blue-light, which, at its first flashing over the ocean, had made the very stars pale their lustre, and lighted up with ghastly radiance the enormous vault of heaven, was now only a point […].

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of his Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 57:

When the 'Canandaigua' got astern, and was lying athwart, of the 'Housatonic,' about four ship lengths off, while I was in the fore rigging, I saw a blue light on the water just ahead of the 'Canandaigua,' and on the starboard quarter of the 'Housatonic.'

2015, Mark K. Ragan, quoting Robert Fleming, Proceedings of a Naval Court of Inquiry into the Sinking of the Housatonic, 1864, quoted in Confederate Saboteurs, Texas A&M University Press, →ISBN, page 98:

(historical, chiefly nautical) A mixture of chemicals (including nitre, sulfur and antimony) used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for night-time signaling and general illumination.


smart ticket

[T]he commodore pulled out his purse, saying, “Here, you bitch's baby, here's something better than a smart ticket”; and threw it at his silent deliverer, who received and pocketed his bounty […].

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

(nautical, now historical) A certificate given to wounded seamen, entitling them to smart money.


quarter block

(nautical) A block fitted under the quarters of a yard on each side of the slings, through which the clewlines and sheets are reeved.


false keel

(nautical) The timber below the main keel, used to serve both as a protection and to increase the ship's lateral resistance.


false tack

(nautical) A coming up into the wind and filling away again on the same tack.


false rail

(nautical) A thin piece of timber placed on top of the headrail to strengthen it.


club topsail

(nautical) A kind of gaff-topsail, used mostly by yachts having a fore-and-aft rig. It has a short "club" or "jack yard" to increase its spread.


shaft alley

(nautical) A passage extending from the engine room to the stern, and containing the propeller shaft.


hag's tooth

(nautical) An ugly irregularity in the pattern of matting or pointing.


Elliott eye

(nautical) A loop in a hemp cable made around a thimble and served.


cut a feather

en-verb

cut a feather (third-person singular simple present cuts a feather, present participle cutting a feather, simple past and past participle cut a feather)

cuts a feather (present singular third-person)
cutting a feather (participle present)
cut a feather (participle past)
cut a feather (past)

(nautical) To make the water foam in moving; in allusion to the ripple which a ship throws off from her bows.


make sail

make sail (third-person singular simple present makes sail, present participle making sail, simple past and past participle made sail)

makes sail (present singular third-person)
making sail (participle present)
made sail (participle past)
made sail (past)

(nautical) To extend an additional quantity of sail (i.e. to spread a sail or sails).

éadach a dhéanamh

to extend an additional quantity of sail


strike sail

strike sail (third-person singular simple present strikes sail, present participle striking sail, simple past struck sail, past participle struck sail or stricken sail)

strikes sail (present singular third-person)
striking sail (participle present)
struck sail (past)
struck sail (participle past)
stricken sail (participle past)

[…] at the last, famine and other necessities, caused them in the ende to strike sayle and let fall anker.

1568, André Thevet, translated by Thomas Hacket, The New Found World, or Antarctike, London: Thomas Hacket, Chapter, page 62:

1627, John Donne, Sermon 24 in Fifty Sermons, London: M.F. et al., Volume 2, 1649, p. 202,
[…] a ship which hath struck Sail, will yet goe on with the winde it had before, for a while,

It was accounted Treason, if any Ship whatsoëver had not acknowledged the Dominion of the King of England in his own Sea, by striking Sail:

1652, John Selden, Of the Dominion or Ownership of the Sea, London, Book 2, Chapter 26, p. 402:

So many new unexpected accidents happen every hour, which no wit of man could foresee; that may make it necessary for us many times to depart from our former most advised resolutions: as the Mariner must strike sail again, (perhaps when he hath but newly hoyst it up,) if the winde and weather change.

1656, Robert Sanderson, “Ad Populum”, in Twenty Sermons Formerly Preached, London: Henry Seile, page 408:

[…] O friend, never strike sail to a fear. Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas.

1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Heroism”, in Essays, Boston: James Munroe, page 215:

(nautical, archaic) To lower the sails (in preparation for dropping anchor, to salute or signal submission, in sudden gusts of wind, etc.).


Spanish windlass

en-noun

Spanish windlass (plural Spanish windlasses)

(nautical) A wooden roller, with a rope wound about it, into which a marlinspike is thrust to serve as a lever.


spring beam

(nautical) A beam that supports the side of a paddle box.


make foul water

en-verb

make foul water (third-person singular simple present makes foul water, present participle making foul water, simple past and past participle made foul water)

makes foul water (present singular third-person)
making foul water (participle present)
made foul water (participle past)
made foul water (past)

(nautical) To sail in such shallow water that the ship's keel stirs the mud at the bottom.


weather cloth

(nautical) A long piece of canvas or tarpaulin used to protect the hammocks from weather damage when stowed in the nettings.


spring the luff

spring the luff (third-person singular simple present springs the luff, present participle springing the luff, simple past sprang the luff, past participle sprung the luff)

springs the luff (present singular third-person)
springing the luff (participle present)
sprang the luff (past)
sprung the luff (participle past)

(nautical) To ease the helm, and sail nearer to the wind than before; said of a vessel.


spring a butt

spring a butt (third-person singular simple present springs a butt, present participle springing a butt, simple past sprang a butt, past participle sprung a butt)

springs a butt (present singular third-person)
springing a butt (participle present)
sprang a butt (past)
sprung a butt (participle past)

(nautical) To loosen the end of a plank in a ship's bottom.


traverse board

(nautical) A small board hung near the helmsman, having the points of the compass marked on it, and for each point as many holes as there are half hours in a watch. It was used for recording the courses made by the ship in each half hour, by putting a peg in the corresponding hole.

לוּחַ נִוּוּט

Navigational instrument for dead reckoning


break sheer

break sheer (third-person singular simple present breaks sheer, present participle breaking sheer, simple past broke sheer, past participle broken sheer)

breaks sheer (present singular third-person)
breaking sheer (participle present)
broke sheer (past)
broken sheer (participle past)

(nautical) To deviate from sheer, and risk fouling the anchor.