The Sailor S Word Book An Alphabetical Digest Of Nautical Terms

Dialect, variant and obsolete spellings remain as printed. Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note, whilst significant changes have been listed at the end of...

The plan of our work may be said to comprise the treating _de omnibus rebus nauticis_, for many branches of knowledge are demanded of the intelligent seaman. Thus in Naval Archi...

ADJUSTMENT. In marine insurance, the ascertaining and finally settling the amount of indemnity--whether of average or of salvage--which the insured (after all proper deductions...

ALARM, ALARUM [from the Italian _all'armi!_] An apprehension from sudden noise or report. The drum or signal by which men are summoned to stand on their guard in time of danger....

ANALYSIS. The resolution of anything into its constituent parts: mathematically, it is the method of resolving problems by reducing them to equations.--_Analysis of curves_ is t...

APPRENTICE. One who is covenanted to serve another on condition of being instructed in an art, and ships' apprentices are to the same effect. Boys under eighteen years of age bo...

A-STAY. Said of the anchor when, in heaving in, the cable forms such an angle with the surface as to appear in a line with the stays of the ship.--_A long stay_ apeek is when th...

BACK-WATER. The swell of the sea thrown back, or rebounded by its contact with any solid body. Also the loss of power occasioned by it to paddles of steamboats, &c. The water in...

BAR, OF A PORT OR HARBOUR. An accumulated shoal or bank of sand, shingle, gravel, or other uliginous substances, thrown up by the sea to the mouth of a river or harbour, so as t...

BATTERY. A place whereon cannon, mortars, &c., are or may be mounted for action. It generally has a parapet for the protection of the gunners, and other defences and convenience...

BEND ON THE TACK. In hoisting signals, that piece of rope called the distant line--which keeps the flags so far asunder that they are not confused. Also, in setting free sails,...

BLACK-STRAKE. The range of plank immediately above the wales in a ship's side; they are always covered with a mixture of tar and lamp-black, which not only preserves them from t...

BOLLARD. A thick piece of wood on the head of a whale-boat, round which the harpooner gives the line a turn, in order to veer it steadily, and check the animal's velocity. Also...

BOWLINE HAUL. A hearty and simultaneous bowse. (_See_ ONE! TWO!! THREE!!!) In hauling the bowline it is customary for the leading man to veer, and then haul, three times in succ...

"The tide did now his flood-mark gain, And girdled in the saint's domain: For, with the flow and ebb, its style Varies from continent to isle; Dry-shod, o'er sands, twice ev'ry...

BUNKER. For stowing coal in steamers. Cellular spaces on each side which deliver the coal to the engine-room.--_Wing-bunkers_ below the decks, cutting off the angular side-space...

CALL. A peculiar silver pipe or whistle, used by the boatswain and his mates to attract attention, and summon the sailors to their meals or duties by various strains, each of th...

CARBINE, OR CARABINE. A fire-arm of less length and weight than a musket, originally carrying a smaller ball, though latterly, for the convenience of the supply of ammunition, t...

CAT THE ANCHOR. When the cat is hooked and "cable enough" veered and stoppered, the anchor hangs below the cat-head, swings beneath it; it is then hauled close up to the cat-hea...

CHESS-TREE. A piece of oak fastened with iron bolts on each top-side of the ship. Used for boarding the main-tack to, or hauling home the clues of the main-sail, for which purpo...

CLOSE-ABOARD. Near or alongside; too close to be safe. "The boat is close aboard," a caution to the officer in command to receive his visitor. "The land is close aboard," danger...

COMB. A small piece of timber under the lower part of the beak-head, for the fore-tack to be hauled to, in some vessels, instead of a bumkin: it has the same use in bringing the...

CONTROLLER. Differs from _comptroller_, which applies chiefly to the duties of an _accompt_. But the controller of the navy controls naval matters in ship-building, fitting, &c....

CRAB. A wooden pillar, the lower end of which being let down through a ship's decks, rests upon a socket like the capstan, and having in its upper end three or four holes at dif...

CURVED FIRE. A name coming into use with the increasing application of the fire of heavy and elongated shells to long-range bombardment and cannonade. It is intermediate between...

DEATH OR MONEY BOATS. So termed from the risk in such frail craft. They were very long, very narrow, and as thin as the skiffs of our rivers. During the war of 1800-14 they carr...

DHOW. The Arab dhow is a vessel of about 150 to 250 tons burden by measurement--grab-built, with ten or twelve ports; about 85 feet long from stem to stern, 20 feet 9 inches bro...

DOCKYARDS. Arsenals containing all sorts of naval stores and timber for ship-building. In England the royal dockyards are at Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth,...

DRIFT. The altered position of a vessel by current or falling to leeward when hove-to or lying-to in a gale, when but little head-way is made by the action of sails. In artiller...

ECLIPSE. An obscuration of a heavenly body by the interposition of another, or during its passage through the shadow of a larger body. An _eclipse of the sun_ is caused by the d...

ESTABLISHMENT. The regulated complement or quota of officers and men to a ship, either in time of war or peace. The equipment. The regulated dimensions of spars, cabin, rigging,...

FEATHER AN OAR, TO. In rowing, is to turn the blade horizontally, with the top aft, as it comes out of the water. This lessens the resistance of the air upon it.

FISHER-FISH. A species of _Remora_, said to be trained by the Chinese to catch turtle. When a turtle is perceived basking on the surface of the sea, the men, avoiding all noise,...

FLOWERING. The phenomenon observed usually in connection with the spawning of fish, at the distance of four leagues from shore. The water appears to be saturated with a thick je...

FORE-STAFF. An instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies. The fore-staff, called also _cross-staff_, takes its name hence, that the observer in...

FRITTERS. Tendinous fibres of the whale's blubber, running in various directions, and connecting the cellular substance which contains the oil. They are what remains after the o...

GANGWAY. The platform on each side of the skid-beams leading from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, and peculiar to deep-waisted ships, for the convenience of walking expediti...

GONG. A kind of Chinese cymbal, with a powerful and sonorous tone produced by the vibrations of its metal, consisting mainly of copper and tutenag or zinc; it is used by some ve...

GUARA. The singular and ingenious rudder by which the rafts or balzas of Peru are enabled to work to windward. It consists of long boards between the beams, which are raised or...

HALF-BREADTH OF THE RISING. A ship-builder's term for a curve in the floor-plan, which limits the distances of the centres of the floor-sweeps from the middle line of the body-p...

HATCHES. Flood-gates set in a river to stop the current of water. Also, coverings of grating, or close hatches to seal the holds.--_To lie under hatches, stowed in the hold._ Te...

HELIACAL. A star rises heliacally when it first becomes visible in the morning, after having been hidden in the sun's rays; and it sets heliacally when it is first lost in the e...

HOOK-ROPES. A rope 6 or 8 fathoms long, with a hook and thimble spliced at one end, and whipped at the other: it is used in coiling hempen cables in the tiers, dragging chain, &c.

HYDROLOGY. That part of physics which explains the properties of water, and is usually divided into hydrostatics and hydraulics. The former treats of weighing water and fluids i...

JACK. In the British navy the jack is a small _union_ flag, formed by the intersection of St. George's and St. Andrew's crosses (which see), usually displayed from a staff erect...

JUNK. The Chinese junk is the largest vessel built by that nation, and at one period exceeding in tonnage any war-vessels then possessed by England. The extreme beam is one-thir...

KNEE. Naturally grown timber, or bars of iron, bent to a right angle, or to fit the surfaces, and to secure bodies firmly together, as hanging knees secure the deck-beams to the...

LAST. A dry measure containing 80 bushels of corn. A cargo. A weight of 4000 lbs. A last of cod or white herrings is 12 barrels. Last, or ship-last, a Swedish weight of 2 tons.

LIE ALONG, TO. (_See_ ALONG.) A ship is said to lie along when she leans over with a side wind.--_To lie along the land_, is to keep a course parallel with it.

LOATH TO DEPART. Probably the first line of some favourite song; formerly the air was sounded in men-of-war, when going foreign, for the women and children to quit the ship.

LUG-SAIL. A sail used in boats and small vessels. It is in form like a gaff-sail, but depends entirely on the rope of the luff for its stability. The yard is two-thirds of the b...

MARINES, THE ROYAL. A body of officers and soldiers raised to serve on board men-of-war, and trained to fight either at sea or on shore: their chosen body of artillery was estee...

MERMAID'S PURSE. The oblong horny cases with long filiform appendages developed from each of the four corners, found on the sea-shore, being the outer covering of the eggs of se...

MOURNING. A ship is in mourning with her, ensign and pennant half-mast, her yards topped awry, or apeek, or alternately topped an-end. If the sides are painted blue instead of w...

NEGLECT. A charge not exceeding L3, from the wages of a seaman, in the Complete Book, for any part of the ship's stores lost overboard, or damaged, from his gross carelessness.

OFF AND ON. When a ship beating to windward approaches the shore by one board, and recedes from it when on the other. Also used to denote an undecided person. Dodging off a port.

PADDLE. A kind of oar, used by the natives of India, Africa, America, and by most savages; it is shorter and broader in the blade than the common oar.--_To paddle_, is to propel...

PENDANT. A strop or short piece of rope fixed on each side, under the shrouds, upon the heads of the main and fore masts, from which it hangs as low as the cat-harpings, having...

PLANK. Thick boards, 18 feet long at least, from 1-1/2 to 4 inches thick, and 9 or 10 inches broad; of less dimensions, it is called _board_ or _deal_ (which see), the latter be...

POUNDER. A denomination applied to guns according to the weight of the shot they carry; at present everything larger than the 100-pounder is described by the diameter of its bor...

PURCHASE. Any mechanical power which increases the force applied. It is of large importance to nautical men in the combinations of pulleys, as whip, gun-tackle, luff-tackle, jee...

RAISING A PURCHASE. The act of disposing certain machines, so that, by their mutual effects, they may produce sufficient force to overcome the weight or resistance of the object...

RELIEF. The change of watches. Also, the person relieving a particular station. Also, a fresh detachment of troops, ordered to replace those already on duty. In fortification, t...

ROCK. An extensive geological term, but limited in hydrographical parlance to hard and solid masses of the earth's surface; when these rise in insulated masses nearly to the sur...

RUN AWAY WITH HER ANCHOR. Said of a ship when she drags or "shoulders" her anchor; drifting away owing to the anchor not holding, for want, perhaps, of sufficient range of cable.

SCAMPAVIA. A fast rowing war boat of Naples and Sicily; in 1814-15 they ranged to 150 feet, pulled by forty sweeps or oars, each man having his bunk under his sweep. They were r...

SEA-RATE. The going of a chronometer as established on board, instead of that supplied from the shore. This may be done by lunars. From motion and other causes their rates after...

SHEER-BATTEN. A batten stretched horizontally along the shrouds, and seized firmly above each of their dead-eyes, serving to prevent the dead-eyes from turning at that part. Thi...

SHOT. All sorts of missiles to be discharged from fire-arms, those for great guns being mainly of iron; for small-arms, of lead. When used without prefix, the term generally mea...

SKY-LARKING. In olden times meant mounting to the mast-heads, and sliding down the royal-stays or backstays for amusement; but of late the term has denoted frolicsome mischief,...

SOUTHING OF THE MOON. The time at which the moon passes the meridian of any particular place. Popularly the term is used to denote the meridian transit of any heavenly body sout...

SQUARE-RIGGED. Ships having chiefly square sails; a term used in contradistinction to all vessels which do not use them. It is also applied to vessels with unusually long yards....

STING-RAY. A fish, _Trygon pastinaca_, which wounds with a serrate bone, lying in a sheath on the upper side of its tail; the wound is painful, as all fish-wounds are, but not t...

SUMPIT. An arrow blown from the sumpitan, in Borneo. The sumpitan is about 7 feet long; the arrow has been driven with some force at 130 yards. Some suppose it to be poisoned.

TAP THE ADMIRAL. Opprobriously applied to those who would "drink anything;" from the tale of the drunkard who stole spirits from the cask in which a dead admiral was being conve...

TIMBER-HEADS. The heads of the timbers that rise above the decks, and are used for belaying hawsers, large ropes, &c. (_See_ KEVEL-HEADS.) These being such important parts of a...

TRADE-WINDS. Currents of air moving from about the 30th degree of latitude towards the equator. The diurnal motion of the earth makes them incline from the eastward, so that in...

TRUSS. The trusses or parrels of the lower yards serve to bind them to their masts and are bowsed taut when the yards are trimmed, in order to arrest motion and friction. But th...

VANG. A rope leading from the end of the gaff to the rail, one on each side, so that the two form guys attached to the outer ends of the gaffs to steady them, and when the sails...

WARRANT. A writ of authority, inferior to a commission; in former days it was the name given to the deed conferring power on those officers appointed by the navy board, while th...

WHALE-FISHERIES. The places at which the capture of whales, or "whale-fishery," is carried on. The principal are the coasts of Greenland and Davis Straits, for the northern righ...

WOLF-FISH. _Anarhichas lupus_, also called cat-fish. A fish of the northern seas, from 2 to 3 feet long, with formidable teeth, with which it crushes the shells of the crustacea...

P. 239, DECKS, assuming the accuracy of the rest of the table, the final figures in the lbs. column, originally '3960' and '1980', have been corrected to _3920_ and _1960_; DECK...