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Glossary of Nautical Terms

(Click on any blue highlighted term to see a picture.)
Also see "Expressions You Didn't Know Were Nautical!"

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

AFT: the back or stern part of the vessel.
ANCHORS AWAY: the captain's command to raise anchor prior to sailing
ASTROLABE: a navigation instrument used to find the altitude of the sun or the pole star, from which the ships latitude can be calculated.
A-lee: 'helm's a-lee' is the response of the helmsman after putting the helm down in order to tack.
Abaft: point nearer the stern of a ship than another.
About ship: to go about, change tack.
Aft: towards the stern.
B
Bar: wooden bar used to push round the capstan after inserting it in a socket; shoal running across the mouth of a river.
Barrack stanchion: sailor in comfortable post shore.
Belay: stop; make fast.
Belaying pin: bar of wood to which running gear is made fast or belayed.
Bells: the strokes on the ship's bell to mark the passage of time on board ship. The day is divided into six watches (see also Dog Watch) of four hours each, and the passage of time in each watch is marked by the bell every half-hour, one bell marking the end of the first half hour, and eight bells the end of each watch.
Biscuit: ship's bread: flat, hard dough-cakes.
Bloody flag: large square red flag hoisted by English warships to indicate that they were going into battle.
Boatswain: often written 'bosun': warrant officer in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, and of all work on deck.
Bouse: Stall (confinement).
Bow: the front of the ship.
Bower: The best bower anchor was stowed on the starboard bow.
Bowline: (or bowling), rope made fast to the leech or side of a sail to pull it forward.
Bowse: to haul with a tackle to produce extra tightness.
Brail: to furl a sail by pulling it in towards the mast.
Bring to: check the movement of a ship by arranging the sails in such a way that they counteract each other and keep her stationary.
Buffer: chief bosun's mate: regulating petty officer in charge of discipline.
Bulwarks: planking along sides of ship round upper deck.
Bumboat: Boat privately selling goods or provisions to seamen on ships in harbors or anchorages.
Bunting: Signaller.
BACKSTAFF: a navigation instrument used to measure the apparent height of a landmark whose actual height is known, such as the top of a lighthouse. From this information, the ship's distance from that landmark can be calculated.
BALLAST: weight stored in a ship's bilge to force the ship to stay upright in the water. Once, when a castle had to be shipped to America, the crew of that ship unloaded their ballast and used the castle stones as ballast instead.
THE BARBARY COAST: The entire southern coast of the Mediterrean, along the northern shore of Africa.
BARK (or BARQUE): a ship with square rigged sails on the main and fore masts and fore-and-aft sails the mizzenmast.
BILGE: the lowest part of the ship inside the hull. The bilge water, either from rain or from seas breaking abroad would collect in this area.
BILGE PUMPS: a mechanical pump designed to pump water out of the bilge.
BOAT: a vessel with one, two or no masts.
BONAVENTURE: a fourth small mast at the stern of a ship, also called a "counter-mizzen".
BONNET: an additional strip of sailcloth fastened to the bottom of the larger sails for strength.
BOW: the front part of the vessel.
BOWSPRIT: a spar extending from the bow which braces the foremast and carries a spritsail.
BRIGANTINE: a two-masted boat with a full square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft rigged mainmast with square sails on the main topmast.
BROADSIDE: the sides of the ship or the number of cannon mounted to fire from the ship's sides.
BUCCANEER: 1.) a.) a cheap price for earrings b.) an expensive price for corn :-) 2.) a corruption of the French word "boucanier", one who eats meat cured in a "boucan" or smoke-house.
BUNT: the central part of a square sail.
C
Cable: large rope
Calavances: small beans sometimes used for making soup.
Capstan: vertical rotating cylinder used for winding up anchor and other cable.
Carry: to, to capture a ship by coming along side her in battle, or laying her aboard in the idiom of the age, and taking possession of her by means of a boarding party.
Cat: Cat o' nine tails.
Cathay: the name by which China was known during the Mongol dynasty and thus in European nations during the early years of discovery in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.
Cathead: projections on each bow to which anchors are secured ('catted') after being raised.
Chace: (or chase), the length of a cannon.
Chain-shot: cannon balls fastened together with chain.
Chearly: an old sea expression meaning heartily or quickly, "Row chearly in the boats'.
Clap on: to add a temporary feature: to clap on a sail means to rig an additional sail.
Close-hauled: arrangement of trim of ship's sail to allow her to progress in nearest direction possible towards the wind.
Coaming: raised edge round a hatch.
Cock-boat: a small ship's boat.
CABIN FEVER: This is NOT a nautical term. It's a reference to a log cabin, not a ship's cabin. It's the restlessness caused by long terms of confinement in a cabin that's snowed in for the winter.
CANNON: a defensive weapon used to discourage pirates. The Sea Lion has four functional cannons. Since the word "caliber" was not used in the Elizabethan time-period, the weight of the cannonball was used instead. The Sealion's cannons are "one-pounders". The actual cannons weigh 400 pounds apiece.
CAPSTAN: a mechanical advantage to raise the anchor or lift heavy cargo from the hold. The crew inserts two long poles through the head and turns the device by walking about it while wrapping the line around the bottom.
CARAVEL: a small 15th century trading ship, used in early exploration.
CARRACK: a large, four masted trading ship, used from 14th to 17th century.
CARVEL-BUILT: the planks that make up the ship's sides are joined edge to edge to form a smooth surface.
CAREENING: beaching a ship, heeling her over and scraping barnacles from her bottom for faster sailing. Not a desirable job.
CARGO HATCH: the cover over the opening that is used to raise or lower cargo from the hold. This would be battened down or covered with a waterproof tarpaulin to prevent seawater from entering the ship's hold.
CATSHEAD: a beam extending out from the side of the ship which allows the anchor to be raised and lowered without striking the sides of the ship.
CLEWS: the bottom corners of a square sail.
CLINKER-BUILT: the planks that make up the ship's sides are overlapped like the shingles on a house's roof.
COG: a 13th-14th century trading ship, single masted.
COMPASS: a navigation instrument for determining the direction of magnetic North, from which the ships's direction of travel can be calculated.
CONSORT: any companion vessel sailing with a pirate ship or fleet.
CORSAIR: any pirate from the Barbary Coast.
COUNTER-MIZZEN: a fourth small mast at the stern of a ship, also called a "bonaventure".
COURSES: the largest, and hence lowest, sails on a ship.
CROSS-STAFF: a navigation instrument for finding latitude, it was eventually replaced by the backstaff which didn't require looking at the sun to use.
CUBBRIDGE: a partition or bulkhead across a half-deck of a ship.
CULVERIN: a medium-sized cannon, about 16 pounds.
D
Davits: piece of timber used as crane.
Dog watches: the two half watches of two hours each into which the period from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is divided. The purpose of dividing this watch into two is to produce an uneven number of watches in the 24 hours, seven instead of six, thereby ensuring that watchkeepers in ships, whether organized in two or three watches, do not keep the same watches every day. These two watches are known as the First Dod and Last Dog, and never, except by landlubbers, as First Dog and Second Dog. How they came by these names is not known; they were certainly in use by the 17th century. On suggestion that they were called dog watches because they were curtailed, though ingenious, does not appear to have any foundation in fact.
Doldrums: the belt of calm which lies inside the trade winds of the northern and southern hemisphere. This area, which lies close to the equator, had great significance during those years when the trade of the world was carried by sailing ships. The areas immediately north and south of the trade winds also used to be known as doldrums.
Driver: large sail suspended from mizen gaff; also called a spanker.
Dutchman's breeches: a.k.a. sailor's trousers. Two patches of blue appearing in a stormy sky giving promise of better weather. Enough blue sky to make a pair of breeches.
Dutchman's log: a rough method for finding a ship's speed by throwing a piece of wood into the sea well forward and timing its passage between two marks on the vessel known a distance apart.
DEADEYES: thick, wooden disks through which ropes are passed. By the number of holes in them, they were known as three- or five-eyes.
DEMI-CANNON: the heaviest cannon a galleon could carry, about 32 pounds.
DEMI-CULVERIN: a small-sized cannon, about 8 pounds.
E F
EARING: a small rope fastening the upper corners of a square sail to the yard.
FASHION PIECES: curved timbers which form the ship's stern.
Fathom: depth measurement of six feet.
Fid: Wooden marline-spike
Flemish: to coli a rope concentrically in the direction of the sun's movement.
Fluke: broad part of anchor.
Fore and aft: lengthways on a ship.
Forecastle: (pronounced and often spelled 'focsle') foremost part of deck.
Foremast: mast of vessel furthest forward.
Forward: towards the bow.
Furl: to wrap or roll a sail close to the yard, stay, or mast to which it belongs, and to wind a gasket (cord) round to secure it.
FIBERS: the smallest elements of hemp rope, spun right-handed to form yarn.
FOCS'L: a shortening of "forecastle", a raised deck at the fore end of a ship.
FORE: the front or bow part of the vessel.
FOREMAST: the frontmost mast of a ship.
FOOT: the bottom edge of a square sail.
FRAMES: the curved ribs of a ship.
FRIGATE: a small warship, generally with twenty to thirty cannon, too small to be a man-o'-war, but usually fast and powerful enough to hunt pirate ships.
FUTTOCKS: the pieces of timber which are joined together to form a ship's frame.
G H
GALLEON: a large square rigged warship developed around 1570. The main ship of the Spanish fleet, but also used by the English, French and Dutch fleets.
GIG: a ship's boat, generally light and narrow.
Gasket: piece of rope or cord used for fastening sails when furling.
Gate of tears: the passage into the Red Sea. So called by the Arabs from the number of shipwrecks.
Glass: sandglass which indicates the passage of half an hour.
Going large: advancing freely before the wind (opposite to close-hauled).
Ground: sea bottom.
Gybe: to allow vessel to fall so far off course that the wind catches her on the opposite quarter and blows all the sails and gear to the wrong side.
Halliards: rope or tackle for hoisting a spar holding a sail.
Haul wind: to direct ship's course as nearly as possible in the direction from which the wind is coming.
Hawse: that part of a ship's bow where the hawsehole and hawsepipe are situated through which the anchor cables pass.
Hawsepipe: the inclined pipe or tube which leads from the hawsehole of a ship, on the deck close the the bows, to the outside of the vessel. The anchor cable is led through the hawsepipe and the anchor, bent to its end with a shackle, lies with its shank in the hawspipe when it is hove up close and secured from sea.
Head: forwardmost part of ship.
Heave to: stop.
HAWSE BAG: a canvas bag filled with oakum which is stuffed into the hawseholes so that sea water won't come inboard through them.
HAWSEHOLES: two holes in the bow of the ship that allow the anchor line to be drawn in.
HEAD: 1.) the upper edge of a square sail 2.) the ship's bathroom, so called because it was at the bow, or head, of the ship.
HOLYSTONE: a block of pumice stone about the size of a family bible, hence the name, used to polish the wooden decks of the ship, usually as punishment duty.
I J K
JOLLY BOAT: the smallest of a ship's boats.
JUMP SHIP: to illegally leave the ship's crew by running away when the ship lands at port.
KEVEL: a peg or cleat, usually fixed in pairs, to which certain ropes are belayed.
Kelson: timber immediately above keel.
Killick: anchor.
Kissing the gunner's daughter: being flogged aboard ship.
Knightheads: baulks of timber to which inner end of bowsprit secured.
Kye: cocoa.
L
LAND HO!: a lookout's cry upon sighting land.
LATEEN RIGGED: triangular sails set from a longyard at forty-five degrees to the mast.
LATITUDE: the distance north or south of the equator. Usually measured in degrees.
LEAD: a lead weight tied to a line and dropped overboard to determine the water's depth. A convex hollow in the bottom of the weight was usually filled with candle tallow to bring up a soil sample so the captain could determine what kind of anchor to drop.
LEECH: the side of a square sail.
LONGITUDE: the distance east or west of the International Date Line, an arbitrary line which runs through Greenwich, England.
LOG: a navigation instrument used to measure ship's speed. A flat wooden board called a "flag" was tossed overboard with a line tied to it. Knots were periodically tied in the line and the number of "knots" that paid out in a given time period was the ship's speed.
Lanyard: rope reeved through deadeyes for setting up rigging; any small rope for making anything fast.
Larboard: the left side of the ship when facing forward. "Port" was not used until the early part of the 19th century.
Latitude: the position on the planet divided from the equator to the poles. The equator is latitude 0 degrees. The poles are latitude 90 degrees.
Lead: weight at end of line cast into sea to find depth of water.
League: three miles.
Lee: side away from wind.
Leeboard: a triangle or pear-shaped board fitted instead of a keel to a sailing barge and lowered on lee side to prevent vessel from being blown to leeward when beating against wind.
Leeward: (pronounce 'looard') direction to which wind blows.
Let go and haul: order on tacking square-rigged ship given when the bow has just passed across the wind: 'let go' refers to the forebowline and weather braces, 'haul' to the lee braces.
List: lean to one side.
Longitude: the position on the planet divided from eastward to westward. As 16th century sailors we do not yet know how to find our longitude position.
Lubber's hole: in a sailing ship, the open space in the top, near the head of a lower mast through which seamen ascend to the top, to avoid danger and difficulties of climbing the rim by futlock shrouds. It was once held as only a fit method for timid greenhorns or lubbers; hence, some way of wiggling through one's difficulties.
M N O
MAIN MAST: the central mast of a ship, generally of pine, these masts were selected for their strength. Light and straight, they held up well under the rigors of high wind and rough seas.
MIZZENMAST: the rearmost mast of a ship.
MONKEY: any small part or bracket aboard ship.
Mainmast: principle mast.
Marline-spike: pointed wooded tool for opening strands of rope when splicing.
Master: captain of merchant vessel; originally officer of warship responsible to captain for navigation.
Metelot: (pronounced 'matlow'), sailor.
Mistress roper: an old name for a marine. So called by sailors from their alleged handling of ropes in a womanly or unseaman-like fashion.
Mizen: aftermost mast in three-masted vessel; mast aft of the mainmast in two-masted vessel.
Moonsail: sail set above skysail.
Nipper: short length of rope used to bind anchor cable to messenger which went round capstan.
Oggin: sea.
OAKUM: tarred hemp or manila fibers made from old and condemned ropes which have been picked apart. They were used for caulking the seams of decks and sides of a wooden ship in order to make them watertight. The unpicking of oakum was considered a naval punishment, every man condemned to cells on board ship was made to unpick a pound of oakum daily. It was a tedious and slow process, and very hard on fingers and thumbs.
ORLOP: the deck at the waterline of the ship.
P Q R
PARREL: a bond of rope, chain, or iron collar by which the middle of a yard is fastened to a mast.
PORT: the lefthand side of the ship as you look toward the bow. The term comes from the fact that the gangplank, to shore or "port", is usually lowered on the lefthand side of the ship.
PRIVATEER: a sailor with a letter of marque from the government granting him permission to raid the ships of enemy countries. Often, the difference between pirate and privateer was merely a question of who had signed the letter of marque.
Painter: length of rope for securing small boat to pier or jetty.
Pawl: (or pearl), sort of ratchet on capstan or windlass to prevent its slipping back.
Pawlpitts: timber construction supporting system of pawls on windlass.
Pipe: order formerly conveyed by boatswain's whistle or call.
Poop: raised section at stern of ship.
Purser: (pronounced 'pusser'), officer responsible for issue of provisions.
Quarter: part of side of ship nearest the stern.
Quarterdeck: after end of upper deck.
Quartermaster: the officer appointed to assist the master of a ship in such duties as stowing the hold and coiling cables.
Quarters: mercy.
Reef: to shorten sail by rolling up the bottom section and securing it by tying points (short lines) attached to the sail.
Rigger: a man employed on board ships or in shipyards to fit or dismantle the standing and running rigging of ships. His duties include all the stretching, splicing, serving, and seizing required before setting up a ship's rigging.
Rigging: general name for ropes which hold masts, spars, and yards in place (standing rigging) and which control movement of sails and spars (running rigging).
ROBBANDS: the fastenings that lace a square sail's head to the yard.
RUNNING RIGGING: lines which run through pulleys and block and tackle, that are used to adjust the sails and yards and thus steer the ship.
S
SCHOONER: a two masted vessel, fore-and-aft rigged on both masts. Some schooners had square topsails.
SEA-PIE: a favorite dish for the crew. Almost anything could go into it, but the proper dish consisted of layers of meat, vegetables and fish separated by crusts of bread or broken biscuit. By the number of layers, it was known as a two- or three-decker.
SHAKINGS: the ends of old rope and canvas to be unpicked for making oakum.
SHIP: a vessel with three or more masts.
SHIP AHOY!: a nautical call to hail a ship within hearing distance.
SHIP of the LINE: a warship used in the line of battle. In the early eighteen century, this meant anything from fourth-rate, fifty guns, to first-rate, one hundred or more guns. Admiral Nelson's ship, HMS Victory had three entire decks of cannon.
SLOOP: a vessel with one fore-and-aft rigged mast with a mainsail and a foresail. After the eighteenth century, the term also applied to a small vessel with four to twelve cannon on her upper deck, sixth rate, and rigged with up to three masts.
SPAR: a long, wooden pole.
SQUARE-RIGGED: the principal sail is set at right angles to the ship itself by horizonal yardarms secured to mast, as opposed to fore-and-aft rigging.
STANDING RIGGING: lines that secure the yards and sails in place. They are not adjusted while the ship is sailing.
STARBOARD: the righthand side of the ship as you look toward the bow. The term is a corruption of "steerboard", a primitive rudder usually mounted on the righthand side of the ship.
STERN: the back part of the vessel.
STERN-CHASER: a cannon that fires directly back from the ship's stern to discourage pursuit by pirates. Since the cannon ball is fired right at the water line, it can "skip" across the surface of the water and travel a much further distance than usual.
STOWAWAY: someone who hides aboard ship to avoid paying passage money.
STRANDS: the largest elements of rope, spun right-handed to form the rope itself.
SWASHBUCKLER: 1.) From the Old English words, "swash" to drum, and "buckler" a small hand-held shield, one who beats his sword against his shield to create a drumming sound to intimidate the enemy. 2.) Any work of fiction featuring adventurous characters.
SWIM: used to describe the progress of a ship through the water. A ship would "swimme well" or "swimme ill", according to her speed under sail. Matthew Baker has some of his original designs depicting fish as hulls preserved in the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Scuppers: holes pierced in deck near bulwarks to allow surplus water to drain off.
Sea Beggars: the name given during the second half of the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries to the independent Protestants who lived in what was later to be known as the Dutch Republic. The Low Countries were at the time occupied by the forces of Spain with great severity and cruelty, and it was against the Spaniards that the Sea Beggars led a popular revolt. Their initial success was an amphibious attack against the Spaniards at Brill in 1572, and in the following year they defeated a Spanish squadron under the command of Admiral Bossu off the port of Hoorn in the Zuider Zoo. Two of the great Dutch naval heroes, Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk and Piet Heyn, began their naval careers as Sea Beggars, and it was from these beginnings that the navy of Holland was established in the 17th century.
Seizing: line attaching the bottom of a drift net to the warp.
Spogs: raw recruits.
Squadron: group of warships numbering under ten.
Stanchion: upright support.
Starboard: the right side of the ship when facing forward.
Start: to hit with rope's end or cane.
Stern: the rear of the ship.
Stopper: short length of rope secured at one end temporarily to hold part of running rigging.
Strike: to lower.
T U V
TILLER: a handle bar fixed to the top of the rudder which allows it to be turned side to side manually to steer the ship.
TRAVERSE BOARD: a navigation instrument used to chart the speed and direction of the wind. A measurement is taken every thirty minutes while on watch.
Tack: lower, forward corner of fore and aft sail; in square- rigged ships, line controlling forward lower corner of sail; ship's course in relation to the wind (on starboard or larboard tack according to whether wind is coming from starboard or larboard).
Tackle: (pronounced tayckle), purchase of ropes and blocks.
Tar: (1) the residue after distillation of the gum extracted from pine trees and used, among many other purposes, for the preservation of the standing rigging of a square-rigged ship and also for preserving hemp, rope, which is liable to rot when wet. (2) An affectionate name for a sailor, derived from their habit of treating their canvas coats and hats with tar as a protection against the weather.
Tender: small vessel attached to larger ship for harbor duties; the press tender delivered pressed men to ships.
To cat the anchor: to secure the anchor on the cathead, a fitment on the ship's side near the hawsepipe. It is used to hang the anchor when the hawsepipe is needed for the cable in securing to a buoy.
Ton: a measure of capacity at sea. The origin of the word in its maritime sense was the tun, a large cask in which wine was transported, equivalent to two pipes, or four hogsheads, or 252 old wine gallons. The measurement of a ship was by tunnage, or the number of tuns of wine she could carry in her holds.
Tonnage: the measurement of a ship by which the rate for hire or taxes could be calculated. Although tonnage or burthen was theoretically based on the number of tuns of wine that a ship could carry in her holds, it became necessary, both for taxation purposes and for calculating the harbor dues payable by a ship, to devise a rough and ready formula by which tonnage could be quickly calculated. It was found, in the general design of ships, that the vessel's length in feet, multiplied by her maximum beam in feet, multiplied by the depth of her hold below the main deck in feet, with the product divided by 100, gave a reasonably accurate measurement of her tonnage, and this was the formula used for the measurement of warships as well as merchant vessels.
Top: (as in maintop) platform at masthead of ship.
Topman: picked man who worked on topsail and topgallant yards.
Topmast: mast next above lower mast, the second division of a complete mast, the topgallant mast being the third.
Trace up: (or trice up), order to life studding sail boom ends, when topmen were out on yards, in preparation for furling or reefing.
Victuals: food or provisions.
W X Y Z
WALES: The horizontal planks or timbers, broader and thicker than the rest, which extend along a ship's sides at different heights from stem to stern.
WHIPSTAFF: the post used to steer the ship prior to the invention of a ship's wheel. The whipstaff is fastened to the tiller by means of ropes strung through pulleys.
Waister: seaman employed in waist of ship; untrained or incompetent seaman.
Watch: the division of the 24 hours of the seaman's day into periods of duty of 4 hours.
Wear: to change course by turning stern through the wind.
Weather: side form which wind is blowing; to sail to the windward of something.
Weigh: to raise.
Windlass: capstan-like fitting, on a horizontal shaft.
Windward: direction from which winds blow.
Yard: a large wooden spar crossing the masts of a ship horizontally or diagonally, from which a sail is set.
Yardarm: the outer quarters of a yard, that part which lies outboard of the lifts, on either side of the ship.
Yawl: four-masted ship's boat or small sailing boat.
YARD: a spar usually fixed horizontally to a mast to support a sail.
YARN: strings of hemp, spun from fibers and spun left-handed to form strands.

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Glossary of Nautical Terms

aft
(Or after.) Near, toward or at the stern of a ship.

aftercabin
In a ship with multiple cabins , the cabin closest to the stern .

aftermast
In a sailing ship carrying multiple masts , the mast set closest to the stern .

Also called the mizzenmast in a three-masted sailing vessel.

aftermost
The farthest aft .

amidships
In or toward the part of a ship midway between bow and stern .

arch
A curved architectural structure used to support suspended weight. In Great Lakes wooden shipbuilding, a wide iron- or steel-fastened strap down each side of a ship, usually fastened low in the bow and stern and rising to the level of the upper deck amidships ; provides longitudinal support to the hull .

arch board
An arch-shaped nameboard fastened to the stern of a ship, displaying the vessel's name and home port.

athwartships
Perpendicular to the fore -and-aft centerline of a ship; sideways.

ballast
Material used to improve the stability and control of a ship.

In wooden ships usually stone, lead or iron; in metal ships, often water.

barge
A large cargo-carrying craft that is towed or pushed by a tug on both seagoing and inland waters.

barque
(Also bark.

) A sailing ship with three to five masts, all of them square-rigged except the after mast, which is fore -and-aft rigged.

beam
The width of a ship at its widest point.

bilge
1.

Part of the underwater body of a ship between the flat of the bottom and the straight vertical sides.

Internally, the lowest part of the hull , next to the keelson .

black gang
Nautical slang for the engineroom crew.

Included the chief engineer, who ran the engine and supervised; oilers and wipers, who lubricated and maintained the engine; and firemen and coal-passers, who fed the steam boilers.

block
A metal or wood case enclosing one or more pulleys; has a hook with which it can be attached to an object.

board foot
A unit of quantity for lumber equal to the volume of a board that is 12 by 12 by 1 inches.

boom
A spar extending from a mast to hold the outstretched bottom of a sail.

bow
The forward part of a ship.

bowsprit
A large spar that projects forward from the forward end of a sailing ship; used to carry sails and support the masts .

bridge
An elevated structure extending across or over the weather deck of a vessel, containing stations for control and visual communications.

bulkhead
An upright partition separating compartments in a ship.

bulwark
The part of a ship's side that extends above the main deck to protect it against heavy weather.

bunker
A storage compartment aboard a ship for coal or other fuel.

bushel
A unit of volume (dry measure) used in the United States, equal to 32 quarts or approximately 35.

2 liters.

cabin
An enclosed compartment in a ship; used as shelter or living quarters.

camber
The arch or slope from side to side of a vessel's weather deck for water drainage.

Also known as round of beam.

cant frames
Angled frames in the extreme forward or aft ends of a ship which form the sharp ends of the vessel's hull .

capstan A vertical, spool-shaped rotating drum around which cable, hawser or chain is wound for hoisting anchors, sails and other heavy weights.

centerboard
A metal or wooden slab in a casing along the centerline of a sailboat; may be lowered to increase the boat's resistance to sideways motion and raised when the boat is in shallow water or beached.

centrifugal
A pump that uses centrifugal force for pumping liquids.

(Also, moving or tending to move away from a center.

) chain locker
A compartment in the lower part of a ship for stowing an anchor chain.

chandler
A retail dealer in supplies and equipment.

chord
The principal horizontal member in a rigid framework.

In Great Lakes shipbuilding, a heavy horizontal metal strap fastened around a hull at the level of the upper deck , supporting a framework of arches and cross bracing .

clipper
A sharp-bowed sailing vessel of the mid-19th century, having tall masts and sharp lines; built for great speed.

coaming
A rim placed on a roof or around a hatch , deck or bulkhead opening to stop water from entering.

combination pump
A dual-purpose steam engine that conducted multiple tasks such as pumping water and hoisting.

consort
An unpowered Great Lakes cargo vessel, usually a schooner-barge , towed by a steam barge or a steamer .

A large steamer could tow several consorts, each fully loaded with bulk cargo.

The consort system began in the 1860s on the Great Lakes and persisted to around 1920.

"Consort" can refer to a pair of such vessels or just the towed vessel.

covering board
The outermost plank of the upper deck , running beneath the base of the bulwark and covering the frametops and the ends of the deck beams .

cross bracing
Iron or steel straps fastened diagonally across a ship's frames to make a rigid framework.

deadwood
Heavy longitudinal timbers fastened over the keelson .

The timbers of the bow and stern are fastened to the deadwood.

deck
Horizontal or cambered and sloping surfaces on a ship, like floors in a building.

deckhouse
A low building or superstructure, such as a cabin , constructed on the top deck of a ship.

depth of hold
The measurement from beneath the deck to the bottom of the hold ; the vertical space in the cargo hold.

derrick
A hoisting machine consisting usually of a vertical mast , a slanted boom and associated tackle ; may be operated mechanically or by hand.

donkey boiler
A steam boiler on a ship deck used to supply steam to deck machinery when the main boilers are shut down.

engine bed
A structure of wooden or metal supports that make up the mounting for a ship's engine.

fall
A hoisting rope or chain, especially the part of rope or chain to which power is applied.

fantail
The area of the upper deck of a ship that is nearest the stern .

More specifically, a rounded afterdeck that overhangs the propeller and rudder .

fastening
A spike, bolt or other device used to connect one piece of wood to another.

fittings
Equipment and consumable goods placed on a ship in preparation for its active service and required by its allowance list or for operation.

fluke
The broad end of each arm of an anchor.

following sea
A sea in which the waves are moving in the same direction as the vessel.

fore
1.

The front part of a ship.

In the direction of or toward the bow .

forecastle
The section of the upper deck of a ship located at the bow forward of the foremast .

foredeck
The forward part of a ship's upper deck .

foremast
The mast nearest the bow of a ship.

forward
Toward the front of a vessel.

frames
The transverse strengthening members in a ship's hull that extend from the keel to the deck or gunwale .

frametops
The tops of a ship's frames; the transverse strengthening members in a ship's hull that extend from the keel to the deck or gunwhale .

futtock
A curved or vertical timber that when paired with a floor or additional futtocks makes the frame of a wooden ship.

gaff
A spar used to extend the top edge of a fore -and-aft sail.

gaff-topsail
A light triangular or quadrilateral sail set over a gaff .

gale
1.

An unusually strong wind.

In storm-warning terminology, a wind of 28-47 knots (52-87 kilometers or 32-63 miles per hour).

galley
The kitchen of a ship or airplane.

GPS
(Global Positioning System) A navigation system that uses satellites to provide a receiver anywhere on Earth with extremely accurate measurements of its three-dimensional position, velocity and time.

gross tonnage
The overall volume of a ship's hull, including crew cabins, storerooms and machinery spaces.

A ton equals 100 cubic feet.

The calculation of tonnage is complex, and a major revision in tonnage calculation laws occurred in 1864.

The term "old measurement" reflects measurements before this change.