Shamelessly plundered from Wikipediaaaaarrr

A-Z

M-P

• Mainmast (or Main) - The tallest mast on a ship.


• Mainsheet - Sail control line that allows the most obvious effect on mainsail trim. Primarily used to control the angle of the boom, and thereby the mainsail, this control can also increase or decrease downward tension on the boom while sailing upwind, significantly affecting sail shape. For more control over downward tension on the boom, use a boom vang.


• Man of war - a warship from the age of sail


• Man overboard! - A cry let out when a seaman has gone overboard


• Marines Soldiers afloat. Royal Marines formed as the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot in 1664 with many and varied duties including providing guard to ship's officers should there be mutiny aboard. Sometimes thought by seamen to be rather gullible - hence 'tell it to the marines' who might believe your tall tale.


• Mast - A verticle pole on a ship which supports sails or rigging.


• Master - Either the commander of commercial vessel, or a senior officer of a naval sailing ship in charge of routine seamanship and navigation but not in command during combat.


• Master-at-Arms - A non-commissioned officer responsible for discipline on a naval ship. Standing between the officers and the crew, commonly known in the Royal Navy as 'the Buffer'.


• Mess - An eating place aboard ship. A group of crew who live and feed together,


• Mess deck catering - A system of catering in which a standard ration is issued to a mess supplemented by a money allowance which may be used by the mess to buy additional victuals from the Pusser's stores or elsewhere. Each mess was autonomous and self-regulating. Seaman cooks, often members of the mess, prepared the meals and took them, in a tin canteen, to the galley to be cooked by the ship's cooks. As distinct from 'cafeteria messing' where food is issued to the individual hand - now the general practice.


• Midshipman - A non-commissioned officer below the rank of Lieutenant. Usually regarded as being "in training" to some degree. Also known as 'Snotty'. 'The lowest form of animal life in the Royal Navy' where he has authority over and responsibility for more junior ranks, yet, at the same time, relying on their experience and learning his trade from them.


• Mizzenmast (or Mizzen) - The third mast on a ship.


• Mizzen staysail - Sail on a ketch or yawl, usually lightweight, set from, and forward of, the mizzen mast while reaching in light to moderate air.


• Navigation rules Rules of the Road provides guidance on how to avoid collision and also used to assign blame when a collision does occur.


• Nipper - Short rope used to bind a cable to the "messenger" (a moving line propelled by the capstan) so that the cable is dragged along too (Used because the cable is too large to be wrapped round the capstan itself). During the raising of an anchor the nippers were attached and detached from the (endless) messenger by the ship's boys. Hence the term for small boys: 'nippers'.


• No room to swing a cat - The entire ship's company was expected to witness floggings, assembled on deck. If it was very crowded, the bosun might not have room to swing the 'cat o' nine tails' (the whip).

• Oilskin Foul-weather gear worn by sailors.


• Orlop deck The lowest deck of a ship of the line. The deck covering in the hold.


• Outhaul - A line used to control the shape of a sail.


• Overbear - To sail downwind directly at another ship, stealing the wind from its sails.


• Overhaul - Hauling the buntline ropes over the sails to prevent them from chaffing.


• Overreach - When tacking, to hold a course too long.


• Over the barrel - Adult sailors were flogged on the back or shoulders while tied to a grating, but boys were beaten instead on the posterior (often bared), with a cane or cat, while bending, often tied down, over the barrel of a gun, known as (kissing) the gunner's daughter.


• Overwhelmed - Capsized or foundered.


• Ox-Eye - A cloud or other weather phenomenon that may be indicative of an upcoming storm.

• Parrel - A movable loop, used to fasten the yard to its respective mast.


• Part brass rags - Fall out with a friend. From the days when cleaning materials were shared between sailors.


• Pay - Fill a seam (with caulking or pitch); see 'The Devil to Pay', or to lubricate the running rigging: 'pay' with slush (qv) or protect from the weather by covering with slush.


• Paymaster - The officer responsible for all money matters in RN ships including the paying and provisioning of the crew, all stores, tools and spare parts.


• Pilot - Navigator. A specially knowledgeable person qualified to navigate a vessel through difficult waters, e.g harbour pilot etc.


• Pipe (Bos'n's) - or a Bos'n's Call - A whistle used by Boatswains (bosuns or bos'ns) to issue commands. Consisting of a metal tube which directs the breath over an aperture on the top of a hollow ball to produce high pitched notes. The pitch of the notes can be changed by partly covering the aperture with the finger of the hand in which the pipe is held. The shape of the instrument is similar to that of a smoking pipe.


• Pipe down - A signal on the bosun's pipe to signal the end of the day, requiring lights (and smoking pipes) to be extinguished and silence from the crew.


• Piping the side - A salute on the bos'n's pipe(s) performed in the company of of the deck watch on the starboard side of the quarterdeck or at the head of the gangway, to welcome or bid farewell to the ship's Captain, senior officers and honoured visitors.


• Pitch - A vessel's motion, rotating about the beam axis, so the bow pitches up and down.


• Poop deck - A high deck on the aft superstructure of a ship.


• Pooped - 1. Swamped by a high, following sea. 2. Exhausted.


• Port - Towards the left-hand side of the ship facing forward (formerly Larboard).


• Press gang - Formed body of personnel from a ship of the Royal Navy (either a ship seeking personnel for its own crew or from a 'press tender' seeking men for a number of ships) that would identify and force (press) men, usually merchant sailors into service on naval ships usually against their will.


• Preventer (Gybe preventer, Jibe preventer) - A sail control line originating at some point on the boom leading to a fixed point on the boat's deck or rail (usually a cleat or pad eye) used to prevent an accidental jibe while sailing downwind.


• Privateer - A privately-owned ship authorised by a national power (by means of a Letter of Marque) to conduct hostilities against an enemy. Also called a private man of war.


• Prow - a poetical alternative term for bows.


• Pusser - Purser, the one who is buys, stores and sells all stores on board RN ships, including victuals, rum and tobacco. originally a private merchant, latterly a warrant officer.

R-S

• Radar - An electronic system designed to transmit radio signals and receive reflected images of those signals from a "target" in order to determine the bearing and distance to the "target".


• Radar reflector - A special fixture fitted to a vessel or incorporated into the design of certain aids to navigation to enhance their ability to reflect radar energy. In general, these fixtures will materially improve the visibility for use by vessels with radar.


• Range lights - Two lights associated to form a range (a line formed by the extension of a line connecting two charted points) which often, but not necessarily, indicates the channel centerline. The front range light is the lower of the two, and nearer to the mariner using the range. The rear light is higher and further from the mariner.


• Ratlines - Rope ladders permanently rigged from bulwarks and tops to the mast to enable access to top masts and yards. Also serve to provide lateral stability to the masts.


• Reach - A point of sail from about 60° to about 160° off the wind. Reaching consists of "close reaching" (about 60° to 80°), "beam reaching" (about 90°) and "broad reaching" (about 120° to 160°)


• Reduced cat - A light version on the cat o'nine tails for use on boys; also called "boys' pussy".


• Reef
  
  
  
  • 1. Reef: To temporarily reduce the area of a sail exposed to the wind, usually to guard against adverse effects of strong wind or to slow the vessel.
  
  
  • 2. Reef: Rock or coral, possibly only revealed at low tide, shallow enough that the vessel will at least touch if not go aground.
  
  
  
  


• Reef points - Small lengths of cord attached to a sail, used to secure the excess fabric after reefing.


• Reef-bands - Long pieces of rough canvas sewed across the sails to give them additional strength.


• Reef-tackles - Ropes employed in the operation of reefing.


• Rigging - The system of masts and lines on ships and other sailing vessels.


• Roll - A vessel's motion rotating from side to side, about the fore-aft axis. List (qv) is a lasting tilt in the roll direction.


• Rolling-tackle - A number of pulleys, engaged to confine the yard to the weather side of the mast; this tackle is much used in a rough sea.


• the Ropes' refers to the lines in the rigging.


• Rope's end A summary punishment device.


• Rummage sale - A sale of damaged cargo (from French arrimage).


• Running rigging - Rigging used to manipulate sails, spars, etc. in order to control the movement of the ship. Cf. standing rigging.

• Sagging - When a trough of a wave is amidship.


• Sail-plan - A set of drawings showing various sail combinations recommended for use in various situations.


• Scandalize - To reduce the area of a sail by expedient means (slacking the peak and tricing up the tack) without properly reefing it.


• Scud - A name given by sailors to the lowest clouds, which are mostly observed in squally weather.


• Scudding - A term applied to a vessel when carried furiously along by a tempest.


• Scuppers - An opening on the side rail that allows water to run off the deck.


• Scuttle - A small opening, or lid thereof, in a ship's deck or hull. To cut a hole in, or sink something.


• Scuttlebutt - A barrel with a hole in used to hold water that sailors would drink from. Also: gossip.


• Seaman - generic term for sailor, or (part of) a low naval rank


• Sennet whip - a summary punitive implement


• Shakes - Pieces of barrels or casks broken down to save space. They are worth very little, leading to the phrase "no great shakes".


• Sheer - The upward curve of a vessel's longitudinal lines as viewed from the side.


• Sheet - A rope used to control the setting of a sail in relation to the direction of the wind.


• Ship's bell - Striking the ship's bell is the traditional method of marking time and regulating the crew's watches.


• Shrouds- Standing rigging running from a mast to the sides of a ships.


• Siren A sound signal which uses electricity or compressed air to actuate either a disc or a cup shaped rotor.


• Skysail - A sail set very high, above the royals. Only carried by a few ships.


• Skyscraper - A small, triangular sail, above the skysail. Used in light winds on a few ships.


• Slush - Greasy substance obtained by boiling or scraping the fat from empty salted meat storage barrels, or the floating fat residue after boiling the crew's meal. In the Royal Navy the perquisite of the cook who could sell it or exchange it (usually for alcohol) with other members of the crew. Used for greasing parts of the running rigging of the ship and therefore valuable to the master and bosun.


• Slush fund - The money obtained by the cook selling slush ashore. Used for the benefit of the crew (or the cook).


• Son of a gun - The space between the guns was used as a semi-private place for trysts with prostitutes and wives, which sometimes lead to pregnancies.


• Spanker - A fore and aft, gaff-rigged sail on the aft-most mast of a square-rigged vessel.


• Spar - A wooden pole used to support various pieces of rigging and sails.


• Spindrift - Finely-divided water swept from crest of waves by strong winds.


• Spinnaker - A large sail flown in front of the vessel while heading downwind.


• Spinnaker pole - A spar used to help control a spinnaker or other headsail.


• Standing rigging - Rigging which is used to support masts and spars, and is not normally manipulated during normal operations. Cf. running rigging.


• Starboard - Towards the right-hand side of a vessel facing forward.


• Square meal - A sufficient quantity of food. Meals on board ship were served to the crew on a square wooden plate in harbour or at sea in good weather. Food in the Royal Navy was invariably better or at least in greater quantity than that available to the average landsman. However, while square wooden plates were indeed used on board ship, there is no established link between them and this particular term. The OED gives the earliest reference from the U.S. in the mid 19th century.


• Stay - Rigging running fore (forestay) and aft (backstay) from a mast to the hull.


• Staysail - A sail whose luff is attached to a forestay.


• Steering oar or steering board - A long, flat board or oar that went from the stern to well underwater, used to control the vessel in the absence of a rudder.


• Stem - the extension of keel at the forward of a ship.


• Stern - The rear part of a ship, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter to the taffrail.


• Stern tube - the tube under the hull to bear the tailshaft for propulsion(usually at stern).


• Stonnacky - a punitive device


• Studding-sails (pronounced 'stunsail') - Long and narrow sails, used only in fine weather, on the outside of the large square sails.


• Surge - A vessel's transient motion in a fore and aft direction.


• Sway - A vessel's motion from side to side.


• Swinging the compass - Measuring the inaccuracy in a ship's magnetic compass so its readings can be adjusted.


• Swinging the lamp - Telling sea stories. Referring to lamps slung from the deckhead which swing while at sea. Often used to indicate that the story teller is exaggerating.


• Swinging the lead - Measuring the depth of water beneath a ship using a lead-weighted sounding line. A sailor who was feigning illness etc to avoid a hard job was said to be 'swinging the lead'.

T-Z

• Tailshaft - a kind of metallic shafting ( a rod of metal) to hold the propeller and connected to the power engine. When the tailshaft is moved, the propeller may also be moved for propulsion.


• Taken aback - An inattentive helmsmen might allow the dangerous situation to arise where the wind is blowing into the sails 'backwards', causing a sudden (and possibly dangerous) shift in the position of the sails.


• Taking the wind out of his sails - To sail in a way that steals the wind from another ship. cf. overbear.


• Tally - The operation of hauling aft the sheets, or drawing them in the direction of the ship's stern.


• Teazer - A rope used as a punitive device.


• Three sheets to the wind - On a three-masted ship, having the sheets of the three lower courses loose will result in the ship meandering aimlessly downwind. Also, a sailor who has drunk strong spirits beyond his capacity.


• Timoneer - From the French timonnier, is a name given, on particular occasions, to the steersman of a ship.


• Toe the line or Toe the mark - At parade, sailors and soldiers were required to stand in line, their toes in line with a seam of the deck.


• Togey - A rope used as a punitive device


• Topsail - The second sail (counting from the bottom) up a mast. These may be either square sails or fore-and-aft ones, in which case they often "fill in" between the mast and the gaff of the sail below.


• Topmast - The second section of the mast above the deck; formerly the upper mast, later surmounted by the topgallant mast; carrying the topsails.


• Topgallant - the mast or sails above the tops.


• Touch and go - The bottom of the ship touching the bottom, but not grounding.


• Towing - The operation of drawing a vessel forward by means of long lines.


• Travellers - Small fittings that slide on a rod or line. The most common use is for the inboard end of the mainsheet; a more esoteric form of traveller consists of "slight iron rings, encircling the backstays, which are used for hoisting the top-gallant yards, and confining them to the backstays".


• Traffic Separation Scheme - Shipping corridors marked by buoys which separate incoming from outgoing vessels. Improperly called Sea Lanes.


• Trick - A period of time spent at the wheel ("my trick's over").


• Turtling - When a sailboat (in particular a dinghy) capsizes to a point where the mast is pointed straight down and the hull is on the surface resembling a turtle shell.


• Under the weather - Serving a watch on the weather side of the ship, exposed to wind and spray.


• Upper-yardmen - Specially selected personnel destined for high office.


• Wales - A number of strong and thick planks running length-wise along the ship, covering the lower part of the ship's side.


• Watch - A period of time during which a part of the crew is on duty. Changes of watch are marked by strokes on the ship's bell.


• Watercraft - Water transport vessels. Ships, boats, personal water craft.


• Weather gage - Favorable position over another sailing vessel to with respect to the wind.


• Weather deck - Whichever deck is that exposed to the weather – usually either the main deck or, in larger vessels, the upper deck.


• Weather side - The weather side of a ship is the side exposed to the wind.


• Weatherly - A ship that is easily sailed and maneuvered; makes little leeway when sailing to windward.


• Weigh anchor - To heave up (an anchor) preparatory to sailing.


• Wells - Places in the ship's hold for the pumps.


• White Horses – Waves in wind strong enough to produce foam or spray on the wave tops.


• Wide berth - To leave room between two ships moored (berthed) to allow space for maneuver.


• Windage - Wind resistance of the boat.


• Windbound - A condition wherein the ship is detained in one particular station by contrary winds.


• Windward - In the direction that the wind is coming from.


• Windlass - A winch mechanism, usually with a horizontal axis. Used where mechanical advantage greater than that obtainable by block and tackle was needed (such as raising the anchor on small ships).


• Yard - The horizontal spar from which a square sail is suspended.


• Yardarm The very end of a yard. Often mistaken for a "yard", which refers to the entire spar. As in to hang 'from the yardarm' and the sun being 'over the yardarm' (late enough to have a drink).


• Yaw - A vessel's motion rotating about the vertical axis, so the bow yaws from side to side.

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