Nautical Terms A-D

From SN Guides

Introduction

This entry provides simple layman's explanations of nautical terms for the benefit of those that come across them and do not understand them.

Contributions are encouraged from all SN members as the more people that contribute the more successful this will be.

As SN Members you are all encouraged to make your own entries here but if you do not feel confident to do this you can send a PM to one of the Moderators who will arrange for your contribution to be added.

Nautical Terms A

Air Draught: The vertical distance between the water line and the highest point of the ship. The air draught is measured from the summer load line, as the ship can be ballasted down to this depth in any season to pass under a bridge.

Aldis lamp: A fixed or portable plug-in, high-powered Morse Code signalling lamp. According to Wikipedia, named after its inventor A.C.W. Aldis.

Alleyway: Corridor on a ship

Armstrong Patent: Not fitted with any mechanical device and worked with man-power only. Same as "Norwegian Steam"

Azimuth Circle: A small prism mounted on a brass rotating ring that fits onto (usually) a flying bridge compass allowing simultaneous viewing of land, ship or star with the compass bearing.

Nautical Terms B

Baby Doc: Assistant Doctor (used on P & O ships)

Base Line: The upper side of a flat plate keel. Most of the vertical dimensions of a ship's hull are measured from this point.

Beam (Moulded) or Beam (mld): Any moulded dimension is the distance between two points measured from the inside of the shell plating. This was originally from the outside of the frames, to which the plates were riveted. The frames were shaped using patterns that were made from the full size hull lines drawn on the Mould Loft floor. BEAM (MOULDED) is the greatest moulded breadth of a ship measured from side to side at the outside of the frames but inside the shell plating. This is the usual technical dimension given to express the width of a ship.

Bear: A piece of coconut matting about 1 foot square in a frame on a long handle formerly used to scrub decks.

Bitter End (the): The Bitter End is the last link in an anchor cable which is attached to a removable pin called the Bitt on the side of the chain locker. There should be a large sledge hammer stowed by this pin so that it can be knocked out quickly if need be. The term Came to the Bitter End means there isn't any more left.

The pin was taken out of the bitter end, the attachment in the chain locker, in dry dock to lower the last of the anchor cable / chain to the dry dock bottom when changing the first three shackles of cable and putting it to the bitter end. Out came the cable and half a ton of muddy rust flakes. Then dig the other several tons out of the chain locker and recoat with bitumen.

Black gang: The feared British Customs and Excise rummage squad empowered to take a ship apart in search of contraband booze, drugs or cigarettes. Not always skilled at putting the vessel back together again.

Black pan: Raw food left out at night for cooking at shift change etc.

Bloods: A term used by stewards (certainly on Cunard) to denote passengers who gave them tips or were likely to do so.

Bob: A sailing barge term meaning a flag mounted on the topmast truck, bearing owner's colour scheme or other device. Sometimes termed bob-fly, or in Kent vane-fly. It is made up both of the flag itself and a wooden or steel frame. It is also used to indicate wind direction like a burgee on racing yachts.

Boomie: A ketch-rigged sailing barge rigged with gaff and boom to both main and mizzen sails.

BOT Lime: Board of Trade Lime Juice - standard issue in the tropics.

BOT Acquaintances: Shipmates

BOT Olympics: The act of performing fortnightly lifeboat or emergency drill.

Bowsing Line: A line used when painting over the side with stages. It was run from one side of the 'break' of the f'oc'stle around the stem to the other and was pulled tight to enable the stages to be pulled in and overcome the flare of the bows, the same method was used for getting under the stern.

Breadth overall The maximum width of the ship measured from the outer hull on the starboard side to the outer hull on the port side, including rubbing bars, permanent fenders or other structures, including overhanging bridge wings, aircraft carrier flight decks and the like.

Bully beef: Rhyming slang for Chief = Chief Engineer.

Bulkhead: Internal "walls" in a ship - e.g. between cabins or compartments.

Bung up and bilge free: Descriptive term related to the stowage of barrels. The correct way, according to all those now dusty books, was to stow the lowest tier of barrels on dunnage such that their bilges (the fattest part) were not resting on the deck or tank top and their bungs were pointing upwards. Subsequent tiers then fitted neatly on top without stressing the barrel bilges. The whole stow was then secure and the load was taken in the strong barrel quarters.

Burgee: A very narrow tapering flag flown at the top of the mast of a sailing boat used to determine wind direction. Typically it will indicate membership of a sailing club by the design.

By and Large: to sail before the wind with all sails set.

Nautical Terms C

Ceiling (1): Spar ceiling - pine planks about 6"x 2" laid fore and aft around 18" apart on the faces of the hold frames to keep general cargo off the steel and allow good ventilation.

Ceiling (2): Tank Top ceiling - generally a harder timber laid in the hatch square of general cargo vesselsd to protect the tank top from falling cargo. Unless maintained in good condition, this was a problem when loading bulk grain as the surveyors normally wanted it removed as it harboured insects and old cargo residues

On one I was on we put in a layer of cars, false deck, layer of cars, tween deck, layer of cars etc. The false decks were the 'ceilings'.

Chippy: Carpenter - this expression is also common in the building trade.

Christmas Tree (1): The stub mast on the monkey island which carried the NUC lights, red light for dangerous cargo, etc., plus, on some ships, the mast head light & a morse light.

Christmas Tree (2): In the Offshore industry, a series of steelworks and pipelines on the seabed around a fixed platform.

Cold Ironing: Originally a term from the days of steam-powered ships - cold ironing then meaning that the iron engines were allowed to cool down in port to save fuel. The term later came to refer to connecting the ship to shore-based electrical power supplies when in port to reduce emissions.

Companionway: Stairs on a ship.

Copper-bottomed: Copper sheathing used to prevent boring worms from damaging the hull of wooden sailing ships. This technique has a long history and mention is made of copper sheathing on HMS Bounty.

Nautical Terms D

Deckhead: Ceiling on a ship.

Deckhead Survey: Sleeping.

Deep sea holding tank: Term used to indicate that something is pupmed over the ship's side, when perhaps it shouldn't be and there are wagging ears who may casue problems if it is realised that this is happening. Generally used to confuse those not knowledgeable in nautical matters.

Derrick: A spar fixed on board a ship used for hoisting cargo, boats etc. The name Derrrick comes from a 17th Century hangman of that name who plied his trade at Tyburn in London - a place of public execution close to the current location of Marble Arch.

Desmond: Decca Navigator (from Jamaican reggae singer Desmond Dekker)

Devil Seam: The Devil Seam is the topmost seam in the hull next to the scuppers between the edge of the deck and the hull. This makes it the longest seam on a vessel and not being flush was often the seam most likely to spring a leak.

Devil and the deep blue sea (between the): A sailor who had been knocked over by a wave was SCUPPERED lying at the edge of the deck Between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Dhobi: Doing the laundry.

Dhobi Dust: Washing powder

Dhobi Engine: Washing machine

Dhobi Wallah: Laundry Steward

Donkey's Breakfast: This was a sack of dry hay for sleeping on purchased by all first trippers prior to signing on. Still practised in the 1930s.

SN member Trotterdotpom adds: "Donkey's Breakfasts" were still in use in the late '60s on trawlers in Grimsby and Hull. They had a different filling but the same name and were bought, usually on credit, along with everything else needed for the trip, from a store on the fishdock. The store was operated by the Trawler Owners so any purchases were paid for out of the "settlings" at the end of the trip. This was quite a profitable sideline for the companies as the fishermen had to equip themselves with everything from knives to oilskins. I seem to recall a cost of about a pound for a mattress - quite a sum when the basic wage was about 11 pounds per week. Remember the old song: "I owe my soul to the company store"? On my first trip, I found out that I was supposed to supply my own mattress not long after rounding Spurn Head! One of the old hands managed to find me a discarded one somewhere, for which I was eternally grateful. Unfortunately, on returning to Grimsby three weeks later, I had to spend more money on DDT powder! As far as I know these practices continued until the demise of the industry in the mid-70s.

Draught Forward: The vertical distance between the summer load line and the underside of the keel measured at the forward perpendicular (an imaginary vertical line at the intersection of the stem and the waterline).

Draught at the Stern: The vertical distance between the summer load line and the underside of the keel measured at the after perpendicular (an imaginary vertical line drawn through the centre of the rudder stock.

Draught - Mean: The arithmetic mean of the vertical distance between the summer load line and the underside of the keel at each of the two perpendiculars.

Draught - Maximum: The vertical distance between the summer load line and the underside of any permanently protruding structure or equipment, for example a Sonar dome.

Dropsy: Tips.

Dunnage: Pieces of wood, matting, or similar material used to keep a cargo in position in a ship's hold