Peter D. Green's Nautical Terminology



Abaft: On the after side of. Further towards the stern.
Aboard: On board. In, into or inside a vessel. Close alongside.
Abyss: That volume of ocean lying below 300 fathoms from surface.
Adrift: Unattached to the shore or ground and at the mercy of wind and tide. Colloquially used to mean missing from its place; absent from place of duty; broken away from fastening.
Against the Sun: Anti-clockwise circular motion. Left-handed ropes are coiled down in this way.
Alongside: Close beside a ship, wharf or jetty.
Altar: Step in a dry dock, on which lower ends of shores rest.
Amok: Homicidal frenzy that sometimes affects Malayans and other eastern peoples.
Anchor Ice: Ice, of any form, that is aground in the sea.
Apeak: Said of anchor when cable is taut and vertical.
A-stay: Said of anchor cable when its line of lead approximates a continuation of line of fore stay.
Athwart: Across. Transversely.
A-trip: Said of anchor immediately it is broken out of the ground.
Avast: Order to stop, or desist from, an action.
Awash: Water washing over.
Barque: Sailing vessel with three or more masts: fore and aft rigged on aftermast, square rigged on all others.
Barquentine: Sailing vessel with three or more masts. Square rigged on foremast, fore and aft rigged on all others.
Barratry: Any wrongful act knowingly done by the master or crew of a vessel to the detriment of the owner of either ship or cargo; and which was done without knowledge or consent of owner or owners.
Bar Taut: Said of a rope when it is under such tension that it is practically rigid.
Beams Ends: Vessel said to be "on her beam ends" when she is lying over so much that her deck beams are nearly vertical.
Bear Off: To thrust away; to hold off. Order given to bowman of boat when he is required to push boat's head away from jetty, gangway or other fixture at which boat is alongside. Order given, also, when it is required to thrust away, or hold off, an approaching object.
Before the Mast: Said of a man who goes to sea as a rating, and lives forward. Forward of a mast.
Belay: To make fast a rope by turning up with it around a cleat, belaying pin, bollard, etc. Often used by seamen in the sense of arresting, stopping or canceling; e.g. "Belay the last order'.
Bergy Bits: Pieces of ice, about the size of a small house, that have broken off a glacier, or from hummocky ice.
Berth: Place in which a vessel is moored or secured. Space around a vessel at anchor, and in which she will swing. An allotted accommodation in a ship. Employment aboard a ship. To berth a vessel is to place he in a desired or required position.
Beset: Said of a vessel when she is entirely surrounded by ice.
Bleed the Monkey: Surreptitiously to remove spirit from a keg or cask by making a small hole and sucking through a straw.
Boat: Small craft not normally suitable for sea passages but useful in sheltered waters and for short passages.
Bone: Foam at stem of a vessel underway. When this is unusually noticeable she is said to "have a bone in her teeth".
Booby Hatch: Sliding cover that has to be pushed away to allow passage to or from a store room, cabin of small craft, or crew's quarters.
Bound: Proceeding in a specified direction, or to a specified place.
Bouse: To heave, or haul, downwards on a rope. Originally, and strictly, heave meant an upward pull, haul meant a horizontal pull, bouse meant a downward pull: but these distinctions have not survived.
Bowse: To pull downward on a rope or fall.
Brash: Ice broken into pieces, about 6 ft. in diameter and projecting very little above sea level.
Breach: Said of waves that break over a vessel.
Breast: Mooring line leading approximately perpendicular to ship's fore and aft line.
Breast Rope: Mooring rope, leading from bow or quarter, at about right angles to ship's fore and aft line.
Brig: Vessel with two masts and square rigged on both of them.
Brigantine: Originally, a ship of brigands, or pirates. Up to end of 19th century was a two-masted vessel square rigged on fore-mast and main topmast, but with fore and aft mainsail. Latterly, a two-masted vessel with foremast square rigged, and mainmast fore and aft rigged.
Brow: Substantial gangway used to connect ship with shore when in a dock or alongside a wharf.
Bucko: A bullying and tyrannical officer.
Bulkhead: Transverse, or fore and aft, vertical partition in a vessel to divide interior into compartments. Not necessarily water-tight. Increases rigidity of structure, localizes effects of fire and, when watertight, localizes inflow of water.
Buoyage: The act of placing buoys. 2. Establishment of buoys and buoyage systems. Applied collectively to buoys placed or established.
Burgoo: Seaman's name for oatmeal porridge. First mentioned in Edward Coxere's Adventures by Sea" (1656)
By the Board: Overboard and by the ship's side.
Cable: Nautical unit of distance, having a standard value of 1/10th of a nautical mile (608 ft.). For practical purposes a value of 200 yards is commonly used.
Calving: Breaking away of a mass of ice from a glacier or iceberg.
Camber: Arched form of a deck or beam to shed the water. Standard camber for weather decks is 1/50th of vessel's breadth.
Camel: Hollow vessel of iron, steel or wood, that is filled with water and sunk under a vessel. When water is pumped out, the buoyancy of camel lifts ship. Usually employed in pairs. Very valuable aid to salvage operations. At one time were usual means of lifting a vessel over a bar or sandbank. Were used in Rotterdam in 1690.
Can Hooks: Two flat hooks running freely on a wire or chain sling. Hooks are put under chime of casks, weight is taken on chain sling or wire. Weight of lift prevents unhooking.
Captain: Rank in R.N. between Commander and Commodore. In Merchant Navy is a courtesy title for a Master Mariner in command of a ship.
Careen: To list a vessel so that a large part of her bottom is above water. Formerly done to remove weed and marine growth, to examine the bottom, to repair it and to put on preservative or anti-fouling. Still done with small craft.
Carry on: To continue sailing under the same canvas despite the worsening of the wind.
Catching up Rope: Light rope secured to a buoy to hold vessel while stronger moorings are attached.
Catenary: Originally, length of chain put in middle of a tow rope to damp sudden stresses. Now applied to any weight put in a hawser for same purpose. 2). Curve formed by chain hanging from two fixed points.
Cat's Skin: Light, warm wind on surface of sea.
Check: To ease a rope a little, and then belay it.
Checking: Slacking a rope smartly, carefully and in small amounts.
Chuch: Name sometimes given to a fairlead.
Clock Calm: Absolutely calm weather with a perfectly smooth sea.
Close Aboard: Close alongside, Very near.
Colimation: Correct alignment of the optical parts of an instrument.
Crack on: To carry sail to full limit of strength of masts, yards, and tackles.
Craft: Vessel or vessels of practically any size or type.
Crank: Said of a vessel with small stability, whether due to build or to stowage of cargo.
Creep: To search for a sunken object by towing a grapnel along bottom.
Crew: Personnel, other than Master, who serve on board a vessel. In some cases a differentiation between officers and ratings is made; but officers are "crew" in a legal sense.
Crimp: Person who decoys a seaman from his ship and gains money by robbing and, or, forcing him on board another vessel in want of men.
Cruise: Voyage made in varying directions. To sail in various directions for pleasure, in search, or for exercise.
Culage: Laying up of a vessel, in a dock, for repairs.
Customary Dispatch: Usual and accustomed speed.
Dead on End: Said of wind when exactly ahead; and of another vessel when her fore and aft line coincides with observer's line of sight.
Deratisation: Extermination of all rats aboard a vessel.
Dingbat: Slang term for a small swab made of rope and used for drying decks.
Ditty Bag: Small canvas bag in which a seaman keeps his small stores and impedimenta.
Ditty Box: Small wooden box, with lock and key, in which seamen of R.N. keep sentimental valuables, stationery, and sundry small stores.
Diurnal: Daily. Occurring once a day.
Donkeyman: Rating who tends a donkey boiler, or engine, and assists in engine-room.
Donkey's Breakfast: Merchant seaman's name for his bed or mattress.
Drift Ice: Ice in an area containing several small pieces of floating ice, but with total water area exceeding total area of ice.
Dunnage: Any material, permanent or temporary, that is used to ensure good stowage, and protect cargo during carriage.
Fair: To adjust to proper shape or size.
Fairway: Navigable water in a channel, harbour or river.
Fake: One circle of a coil or rope. To coil or arrange a rope ornamentally with each fake flat, or almost flat, on the deck, usually in a circle or figure-of-eight pattern. Sometimes called "Cheesing down".
Fang: Valve of a pump box. 2. To prime a pump.
Farewell Buoy: Buoy at seaward end of channel leading from a port.
Fast: Hawser by which a vessel is secured. Said of a vessel when she is secured by fasts.
Fast Ice: Ice extending seaward from land to which it is attached.
Fathom: Six feet (1.83 metres); length covered by a man's outstretched arms. Fathom of wood is a cubical volume 6'x 6'x 6' = 216 cu. ft.
Feather Spray: Foaming water that rises upward immediately before stem of any craft being propelled through water.
Fiddles: Wooden fittings clamped to meal tables in heavy weather. They limit movement of dishes, plates, glasses, etc.
Field Ice: Ice pack whose limits cannot be seen from ship.
Flake: To coil a rope so that each coil, on two opposite sides, lies on deck alongside previous coil; so allowing rope to run freely.
Fleeting: Shifting the moving block of a tackle from one place of attachment to another place farther along. Moving a man, or men, from one area of work to area next to it.
Flotsam, Flotson: Goods and fittings that remain floating after a wreck.
Fly Boat: Fast boat used for passenger and cargo traffic in fairly sheltered waters.
Fothering: Closing small leaks in a vessel's underwater body by drawing a sail, filled with oakum, underneath her.
Founder: To fill with water and sink.
Frazil: Small, cake-shaped pieces of ice floating down rivers. Name is given, also, to newly-formed ice sheet off coast of Labrador.
Freshen the Nip: To veer or haul on a rope, slightly, so that a part subject to nip or chafe is moved away and a fresh part takes its place.
Full and By: Sailing close-hauled with all sails drawing.
Furniture: The essential fittings of a ship, such as masts, davits, derricks, winches, etc.
Gilliwatte: Name given to Captain's boat in 17th century.
Glory Hole: Any small enclosed space in which unwanted items are stowed when clearing up decks.
Gob Line: Back rope of a martingale. 2. A length of rope used in a tug to bowse in the towrope. Gog rope.
Growler: Small iceberg that has broken away from a larger berg.
Haul: To pull.
Hawser: Flexible steel wire rope, or fibre rope, used for hauling warping or mooring.
Hazing: Giving a man a dog's life by continual work, persistent grumbling and petty tyranny.
Head Fast: Mooring rope leading forward from fore end of a vessel.
Headway: Forward movement of a ship through the water.
Heave: To lift.
Heavy Floe: Piece of floating ice more than three feet thick.
Hoist: To lift.
Horse Marine: Unhandy seaman.
Hove: Heaved.
Hoveller: Person who assists in saving life or property from a vessel wrecked near the coast. Often applied to a small boat that lies in narrow waters ready to wait on a vessel, if required.
Hove To: Lying nearly head to wind and stopped, and maintaining this position by trimming sail or working engines.
Hull Down: Said of a distant ship when her hull is below horizon and her masts and upper works are visible.
Hulling: Floating, but at mercy of wind and sea. 2. Piercing the hull with a projectile. 3. Taking in sail during a calm.
Idler: Member of a crew who works all day but does not keep night watches: e.g. carpenter, sailmaker.
Indulgence Passenger: Person given a passage in one of H.M. ships; usually on compassionate grounds.
Jack Nastyface: Nickname for an unpopular seaman. Originally, nom de plume of a seaman who wrote a pamphlet about conditions in Royal Navy in early years of 19th century.
Jerque: Search of a vessel, by Customs authorities, for unentered goods.
Jetsam: Goods that have been cast out of a ship and have sunk.
Jimmy Bungs: Nickname for a ship's cooper.
Jolly Boat: General purpose boat of a ship.
Keckling: Winding small rope around a cable or hawser to prevent damage by chafing. 2. The rope with which a cable is keckled.
Kedging: Moving a vessel by laying out a small anchor and then heaving her to it.
Kelter: Good order and readiness.
Kenning: Sixteenth-century term for a sea distance at which high land could be observed from a ship. Varied between 14 and 22 miles according to average atmospheric conditions in a given area.
Kentledge: Permanent pip iron ballast specially shaped and placed along each side of keelson. Name is sometimes given to any iron ballast.
Key of Keelson: Fictitious article for which greenhorns at sea are sometimes sent.
Killick: Nautical name for an anchor. Originally, was a stone used as an anchor.
Kippage: Former name for the equipment of a vessel, and included the personnel.
Knots per Hour: An expression never used by careful seamen, being tautological and illogical.
Kraken: Fabulous sea monster supposed to have been seen off coasts of America and Norway. Sometimes mistaken for an island.
Lading: That which is loaded into a ship. The act of loading.
Lagan: Jettisoned goods that sink and are buoyed for subsequent recovery.
Lanyard: Rope or cord used for securing or attaching.
Large: Said of vessel sailing with wind abaft the beam but not right aft.
Lascar: Native of east India employed as a seaman.
Lask: To sail large, with wind about four points abaft beam.
Lay Aboard: To come alongside.
Laying on Oars: Holding oars at right angles to fore and aft line of boat with blades horizontal and parallel to surface of water. Is used also as a sarcastic term for idling, or not pulling one's weight.
Lay Out: Order to men at mast to extend themselves at intervals along a yard. 2. To keep a vessel at a certain place until a specified time has elapsed.
Lay the Land: To cause the land to sink below horizon by sailing away from it.
Lazarette, Lazaretto: Storeroom containing provisions of a ship. 2. Ship or building in which persons in quarantine are segregated.
League: Measure of distance three miles in length. One-twentieth of a degree of latitude.
Lee Lurch: Heavy roll to leeward with a beam wind.
Lie: To remain in a particular place or position.
Lie By: To remain nearly alongside another vessel.
Lie To: To shop a ship and lie with wind nearly ahead.
Light Hand: Youthful but smart seaman.
Light Port: Scuttle or porthole fitted with glass.
Limber Holes: Holes in floor timbers, or tank side-brackets, through which bilge water flows to pump suction.
Line: A light rope or hawser. Small rope used for a specific purpose.
Lipper: Small sea that rises just above bows or gunwale.
Lobscouse: Nautical stew made with preserved meat and vegetables.
Lop: Small but quick-running sea.
Lubber: A clumsy and unskilled man.
Lumper: Man employed in unloading ships in harbour, or in taking a ship from one port to another. Paid "lump" sum for services.
Lurch: Sudden and long roll of a ship in a seaway.
Lying to: Said of a vessel when stopped and lying near the wind in heavy weather.
Mariner: In general, a person employed in a sea-going vessel. In some cases, applied to a seaman who works on deck.
Mary the Gunner's Daughter: Old Navy nickname for a flogging, particularly when across a gun.
Master: Merchant Navy officer in command of ship. Name was given, formerly, to the navigating officer of H.M. ships.
Mate: An officer assistant to Master. A "Chief Officer". From time immemorial he has been responsible for stowage and care of cargo and organization of work of seamen, in addition to navigating duties.
Middle Ground: Shoal area between two navigational channels.
Moor: To secure a ship in position by two or more anchors and cables. 2. To attach a vessel to a buoy, or buoys. 3. To secure a vessel by attaching ropes to positions ashore.
Narrow Channel Rule: Rule of Collision Regulations. Requires a vessel navigating a narrow channel to keep to that side of mid-channel that is on her starboard hand.
Nipped: Said of a vessel when pressed by ice on both sides.
Nog: Treenail in heel of a shore supporting a ship on the slip.
Nunatak: Isolated rocky peak rising from a sheet of inland ice.
Off and Fair: Order to take off a damaged member of a vessel, to restore it to its proper shape and condition, and to replace it in position.
Offing: Sea area lying between visible horizon and a line midway between horizon and observer on the shore. To keep an offing is to keep a safe distance away from the coast.
Overhaul: To examine with a view to repairing or refitting. 2. To overtake. 3. To extend a tackle so that distance between blocks is increased.
Pack-Ice: Numbers of large pieces of floating ice that have come together and lie more or less in contact.
Paddy's Purchase: Seaman's scornful name for any lead of a rope by which effort is lost or wasted. "Paddy's purchase, spunyarn over a nail."
Painter: Rope at stem of boat for securing it or for towing purposes. 2. Chain by which an Admiralty pattern anchor is secured in place. "Shank Painter."
Pancake Ice: Small, circular sheets of newly-formed ice that do not impede navigation.
Parclose: Limber hole of a ship.
Parting Strop: Strop inserted between two hawsers, and weaker than the hawsers, so that strop, and not hawsers, will part with any excessive strain. 2. Special strop used for holding cable while parting it.
Pay Off: To discharge a crew and close Articles of Agreement of a merchant ship. 2. To terminate commission of H.M.ship. 3. Said of ship's head when it moves away from wind, especially when tacking.
Peggy: Merchant Navy nickname for seaman whose turn of duty it is to keep the messing place clean.
Petty Officer: Rank intermediate between officer and rating, and in charge of ratings. Usually messed apart from ratings, and has special privileges appropriate to his position.
Piggin: Very small wooden pail having one stave prolonged to form a handle. Used as a bailer in a boat.
Pinnace: Formerly, small, two-masted sailing vessel sometimes with oars. Now rowing, sailing or mechanically-propelled boat of R.N. Is diagonal built: 36ft. in length.
Pool: Enclosed, or nearly enclosed sheet of water. 2. Fluctuating congregation of men from which can be drawn hands required for manning ships, and to which can be added men available for manning.
Pooping: Said of a vessel, or of the sea, when following seas sweep inboard from astern.
Popple: A short, confused sea.
Port Hole: Small aperture, usually circular, in ship's side. Used for lighting, ventilating and other purposes.
Primage: Money paid by shipper to Master of ship for diligence in care of cargo. Not now paid to Master, but added to freight. Amount was usually about 1% of freight.
Procuration: The acting of one person on behalf of another. 2. A document authorizing one person to act on behalf of another.
Propogation: Movement of crest of a progressive wave.
Protest: Statement under oath, made before a notary public, concerning a actual or anticipated loss, damage or hindrance in the carrying out of a marine adventure.
Punt: Small craft propelled by pushing on a pole whose lower end rests on the bottom of the waterway. 2. To propel a boat by resting end of a pole on bottom of waterway. 3. Copper punt.
Puoy: Spiked pole used for propelling a barge or boat by resting its outboard end on an unyielding object.
Purser's Grin: Hypocritical smile, or sneer.
Quarter: That part of a vessel between the beam and the stern.
Quarter Boat: Boat carried at davits on quarter of ship, and kept ready for immediate use when at sea.
Quarter Spring: Rope led forward, from quarter of a vessel, to prevent her from ranging astern; or to heave her ahead.
Quay: Artificial erection protruding into the water to facilitate loading and discharge of cargo, landing and embarkation of passengers, repairing or refitting of ships.
Radome: A bun-shaped cover placed over a radar scanner to prevent risk of fouling and to protect it from the weather.
Rafting: Overlapping of edges of two ice-floes, so that one floe is partly supported by the other.
Reach: Straight stretch of water between two bends in a river or channel.
Rector: Name given to Master of a ship in 11th and 12 centuries.
Refit: Removal of worn or damaged gear and fitting of new gear in replacement.
Return Port: The proper return port of a discharged seaman.
Rooming: The navigable water to leeward of a vessel.
Rummage: Originally meant "to stow cargo". Now, means "to search a ship carefully and thoroughly".
Run Out: To put out a mooring, hawser or line from a ship to a point of attachment outside her.
Sailing Ice: Small masses of drift ice with waterways in which a vessel can sail.
Sailor: Man or boy employed in sailing deep-water craft. Word is sometimes loosely used to include men who go to sea. Used officially to denote a seaman serving on deck. At one time was a man with previous sea experience, but who was not rated able seaman.
Sallying: Rolling a vessel, that is slightly ice-bound, so as to break the surface ice around her. May sometimes be done when a vessel is lightly aground, but not ice-bound.
Scuttle Butt: Covered cask, having lid in head, in which fresh water for current use was formerly carried.
Sea Battery: Assault upon a seaman, by Master, while at sea.
Sea Boat: Ship's boat kept ready for immediate lowering while at sea: sometimes called "accident boat". 2. Applied to a ship when assessing her behaviour in a seaway.
Sea Captain: Master of a sea-going vessel. Certificated officer competent and qualified to be master of a sea-going vessel.
Sea Dog: Old and experienced seaman. 2.Dog fish. 3. Elizabethan privateer.
Seafarer: One who earns his living by service at sea.
Sea Lawyer: Nautical name for an argumentative person.
Seamanlike: In a manner, or fashion, befitting a seaman.
Sea Smoke: Vapour rising like steam or smoke from the sea caused by very cold air blowing over it. Frost-smoke, steam-fog, warm water fog, water smoke.
Second Greaser: Old nickname for a second mate.
Seiche: Short period oscillation in level of enclosed, or partly enclosed, area of water when not due to the action of tide-raising forces.
Sewed: Said of a vessel when water level has fallen from the level at which she would float. Also said of the water that has receded and caused a vessel to take the ground.
Shallop: Small boat for one or two rowers. 2. Small fishing vessel with foresail, boom mainsail, and mizen trysail. 3. A sloop.
Sheet: Rope or purchase by which clew of a sail is adjusted and controlled when sailing.
Shelf-Ice: Land ice, either afloat or on ground, that is composed of layers of sow that have become firm but have not turned to glacier ice.
Shellback: An old and experienced seaman.
Ship: A sea-going vessel. 2. Vessel having a certificate of registry. Technically, a sailing vessel having three or more masts with yards crossed on all of them. In Victorian times, any vessel with yards on three masts was termed a "ship" even if other masts were fore and aft rigged. To ship, is to put on or into a vessel; to put any implement or fitting into its appropriate holder.
Shipmaster: A person in command of a ship. A person certified as competent to command a ship. A master mariner.
Shoot Ahead: To move ahead swiftly. To move ahead of another vessel quickly when underway.
Short Stay: Said of a vessel's anchor, or cable when the amount of cable out is not more than one-and-a-half times the depth of water.
Sighting: Observing with the eye. Applied to document, means examining and signing as evidence of satisfaction as to its authenticity.
Sighting the Bottom: Drydocking, beaching, or careening a vessel and carefully examining the bottom with a view to ascertaining any damage it may have.
Signed Under Protest: Words incorporated when signing under duress and not concurring entirely with import of document signed, and after stating grounds of non-concurrence.
Singling Up: Taking in all ropes not wanted, so that only a minimum number of ropes will require casting off when leaving a berth or buoy.
Sixteen Bells: Eight double strokes on ship's bell; customarily struck at midnight when new year commences. Eight bells are for 24 hours of passing year, eight bells for 00 hours of New Year.
Slob: Loose and broken ice in bays, or along exposed edges of floes.
Slop Chest: Chest, or compartment, in which is stowed clothing for issue to crew.
Slop Room: Compartment in which clothing for issue to crew is stowed.
Smelling the Ground: Said of a vessel when her keel is close to the bottom and all but touching it.
Snorter: Alternative name for "Snotter". 2. A very high wind.
Snub: To stop suddenly a rope or cable that is running.
Snubber Line: Rope used for checking a vessel's way when warping her into a dock or basin.
Soft Tack: Fresh bread.
Son of a Gun: Seaman who was born aboard a warship. As this was once considered to be one of the essentials of the perfect seaman it has long been a complimentary term.
Soogee Moogee/Sujee-mujee: Cleansing powder used for cleaning wood and paintwork.
Spanking: Applied to a wind, or movement of a vessel, to denote brisk and lively.
Spile Hole: Small hole bored in cask or barrel to allow air to enter when emptying.
Spindrift: Finely-divided water swept from crest of waves by strong winds.
Splice Main Brace: To issue an extra ration of rum. The main brace, often a tapered rope, was spliced only in the most exceptional circumstances.
Spooning: Running directly before wind and sea.
Spray: Water blown, or thrown, into the air in particles.
Spring: Rope from after part of a vessel led outside and forward to a point of attachment outside vessel. By heaving on it ship can be moved ahead. Sometimes led to anchor cable, for casting ship's head. 2. Tendency of a vessel's head to come nearer to wind. 3. The opening of a seam. 4. Partial fracture in a mast or spar.
Spume: Froth of foam of the sea.
Staith: Elevated structure from which coal and other cargoes can be loaded into a vessel. Name is also given to a landing-place, or loading-place.
Stauch: Said of a vessel that is firm, strong, and unlikely to develop leaks.
Stave off: To bear off with a staff, boathook, long spar, etc.
Stemming: Maintaining position over the ground when underway in a river or tidal stream. 2. Reporting a vessel's arrival in dock to the dock authority, or Customs.
Stern Sheets: That space, in a boat, abaft after thwart; or between after thwart and backboard.
Storis: Large drift ice, more than two years old, that passes down the south-east coast of Greenland.
Storm Bound: Confined to an anchorage or haven through being unable to proceed because of stormy weather.
Stow: To pack compactly and safely.
Stretch Off the Land: Old sailing ship term for taking "forty winks".
Suck the Monkey: Originally, to suck rum from a coconut -- into which it had been (illicitly) inserted, the end of the nut resembling a monkey's face. Later, illicitly to suck spirit from a cask, usually through a straw.
Sujee;Suji-muji (spelling various): Soap or cleaning-powder mixed with fresh water. To wash paint with sujee.
Sun over Foreyard: Nautical equivalent to "Time we had a drink."
Swab: Seaman's mop for drying decks. Made of old rope unlaid and seized on the bight; about four feet in length. Sometimes made smaller and seized to a wooden handle for putting highly-alkaline solutions on deck for cleansing purposes.
Swallow the Anchor: To leave the sea and settle ashore.
Sweat Up: To haul on a rope to hoist the last possible inch or so.
Swell: Succession of long and unbroken waves that are not due to meteorological conditions in the vicinity. Generally due to wind at a distance from the position.
Tally Board: Board, bearing instructions, that comes to a wrecked ship with a life-saving rocket line.
Tally Book: Book in which is kept a reckoning of items of cargo received or discharged from a hatch or vessel.
Tanky: Petty officer in R.N. whose duty is to look after fresh-water tanks. At one time these tanks were under the charge of the navigating officer, who shared the nickname.
Teem: To pour. To empty.
Tenth Wave: Commonly believed to be higher than preceding nine waves. Although it is true that wind effect causes one wave to override another, and so make a larger wave, it is not established that the eleventh wave will do this; so making a larger tenth wave. In some places the fifth wave is consistently larger.
Thole, Thole Pin: Metal or wooden peg inserted in gunwale of a boat for oar to heave against when rowing without crutch or rowlock.
Three Sheets in the Wind: Said of a man under the influence of drink. A ship with three sheets in the wind would "stagger to and fro like a drunken man". Conversely, a drunken man staggers to and fro like a ship with three sheets in the wind.
Ticket: Colloquial name for a "Certificate of Competency". Generally looked upon as a disparaging name but, etymologically speaking, is perfectly appropriate.
Tom Cox's Traverse: Work done by a man who bustles about doing nothing. Usually amplified by adding "running twice round the scuttle butt and once round the longboat".
Touch and Go: To touch the ground, with the keel, for a minute or so and then proceed again.
Trice: To haul up by pulling downwards on a rope that is led through a block or sheave.
Trick: A spell of duty connected with the navigation of a vessel; more particularly, at the wheel or look-out.
Turn: Complete encirclement of a cleat, bollard, or pin by a rope.
Turn up: To fasten a rope securely by taking turns around a cleat or bollard. Under Foot: Said of anchor when it is under ship's forefoot, and cable is nearly up and down.
Under Way: Not attached to the shore or the ground in any manner. Usually, but not necessarily, moving through or making way through the water.
Unmoor: To cast off hawsers by which a vessel is attached to a buoy or wharf. To weigh one anchor when riding to two anchors. To remove a mooring swivel when moored to two cables.
Unship: To remove from a ship. To remove an item from its place.
Up and Down: Said of cable when it extends vertically and taut from anchor to hawsepipe.
Van: The leading ship, or ships, in a fleet or squadron.
Venture: An enterprise in which there is a risk of loss.
Vessel: Defined by Merchant Shipping Act as "any ship or boat, or other description of vessel, used in navigation".
Vigia: Uncharted navigational danger that has been reported but has not been verified by survey.
Vise: Endorsement on a document as evidence that it has been sighted, examined, and found correct by a proper authority.
Wake: The water immediately astern of a moving vessel. It is disturbed by vessel's motion through it and by the subsequent filling up of the cavity made.
"Warming the Bell": Striking "eight bells' a little before time at the end of a watch.
Warp: The longitudinal threads in canvas and other textiles. 2. Hawser used when warping. Originally, was a rope smaller than a cable. 3. The line by which a boat rides to a sea anchor. 4. Mooring ropes.
Wash: Broken water at bow of a vessel making way. 2. Disturbed water made by a propeller or paddle wheel. 3. Blade of an oar.
Washing Down: Said of a vessel when she is shipping water on deck and it is running off through scuppers and freeing ports.
Watch Bell: Bell used for striking the half hours of each watch.
Water Breaker: Small cask used for carrying drinking water in a boat.
Waveson: Goods floating on surface of sea after a wreck.
Way: Vessel's inertia of motion through the water.
"Way Enough": Order given to a boat's crew when going alongside under oars. Denotes that boat has sufficient way, and that oars are to be placed inside the boat.
Weather Board: Windward side of a vessel.
Well Found: Said of a vessel that is adequately fitted, stored, and furnished.
Wetted Surface: The whole of the external surface of a vessel's outer plating that is in contact with the water in which she is floating.
Wharfinger: One who owns or manages a wharf.
Where Away?: Esquire addressed to a look-out man, demanding precise direction of an object he has sighted and reported.
Whistling for Wind: Based on a very old tradition that whistling at sea will cause a wind to rise.
Whistling Psalms to the Taffrail: Nautical phrase that means giving good advice that will not be taken.
White Horses: Fast-running waves with white foam crests.
Wholesome: Said of craft that behaves well in bad weather.
Wind Dog: An incomplete rainbow, or part of a rainbow. It is supposed to indicate approach of a storm.
Winding: Turning a vessel end for end between buoys, or along-side a wharf or pier.
Without Prejudice: Words used when a statement, comment, or action is not to be taken as implying agreement or disagreement, or affecting in any way a matter in dispute, or under consideration.
Wrack: To destroy by wave action. 2. Seaweed thrown ashore by sea.
Yard Arm: That part of yard that lies between the lift and the outboard end of the yard.
Yaw: To lurch, or swing, to either side of an intended course.