THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 100 101 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER ©2024 If any reader can provide information, please send to galf@abandos.com If any reader can provide information, please send to galf@abandos.com I bar - An iron or steel bar with an I-shaped section. Ice - Frozen water. Arctic and Antarctic types and terms are as follows: Anchor Ice - Ice formed on the sea bed, when winds prevent the cold temperature from freezing the sea surface; Bergy Bits - House sized lumps; Brash - Fragments and roundish nodules, the wreckage of other types of ice; Crack - Any fissure; Drift Ice - Loose open ice, where area the of water exceeds that of the ice; Field - An area of ice whose limits are not visible from a masthead; Floe - An area of ice whose limits are visible; Growlers - Room sized greenish lumps, barely showing above water level; Hummocking - Process of build up through pressure; Hummocky Floes - Old ice with lumpy features, sometimes translucent due to salt draining away; Land-Floes - Heavy ice plus snow cover, land locked; Lane - Navigable crack; Lead - Navigable crack; The Pack - Any area of sea ice; Pack Ice - An area of floes, 'Close' or 'Tight' means touching, 'Open' means not touching; Pool - Enclosed open water, roughly square or circular; Sludge or Slush - Freezing seawater in the early, soupy stages; Young Ice - Flat ice up to a foot thick. Ice Anchor – A single-fluked anchor used to dig into ice to be used as an alternative anchorage. Ice beam - A heavy timber beam used to protect the bows from ice. Ice blink - Patchy light reflections in the polar sky, indicating distant sea ice and open water. Icebound - Of a harbour or inlet, frozen over and inaccessible to shipping. Ice-foot - A fringe of ice skirting Arctic or Antarctic shores, usually formed by sea spray. Ice lead - A navigable passage through sea ice. Ice master – The navigating officer of a whaling ship. Idler – The seamen’s contemptuous name for any member of a ship’s crew that works only during the day and does not serve night duties, such as the boatswain, carpenter, etc. If I wasn't a gunner.... - Incantation used to time the firing of salute guns, e.g. "If I wasn't a gunner I wouldn't be here, number two gun fire, if I wasn't a gunner I wouldn't be here, number three gun fire, etc.....". I'm inboard - Seamen's slang for being all right. I'm all right, Jack. Immortal Memory, The - What has become a traditional speech given by the guest of honour at Trafalgar Night dinners, in which Nelson's achievements are mentioned, one of which is then expanded upon, as it applies to a current situation. Impress or Imprest Service - The organisation who carried out impressments. Sometimes called Press Gangs. It died quietly and unmourned in 1833. Impressment - The taking of seamen into the navy, or landsmen into the army, or vice versa, when normal recruitment levels failed to meet the numbers needed. Originally, the intention was for only seamen to be persuaded to join the navy, by accepting an imprest, or advance payment of wages, and for those with protections (certificates of exemption from duty) to be excluded, but when things got difficult, anyone would do and protections were often generally suspended in times of great danger. When recruitment could not be achieved by peaceful means, members of the Imprest Service had to resort to the force frequently, but often incorrectly, associated with the so-called Press Gangs. Later impressment was renamed as ‘National Service’. Imprest - Money paid in advance to a public servant constituting an advance of wages, by way of establishing a contract of employment. Used initially by the Impress Service to persuade seamen to enter the Royal Navy, but later, force was more frequently applied. Imprest Account – Similar to an overdraft; used by Victualling Board to control pursers’ and victualling contractors’ expenditure. ‘In’ – The order given to shorten sail. In and Out - The Naval and Military Club in London, from its imposing gate pillars and the signs thereon. In and out plating - A method of plating in which alternate rows of plating strakes overlap above and below the adjacent strake. In ballast – Said of a vessel that has no cargo and is sailing only with ballast to help keep her trim. Inboard - Said of any part of the ship or one of its pieces of equipment that is nearer to the longitudinal centreline of the ship. In bows – The order given to a boat’s crew, when approaching the landing point, to raise the oars to the vertical, boat them and take hold of boathooks. Also, just ‘bows’. Inclination of ship - The angle of a ship's list from the vertical. Inclinatory needle - See Dipping Needle. Independent piece - A tapered projection beneath the bowsprit. Indiaman - Short for East Indiaman. Indian Guard - Spanish Galleons guarding the silver fleet. Indian's Revenge - Tobacco. BDD Infernal Vessel – An explosive vessel; similar to fire ship but packed with explosives. Also Machine Vessel. Inferior Officers - In fighting - Boarding and taking. cf Offfighting. In frame - The state of a ship under construction, when the frames were finished but without the planking. It was beneficial for a ship to be left 'in frame' as long as possible, during building, to help it dry out and so reduce rot. Ingenio - A sugar mill. In haul – The parts of a tackle that brings a load inboard. Inhauler - ERR In irons – Said of a vessel with her head to the wind and unable to pay off on either tack. Initial stability - The ability by which an upright vessel can withstand forces tending to make her Hove to - SMS Hovering Act, The - 1784 Howe, Earl - "Black Dick". Howe's Patent Close-Reefing Topsail - The first system of double topsails that superseded more complicated systems of self-reefing. In Howe's, both sails were laced together, but this later proved unnecessary. How’s her head? – A request from the conner when he wanted to know the compass course being steered. Hoy - A flat-bottomed sailing vessel. Hoytaker – The person who arranged waterborne transport from the victualling yards. Huck - To remove barnacles or marine growth from hull in Graving Dock or when being Careened. Huddies – The spaces between a fishing net rope and the net. Hudson's Bay Company - Est. 1670 Hues – The preservative tannin solution in which new fishing nets are steeped. Huffle - Tow. Hufflers - Unofficial pilots cum labourers Hug – (v) To keep as close to the shore as possible. Hulk - 1. The hull of a sailing ship, stripped of its masts and rigging, used for various fixed duties such as stores, magazines, barracks, hospitals, churches and prisons. 2. A broad cargo vessel, with its beam about half its length. Originally a northern clinker-built keel-less, banana-shaped ship construction that evolved with the cog into the Baltic merchantman of the same name. Hull - The body of a vessel. Hull down – Said of a distant vessel that was only visible by its sails and masts, the hull being below the horizon. Hulling – Floating free with neither rudder nor sail. Hurricane - A tropical revolving storm created by a vigorous low-pressure system, occuring in the Western North Atlantic, the West Indies, the Eastern North Pacific and the South Pacific. Hullock - SMS Humbugged – Kept at work for nothing or no good reason. Hummer – Solid wooden scraper used by the scavelman. Hunting Sword - Hanger decorated with hunting scenes, introduced by Admiral John Benbow and popular by 1700. Huntley Diving Boat - Submarine boats invented by Captain H L Huntley of the Southern States in the American Civil war, comprising converted boilers 36ft(11m) long by 6ft(1.8m) diameter, driven by muscle power turning a crankshaft rigged fore-and-aft and driving a large propeller at the stern. Hurrah's Nest - Seamen's slang for a scene of confusion. "Everything on top and nothing to hand". Hurricane Chains – Rigged underwater across (e.g.) English Harbour, onto which towed anchors could snag in a hurricane, thus preventing the ship from being blown onto land. Hurt Certificate - A document officially stating a seaman's injuries, sustained in action. The purser would purchase these certificates on the seaman's retirement from the sea, as a form of pension payment. Hussif - Seamen's slang for his kit for repairing his clothing, from a corruption of 'housewife'. Hydrographer - A practitioner of Hydrography. Hydrography - The science and practice of surveying seas, tides and coasts and supplying navigators with the information gathered. Hydrometer, Sykes' - An instrument that measured the density of liquid, used in the navy to check the proof strength of spirits, including rum. Before its use the Purser had to verify proof of rum by introducing gunpowder and attempting to ignite it by means of a glass focussing sunlight. It is alleged that, if the gunpowder did ignite the Purser was inevitably blown up, and if it did not then he was lynched by the crew for trying to cheat them. Most Pursers were therefore glad when Sykes' Hydrometer arrived on the scene. I Idlers and Ironclads
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