THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 122 123 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER ©2024 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 condemned as worn and dangerous, it could not be sold because it was worthless - or could it? The term became seamen's slang for an easy or cheap job, or getting something for nothing. Monkey - Brass Monkey used to hold cannon balls. In cold weather brass contracts more than iron and ball could fall out, hence "Freeze the balls off a brass monkey" Monkey block – 1. A small block attached by means of a strap and swivel, enabling ropes to be lead in many directions. 2. A large iron block bolted to a chock on the deck. Monkey chains - The small channels abaft the main channels on both sides of a hull, onto which the royal and topgallant backstays are held. Monkey fist – A weighted knot made at a ropes end, around an iron or stone core, used to heave a line ashore or to another ship. Monkey gaff - A small signal gaff rigged from the topmast cross-trees to give more elevation and so better visibility of signal flags than from the spanker gaff, which was the more usual arrangement. Monkey in a ball of wool - Descriptive of a seaman's face surrounded by whiskers. Monkey jacket – A short heavy navy blue coat worn by petty officers and officers, sometimes known as a bum-freezer. Short coats were preferred by seamen because they kept clear of their legs, but then the officers decided to wear short coats, too. Monkey poop - A low poop deck. Monkey rail - The light rail fixed above the quarterdeck bulwarks. Also called the topgallant rail. Monkey rope – A broad canvas belt used as a safety harness by whalemen working over the side of a whaleship on the carcass. Monkey seam – The strengthened seam down the centre of a square sail, in which the inner selvages are overlapped, stitched and tabled. Monkey's fist - The fancy knot tied around a weight, on the end of a heaving line. Monkey's orphan - A young sailor, too inexperienced to be sent aloft. Monkey tail – A rope attached to the end of a lever to allow more crew-members to haul on it. Monkey with a marlin spike - Affectionate name for the rampant lion and dagger crest of Trinity House. Monmouth Cap - Thrum cap. Monsoon or Monsoon Winds - Seasonal wind. The word derives from the Persian mounsum, meaning season. Moon Creature - Dugong. Moonraker – A fine-weather sail set above a skysail. Also moonsail. Moonsail – A square fine-weather sail set above a skysail. Also moonraker. Moon’s bearing – The ancient tidal prediction method of reckoning the time of high water by the point of the compass at which the Moon was situated at the time. Of more common use by those sailing inshore and pilots. Moonsheered - An expression used to describe a vessel with more than the usual sheer, both forward and aft. Moon’s southing – The tidal prediction term meaning the Moon’s transit across the meridian. Moor – (v) To anchor a vessel, or attach her to a permanently installed point provided to secure her. Mooring lighter - Used to lay out cables. Mooring swivel – A heavy swivel shackled onto the cables forward of the stem, comprising two three-eyed forgings to which studless links are attached. One eye would be used for the swivel and the other two for the inboard and outboard sections of cable, to prevent twists in the cable. Moot – (v) To make round pegs (trenels) by hand, from square sections. Hence a mooter did so. Mooter – A hand-maker of trenels. Usually a home-worker on piece rate. Mopus – The herring fisherman’s name for money. More Weatherly - Morion - Morning watch – The watch between 0400 and 0800. Mortar - Morse - Walrus. Moses - Seamen’s' term for the youngest crew member. Moses’ Boat - Seamen’s' term for the smallest boat carried on a ship. Moses’ Law – “Forty stripes lacking one.” A frequent pirate punishment of thirty-nine lashes, for serious offences against fellow crew members. Mothball fleet - Ships moored together and ready to be prepared for sea-duty and action at short notice. Mother - A ship that earns her owner enough to enable him to buy a replacement or second ship. Mother-bank - A place (in the W.I.?) where ships gather. Mother Cary's Hen - Mould - Pattern used by shipwrights for the frames and curved pieces of a ship's structure, made from flexible timber. The bend-mould was used to determine the convexity and the hollowmould the concavity of timbers, particularly where they curve in and down towards the keel. See also bevelling. Moulded depth - The vertical depth of a vessel measured between the keel and the uppermost deck beams Moulding - The shaping of a ship's frames and timber during construction. Mould loft - The large room in a shipyard used as a ship designer's studio in which the full size plans, elevations and moulds are prepared and laid out, or lofted. Mount - Proper name for a sword handle. Mouse - 1. A large pear-shaped knot formed around the eye of a stay to prevent it chafing against the mast. 2. To tie several turns of spunyarn tightly across the mouth of a hook to prevent the load jumping off. 3. An elongated knot made on a shroud or messenger to prevent the nippers from slipping. Mousings - SMS Mr Clerks Tactics, Proctor's Bills - The creaming off of profits from the taking of privateers, by shore officials? Mudholing - Whaling for grey whale in Baja rope used to haul in a heavier one. Mess kit – The set of eating and drinking utensils used by a mess. Messmate – A person who shares the same mess. Mess room - The space on a merchantman, on which the crew took their meals. Mess Traps - Mess utensils Metacentric height - SMS Mete stick – A measuring device comprising planks at right angles, used to measure the hold depth. Metre - The SI base unit of length (equivalent to approximately 39.37 inches), first introduced as a unit of length in the metric system. French charts with soundings entirely in metres were published from about 1820. Mice - ?? Mick - One name for a hammock, or hammick. Mid-channel buoy - See Channel buoy. Middies - Plural of Midshipman. Middle - The middle watch, midnight to 0400; not everyone’s favourite. Middle band – A reinforced band of canvas running horizontally across a square sail, halfway between the close reef and the foot. Named after the belly of a sail, where it swells out in the wind. Also belly band. Middle ground – Regions of shallow water located between navigable channels. Middle-ground buoy - A buoy marking a shoal in a fairway having a channel on either side. Middle latitude sailing – A combination of plane sailing and parallel sailing, from the average of the latitudes sailed. Also tangent sailing. Middle rail - The centre of the three head rails in the stem of a ship. Middle topsail – An extra square topsail used on some schooners and similar smaller boats. It had a sharp outward curve from the foot to the middle and was set at the heel of the topmast. Middle staysail - SMS Middle Watch -12pm - 4am Middling, Minor and Great Repairs – Three grades of repair and refit to ships in royal dockyards. Middy, Middies - Singular and plural of Midshipman. Midship - In the middle of the ship, measured in either direction. Midship beam - The longest beam in a ship's midship body. Midship bend - See Midship section. Midship body - The central part of a ship's body where the thwartship sections are roughly continuously similar in shape and size. Midship frame - The broadest and largest frame of a vessel. Midshipman - Up to the early seventeenth century this referred to a Non-Commissioned Officer under the Boatswain, then it gradually came to mean 'Young Gentlemen' (all mids were 'young' however old they were), first termed 'Volunteer's' then 'King's Letter Boys' due to Charles II’s support. They were the lowest ranking commissioned officers on a Royal Navy ship, and usually the youngest, who were training and accumulating sea-time before taking their lieutenant’s examination. Midshipman’s nuts – Broken ship’s biscuits. Midshipmen's berth - Midship reefing buntline - SMS Midships – A contraction of the term 'Amidships'. See Helm amidships. A helm order given when the conner wanted the helm brought back to amidships after it has been put to port or starboard. Also ‘helm amidships’, or ‘right the helm’. Midship section - The broadest part of a ship's hull, formed by the midship frame and adjacent frames of the same breadth. Milling - Hard fist-fighting for sport. Fisticuffs. Millio - Millet. Mincer - Overseer of Trying Out on a whaler. Minion – A four-pounder great gun. Minor, Middling and Great Repairs – Three grades of repair and refit to ships in royal dockyards. Missing stays – Failing to complete a tacking manoeuvre, usually because of insufficient wind. Miss Taylor – Seamen’s name for mistela, Spanish white wine. Sometime substitute for grog in the Med. Mistela - A fiery Spanish white wine used as a substitute for grog when it was not available, commonly known by sailors as 'Miss Taylor'. Mistic, or Mistiko - A fast, shallow two- or threemasted Mediterranean coastal cargo ship of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, often favoured by Greek Islands pirates. It had triangular sails and one bow gun and had about a 40-man crew. Misticees - A squadron of Mistiko. Mistral - Cold N gales in the Gulf of Lions. Mitchboard - A crutch type fitting used to hold a boom in place when not in use. Mites - Mitred sail – A triangular sail in which the cloth runs in a different direction at the top to the bottom, meeting in an angled joint somewhere in the middle. Used to save cloth and to spread the load more evenly across the sail. Also angulated sail. Mixed tides – Combinations of diurnal and semidiurnal tides. Mizen-, mizzen-mast - The third mast from forward in a vessel with three or more masts. Mizzen burton pendant - (tge) Mizzen vangs - SMS Mizzen-Chains - Mizzentop - Mob, The - Mobby - A type of food. Mockage - SMS Moghool - Mohurs - Currency unit. Moidores - Currency unit. Mole – A breakwater built to provide berths for loading and unloading on the landward side and, sometimes, to be used for military protection of an anchorage. Molgogger – A portable roller fairlead through which a drift net warp was led. Mollies - Molly-hawks, or Fulmar petrels. Moment altering trim - SMS Moment - SMS Money for old rope - When old rope was
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