THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 128 129 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER ©2024 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER If any reader can provide information, please send to galf@abandos.com If any reader can provide information, please send to galf@abandos.com Orders in Council - Administrative device used by British government to legalise departures from normal peacetime practice, such as seizing foreign ships and blockades of foreign ports. Ordinary - Peace time establishment of navy, dockyards, ships, etc. When a ship was 'In Ordinary' it meant she was laid up. Ordinary seaman – A crew member who carried out most duties on board, but who had not yet reach the standard required for him to be rated able. The rating of approximately a third of the crew. Ordnance - Ordnance Board - Independent of the Navy Board. Responsible for guns and ammunition and for the supervision of all naval fortifications, artillery and engineering. Ordnance Office - Orisons - Orkney Yole - A sailing boat of the Orkney Islands used for long-lining and seining, around 26ft(8m) long with a beam of 8ft(2.5m). Orlop deck - The lowest deck in a warship, laid over the beams of the hold and mostly used for storage. Similar to the old German word for ‘deck over hold’. Orlop deck beam - Beam supporting the orlop deck. Out – Said of the sails when they are set. Outboard - Said of anything away from the foreand-aft centreline of a vessel, including the hull and anything projecting outward from the side. Outer turns - The turns of an earing, fastening the sail to the yardarm, that are outside the lift and so right at the yardarm. See also inner turns. Outfit – (v) To install all the equipment necessary to make a newly launched vessel seaworthy. Outfoot - Outhaul – A rope used for hauling out the jib traveller, rove through a block on the bowsprit cap and through a sheave hole in the heel with the other end taken through an eye-bolt on the other side of the cap and hitched. Outhaul tackle - (hgv) Outhauler - ERR Outlicker - SMS Out oars – The order given to a boat’s crew to place the oars in the rowlocks and to level them. At this order, any fenders are taken in. Also let fall. Out of doors - Said of a rudder rigged outboard. Out or down! - Call to sleeping seamen to wake up and rise quickly, or have their hammocks cut down, resulting in their undignified fall to the deck. Out of trim – 1. Said of a ship whose sails and yards, or cargo, are out of adjustment. 2. Said of a ship which is not floating levelly. ‘Trimmed by the stern’ means she was drawing more water at the stern and ‘trimmed by the head’ meant she was drawing more water at the head. Outpoint – To be able to sail closer to the wind than another vessel. Outports – British naval ports outside London. Outrigger - 1 Any spar projecting out from the sides of a vessel. 2 A small spar used in the tops and cross-trees, to spread the backstays. 3. Generic term for boats, usually of the Pacific and SE Asia, that were fitted with a parallel lateral outrigger float to reduce the risk of capsizing. Outsail – To sail or manoeuvre more efficiently than another ship. Outside clinch – A similar knot to an inside clinch, but with the end passing outside the bight so make it easy to cast off. Outside strake - A line of plating fastened overlapping the edges of an inside strake, the longitudinal edges of which were riveted through. Outward bound - Said of a ship putting to sea. Overbearing – To overbear is to sail downwind directly towards an enemy vessel and, when close, taking the wind from her sails. Ashore, to be overbearing has come to mean threatening. Overblowing - SMS Overboard - Said of an object or person in the water, having recently passed over the ship or boat's side, usually inadvertently. Overcast - Stratus clouds. Overcast staff - A measure used by shipwrights to determine the relationship of curves in timbers at the broadest points of a vessel, and at the stem and stern. Overfalls – Violent rips with breaking water, in a tide-rip. Overhand knot – A simple knot made by forming a bight and taking the end around the rope and through the bight. Overhang - The part of a vessel extending aft of the rudder head. Overhaul – To come up and pass another vessel. Also overtake. Overhauling – Repositioning and separating the blocks, or other components, of a tackle to improve its efficiency. Also fleeting. Overhaul the gear – The order given to the hands to go aloft and slacken off the buntlines and other tight gear to prevent chafing. Overhead compass - See Tell-tale compass. Overlap of plating - That part of a strake of plating that is covering part of another strake. Overlop, overloop - Orlop. Overseen - Mistaken. Overset (vb) - To capsize. Over Standing Part of the Fore Sheet - Seamen's term for dead and/or buried, not surprisingly coined from the practice of burying at sea by sending the corpse over the standing part of the fore sheet. Overtake – To come up and pass another vessel. Also overhaul. Overwhelm – To be overwhelmed at sea is to capsize or sink as a result of a heavy sea having swamped one. Owlers - Raw wool smuggled out of England during Charles II reign, to European garment makers. Owner - Seamen’s ironic nickname for the Captain, when the ship was on a private posting. Oxter Plates - Shaped Plates. CTC Oakhum, Oakum - A soft material made from old ropes unravelled and picked loose. Most often used in caulking seams, planks, etc. Oakum boys - In shipyards, it was usual for the oakum and pitch caulking to be applied by boys employed to that trade. Oar – A wooden shaft with a loom at the inboard end and a blade at the outer end and used to propel a boat by rowing. Sometimes used fro steering, when unsurprisingly it was known as a steering oar. Oar lock, Oarlock - (tge) Rowlock Oars – hold water – stern all – The sequence of orders given to a boat’s crew to check a boat’s way. At ‘oars’ the crew feather their oars at gunwale height – at ‘hold water’ they drop their oars into the water to check headway – at ‘stern all’ they pull backwards. Oblique sailing – To secure navigational fixes by using cross bearings or running fixes. Observations – Measurement of the vertical angle between the horizon and a celestial body or the angular distance between two bodies. Also sight. Observed position – A vessel’s position obtained by astronomical measurement. Also position by observation. Observer’s meridian – The vertical circle through the north and south points of the horizon. Also principal vertical circle. Ocean currents - A sailing ship master needed to know the set and drift of ocean currents, which could affect his daily run by many miles, and the length of a trip by many days. Oceanography - Ocean plait – Plaited yarns used to make chafing mats. Ochre - A red chalk used to mark timbers in shipwrights' works. Octant - Octant - The true name of Hadley's quadrant or sextant, as it only measures 45 degrees - or an eighth of a circle. Octoroon - An expression for a shade of mulatto, used by the Spanish. Occulting light (Occ.) - A navigational light that is eclipsed every five seconds Occupy - Follow ones occupation. OD - An abbreviation for Ordinary rate of seaman. One below Able, or AB. Also used to describe someone a bit lacking. Ods bobs! - God's blood! Ods bodikins! - God's body! Off – The order to release an item, such as ‘off covers’. Off and fair – The order to remove a damaged item, repair it and replace it. Fair meant to return it to its correct form. Off and on – Sail alternately towards and then away from the land. The usual need for this was when arriving at an unfamiliar harbour at night, or when awaiting the arrival of a pilot. Also standing off and on. Off Fighting - cf In Fighting. Officer - In the Elizabethan sense it applied to anyone holding a particular office, not necessarily in authority. Offing – 1. That most distant part of the sea that is visible from the shore. 2. The position or distance of a vessel quite far from land but visible from it. Off nippers – surge the messenger – When weighing anchor, the order given to release the nippers holding the anchor cable to the messenger, thus releasing the messenger. Offshore – Far enough from land for a vessel to not be visible from it. Off the wind – Sailing with the wind abaft the beam, especially when reaching. Oil bag – A canvas bag with a soft filling, such as oakum or cotton waste saturated with oil and punctured to allow the oil to seep out slowly. Heaved overboard and attached to a line or a sea anchor in order to form a slick that would reduce the seas in heavy weather. Oilskins – The most effective weatherproof clothing made from cotton, linen or silk soaked with linseed oil. Old horse – Seamen’s name for salt beef. “Old Tommy” – Seamen’s nickname for Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth. On a bowline – Said of a square-rigged vessel sailing close to the wind and with the bowlines taut. On a lee shore – The dangerous situation of a vessel near to a shore with the wind blowing directly onto it. One for coming up – The final pull on a rope to take in sufficient slack to belay it. Onshore – Close to land. Also inshore. On the Account – Pirating. On the Fiddle – Extra food piled high up to the raised plate edging, the fiddle. Open boat – Any un-decked boat. Open hawse – 1. (v) The evolution of disentangling a foul hawse, caused by the effects of wind and tide. Also clear hawse. 2. Said of the two anchor cables when they lead clear of each other and uncrossed. Open hawse to the gale – Said of a ship that is moored with open hawse and with the wind is coming from straight ahead. Open link – A link of chain with no transverse strengthening stud, located next to the cable shackle. Open roadstead – An area of open sea near land, with good holding ground, where vessels may moor in safety but unprotected from the weather or sea. Often just ‘roadstead’. Oppo - A particular friend, from one's opposite number, who would be on watch when one was off, leaving space where his hammock would have been. Ophthalmia - A common slave disease. Orange Pip Principle - SMS Order Book - In which standing orders were written down, particularly necessary where officers constantly changed. O Oars and Outhauls
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