THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 148 149 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 Saitea – A small Algerian(?) merchant ship. Sakers - 5 pounders Salamanders - SMS Sale before the mast - An auction of a dead crewmember's kit, the proceeds of which were sent to his widow or family. Consequently, high prices were often paid for items not really wanted. Sallie Rovers - Algerian pirates BDD Sally Port - Sallying - Sallying a ship is having the crew run en masse from side to side, to rock the ship free in pack ice. Salmagundi, Salmagundy - Chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions mixed with oil and condiments Saloon - The primary passenger accommodation in a passenger vessel, or the officer's mess in a merchant ship. Saloupe - Powdered root, used to make a hot drink not unlike coffee. Salt - The term for an experienced sailor. Salt Beef - Was hung in sea to freshen it Salt beef squire - RN nickname for an officer who has come up from the lower ranks. Salt Drogher - Salt-Eele - Rope end used for punishment. Salthorse – 1. The tough old salt beef served at sea. 2. A long-serving naval officer without a speciality. Salt Jack - Salt junk –Salt beef, from the seamen’s assertion that any old junk was thrown into the meat casks. Saltpetre - Nitrate ore, used in the manufacture of gunpowder. A valuable S American Pacific cargo. Initially it came from India and was very dear. Salt Pork Saltwagin' - To earn wages from the sea{salt}. Became salvaging. Saltwater Pump CTC Saltwater Soap Salute - Hand salute started in Victorian times, as she objected to men in uniform being bareheaded, except when proper. Salutes – Odd number of shots for a joyous occasion, even number for deaths, etc. Salutes - ERR Salutes - 11Gun for Commodore. Saluting Base - Saluting Days - Salvage - 1. The recovery of a vessel from danger, under certain very specific maritime laws. 2. The recovery of a ship or her contents after she has sunk. 3. The value put on the recovered ship or her contents, decided by maritime courts and depending on the difficulty of the recovery and the conditions under which the ship came into distress. 4. Rope made out of yarns laid parallel, untwisted and bound together, or marled. Sambuk - A fast, two-masted sailing ship of the Arab Dhow type first known in the Middle Ages and still used to this day. Samp - To lull, of sea or wind Sampan - A flat-bottomed sailing or oared boat, between 10 and 33ft(3-10m) long, used on Chinese and other far eastern rivers, the larger ones being used as houseboats and transporters(Chinese 'shan pan' means three planks). Samson line – Line weighing about one pound and usually in 30-fathoms lengths. Sampson-, Samson-post – 1. Short posts projecting through the deck forward of the foremast, onto which the main and main-topmast stays are secured. 2. The single bitt located about amidships on small vessels, just before the mast, and used for belaying the cable. Samson post – A short heavy steel mast from which the derrick is supported and stayed, located about midway between the ship’s side and her centreline. Sand Glass - Sand strake – The name for a garboard strake in a boat. Sand warped – Said of a vessel stranded on a sandbank at ebb tide. Sandy Bottoms - Very rare gift of a whole tot for a big favour. Sangoree - A drink of rum, lime juice and sugar. Santa Ana - A hot, dry, dusty E wind in winter off S California. Santa Cruz - A brand of rum. Sap - Saronic Cycle, The – The moon’s 18 year cycle in the heavens – a table of which was used in one method of finding longitude. Satchel – The name for a trawl net, given by trawlermen. Saucer – The iron bearing set and bolted into the deck, into which the capstan spindle turns. Sauve Tête – Netting rigged in battle twelve feet above deck, to protect crew against falling debris. Save-all – A small fair-weather sail occasionally set under the lower studding sails or the driver boom. Also water-sail. Save-all topsail - ERR Savee - Comprehension. Sawbones - Naval slang for a ship's Medical Officer, originally the surgeon who did such things. Sawyer - Saxboard – A boat’s top strake. Also sometimes called the sheer strake. Scabbard - Scaffie - A one- or two-masted lugger-rigged sailing boat. Scalbote - Dinghy or harbour boat. Scaldings! - Warning cried by carrier of hot food on board Scam pavias - Small fast Maltese sailing vessel whose name means 'runaways'. Scamping - Doing negligently. Scandalize – A way of mourning the dead by trimming the yards in different directions and letting the sails hang loose. Scandalized - To lower the peak of a schooner's mainsail Scandalizing mizzen, etc - SMS Scant – A wind that draws ahead of the ship. Scantlings - Square sectioned pieces of timber, comprising the hull structure of a vessel as a whole. Scant wind - SMS Scapho - ERR Scarf – 1. The name of the type of joint used to join two timbers, and the action of doing it, by shaping them in such a way as to avoid the need for any thickening at the join, whilst ensuring they will not pull apart, by means of a simple 'hook and butt' arrangement. 2. The lines cut in a whale’s carcass to enable the blanket pieces to peel off neatly. Scavelman – Raked up the mud and waste collecting in docks. 'Scend - Abbreviation of ascend, used to refer to the rapid rise of a vessel's bows out of a trough between waves, at which action the bow would be ascending. Compare with pitch, when the bows were going the other way. ‘Scend of the Sea - 'Scending - Tossing CTC Scheik - A 17c single-masted oared sailing ship of the Black Sea, about 50ft(15m) long with a 12ft(3.5m) beam, used as a troop transport. Schmack - A 16 to 19c single-masted, flatbottomed Dutch coastal sailing ship, occasionally using a mizzen. Schnigge - A fast oared sailing ship of northern Europe used during the 10 to 19c, primarily 10 to 12c. The name in German means snail, due to the ship's gliding motion through the water. Schokker - A 13 to 19c Dutch sailing fishing vessel typified by the schokker boom, which could be swung out over the ship's side for catching fish or handling the trawl nets. School Schoolie - Schoolmaster Schooner - Sailing ships rigged predominantly with fore-and-aft sails whose origins go back to about 1700. Schooner brigantine - A two-masted staysail schooner. Schooner ketch - A rig using a Billy-boy foremast as a topsail schooner and an aftermast as a ketch. Schoot - Schuyt - A simple barge-type vessel used for bulk transportation. This term has been applied to various types of ships, originally an old Norse rowing boat of 10c, then in the Middle Ages it was a fast sailing despatch and reconnaissance vessel attached to fleets, in the Hanseatic period they were German and Dutch coasters and in the 19c it came to refer to northern European freight barges, whilst in the Baltic schute means a broad three-masted ship with pointed hull fore and aft. Schwer anchor - SMS Scilly Light - Lighthouse on St Agnes island in the Scilly Isles, west of Land's End. Scimour – See skimmer. Scirocco - A hot, dry, dust-lade Mediterranean S wind. Scoop – A small bailer. Scope - The length of anchor chain paid out to let the ship swing safely at a single anchor. Scorbutic – The term for conditions that caused scurvy. Score – The groove or grooves cut into the outside of a block to take the strop. Scotch Coffee - Burnt bread boiled in water and sweetened with sugar. Scotchman - A smooth wooden or stiff hide guard fixed over the standing rigging, to protect the prevent chafing. Scourge - Scouse – 1. Seamen’s food; an abbreviation of lobscouse. 2. A Liverpudlian, from the word lobscouse. Scran – 1. Seamen’s term for food; one of many. 2. Personal gear left lying about is collected and kept safe in a Scran Bag – to be redeemed on payment of a small fine. Scraper – 1. Three cornered Reefers hat or Cocked Hat. 2. A bent and sharpened iron tool used to clean a ship’s bottom by scraping. Scratch a Man's Back - Flog. Scratch - Nickname of writer. Scratch-platter – A seaman’s meal made of whatever odds and ends where available. Screen bulkhead – 1. The upper deck bulkhead shutting off the fore or aft ends of the midship accommodation. 2. The dividing wall between the gallery and the cabin, framing the cabin windows. Screws - Bowlines Scribes – Seamen’s nickname for a writer. So, also for the ship's clerk, of various types. Scrieve board - for lofting Scrimshanker - A shirker, or one who is workshy. Scrimshaw – Artefacts and ornaments made by whalemen from the teeth and bones of whales. Scroll, scroll head - The ornamental carving or moulding at the stem of a vessel that does not have a figurehead. Scrope net - Trawl. Scroper - A salvaging smack. Scrub (vb) - Seamen’s slang, to cancel. Scrub round - Seamen’s slang, to perform a task poorly. Scrub Hammocks Mornings - Scud – (v) To run before a gale with the minimum sail set, if any. Scull – 1. A light curve-bladed oar. 2. (v) To propel a boat by using a single oar in the stern, moved in a figure-of-eight pattern that causes turbulence that moves the boat forwards. Scupper – 1. An opening in the ship's side, usually lead-lined, through which water would carry off back to the sea. Also Lee Scuppers and Weather Scuppers. 2. The water trough under galley stove. Scuppered - Seamen’s slang, defeated or killed. Scupper hose - A short length of canvas or leather piping fixed outside a scupper, to project the exiting water away from the ship's sides. Scupper leather - A leather covering at a scupper that would act as a valve and prevent water reentering through its intended exit route. Scupper lip - A flange under the scupper outlet, used to project water away from the ship's sides Scupper shoot - A short gutter projecting outwards from the scupper, used to project water away from the ship's sides. Scupper nail - A nail with a large head and a short shank. Scupper shoot - A short conduit directing scaupper outflow away from a vessel’s side. Scurvy – Seamen’s disease caused by lack of Vitamin C, through not having fresh vegetables on board ships on long voyages. The symptoms included swollen gums, spongy flesh, the tendency for old wounds to open up, tiredness and
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