THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 154 155 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 Ship's Articles SMS Ship's Boat - A rowing or sailing boat belonging to a ship and carried on board or towed behind, used for transport between ship and shore or other ships. The following primary types were commonly carried: Rate Displacement Approx Crew Boats Carried I 1520tons 600 Longboat, pinnace, jollyboat II 720tons 260 Longboat, pinnace, jollyboat III 550tons 140 Longboat, pinnace IV 290tons 100 Longboat, pinnace V 185tons 60 Longboat Ship's Boys Ship's Company – Typically comprised: Captain; Lieutenants; Commanders; Flag Captain (all these are Commissioned Officers); Warrant Officers are: 1Master; 2Surgeon; 3Purser (a standing officer); 4Gunner; 5Boatswain; 6Carpenter - then the Chaplain (all the above were Sea Officers); Inferior Officers are: Armourer; Gunsmith; Sailmaker; Schoolmaster; Cook; Surgeon's Mates; Master at Arms (an Inferior Warrant Officer); Petty Officers are: Midshipmen; Master's Mates (mates for short); Sailmaker's Mates; Yeomen of the Powder Room; Armourer's Mates; Carpenter's Mates; Purser's Steward; Captain's Clerk; Cook's Mates; Gunner's Mates; Corporal (Assistant to Master at Arms); Quartermaster & their Mates; Yeomen of the Sheets; Boatswain's Mates; Coxswain of the Barge; Captains of the Tops etc; Quarter Gunner (one per 4 guns); Gun Captains; Seamen; Idlers; Steward's Mate; Yeomen of the Boatswain. Ship's Cook Ship’s Corporal – Petty Officer under the Master-At-Arms, employed as a policeman on board. Shipshape – Everything present, neat and in it correct place. Ship Shape and Bristol Fashion – See Bristol. Ship’s head – The direction in which a vessel’s head is pointing. Also heading. Ship's Name- Reply to Watchman's Challenge if boat contained the Captain of a ship. Ship Soke - The name for an administrative area of land, in the middle ages (8-11c), from which taxation was levied in the form of ships and men. The landowners provided the ship and the men came from the people. Ship’s papers – The documents required to be carried by a merchant vessel to show her ownership and compliance with regulations. Ships that pass in the night – The expressed opinion that one may not meet again, from the fact that many old ships would in fact pass each other without knowing their names and without ever meeting again. Ship’s time – The time of day on board ship, changing from one day to the next at noon, so being 12 hours before the civil day. This practice stayed until 1925. cf civil day. Ship's Yeoman- (Am) Ship's Yeoman’s Storeroom- (Am) Ship Their Quarterdeck Faces - Officers look serious. Ship Visiting -+137 Shipwreck – 1. The loss of a ship on a coast or at sea. 2. Someone visibly experiencing the effects of a morning after an enthusiastic run ashore. Shipwright - A skilled tradesman trained to build or repair ships. Shipyard - A place where ships are built or repaired. Shittle nets - Nets that have been rolled by the wind when laid out for drying Shiver – The shake in the luff of a sail as the vessel’s head comes up into the wind. Shiver – An old sailors’ term for the sheave inside a block. Shiver the mizzen topsails Shoal (vb) - To become shallower, of the water. Shoal - Shallow awater. Shock - To cook something was to give it a shock in the galley. Shoe – 1. A large triangular wooden plate fixed to an anchor’s flukes where the holding ability of the ground is soft. 2. A small wooden block used to protect the ship’s side from the anchor bill when the anchor is hoisted. 3. A piece of heavy timber used to house the heel of a derrick or sheer leg. Shoe block – A block made up of two single blocks cut from one piece of wood, with the two pins at right angles to one another, used for the legs and falls of the buntlines. Shoeing an anchor- SMS Shoes - Temp protective reinforcement to whaleboat bow and keel. Shole - The bottom reinforcing component of the rudder, used for protection against the ground. Shonky - Seamen’s slang, someone who is happy to drink up, but less happy to buy a round. Shooks of Staves Shoot, Shooting - The action of throwing a trawl net overboard. Shooting in stays – Going rapidly about from one tack to another with plenty of way on. Shooting the sun – Measurements of the altitude of the sun. Also sun sights. Shop - Nautical talk. Shore - 1. A large timber used to prop the sides or bottom of a vessel's hull on a building cradle, or when otherwise aground. Shore leave - Authorised leaving of a ship. Shore of Emergence – or Emergent Shore. The geographical term for a regular, flat, shoreline with offshore bars, etc. Sea water dumps onto them. Shoreward – Towards the land. Also landward. Shoring up- SMS Short Allowance Money – Paid to seamen as recompense when the full allowance of victuals could not be issued. Short Clothes- Seamen’s' clothes Shorten and trim sail – The order given to take in unwanted sails and adjust those remaining. Shorten in – To take in some of the anchor cable to lessen the length by which the ship rides. Shorten sail – 1. Reduce the sail area by reefing it while under way. 2. The order given to reduce the sail area. Short gaff bezan rig - Short handed – Said of a vessel that has less than its normal complement of crew. Short jaw – The term for a rope laid with its strands forming an angle of more than 45° from the run of the rope. Short rations - 1. Reduced issue of rations. 2. Reduced issue of anything. Short stay – Said of a taut anchor cable that extends away from the bows less than one and a half times the depth of the water. Shot – 1. Said of fishing nets that have been deployed. 2. An early type of anchor. Shot across the bow - Seamen’s slang, a warning, especially used when warning an oppo about a dangerous subject in conversation. Shot garland - A wooden frame for holding shot, attached to the coamings or ledges on the deck. Shot in the locker - Seamen’s slang, money left unspent after a run ashore. Shot locker - The store room for shot. Shot-netting - Nets filled with a dozen, or so, shot and stored near each gun to stop them rolling about in action. Shot' of cable - Two or more cables spliced together to make a longer cable for deep water. Shot Plug Shot rope – A long rope formed by splicing onto another, to lengthen it. Shoulders - Those parts of hull immersed when ship heeled, thus taking most pressure and giving most resistance. CTC Shoulder block – A large single block with a fat arse tapering towards the sheave, used on the yards, where the shoulder helped to prevent jamming between block and yard. Shoulder of mutton sail - Another name for Bermuda rig. Shove off – The order given to a boat’s bowman to cast off the painter and push the bow off from the ship or wharf. Also bear off. Show a leg! – When ‘wives’ were allowed on board sailing ships in dock, when seamen were denied shore leave, the call to rouse the early watch would include this phrase, on the basis that a smooth and/or shapely leg dangled from a hammock would mean the occupant was not a seaman and so could be allowed to stay there another hour. Show pole- SMS Show the flag - Make a diplomatic foreign visit. Shrapnel - 1 Pieces of an exploding shell or bomb, from Mr Shrappnell, who invented such a device. 2 Useless foreign cash. Shreep - To clear away, as mist, etc Shrink, shrunk - Iron hoops were shrunk onto masts and spars by heating them up to red-hot, sliding them into position and dowsing them with water to cool them, and so shrink them. Shroud - A rope or wire rigging component running from the masthead to the ship's side, used to support the mast laterally. Of Hempen rope, "three strand shroud laid", tarred outside. Shroud bridle – A short rope used to hold running rigging to a shroud. Shroud cleat – A cleat, often made of oak, with two arms and with the inside hollowed and grooved to fit the shrouds onto which it was seized. Shroud deadeye(hgv) Shroud hoop - A metal band with eyes through which the upper ends of the shrouds are fastened. Shrouding the foresail- SMS Shroud knot - A method of repairing shrouds that have been shot away, by unlaying their ends, abutting them and single walling around the end of one rope against the lay, round the standing part of the other. Shroud-laid – The term for a rope made of four strands, laid right-handed. Shroud knot – A method of joining shrouds by unlaying their ends and single walling the each of the loose ends around the standing part of the other rope, against the lay, and tapering, marling down and serving the ends. Shroud plate - 1 An iron plate on the side of the hull, holding the dead-eyes, onto which the lower ends of the shrouds were secured. 2 An iron hoop with projecting rings, at the lower masthead, which takes the lower dead-eyes of the futtock shrouds. Shroud stopper – A short rope used to hold together a shroud that has parted. Shroud stretcher ERR Shroud truck – A short cylinder used as a fairlead for running rigging, where the rope runs through lengthwise, with a groove along its length by which it could be seized onto a shroud. Shrub - A popular prepared drink made with the juice of a citrus fruit, plus sugar and rum, or some other spirit. Shy Cock - Coward Shy - Cowardly, or overcautious. See Fight Shy. Sick & Hurt Board Sick Bay – The sick berth. Sick Berth - The proper name for the area used to treat and accommodate the sick and injured members of a ship's compliment. A ship's Doctor's home base, where he does his worst. The name is a corruption of ‘Sick Berth’, due to the curved shape of bow resembling a bay window. Sick Berth- Earl St Vincent instructed a sick berth to be prepared in ships of the line, to be located under the forecastle and with a roundhouse for use of the sick. See Sick Quarters Side - The part of a ship between the gunwale and the lower edge of the main-wale, or the waterline, from the stem to the stern. Side bar keel - A keel made up from two side plates with the keelson fitted in between. Side battens Side benches – The fore-and-aft seats in a boat. In a lifeboat they would cover the buoyancy
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