THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 182 183 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER 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 Vail, to - Go downstream with the tide. Vailing- SMS Vails Valetudinarian Van, Vanguard, Vanward – 1. The vessels at the head of a moving fleet or convoy. 2. The leading squadron, or first of three divisions, of a line of battle ships. Vane - A weather cock, or wind direction indicator, usually rigged at the top of a mast. Vangs - The ropes leading down and outwards from the end of a gaff, to a vessel's sides, and used to steady the gaff when under sail. They were used to keep the gaff amidships when it was not in use. Variable wind – The converse of a steady wind. Also erratic wind. Variables - NTUS 1701 Variation - NTUS 1905 Variation chart - NTUS 1905 Variation compass - NTUS 1906 Vasco - The Navigating Officer, from Vasco da Gama. Vast – Avast. Stop. Vast heaving - Seamen's slang for 'Stop pulling my leg'. Veer – (v) 1. To slacken the cable and pay it out. 2. To wear. Veer and haul – 1. A method of increasing the tension in a rope by alternately and rhythmically easing and hauling on it. 2. A pipe call comprising the two calls, ‘walk back’ and ‘heave round the capstan’. Veer away the cable – The order given to slacken the anchor cable so that it will run freely out of the vessel. Also pay out the cable. Veerer- One who veers. Veering – The wind altering direction clockwise. Veering away – (v) Turning a cable or rope round the bitts to slacking it off slowly. Also see bitt (v). Vega - NTUS 0811 Vegetable store(tge) Velical point- SMS Vellum portolan - Early charts of the Mediterranean area, used since 12c. Vendavales - NTUS 1703 Vent trunk Vent(hgv) Ventilated mastheads - Steel masts sometimes had caps with gaps under them, to permit them to 'breath'. Ventilator - CTC Ventilator- Hales' and Sutton's. Samuel Sutton used pipes and a furnace to extract foul air- in general use in 18C. Rev Stephen Hales developed a rival method using fans operated by windmills. Venture - The carrying of a small private cargo by a seaman BDD Vertical circle – The great circle through the zenith and the nadir, perpendicular to the horizon. Vertical scarphs Very good, sir! - The expected response to an order. Very Large Crude Carriers- SMS Very well dyce – A helm order given when the conner wanted the vessel to continue sailing in the present direction when sailing close-hauled. Also ‘very well thus’, or ‘thus’, or ‘keep her so’. Very well thus – A helm order given when the conner wanted the vessel to continue sailing in the present direction when sailing close-hauled. Also ‘thus’, or ‘very well dyce’, or ‘keep her so’. Vice Admiral-Admiral of the White Victory- Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar. A First Rate launched on 7 May 1765, the fifth vessel to have this name. Preserved as a museum ship in the oldest dry dock in the world at Portsmouth Victualler - 1. Victualling contractor. 2. Ship delivering victuals. Victualler – Ship carrying victuals to fleet. Victualling Victualling Board - dealing with victualling yards and store at the dockyard ports. Victuals, victualling – (pronounced “vittles” and “vittling”) food and drink and the supplying of same. Vigia – A suspected navigational danger that has been reported but not verified. Viking Ship, Longship Vinegar- Hot V sprinkled on decks, to remove smells after battle. Vinnen rig - A five-masted schooner with the first two masts square-rigged and the others fore-andaft-rigged. Vinnen schooners- SMS Vino collapso - Strong local wine. Viol block – A large double-scored block used to heave up the anchor. Also voyal block. Viol messenger(tge) Vicious Circle - See Sweat - BDD Vliete - Dutch three-masted freight ship from 15c. Volume of displacement - The volume of water displaced by a vessel. Voluntary stranding – The intentional grounding of a vessel to save the crew or the cargo, or the vessel itself. Volunteers Volunteers-per-order - Volunteers assigned to a ship by The Admiralty. Volvelle - An early form of mechanical calculator that could be used to enable a pilot to dial a port's establishment and the age of the Moon and read off the time of high water. Votive Ship- Model ships which were presented to churches as gifts. Voyage - A ship's journey from place of departure to destination. Voyal, voyol – A single purchase on a heavy messenger, used to help the capstan weigh anchor, when needed. Voyal block – A large double-scored block used to heave up the anchor. Also viol block. Vulgar establishment – The tidal prediction term meaning the lunitidal interval at a given port on days of full and change. Also establishment of the port, or high water full and change. Wad hook(tge) Wads Waft - 1. Convoy. 2. To wave or beckon as a signal. Waft, wafter - Convoy words to be looked up. Waggoner - See Sea-atlas. NTUS 1804 Waggoners - The English name for The Mariner's Mirror, by Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer. Waif- Marker on caught whale left to drift before bringing to Whaler Waif-pole – A tall pole thrust into a whale that has been killed to mark it to show who has harpooned it. Waist - That part of a ship between the quarterdeck and the forecastle. Waist anchor – Another name for the sheet anchor, from its customary location when not in use. Waist block – A block located amidships, in the waist. Waist cloth - Canvas coverings to the hammock netting in the waist. Waisters – Those employed in the ship’s waist, where the lubbers were gathered who were only good for pulling on a rope, and not always for that. Waist pipe - Reinforced openings in a ship's midships bulwarks, through which the hawser passed when she was moored at a quay. Waist-now called Well Waistcloth- Hung on ship as decoration between quarterdeck and forecastle. Wake – The turbulent water astern of a moving vessel. Wake current – The eddies caused by water flowing back into the wake. Wake up - A vessel beginning to stir after a calm Wake- SMS Wakey, wakey! - The bosun's first call of the day. Wale knot – A wall knot. Wales - Strong thick planks extending throughout the length of a vessel to strengthen the hull and give it shape and to reinforce the decks. The strongest being the main-wales and channelwales. Walk away – The order given to the hands working a rope to haul on it by walking away whilst holding it. Walk back – 1. The order given to the hands working a tackle to slowly release it by walking back towards the pulley whilst holding onto the fall. 2. A pipe call meaning: Slowly release a tackle by walking towards the pulley. Walking back the capstan- SMS Walk Spanish - Desert. Wall knot, or wale knot – A knob knot made from a rope’s own three strands interwoven into any of a number of patterns. Wall sided - Said of a ship whose sides are vertical, with no tumble home. Wall sided- SMS "Wally de Cham" Walt sided - Unbalanced Wane cloud - NTUS 1705 Want - A mole. Wapping Landlord- Crimp Ward robe - A strongroom used to hold valuables seized from captured enemy ship's. When empty, it was sometimes used as the lieutenants' mess room. Wardroom - All the officers, except the captain, and the mess room in which they dine. Wardroom Cooks Warm the bell - Heat the hour glass to expand the neck and make the sand flow faster, thereby shortening the watch. Warp – 1. (v) To move a vessel by hauling on a warp or transporting line attached to a distant mooring point. This would often be done when adverse winds prevented a sailing vessel from leaving harbour under sail, when she would be warped out to a position where she could tack away. 2. The rope or chain used to warp a vessel. 3. That part of a shroud between the mast-head and the dead-eye. 4. The rope from which a trawl net trailed. An experienced fisherman would 'feel the warp' and judge whether or not the net was working properly, or when it could be brought in. Warping Barrel - on windlass Warping block – A carefully made block shaped like a bellows and with the front cheek cut away to give access to the sheave; used by ropemakers to warp off yarn into hauls. Warping Capstan. Warping chock – A secure point on shore to which a warp can be attached. Warping Out Warping the block - NTUS 0502 Warrant officer – In the Royal Navy, the senior rank held by a non-commissioned officer. The warrant was issued by the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain. Warrope - A warp Warwick screw – A type of bottle screw with the cover cut away to allow locking blocks to be placed on the square ends of the screws. Wash board - See Wash strake. NTUS 0902 Wash cant(tge) Wash out - NTUS 1012 Wash plates - Plates fixed vertically in the bilges, between the floors, to stop or limit the wash of water in the bilges when the vessel rolls. Wash port - A scupper. Wash strake - NTUS 0902 Washball Washboard(tge) Washing down – Shipping heavy seas that wash out through the scuppers and wash ports. Wash strake, or wash board – 1. The top plank on a boat’s side. 2. A removable plank that can be fitted when necessary to increase a boat’s freeboard. Waste of rations - Said of someone who might otherwise be called a waste of space. Watch - A period of duty, during which those enduring it were expected to watch out for and ward off danger. Watch and Watch – To be on watch every other W Wads and Wooldings V Vails and Voyals
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