THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 186 187 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 Wheel ropes - NTUS 0309 Wheel ropes - See tiller ropes. Wheel- SMS Whelps – 1. Projections around the barrel of the capstan or windlass to provide grip to the cable or messenger. 2. The shapings in the groove of a roller used to grip the links of a chain. Where away? – The call to a lookout who has just announced that he has spotted something, to enquire its direction. "Wherever you find a fathom of water, there you will find the British", said Napoleon. Wherries Whetstone Whip - A simple single block tackle. Whip – A small tackle comprising a rope rove through a fixed block or one fixed and one movable block. Whip and runner - A double whip purchase. Whip and Tickle - Punishment in which a sailor was fastened with hands and legs extended to Blackstakes, Jeers or a Capstan, flogged with the Cat, then doused with brine from the salt beef tub Whipper In - Of Convoys*. Whipping - Yarn lashed around a ropes end to prevent fraying. 'Whip, Mr' - One of many nicknames for Admiral Sir William Cornwallis, from his love of driving a coach and horses. Whip-rigged - tye Whipstaff - An early form of steering device comprising a vertical lever mechanism that enabled a helmsman to stand on the upper deck and move the tiller by passing through to the deck below. Whisker booms – 1. The hinged iron bars or spars at ends of catheads extending from the catheads, on both sides of the bow, used to spread the jib-boom rigging and to hold it clear of the anchor gear. 2. Any light spar rigged with one end round the mast and a spike at the other end, to take the clew of a sail. Also, just whiskers. Whiskerandoes Whiskers - See Whisker boom. NTUS 0407 Whistle buoy, bell buoy, gong buoy - NTUS 1803 Whistle for a wind - When becalmed it was common knowledge that one must whistle loudly and stick a knife in the mainmast, to make the wind blow. Whistle up - Call someone or make something quickly. Whistle up a wind –To indulge in vain hopes, from seamen’s superstition that they could whistle and a wind would arise, or strengthen. From this it can be seen why whistling was encouraged in a calm and discouraged in a storm. In fact whistling is banned at sea in case of confusion with the bosun’s calls. Whistling Mess Cooks Whistling psalms to the taffrail - NTUS 1012 White caps - See White horse. NTUS 1705 White Cotton Canvas- A mark of US ships White horse - NTUS 1705 White Mice+84 White rat - A messdeck informer. White rope – Untarred rope. Untarred rope could become tarred rope when used. White Squall- Dry Waterspout White Stuff - Used to protect ship's hulls before coppering. White-ash weather - Whaler speak for a calm, needing whaleboats to be rowed (white-ash oars). White-Horse- Part of whale flesh "Who Shall Have This?" Whole topsail breeze- SMS Whole water - Deep water Wholesome – Able to lie-to comfortably in heavy weather and to ride well at anchor. Wide berth – Ample clearance. Widow's Men- Dead men who were allowed on the ships' muster* books at the rate of 2 per 100, to pay for relief of officers' widows. Widow's walk - Rooftop platform on a whaler captain's house, from which their wives watched for their return. "Wig Wag"- To use the Admiralty's telegraph system*. Wight Will & Power Williwaw - NTUS 1703 Williwaws -Sudden winds off the South American mountainous coast, particularly in the Magellan Straits. Willy-willies - NTUS 1704 Win - Obtain illicit ownership. Winch – A horizontal revolving barrel used to give purchase to a tackle to hoist loads. Wind – One of the non-cardinal points of the compass. More usually rhumb, or romb, or rumb. Windage-1,2 Wind backing – The wind altering direction anticlockwise. Wind current – A current caused by the wind. Windfall – This is the term for a wind blowing off a lee shore, against the general direction of the wind. To catch a windfall could gain a vessel more leeway, hence the expression ashore for a bit of luck. Wind gall – A luminous halo round the edge of a cloud, taken as a sign of rain to windward. Wind hauling – The wind altering direction clockwise. Also wind veering. Winding – Turning a vessel 180°, or end-to-end, in dock. Winding tackle – A heavy tackle comprising a fixed treble block and a running double block. Wind in the teeth – A head wind, blowing from right ahead. Also referred to as dead on end, or dead wind. Windjammer Windlass – A heavy lifting mechanism used to raise the anchor, similar to a horizontal capstan suspended between knight-heads and operated by handspikes. First used in 12c. Windlass bitts – The upright timbers supporting the shaft of a windlass. Also carrick bitts and carrick heads. Wind One Point Free Wind rode – Said of a vessel at anchor as it swings to the wind with its head pointing into the wind. Wind-rose - The eight point marking of wind direction on a chart, superseded by the compass rose. The eight winds of the ancient wind-rose, used to approximately determine direction before the compass: Tramontana(N), Greco(NE), Levanter(E), Syroco(SE), Mezzodi(S), Garbio(SW), Pomente(W), Maestro(SW) Wind rudder - A small sail rigged on the rudder to assist with steering. These were particularly useful on flat-bottomed boats. Winds - See Loxodromes. NTUS 1807 Windsail – An open-ended canvas funnel rigged to catch the wind and convey fresh air to the lower decks. Wind’s eye – The direction from which the wind is blowing. Directly to windward. Also eye of the wind. Wind taut – Said of a vessel at anchor, when the wind is so strong as to make her strain at her cable and to list. Wind veering – The wind altering direction clockwise. Also wind hauling. Windward - 1. Direction from which the wind is blowing at sea. Opposite of leeward. 2. Towards the wind, or the side from which the wind is blowing. 3. To get to windward of someone was to gain the advantage, from the obvious seagoing similarity. Windward service- SMS Wing and wing – The arrangement of a fore-andaft rigged ship with sails set alternately to port and starboard. Also goose-winged. Wings – 1. Clear space along the outsides the orlop deck, or between decks, for access by the carpenter and his crew to plug holes near the waterline of a ship. 2. The tapered side pockets in the main body of a trawl net, so contrived that the fish were moved further into the net. Wing space Wing stopper- SMS Wing transom - Effectively, the foundation piece of the counter and stern, formed by a heavy transom fixed across the stern post and sitting on the head of the inner-post. Wing transom - NTUS 0308 Winger - NTUS 1012 Wingers- SMS Winging out weights- SMS Wings Wings - NTUS 1403 Wings(tge) Wing sail Winter pole- SMS Wipe off the wind- SMS Wiring clamp – The wooden fitting on a boat’s rising or stringer onto which the thwarts are fixed. "Wise Rules" Withe - See Boom iron. NTUS 0407 Within Soundings Withy - Early rope material? Wives Wooldings - Rope bindings holding the front-fish and fillings of a mast in place, invariably thirteen turns of rope, nailed to wooding nails, which had leather washers under their heads. Wolf's throat- SMS Wood - Mad. Wood Collar-Punishment for swearing Wood's detaching apparatus- SMS Wooden horse – The structure supporting the blubber mincing machine on a whaleship. Wooden walls - Sailing warships, which were thought to be the mobile fortification defending England from attack by furriners. Woold (vb) - NTUS 0512 Woolder - NTUS 0512 Wooldings(ecr) Wooldings(tge) Woollen Screen Work – (v) Of a ship’s timbers, to move against each other from the various movements in heavy seas, and to gradually loosen. Worked - Ships, also Labours Worked up a river Working - Becoming loose. Working jib - Working foresail. NTUS 0411 Working anchor- SMS Working foresail, jib – A medium sized jib used in normal weather. cf storm jib, balloon jib. Working Off Working strain – The maximum load that a rope can bear. Working to windward- SMS Working up – 1. The action of bringing a ship and her crew up to peak efficiency after a dormant period for refit or repair. 2. Assigning dirty disagreeable duties to novices, or to a seaman to whom a grudge was borne Working up a crew - Modern phrase for reaching a state of discipline. Works - The parts of a ship's structure, or hull, as distinct from her superstructure. cf Upper Works. Work the tide - A vessel could make headway against light winds by drifting along with the tide until slack water and then anchoring until the next tide going in the desired direction. Work Tom Cox’s Traverse – Three turns round the longboat and a pull at the scuttlebutt – work deliberately slowly as through having been humbugged. Work to windward – 1. To beat or tack. 2. To get under way in poor weather. Worm – 1. (v) To lay spunyarn along the cantlines of a rope to add strength and to make the rope smooth and waterproof before serving or parcelling. 2. A thin spunyarn laid along the cantlines of a rope to help make it waterproof. 3. In Elizabethan times, snake, dragon, serpent. Worming – The winding of spun yarn in a long contour of rope to get a level surface for parcelling. "Worm and parcel with the lay,/ Turn and serve the other way" Worried up Wort – The decoction of malt used to brew beer was incorrectly considered to prevent or cure scurvy in the 18thC. Wounded Dog Theory - First put forward in 1687. Based on a quack cure called powder of sympathy, which was reputed to heal at a distance if applied to an article from the sick person. In dipping that article into the powder, it was claimed that the patient Wreck - A vessel damaged by the weather or the shore to such an extent as to be a total loss. Wreck buoy - NTUS 1803 Wreck commission – A British court convened to investigate the circumstances of a shipping loss and the consequent casualties. Wreck-marking buoy - NTUS 1803 Wright’s sailing – Sailing by using the principles of a Mercator chart. Also Mercator’s sailing, or
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