THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 20 21 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 Baffling - Said of a constantly changing wind. Baft-mast - Opposite to fore-mast. Bag - 1. A term of quantity of merchandise. 2. To 'bag on a bowline' was to drop leeward from a course. Bag and baggage - The whole removable property. Baggage - 1. Passengers' belongings. 2. Female companion, usually of the less respectable kind. Baggala - Two-masted lateen rigged dhow. Baggywrinkle - A protective serving used to prevent chafing of sails, etc., made from off cuts of old manila ropes tied and bunched tightly together onto two lengths of marline, or a wrapping of sennit around a rope to protect it from chafing. Sometimes seen as 'bag-o'-wrinkle'. Baghla - A large dhow. Bag piping the mizzen - Hauling forward of the mizzen sheet, to weather, to make a back sail out of it, when moored with a wind or tide athwart or to bring the vessel to a stop. Bag reef - The fourth or fifth reef, used to prevent sails from bagging when on the wind. Probably sometimes called bog reefs. Bag shanty - Red light district bar. Baguio – A tropical revolving storm originating in the Philippine Islands. Bag wig - An 18c wig with the back-hair enclosed in a bag. Bahar - A measure of weight used in various parts of the Far East. Baikak - Inland wooden cargo barge used on the River Dniepr (now in Ukraine) in the 19c. Bail, Bale - 1. Bulwarks of a boat. 2. A bucket or similar utensil for bailing water from a boat. 3. To use a bailer, i.e. to remove water by lading. 4. A surety. Bailer – A wooden handled scoop used to empty water from a boat. Or anything used for this purpose. Bail-bond - An obligation by one representing another to be responsible for the latter. In prize matters it was an assurance that the courts adjudgement would be accepted. Baily, Edward Hodges - (1788-1867) British sculptor of the statue of Lord Nelson which stands atop Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square. Bainbridge, William - (1774-1833) American naval officer, most famous as captain of the USS Constitution, when she duelled with, and beat, HMS Java, in 1812. Bait - The charge of a fishing hook. Baitland - Cant word for a port where refreshments would be available. Bakhuysen, Ludolph - (1631-1708) Dutch marine painter. Bakker - Dutch inventor of the camel, use to raise sunken vessels. Balance – 1. Gather the slack at the peak or clew of a fore-and-aft sail and lash it to the yard or boom, to reduce sail. 2. To reduce a lateen sail by lowering the yard and rolling some of the sail onto it. Balance frames - A ship's wooden frames of equal area, about the centre of gravity of the ship. Balanced lug – A lug sail with the lower edge attached to a boom that stays on the same side of the mast when tacking, despite the yard dipping around it. Also French lug. Balanced rudder - A rudder supported partway aft of the forward edge, thus not self-centring and easier to turn and hold. Balanced rudder - A rudder configured with its stock away from the leading edge, so as to balance the pressure between the forward and after areas and so reducing the power needed to turn the rudder. Balance reef - A reef used in the spanker, from the nock to the after end of the top horizontal reef. Balancing band – A band with a shackle, fixed to the shank at the centre of gravity of an anchor, so that it will hang horizontally when suspended on a cable attached to it. Balancing point - The centre of gravity. Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de - (c.1475-1517) Spanish explorer and adventurer, most widely known as the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. Balcony - The open stern gallery of old line-ofbattle ships. Bald headed - A ship that had no sails above topgallants, with a spike bowsprit, a square sail set on the crossjack and no fore-and-aft mizzen. Bald-header - A ship carrying no sails above topgallants, etc. Baldrick - A sword belt. Bale - A package of soft goods or stores wrapped in burlap and secured by ropes or straps. Hence, bale goods, to denote merchandise so packed. Baleen - Springy bone taken from the mouth of a Baleen Whale. Bale Goods – Cargo packed in bundles as distinct from crates or casks. Bale sling – A rope loop joined with a short splice then served with spun yarn over the splice. Bale space – The volume of a vessel’s cargo hold. Balestilha - An early Portuguese cross-staff used for navigation. Balinger - 1. 14-15c clinker-built galley of 50ish tons, used for cargo. Originally based on Basque whalers. Probably amongst the first to use stern rudders. 2. A sloop used as a whaler or coaster. Balister - Crossbowman. Balk - A rough-hewn beam of Baltic timber. Balker – 1. A temperance man, or non-drinker who declined his daily grog or beer issue. 2. A man who stood on cliff or promontory and directed the fishing fleet by semaphore to where he could see the shoals. Sometimes spelt ‘balkar’. Ball - A missile fired from cannon. Ballahou - A Caribbean fast-sailing schooner. Also ballyhoo. Ballarag - To bully. Ballast - Weight added to a vessel to achieve stability by keeping the centre of gravity low and to give a good firm base to barrels when stowed. Sailing ships usually ballasted with shingle, or iron ingots, or both (shingle:iron, 4:1), tightly packed into the bottom of a ship, brought into dockyards by a local contractor. Usually removed from ship prior to entering dry-dock and reballasted after being refloated. Thus 'in ballast' usually meant sailing with ballast only, and no cargo. Also, "He can't half carry some ballast" means he can hold his booze well. Ballastage - Dues charged for ballast, surrendered to Trinity House in 1594, by Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral at the time. Ballast Basket – A basket used to carry shingle ballast, but also often used by the gunner to carry loose ammunitions. Ballast Lighter – A barge used for heaving up and carrying ballast. Ballast mark - The horizontal line marked by the water on a ship's side, when immersed with her normal weight of ballast aboard. Ballast Master – The port official responsible for administrating ballast. Ballast Ports – Holes low in the sides of a merchant vessel for loading ballast. It was important that these ports were securely sealed before the vessel went to sea. Ballast Shooting – The jettisoning of ballast into the sea before loading a cargo. Bad practice later made illegal in home waters, and in many others. Ballast trim - The trim of a vessel when only carrying ballast. Ball clay - A sticky mass brought up by the anchor. Sometimes used to make clay pipes. The latter used also by marines to whiten their uniform cross-straps, etc., to the great amusement of the seamen. Balleny, John - (mid 19c) British sealing captain who discovered the Balleny Islands, in 1839, the first proof of land inside the Antarctic Circle. Ball off - To twist rope yarns into a ball with a running end which was used to make spun-yarn. Ballooning - The action of a course or sail catching the wind and pulling loose, possibly through hauling up a weather clew first. Ballow - The deep water inside a bar or shoal. Ball, Sir Alexander John - (1757-1809) British rear admiral. One of Nelson's 'band of brothers'. Balluster, baluster - External uprights supporting the rails of galleries, quarterdecks, etc. Ballyhoo - A two-masted vessel with masts raked in opposite directions, formerly occurred in the West Indies, thus also any slovenly craft. Balsa - The Spanish word for "float", first applied to South American rafts and then to the wood from which they were built. Baltic - The northern sea bounded by Scandinavia and Europe. Baltic Merchant - Elizabethan queen's agent who negotiated with Hansa merchants for naval stores (masts, cordage, etc.). Baltimore Clipper - Fast American topsail schooner. Band - 1. Generic term for a strap around a mast or spar used to hold it together and to fasten various tackles. 2. A strip of canvas sewn across the vulnerable parts of a sail for added strength. 3. The musicians of a ship. Banderole - A long narrow flag or streamer, often on a pike. Band of Brothers - The popular name given by Nelson to the captains serving under him in the Mediterranean Fleet of 1798. Bang – A narcotic concoction of opium, hemp and tobacco enjoyed by Malays, to their behavioural detriment. Bange - Light rain. Bangles - The hoops of a spar. Banian – 1. See Banyan Days. 2. A sailor’s coloured shirt. 3. The Banian Tree ficus indica grows in India and Polynesia. Bank – 1. Shelving of the sea bed near the coast. 2. The manned oars along one side of a boat. Banker - A cod-fishing ship working on the Bank of Newfoundland. Bank Harbour – A harbour protected from violent seas by banks of shingle or mud or similar. Banking - Working a Banker. Banks, Sir Joseph - (1743-1820) Wealthy amateur scientist who accompanied Captain Cook on his Pacific expedition in 1768-76, and later became President of the Royal Society. Bankshall - Office of a harbour master. Bank weather - Fog. From the outer banks off north America, where fog is normal. Banner - A small square-edged fringed flag. Banneret - The officer commanding a squadron of knights. Banner of the King Death – The correct name for the pirates’ flag usually known as the ‘skull and crossbones’. It comprised a black flag with skulls, skeletons, crossbones, hour glasses and bleeding hearts in various designs. Bannock - A type of hard ship's biscuit. Banquet - Early use of the word included desserts, such as sweetmeats and wine. Bantling - A bastard. Banyan – Loose shirt of Indian origin. Banyan Days - The name for days on which no meat was served to the crew, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from an East Indian sect who would not kill or eat flesh and whose robes were made of Banian. Fast days that later came to mean feast days, due to the sailors' habit of saving up a few treats to compensate for the lack of meat, and so any day when a crew are given some sort of treat, or a surprise day’s shore leave. Abolished 1825. Baptism - A riotous ceremony inflicted on those first crossing the line of the equator. Bar - 1. A natural barrier of sand or mud causing shallows, often shifting, across a harbour entrance or river mouth. 2. A piece of wood or iron used in various applications, as an aid to leverage. Barbarising – Cleaning a deck by swabbing it with sand and cleansing powder. Barbadoes tar - A mineral fluid bitumen. Barbados Water - An alternative name for rum. Barbarossa - The name of a series of various 16c Mediterranean sea-rovers who became a nuisance through their attacks on Christian ships. Barbary - The Mediterranean north west coast of Africa, particularly Algiers, noted for its pirates or corsairs. Barbers - Hair cutters. Usually a rating on board ship. Barber, The – The low fog off Halifax, North America, which, coupled with northern winds, cuts one to the bone. Barbette - A platform for guns in an ironclad ship, to enable them to fire over the parapet. Barbican - The outwork defending the gates of a castle. Barbotin - Capstan with recesses in the base, designed to accept the links of the cable, named after its French inventor. Bar buoy – A buoy marking a harbour bar.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTYyMzU=