THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 36 37 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 to need the use of booms for hoisting inboard. Boom brace - A brace used to 'brace in' booms along the yards. Boom brace flying forward - A yard was braced forward, requiring the bracing further forward. Boom brace guy - Tackle used to steady the boom guy forward. Boom brace pendant - A rope bracing the pressure of a studding-sail on its boom. Boom brace tricers - Crewmembers who triced up booms to provide working space for topmen. Boom brackets - Iron hoops around yards and booms to hold stunsail booms. Boom cleats - Cleats fixed to booms. Boom cover - A painted or tarpaulin cover on a spar. Boom cradle - A deck fitting used to hold a boom in place when it has been lowered. Boom crutch - A receptacle on the counter or the deck of small ships, used to secure the boom when not in use, such as when at anchor. Boom foresail – A triangular sail whose foot is extended by a boom. Boom guy, or lazy guy - The rope used to hold the spanker boom steady when running free. Boom hoop - Wooden hoop joining boom to mast, allowing it to lift or lower. Boomie - A type of ketch-rigged east coast sailing barge, on which the main sail has only a boom. cf sprittie or spritsail barge. Boom iron - An iron band on a yard-arm, through which the studding-sail boom would be run in and out and fitted to hold its heel, when rigged. Also withe. Boom jigger - Tackle for rigging the topmast studding sail booms out or in, comprising double and single blocks stropped with tails. Boomkin, bumkin, bumpkin – 1. A short boom extending from the bows of a vessel and used to stretch the lower windward corner of a foresail. 2 A similar boom on a vessel's quarters and used to take the main brace blocks. Booms - The space on larger ships, between the fore and mainmasts, where spare spars are stowed. Ships' boats were carried on the booms when at sea. See also Boom. Boom sail - A sail set to a boom instead of to a yard. Boom sheet - A sheet fastened to a boom. Boom spar - A larger spar. Boom square sail – A square sail set on the lower foremast of a schooner, or on the lower mast of a cutter. Boom stays - The fittings joining a boom to its mast. Boom-topping span - The span from the top aft end of a fore-and-aft boom to the peak of the spar above. Boot camp - A tough military prison. Boote - An Old English name for a boat. Boot-hose-top - Heel over ship, scrape or burn off grass, slime, shells, barnacles, etc. and daub with tallow, sulphur or lime & resin, as temporary protection against shipworm. Also boot topping. Bootneck - A Royal Marine, whose 19c uniform had a leather strip at the nape, to hold the collar shut tight and for protection against his greased pigtail. Also Leatherneck. Boot-topping - See boot-hose-top. Booty - Those parts of a prize which, when captured at sea, were allowed to be distributed amongst the captors at once, usually at the capstan-head. Usually anything that could be picked up by hand that was above the main deck, a definition that often lead to interesting interpretations by prospective beneficiaries. This form of prize taking was abolished during the Napoleonic War. Sometimes called pickings, from the requirement that the subject matter was to be pick-upable. Booze - A carouse, from which 'boozy' means intoxicated by liquor. Bora - A violent Adriatic storm. Borasca - A storm with thunder and lightning. Bordeaux - In early 14c the largest and richest city of the English empire, due to the duty from wine exports. In 1324 Gascony contributed £13,000 to the English exchequer. Bords - An old term for sea coasts, from board, meaning edge. Bordels - Houses built along a strand. Bore - 1. The pitch motion of a ship. 2. The sudden surge of tide in certain rivers, usually caused by the meeting of two tides or a narrowing of the channel. Also eagre. 3. The interior cavity of a gun barrel. Boreas - An old name for the north wind. Bore Down - Sailed down from to windward. Boreing - The pitching motion of a ship. Boring - The action of forcing the ship through loose ice in Arctic regions, under press of sail, or trying to. Born with a silver spoon - Old navy expression, of the 'young gentlemen' of privilege and advantage, who were said to have been so born with one in their mouth, and to have entered the navy through the cabin windows, as distinct from those who worked they way up through the ranks by merit, who were said to have been born with a wooden ladle and to have entered the navy through the hawseholes. Borne - Said of someone placed in the ship's books for victuals and wages, also of a supernumerary. Borough, Steven - (1525-84) British navigator who was one of those seeking the North East Passage to China. He had an active navy life that included commanding a ship in the battles against the Spanish Armada in 1588, but badly fell out with Drake by questioning him in the Cadiz campaign, and hence fell out of favour with the Court. Borrow, to – 1. To hug the coast and so avoid an adverse tide. 2. A euphemism for acquiring a thing permanently and dishonestly. Boscawen, The Hon. Edward - (1711-61) Famous British admiral. "Wry Neck Dick". Bosom piece - A short length of angle-bar fixed inside the angle of another angle-bar, to strengthen it, or between two angle-bars, to join them. Boss - A head, or reservoir, of water. Boss buntline - Midship reef tackle. Bo'sun - See Boatswain. Botany Bay - The centre of early settlement in Australia. Botargo - Dried fish sometimes issued to crews instead of meat on Banyan Days Botch - To make a mess of the job in hand. Bote - Early spelling for boat. Botelho - Long strands of seaweed. Botelier, Nathaniel - (1577-1643) British seaman and administrator whose writings give insight into the early 17c British Navy. Bote's-carle - An old term for a boat's coxswain. Bothered - Said of a ship falling amongst adverse currents and with shifting winds. Both oars in the water - What a person with mental problems was said not to have. Both Sheets Aft – 1. Said of a ship with the wind right astern. 2. Said of a drunken sailor staggering along with his hands in his pockets and his elbows out square. Both watches - The muster of all hands. Botijo - A Spanish earthenware jar. Botter - Dutch fishing boat. Bottle - A dressing down, from 'a dose from the Foretopman's bottle', meaning a ticking off from a taut hand. Bottle Charts - Charts on which surface currents are marked, derived from the records of bottles containing notes, thrown overboard for that purpose and collected and recorded over the years. Bottlescrew - A later replacement for dead eyes, comprising a cylindrical threaded sleeve into which two screws fitted, one into each end, used to set up the rigging by turning and thereby tightening it. Bottom - 1. The seabed. 2. The keel. 3. That part of a ship below the waterline. 4. The end of a cask. 5. 'Go to the bottom' means sink. 6. 'Send to the bottom' means sink someone else. 7. 'Bottom clean' refers to a ship that has been thoroughly cleaned and is free of weeds, etc. 8 A 'bottom plank' is one placed between the garboard strake and the lower back strake. Bottom boards – Floor planks laid over a boat’s frames to keep the weight of the crew off its plankings and timbers. Bottomry, Bottomree, Bummery - Ship mortgage. Bottomry Premium - A higher rate of interest charged on the safety of a ship, usually meaning the lender losing all his money on the loss of the ship. Bottoms - Nickname for freight-carrying ships. ‘Bottoms Up’ – Seamen’s preferred position for a glass of liquor or beer in order that it may soon be refilled. Boucan - A type of food enjoyed by buccaneers, from which their name derives. Bouche - A metal plug which is drilled to form the vent of a cannon. Bougainville, Comte Louis Antoine de - (17291811) French naval officer and navigator who was a soldier until he was 37 years old, but then learnt to improve himself. Known for his explorations of the South Seas and for his subsequent services to, and honouring by, Napoleon. Bouge - 1. Largest diameter of a cask. 2. An old term for the bilge. Also bowge. Bougee, burgee - A small tapering flag, swallow tailed. Bouguer's theorem - Pierre Bouguer published a mathematical book, in 1757, dealing with manoeuvrability and optimisation of wind on sails. Bouilli – What seamen termed ‘bully beef’, which was as unpopular as it was unpalatable, having had all its goodness boiled away. Later the term was applied to canned beef, which may not have been much of an improvement. Bouilli Tin - A tin containing preserved meat. Boulder Head - A rampart built against the action of the sea, comprising wooden stakes. Bouleponges – A strong drink made of arrack, lemon-juice, sugar and muscadine. Bounce - Admiral Collingwood's dog. Bounce was a constant companion and consolation to the admiral, who was kept interminably at sea towards the end of his life. Bouncer - The term given to a gun that kicks violently when fired. Bound - 1. Intended destiny of service, or voyage to a place. 2. Held. Such as 'Ice-bound' surrounded by ice; 'Tide-bound' beneaped; 'Windbound' prevented from sailing by contrary winds, &c. 3. 'Bound on a cruise' meant get ready to sail. Bounty - Money paid at recruiting centres, to encourage sailors to enlist. In the early 18c it was 40/- in London for prime seamen, while the government offered 30/-, in Bristol it was 20/-, etc. The system was very much abused by dishonest seamen, who would sign on in one town and then desert, signing on again under a different name in another town, thus receiving multiple bounties. Bounty, HMS - The famous ship from which Captain Bligh and others were cast adrift after the mutiny under the leadership of Fletcher Christian, in 1789, and from where Bligh navigated a 3600 mile open boat voyage to safety in Timor. The Bounty was burnt by the mutineers when they arrived at Pitcairn Islands, to settle in exile, to avoid it being spotted and to avoid the temptation of returning to justice. Bounty List - A register of all who had received the bounty, to which they were only entitled after they had passed three musters in the service. Boure - A gathering place for merchants. Bourne, William - Wrote the first accurately written account of the actions of ocean currents, written in 1578. Bouse – 1. (v) To pull down on a rope or a tackle fall. 2. The order given to the hands working a rope to haul downwards. Bouse Away - Drink, for pleasure. " 'Bout Ship" - The order for 'about ship'. Bouvet, Francois Joseph - (1753-1832) French admiral. Bow - 1. The front of the ship, or sharp end. Hence, 'on the bow' means close hauled. 'A shot across the bow' was used to 'invite' an enemy, or suspect ship to stop, ignoring which usually resulting in an attack upon the target ship. 2. A hand weapon of early fleets. 3. A ship is said to 'bow to the wind' when sailing with sails belly out full, when she will go pitching and bowing over the waves. 4. To bend. Bow-bye - The lubberly situation when a ship is in stays, falls back off the wind and gets into
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