THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 46 47 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 yard, used to tie a buntline to a sail. Sometimes called breast gaskets. Bunting - 1. Hauling up the middle part of a sail. 2. Worsted stuff used for making flags. Bunting tosser - The signalman, usually a midshipman or junior lieutenant. Bunt jigger - A small gin-tackle purchase, used on large sails to bowse up the bunt when furling. Buntline - The rope attached to the footrope of a topsail, that passes up the front of the sail to a block on the yard, and used to pull up the bottom of the sail, to spill its wind. Buntline-cloth - A lining sewn up the fore-part of a sail to prevent the buntline from chafing the sail. Buntline cringle - A ring of rope at the foot of a sail. Bunt-line fairleads - Circular thimbles on the fore side of a sail, to guide the bunt-lines. Buntline hitch – Two half hitches, the second made inside the first. Bunt Reefer – A sailor of limited ability. Buntline spans - Short ropes with a thimble at one end and a whipping at the other, through which the bunt-lines are rove, attached to the tie blocks to keep the sail in bunt when hauled up. Bunt Stow – The bulk of a sail dragged up to the centre, or bunt, of the yard and secured. Buntline thimbles - Thimbles through which the buntline was guided up a sail. Bunt slab-lines - Ropes used to lift the foot of a sail, to help see, or to prevent chafing, by reeving through a block on the slings and passing under the sail, making fast to its foot. Bunt-straps - Arms encircling the yard to give it bearing, in self-reefing systems. Buoy - 1. A floating marker fastened in position on the sea bottom or some other object on the bottom, to show where the things were under water, such as anchors, channels, shoals, rocks, etc. The shapes of buoys evolved over the years to be more important than the colour, usually either can, cone, sphere or spar shaped, to denote different purposes. 2. A floating keg or block of wood attached to the anchor by rope, to show its location after casting, so that the ship could avoid tangling her cable. To 'buoy a cable' was to attach a buoy to the cable to hold it off the bottom, in order to avoid it galling or rubbing the bottom. A vessel intending to return to the same mooring will usually slip her cable after first attaching it to a buoy, for later recovery. The anchor buoy is 'streamed', which means it is let fall over the ship's side before the anchor is let go, to avoid fouling the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom. Buoyage - The providing of buoys. Buoyancy - The capacity to float, usually used to refer to vessels floating lightly. 'Centre of buoyancy' is the naval architectural term for the mean centre of that part of a floating vessel that is immersed in the water. Buoyancy tanks – Sealed metal tanks of air in a lifeboat, that keep it afloat even when swamped. Buoyant - Having the power of flotation. Buoyed up – Using a buoy to support the bight of an anchor cable or chain to prevent it chafing on the seabed. Buoy rope - A rope attaching an anchor-buoy to its anchor. Buoy rope knot - A knot made by unlaying the strands of a cable-laid rope, and a small strand of each large strand, single and double walling them and worming the divisions and rounding the rope, where the end is lashed to the anchor shank. Buoys & beacons – The earliest records show the first ever in the British Isles were laid in about 1520. Burden – The tonnage of cargo that a ship can carry. See Burthen. Burgee - A small tapering swallow-tailed flag. Also bougee. Burgoo - A sailor’s dish of boiled thick oatmeal porridge, seasoned with salt, butter and sugar or cooked with vegetables and meat when available. Also loblolly. Burial Service - Religious, or pseudo, service accompanying sea burial funeral. Burnetize - To treat canvas, timber, cordage, etc., with a solution of chloride of zinc, known as Sir William Burnet's fluid. Burnish - To make shiny by friction. Burnisher - One who burnishes. Burr - A hazy circle that appears around the moon before rain. Burr, Burrel - Canister shot or case-shot or langrel or langrage, usually containing odd bits of iron, nails, etc. gathered together in a hurry. Burr pump - The bilge pump. Burser - The Purser. Burst - The explosion of a shell, or a gun. Bursted belly - Hernia. Burthen, Burthern - The quantity of goods that a ship will carry, expressed in tons, when loaded to a proper sea trim, determined by certain strict rules of measurement, and usually referred to as the tonnage. In fact a ship could carry about twice the tonnage, but would be deemed deeply laden, which is not advised. A 'ship of burthen' was a merchantman. Burton – A tackle comprising two blocks arranged to bring the rope back on itself, thus increasing the mechanical advantage, used for heavy loads and to tighten shrouds. To 'up Burton and break out' was to hoist a heavy item out of the hold. Burton pendant - 1 A rope with an eye in the upper end, which is looped over the topmast head and has a tackle at the other end, used for lifting heavy weights. Sometimes called just burtons. See also fish-tackle burtons. 2 Tackles used for setting up topmasts. Burton tackle - A small tackle containing three blocks, used to set up a tightening rigging, or to shift heavy bodies. Bury - A sea funeral resulted in the deceased being 'buried' at sea. Bush - The metal lining of a hole. Bushed - Cased with harder to prevent wear. Business, The Day's - The name for a midshipman's navigation calculation lesson. Busk - 1. To beat about, or tack. 2. To cruise as a pirate. Buskin - A boot reaching to the calf or knee. Busking - Cruising an enemy coast looking for something to attack. Not dissimilar to its modern usage, but with the theatre/cinema queue replacing the coast. Buss - 1. A vessel of burden. 2. A two- or threemasted vessel used in the Dutch herring fishery. Buss-sail - Bust-head - See Head. Busy - 'Busy as the Devil in a gale of wind' was an expression of fidgety restlessness, or double diligence in a bad cause. Butcher - Provider of meat comestibles, or a dealer in meat. Butcher's bill - An ironic term for the list of those killed in a battle. The butcher's bill was often considered an important measure of the captain's bravery. For example, a successful battle with a small butcher's bill may be considered inferior to a less successful one with a large butcher's bill. Certainly, to have failed, but with a large butcher's bill, was more 'honourable' than with a small one, in the eyes of the establishment. Seamen’s and officer’s lives were considered trivial and cheap, by the Senior Officers and the Admiralty, when glory was at stake. Butescarli - The early name for officers in the British Navy. ”Butcher !”– Called out to those falling into the scuppers. Butcher's bill - The count of dead and wounded after action. Butt - 1. A cask for wine holding between 108 gallons, of ale, to 140 gallons of wine. 2. The thick end of an item. 3. The end of a ship's plank. 4. To join two items end-to-end. When they are said to 'abut'. Butt-and-butt - The term denoting that the two ends of planks are come together, but not overlapping. Butt end - 1. The end of a plank or plate on a ship's side, which joins onto the end of the next. 2. The shoulder part of a long firearm. Butter Boxes - British seamen's nickname for Dutchmen. Butterfly block – A small snatch block, or hinged block, with a length equal to twice the circumference of the rope used, for hauling in a deep-sea line. Butt joint - A joint between two planks, in which the ends meet flush together. The joint is usually plated to strengthen it. Buttock - The breadth of a ship astern, the convex part from the tuck upwards. Buttock-lines - In naval architecture, the longitudinal curves at the rounding of the after body in a vertical section. Button - 1. The ball fixed on the centreline of a cannon bore, at the rear of the breech. 2. Slang name for the circular wooden cap on an upper masthead, usually having sheaves for signal halyards. Also called truck or top button. Button boy - Relatively recent name for the boy detailed to stand on top of the mast-top truck, when manning a ship overall, for display purposes. Not an enviable duty. Buttons - To 'make buttons' is an expression for sudden apprehension or misgivings. Button your flap! - Seamen’s' trousers originally had a flap front instead of modern flies, resulting in this expression, meaning shut up! Butt sling – A rope with a thimble or eye at one end and whipping at the other end, so that it can be passed through the eye to form a sling. Butt strap - A metal strap spanning and covering the butt joint between two adjoining plates, for added strength. Butt straps - Two timbers fixed to overlap end butts, holding the frame together. Butty - Mate. Buxsish - A gratuity necessary in oriental trading. Buzzing - Booming. Buzznacking - A word used by American whalers, meaning gossiping, or gathering news and information, from ship to ship. By - One compass point (11¼°) further on in the direction of the last named compass point. e.g. NbyE=11¼°, NEbyE=56¼°, etc. By and by - In Elizabethan times this meant 'at once'. By and large – Both sailing close to the wind, which is ‘by’, and sailing with the wind wherever it is, which is ‘large’. So, if a ship sailed well ‘by and large’ it would respond well to all circumstances. This expression came ashore meaning ‘on the whole’. By-boat - Newfoundland fishery boat. Byrth - The old word for tonnage. cf Burthen. By the board - Deeper in the water on one side than the other. By the deep - Leadsman's call to indicate the depth as a quarter over the mark on his line. By the head - Deeper in the water forward than aft. By the lee - The situation of the vessel going free. By the mark - Leadsman's call to indicate the depth as on the mark on his line, and consequently, a whole measure. By the run – The order given to the hands working a rope to release it and let it run freely, or to run up a lighter halyard. By the stern - Deeper in the water aft than forward. By the wind - 1. The situation when the vessel sails as near to the wind as possible, or within six points of it. As 'full and by'. 2. Seamen's slang for broke or penniless. By the wind hitches - Rare expression for use by coastal ships of hitches on braces, to ensure correct trimming of yards when frequently tacking. Bylander - Bilander. Byng, George, Viscount Torrington - (16631733) Became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1727. Byng, John - (1704-57) British admiral, fourth son of George Byng. Rose rapidly through the navy, thanks to his father's influence, and outreached his experience. He was courtmartialled for not doing his utmost to save Minorca, in 1756, and was shot as a result of being found guilty in 1757. This incident is the source of Voltaire's remark, in Candide, that in England it was sometimes necessary to shoot an admiral 'pour encourager les autres'. By the book - In strict accord with Regulations.
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