THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 54 55 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 vessel can move away and proceed to sea. Castor and Pollux – Seamen’s name for the fire frequently seen ‘dancing’ on masts and yards, often seen in pairs. Cat - 1. The heavy purchase used to hoist an anchor onto the cathead, in the process of stowing it. 2. (v) To hoist an anchor by its ring to the cathead, and to let it hang ready to drop or be hoisted inboard. 3. A strongly- built sailing collier that was the type selected by Captain James Cook for his voyages of discovery. 4. The cat ‘o nine tails was an instrument of punishment comprising nine rope ‘tails’ on a handle, with which recalcitrants were lashed. If knotted it was called a thieves cat. Two expressions came ashore, the first from the practice of storing the cat in a red baize bag – when the cat was let out of the bag retribution was imminent. The other expression to come ashore is the expression that there is hardly room to swing a cat, in a cramped space. 5. A small open sailing boat in North America, correctly called a cat-boat. Catamaran - Vessel with two hulls. Originally from east coast of India. "Cat & Fish" - Hold anchor up with fish tackle to fluke and hung off cat head. Cat back – A small line attached to the rear of the cat hook at the end of the cat-fall, used to insert the hook into the balancing band of an anchor, in order to cat it. The similar line attached to the cat-block was called the second cat-back. Cat block – The heavy three-sheaved block fitted to the cat davit. Cat block – A strong iron-bound double or triple block fitted with a bound iron hook attached to the anchor ring and used in catting the anchor. See catfall. Catch a crab – To turn an oar blade the wrong way in the water so that the oar jams in its rowlock. Catch a turn - To make a temporary turn with a rope. Catching-up rope – A light line used to temporarily moor a vessel until a heavier mooring can be attached. Also picking-up rope. Catch ratline - A ratline that has been reinforced. These were rigged regularly amongst normal ratlines. Catch the boat up - 1 Seaman's term for getting ill, form the time a sick boat would circulate through the fleet at anchor and take any sick off to the local naval hospital, for fear they would desert if sent alone. 2 Now used in the Navy to refer to catching a social disease. Cat davit – A heavy davit used to hoist the anchor up to the billboard. Catenary - The curve of an anchor cable as it lies between the ship and the sea bed, caused by the effects of gravity. A good catenary, with more curve, is necessary so that the anchor pulls horizontally into the sea bed and so that the ship does not snub at its anchor as she rides to the sea. Chain cables tend to form better catenaries, hence their choice. 2. A weight attached to a hawser in order to produce a deeper curve in it, to reduce the shock effects from sudden jerks. Cat-fall – The rope tackle used to hoist the anchor. Cat-harpins, catharpins or catharpings - Short ropes rigged between the futtock shrouds under the tops, tightly bracing the lower futtock shrouds, and to therefore giving more room to brace the yards round sharply. Cat-harpin swifter - The foremost of the futtock shrouds, which was never held by the cat-harpins. Cat-heads - Short beams located one each side of the bows and projecting over the side, with a sheave at the outer end, through which the cat tackle was rove, for heaving the anchors up to the cat-head, clear of the bow. Cat-head stopper – A small rope or chain used to hold the stock of an anchor fast after it has been hoisted to the billboard. Cat fall(tge) - Cat hole - The English translation of the French term for the lubber's hole. Catling - A double-edged sharp pointed knife used for amputations. Cat-o'-nine-tails - A means of punishment common to most navies, used to flog miscreants, comprising nine lengths of cord about eighteen inches long, joined to a larger rope that formed a handle. If knotted it was called a thieves' cat. The regulated maximum number of lashes that a British Navy captain was permitted to sentence for any crime was twelve, a number largely ignored by those captains who used the 'cat', as most did. It was a form of punishment generally accepted and respected by seamen, if administered fairly. To 'let the cat out of the bag' was the term for having caused the need for punishment. Room to 'swing a cat' came to denote plenty of room, from this source. See also flogging and thieves' cat. Cat rig - Una rig. Cat's out of the bag - Referred originally to the cat o'nine tails, but came to mean that any trouble is due. Cat's Paw or catspaw - 1. A twisting hitch made in a bight of rope to form two eyes, through which the hook of a tackle could be passed. 2. A ruffle caused by the wind on the water, indicating the approaching end of a calm. Old sailors would then stroke a backstay and whistle, to encourage the wind. Cat Stopper - Held the anchor "cock-billed"CTC Cat-tackle - The large tackle rigged from the cathead, used to weigh the anchor. Tradition has it that the name is from the practice of carving a lion's head on the end of the cat-head, but this is probably an unsolvable chicken-and-egg situation. Cat tail - Cattee - Catting & Fishing - See cat and fish. Catting – Being sick; vomiting. Catwalk - An elevated walkway, without handholds, between the fore and aft parts of a ship, across the waist. Caulk - The verb and noun for the sealing of seams in a vessel's hull to make it watertight, by compressing oakum into the seams and sealing with hot pitch or resin to keep it from rotting. Caulkers - Those employed in caulking. Caulking iron - An iron chisel-shaped tool used for compressing oakum into seams, when struck with a caulking mallet. Caulking mallet - A wedge-shaped wooden mallet used with a caulking iron to force oakum into seams between timbers or deck planks. Cause - In Elizabethan times, a causeway or raised roadway. Cavendish (sometimes Candish), Thomas - (1555-92) British navigator who accompanied Sir Richard Grenville on his voyage to colonise Virginia, following which he set out to circumnavigate the world in 1586, arriving back just in time to miss the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. He died on the return trip after attempting a further circumnavigation in 1592, which failed to pass through the Straits of Magellan. Cavil, kevel - Thick horizontal timber bolted to partner to form a large cleat. Cavitation - Disturbance of the water caused by the negative pressure created when a ship passes through. Cay - Key. Ceiling - The inside planking of a vessel. Celestial body – Any body on the celestial sphere, such as the moon, sun, etc. Also heavenly body. Celestial coordinates – The means by which the positions of heavenly bodies can be identified, by reference to the equator, using right ascension and declination, or to the horizon, by using altitude and azimuth. Celestial equator – The apparent heavenly line coinciding with the terrestrial equator. Also equinoctial. Celestial equator coordinate system – A navigational system based on terrestrial points of reference, such as the poles and equator. Celestial horizon – The great circle located halfway between the zenith and the nadir. Also called rational horizon. Celestial latitude – A body’s apparent angular distance north or south of the ecliptic. Celestial longitude – A body’s angular distance along the ecliptic, from the equinox to a point where a perpendicular drops from it to the ecliptic. Celestial meridians – Great circles through the celestial poles, coinciding with the terrestrial meridians. Also hour circles. Celestial poles – The north and south poles. Celestial sphere - The imaginary sphere onto which the stars appear to be projected, referred to as such in navigation. Cemetery, The – The north-eastern edge of the Dogger Bank, where the seas can be very dangerous during north-westerly gales. Centipedes - 1. A strip of sennit nailed to a staysail boom, with short gaskets on each side, used for 'harbour stowing' the staysail. 2. Fast rowing smugglers boats of the south coast, often with a dozen or more oarsmen, in which they would dash to France and back in the dark. Centre of buoyancy - The centre of flotation or displacement of a vessel, about which it seems to be poised, where all forces meet. Centre of effort - The position on a sail plan where theoretically all the wind forces act. Centre of lateral resistance - A point theoretically at the geometric centre of the side underwater profile of a vessel, upon which side forces act. Centreboard, centre board - A drop keel on a boat, used in boats of shallow draught to increase the depth of their keel by lowering it and improving the vessels resistance to leeway. Generally attributed to American boatmen, it was in fact first used in early Chinese junks. Introduced to the British Navy in the late 18c, by Lord Percy, who had a trial boat made in Boston. Centre Pawl Bitt - on hand lever windlass. CTC Centre through plate keelson - The heavy central girder at the centreline of the hull, formed of a vertical plate with angle-bars riveted to it and the floors. Centring chain - The chains rigged across the entrance and head of a dry-dock, with a marker at its centre to show where the centres were of the blocks on which the ships keel must rest when the dock is pumped out. Centurion, HMS – 1. Commodore Anson’s flagship on his circumnavigation started in 1740, she was a fifty gun fourth rate launched in 1732. 2. HMS Centurion is the modern day Pay and records establishment near Portsmouth. Cesser Clause - The clause in a charter party in which the charterer's liability ceases when the vessel has been loaded and the master has a lien on the cargo. Chafe - To rub or wear the surface of a rope or spar. A hazard to all timber parts and standing rigging, particularly, from the rubbing against them of running rigging, braced spars, etc. It was known as the bosun's great enemy, and was protected against by the use of mats or rounding or baggywrinkle. Chaffer – A jib sail that is shivering in the wind. Chafing board - Any smoothly rounded piece of timber fitted in a position to save the rigging from chafing on otherwise sharp edges. Chafing cheeks - Sheaves used instead of blocks on the yardarms of light vessels. Chafing gear - Any protective mats or covering fitted in a position to save the rigging ropes, masts or spars from unnecessary wear, rigged at a position where wear could occur. See breeches, hanging, paunch, Scotchmen and sword mats. Chafing mats - Puddening. See breeches, hanging, paunch, Scotchmen and sword mats. Chafing spar - A small spar carried abaft the yard to prevent a rolled sail chafing on the lee rigging, on some self-reefing systems. Chafing mat – A portable mat of woven rope or yarn, used to save the rigging from chafing on masts or spars. Chain cable - In place of a hempen anchor cable, chain cable was introduced into the Royal Navy in 1811, and generally adopted by 1820. It was a heavy chain with studs lightly welded across each link to prevent kinking and stretching, as was a problem with open, or crane-chain. Swivels were needed with chain cables. Chain Cable Lifter - on windlass CTC Chain deadeye(hgv) - Chain Fore-Tack - Chain hook – A long handled hook used for handling the chain cable on deck or in the chain locker. Chain Locker - The compartment below decks
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