THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 64 65 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 Columbiad – US ill-fated (?) attempt to improve the carronade by making it lightweight and with a larger bore. Colza Oil - Vegetable oil popular for pouring on troubled waters Comb - A piece of wood bolted to the beakhead, with two holes in, to which the fore tack is taken. Comb cleat – A fitting used to prevent ropes from fouling each other. Usually made of elm or ash and with a semi-circular back like a cockscomb. Combined Ops Come alongside - Reach an agreement, or an encouragement to someone dim to reach understanding. Come home – Said of an anchor that will not hold or has broken free of the ground and is dragging towards the ship. Come to – 1. Stopped. cf Bring to and Lay to. 2. A helm order given when the conner wanted the vessel’s head nearer to the wind. Also come up a little. Come to anchor – To drop the anchor and then ride by it, safely and normally. Come up – The order given to the hands working a rope to stop hauling and slacken off, or to let go sail handling gear. Come up a little – A helm order given when the conner wanted the vessel’s head nearer to the wind. Also come to. Come-up glass - A telescope with divided lenses that gave two images. When they separate, the images show the object to be moving away; when the images overlap, they show that the object is moving towards the viewer. Come up the capstan – The order given to reverse the capstan, in order to slacken the anchor cable. "Coming Here?" - The challenge called to an approaching boat. See Boat Calls. Coming home - The action of the anchor dragging. Coming to - To alter course to sail by the wind. Coming up - The same as coming to. Coming-up tack – The tack that takes a vessel to windward of her course. Comitre - The early Mediterranean title of a boatswain. Commander – 1. The naval rank below Post Captain. Strictly, Master and Commander. 2. A wooden mallet. Commander - 1,2,3 Commanding Officer - 1,2 Commerce Raiding Commissariat Commission - 1 An officer's warrant, the document of an officer’s status in his ship. 2. The period of a ship’s service on a particular assignment. 3. The time during which a warship is in active service, numbered sequentially as first, second, third, etc. commission. Commissioned Officers Commissioners of the Admiralty Board - First Lord was in charge of all business; First Sea Lord was in charge of the organisation of war and the distribution of the fleet; the Second Sea Lord was in charge of personnel; the Third Sea Lord was in charge of materials. Commissioners of the Dockyards - Theoretically members of the Navy Board, but in fact detached, receiving their orders from a member of the Navy Board or a Principal Officer. Each dockyard had its own senior officer, a master shipwright, the master(s) attendant. Commissioners for Sick and Wounded Seamen - Independent of the Navy Board. Responsible for the navy's hospitals and for prisoners of war. Also Sick & Hurt Board. Commissioning Pennant - Pennant that remained flying whilst ship was in commission. Also Masthead Pennant. Commodious - In Elizabethan times, used to mean convenient, profitable or advantageous in some way. Commodity - In Elizabethan times, profit. Commodore's broad pennant Commodore - Highest rank in American Navy, until ??. Common bend – A knot made by passing the end of one rope through the bight of another, then round and under the standing part. Common dog - Common sense. Common Log - Device for measuring ship's speed. Comprised a Logship*, Stayline*, Logline* on a Logreel*. See "Streaming the Log". Originally named from the actual "log". Common whipping – A whipping made by laying a loop of whipping line along a rope, making a number of turns around it, passing the end through the loop and then drawing the loop back under the turns and so hiding and securing the end. Companies - E India, Russian, Levant, South Sea, Muscovy, Royal African, Hudson's Bay, Venice, Turkey Companion - The wooden hood over a hatchway. Companion ladder - A ladder leading from one deck to another. Companionway - A ladder on board ship. Company – The complete crew and officers of a ship. See Ship's Company. Company keepers - Ships in convoy, used to apply to people on land Compass north – The direction indicated by a vessel’s compass, as distinct from true north. Compass Points Compass Timber - Naturally curved or bent timbers, used in various parts of a ship's construction. Compass Variation Compass - Developed and first patented by Englishman Dr Gowan Knight in 1766, then by Ralph Walker in late 18c, although the principles were known since 11c at least. Compass – A device using a magnetised needle on a pivot, from which the direction north can be determined. Compass north – North as indicated by the compass. Compass oaks - The name given to the great oak trees with sweeping branches that were harvested to use for compass timbers in ship construction. Compass of proportion - See Gunter's section. Compass rose – The pattern on a compass card that show all points of the compass. Compass timber – A naturally curved timber, harvested to be used as a frame member when building a ship. Complain - The squeak that a block, or some other component of a vessel, does when it does not like the strain it is put under. A ship complains when her nails, planks, timbers or rigging begin to give way. Complaints Complement – The number of people needed to operate a ship. Composite Ship - Ship constructed of timber with iron or steel framing. Post 1820 Composition - In Elizabethan times, compromise, or treaty, or agreement. Compound course - See Traverse sailing. Compressor - The device used to stop a chain cable, comprising a curved lever pivoted at one end on a vertical bolt, mounted over a chafingpiece at the corner of a coaming. The cable was veered back to the compressor and then checked by being jammed by the lever against the chafingpiece, on the order 'bowse to the compressor'. Compulsory Convoy Act 1798 Comptor - Con – (v) To direct a ship by ordering the helmsman. Also cun. Conceits - In Elizabethan times, ideas or fancies. Condenser Conder – The person who cons a vessel by giving directions to the helmsman. Conding - Giving verbal directions to the helmsman. Also conning or cunning. Conduct Money - Travel expenses when on leave and due to report back to a different base. "Cone Up" - ?The order to cease. Confirmation Conning - Steering a vessel. Conscription Contagious - Foul. Continental lift - Block Continental System, The, or Blockade - By Napoleon from inside Europe, against trade with UK. Contraband - In maritime law, those articles of a warlike nature which a belligerent nation can prevent reaching an enemy by way of neutral shipping. Contractation House - In Elizabethan times, an Exchange. Contrary wind - A wind that lay in the twelve point sector of the compass that a ship was unable to steer into, so preventing her from lying her course. The ship would the need to work, beat, ply or turn to windward, if she was to head in that direction. See Foul wind. Controller - Another name for a chain cable compressor. Convict Ship - See Hulk. Convoy Act 1793 Convoy1,2,3 Cook of the Mess Cook's Portion-+98 Cooks - Were remarkable for their inability to cook BDD Cook - See Ship's Cook Cook-+85 Coon - Sly person. Cooper Cope iron - Rounded section iron banding, used to line the outer edges of tops and cross-trees of later ships, to prevent chafing of rigging on sharp edges. Coper - A floating pub and purveyor of tobacco, pornography, etc. to fleets at sea. From the Dutch 'kooper' meaning buyer. Copped Hay - Smuggled tobacco. Copper bottomed - Said of a ship whose hull was sheathed in copper to prevent fouling and protect against worm; a practice introduced in the latter half of the 18c. From Seamen’s slang for doubly safe and sure, the expression came to be used in land life to mean anything properly done. Copper fastened - Said of a vessel whose fastenings were of copper instead of iron. Copper fish plate Copper Sheathing - Protection against Teredo Worm; 1st ship HMS Alarm 1758; see Deal Sheathing Cordage – 1. The name for the collection of ropes and lines of a ship. 2. The materials from which ropes are made, before they are laid up. Cordovan skin - A fine leather made in Cordova in Spain. Core or coar – 1. The central strand of a fourstranded rope, around which the other strands are laid. 2. To untwist a rope from its kinks. Corinths - In Elizabethan times, currants. Corned Powder - Gunpowder processed into beads, or corns, of glazed powder, to prevent their decomposition or separation in storage. First adopted by the Royal Navy in 1580, because it burnt more steadily and was therefore more reliable and powerful. Corning - Corn Rioters Cornwallis, Admiral Sir Wm - His nicknames included "Coachée", or "Mr Whip", from carriage driving, not punishing, due to certain mannerisms that were evocative of a coachman. More usually "Billy-Go-Tight" or Billy Blue”. Corporation of Trinity House - Incorporated 1514 by Henry VIII Corpusants, or Corposants - St Elmo's fire*. Correcting magnets – One of a variety of devices used to reduce the deviation of the compass, caused by extraneous effects. Corregidor - In Elizabethan times, a magistrate or sheriff. Corsair – To Christian: pirates, but to themselves: Muslim anti-Christian privateers. Corsia - Walkway down centre of galley Corso, The – In Mediterranean languages: Muslim anti-Christian privateering. Corvette - French fast three-masted full-rigged ship, usually 18-24 guns. Corvette Corporal Cot – A ship’s bed made of canvas in a frame suspended from the deck beams like a hammock, used by a ship’s officers. Cot-Boy - (Am) Cottage - A messdeck. Couch -+20, Hollow, See Settee Counter - The arched section aft of the ship, curving upwards from the wing transom and buttock, to the stern above, beneath the cabin windows. Counter bowline ERR
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