THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 80 81 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 human or animal, fixed under the bowsprit onto the stem. Figure of eight - A type of knot, made by passing the end of a rope through a loop, thus creating a stop to prevent the rope unreeving. Filibuster - A pirate, probably from the Dutch word vrijbuiter, meaning freebooter or smuggler. Fill (vb) - To trim the sails to catch the wind. Filler - A filling-piece in a made mast. Filling - See Filler. Filling room - The room adjacent to the magazine, where charges were filled. Fife-rail - The pin-rail around the bitts, because it looked like a fife due to line of holes CTC Figgy duff - A sweet suet pudding. Fighting canvas - Usually reefed topsails. Courses were never down, as they would just get in the way. Fighting Sword - Straight sword of mid 18c. Fighting Instructions - And Additional ## Fighting stoppers - SMS Fight Shy - Show cowardice, or at best extreme caution. Figu - Plantain. Figurehead Figure of eight – A simple knot made by passing the end of a rope round the standing part and through the bight, used to stop a rope slipping through a sheave. Fill – (v) To trim a vessel’s sails to catch the wind. Filling half timber - (tge) Filler, filling - A filling piece in a made mast. Filling - SMS Fillings - The side parts of a three part timber covering to mast hoops, to protect the sails from being chafed on them. Find Findals Fine - End. Fine lines - Said of a vessel with a fine entrance and narrow beam. Also clean lines. Fine metal and Coarse metal – Grades of gunmetal; there was a 3:2 price difference between the two grades, so quality versus quantity choices had frequently to be made when ordering new ordnance to be manufactured. Fine trim - Seamen's slang for being in good spirits. Fine weather flop - The unexpected dash of water over a vessel's side in fine weather Fir built ships - Emergency expedients, only done during hostilities. Took half the time to build but lasted half as long as oak in service. Fire-and-Lights - The Master-at-Arms, whose nightly duties included checking that all fire and lights had been extinguished. Fire boom - (ecr) Fire bucket Fire Engine Fire Engine - Force pumps carried on larger ships. Fire bucket - (hgv) Fire-pence – Dues paid by merchant vessels passing lighthouse/beacons, used to maintain those lights. First ordinance by Henry III in 1261. Fireship Fireships of the sally port - Strong drinks. Fire-shot – Incendiary shells. Firing on the roll - SMS Firk - To beat a midshipman* with a knotted rope. See also Cob. Firkin - An 8-10 gallon cask. Firking Firm - A member or members of the crew who perform a service for payment, such as the dhobie firm. First Dog - The Dog Watch of 1600 to 1800. See Last Dog, for obvious reasons. First light – The first appearance of daylight in the eastern sky before sunrise. Also dawn, or daybreak. First Luff - American sailors' name for First Lieutenant. First mate – The chief officer, under the master, of a merchant vessel. First meridian – A semi-great-circle on the world, from pole to pole and perpendicular to the equator, from which longitude is reckoned. Also prime meridian. First Rate – A first rate ship was the largest sailing warship at any given time. The rating of warships was based on the number of heavy cannon they carried; small cannon and carronades were not counted. The ratings varied over time, but conventionally it is useful to take first rate as meaning a ship with 100 or more heavy cannon. First rate is an expression that has come ashore, to mean ‘the best’, which follows. First reef - SMS First turn of the screw pays all debts - Seamen's recent slang for the fact that a ship leaving harbour meant debts owed by its crew were unlikely to be recovered. Later version of 'Paying all debts with the topsail sheet'. First Watch - 2000 to 2359. Fish – 1. (v) To hoist up the flukes of an anchor once it has been catted, before stowing it on the anchor bed. 2. (v) To mend a mast or spar by binding a splint to it. 3. A convex shaped section of wood used to reinforce a damaged mast or spar, fastened in pairs on both sides of the damaged section, as splints. 4. The davit used to fish the anchor. Fish davit – A derrick used with the cat-davit to hoist the flukes of an anchor to the billboard. Fish Days - 1563 Legislation to enforce fish consumption and thereby strengthen the Navy by effectively creating a nursery for, and reserve of, seamen. Fisherman’s bend – A knot made by passing the end of a rope through the ring of an anchor, making a half hitch through both parts and a half hitch round the standing part, with the end stopped. Fishes – See fish pieces. Fish front - A strengthening piece in a made mast. Fish Hooks - Fingers, especially when frozen. Fishing - In navigation, searching for a heavenly body at twilight by setting the instrument at the expected altitude and the sweeping the horizon under that body. Fishing and catting Fishing - Angling Fishing - Joining spars etc Falling off - SMS Fall off - SMS False Colours False keel False Muster - Muster that includes names entered to falsely give them Sea Time. See False Time. False rail - (hgv) False stem - A shaped cutwater fixed to the stem to give a better shape. False stern-post - The reinforcement timbers fastened to the stern post. False tack - SMS False Time - Sea Time earned through being entered on a False Muster. This was most commonly used by ship's commanders to help further the careers of fellow officer's sons, who needed to demonstrate that they have experience at sea before passing their lieutenant's exam. Less often, False Musters were used for illegal pecuniary advantage to the captain. Fancy line - ERR SMS Fancy Piece - Stern carving Fandango Fanfaronade - Foolishness. Fanning of the masts - SMS Fare - Early word for haul or catch. Farol - A faggot of burning wood used as a signal. Farthell, furl - SMS Fartill-boat, Fertle-boat - Obscure word for measure. Fash - A crooked or irregular seam in the planking. Fashion & Filling pieces Fashion pieces - The aftermost pieces of a vessel's frame, from which the shape of the stern is derived, fixed between the stern post and the wing transoms. Fast fish – A whale that has been killed and so has become the legal property of those fast to it. Also a whale that has been marked with a waifpole to show who has harpooned it. Fat - A cask. Father - Seamen's slang for the commanding officer, usually the captain. Fathom - The nautical measure equalling six feet, usually of depth or rope length. "Wherever you find a fathom of water, there you will find the British", said Napoleon. If one could not see the bottom of a problem one was said not to be able to fathom it. Fathom curves - See Fathom lines. Fathom lines - Contour lines in the sea area charts showing the depths. Faulty Relief - +62 Favourable wind - SMS Fay - To join timbers so closely as to make the join perfect. Fearnought Trousers Fearnought-Frieze Feather – (v) To turn the blade of an oar so that it is horizontal when out of water, to reduce wind resistance. A good thing to do. Feather-white - A sea was feather white with foam Feeding gale – An increasing storm. Felloe (of wheel) - (tge) Felt - +79 Felucca - Southern boat similar to brigantine, but double ended, 42' long, 8'beam Fencible - In Elizabethan times, used to describe somewhere or something easy to defend. See Sea Fencibles. Fender – Any device used to protect a vessel from chafing or impact. See also puddings. Fender bolt - A bolt with an exceptionally large head that was used as a fender to protect the ship. Fenders - Cushions of wood or other material to protect the ship’s side with alongside. Ferula - Punishment for swearing. BDD Ferrule - (tge) Fetch - 1. The extent of the stretch of water over which the wind has been blowing and so over which the swell is generated. The longer the fetch, the longer the pitch of the waves. 2. The length of distance between waves. Fetch away – To leave the shore and drift with the wind and tide. Fetching the pump – Priming the pump by pouring water into the top to purge air from above the plunger. Fetch up all my lee-way with a wet sail - Pay up my debts. Fid – 1. A heavy wooden pin or a spike of wood or iron, with a square section and shoulder at one end, inserted through a hole in the heel of the topmast into the trestle-tree to fix it in place. Came to refer to a heavy load of papers, or similar. 2. A tapered wooden tool used as a marlin spike. Fidded - Said of a finally fixed topmast, with its fid in place. Fidded topmast - Separate from lower mast Fiddle - SMS Fiddle block - A single-shelled block in which two sheaves turn on separate pins, a larger one above a smaller, thus permitting two ropes to be worked at the same time. Used where the flatter fiddle block was more suitable than the fatter double block. Fiddles – Strips of wood fastened around table tops on board to stop articles from sliding off in bad weather. Fiddle head - A decorative scroll shaped carving at a vessel's bow, similar to the scroll of a violin - hence the name. Fiddler's Green – The general name given, by seamen, to an inns area on shore, considered by them to be the sailors' imaginary Heaven, where the only hardship was choosing which pub, dance or lady to enjoy. It was often used to describe an easy time, more often in the negative, such as “This is not Fiddler’s Green!”, meaning an opportunity for relaxation has been misjudged and is non-existent. Fiddler's Green - Fiery edge - To 'take off the fiery edge' was to attract the first firings of a ship, fleet or battery and to fire back, causing disarray and/or damage, to lessen the fire upon following ships. Fife rails - Racks of regular holes located around the decks and at a ship's sides, into which belaying pins are housed for securing the ship's ropes and falls. Figure-head - The carved figure, usually of a
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