THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 82 83 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 Flemish ropes - Coils Flensing – Cutting blubber from a whale’s carcass. Flesh Bag - Seamen's slang for a shirt. Fleute, Flute, Fluyt, Fluite, Fliete, Vliete - Dutch three-masted freight ship from 15c. Flewers – A seamen’s term for those who fish inside the lawful limit, those who take fish below the legal size limit and for river fishermen. Flewes - A kind of fishing net. Fliete - Dutch three-masted freight ship from 15c. Flinch – To flense or slice the blubber from the carcass of a whale. Flinder's bar - See Correcting magnets. Flintlock - Used on later cannon. Flip - A drink made from rum or brandy mixed with beer and sugar and heated, usually having been smuggled aboard. Floating dock - A form of dry dock comprising a flating pontoon, raised and lowered by pumping water in or out as necessary. Floating light - See Light-vessel. Floating Republic - So-called republic of selfstyled President Robert Parker, leader of the Nore Mutiny in 1797. Floe - See Ice. Flogged around the fleet - The most serious punishment short of hanging, that usually had the same result, but more painfully. It was a sentence to be flogged a dozen (or more) at each ship of the fleet, in a small boat rowed from ship to ship. Flogging - +111 Flog [ or flogging] a dead horse - Seamen's slang for doing something for nothing, or no good reason. This is from the fact that a month's work was called a dead horse, for which the crew were paid in advance. On the last evening of the month the men would flog a straw-filled effigy of a horse being paraded around the ship, after which it would be thrown overboard. The expression came ashore from the fact that the crew would not work hard during the first month, having already been paid for it. Flog the glass - Tap the hourglass when no-one was looking, to make the sand run faster, and so shorten the watch - theoretically. Came to mean do something to shorten ones trick, or period of duty. Flood tide – The movement of water towards the shore, or upstream, caused by the rising tide. Also flow, or flux. Floor - That part of the bottom of a vessel extending horizontally each side of the keel, on which it would rest if grounded. See also Floor timber. Floor head - The upper end of a floor timber. Floor hollow - The shape formed by the top surface of a floor timber. Floor, rise of - SMS Floors - The vertical plates extending between bilges, onto which the frames are attached. Floor-timber - That part of a vessel's frame that forms the lowest members of the frame, where they cross and are fixed to the keel - between the keel and the keelson - and forming the bottom of the vessel. Flota - Flotas - *52 Flotation lines - SMS Flotilla Flotsam - Goods or material found floating in the sea. See also Jetsam. Flour stowage - Flow – The movement of water towards the shore, or upstream, caused by the rising tide. Also flood tide, or flux. Flower of the winds - See Compass rose. Flowing sheet – The sheet of a sail that has been eased off when the sail is full and the vessel is running free. Flow of wind - SMS Flue - Barb on harpoon. Fluid compass - See Liquid compass. Fluite - Dutch three-masted freight ship from 15c. Fluke – The widened and usually pointed end of the arms of an anchor. The bit that digs into the ground and holds the anchor in place. Fluke bar – An iron bar fitted with a number of hooks, that was dragged along the seabed to impale fish. Also called a murderer. Flukes – A whale’s tail. Fluky – Said of a light variable wind. Flummery - Flurry – The final convulsions of a lanced whale. Flush Deck - A ship with A continuous upper deck, at one level from stem to stern, or without a break or step and lacking a quarterdeck and forecastle. Flush plating - A style of plating with the edges of plates butt jointed and the joints made fast by means of butt straps. Flute - Dutch three-masted freight ship from 15c. Flux – 1. The movement of water towards the shore, or upstream, caused by the rising tide. Also flow, or flood tide. 2. Dysentery. Fluyt - Dutch three-masted freight ship from 15c. Fly block - SMS Fly-boat - A small fast-sailing vessel. Fly-by-night – A large sail used only for sailing downwind, that required very little attention once it had been set. Flyer - SMS Flying - Not coming down to the deck. Flying backstay - SMS Flying Dutchman - See Dutchman, Flying. Flying fish - Flying fuse - Lighted match sealed in with explosive. Flying jib - SMS Flying jibboom - SMS Flying jibstay - ERR Flying kites - Wearing extra, light sails, eg studdingsails. Flying moor - SMS Flying the Blue Pigeon - Flying the lead round the Leadsman's head in a circle prior to casting. Fock mast - SMS Foist - A small light two-masted Levant galley or Portuguese vessel with about eighteen to twenty oars a side. Foke sails - SMS Folkestone cutter - Official name for cutters in the RN Followers - Following Sea - Following sea - See Head sea. Fish pieces - 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. Sometimes simply called fishes. Fish room - (tge) Fish sides - The side pieces of a made mast. Also called side fishes or aris pieces. Fish's tit - Nothing. Used such as "I don't give a fish's tit" when meaning "I don't care". Fish-tackle-burton - A burton rigged from the fore topmast head, to be used to lift the anchor when no anchor crane or davits are rigged. Also fish-tackle pendant or fore-topmast-burton. Fish-tackle pendant - See fish-tackle-burton. Fish Tackle - A heavy tackle used for getting the anchors over the bows. CTC Fitting out - The installation of masts, rigging and all other gear to make a ship ready for sea. Fix – A vessel’s position determined by the intersection of two or more position lines. Fixed light - In navigation constant light (F), as distinct from a flashing light (FL). Fixed point, reefing - SMS Fixing the Enemy - To strike. Fizgig – A trident or harpoon. ‘Flag!’ - Reply of a ship's boat, to a challenge from a ship, when a Flag Officer is being carried. Also, the cry of a sentry who spots the approach of a boat wearing an Admiral's Flag. Flag (The) – The flagship. Flag Captain - Flag halliard sheave - (tge) Flag Jack - Seamen's name or the Flag Lieutenant. Flag lieutenant – An officer in the Royal Navy who is assigned duty as the personal aide to a flag officer. Flag locker - Compartmented cabinet on the quarter deck containing signal flags in their allocated order, ready for the signal lieutenant to readily find them when making up a flag signal. Flag Officer - An Admiral. Red: [Full] Admiral - Centre squadron; White: Vice-Admiral - Van squadron; Blue: Rear-Admiral - Rear squadron. Flags - 1 The Yeoman of Signals. 2 The nickname of the Flag Lieutenant. Flags, types - Ensign, jack, commodore's broad pennant, commissioning pennant(tge) Flagship - The command ship of a fleet or squadron, wearing the Admirals' Flag, and so accommodating that Admiral or highest ranking officer. Flag Signal - Flagstaff - (hgv) Flag wagger - When semaphore was introduced, the signalman. Flake – 1. (v) To coil a rope flat on the deck, to allow it to run smoothly and without tangling. A rope would be flaked into a tiddly coil, or flaked down on deck for a thorough inspection. 2. A light platform or staging rigged over the side for the seamen to stand on when working on the ship’s hull. Flake a mainsail – To take in a gaff sail and secure it to the boom, in bights on both sides. Flaking the cable - SMS Flam - CTC Flambard - Coastal boat used in Normandy in 18/19c, about 26feet long and open. Usually a fishing boat, but often used as a pilot or supply boat. Flamming - SMS Flamming tackle – A tackle worked through its own port in a ship’s side and used to haul an anchor to the side when stowed vertically. Flange bows - Bows with a flared shape. Flap - Seamen's slang for panic or confusion. Flare - The upward and outward curve of the bows. SMS CTC Flashing light (FL) - In navigation flashing light (FL), as distinct from a constant light (F). Flat - The Mids' living space aft of the lower gun deck. Flat aback – 1. The situation of a vessel with her sails aback and pressed against the mast. 2. Seamen’s slang for surprised. Flat aft – Said of a fore-and-aft sail with its sheet hauled as taut as possible. Flat-in – To haul the clews of a fore-and-aft sail as far aft as possible. Also flatten. Flate plate keel - A keel outside the bottom shell plating, formed of a horizontal plate with anglebars for strengthening. Flats – All types of flatfish. Flat seam – A seam between two joined pieces of canvas, in which the edges overlap. Flat seizing - A seizing binding a rope’s end to its standing part by taking a number of turns around both. Flat sennit – A simple plait of more than three strands, formed by each strand passing over two adjacent strands, and laid flat. Flatten – To haul the clews of a fore-and-aft sail as far aft as possible. Also flat-in. Flatting in - SMS Flaunching plan - ? Flax - Sail Linen *46 - Sails were made of Flax Canvas. Flax rope – Rope made of flax, which is twice as strong as the more usual manila rope of comparable size. Flead, fleane - Flayed. Fleet - 1 The Royal Navy. 2 To move a heavy object in small careful increments. 3 The area of a ship's side to be reached from one position of a painter's cradle. 4 A creek. Fleet-in-Being - Fleeting – Repositioning and separating the blocks, or other components, of a tackle to improve its efficiency. Also overhauling. Fleeting the turns - SMS Fleet the cable - On a windlass. Flemish coil – A tiddly method of coiling a rope flat on deck, used in port to help the ship look good. Flemish eye - An eye formed by unlaying one strand of a rope and taking the remaining starnds back, with the single strand laid around in the contrary direction, forming an eye which is then fayed and served. Flemish eye-knot - BDD Flemish fakes - Coils of rope on deck. Flemish horses – 1. Additional foot-ropes rigged on yards having reefing sails. 2. The outermost footrope of a yard.
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