THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 88 89 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 Give way starboard, back port oars – The order given to a boat’s crew to turn a boat suddenly towards port by one side pulling and the other backing. Of course, give way port, back starboard oars results in a mirror image. Give way together – The order given to a boat’s crew to commence rowing, taking the stroke from the starboard bowman. Also up together. Glass - 1. The name given to a period of one half an hour, from the fact that the hour-glass was made of glass, and that one turn lasted thirty minutes. 2. The hour-glass itself was called the glass. 3. Telescopes were colloquially called glasses. 4. As were barometers, where the actions of the spirit or mercury indicators were described as a rising or falling glass, etc. 5. Gloss. Gleet - Penis, in seamen's slang. Globular sailing – Any sailing by navigation that takes account of the roughly spherical shape of the Earth. Also spherical sailing. Glorious First of June - The first fleet action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought 400 miles west of Ushant in 1794 and considered one of the greatest convoy actions in naval history. French Rear Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse lost the battle but succeeded in drawing Lord Howe's fleet away from The Chesapeake Bay grain convoy, which escaped. Preservation of the convoy was Villaret-Joyeuse's main purpose and he was under threat of the guillotine from Robespierre if he had failed. Glory hole - An odd space where litter, deck sweepings or gear is pushed out of sight. Glut – A small piece of canvas sewn into the middle of the top of a square sail, through which an eyelet to take a line was formed. Gnomonic chart – A chart constructed on the gnomonic projection. Go about – Change from one tack to another. Go ahead – To move straight ahead. Gob line, or rope - 1 One of a pair of ropes or chains running from the end of the dolphin striker, back to the sides of the bows to stay the jib-boom and the flying jib-boom against the forward and upward tensions, to which they are subjected. Also called martingale backrope, or stay. Go by the board - Said of a piece of mast or other equipment that breaks off from the deck and goes overboard. Godown – A far-eastern warehouse. Going free – Sailing before the wind. Going large – Said of a vessel sailing with a fair wind and all sails drawing. Golden Hind - Sir Francis Drake's flagship for his circumnavigation of the world in 1577-1580. Originally called Pelican, this ship was about 75 feet long with a 19 foot beam and a tonnage of up to 150 tons, had 18 guns, three masts squarerigged but with a lateen sail on the mizzen and had a crew of up to 164 men (returning after disease and distress with a crew of just 54 men but also with a booty of £2,225,000 in gold). Golden number - A factor of the Moon's nineteen year cycle, used in the sixteenth century calculations of the Moon's age, for navigational purposes. Gone Adrift - Said of a sailor who had not returned from leave. Not to be confused with a deserter, a sailor who had gone adrift was expected to turn up before long, probably showing evidence of over indulgence. Goneys - Albatrosses. Gong buoy - See Whistle buoy. Good full - SMS Good Voyages - Carrying freight for Captain's profit - stopped late 17c Goodwin (later North Goodwin) - Trinity House lightship established 1795. Goodwin Sands - Known by seamen as The Great Ship Swallower. Go off - Change tack. Goose-neck - A universal joint between a boom and its mast or other fixed base. Gooseneck Joint - CTC Goose wing – In a square-rigged vessel, the arrangement of a course or foresail with its weather clew hauled up to the yard and the lee clew hauled down and spread. Goose-winged – The arrangement of a fore-andaft rigged ship with sails set alternately to port and starboard. Also wing and wing. Goosewinging a sail - SMS Gordon - (1782-1869) Admiral of the Fleet. The last governor of the Royal Naval Hospital Greenwich, after a distinguished career as a fighting captain. Seen by some as the 'real Hornblower', as the parallels between his and the fictional character's exploits have been recorded. Gore - An angle cut at ends of sailcloth to increase width or depth. Gorge – The swallow of a block. Goring – Any sail that widens towards its foot, from the word ‘gore’, a tailor’s term for a wedgeshaped piece of cloth. Goring cloth – The wedge-shaped outer cloth of a topsail, that made the sail widen towards its foot. Go through the hoop - The test of a correctly lashed up hammock was to pass it through a standard hoop. Failure meant relash it. Go to the Bilboes - Be put in leg irons, from Bilbao, Spain, where they were made Governor of an Island - A marooned seaman. BDD Grab, galivat – Native oared boats mounting 4 or 5 guns. Forerunners of the Bombay Marine. Grabby - Old name for a Marine. Grab-lines – 1. Lines that run vertically up a reefing sail and used to haul up the sail, with jackline-reefing. 2. The familiar lifelines hanging in bights around a lifeboat. Grab rail - A handrail fastened around a deckhouse. Grab ratline - A line attached above the rim of the top, to help crewmen climbing up the shrouds. Grab rope - SMS Grabs - Indian galleys. Graduation - The scale of latitude and longitude around a chart’s border. Graft(vb) - To make up a woven cover over a splice. Graft – 1. A type of straight splice. 2. The decorative cover formed over a graft splice. 3. (v) To make a graft splice, or a cover for it. Grain – The water ahead of a moving vessel. Grains – An American name for a multiplemeant 'clear a path'. Gantlet, run the, or gantlope, or gauntlet - A form of Royal Navy punishment 'enjoyed' by those who had transgressed against their fellow crew members, in various ways. The offender was sat on a grating and pulled, or would be required to march, up to three times, between two ranks of crew members, each of whom would be armed with a starter or similar weapon. His march would be encouraged by someone walking behind him with the point of a sword caressing his spine, and the armed crewmen would be expected to greet the passing felon with gusto, expressed in the strength with which they struck him. This was a serious and dangerous form of punishment, often resulting in injury to the recipient and often dreaded more than a conventional flogging. It was abolished early in the nineteenth century. Often mistakenly called 'run the gauntlet', in which form it has penetrated shore-based language. Gantline, or girtline – A rope rove through a single block at a lower mast-head, used to set up the rigging. Gantlope - Early version of gantlet. See Gantlet, run the. Gaol-fever – Typhus. Garbled – The practice of mixing rubbish with the cargo was known as ‘garbling’; a prohibited practice, hence the cargo so treated was said to have been garbled. Garbler - A sorter or sifter of spices, carried on large 16c merchant ships. Garbling - The practice of mixing rubbish with the cargo. Garboard Planks – Thicker. Garboards - CTC Garboard strake – The longitudinal line of plating or outer planks immediately each side of the keel, let into grooves in the keel, called garboard strake rabbets. Garland – A collar of rope around the head of a mast to support the standing rigging and stop it chafing against the mast. Garnet - A tackle hooked onto the triatic stay and used for hoisting heavy goods, comprising double and single blocks stropped with a hook and thimble. Gash - Seamen's slang for something left over, so available free. Gasket - A line attached to a yard and used to secure a furled sail. Gaskets - Dangerous group of rocks west of Alderney. Gast-cope – An unpaid volunteer boy on an unpaid trial voyage aboard a cod smack or herring drifter. Gate at crosstrees - SMS Gather way – To begin moving through the water. Gauntlet - One form of punishment was for a felon to run between his crewmates, each of whom was armed with knotted nettles and who struck him as he passed. See Gantlope. Gay-bao - ERR Gear - 1 The collective term for all the ropes, lines, tackle, etc., of a particular sail. 2. Fittings, tools, etc. generally. Geared capstan - SMS Geers - Gelid Sea - General Average - General Quarters - General - Post (not rank) of the commander of any expedition, whether maritime or military. Gentoo – A gentile or non-Mohammadan. Geographical mile – A measure of distance of one minute of arc at the equator, making it 6,087 feet. Geographical position – The point on the Earth’s surface where a celestial body is directly overhead at a given moment in time. Also sub-celestial point. Germe - Egyptian two -masted lateen Nile sailing vessel. Geswarps - ? On which boats are rigged to swinging booms. Getting down the track - SMS Ghost Along - CTC Ghosting - SMS Gibbet – The frame structure from which a noose was rigged and so from which a hanging person was required to dangle. Gibbet Island – An exposed island on the River Thames, where pirates were conspicuously hanged. Gibbous - Gig - Gildings – Fish that have been attacked and mutilated by dog-fish after having been caught in the nets. Gilguy - See Dooflicker. Gilkicker Mark - Navigational mark at Gosport. Gill - +106 Gimbals - Gimbleting, gimleting – Turning an anchor round by its stock to get it into the right position for stowing on the anchor bed. Gimcrack - Gimletting - See Gimbleting, Gin Block - CTC Gingall – A heavy musket or light swivel gun fired from a rest. Gingerbread – The fancy gilded carving around a ship’s stern was nicknamed gingerbread, from which knocking the gilt of the gingerbread came to mean taking the shine off something. Gin Pennant - Green and white pennant, signal to invite all to a party aboard. - +21 Gin-tackle - A two block purchase. Girder - A strong long iron or steel beam. In a ship, this term is specifically applied to longitudinal components under the sides of decks, or along the centreline of the decks. Girdling the hull - SMS Girt – Said of a ship that is so tightly anchored on two anchors that she is not free to swing to wind and tide. Girtline – A rope rove through a single block at a lower mast-head, used to set up the rigging. Also gantline. Give way starboard (or port), or Give way back port (or starboard) or Give way oars - The orders given when a boat under oars has to turn quickly, by one side pulling while the other backs. Also see next item.
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