THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 98 99 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 Approaches; Atlantic Coasts of France, Spain & Portugal Hong - Chinese mercantile house. Honourable East India Company - Hood - A screen protecting a hatchway or companion way from the weather. Hooding-ends - The ends of the planks that fit into rabbets of the stem and stern-post. Hook - 1. Slang term for the anchor. 2. A triangular plate fixed to the fore end of the hull, for connecting the stringers and for strengthening. 3. A swivel or plain hook attached to the rope or iron block strapping, by which a block is attached. Hook and butt - The name for a joint in a ship's timbers or planks, made by scarfing. Hook block – A block with a hook on its lower end, by which it could be attached. Hook bolt - A bolt with a hook formed in one end, onto which attachments could be made. Hooker, Hookers, Hoekers - 1. A periphrasis for ship, from a ship carrying a hook or anchor. 2. The generic name given to fishing boats on which hooks are used to catch the fish. Hook Pots - Tin pots, part of mess* issue. Hook rope – A rope with a hook attached at one end and used for various jobs. Hook the cat – When weighing anchor, the order given to attach the cat tackle. Hook the fish – When weighing anchor, the order given once the cat tackle has been removed, to attach the fish tackle and then to fish the anchor, bringing its arms up to lie on the anchor bed. Hoop - Measure through which the tightly rolled hammock* must pass before being placed in the netting. Hence the expression "Go through the Hoop", meaning get into trouble, if it did not go through. Hooping, hoops - 1. Iron or other metal bands shrunk onto made-masts and spars at intervals, to hold their components together and to strengthen them. 2 The rings attaching a sail to a spar or mast, in such a way as to allow the sail to slide up or down. Hope, The - A reach of The Thames. Horizon - See Celestial Horizon. Horizon coordinate system – A navigational system based on the observer. Horizontal scarphs - Horn hoop to tiller - (tge) Horn lantern - (tge) Hornpipe - An originally Celtic folkdance played on a horn pipe, adopted by seamen, since about the 15c, and later played on an accordion. Horns - 1 The points of a boom's jaws. 2 The outer ends of the cross-trees. Horn timber - The heavy timber extending aft and upwards from the keel, forming part of the structure of the counter. Horrywaur - Good bye, from au revoir Horse - 1 A foot-rope running from the opposite quarter of a yard to near the end. 2 A rope attached to the foremast shrouds, with a dead-eye to hold the spritsail sheet clear of the anchor flukes. 3. On a smack, a large iron strap about midships, from side to side, on which the main sheet slid. 4. A shallow wooden tray with three sides in which fishing lines are coiled ready for shooting and recoiled when hauled. Lines lashed to the horse are said to have been horsed. Horse block - On which the officer of the watch stood to call his orders. Horse-jack stay - Horse Latitudes - 30N and 30S. Where horses and cattle were thrown overboard to save water, if the vessel was caught in a long calm. Horse Marines - Seamen's slang for clumsy or awkward seamen. Horse-piece - A block of blubber cut up in the mincing machine from a blanket-piece to make it easier to handle and quicker to try out. Horses - SMS Horseshoe clamp - An iron clamp fastening between the dead wood and the lower stem. Horseshoe plate - The horseshoe-shaped plate fitted round the rudder stock, under the counter. Horseshoe rack - The rack, shaped like a horseshoe and placed abaft the masts, to hold blocks acting as fairleads for the running rigging. Horseshoe splice - A splice spanning a rope loop where the leads diverge too far to be seized, in which a short rope is side-spliced into the loop to form a bridge. Horse strop - (ecr) Horsing - Caulking the seams in a vessel's sides. Hortator - A galley slave overseer ? Hot press – A vigorous impressment, usually in times of dire national emergency, in which protections were ignored. Houarios - Mediterranean sailing vessel. Hounding - 1. Part of mast between trestle tree & deck CTC 2. That part of the bowsprit immediately outboard of the bed. Hounds - The projections at the sides of the trestle tree at the top ends of upper masts, to support the trestle-trees and to where the yard ties run. On main masts, the cheeks fulfil the same role. Their location is the same as the fourth quarter of the mast, which is called the hounds instead. Hounds band - A metal band around the upper end of a mast, to which the shrouds are fastened. Hour angle – The angle at the pole between the observer’s meridian and the meridian through a celestial body at any time. Hour circles – Great circles through the celestial poles, coinciding with the terrestrial meridians. Also celestial meridians. Hour-Glass - House (vb) - To make secure. Housed bowsprit - Brought inboard House Flag - The special flag of the firm to which a merchantman belongs. House line – A loose laid line made of three strands, used to seize strops onto blocks. Housing - Part of mast below deck CTC SMS Housing - That part of the bowsprit immediately forward of its heel, which could be round, square or octagonal in section. Also the inboard part of a vessel’s bow that holds the bowsprit. Housing (of bowsprit) - The inboard part of a vessel supporting the bowsprit. Hove down - Cleaned and repaired, originally of ships, but eventually applied to anything Hoveller - An unlicensed pilot or other boatman. Sometimes used to refer to smugglers and wreckers. Also called Hobbler. Her Majesty’s Coastguard – Formed 1820 (1822?) by the joining up of the Water Guard, the Revenue Cutters and the Custom’s Riding Officers. Originally to stop smugglers. Hermaphrodite bark - ERR Hermaphrodite Spar - Spare spar that could be formed into a topmast or a lower yard CTC Herring Busses - Herring lugger – A large drifter with two or three masts and lugsail-rigged fishing for herring. Hide droghing - Seamen's slang for taking cargoes of hides along the coasts of America. High and dry – Said of a ship that has run aground in a position where her keel is exposed at low water. The expression came ashore to mean well and truly stranded. High bunts - SMS High enough – A pipe call meaning: stop. Also called avast. High-Low-Jack & The Game - US Nautical card game High tide – The highest water level reached during one tidal oscillation. Also high water, or full sea. cf low water and low tide. High water – The highest water level reached during one tidal oscillation. Also high tide, or full sea. cf low water and low tide. High water full and change – The tidal prediction term meaning the lunitidal interval at a given port on days of full and change. Also establishment of the port, or vulgar establishment. High wooded – Said of a ship’s boat with an exceptionally amount of freeboard. Hitch – Any noose made around an object, or the standing part of a rope. Hilsea Barracks - Marine barracks at Portsmouth. Hinged rudder - SMS ‘His Ventilators On The Wind’ – Seamen’s expression for someone having his nose to the ground. Hitching the messenger - SMS HMS - His/Her Majesty's Ship. Hobbler - See Hoveller. Hoekers - Hookers, in Dutch. Hog – 1. The tendency of the middle, wider and more buoyant, part of a ship to rise up relative to the less buoyant stem and stern, due to their finer lines. this was a structural problem and was solved by strengthening. See hogging and huck. 2. A large brush made from twigs fastened between two timbers, used to clean a ship’s hull by hauling it along underneath the hull. Hog frame - A strongly formed fore-and-aft frame in a vessel, provided to stop it from hogging. Hogged – Said of a ship whose stem and stern sank lower than the midships section. Hoggets - Yearling sheep. Hoggin - Seamen's slang for the sea. Hogging – 1. The natural tendency of a ship to droop at bow and stern and to arch in the middle, caused by the higher buoyancy where the ship is widest. More extreme in a ship with a relatively weak keel. 2. Scrubbing the bottom of a vessel. Hogging strain - The strain which results in a vessel drooping to stem and stern, resulting in her back breaking if extreme. Hogging truss - A cable run fore and aft to prevent hogging. Hog piece – The relatively heavy timber secured inside the keel, from the fore to the after deadwood, to which the garboard strake, floors and frames are attached. Hogshead - 54 - 56 gallon cask. 500pounds + BDD Hogwash - Seamen's slang for nonsense and for the sea. Hoist, or hoist away – 1. The order given to man all relevant lines and haul on them to lift a sail or spar into place. 2. (v) To lift a load by using a tackle. 3. The distance by which a yard or sail can be raised by its tackles. 4. That part of a sail that is bent to a yard or stay. 5. The first Pipe Call meaning hoist. Sometimes called haul away. Hoist away - See Hoist. Hoist in - Seamen's slang for understanding a matter. Hoisting gaff - ERR Hold - 1. The internal cavity of the ship in which cargo, stores and ballast are stored. 2. A fort. Hold a luff – To continue sailing close to the wind. Hold beam - The beam that supports the lower deck in a cargo vessel. Holders - Holding ground – The seabed into which a ship’s anchor is required to do its job. Good holding grounds included clay and mud bottoms, but foul or poor holding grounds include such conditions as soft mud, sand or rocks. Hold on – To keep on course. Hold pillars - The supports in a vessel's hold, between the floor and beams of the hold, for deck support and strength. Hold stringers - Fore-and-aft timbers at the sides of a vessel's hold, for strengthening. Hold well - Holiday – 1. A bare patch missed during the painting or varnishing of the surfaces of a vessel, from the assumption that the painter had had a break there. 2. A gap between items rigged to dry on a clothes line. Hollow iron keel - A box-section keel formed from bending up an iron plate, as distinct from a box keel, which was assembled from flat plates riveted together by angle-bars. Hollow plate stern-post - A stern-post formed in the same way as a hollow iron keel, by bending a flat plate instead of an assembly of plates and angle-bars. Holmes storm & danger signal lights - SMS Holystones - Soft white sandstone or pumice blocks, used to scrub wooden decks. Large ones were called bibles and small ones were called prayer books. Holystoning – (v) To use a holystone – what else? Home - Said of an object secure in its right place. e.g. sails are home when tightly clewed in; stores are home when securely lodged in the hold; the anchor comes home when it is freed from the ground and hauled aboard. Homer – A large ray. Homeward bound – Heading for the home port. Home Waters - The Channel; North Sea; Western
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