Nautical Terms


Home Page A Message from the CO Sections Parents Frequently Asked Questions Training Unit History Photographs Pastoral Care Contact Us History of the Sea Cadets Bullying Nautical Terms Links Parents and Friends Association	Nautical Terms All Sailors and Seafarers have a language all their own, one with roots going far back into the past. Included here are some of those roots, along with definitions. Aboard On or in a vessel. The word comes from two sources, Latin bordure and Anglo-Saxon bordure, both meaning "side," suggesting a very early mingling of the nautical terminologies of Northern and Mediterranean sailors. Adrift Broken from moorings. Aft An adverb, meaning "toward the stern," as in "lay aft to the boiler room," from the Anglo-Saxon aeft, meaning "rear". After An adjective, meaning toward the stern, as in "we're taking water in the after boiler room." Sometimes shortened to "aft," as in "the aft boiler room," but nautical purists draw the line at such corruption of the language. Athwartships At right angles, from side to side or across e.g. athwart the tide. Awash Level with the surface of the water Beam The width of a vessel; also a structural component. Both uses come from the Anglo-Saxon word beam, meaning "tree". Belay To secure a rope to a cleat, belaying pin or bollards. Below Below decks, as in "going below to 3 Deck", never "down". Bight Any part of a rope that is folded may be called a bight, except the ends. Binnacle The stand on which the ship's compass is mounted. Before the 18th century, the word was “bittacle”, which came from the French “habitacle” and the Latin “habitaculum”, meaning a “place of habitation”. Before compasses came into use, it was referred to as a lantern stand. Boat Any small craft, as opposed to a ship, which carries boats. Also, perhaps in a general spirit of perversity, submariners and naval aviators refer to their respective vessels (submarines and aircraft carriers), as "boats". The word comes from the old Norse “bato”, or possibly “beit”, both meaning "boat". Bow Also “bows”; the forward end of any vessel. The word may have come from the old Icelandic “bogr”, meaning "shoulder". Bridge The control or command center of any power vessel. The term arose in the mid-19th century, when the "bridge" was an athwartships structure, very much like a footbridge, stretched across the vessel between, or immediately in front of, the paddle wheels. Bulkhead A wall or partition aboard ship. It comes from the old Norse “balker”, meaning “partition". Bulwark A solid rail or wall extending the ships sides above the deck. From old English and Norse, but of unknown meaning. Crow's Nest A lookout station positioned at the highest practical point on a ships mast. The origin of "nest" seems obvious, but why crows? One possibility is that Norse ships carried ravens in cages, which were hoisted aloft and released in order to find the direction to the nearest land. Davits A pair of cranes used for hoisting and lowering a ship's boats. The word came into use in the early 17th century and at that time was spelled "davids", possibly a reference to their unknown inventor. Deck What you walk on aboard ship (never the flood). Originally from the middle Dutch “dec”, meaning "roof." Fall The line on any tackle that is hauled. The tackles on boat davits are known as boat falls, from the middle English “fallen”, meaning a “fall”. Forecastle Pronounced "fo'c's'l", and usually now spelled that way. Now the foredeck of a vessel, the term originally referred to a raised and fortified platform at the ship's bow, used by archers in combat at sea as early as the 13th century. Fore The line between the stem and stern that is in line with the keel. Aft Line Forward Pronounced “for’ard”; towards the bow of the vessel. Frames The "ribs" of a vessel. The word comes from the old Italian “fram”, meaning "frame." Freeboard That part of a ship’s sides above water, from the Anglo-Saxon “framebord”, meaning “the frame's side". Galley The ship's kitchen, where food is prepared. The origin is uncertain, but may have arisen with the ship’s cook and helpers thinking of themselves as "galley slaves" (a galley was originally a fighting ship propelled by oars, from the Latin “galea”). Gangway One of several words for a shipboard passageway. Also, an opening for gaining access to or from a ship, or a shouted command meaning that someone is coming through. Gang is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "path", while “way” is from “weg”. Grog Admiral Vernon (1684-1757) wore his cloak of grogram (silk and wool mix) so habitually that his men nicknamed him “Old Grog”. When the Admiral suggested to the British government that they could save money by diluting the Navy rum ration with 50% water, and the law was passed to that effect, sailors took to calling the rum ration “Grog”. Gunwale Also “gunnel”; the upper edge of the side of a vessel, or a low bulwark. A “wale” was any of the strakes on the side of a vessel, from “walen”, an old English word meaning "ridge". A "gunwale" was that part of the bulwark structure along the main deck where the guns were carried. Head (1) The uppermost or forward-most part of a ship (or of some specific part of a ship, such as the masthead, beakhead, stemhead, or whatever). Heads (2) The bathroom. In the age of sail, the crew was quartered forward in the forecastle, and their latrine was located on the beakhead, overhanging the water as in those days there was no paper! Killick The old word for a small anchor, hence the nickname for a Leading Hand is a “killick”. Ladder On shipboard, all stairs are called "ladders", except for literal staircases aboard passenger liners. Most "stairs" on a ship are narrow and nearly vertical, hence the name. From the Anglo-Saxon “hiaeder”, meaning “ladder”. List Both a noun and a verb referring to a ships upping to one side or the other due to poor trim, shifting cargo, or sinking. The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon “lystan”, meaning "to lean". Mess Part of the ship's company that eats together (such as the officers' mess) and, by extension, the place where they eat. On passenger liners, the passengers may still eat in dining rooms, but the crew eats in the mess. from late Latin “missum”, i.e. that which is put on a table. Midships Lying midway between stem and stern in a fore and aft line or midway between starboard and port on a line. Officer A definition is scarcely necessary, and it's derivation from the old French “official” is obvious. They've been with us a long time, though. The word originally comes from the late Latin “officarius”. Overhead The ceiling aboard ship. Never "ceiling", which on a vessel refers to the interior planking or plates affixed to the ship's frames. Poop Deck The aft-most, raised weather deck on a ship. The name came from the middle English “poupe”, from the Latin “puppim”, meaning the rear section of a ship. The word derived from the Latin “puppis”, meaning a doll or small image. The Romans and other ancient seafaring peoples had a small sacred idol or image affixed to the stern, where the deity it represented could watch over the vessel. To be “pooped” incidentally, meant to have a wave break over the ship's stern. Port (1) The left side of the ship when facing forward. The original term was "larboard", but the possibility of confusing shouted or indistinct orders to steer to larboard with steering to starboard at a crucial moment was both obvious and serious, so the term was legally changed to “port” in the British Navy in 1844, and in the American Navy in 1846. The word “port” was taken from the fact that ships traditionally took on cargo over their left sides, i.e. the side of the vessel facing the port. This was probably a holdover from much earlier times when ships had steering-boards over the right side aft; obviously, you couldn't manoeuvre such a vessel starboard side to the pier without crushing your steering oar (see “Starboard”). Port (2) A porthole. Purser The clerical officer aboard a passenger or merchant ship. He is in charge of the vessel's accounts, documents, and payroll, and on most ships provides a safe for the passengers' valuables. In the early navy, he was a low-ranking officer in charge of all of the ship's stores. The word comes from the Latin “bursariar”, the "burser," or person in charge of the burse (uh ... purse...). Quarter The part of the ship’s side which is near the stern. Ship A general term for any large, ocean-going vessel (as opposed to a "boat"). Originally, it referred specifically to a vessel with three or more masts, all square-rigged. The origins of the word are long lost, though it is recognizable in all languages descended from the various old Nordic tongues. Sky Pilot The Naval slang for the Chaplain, or Padre. SOS Radio distress signal just coming into use at the time of the Titanic disaster (and replacing the older CQD). Popularly, it stands for "save our ship", but the signal was probably originally chosen because the Morse code for "SOS" (three dots, three dashes, three dots) was easy to transmit, easy to remember, and easy to distinguish when received. Stack The ship's funnel on an engine-powered vessel. The origin is probably Naval slang, Starboard The right side of the ship when facing forward. The name is a very old one, derived from the Anglo-Saxon term “steorbord”, or steering-board. Ancient vessels were steered not by a rudder amidships, but by a long oar or “steering-board” extended over the vessel's right side aft. This became known, in time, as the “steering- board (or starboard) side”. Stateroom An officer's or passenger's cabin aboard a merchant ship, or the cabin of an officer other than the captain aboard a Naval ship. The term may be derived from the fact that in the 16th and 17th centuries, ships often had a cabin reserved for royal or noble passengers. Steerage Originally the junior officers' quarters in a Naval vessel, referring to the fact that the ship's tiller often projected into the compartment, located far aft. In the 19th century, the term came to mean the cheapest passenger quarters aboard a liner, again, often near the ship's stern where the noise of the ship's screws and engines was unrelenting. Stem The extreme front or foremost of any vessel. Stern The rear of any vessel. The word came from the Norse “stjornS (pronounced "styorn"), meaning "steering". Steward A general term for any member of a ship's crew involved with commissary duties or personal services to passengers and/or crew. The term comes from an old Anglo-Saxon term “styweard” or “sty-warden”, the “keeper-of-the-pigs”. Whether the pigs referred to here are the live animals once kept aboard as provisions on long voyages, or a commentary on the habits and personalities of the passengers is a matter of conjecture! Tackle Traditionally pronounced "tay-kle", it refers to gear on deck in general or, specifically, to blocks and their associated lines-as in "block-and-tackle". The word comes from the middle Dutch “taekel”, meaning “tackle”, and from which the pronunciation was derived. Thwart A seat or crossbeam in a small boat, from the middle English “thwarte”, meaning "across", "thwartships" means across the ship. Topside The part of the ship above water. Generally used as a way of saying "on deck" or "up," as in "lay up topside to see the captain," Weather Deck Any decks on a ship open and exposed to the weather. Wings Extensions to either side of the ship. Specifically, the port and starboard wings of the bridge are open areas to either side of the bridge, used by lookouts and for signalling.