H. WARINGTON SMYTH
MAST & SAIL IN EUROPE AND ASIA • APPENDIX


APPENDIX

 


AUTHORITIES

 

AFLALO, F. G. The Sea-Fishing Industry of England and Wales. Edward Stanford. 1904.

COOKE, E. W., R.A. Shipping and Craft. London, 1829.

DANIELL, WILLIAM. Voyage Round Great Britain. London, 1820.

DRECHSEL, CAPT. C. F. Danish Sea Fisheries. Copenhagen, 1890.

FITZGERALD, CAPT. C. C. P., R.N. Boat Sailing and Racing. Portsmouth: Griffin and Co. 1888.

FOLIN, MARQUIS DE. Bateaux et Navires: Progres de Ia Construction Navale a' tous les Ages et dans tous les Pays. Paris, 1 892.

FOLKHARD, H. C. The Sailing Boat. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 1853.

HOLMES, G. C.V.. Ancient and Modern Ships (Part I. 'Wooden Sailing-Ships'). London: Chapman and Hall. 1900.

HOULDSWORTH, E. W. H., F.Z.S. Deep-Sea Fishing and Fishing-Boats. London: Edward Stanford. 1874.

JAL, A. Archeologie Navale. 2 vols. Paris, 1840.

KEMP, DIXON. A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing. London: Horace Cox. 6th edition, 1888.

LESLIE, R. C.

The Sea-Boat. London: Chapman and Hall. 1892.
Old Sea Wings, Ways, and Words in the Days of Oak and Hemp. London: Chapman and Hall. 1890.

LINDSAY, W. S. History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce. 4 vols. London: Sampson Low, Marston, and Co. 1883.

PARIS, ADMIRAL. Souvenirs de Marine. 4 vols. Gauthier-Villars, 55 Quai des Augustins, Paris.

PRITCHETT, R. T. Pen and Pencil Sketches of Shipping and Craft all Round the World. London: Edward Arnold. 1897.

SMITH, JAMES. Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul 4th edition. London: Longloans, Green, and Co. 1830.

SMYTH, ADMIRAL W. H., D.C.L., F.R.S., P.R.G.S.

The Sailor's Word-Book. London: Blackie and Son. 1867.
The Mediterranean. London: John Parker and Son. 1854.

TORR, CECIL Ancient Ships. Cambridge: University Press. 1874.

TURNER, J. W. M. Harbour: of England. Edited by J. Ruskin. London: Day and Son.

WYLLIE, W. L., A. R. A. Marine-Painting in Water-Colour. London: Cassell and Co., Limited. 1901.


Books added in the 1929 edition:

CHATTERTON, E. KEEBLE.

Sailing Ships and their Story. London: Sedgwick & Jackson. 1909.
Fore and Aft. London: Seely, Service, & Co. 1912.

MOORE, SIR ALAN. Last Days of Mast and Sail. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1925.

WORTH, CLAUD. Yacht Cruising. London: J. D. Potter. 1921.

 

GLOSSARY

This Glossary is not intended to be in any sense exhaustive, but merely to give the sea terms used in the foregoing pages, with the particular meanings attached to them in the text. Sea terms have altered greatly with the passing of the old wooden square-rigged ships, and the great development in small fore-and-aft rigged fleets, due to the expansion of deep-sea fisheries and coast trading during the last century, has resulted in the modification of many old sea terms, and the substitution and creation of not a few new ones which were unknown to our grandfathers.

 

A

abaft: behind, inferred relatively from the stem, and continuing towards the stern or hinder part of the vessel.

about: circularly; the situation of a vessel after she has gone round and trimmed sails on the opposite tack.

aft: an abbreviation for abaft; the hinder part of a vessel.

amidships: in the middle of the vessel.

athwart: across.

 

B

baggara: a lateen-rigged Arab trading vessel used in the Red Sea.

balance lug: a lugsail with a boom, to which it is laced, at its foot. From one-sixth to one-third of the sail area is usually before the mast, and helps to balance the remaining portion abaft the mast The tack is fixed to the boom abreast the mast, and perpendicularly under the halyard.

baldie: a small class of Scotch lugger used on the east coast.

barge: a cargo vessel with flat bottom and straight sides for navigation in shallow waters, the mast being usually stepped in a tabernacle for lowering when passing bridges, etc. Leeboards are generally used to increase the draught of water when sailing.

barquantine: the diminutive of barque. A vessel carrying a barque's full square-rigged foremast, but fore-and-aft rigged on main and mizen masts.

batten: a scantling of wood, or small spar, sewn into and extending across a sail so as to extend the leech; generally a scantling of wood tacked to a spar to strengthen it.

bawley boat: a cutter-rigged Thames Estuary fishing-boat, without main boom.

beam: the breadth of a vessel taken at the widest point, the centre of the vessel's side.

beat: to turn to windward; the operation of making zigzag tacks against the direction of the wind.

belay: to make fast, or fasten a rope.

bend: to fasten; used of a sail when fastened on to the yard or stay by which it is set.

bilge, or bulge: a vessel's bottom on either side of the keel.

bilge-keel: an additional short keel placed outside the bilge of boats to protect the skin in grounding, and also, especially abroad, to enable them to hold a better wind when sailing and heeling over.

billyboy: a barge-built coaster of some size, of east coast origin.

bitt: to fasten on the bitts, a strong framework fitted upright in the deck for fastening the anchor cable, etc., to.

block: a pulley ; a shell of wood (or metal) enclosing the sheave or wheel upon which the rope runs.

bonnet: an additional part laced to the foot of a sail in fine weather to increase its area and hoist.

boom: a spar used to extend the foot of a sail.

bow: the fore end of a vessel, where the planks of the side round up to meet the prow or stem.

bowline: a line leading forward from a cringle in the fore edge of a sail, ill order to extend it taut forward.

bowsprit: a large spar projecting out over the stem of a vessel in order to extend the jibs or head-sails. It may be standing, i.e. fixed ; or running, i.e. movable, so that it can be reefed in.

bragagna: a lateen-rigged trader of the Adriatic.

bragozzi: a lug-rigged trader of the Adriatic.

brail: a rope leading from the leech of a sail through a block on the mast or yard by which it call be trussed or gathered close up for furling.

brig: a two-masted vessel square-rigged on both main and foremasts.

brigantine: diminutive of brig, having a brig's full square-rigged foremast and main and main-topmast staysails, but a fore-and-aft rigged mainmast

bulk-head: a partition built up in a vessel to separate off various portions of it below deck.

bumkin: boomkin, a small boom of great strength, usually at the stern, for extending the foot of the foresail, or aft for the mizen sheet.

bunt: the middle part or belly of a sail.

 

C

carvel-build: the method of boat-building by which the planks are all laid edge to edge, so that they present a flush and smooth surface, the seams being caulked.

cat: the name given to the large class of old Deal luggers, probably of old Norse origin when so applied; also used for a typical American rig.

centre-board: a deep plate of wood, or usually, in Western Europe and America, of metal, which is hoisted up or lowered through a case built over a longitudinal aperture in the keel of a boat, for the purpose of giving greater draught of water on certain points of sailing.

cleat: pieces of wood, with generally two thumbs or arms, used for fastening ropes upon.

clinker (or clench)-build: the method of boat-building by which each plank is laid on so as to overlap the one below it, so that they present a series of ridges running longitudinally.

close-hauled: when all the sheets of time sails are hauled in close in order that the vessel may sail as near as possible against the direction of the wind.

coaming: a raised piece of wood-work running round the cock-pit, or any opening in the deck, to keep water from getting below.

coble: a type of lug-rigged fishing-boat on the north-east coast, with high bow, deep forefoot, low, shallow stern, and deep rudder.

cock-pit: the opening in the deck of small, decked sailing-craft in which the steersman or crew can sit without the liability of falling overboard, which sitting on the deck would entail.

counter: a method of building out the stern of a vessel above the waterline, and beyond where the rudder-head comes through the deck. It enables the lines of the quarters to be carried out and finished off gradually into a round, overhanging, and graceful end.

course: the lowest square sail on a fully square-rigged mast.

crutch: a forked or twisted upright stanchion fixed in the side of a boat to support an oar or spar.

cutter: a fore-and-aft rig consisting of gaff and boom mainsail, fore staysail, and jib, with a gaff topsail and jib topsail, according to weather, set upon the topmast.

In the Navy a cutter is a form of ship's-boat for rowing or sailing, rigged with lugsails strongly built, and capable of carrying heavy weights of men or stores.

 

D

dahabia: a lateen-rigged, long-hulled houseboat used on the Nile.

dandy: a cutter or sloop-rigged vessel with a jigger or mizen-mast abaft. This mast in a true dandy would be fitted with a lugsail, but a gaff and boom mizen is now often used.

davit: a piece of timber or iron, with sheaves or blocks at its end, projecting over a vessel's side, to hoist up and suspend one end of a boat to.

dhow: the generic term applied to all the Arabic lateen-rigged, grab-built vessels of the Indian Ocean.

dinghy: a small boat attached to vessels for the use of the crew for going ashore, etc. Generally owing to their small length they are very broad in proportion to length to ensure stability. Also a passenger boat on the Hugli.

dip: to lower, generally with the intention of hoisting again.

draught: the depth of water required by a vessel to float her.

drift-net: a long net, the top floated by corks, and the lower edge sunk by lead sinkers by which mackerel, herring, and pilchard are caught. A number of nets, to the extent of a mile or more, are used by each boat, and are left suspended vertically in the water for some hours after sunset, when they are usually ' shot' or set in the water in the neighbourhood where fish are thought to be schooling, the boat riding to a warp at the leeward end of the line until the nets are hauled again.

driver: a fishing-boat engaged in the drift-net fishery. Also the term applied to the mizen fore-and-aft sail in a square-rigged ship.

drogue, or sea anchor: an arrangement for preventing drift and keeping a vessel's head to sea in bad weather. A drogue can be made by some canvas and a few spars, but most fishermen now carry a ready-made canvas bag spread at its mouth by a bamboo or iron ring, and fastened to a bridle. This can at any time be bent on to a warp and used either for heaving-to in bad weather, or for checking the boat's way when running into a crowded harbour.

 

E

earing: an eye spliced into the bolt-rope of a sail, usually for reefing purposes.

 

F

felucca: a single-decked, lateen-rigged vessel of the Mediterranean.

fifie: a Scotch lug-rigged fish fishing-vessel with straight stem and stern posts.

flare: a flanching or leaning outwards of the side of a vessel, usually at the bows, above the waterline, for throwing off head-seas; in contradistinction to a tumble-home or wall-side.

fluke: the triangular palm inside the point of the arm of the anchor, which on entering the ground holds the ship.

flying sail: a light sail set aloft for light weather, which is not furled or stowed aloft.

fo'c's'le: for forecastle, a short upper deck forward, above the main deck; in small vessels the quarters for the crew down forward; sometimes also fore-peak.

foot: the lower edge of a sail.

fore-and-aft: in the fore-and-aft line of a vessel from stem to stern. Usually applied to sails which are normally set in this line as opposed to square sails, e.g. gaff and boom sails, lugsails, staysails, and jibs.

forefoot, also gripe: the foremost piece of the keel, connected with it by a scarf, the upper end curving into the lower portion of the stem-piece.

foresail: in square-rigged vessels the lowest squaresail on the foremast; in lug-rigged vessels the principal sail on the foremast; in a cutter, ketch, or dandy, the name is given to the staysail, which is of second importance to the mainsail, and is set on the forestay to the stem-head.

freeboard: the side of the vessel from the waterline to the gunwale.

furl: to roll up and bind a sail upon its stay, yard, or mast, as the case may be.

 

G

gaff: the spar used to extend the head of a fore-and-aft sail which is not set on a stay.

gaiassa: a lateen-rigged cargo-carrying boat of the Nile.

galley: a flat-built, one-decked vessel of the Mediterranean, propelled by oars or sails; a term also used by British seamen for a long clinker-built boat which can sail or row.

galliot: a type of Dutch ketch rigged trading vessel.

gharawa: small Zanzibar outrigged boat

gig: a light form of galley-built boat to row or sail.

gripe: see forefoot. Often a projecting piece added to the forefoot for the express purpose of making a vessel hold a better wind by creating more lateral resistance at the fore part.

grommet: a ring of rope, usually placed round a mast or spar, and seized or tied with small yarn to fit a spar which is supported by its means. In this sense more correctly a becket.

gudgeon: a metal brace with an eye bolted upon the sternpost for the pintle of the rudder to work in as upon a hinge.

gunwale: the horizontal plank fitted along, and covering or binding the heads of the timbers, and so forming the top of the boat's side.

gybe: the act of swinging a fore-and-aft sail from one side to the other by permitting the wind to come on what was the lee quarter, and so hit the sail on that side, and throw over on to the opposite side of the vessel. It may be caused by a change of course due to putting the helm up, or by a change of wind, and owing to the violence with which the sail often comes over, there is a risk of carrying something away.

 

H

half-deck: a deck which only covers in a portion of a boat, usually extending from the stern to the mast, and as a water-way along the sides.

halyard: a rope or tackle used for hoisting up sail.

hatch-boat: a half-decked boat with hatches for covering in all or portion of the open part, formerly much used in the lower Thames.

head: the upper edge of any sail; the fore part of a vessel

heel: to list or lie over or incline at an angle from the perpendicular, as when a vessel lies over to the wind.

heel, the: the lower or butt end of a spar; the after end of a vessel's keel where the stern post meets it-generally the place of greatest draught.

hoggie or hog-boat: an old fore-and-aft rigged clinker fish fishingboat of great beam used at Brighton in the last century. Probably connected with heck-boat, an old term for a pink, but also used for a clinker-built boat with covered foresheets. Probably of Dutch origin.

horse: a wooden or iron bar which spans the vessel from side to side close to the deck. The sheet of a sail comes to a thimble which runs on the horse, the sheet thus being able to traverse from side to side according to the tack.

hoveller, or hobeller: a Cinque-Port term for pilots and their boatmen; still used at Deal, and applied to luggers on the look-out for jobs among shipping. In Cornwall, applied to boatmen who ply for hire and are not true fishermen. The  Sailor's Word-Book says, applied colloquially to sturdy vagrants who infest the sea-coast in bad weather in expectation of wreck or plunder.

hvalor baad: a Norwegian fore-and-aft rigged boat, xxxxx but with little sheer and great beam, used on the south coasts.

 

J

jib: a triangular sail set forward on a bowsprit. It may run on a stay or be set up taut by the halyards yards, the strain being taken by its own strong luff-rope.

jib-boom: a spar forming a continuation of the bowsprit forward to extend the jibs. It is fitted to the bowsprit by a cap and saddle, much as a topmast is set on a lower mast, and like it can be reefed in or it can be topped up out of the way in harbour.

junk: the generic name applied to all the decked seagoing vessels of native construction, with high poop and overhanging bow, used by the Chinese, as well as to the old-fashioned craft of the Japanese.

 

K

keel: the lowest and principal timber of a vessel running fore-and-aft its whole length, and supporting the frame or ribs like the backbone in quadrupeds. It is usually first laid on the blocks in building, forming the base of the superstructure.

Also applied to vessels on the north-east coast used for cargo-carrying. An old British name for the long vessels used by the Danes and Saxons, from ceol and cyulis -usually written keele and sometimes keyle. Iceld. kjoll, barge or ship. Dan. and Swed. kiel, vessel. Swiz. ceol, barge or small vessel.

ketch: a vessel of the galliot order equipped with main and mizen masts, and usually fore-and-aft rigged, although formerly often square-rigged. The Spanish queche the Portuguese queche and the old French quaiche.

knee: an angle of strong wood or iron for giving strength in construction, e.g. securing deck beams, thwarts, etc., to the sides.

 

L

lacing: rope used to lace a sail through eyes in the bolt-rope to a mast or spar.

lateen: a long triangular sail bent by its fore leech to a long yard which hoists obliquely to the mast, much used in the Mediterranean and by the Arabs ; the latter, however, generally cut the sail so that a short luff stands below the h eel of the yard.

lead: an instrument for discovering the depth of water, consisting of a tapered cylinder of lead attached by means of a strop to a long line.

lee: the opposite side to that on which the wind is blowing; the direction toward which it is blowing.

leeboard: wooden or iron wings fixed by a stout bolt at the fore-end to the side of flat-bottomed vessels. When the after-end is lowered the leeboard stands up and down in the water, making the draught greater, and by its flat side tending to decrease leeway or drift to leeward.

leech: the borders or edges of a sail which are more or less perpendicular. The fore-leech is generally called the luff, and consequently on fore-and-aft vessels the leech is nearly always the after-edge running from the peak earing to the clew.

leeward, or leward: on the lee side.

leeway: the drift which a sailing-vessel makes to leeward.

leg-of-mutton: a three-cornered fore-and-aft sail with its luff laced to a mast; very handy and safe, particularly for a mizen.

list: to lie over or incline at an angle from the perpendicular.

lodsbaad: Norwegian pilot-boat long-lines: used in deep sea line fishing for such fish as cod, halibut, etc.

luff: the fore leech or edge of a sail.

luff to: to bring a vessel's head nearer the wind.

lugger: a vessel rigged with lugsails.

lugsail: a powerful form of fore-and-aft sail hoisted on a yard which is slung from one-quarter to one-third of its length forward of the mast The end of the halyard is usually fastened to all iron hoop or traveller which keeps the yard to the mast. The sail is set taut up on Its luff-rope, which is swayed up so as to stand rigid. It is much used by fishermen as being simple and involving but little rigging.

dipping lug: in the case where the tack of the sail is made fast at some distance in front of the mast, the sail has always to be hoisted on the lee side of the mast to get the best results from it, and consequently it must be dipped on each fresh tack and hoisted on the new lee side.

standing lug: when the tack is fastened at the mast it is not necessary to dip, but the sail can be left standing as the mast does not interfere with its set.

balance lug: a lugsail laced to a boom at its foot, has its tack at the mast, and also requires no dipping.

lumber iron: a forked crutch or stanchion fixed upright in the gunwale to hold oars, spars, or sails when-not in use.

 

M

mainsail: the principal sail on the mainmast.

malar panshi: a country boat of the Indian rivers.

masthead: the portion of the mast above where the shrouds or main rigging are secured to the truck or cap.

mizen: the aftermost mast of a vessel of two or more masts, generally the smallest; often called jigger by fishermen.

mizen sail: the sail set upon the mizen mast.

 

N

nabby: a Scotch lug-rigged boat with very raking mast and a jib, used on the west coast.

nagar: a cargo-boat used on the upper Nile.

nordlandsbaad: a Norwegian north-country boat, stem and stern alike, with high ends and low waist, and a single squaresail.

 

O

outhaul: the rope used to haul out a sail along a spar on which it is set.

outrigger: a boom or spar rigged out over the side to extend a sail; a

counterpoising log of wood rigged out by cross-pieces from a canoe or boat and floating on the water to prevent capsizing.

 

P

paranzello: a small lateen-rigged yawl of the Mediterranean.

parrel: a band of rope for keeping the yard into the mast, often fitted with a number of bull's-eye blocks of wood to prevent friction in hoisting. Wooden ribs were fitted between the bull's-eye blocks in square-rigged ships for facility of travelling.

pattamar: a lateen-rigged dhow type of cargo-vessel used by the Mohammedan seamen on the Bombay coast

peak: the tipper outer corner of a gaff-sail or lug; the upper outer end of a gaff or yard.

peter boat: an open fishing-boat of Norse origin long used in the Thames. They were clinker built and stem and stern alike, as were the old Norway yawls, and had a fish-well amidships, generally spritsail rigged.

pintle: metal hooks bolted into the rudder which fit into the gudgeons fixed in the stern-post.

pole-mast: single spar mast, without topmast.

poop: from the Latin puppis; the aftermost portion of the hull, often raised above the general line of the gunwale.

pooped, to be: the breaking of a heavy sea over the stern or quarter of a vessel when running in heavy weather.

port: the left side looking forward.

prahu: a Malay term for boat pulwar: a country boat of the Indian rivers.

punt: an Anglo-Saxon term for a flat-bottomed boat; generally used at sea for a broad, beamy boat of small size, such as a dinghy. Also a large class of deep-ballasted half-decked boat at Falmouth.

purchase: a mechanical contrivance which increases the force applied. At sea generally a combination of pulleys for moving and hoisting heavy weights such as spars, sails, etc.

 

Q

quarter: the portion of the vessel's side between the stern and the beam, abaft the middle section.

 

R

rake: a fore-and-aft inclination or deviation of mast or spars, or stem or stern post, from the vertical.

redningskoite: a Norwegian seakeeping lifeboat for assisting the North-land fishing fleets in bad weather.

reef: to tie up a portion of a sail in a hard wind so as to reduce its area, by means of reef-points, reef-earing, reef-cringle, etc. Also to shorten in a topmast or bowsprit

reeve: to pass a rope through an aperture such as the channel of a block or sheave for hauling upon.

rib: the timbers which rise from the keel of a vessel to the top of its side upon which the skin planking is fastened.

rig: the method in which masts, sails, and ropes are fitted to a vessel.

rigging: a general name given to all ropes and chains employed to support the masts and trim and set the sails. Standing rigging consists of those ropes which are seldom handled, such as stays and shrouds which support masts; running rigging, of those which are constantly handled in making, shortening, or trimming sails.

rua: the Siamese word for boat: the prefix for all boat names.

ruffles: a hole cut in the keel of boats which have to be hauled up a beach on landing. A chain is rove through and taken to a capstan. Hauling on this pivot tends to lift the boat over the sand and gravel.

run: the curvature of the lines of a vessel's hull towards the after part.

runner: the tackle used in tautening up the backstay; hence the backstay itself in small craft.

running: applied to a bowsprit, or other spar, which can be run in and out, and can so be reefed, having in the case of a bowsprit fid-holes in it for the purpose. Applied to rigging which is constantly handled in working the vessel. Also a vessel when sailing before the wind.

 

S

sagg: to give way under pressure, usually of the wind.

sampan: generally applied to all small, open, or half-decked boats of Chinese build.

scandalise: to clew up, of a mainsail when the peak is lowered, and tack hauled up.

schooner: a two-masted fore-mid-aft rigged vessel, the foremast being the smaller of the two masts, the principal or mainsail being on the after-mast, which is stepped very near the middle of the vessel.

schuyt: a Dutch one-masted vessel.

sea-anchor: see drogue.

seine: a net which is shot by a boat round a school of fish, the ends being brought together and the lower edge of the net pursed up. The circumference of the net is reduced by hauling in the net until the fish are all brought into a bunch and can be bailed out

settee: long, sharp, single-decked lateen-rigged vessels of the Med iterraijeazi without topmasts.

shank: the bar or shaft of an anchor constituting its main piece, at one end of which is the stock and at the other the arms.

sheave: the wheel on which the rope runs in a block, or in a mast or spar pierced for the purpose.

sheave-hole: the channel pierced in a mast or spar for a rope to be rove through.

sheer: the hang or curve in a vessel's side which generally rises towards the stem and stern.

sheet: the rope fastened to the clew or lower aft corner of a sail by which it is controlled and trimmed to the wind when sailing.

skaffie, or scaith: a type of Scotch lugger with raked stem and stern posts, used principally on the coastline between Fraserburgh and Dornoch, and apparently of Norse origin.

skidds: pieces of wood laid under a vessel's bottom for launching her off from the shore.

skiff: a light open boat, generally for rowing, and built with considerable flare forward.

sliding gunter: a light spar running on gunter-irons up and down a mast on the afterside to increase its height. A high peaked sail can thus be set reaching above the masthead.

sloop: an old term applied to a vessel rigged as a cutter but with a standing bowsprit and one or more jibs set on standing stays. Also when the foresail and jib are ill one, and set on a short standing bowsprit.

smack: originally a cutter-rigged vessel of considerable tonnage used for trading or passenger traffic, such as the old Leith smacks. The term has been applied by fishermen to all large fishing-craft, fore-and-aft rigged in contradistinction to lug-rigged, whether cutter or dandy or ketch rigged, as most of the modern trawlers have become.

snaekke: A Norwegian skiff.

spiller: a set line with a large number of baited hooks, much used by coast fishermen.

spinnaker: properly a large triangular sail of very light material for setting from the masthead, goosewinged with the mainsail when going before the wind. By the Thames bargemen applied to the flying jib set on the topmast stay in fine weather.

spreet: a spar used to extend the peak of some fore-and-aft sails. The head fits into the roping at the peak of the sail, arid the heel into a snotter or grommet low down on the mast, the spar thus standing diagonally across the sail.

spritsail a fore-and-aft sail usually without boom and fitted with brails, which is set by a spreet in place of a gaff.

squaresail: a four-cornered sail extended by a yard slung by the middle.

square-rigged: a vessel rigged mainly with square-sails as opposed to fore-and-aft sails. The square rig lends itself to use in the largest sailing vessels, and has been the rig of the finest fighting sailing fleets the world has seen.

stanchion: a fixed upright support.

standing: applied plied to a bowsprit, or other spar, which is kept in its place and is not run in or unshipped or reefed ; also to rigging, such as shrouds, and stays, which is not constantly handled in working a vessel.

starboard: the old stjornbordi, or Norse steering side. The right hand looking forward. The Anglo-Saxon steorabord.

stay: a strong rope extending from the upper part of a mast in a fore-and-aft direction to hold the mast and prevent it from springing when pitch ing deep, or from bending when with a weight of sail upon it. A stay in a forward direction is a forestay, and those brought to the side abaft the mast are backstays. As part of the standing rigging these are generally made of steel wire when possible. Colloquially the term is often applied to the shrouds, or standing rigging supporting the mast laterally.

stay: to tack, or bring a vessel's head up to the wind for going about on a new tack.

staysail: a triangular sail hoisted along a stay on which the luff travels attached by hanks or lacing, and by which the luff is rendered rigid, e.g. for topmast staysail, fore staysail, etc.

stem, or stempiece: the cutwater or foremost piece of a vessel on which the curves of the bow unite, and which is scarfed into the keel.

step: the place where the mast or other fixture is set up.

stern: the afterpart of the vessel where the quarters are rounded off and converge. It may be sharp, i.e. with stern-post similar to the stem and rudder hung outside; or a counter stern q.v., or a square or transom-stern.

stern-post: the opposite to the stem ; scarfed into the keel. The gudgeons carrying the rudder are usually bolted into it.

stock: the crossbar secured to the upper end of the shank of an anchor at right angles to the flukes.

strake: one breadth of planking in a vessel taken longitudinally, e.g. a wash-strake, added to the gunwale or upper strake to keep off water or spray.

sweep: a long, heavy oar used in a sailing-vessel by one or more men in case of calm.

swig, or swing, or sway up: to pull on to a bight of a rope by jerks when its lower end is fast; or to gain on a rope by jumping a man's weight down, e.g. in setting up a lugsail or jib or any other sail which has to be set up very taut along its luff.

 

T

tabernacle: a strong trunk built on the deck of barge-built vessels, in which the foot of the mast hinges so that it can be lowered aft by the forestay for passing under bridges, etc.

tack: the lower fore-angle of a fore-and-aft sail.

tack: to go about, or change course from one board to another, by which the windward becomes the leeward side, and vice versa

tackle: a purchase formed by the connection of a fall or rope with two or more blocks.

taut: tight.

thrash: to beat to windward.

throat: the widened and hollowed end of a gaff next the mast, the opposite end to the peak. Hence also the upper fore corner of the sail.

thwarts, athwarts: seats or benches athwart a boat on which rowers sit.

tiller: the piece of wood or metal which is fitted into the rudder head by means of which the rudder is worked.

top: the platform on the head of the lower mast upon which the heel of the topmast stands, and to which the topmast shrouds are spread.

top: to raise one end of a boom or yard.

topgallant: applied to the mast and sail, which in square-rigged vessels come above the topmast and topsails.

topmast: an upper mast raised at the head of the lower mast to give greater height than would be possible with a single spar.

topsail: the sail set on the topmast. It may be a square topsail set on square yards, as in a topsail schooner; or a gaff topsail extended on the mainsail gaff as in a cotter-which may further be a jib-header, jackyarder, etc. ; or a jib-topsail, set on the topmast stay.

topside: the portion of the side of a vessel which comes above the sheerstrake.

trabacola: a trading coaster of the Adriatic.

trammel: a set net used by fishermen, with stone anchors at the ends to keep it extended. Fish coming against it get caught by the gills.

tramp: a slang expression for a cargo steamer not engaged upon any regular run, but taking freights as they offer.

transom: a thwartship bulkhead. Many boats are built with a transom-stern, which consists of a bulkhead placed across the stern-post, the quarters being ended off abruptly, and thus carrying the body shape of the boat further aft above the waterline than if they were rounded into file stern-post.

trawl: a bag net, dragged along the bottom by a vessel propelled by sails or steam. Its mouth is either extended by a strong beam or by an 'otter' which has been latterly perfected by steam trawlers, which can keep up a considerable and undeviating speed.

trinchetto: French, arbre le trinquet ; Arab. trinkeitte. The old foremast of Mediterranean lateen-rigged craft.

tumble-home: the reverse of flare-when the section shows a curve inward of the vessel's side above the point of extreme breadth.

 

U

under way: when a vessel is moving, and has gathered way.

 

V

vang: a guy or rope leading from the end of a gaff to the rail by which to steady the gaff or prevent it sagging away to leeward.

velocera: an Italian coaster.

 

W

waist: the place of lowest freeboard, generally amidships.

wash-strake: an upper strake, often attached by stud-pins to the gunwales of boats to keep out spray and water.

waterway: a channel along the side made of deck planks to carry off water. In half-decked boats they reduce the danger from excessive heeling.

wear: in contradistinction to tacking or staying; to put up the helm so as to turn the vessel on to the other tack by sending her head round before the wind.

weather: at sea the state of the atmosphere with regard to the degree of wind. Hence the portion of the compass from which the wind comes. The weather side-the side towards the wind; weather helm-when the vessel is inclined to run up to the wind.

well: a trunk or open space fitted into a vessel ; sometimes with perforated bottom in fishing-boats to keep fish alive.

wherry: a sharp, light, shallow boat, generally stem and stern alike, with fine entry and run, and usually without the customary gunwale piece. The French houari; old English ouare.

whisker: iron spars extending each side from the stem for spreading the guys of the bowsprit.

windward: towards the direction of the wind.

 

X

xebec: an old three-masted Mediterranean vessel of sharp floor and long overhanging ends, rigged with lateen-sails, and sometimes with square-sails on the foremast

 

Y

yaegt: a Norwegian coast vessel.

yard: a long spar slung in the neighbourhood of the centre so that it crosses the mast. It may be square, i.e. at right angles to the mast, and slung at the centre; or lateen or lug, when it stands at an angle, and is slung one-third to one-quarter of its length from the fore-end.

yawl: qu. the ancient <-> The Scandinavian yol, properly a light vessel, stem and stern alike, and clinker built like the Sondmoersk boats of Norway. The Yarmouth yawls were true yawls, and, like many other yawl-built boats of England, were probably of Norse design originally. The term is now applied to dandy-rigged vessels, and many cutter-rigged vessels become yawls by having the main boom cut down and a small jigger, or mizen, mast aid sail placed on the counter.

yoke: a transverse board or metal bar, a substitute for the tiller, which crosses the rudder head. Two lines extend from its opposite ends to the steersman. In some Norse boats, where the yoke has only one arm, a wooden bar is jointed at its outer end, and is worked by the helmsman.

 

Z

zulu: a class of Scotch fishing-lugger with straight stem and raking stern-post.


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