Extended Operational and Trade Vocabulary

Ship Handling, Seamanship and Deck Vocabulary glossary

The working vocabulary of the deck and the practice of handling a vessel: relative directions (abaft, abeam, aboard), sailing and tacking orders, weather-deck terminology, mooring and anchoring practice, and the seamanship terms that describe ship movement and station. The plain-language counterpart to the formal navigation and COLREGs sections.

733 defined terms.

Showing 250 on this page (page 1 of 3).

A

A-hull: Lying with all sail furled and helm lashed to leeward in heavy weather.
Abaft: Toward the stern of a vessel.
Abeam: Bearing 090° relative to ship's heading.
Aboard: On or onto the vessel.
About: Used in tacking; the order to bring a sailing vessel through the wind.
Above deck: On the weather deck, exposed to the open air.
Abreast: Side by side; parallel to.
AC-14: Stockless, high-holding-power anchor of Admiralty Cast pattern.
Adrift: Floating without control.
Advance: Distance a turning ship makes good in the direction of her original course, measured from the moment the helm is put over.
Afloat: Buoyed by water; not aground.
Aft: Toward the stern.
Afterdeck: The portion of the weather deck abaft amidships.
Aground: Resting on the bottom.
Ahead: In the direction of the bow; engine order for forward propulsion.
Aldis lamp: Hand-held signal lamp for Morse signaling between ships.
All fast: Report that all mooring lines are secured.
All gone: Report that a line, anchor, or fitting has been let go.
Aloft: Above the upper deck, especially in the rigging.
Alongside: Beside a pier, jetty, or another vessel.
Amidships: Longitudinal midpoint between the forward and aft perpendiculars.
Anchor: Heavy device dropped on a cable to hold the ship to the seabed.
Anchor ball: Black ball hoisted forward to indicate the vessel is at anchor.
Anchor bend: Knot for securing a rope to the ring of an anchor.
Anchor buoy: Small buoy attached by a tripping line to mark the anchor's position.
Anchor cable: Chain or rope connecting the anchor to the vessel.
Anchor chain: Stud-link chain used between anchor and ship.
Anchor light: All-round white light shown by a vessel at anchor.
Anchor pocket: Recess in the hull plating to house the anchor flukes when stowed.
Anchor watch: Watch maintained on anchored vessel.
Anchor's aweigh: Report that the anchor has just broken out of the ground.
Anderson turn: Quickest single-turn man-overboard maneuver, used when the casualty is in sight.
Apparent wind: Wind perceived from a moving vessel.
Arming: Tallow placed in the recess of a hand lead to bring up a sample of the bottom.
Astern: Behind the vessel; engine order for reverse propulsion.
Athwartships: Direction transverse to the ship's centerline.
Awash: With the surface just covered by water.
Aweather: Toward the windward side.
Aweigh: Said of an anchor just clear of the bottom.

B

Back a sail: Trim a sail so the wind strikes its forward side.
Back splice: End splice that prevents a rope from unlaying.
Backing: Wind shifting counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.
Backstay: Standing rigging supporting a mast from aft.
Baggywrinkle: Soft covering made of rope yarns to prevent chafe on rigging.
Bail: Remove water from a boat by hand.
Ballast: Weight low in the vessel used to enhance stability.
Bank effect: Tendency of a ship's stern to swing toward and bow away from a close bank in shallow water.
Bar: Shoal at a harbor entrance.
Bare poles: Running before heavy weather with no sail set.
Beam: Maximum breadth of the ship.
Beam reach: Sailing with the wind on the beam.
Bear off: Push off from a wharf or another vessel.
Bear up: Put the helm up to bring the ship before the wind.
Bearing: Direction to an object from the observer.
Becket: Small loop or eye of rope.
Belay: Make a rope fast around a cleat or pin.
Belaying pin: Removable wooden or metal pin in a rail for belaying running rigging.
Bend: Knot used to join two ropes or a rope to a spar.
Bend on: Secure a sail to its spar or stay.
Berth: Place where a ship is moored; sleeping bunk.
Between wind and water: Hull area alternately submerged and exposed by rolling.
Bight: Loop or curve in a rope, or a coastal indentation.
Bilge: Lowest internal part of the hull.
Binnacle: Stand housing the steering compass.
Bitt: Vertical post on deck for securing lines.
Bitter end: Inboard end of the anchor cable.
Block: Pulley used with rope to make a tackle.
Boat fall: Tackle for hoisting and lowering boats from davits.
Boatswain: Senior unlicensed deck rating; bosun.
Bollard: Mooring fitting on quay or dolphin.
Bollard pull: Tug pulling force in tonnes.
Bolt rope: Rope sewn into the edge of a sail.
Boom: Spar extending the foot of a sail.
Bos'n's chair: Plank suspended by ropes for working aloft.
Bottle screw: Turnbuckle for tensioning standing rigging.
Bow: Forward end of the vessel.
Bower anchor: Main anchor carried at the bow.
Bowing in: Hauling a mooring line tight to bring the ship alongside.
Bowline: Knot forming a non-slipping loop at the end of a line.
Bowsing: Hauling on a tackle to pull something tight.
Box hauling: Wearing ship by backing the headsails in a tight space.
Box the compass: Recite the thirty-two points in order.
Brace: Rope for trimming a yard horizontally.
Brake band: Friction band of the windlass brake.
Breaking stress: Load at which a rope or wire parts.
Breast line: Mooring line led at right angles to the keel to hold the ship against the berth.
Bridle: Two-leg rope or chain attached to a single point.
Bring up: Bring the ship to rest at her anchor.
Broach: Slew broadside to a following sea, risking capsize.
Broad reach: Sailing with the wind abaft the beam.
Brought up: Said of a ship riding steadily to her anchor.
Bulkhead: Vertical partition dividing a ship into compartments.
Bulwark: Solid extension of the hull plating above the weather deck.
Bumboat: Small boat selling goods to ships in harbor.
Bunt: Middle part of a square sail.
Buntline: Rope used to gather up the bunt of a square sail.
Buoy: Floating navigation mark or float used to mark a mooring.
Buoy rope: Line from an anchor to a small buoy on the surface.
By the head: Trimmed deeper at the bow than the stern.
By the stern: Trimmed deeper aft than forward.
By the wind: Sailing close-hauled.

C

Cable: Unit of length of one-tenth of a nautical mile, 185.2 m.
Cable holder: Powered drum on the windlass for paying out anchor cable.
Cable laid: Rope laid up of three hawser-laid ropes, left-handed.
Cable locker: Compartment in which the anchor cable is stowed.
Cable's length: 185 meters or 600 feet, approximately one-tenth of a nautical mile.
Calling-up signal: Signal addressed to another ship to attract her attention.
Cant: Tilt or angle off the fore-and-aft line.
Capsize: Overturn.
Capstan: Vertical-axis rotating drum used for heaving on ropes or cable.
Capstan bar: Wooden lever fitted into the head of a capstan to turn it by hand.
Cargo crane: Permanent shipboard crane for handling cargo.
Cargo gear: General term for shipboard cargo-handling equipment.
Carrick bend: Decorative and reliable knot for joining two heavy ropes.
Cast off: Let go a mooring line.
Cat the anchor: Hoist the anchor up to the cathead.
Cathead: Projecting beam at the bow used to hold the anchor clear of the hull when weighed (historical).
Caulking: Sealing seams of wooden decks with oakum and pitch.
Centerline: Fore-and-aft line dividing the ship into port and starboard halves.
Chafe: Wear on a rope or sail caused by rubbing.
Chafing gear: Cover or padding to protect rope from chafe.
Chain locker: Compartment for stowing anchor chain.
Chain stopper: Device that holds the anchor chain when the windlass is disengaged.
Chart datum: Lowest astronomical tide reference for hydrographic charts.
Cheek block: Single block bolted to a spar or rail.
Chock: Mooring fitting that guides a line outboard.
Chock-a-block: Two blocks of a tackle drawn together; nothing more can be hauled.
Clap on: Take hold of a rope to haul.
Clear hawse: Anchor cables leading clear of each other when riding to two anchors.
Cleat: Two-horned fitting around which a line is belayed.
Clew: Lower aft corner of a fore-and-aft sail; either lower corner of a square sail.
Clew up: Haul the clews of a square sail up to the yard.
Close-hauled: Sailing as near to the wind as possible.
Clove hitch: Knot for securing a line to a spar or post.
Coaming: Raised border around a hatch to keep out water.
Coil: Lay a rope in concentric rings; a quantity of rope.
Come about: Tack a sailing vessel.
Come to: Bring the ship's head to the wind.
Companionway: Stairway leading from one deck to another.
Compass Card: Graduated card of the magnetic compass.
Con: Direct the steering of a ship.
Conning position: Place from which the officer directs the steering.
Convoy: Group of merchant ships sailing under naval escort.
Counter: Curved part of the stern overhanging the rudder.
Cow hitch: Pair of half hitches forming an unreliable hitch.
Cradle: Frame supporting a boat or other object.
Cringle: Eye in the bolt rope of a sail.
Cross trees: Horizontal arms at the mast top spreading the shrouds.
Crown: Lower part of the anchor where shank meets arms.
Cuckhold's knot: Pair of half hitches made round a spar.
Cutwater: Forward edge of the stem at the waterline.

D

Davit: Curved crane for hoisting and lowering boats and stores.
Daymark: Distinctive shape hoisted in daylight to indicate a vessel's status.
Dead ahead: Directly forward.
Dead astern: Directly behind.
Dead reckoning: Position calculation from course, speed and time without external fixes.
Dead slow: Slowest engine order ahead or astern.
Deadeye: Round wooden block with three holes used with lanyards to set up shrouds.
Deck: Horizontal platform in a ship.
Deck cargo: Cargo carried on the weather deck.
Deck log: Official bridge log book.
Deckhead: Underside of a deck, the ceiling of a compartment.
Deep: Sounding between marked fathoms on the lead line.
Departure: Last fix taken on leaving port; east-west distance run.
Derrick: Cargo boom rigged to a mast.
Deviation: Departure from the contractual or geographic voyage; historically a fundamental breach.
Dhow: Lateen-rigged Arab and East African trading vessel of the western Indian Ocean.
Dinghy: Small open boat.
Dip: Lower and rehoist a flag in salute or to acknowledge a signal.
Dipping lug: Lugsail shifted to leeward of the mast on each tack.
Displacement (Δ): Mass of water displaced equal to vessel mass at floating equilibrium.
Distress signal: Signal indicating grave and imminent danger.
Dock line: Mooring line at a pier.
Dodger: Canvas screen on a bridge wing to break the wind.
Dog: Small clamping lever on a watertight door.
Dog watch: Either of two two-hour watches between 1600 and 2000.
Dolphin: Isolated marine structure.
Double up: Run a second mooring line of each kind.
Double-bottom: Structural arrangement providing tanks below cargo holds.
Doubling: Reinforcing piece of timber or plate.
Down by the head: Trimmed more deeply forward than aft.
Down by the stern: Trimmed more deeply aft than forward.
Draft: Vertical distance from waterline to lowest point of the hull.
Drag: Said of an anchor that fails to hold.
Drift: Speed of a current; leeway of a vessel.
Drift angle: Angle between the ship's head and her track during a turn.
Drift lead: Lead dropped on the bottom to detect a dragging anchor.
Drogue: Sea anchor or speed-reducing device streamed astern.
Drum: Cylindrical part of a winch on which rope is wound.
Dry dock: Basin pumped dry for hull work.
Dunnage: Disposable wood, mats, or air bags used to protect, separate, and chock cargo.

E

Earing: Short rope securing the upper corner of a sail to the yard.
Ease: Slacken a line or reduce helm angle.
Ease her: Helm order to reduce the angle of wheel.
Ebb: Outgoing tide.
Eddy: Circular movement of water counter to the main current.
Embark: Go on board.
Enclosed space: Compartment with limited openings and inadequate ventilation requiring special entry procedures.
End for end: Reverse a rope so the worn end becomes the standing end.
End-on: Bow toward.
Engine order: Instruction from bridge to engine room setting propeller revolutions.
Ensign: National maritime flag flown from the stern.
Equatorial current: Westerly current in low latitudes.
Even keel: Floating with no list and no trim.
Eye of the wind: Direction from which the wind blows.
Eye splice: Permanent loop formed in the end of a rope by splicing.

F

Fag end: Frayed end of a rope.
Fair: Smooth; free of obstruction.
Fairlead: Fitting that leads a rope in the desired direction without chafe.
Fairway: Navigable channel.
Fake: Single loop of a coiled rope.
Fall: Hauling part of a tackle.
Fast: Secured; a mooring line.
Fathom: Unit of depth of 6 feet, 1.8288 m.
Feathering: Turning an oar blade horizontal between strokes.
Fend off: Push off from another object.
Fender: Energy absorbing system at berth, designed per PIANC WG211 (formerly WG33).
Fid: Tapered pin used in splicing rope.
Fife rail: Rail around the mast carrying belaying pins.
Figure-eight knot: Stopper knot in the shape of the numeral eight.
Final diameter: Diameter of the steady-state turning circle of a ship.
Fish the anchor: Hoist the anchor flukes up to the rail (historical).
Fisherman's bend: Knot for bending a rope to an anchor ring or spar.
Fix: Determined geographical position.
Flag of convenience: Flag of a state with open registration policy.
Flake: Lay a rope or chain in long figure-eight loops on deck.
Flemish Coil: Decorative deck coil of a line.
Flood: Incoming tide.
Fluke: Pointed arm of an anchor that digs in.
Flying bridge: Open deck above the wheelhouse.
Following sea: Sea running in the same direction as the ship.
Foot: Lower edge of a sail.
Fore: Toward the bow.
Fore peak: Forward-most compartment of the ship.
Fore spring: Mooring line led forward from the after part of the ship.
Fore stay: Forward stay supporting the foremast.
Fore-and-aft: Lengthwise; parallel to the keel.
Forecastle: Forward part of the upper deck; forward crew accommodation.
Foredeck: Forward part of the weather deck.
Foremast: Mast nearest the bow.
Forge ahead: Move slowly forward against an opposing force.
Foul: Entangled; not clear for use.
Foul anchor: Anchor with its own cable wrapped round it.
Founder: Sink as a result of swamping.
Frap: Bind tightly with cross turns.
Free: Sailing with the wind abaft the beam; release.
Freeboard: Distance from waterline to freeboard deck, governed by the Load Lines Convention but referenced in SOLAS.
Freeing port: Opening in the bulwark to allow shipped water to drain off the deck.
Full ahead: Engine order for full sea speed ahead.
Full and by: Sailing close-hauled with sails full.