Language of the Sea 16
From CruisersWiki
Language of the Sea
TABLING -
Letting one beam-piece into another.
Also, the broad hem on the border of sails, to which the bolt-rope is sewed.
TACK -
To put the ship about, so that from having the wind on one side, you bring it round on the other by the way of her head. The opposite is wearing.
A vessel is on the starboard tack, or has her starboard tacks on board, when she has the wind on her starboard side.
The rope or tackle by which the weather clew of a course is hauled forward and down to the deck.
The tack of a fore-and-aft sail is the rope that keeps down the lower forward clew; and of a studdingsail, the lower outer clew. The tack of the lower studdingsail is called the outhaul.
Also, that part of a sail in which the tack is attached.
TACKLE -
A combination of blocks and line to increase mechanical advantage.
TAFFRAIL or TAFFEREL -
The rail round a ships stern.
TAIL -
A rope spliced into the end of a block and used for making it fast to rigging or spars. Such a block is called a tail-block.
A ship is said to tail-up or down stream, when at anchor, according as her stern swings up or down with the tide; in opposition to heading one way or another, which is said of a vessel under way.
TAIL-TACKLE -
A watch-tackle.
TAIL ON! or TALLY ON!
An order given to take hold of a rope and pull.
TALLY BOARD -
Board bearing instructions to crew of wrecked vessel. Attached to a rocket line shot from rescue ship.
TANK -
An iron vessel placed in the hold to contain the vessel's water.
TAR -
A liquid gum, taken from pine and fir trees, and used for caulking, and to put upon yards in rope-making, and upon standing rigging, to protect it from the weather.
TARPAULIN -
A piece of canvass, covered with tar, used for covering hatches, boats, etc.
Also, the name commonly given to a sailor's hat when made of tarred or painted cloth.
TAUT -
Tight.
TAUNT -
High or tall. Commonly applied to a vessel's mast.
TELL-TALE -
A compass hanging from the beams of a cabin, by which the heading of a vessel may be known at any time.
Also, an instrument connected with the barrel of a wheel, a traversing so that the officer may see the position of the tiller.
TEND -
To watch a vessel at anchor at the turn of tides, and cast her by the helm, and some sail if necessary, so as to keep turns out of her cable.
TENDER -
A small boat used to transport crew, passengers and goods from shore to a larger boat.
TENON -
The heel of a mast, made to fit into the step.
TENTH WAVE -
Commonly believed to be higher than preceding nine waves. In some areas, the fifth wave is largest.
THICK-AND-THIN BLOCK -
A block having one sheave larger than the other. Sometimes used for quarter blocks.
THIMBLE -
An iron ring, having its rim concave on the outside for a rope or strap to fit snugly round.
THOLE-PINS -
Pins in the gunwale of a boat, between which an oar rests when pulling, instead of an oarlock.
THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND -
Said of a person who has had too much to drink. A ship with three sheets in the wind would stagger like a drunken man.
THROAT -
The inner end of a gaff, where it widens and hollows in to fit the mast.
Also, the hollow part of a knee.
The throat brails, halyards, etc. are those that hoist or haul up the gaff or sail near the throat.
Also, the angle where the arm of an anchor is joined to the shank.
THRUM -
To stick short strands of yarn through a mat or piece of canvass, to make a rough surface.
THWART -
A seat or brace running laterally across a boat.
TIDE -
The periodic rise and fall of water level in the oceans.
TIDE-RODE -
The situation of a vessel, at anchor, when she swings by the force of the tide. In opposition to wind-rode.
TIER -
A range of casks.
Also, the range of the fakes of a cable or hawser.
TILLER -
A bar or handle for turning a boat's rudder or an outboard motor.
TILLER-ROPES -
Ropes leading from the tiller-head round the barrel of the wheel, by which a vessel is steered.
TIMBER -
A general term for all large pieces of wood used in shipbuilding.
Also, more particuliarly, long pieces of wood in a curved form, bending outward, and running from the keel up, on each side, forming the ribs of the vessel. The keel, stem, stern-posts, and timbers form a vessel's outer frame.
TIMBER-HEADS -
The ends of the timbers that come above the decks. Used for belaying hawsers and large ropes.
TIMENOGUY -
A rope carried taut between different parts of the vessel, to prevent the sheet or tack of a course from getting foul, in working ship.
TOGGLE -
A pin placed through the bight or eye of a rope, block-strap, or bolt, to keep it in its place, or to put the bight or eye of another rope upon, and thus to secure them both together.
TONNAGE (types)
DEADWEIGHT -
The total weight of cargo and stores a vessel is capable of carrying when floating at it's waterline.
DISPLACEMENT -
The weight of the water displaced by the hull when the vessel is floating at its' load waterline.
GROSS TONNAGE -
The total internal volume of a vessel. 100 cubic feet = 1 ton.
NET TONNAGE -
The internal volume of a vessel available for cargo. Gross tonnage less engine, navigational equipment, etc.
TOP -
A platform, placed over the head of a lower mast, resting on the trestle-trees, to spread the rigging, and for the convenience of sailors' aloft.
To top up a yard or boom, is to raise up one end of it by hoisting on the lift.
TOP-BLOCK -
A large iron-bound block, hooked into a bolt under the lower cap, and used for the top-rope to reeve through in sending up and down topmasts.
TOP-LIGHT -
A signal lantern carried in the top.
TOP-LINING -
A lining on the afterpart of sails, to prevent them from chafing against the top-rim.
TOPMAST -
The second mast above the deck. Next above the lower mast.
TOPGALLANT MAST -
The third mast above the deck.
TOP-ROPE -
The rope used for sending topmasts up and down.
TOPSAIL -
The second sail above the deck.
TOPSAIL SCHOONER -
A schooner which sets one or more square-sails on the foremast above the gaff sail.
TOPGALLANT SAIL -
The third sail above the deck.
TOPPING LIFT -
A lift used for topping up the end of a boom.
Also, the line that controls the height of a spinnaker pole.
TOPSIDES -
The sides of a vessel between the waterline and the deck; sometimes referring to onto or above the deck.
TOP TIMBERS -
The highest timbers on a vessels' side, being above the futtocks.
TOSS -
To throw an oar out of the oarlock, raise it on its' end, and lay it down in the boat, blade forward.
TOUCH -
A sail is said to touch, when the wind strikes the leech so as to shake it a little.
Luff and touch her! The order to bring the vessel up and see how near she will go to the wind.
TOW -
To draw a vessel along by means of a rope.
TRAIN-TACKLE -
The tackle used for running guns in and out.
TRANSOM -
The stern cross-section of a square-sterned boat.
TRANSOM-KNEES -
Knees bolted to the transoms and after timbers.
TRAVELLER -
An iron ring, fitted so as to slip up and down a rope.
TREENAILS or TRUNNELS -
Long pins, used for nailing a plank to timber.
TREND -
The lower end of the shank of an anchor, being the same distance on the shank from the throat that the arm measures from the throat to the bill.
TRESTLE-TREES -
Two strong pieces of timber, placed horizontally and fore-and-aft on opposite sides of a mast-head, to support the cross-trees and top, and for the fid of the mast above to rest upon.
TRIATIC-STAY -
A rope secured at each end to the heads of the fore and main masts, with thimbles spliced into its bight, to hook the stay tackles to.
TRICE -
To haul up by means of a rope.
TRICK -
The time alotted to a person to stand at the helm.
TRIM -
Fore and aft balance of a boat.
TRIMARAN -
A boat with three hulls.
TRIP -
To raise an anchor clear of the bottom.
TRIPLINE -
A line fast to the crown of an anchor by means of which it can be hauled out when dug too deeply or fouled; a similar line used on a sea anchor to bring it aboard.
TRIREME -
A Greek galley with three banks of oars.
TRUCK -
A circular piece of wood, placed at the head of the highest mast of the ship. It has small holes or sheaves in it for signal halyards to be rove through.
Also, the wheel of a gun carriage.
TRUE NORTH POLE -
The north end of the earth's axis. Also called North Geographic Pole. The direction indicated by 000° (or 360°) on the true compass rose.
TRUE WIND -
The actual direction from which the wind is blowing.
TRUNNIONS -
The arms on each side of a cannon by which it rests upon the carriage, and on which, as an axis, it is elevated or depressed.
TRUSS -
The rope by which the center of a lower yard is kept in toward the mast.
TRYSAIL -
A fore-and-aft sail, set with a boom and gaff, and hoisting on a small mast abaft the lower mast, called the trysail-mast. This name is generally confined to the sail so carried at the mainmast of a full-rigged brig; those carried at the foremast and at the mainmast of a ship or bark being called spencers, and those that are at the mizzenmast of a ship or bark, spankers.
TUMBLING HOME -
Said of a ship's sides, when they fall in above the bends. The opposite of wall-sided.
TUNING -
The adjustments made to the standing rigging, the sails and the hull to balance the boat for optimum performance.
TURN -
Passing a rope once or twice round a pin or kevel, to keep it fast.
Also, two crosses in a cable.
TURNBUCKLE -
A threaded, adjustable rigging fitting, used for stays, lifelines and sometimes other rigging.
TYE -
A rope connected with a yard, to the other end of which a tackle is attached for hoisting.
Corrections, Additions & Clarifications - MMNETSEA
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