The Bosun´s Mate Glossary of Terms

The Bosun´s Mate dictionary of Nautical Terms has been compiled from many sources and is constantly being augmented and revised in our attempt to capture as much of the rich yet complicated (and often conflicting) maritime termonology as possible.

You will find an extensive list of information about all sorts of nautical items from sailor´s knots to the sailors themselves, and from ships to the weather patterns of the seas they ply.

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Abbreviations Abbreviations and Acronyms (41 terms) VTS Vessel Traffic System VHF radio based traffic control systems for heavy traffic areas.	Actions The things sailors do (8 terms) Pay out To feed out Line, hand over hand - usually over the side of the vessel.
Directions Why say back when you can say aft instead! (20 terms) Dead ahead Directly in front of the vessel.	Expressions Common sayings and expressions from maritime lore (149 terms) Douse To drop a Sail as quickly as possible.
Food The foods of the sea (2 terms) Scurvy A disease historically common to seaman, caused by lack of Vitamin C the British Navy started to fight it bu adding lime juice to their water - this was the origin of the slan "Limey"	Knots Various knots both functional and ornamental from the nautical to the ornamental and with both historic and present day value. (12 terms) Reef-knot A very common Knot used to Bend two Lines of the same diameter. If used to tie Lines of differing diameter it may slip.
Life aboard Bits and bobs from life aboard ship (5 terms) Scrimshaw A sailor´s carving or etching wood, on bones, teeth, tusks or shells. Frequently used as a way to pass the time on long voyages then to be traded or sold on shore.	Maneuvers Specific sailing maneuvers (33 terms) Yawing The motion of a Ship when she sways from to the right or left.
Navigation The points of sail and seamanship (76 terms) Headway The Forward motion of a vessel. The opposite of Sternway	Parts The parts of ships (131 terms) Carline wood Stringer supports for hatches and cabins
People Important people and/or their positions in nautical history (14 terms) Boatswain Also Bosun, bos´n, bo´s´n, and bo´sun, all of which are pronounced Bosun. A crew member responsible for keeping the Hull, Rigging and sails in good repair.	Places Key locations of the maritime world (20 terms) Lazarette A storage compartment Below decks in the Stern of a vessel.
Rigging Rigging components and terms (104 terms) Sandbagger A type of broad shallow open or partly decked center-board sailing vessel which originated around the 1850. They carried tremendous Sail area for their size.	Sails Sails, their parts and materials (30 terms) Foot 1. The base or bottom of a Sail. 2. The footrope, the part of the bolt-rope (to which the sides of a Sail are bound) which bounds the Foot of a Sail.
Ships Types of vessels and some famous examples (22 terms) Barquentine 3 Masted vessel: Square rigged on Fore Mast only.	Spars The various spars used aboard ship (6 terms) Mainmast 1. The tallest Mast of the Ship, on a Schooner, the Mast furthest Aft.
Tools The tools of the trade (27 terms) Viol An older name for the Messenger used to assist in weighing the Anchor.	unsorted terms awaiting clasification (36 terms) none found
Weather Meteorology and its relationship to sailing (7 terms) Quartering Sea When the wind, and thus the waves, are falling on a boat´s quarter.

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