Glossary of Nautical Terms

Adz: An adze or adz (pronounced /ædz/) is a tool used for smoothing rough-cut wood in hand woodworking. Generally, the user stands astride a board or log and swings the adze downwards towards their feet, chipping off pieces of wood, moving backwards as they go and leaving a relatively smooth surface behind. Adzes are most often used for squaring up logs, or for hollowing out timber.
The adze is also a tool of choice for building wreckers, laborers who dismantle old buildings by hand for salvage. The single tool can serve all the needs of deconstruction with proper use.
The blade of an adze is set at right angles to the tool's shaft (like a hoe or plane), unlike the blade of an axe which is set in line with the shaft.

Anchor: An anchor is an object, often made out of metal, that is used to attach a ship to the bottom of a body of water at a specific point. There are two primary classes of anchors—temporary and permanent. A permanent anchor is often called a mooring, and is rarely moved; it is quite possible the vessel cannot hoist it aboard but must hire a service to move or maintain it. Vessels carry one or more temporary anchors which may be of different designs and weights. A sea anchor is a related device used when the water depth makes using a mooring or temporary anchor impractical. The vessel is attached to the anchor by the rode which is made with chain, cable or line or a combination of these. The hole in the hull through which the anchor rode passes is called "hawsepipe" because thick mooring lines are called "hawsers".

Azimuth Circle: Instrument used to take bearings of celestial objects.

Barograph: A barograph is a recording aneroid barometer. It produces a paper or foil chart called a barogram that records the barometric pressure over time.

Barometer: A barometer is an instrument used to measure atmospheric pressure. It can measure the pressure exerted by the atmosphere by using water, air, or mercury. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Numerous measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis to help find surface troughs, high pressure systems, and frontal boundaries.

Bell Rope: The bellrope is a necessary ancillary to the ship's bell, long considered the 'heart' of a ship. Ship's bells are almost mystical
objects, especially for as superstitious a lot as are sailors. They are polished before all other items and are the last thing to be
removed when a ship is decommissioned or scrapped. US Navy vessels have their names engraved on their bells and when a
ship is struck from the list, the last Commanding Officer usually receives the bell for safekeeping.

Ship's Bell Clock: An instrument for measuring and recording time, esp. by mechanical means, usually with hands or changing numbers to indicate the hour and minute: not designed to be worn or carried about.

Bearing Circle: A ring designed to fit snugly over a compass or compass repeater, and provided with vanes for observing compass bearings.

Binnacle: The stand on which the ship's compass is mounted

Binoculars: Binocular telescopes, or binoculars (also known as field glasses), are two identical or mirror-symmetrical telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point accurately in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most are sized to be held using both hands, although there are much larger types..

Bosun's Pipe: One of the oldest pieces of sailing equipment, the Boatswain's whistle (Boatswain's pipe, Bosun's pipe or Boatswain's flute), was used in ancient Greece and Rome to indicate the stroke for galley slaves and during the Crusades to call English cross bowmen on deck for attack. Its shrill sound could be heard on deck and so it was later used to signal the boarding of officials. This signaling device became a badge of office and honor in the British and American Navys and is still used today.

Cannon: A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. The word cannon is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane, or reed. In modern times, cannon has fallen out of common usage, usually replaced by "guns" or "artillery", if not a more specific term, such as "mortar" or "howitzer".

Caulking Mallet: Caulking is a process used to seal the seams in wooden boats or ships, and riveted iron or steel ships, in order to make them watertight. The tools of traditional wooden ship caulking; caulking mallet, caulker's seat, caulking irons, cotton and oakum.

Caulking Iron: A caulking iron is a tool used for caulking.

Chelsea: A district of western London, England, on the north bank of the Thames River, popular since the 18th century with writers and artists. It is part of the Greater London borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Clinometer: Any of various surveying instruments for measuring angles of elevation, slope, or incline, as of an embankment. Also called inclinometer.

Chronometer: A marine chronometer is a timekeeper precise enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation. They were the high tech product of their era, ranking in importance to the modern era with such inventions as GPS, the telegraph, steel making, railways, steamships and so forth. The chronometer was the life work of one man, John Harrison, spanning 31 years of persistent trial and error that revolutionized naval (and later aerial) navigation as the Age of Discovery and the Scramble for India waned and Colonialism hit a new gear.

Chronometer Watch: A chronometer watch is a watch tested and certified to meet certain precision standards. In Switzerland, only timepieces certified by the COSC may use the word 'Chronometer' on them. However, numerous prominent Swiss watch manufacturers do not submit their movements for COSC certification, although such movements would probably easily qualify as chronometers under the COSC certification rules.

Cleat: In nautical contexts, a cleat is a device attaching a rope. The traditional design is attached to a flat surface and features two “horns” extending parallel to the deck.

Clock: A clock is an instrument used for indicating and maintaining the time and passage thereof. The word clock is derived ultimately (via Dutch, Northern French, and Medieval Latin) from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". For horologists and other specialists the term clock continues to mean exclusively a device with a striking mechanism for announcing intervals of time acoustically, by ringing a bell, a set of chimes, or a gong.[citation needed] A silent instrument lacking such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece.[1] In general usage today, however, a "clock" refers to any device for measuring and displaying the time which, unlike a watch, is not worn on the person.

Coast Guard: A coast guard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries. Among the responsibilities that may be entrusted to a coast guard service are Maritime / Sea Rescue, enforcement of maritime law, maintenance of seamarks, border control, and other services. During wartime coast guards might be responsible for harbour defense, port security, naval counterintelligence and coastal patrols.

Compass: A compass, magnetic compass or mariner's compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the earth's magnetic poles. It consists of a magnetized pointer (usually marked on the North end) free to align itself with Earth's magnetic field. The compass greatly improved the safety and efficiency of travel, especially ocean travel. A compass can be used to calculate heading, used with a sextant to calculate latitude, and with a marine chronometer to calculate longitude. It thus provides a much improved navigational capability that has only been recently supplanted by modern devices such as the Global Positioning System (GPS).

Cutlass: A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket shaped guard.

Dead Eye: A deadeye is an item used in the standing and running rigging of traditional sailing ships. It is a smallish round thick wooden disc with one or more holes through it, perpendicular to the plane of the disc. Single and triple-hole deadeyes are most commonly seen.
A single deadeye (or bull's eye) used to change the direction of a line, in this case a buntline on Prince William 's fore-topgallant. Single deadeyes (or bull's eyes) are used to guide and control a line and, particularly in older vessels, to change its direction. More modern systems would use a block for this purpose but in traditional rigs with many lines to deal with, designed when blocks were relatively expensive to make, a deadeye

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Deck Prism: For centuries, sailing ships used Deck Prisms to provide a safe source of natural sunlight to illuminate areas below decks Before electricity, light below a vessel's deck was limited. Light below a vessel's deck was provided by candles, oil and kerosene lamps - all dangerous aboard a wooden ship. The deck prism was a clever solution. Laid flush into the deck, the glass prism refracted and dispersed a flood of natural light into the cabin below from a small deck opening without weakening the planks or becoming a fire hazard.
In normal usage, the prism hangs below the ceiling and disperses the light sideways; the top is flat and installed flush with the deck, becoming part of the deck. A plain flat glass would just form a single bright spot below-- not very useful general illumination-- hence the prismatic shape.

Diorama: The word diorama can refer either to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle modeling, miniature figure modeling or aircraft modeling.

Diving: Underwater diving is the practice of going underwater with or without breathing apparatus.

Enunciator: An overload detector/enunciator circuit. The overload detector/enunciator circuit detects an overloaded condition of a backup generator and provides a relatively immediate indication of the overload to occupants of the residence or facility receiving power from the backup generator such that correction of the overload condition can be effected before any damage to the generator or load devices can occur.

Engine Order: An engine order telegraph or E.O.T., often also chadburn, is a communications device used on a ship or submarine for the pilot on the bridge to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed. In early vessels, from the 1800s until about 1950, the device usually consisted of a round dial about nine inches (~20 centimetres) in diameter with a knob at the center attached to one or more handles, and an indicator pointer on the face of the dial. Modern E.O.T.s on vessels which still use them use electronic light and sound signals.

Telegraph: A telegraph is a machine for transmitting and receiving messages over long distances, i.e., for telegraphy. The word telegraph alone now generally refers to an electrical telegraph. Wireless telegraphy is also known as CW, for continuous wave (a carrier modulated by on-off keying), as opposed to the earlier radio technique using a spark gap.[citation needed]
A telegraph message sent by a telegraph operator (or telegrapher) using Morse code was known as a telegram or cablegram, often shortened to a cable or a wire message. Later, a telegram sent by the Telex network, a switched network of teleprinters similar to the telephone network, was known as a telex message.

Ephemera: Ephemera is transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters, pamphlets, postcards, posters, prospectuses, stock certificates, tickets and zines. Decks of personality identification playing cards from the war in Iraq are a recent example.

Fid: 1. A tapered wooden tool used for separating the strands of rope for splicing. (2) A bar used to fix an upper mast in place.

Flags: A maritime flag is a flag designated for use on boats and other watercraft. Naval flags are considered important at sea and the rules and regulations for the flying of flags are strictly enforced.

Flare Gun: A flare gun is a gun that fires flares. They are typically used as a distress signal as well as other signaling purposes at sea and between aircraft and people on the ground.
The most common type of flare gun is a Very pistol (often misspelled as Verey pistol), which was named after Edward Wilson Very (1847–1910), an American naval officer who developed and popularized a single-shot breech-loading snub-nosed pistol that fired flares. Modern varieties are frequently made out of brightly-colored, durable plastic.

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Half-Model: A scale model of the hull of a proposed ship showing the hull from stem to stern. It was made in layers which when taken apart served as models for the full scale plans.

Helmet: Diving helmets are worn mainly by professional divers engaged in surface supplied diving, though many models can be adapted for use with SCUBA equipment.
The helmet seals the whole of the diver's face from the water, allows the diver to see, provides the diver with breathing gas, provides an anchor point on the diver for the umbilical supplying the breathing gas, protects the diver's head when doing heavy or dangerous work, and provides voice communications with the surface. If a helmeted diver goes unconscious, the helmet will remain in place and continue to deliver breathing gas until the diver can be rescued. In contrast, the SCUBA regulators typically used by recreational divers must be held in the mouth, and will usually fall out of an unconscious diver's mouth resulting in drowning.

Hourglass: An hourglass, also known as a sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer, is a device for the measurement of time. It consists of two glass bulbs placed one above the other which are connected by a narrow tube. One of the bulbs is usually filled with fine sand which flows through the narrow tube into the bottom bulb at a given rate. Once all the sand has run to the bottom bulb, the device can be inverted in order to measure time again. The hourglass is named for the most frequently used sandglass, where the sands have a nominal running time of one hour.

Lantern: A lantern is a portable lighting device used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may be used for signaling, or as general light sources for camping. Dim varieties are often used for decoration.
The term "lantern" is also used more generically to mean a 'light source' or the enclosure for a light source, i.e., the housing for the lamp and lens -- that is the top section -- of a lighthouse.[1]

Life Saving: That saves life, or is suited to save life, esp. from drowning; as, the life-saving service; a life-saving station.

Light: Any device serving as a source of illumination; "he stopped the car and turned off the lights"

Lighthouse: A lighthouse is a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire and used as an aid to navigation and to pilots at sea.

Marine: Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology marine geology. As a noun it can be a term for a certain kind of navy, or those enlisted in such a navy.

Maritime Art: Marine art or maritime art is any form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre particularly strong from the 17th to 19th centuries.[1]

Mast Light: A white light positioned over the fore and aft centerline of the vessel.

Mermaid: A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head and torso and the tail of an aquatic animal such as a fish or dolphin. Various cultures throughout the world have similar figures. The word is a compound of mere, the Old English word for "sea," and maid, in its usual sense. The male equivalent is a merman.

Morse: Morse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the letters, numerals, punctuation and special characters of a given message. The short and long elements can be formed by sounds, marks, or pulses, in on off keying and are commonly known as "dots" and "dashes" or "dits" and "dahs". The speed of Morse code is measured in words per minute (WPM) or characters per minute, while fixed-length data forms of telecommunication transmission are usually measured in baud or bps.

Musket: A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smoothbore long gun, which is intended to be fired from the shoulder.

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Navy: A navy is the branch of a nation's military forces principally designated for naval warfare and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions.

Net: Net or netting is any textile in which the warp and weft yarns are looped or knotted at their intersections, resulting in a fabric with large open spaces between the yarns.
Hand- or machine-made net is used as the foundation fabric for many kinds of needlework, including Filet lace and tambour lace.

Net Float: An object designed to float in water and to support a net.

Oars: An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. The oarsmen grasp the oar at the other end. What distinguishes oars from paddles is that paddles are held by the paddler, and are not connected with the vessel. Oars generally are connected to the vessel by means of rowlocks or tholes which act as a fulcrum.

Oil Lamp: An oil lamp is a simple vessel used to produce light continuously for a period of time from a fuel source. The use of oil lamps extends from prehistory to the present day.

Ocean Liner: An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo, mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (e.g., for pleasure cruises or as troopships).

Octant: The octant, also called reflecting quadrant, is a measuring instrument used primarily in navigation. It is a type of reflecting instrument.

Painting: (1) graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface; "a small painting by Picasso"; "he bought the painting as an investment"; "his pictures hang in the Louvre". (2) The act of applying paint to a surface

Patent Log: A cigar-shaped log with rotary fins that measure the ship's speed.

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Porthole: A porthole is a small, generally circular, window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Porthole is actually an abbreviated term for "port hole window". Though the term is of obvious maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicles, aircraft, automobiles (the Ford Thunderbird a notable example), and even spacecraft.

Portlight: A metal frame with a glass insert which allows light to enter enclosed compartments in the hull or superstructure of a vessel.

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Rigging: Rigging (from Anglo-Saxon wrigan or wringing, "to clothe") is, on sailboats and sailing ships, the collection of apparatuses through which the force of the wind is transferred to the ship in order to propel it forward. This includes masts, yardarms, sails, and cordage.

Running Lights: Navigational lights that are required to be used when a boat is in motion between sunset and sunrise

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Sail Palm: A fine quality rawhide palm with iron thimble, hide bound. Riveted joints. Made in both right and left hand.

Sea Chest: A wooden box used by sailors that contained their personal posessions. Many sea chests were made with slanted sides which made the base larger than the top. Some reasons for this feature include added stability or easier storage in the forecaslte, or to allow access in a group of chests placed side by side. Sea chests can also be distinguised from tool boxes or blanket chests by the presence of a wooden cleat on the ends to which a rope becket might be attached.

Seth Thomas:Seth Thomas (1785 – 1859) was a famous 19th century American clock maker and a pioneer of mass production.
Thomas was born in Wolcott, Connecticut, in 1785. He started in the clock business in 1807, working for clockmaker Eli Terry. In 1810, he bought Terry's clock business though chose to sell his partnership in 1812 and moved to Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut, where he set up a factory to make metal-movement clocks. After Thomas' death, Plymouth Hollow renamed itself "Thomaston" in his honor in 1875.

Sextant: A sextant is an instrument generally used to measure the altitude of a celestial object above the horizon. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight. The angle, and the time when it was measured, can be used to calculate a position line on a nautical or aeronautical chart. A common use of the sextant is to sight the sun at noon to find one's latitude. See celestial navigation for more discussion. Held horizontally, the sextant can be used to measure the angle between any two objects, such as between two lighthouses, which will, similarly, allow for calculation of a line of position on a chart.

Ship's Bell: A Ship's Bell is usually made of brass, and has the ship's name engraved on it. Strikes of a ship's bell are used to indicate the hour aboard a ship and thereby to regulate the sailors' duty watches.
Unlike civil clock bells, the strikes of the bell do not accord to the number of the hour. Instead, there are eight bells, one for each half-hour of a four-hour watch. Bells would be struck every half-hour, and in a pattern of pairs for easier counting, with any odd bells at the end of the sequence.

Ship Model: Ship models or model ships are scale representations of ships. They can range in size from 1/6000 scale wargaming miniatures to large vessels capable of holding people.[1]
Ship modeling is a craft as old as shipbuilding itself, stretching back to ancient times when water transport was first developed.

Ship's Log: A logbook was originally a book for recording readings from the log, and is used to determine the distance a ship traveled within a certain amount of time. The readings of the log have been recorded in equal times to give the distance traveled with respect to a given start position.

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Ship's Wheel: The wheel of a ship is the modern method of adjusting the angle of the rudder, in turn changing the direction of the boat or ship. It is also called the helm, together with the rest of the steering mechanism.
Helmsmen on older ships steer using a tiller (a long stick) fixed directly to the rudder, or a whipstaff (a vertical stick acting on the tiller). Early ships wheels were operated to correspond to the motion of the tiller, with a clockwise motion (corresponding to a right tiller motion) turning the rudder and thus the ship to the left. Eventually the control direction of the wheel was reversed to make it more consistent with the action of a motor vehicle's steering wheel.

Spyglass: Another term for a hand-held telescope for terrestrial observation.

Stern Light: A white running light placed at the stern of the boat. The stern light should be visible through an arc of 135°, to the rear of the boat.

Sword: A sword is a long, edged piece of metal, used as a cutting, thrusting, and clubbing weapon in many civilizations throughout the world. The word sword comes from the Old English sweord, cognate to Old High German swert, Middle Dutch swaert, Old Norse sverð (cf.Danish sværd, Norwegian sverd, Swedish svärd) Old Frisian and Old Saxon swerd and Modern Dutch zwaard and German Schwert, from a Proto-Indo-European root *swer- "to wound, to hurt".

Taffrail Log: A device with rotating fins that is dragged behind a vessel to measure the speed and/or distance travelled.

Telegraph: An apparatus, or a process, for communicating rapidly between distant points, especially by means of established visible or audible signals representing words or ideas, or by means of words and signs, transmitted by electrical means.

Telescope: A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects by the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century. "Telescopes" can refer to a whole range of instruments operating in most regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

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Watch Cap: A knitted dark blue wool cap worn by seamen in cold or stormy weather.