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Top 37 Slang For Boat – Meaning & Usage

Boats, whether they’re cruising along the open seas or peacefully floating on a tranquil lake, have their own language. From nautical terms to slang that’s been passed down through generations of sailors, the world of boat lingo is as vast as the ocean itself.

In this listicle, we’ve rounded up the top slang for boat that will have you speaking like a seasoned sailor in no time. So hop aboard and get ready to navigate the waves of boat jargon with confidence!

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1. Gin Palace

A “gin palace” is a slang term for a luxurious and extravagant boat, typically a large yacht. The term is often used to describe opulent and high-end vessels.

For example , “He arrived at the party in his gin palace, turning heads with its sleek design and lavish features.”
In a conversation about boating , someone might say, “I dream of owning a gin palace one day, sailing around the world in style.”
A boating enthusiast might admire a gin palace and exclaim , “That boat is the epitome of luxury, a true gin palace.”

A “barge” is a type of boat that is flat-bottomed and designed for carrying goods on rivers and canals. The term can also be used to refer to any large and unwieldy boat.

For instance , “The barge slowly made its way down the river, carrying a heavy load of cargo.”
In a discussion about transportation , someone might mention, “Barges are often used to transport goods efficiently and cost-effectively.”
A person describing a boat they saw might say , “It wasn’t the most elegant boat, more like a floating barge.”

3. Ditch crawler

A “ditch crawler” is a slang term for a small boat, typically used for navigating narrow waterways or shallow areas. The term emphasizes the boat’s ability to maneuver in tight spaces.

For example , “He took his ditch crawler out for a peaceful day of fishing in the narrow canals.”
In a conversation about boating options , someone might say, “I prefer a ditch crawler for exploring hidden waterways and marshes.”
A boating enthusiast might recommend a ditch crawler and say , “If you love exploring remote areas, a ditch crawler is the way to go.”

4. Tupperware

A “Tupperware” is a slang term for a boat made of plastic, typically referring to small recreational boats. The term is often used humorously to describe boats that are lightweight and easily transportable.

For instance , “He took his Tupperware out on the lake for a day of fishing and relaxation.”
In a discussion about boat materials , someone might say, “Tupperware boats are popular among beginners due to their affordability and durability.”
A person describing a boat they saw might joke , “It was a classic Tupperware, perfect for a picnic on the water.”

A “plastic” is a slang term for a boat made of fiberglass. The term is commonly used among boating enthusiasts and refers to the material used in the construction of the boat.

For example , “He proudly showed off his new plastic, a sleek and shiny vessel.”
In a conversation about boat maintenance , someone might mention, “Plastic boats require regular cleaning and waxing to keep their glossy appearance.”
A boating enthusiast might discuss the advantages of a plastic and say , “Fiberglass boats are lightweight, durable, and offer excellent performance on the water.”

A scow is a type of boat with a flat-bottomed hull, typically used for transporting goods or dredging. The flat-bottom design allows for easy loading and unloading of cargo.

For example , “The scow was used to transport lumber down the river.”
In a discussion about water transportation , someone might ask, “Has anyone ever been on a scow before?”
A boating enthusiast might say , “Scows are great for shallow waters and navigating through marshes.”

In boating slang, “A1” refers to a boat that is in excellent condition. It indicates that the boat is well-maintained and ready for use.

For instance , “That yacht is A1, it’s been well taken care of.”
A boat owner might advertise , “Selling my A1 sailboat, it’s in pristine condition.”
In a discussion about boat maintenance , someone might say, “Regular cleaning and servicing is important to keep your boat A1.”

8. At Loggerheads

The phrase “at loggerheads” is a nautical term that refers to two boats coming into contact and becoming stuck together. Figuratively, it means to be in a state of disagreement or conflict.

For example , “The two politicians are at loggerheads over the new policy.”
In a debate , someone might say, “We’ve been at loggerheads for hours, let’s try to find some common ground.”
A news headline might read , “Labor and management at loggerheads in contract negotiations.”

9. Barge In

To “barge in” means to interrupt or intrude into a conversation or situation without invitation or permission. The term comes from the image of a barge forcefully entering a space.

For instance , “He always barge in when we’re trying to have a serious discussion.”
In a social gathering , someone might say, “Please don’t barge in, wait for your turn.”
A parent might scold their child , “You can’t just barge in without knocking.”

10. Coasties

In boating slang, “Coasties” refers to members of the Coast Guard. It is a colloquial term used to describe individuals who serve in the maritime branch of a country’s military or law enforcement.

For example , “The Coasties rescued the stranded boaters during the storm.”
In a discussion about maritime safety , someone might ask, “Do the Coasties patrol this area regularly?”
A Coast Guard member might say , “I’m proud to be one of the Coasties, protecting our shores.”

11. Blowboater

This term is often used to refer to someone who is passionate about sailing and owns a sailboat. It can also be used to describe someone who enjoys participating in sailboat races or regattas.

For example , “He spends every weekend out on the water, he’s a true blowboater.”
A sailing club might organize an event and invite blowboaters to join and showcase their skills.
A sailing enthusiast might say , “I love being a blowboater because it allows me to connect with nature and experience the thrill of the wind in my sails.”

12. Snailboater

This term is used to describe a sailboat that is moving at a slow speed, often due to light wind or unfavorable sailing conditions. It can also be used as a playful nickname for someone who prefers a leisurely pace while sailing.

For instance , “We were stuck behind a snailboater during the race, and it took us longer to reach the finish line.”
A sailor might say , “I enjoy being a snailboater because it allows me to relax and enjoy the peacefulness of the water.”
During a sailing trip , someone might jokingly say, “We’re not in a rush, let’s embrace our inner snailboaters and take our time.”

13. Dead in the water

This phrase is used to describe a boat that has come to a complete stop and is not moving. It can also be used metaphorically to describe a situation where there is no progress or forward movement.

For example , “The engine failed, and we were dead in the water until help arrived.”
A sailor might say , “We encountered a strong current that left us dead in the water for hours.”
In a business context , someone might say, “Without a clear plan, the project is dead in the water.”

14. Stinkpot

This term is often used to refer to a motorboat, particularly one with a gasoline-powered engine. It is derived from the strong smell of exhaust fumes emitted by motorboats.

For instance , “He prefers the speed and convenience of a stinkpot over a sailboat.”
A boat enthusiast might say , “I enjoy sailing, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break and hop on a stinkpot.”
During a conversation about different types of boats , someone might ask, “Are you more of a stinkpot person or a blowboater?”

15. Oil burner

This term is used to describe a boat that is powered by a diesel engine. Diesel-powered boats are sometimes referred to as oil burners due to the fuel they use.

For example , “He owns an oil burner and enjoys the fuel efficiency it provides.”
A boat mechanic might say , “When maintaining an oil burner, it’s important to regularly check the fuel filters.”
During a discussion about different types of boat engines , someone might ask, “Do you prefer gas-powered boats or oil burners?”

16. High-tide riders

This term refers to experienced boaters who are skilled at navigating during high tide conditions. It implies that these boaters are familiar with the challenges and nuances of boating in high tide.

For example , “The high-tide riders know exactly how to navigate through the narrow channels during high tide.”
A boater might say , “If you want to learn how to handle your boat during high tide, seek advice from the high-tide riders.”
In a discussion about boating techniques , someone might mention, “The high-tide riders have mastered the art of reading the water and understanding the tides.”

17. As the crow flies

This phrase is often used to describe the shortest distance between two points, without considering any obstacles or detours. It implies a direct and efficient route.

For instance , “The marina is just two miles away as the crow flies, but it will take longer if we follow the winding river.”
A boater might say , “Let’s go to that island over there, it’s only a few miles as the crow flies.”
In a discussion about navigation , someone might mention, “As the crow flies, the distance between two points may seem short, but you have to consider the actual route on the water.”

18. Go Fast

This phrase is used to encourage or describe the act of increasing the speed of a boat. It implies a desire for a thrilling and fast-paced boating experience.

For example , “Hold on tight, we’re going fast!”
A boater might say , “I love to go fast and feel the wind in my hair.”
In a discussion about different boating styles , someone might mention, “Some boaters prefer a leisurely cruise, while others like to go fast and enjoy the adrenaline rush.”

19. Go Fast/Go Loud

This phrase is often used to describe a boating style that involves both high speed and loud engine noise. It implies a preference for a powerful and attention-grabbing boating experience.

For instance , “When they go fast, they also go loud with their engines revving.”
A boater might say , “If you want to make a statement on the water, go fast and go loud.”
In a discussion about different types of boating events , someone might mention, “The go fast/go loud races are always a crowd favorite.”

20. Boating Dollars

This term refers to the expenses associated with owning and operating a boat. It implies that boating can be a costly hobby or lifestyle.

For example , “He has invested a lot of boating dollars in his yacht.”
A boater might say , “Before you buy a boat, make sure you’re prepared for the boating dollars that come with it.”
In a discussion about budgeting for boating , someone might mention, “It’s important to factor in all the boating dollars, including maintenance, fuel, and insurance.”

21. Sailboat

A type of boat that is propelled by wind, using sails to harness the power of the wind. Sailboats come in various sizes and configurations, from small single-handed dinghies to large luxury yachts.

For example , “Let’s go out for a day of sailing on my sailboat.”
A sailor might say , “I prefer the freedom and tranquility of sailing on a sailboat.”
In a discussion about different types of boats , someone might mention, “Sailboats are known for their elegance and grace on the water.”

22. Motorboat

A boat that is powered by an engine, typically an internal combustion engine. Motorboats come in various sizes and styles, from small speedboats to large yachts.

For instance , “Let’s take the motorboat out for some water skiing.”
A boating enthusiast might say , “I love the thrill and speed of a motorboat.”
In a conversation about different types of boats , someone might mention, “Motorboats are great for exploring large bodies of water quickly and efficiently.”

A narrow boat that is pointed at both ends and propelled by paddles. Canoes are typically used for recreational purposes, such as leisurely paddling on calm lakes or navigating rivers.

For example , “Let’s go canoeing down the river and enjoy the peacefulness of nature.”
A nature enthusiast might say , “Canoeing allows you to explore remote and untouched areas.”
In a discussion about different types of boats , someone might mention, “Canoes are perfect for solo or tandem paddling adventures.”

A small, narrow boat that is propelled by a double-bladed paddle. Kayaks are designed for one or two people and are commonly used for recreational activities such as touring, fishing, and whitewater rafting.

For instance , “Let’s go kayaking and explore the hidden coves along the coast.”
An outdoor enthusiast might say , “Kayaking allows you to get up close and personal with nature.”
In a conversation about different types of boats , someone might mention, “Kayaks are versatile and can be used in various water conditions.”

A small, shallow-draft boat that is typically used for fishing in calm waters. Skiffs are lightweight and easy to maneuver, making them popular among anglers.

For example , “Let’s take the skiff out for some early morning fishing.”
A fishing enthusiast might say , “Skiffs allow you to access shallow areas where larger boats can’t go.”
In a discussion about different types of boats , someone might mention, “Skiffs are perfect for fly fishing or casting in tight spaces.”

26. Jon boat

A small, flat-bottomed boat typically used for fishing or hunting in shallow waters. The term “Jon boat” is a colloquialism, derived from the name “John,” and is often used interchangeably with “John boat.”

For example , “Let’s take the Jon boat out on the lake and do some fishing.”
A person discussing boating options might say , “A Jon boat is perfect for navigating narrow rivers.”
In a conversation about different types of boats , someone might ask, “What’s the difference between a Jon boat and a bass boat?”

27. Pontoon boat

A flat-bottomed boat that is buoyant due to pontoons, which are air-filled chambers attached to the bottom of the boat. Pontoon boats are often used for leisure activities such as cruising, fishing, or partying on the water. The term “party barge” is a colloquialism used to emphasize the social and recreational aspects of pontoon boats.

For instance , “We rented a pontoon boat for a day of fun on the lake. It was like a floating party barge!”
A person discussing boating options might say , “A pontoon boat is great for a relaxing day on the water with friends.”
In a conversation about different types of boats , someone might ask, “Can you fish from a pontoon boat?”

28. Houseboat

A boat that has been designed or modified for use as a permanent residence. Houseboats typically have living spaces, bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms, providing all the comforts of a traditional home. The term “floating home” is often used to highlight the fact that houseboats serve as both a means of transportation and a place to live.

For example , “We spent our vacation on a houseboat, and it felt like living in a floating home.”
A person discussing alternative living arrangements might say , “I’m considering buying a houseboat and living on the water.”
In a conversation about unique vacation experiences , someone might ask, “Have you ever stayed in a houseboat?”

29. Jet ski

A small, motorized vehicle designed to be ridden on the water. Jet skis are typically used for recreational purposes, such as cruising, racing, or performing tricks. The term “personal watercraft” is a more formal and descriptive term for jet ski.

For instance , “Let’s go to the beach and rent a jet ski for some fun on the water.”
A person discussing water sports might say , “I love riding a personal watercraft like a jet ski.”
In a conversation about different types of watercraft , someone might ask, “What’s the difference between a jet ski and a wave runner?”

30. Catamaran

A boat that has two parallel hulls connected by a deck or framework. Catamarans are known for their stability and speed, making them popular for both recreational and commercial purposes. The term “twin-hull boat” is a more technical description of a catamaran.

For example , “We went on a catamaran cruise and enjoyed the smooth ride and spacious deck.”
A person discussing sailing might say , “Catamarans are great for long-distance voyages due to their stability.”
In a conversation about different types of boats , someone might ask, “What are the advantages of a catamaran over a traditional single-hull boat?”

31. Trawler

A trawler is a type of fishing vessel that is designed to tow a trawl net through the water to catch fish. It is often used for commercial fishing purposes.

For example , “The trawler returned to the harbor with a big catch of cod.”
A fisherman might say , “I’ve been working on a trawler for over 10 years.”
In a discussion about sustainable fishing , someone might mention, “Trawlers can have a negative impact on marine ecosystems if not properly regulated.”

32. Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of boat that is designed for leisure and recreational purposes. It is typically larger and more luxurious than other types of boats and is often used for cruising or sailing.

For instance , “They spent the weekend on their cruiser, exploring the nearby islands.”
A boating enthusiast might say , “I love taking my cruiser out on the lake for a relaxing day on the water.”
In a discussion about different types of boats , someone might ask, “What’s the difference between a cruiser and a yacht?”

33. Gondola

A gondola is a traditional Venetian boat that is used for transportation in the canals of Venice, Italy. It is typically long and narrow, with a flat bottom and a high prow and stern.

For example , “They took a romantic gondola ride through the canals of Venice.”
A traveler might say , “Riding a gondola is a must-do experience when visiting Venice.”
In a discussion about unique modes of transportation , someone might mention, “Gondolas are an iconic symbol of Venice.”

34. Pontoon

A pontoon is a type of boat that is supported by pontoons, or flotation devices, instead of a traditional hull. It is often used for recreational activities such as fishing or leisurely cruising.

For instance , “They went fishing on their pontoon and caught several bass.”
A boating enthusiast might say , “Pontoon boats are great for relaxing and enjoying time on the water.”
In a discussion about different types of boats , someone might ask, “What are the advantages of a pontoon boat over a traditional motorboat?”

35. Speedboat

A speedboat is a type of boat that is designed for high speed and performance. It is typically smaller and more agile than other types of boats and is often used for water sports or racing.

For example , “They went water skiing behind their speedboat.”
A boating enthusiast might say , “I love the adrenaline rush of driving a speedboat at top speed.”
In a discussion about different types of boats , someone might ask, “What’s the fastest speedboat ever recorded?”

36. Canoe-kayak

A canoe-kayak, often referred to as a “paddlecraft,” is a small and narrow boat that is propelled by paddling. It can be used for recreational purposes or for competitive sports such as canoeing and kayaking.

For example , “Let’s take the canoe-kayak out on the lake for a relaxing afternoon.”
In a discussion about water sports , someone might say, “I prefer canoe-kayaking over other forms of boating.”
A person planning a camping trip might ask , “Does anyone know where we can rent a canoe-kayak for our adventure?”

37. Paddleboard

Short for “Stand-Up Paddleboard,” a paddleboard is a long and wide board that is used for standing and paddling on water. It is propelled by a single paddle and can be used for various activities such as surfing, touring, or practicing yoga.

For instance , “I love taking my paddleboard out to catch some waves.”
In a conversation about outdoor fitness , someone might say, “I’ve recently started doing SUP yoga on my paddleboard.”
A person planning a beach vacation might ask , “Are there any good spots for paddleboarding in this area?”

Setting Sail with Nautical Sayings

Ahoy, matey.

Our journey begins with the iconic greeting, "Ahoy, matey!" This classic nautical saying has been immortalized in countless pirate tales and seafaring adventures. But have you ever wondered about its origins and the fascinating history behind it?

The phrase "Ahoy, matey!" finds its roots in the 17th century when pirates and sailors needed a catchy and distinctive way to greet each other on the high seas. We'll explore how this phrase became a symbol of maritime camaraderie and adventure.

Charting the Course of Nautical Language

Before we delve into specific nautical sayings, let's navigate through the history of maritime language. The sea has always been a source of inspiration for unique expressions, and understanding the evolution of this language is key to appreciating its richness.

Maritime language is a dynamic blend of influences from various cultures, including English, Dutch, and even French. We'll journey through time to uncover how these linguistic influences shaped the nautical lexicon we know today.

Knots and Nautical Expressions

The maritime world is a treasure trove of fascinating expressions related to knots and ropes. From "tying the knot" to "left in the lurch," we'll unravel the meanings behind these captivating sayings.

Let's explore more nautical phrases related to knots, rigging, and seamanship. Each saying carries a unique history, often reflecting the practical challenges and traditions of sailors.

The Call of the Sea

Beyond greetings and practical expressions, sailors had a language of their own to communicate effectively on the vast expanse of the ocean. We'll delve into the lesser-known but equally intriguing nautical phrases that were used for signaling, navigation, and coordination.

Discovering Yacht Word Origins

The yacht: a luxurious icon .

Yachts epitomize elegance and luxury on the water. But have you ever wondered where the term "yacht" itself comes from? Let's set sail on a journey through time to explore its origins.

The word "yacht" has a fascinating history that dates back to the early days of sailing. We'll trace its evolution from humble beginnings to the opulent vessels we associate with yachts today.

Yacht or Jacht: A Linguistic Odyssey

Did you know that "yacht" is closely related to the Dutch word "jacht"? We'll uncover the linguistic connection between these two words and how it has influenced modern yacht culture.

The Dutch influence on yacht design and terminology is profound. We'll delve into how Dutch shipbuilders and explorers played a pivotal role in shaping the yacht industry.

The Golden Age of Yachting

Yachting isn't just about boats; it's a cultural phenomenon with a rich history. During the 19th century, the "Golden Age of Yachting" saw a surge in yacht building and racing. We'll explore this period and its impact on yacht word origins.

Sailing Through Boating Sayings

Smooth sailing ahead.

When it comes to boating, the saying "smooth sailing" is music to a captain's ears. Join us as we explore the origin of this optimistic phrase and how it reflects the sailors' eternal quest for favorable winds.

"Smooth sailing" isn't just a saying; it embodies the aspirations and experiences of mariners throughout history. We'll recount stories of legendary voyages and the calm seas that inspired this expression.

Weathering the Storm

Boating isn't always smooth sailing. Sometimes, sailors must "weather the storm." We'll examine the origin of this phrase and its enduring relevance to the maritime world.

Navigating storms at sea has always been a formidable challenge. We'll share tales of courage and resilience that shed light on the origins of this powerful metaphor.

Deciphering Nautical Slang

Aye, aye, captain .

Nautical slang is a language all its own, and "aye, aye, captain" is one of its most recognizable phrases. But what does it really mean, and why is it used so frequently on ships?

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Swabbing the Deck: Nautical Work Lingo

"Swabbing the deck" might sound like a chore, but it's also a nautical saying with a rich history. We'll uncover its origins and its role in the daily life of sailors.

Navigating Ship Sayings

Shipshape and bristol fashion .

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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Sometimes, sailors find themselves "between the devil and the deep blue sea." Explore the origins of this saying and the predicaments it describes.

Exploring Boat Phrases

In the same boat .

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Casting Adrift: Origins of "Adrift"

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Unraveling Nautical Expressions

By and large: a nautical measurement .

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Three Sheets to the Wind: A Nautical Reference to Intoxication

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Boating Phrases and Sailor Jargon

"know the ropes": mastering the art of sailing.

To "know the ropes" means to be skilled and knowledgeable. We'll sail through the history of this saying and its significance for sailors.

"The Whole Nine Yards": Nautical or Not?

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Sailing Expressions and Seafaring Terms

"batten down the hatches": preparing for a storm.

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"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea": A Nautical Dilemma

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Nautical Words and Phrases: A Sailor's Lexicon

Nautical sayings: the ultimate lexicon .

Summarizing our exploration, we'll compile a comprehensive list of some of the most intriguing nautical words and phrases that have left their mark on the English language.

As we sail back to the shore of this captivating journey through nautical sayings and maritime language, it's clear that the sea has not only inspired adventurers but also enriched our vocabulary with colorful expressions. From "ahoy, matey" to "the whole nine yards," each saying carries a piece of nautical history that continues to resonate with us today.

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Decoding Hollywood's Disturbing "Yachting" Culture Beneath the Glamour

Dec. 19 2023, Published 10:41 p.m. ET

We explore the hidden meaning of "yachting" in Hollywood: individuals, often women, get paid large sums to spend time with wealthy individuals for career advancement.

Individuals may face uncomfortable situations, including sexual assault, trading dignity for fame, and money in a corrupt industry.

Prominent figures like Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Kylie and Kendall Jenner, Nina Dobrev, Hailey Bieber, and Emily Ratajkowski have all been linked anecdotally to Nonsense Pudding .

Thanks to influencers like Deux Moi , normies are finally getting a peek into the life of the rich and famous. And while pictures aboard yachts surrounded by luxury may look glamorous to all of us, it isn't necessarily all that it’s cracked up to be. Stories have been coming out for decades about people, often women, who subject themselves to “yachting.”

We may associate yachting with rich guys sailing in races, but it actually has a much darker meaning in Hollywood . It’s often considered Hollywood’s oldest “open secret,” but what actually is “yachting”? Keep reading for all of the details.

In Hollywood, "yachting" is the practice of getting paid large sums of money to spend time with wealthy people.

At its most innocent, “yachting” is a PR opportunity for an up-and-coming actor or model. However, it’s often much more sinister. Basically, typically women on their way up in the industry may get paid a large sum of money — five, six, or even seven figures — to spend time with wealthy men. The benefit for the women is the money, the photo ops of luxury, and a potential opportunity to meet someone who could give them a leg up in the industry.

However, they often aren’t told what strings are attached before agreeing to “yacht” with someone. Many of these excursions often lead to sex and other forms of assault. Although the women tend to be up and coming celebs and influencers, they are essentially selling their body for the entirety of their time on the yacht. It gives “the implication” a whole new meaning.

“Yachting” is a common and known practice in Hollywood, but it could also be considered prostitution.

In 2007, businessman Elie Nahas was convicted of running a prostitution ring at the Cannes Film Festival. He claimed that he was only responsible for getting women to Cannes and had nothing to do with what happened after, but even if he did, there are hundreds of other men doing the same thing.

Many of us see pictures of celebrities on yachts and luxury vacations and think, "Wow, imagine living that life!" But in reality, they're being paid to spend time with someone they may not like just because it could further their career. But in doing so, many give up their bodies.

In fact, one Redditor wrote : “You are essentially being bought for a certain period of time. Hence why people get drugged, raped, fondled, sleep with men older than their fathers, pissed and shat on. Once everything is said and done, the trauma and memories of doing those things stay with you forever. Your dignity is being leveraged for fame and money. Let’s not forget a lot of these encounters are filmed and can easily be used to blackmail these young stars.”

It’s an example of powerful men taking advantage of young women with dreams of succeeding in an already corrupt industry. But the practice is so common that stories have circulated about Selena Gomez , Ariana Grande, Kylie and Kendall Jenner , Nina Dobrev, Hailey Bieber, and many other big stars.

@al.laure1209 Best way to fill the pool 🛥 #yacht #yachtlife #yachtdesign #boat #boating #luxuryyacht #sailing #superyacht #topyacht #yachtinglife #yachtingworld #yachting #yachtlifestyle #yachtcrew #cannes #cannesyachtingfestival ♬ original sound - Alex

Emily Ratajkowski also talks about it in her memoir, My Body . She explains how she was paid $25,000 early on in her career just to accompany Jho Low to the Super Bowl, without understanding what she was expected to do. So while the idea of riding around on a luxury yacht might sound ideal, many paths there aren’t as great.

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Nautical Slang in Common Usage

Many phrases that have been adopted into everyday use originate from seafaring – in particular from the days of sail.

It is an undoubted fact that seafaring is also the source of more false etymology than any other sphere. This can be attributed to the attractiveness of the romantic image of horny-handed sailors singing shanties and living a hearty and rough life at sea. After all, it sounds plausible that ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’ comes from brass ship’s fittings and that POSH means ‘Port out, starboard home’, but neither of these is correct. CANOE, the Committee to Ascribe a Naval Origin to Everything, doesn’t really exist, but the number of these folk myths makes it seem as though they do…

It is lucky for us, in our endeavours to distinguish truth from falsehood, that activities at sea have been scrupulously recorded over the centuries, in insurance records, newspaper accounts and, not least, in ships’ log books. The term log-book has an interesting derivation in itself. An early form of measuring a ship’s progress was by casting overboard a wooden board (the log) with a string attached. The rate at which the string was paid out as the ship moved away from the stationary log was measured by counting how long it took between knots n the string. These measurements were later transcribed into a book. Hence we get the term ‘log-book’ and also the name ‘knot’ as the unit of speed at sea.

Above board - Anything on or above the open deck. If something is open and in plain view, it is above board. All at sea - This dates to the time when accurate navigational aids weren’t available. Any ship that was out of sight of land was in an uncertain position and in danger of becoming lost. Aloof - Now means to stand apart or be indifferent, but it came from the Old Dutch word loef which meant “windward” and was used to describe a ship within a fleet which sailed higher to the wind and was thus drawn apart from the rest of the fleet. At loggerheads - An iron ball attached to a long handle was a loggerhead. When heated it was used to seal the pitch in deck seams. It was sometimes a handy weapon for quarrelling crewmen. Chock-a-block - A block and tackle is a pulley system used on sailing ships to hoist the sails. The phrase describes what occurs the system is raised to its fullest extent – when there is no more rope free and the blocks jam tightly together. Predictably this lead to its current meaning, “crammed so tightly together as to prevent movement”. Clean bill of health - A certificate signed by a port authority attesting that no contagious disease existed in the port of departure and none of the crew was infected with a disease at the time of sailing. Shore-side, it means in good shape. Clear the deck - One of the things done in preparation for battle. Current usage similar to batten down the hatches. Close quarters - In the 17th century, the barriers that sailors laid across a ship’s deck in order to provide a safe haven from the enemy were called close-fights. By the mid 18th century that confined defensive space became called ‘close quarters’, i.e. close dwellings. This eventually came to mean ‘near enough to to be able to fight hand to hand’. Copper-bottomed - described ships that were fitted with copper plating on the underside of their hulls. The process was first used on ships of the British Navy in 1761 to defend their wooden planking against attack by Teredo worms a.k.a. Shipworms and to reduce infestations by barnacles. The method was successful in protecting ships’ timbers and in increasing speed and manoeuvrability and soon became widely used. Before long, ‘copper-bottomed’ began to be used figuratively to refer to anything that was certain and trustworthy. Cut and run - most often thought to mean the cutting of an anchor line in an effort to make a quick getaway. Hard to imagine that many ship’s masters enjoyed routinely losing an anchor or two, so it is probably more likely referring to the practice of securing the sails of a square-rigged ship with rope yarns that could easily be cut away when a quick departure was necessary. Cut of one’s jib - warships many times had their foresails or jib sails cut thinly so that they could maintain point and not be blown off course. Upon sighting thin foresails on a distant ship a captain might not like the cut of his jib and would then have an opportunity to escape. Deliver a broadside - the simultaneous firing of the guns and/or canons on one side of a warship. Quite a blow, as can be imagined. Today it means much the same type of all-out attack, though done (usually) with words. Devil to pay - Originally, this expression described one of the unpleasant tasks aboard a wooden ship. The devil was the ship’s longest seam in the hull. Caulking was done with pay or pitch (a kind of tar). The task of ‘paying the devil’ (caulking the longest seam) by squatting in the bilges was one of the worst and most difficult jobs onboard. The term has come to mean a difficult, seemingly impossible task. ‘The devil to pay and no pitch hot’. Landlubbers, having no seafaring knowledge, assumed it referred to satan and gave the term a moral interpretation. Dressing down - Thin and worn sails were often treated with oil or wax to renew their effectiveness. This was called “dressing down”. An officer or sailor who was reprimanded or scolded received a dressing down. Dutch courage - Dates to the 1600s Anglo-Dutch wars and was likely British propaganda claiming that the Dutch troops were so cowardly they wouldn’t fight unless fortified with copious amounts of schnapps. The term has come to mean false courage induced by drink, or the drink itself. Edging forward - This phrase describes inch-by-inch progress and was first used in the 17th century, typically in nautical contexts and referring to slow advance by means of repeated small tacking movements. Even keel - A vessel that floats upright without list is said to be on an even keel and this term has come to mean calm and steady. A keel is like the backbone of the vessel, the lowest and principal centerline structural member running fore and aft. Keeled over (upside down) was a sailor’s term for death. Fall foul of/foul up - Foul is an often used nautical term generally meaning entangled or impeded. An anchor tangled in line or cable is said to be a foul anchor. A foul berth is caused by another vessel anchoring too close wherein the risk of collision exists. A foul bottom offers poor holding for anchors. A screw up! Fathom - A nautical measure equal to six feet, used to measure the depth of water at sea. The word was also used to describe taking the measure or “to fathom” something. Today when one is trying to figure something out, they are trying to fathom it or get to the bottom of it. Figurehead - An ornamental figure placed on the front of a ship, under the. Originally a religious and/or protective emblem. The custom continued but for purely decorative purposes. Hence the term figurehead – a leader with no real power or function except to ‘look good’ or appeal to a certain group. Filibuster - Buccaneers were sometimes known in England as filibusters. From the Dutch for vrybuiter (freebooter) translated into French as flibustier. It is now used as a political term meaning to delay or obstruct the passage of legislation (as opposed to sailing vessels) by non-stop speech making. First rate - Implies excellence. From the 16th century on until steam powered ships took over, British naval ships were rated as to the number of heavy cannon they carried. A ship of 100 or more guns was a First Rate line-of-battle ship. Second rates carried 90 to 98 guns; Third Rates, 64 to 89 guns; Fourth Rates, 50 to 60 guns. Frigates carrying 20 to 48 guns were fifth and sixth rated. Fits the bill - A Bill of Lading was signed by the ship’s master acknowledging receipt of specified goods and the promise to deliver them to their destination in the same condition. Upon delivery, the goods were checked against the bill to see if all was in order. If so, they fit the bill. Flotsam and jetsam - These are legal terms in maritime law. Flotsam is any part of the wreckage of a ship or her cargo that is lost by accident and found floating on the surface of the water. Jetsam are goods or equipment deliberately thrown overboard (jettisoned) to make the ship more stable in high winds or heavy seas. (Lagan are goods cast overboard with a rope attached so that they may be retrieved and sometimes refers to goods remaining inside a sunken ship or lying on the bottom.) The term flotsam and jetsam shore-side means odds and ends of no great value. Footloose - The bottom portion of a sail is called the foot. If it is not secured, it is footloose and it dances randomly in the wind. From stem to stern - From the front of a ship to the back. Now describes something in its entirety. Flying colours - To come through a battle with flying colours means a ship has come through relatively unscathed and with her colours (flag) flying. Get underway - ‘Way’ here doesn’t mean road or route but has the specifically nautical meaning of ‘the forward progress of a ship though the water’, or the wake that the ship leaves behind. Way has been used like that since at least the 17th century. Give a wide berth - To anchor a ship far enough away from another ship so that they did not hit each other when they swung with the wind or tide. Go overboard - The nautical origin of this one should be fairly self-evident. Gripe - A sailing vessel gripes when, by poor design or imbalance of sail, it tends to end up with its bow into the wind when sailing close-hauled. The sails flap around, forward progress is halted and she is very hard to steer. On land, the term means to complain, complain, complain. Groggy - In 1740, British Admiral Vernon (whose nickname was “Old Grogram” for the cloak of grogram which he wore) ordered that the sailors’ daily ration of rum be diluted with water. The men called the mixture “grog”. A sailor who drank too much grog was “groggy”. Groundswell - A sudden rise of water along the shore. It often happens when the weather is fine and the sea behind it appears calm. Said to occur when undulating water from a far away storm reaches the shoreline where friction causes the swell. In common use, the term groundswell means a growing change in public opinion. Hand over fist - Hand over hand was a British term for the act of moving quickly up a rope or hoisting a sail, which was a matter of pride and competition among sailors. It is thought that American sailors changed this term to ‘hand over fist’, and the term now means to advance or accumulate rapidly. Hard and fast - A ship that was hard and fast was simply one that was firmly beached on land. Has come to mean ‘rigidly adhered to – without doubt or debate’. Hard-up - Hard is another often used nautical term. To put the helm hard over is to put it as far as it will go in that direction. Hard and fast describes a vessel firmly aground and unable to make progress and has come ashore to mean rigid. ‘Hard up in a clinch and no knife to cut the seizing’, the term from which hard up derives, was a sailor’s way of saying he had been overtaken by misfortune and saw no way of getting clear of it. Shore-side, the term means in need. Haze - Long before fraternal organisations, hazing was the practice of keeping the crew working all hours of the day or night, whether necessary or not, in order to deprive them of sleep and to make them generally miserable. In the 19th century, many captains used this practice to assert their authority. Hazing has come to mean the initiation of a newcomer to a group by humiliating and harassing him or her, thereby asserting the authority of the group. High and dry - This term originally referred to ships that were beached. The ‘dry’ implies that not only were they out of the water, but had been for some time and could be expected to remain so. Hot chase - A principle of naval warfare, though without basis in law, that allowed a fleeing enemy to be followed into neutral waters and captured there if the chase had begun in international waters. The term hot pursuit derives from this ‘principle’. Hulk/hulking - A large and unwieldy ship of simple construction and dubious seaworthiness. On shore, it means big and clumsy. In the offing - This phrase is quite simple to understand once you know that ‘the offing’ is the part of the sea that can be seen from land, excluding those parts that are near the shore. Early texts also refer to it as ‘offen’ or ‘offin’. A ship that was about to arrive was “in the offing”, therefore imminent, which is how the phrase is used today. Idle/idler - Idler was the name for those members of a ship’s crew that did not stand night watch because of their work. Carpenters, sailmakers, cooks, etc. worked during the day and were excused from watch duty at night. They were called idlers, but not because they had nothing to do, simply because they were off duty at night. Junk - Old rope no longer able to take a load, it was cut into shorter lengths and used to make mops and mats. Land-side, junk is all that stuff in your garage you know you’ll need right after you throw it away. Jury rig - A temporary repair to keep a disabled ship sailing until it could make port, such as a jury sail erected when the mast was lost or a jury rudder as an emergency means of steering when the ship’s rudder was damaged. Keel hauling - A severe naval punishment during the 15th and 16th centuries. The victim, presumably a delinquent sailor, was dragged from one side of the boat to the other, under the bottom of the boat (keel). Tossed over one side and pulled up on the other, he was usually allowed to catch his breath before suddenly being tossed overboard again. Keel hauling lost favour at the beginning of the 18th century, to be replaced by the cat-o-nine-tails. The term still means a rough reprimand. Know the ropes - This is pretty obvious if you’ve ever seen a tall ship. It was such an important skill on sailing vessels that an honourable discharge from service was marked, at one time, with the term ‘knows the ropes’. Land-side it still means a person with experience and skill. Also, learn the ropes and show them the ropes. Leeway - The weather side of a ship is the side from which the wind is blowing. The Lee side is the side of the ship sheltered from the wind. A lee shore is a shore that is downwind of a ship. If a ship does not have enough “leeway” it is in danger of being driven onto the shore. Listless - When a ship was listless, she was sitting still and upright in the water, with no wind to make her lean over (list) and drive ahead. Long hau l - Operation on ship requiring the hauling of a lot of line. Also seen in short haul, an operation requiring little line. Long shot - In old warships, the muzzle-loading cannon were charged with black powder of uncertain potency that would propel the iron shot an equally uncertain distance with doubtful accuracy. A 24-pounder long gun, for instance, was considered to have a maximum effective range of 1200 yards, even though, under the right conditions, a ball might travel some 3000 yards. Similarly, a short, stubby 32-pounder carronade’s lethality faded fast beyond 400 yards. Thus, the odds were against a hit when one fired a long shot. Loose cannon - A cannon having come loose on the deck of a pitching, rolling, and yawing deck could cause severe injury and damage. Has come to mean an unpredictable or uncontrolled person who is likely to cause unintentional damage. Mainstay - A stay that extends from the maintop to the foot of the foremast of a sailing ship. Currently, a thing upon which something is based or depends. No room to swing a cat - The entire ship’s company was required to witness flogging at close hand. The crew might crowd around so that the Bosun’s Mate might not have enough room to swing his cat o’ nine tails. On your ends - The beams here are the horizontal transverse timbers of ships. This phrase came about with the allusion to the danger of imminent capsize if the ends were touching the water. Currently, means ‘to be in a bad situation’. Over the barrel - The most common method of punishment aboard ship was flogging. The unfortunate sailor was tied to a grating, mast or over the barrel of a deck cannon. Overbearing - To sail downwind directly at another ship thus “stealing” or diverting the wind from his sails. Overhaul - To prevent the buntline ropes from chaffing the sails, crew were sent aloft to haul them over the sails. This was called overhauling. Overreach - If a ship holds a tack course too long, it has overreached its turning point and the distance it must travel to reach its next tack point is increased. Overwhelm - Old English for capsize or founder. Pipe down - A boatswain’s call denoting the completion of an all hands evolution, and that you can go below. It was the last signal from the Bosun’s pipe each day which meant “lights out” and “silence”. Pooped - The rearmost, highest deck of a sailing ship was called the poop deck. If a ship were unlucky enough to be overtaken by a massive, breaking sea which drenched her from astern, she was said to have been “pooped.” When you think about it, the sea and shore uses of the word aren’t that different: in both cases, you’re washed out. Press into service - The British navy filled their ships’ crew quotas by kidnapping men off the streets and forcing them into service. This was called Impressment and was done by Press Gangs. Scuttlebutt - A butt was a barrel. Scuttle meant to chop a hole in something. The scuttlebutt was a water barrel with a hole cut into it so that sailors could reach in and dip out drinking water. The scuttlebutt was the place where the ship’s gossip was exchanged. Ship-shape and Bristol fashion - A reference to the precise nature of shipbuilding (and maintenance) as well as the exemplary work that came from Bristol shipyards. Shiver me timbers - one meaning of shiver, which is now largely forgotten, is ‘to break into pieces’. That meaning originated at least as early as the 14th century and is recorded in several Old English texts. So, the sailor’s oath shiver my timbers, is synonymous with (if so and so happens then…) let my boat break into pieces. Skyscraper - A small triangular sail set above the skysail in order to maximise effect in a light wind. Slush fund - A slushy slurry of fat was obtained by boiling or scraping the empty salted meat storage barrels. This stuff called “slush” was often sold ashore by the ship’s cook for the benefit of himself or the crew. The money so derived became known as a slush fund. Son of a gun - When in port, and with the crew restricted to the ship for any extended period of time, wives and ladies of easy virtue often were allowed to live aboard along with the crew. Infrequently, but not uncommonly, children were born aboard, and a convenient place for this was between guns on the gun deck. If the child’s father was unknown, they were entered in the ship’s log as “son of a gun”. Probably a sanitised version of “son of a bitch”, despite the various folk etymologies. A square meal - In good weather, crews’ mess was a warm meal served on square wooden platters. Squared away - On square-rigged vessels, the state of the sails when properly trimmed. Currently, arranged or dealt with in a satisfactory manner. Taken aback - A dangerous situation where the wind is on the wrong side of the sails pressing them back against the mast and forcing the ship astern. Most often this was caused by an inattentive helmsman who had allowed the ship to head up into the wind. Taking the wind out of his sails - Sailing in a manner so as to steal or divert wind from another ship’s sails. Taking turns - Changing watches with the turn of the hour glass. Three sheets to the wind - A sheet is a rope line which controls the tension on the downwind side of a square sail. If, on a three masted fully rigged ship, the sheets of the three lower course sails are loose, the sails will flap and flutter and are said to be “in the wind”. A ship in this condition would stagger and wander aimlessly downwind. Tide over - At first glance, this would seem to be an obviously nautical term. Today it means to make a small bit of something, usually money, last until a supply comes in, as in borrowing some money to tide you over till payday. However, the meaning has changed over the years. Once upon a time, ships could move under sail power, or in the absence of wind, float along with the tide called a tide over. One could say the floating would tide the ship over until wind came again to move it along. Toe the line - When called to line up at attention, the ship’s crew would form up with their toes touching a seam in the deck planking. True colours - The current meaning, ‘to reveal yourself as you really are’, actually came about because of the opposite phrase “false colours” – from the 17th century referring to a vessel which sailed under a flag not her own. This tactic was used by almost everyone as a ruse de guerre, but the rules of gentlemanly behaviour (and possibly actual legal rules) required one to raise one’s true colours before opening fire on another ship. Try a different tack - The direction in which a ship moves as determined by the position of its sails and regarded in terms of the direction of the wind (starboard tack). If one tack didn’t bring the ship up properly, one could always attempt another. Turn a blind eye - From Admiral Lord Nelson’s awesome display of badassery at the Battle of Copenhagen. When the signal was given to stop fighting, Nelson held his spyglass to his blind eye and insisted he didn’t see the signal. He then proceeded to kick butt, of course. Under the weather - Keeping watch onboard sailing ships was a boring and tedious job, but the worst watch station was on the “weather” (windward) side of the bow. The sailor who was assigned to this station was subject to the constant pitching and rolling of the ship. By the end of his watch, he would be soaked from the waves crashing over the bow. A sailor who was assigned to this unpleasant duty was said to be “under the weather.” Sometimes, these men fell ill and died as a result of the assignment, which is why today “under the weather” is used to refer to someone suffering from an illness. A related theory claims that ill sailors were sent below deck (or “under the weather”) if they were feeling sick. Warning shot across the bow - From the literal practice of firing a warning shot across another ship’s bow to encourage the captain to strike without engaging. Windfall - A sudden unexpected rush of wind from a mountainous shore which allowed a ship more leeway.

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21 Common Yachting Terms Explained

Does it ever feel like yacht enthusiasts speak a whole other language? We get it. Everyone was new to yachting once and we all had to learn what different terms mean. Luckily, you have Ahoy Club to show you the ropes. Brush up on your sea vocabulary with some common definitions in our glossary below.

Essentially, parking your yacht so that you can hop over to shore and explore. It also refers to the literal anchor which holds your yacht in place.

APA (Advanced Provisioning Allowance)

A deposit paid by charterers to cover expenses during their trip. Expenses may include taxes, harbour fees, food and alcohol.

Base charter rate

The rate that you pay for the hire of your yacht and its crew. This does not include on board expenses and taxes which are covered by your APA (see above).

The total width of the yacht at its widest point.

The bedrooms on your yacht.

A type of yacht with two hulls. It was designed this way for increased stability on the water.

Explorer yacht

A yacht that is built to go to the farthest corners of the globe and into rough terrains. See examples in our past blog .

The territory under which a yacht is registered. The yacht’s flag state will govern the laws and regulations which it must follow.

A traditional motorised sailing yacht typically found in Turkey.

The main body of the yacht floating in the water; covers the front, sides, back and underside.

A boat or yacht’s speed measured in nautical miles per hour (see below).

A large luxury yacht typically measuring over 70m.

A boat with a single hull. May be a sailing yacht, motor yacht, luxury super- or megayacht. See Catamaran above for comparison.

Motor yacht (or M/Y)

A yacht which is powered with engines.

Nautical mile

A measure of distance on the water. One nautical mile is equal to 1852 metres or 1-minute of latitude on a navigational chart.

Preference sheet

The questionnaire that guests fill out before beginning their charter. It is meant to provide as much information as possible to the captain, crew and chef so that they may meet your preferences for an excellent trip.

Sailing yacht (or S/Y)

A yacht which is primarily powered with wind sails. Most also have motors as a backup.

The main living or lounge area on your yacht. Pronounced ‘sal-on’ not ‘sal-oon’.

A luxury yacht measuring between 24-69m.

A smaller boat housed on your yacht which can be used for transfers to shore, with your watertoys or on short day trips.

VAT (Value Added Tax)

A compulsory consumption tax set out by the countries you are visiting. See our blogs on the recent changes in Italy and France to learn more.

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How-To Geek

What does a "ship" mean online, and how do i use it.

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Raspberry pi's remote access tool now supports all pi models, best microsd cards of 2024, quick links, relation-ship, the origin of "ships", ships and canons, shipping in life, how to use "ship".

When you see someone talking about "ships" or "shipping" on the internet, there's a good chance they're not talking about seacraft or logistics. Here's what a "ship" means online and how to use it.

On the internet, a "ship" is often an abbreviated slang word for "relationship," and it generally refers to a romantic relationship between two fictional characters. For example, if you're currently watching Titanic, you might say, "There's a ship developing between Jack and Rose."

"Ship" is also commonly used as a verb to show your support for a particular romantic pairing. For example, if you enjoy the chemistry of the leads in Titanic, you could say, "I ship Jack and Rose." The word also communicates a sense of strong interest or affinity for a particular romantic pairing. It's common to see people saying "this is my ship" about a particular pairing as a way to show strong support for it. This is similar to OTP, or "one true pairing."

You should definitely not confuse this for actual ships, which are nautical vessels used to transport people and goods. A good rule of thumb is to check if the poster refers to any romantic relationships in their message. If not, then it might be a reference to actual seacraft.

Don't worry; we won't bore you with the history of nautical navigation. While the word "ship," meaning "boat," has been in the English language for a very long time, its internet slang definition is much more recent. The first entry for "ship" in Urban Dictionary dates back to 2003 and reads "short for a romantic relationship, popularized in fanfiction circles." The site even specifies that it can be used as both a noun and a verb.

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The term was already being used on early fan websites in the 1990s and became even more prominent when fans established communities around media franchises like Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Star Wars. These communities' subgroups would form around romantic pairings of characters and create derivative stories called " fanfiction ."

Eventually, the term would spread to the rest of the internet through social media websites and personal conversations between users. Nowadays, the use of the term "ship" isn't limited to fictional characters. Many people on platforms like Twitter state that they ship couples that are dating in real life. You can even say that you ship two of your friends who are currently seeing each other to support their relationship.

Ships tend to have a surprisingly large influence on both internet culture and broad pop culture. For example, popular ships are used to promote romance movies and TV shows. When Hollywood turned the fantasy-romance book Twilight into a film series, its marketing heavily leaned into the central love triangle. It was a way to tap into Twilight's very large fan community, particularly those who "shipped" the protagonist with different love interests.

Particular ships or pairings would even get "ship names." For example, the pairing of Clark Kent and Lois Lane from Superman is called "Clois," a portmanteau of their first names. Most fandoms have a dedicated "wiki," which is a repository of all information surrounding that work, including their ships.

In some cases, ships even influence the fictional work itself. This ties into another term, "canon," which means elements of a fictional story that are part of the officially released work. Many artists and directors have stated that fan-driven campaigns to make certain "ships" become "canon" have influenced the final output, ultimately resulting in fan-favorite romantic pairings happening in the show. When a ship becomes canon, fans often say "the ship has sailed" as a nautical-themed pun.

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Aside from its place in internet fandom culture, the word "ship" has become a popular verb to show encouragement towards a couple. If you see two of your friends who are in a relationship, it's pretty common to tell them, "I ship you two." This signals that you think they make a good pair and that you support them in continuing their relationship. You could also say, "I ship John and Jane" to a third person who is also aware of their pairing.

You can even use "ship" in a joking manner to refer to things you think belong together. For example, you might message in a group chat, "Pineapples and pizza? I ship it." This indicates that you support having pineapples on your pizza, which might be an unpopular opinion in your friend circle.

Before you start telling people you ship everyone, there are a few things you should remember. This is a very informal slang term and only makes sense to those active in internet circles. On top of that, in messages, it can very easily be confused for a boat or a package shipping service. Use it only when you're being clear that you're referring to a romantic pairing.

Here are a few examples of the slang term "ship" in action:

"I ship Romeo and Juliet."
"Mark and Marlene make such a great couple! I ship them."
"Wow, I can't believe Monica and Chandler ended up together. The ship has sailed!"
"I really ship burgers and fries."

Do you want to learn about other popular internet slang terms? Read up on our guides about sus , FML , and WBK , and you'll be a walking web dictionary in no time!

Related: What Does "WBK" Mean, and How Do You Use It?

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Nautical + Sailing Terms You Should Know [578 Phrases]

June 5, 2019 2:05 pm

A seaman’s jargon is among the most challenging to memorize. With over 500 terms used to communicate with a captain, crew, and sailors regarding navigation and more, there’s a word for nearly everything. No need to jump ship, this comprehensive list will have you speaking the lingo in no time.

Abaft the beam: A relative bearing of greater than 90 degrees from the bow. e.g. “two points abaft the port beam.”

Abaft: Toward the stern, relative to some object (“abaft the fore hatch”).

Abandon Ship: An imperative to leave the vessel immediately, usually in the face of some imminent danger.

Abeam: “On the beam”, a relative bearing at right angles to the centerline of the ship’s keel.

Aboard: On or in a vessel. Close aboard means near a ship.

Above board: On or above the deck, in plain view, not hiding anything.

Accommodation ladder: A portable flight of steps down a ship’s side.

Admiral: Senior naval officer of Flag rank. In ascending order of seniority, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral and Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy). Derivation reputedly Arabic, from “Emir al Bath” (“Ruler of the waters”).

Admiralty law: Body of law that deals with maritime cases. In the UK administered by the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.

Adrift: Afloat and unattached in any way to the shore or seabed. It may also imply that a vessel is not anchored and not under control, therefore goes where the wind and current take her, (loose from moorings, or out of place). Also refers to any gear not fastened down or put away properly. It can also be used to mean “absent without leave”.

Affreightment: Hiring of a vessel

Aft: Towards the stern (of the vessel).

Afterdeck: Deck behind a ship’s bridge

Afterguard: Men who work the aft sails on the quarterdeck and poop deck

Aground: Resting on or touching the ground or bottom.

Ahead: Forward of the bow.

Ahoy: A cry to draw attention. A term used to hail a boat or a ship, as “Boat ahoy!”.

Ahull: With sails furled and helm lashed to the lee-side.

Aid to Navigation: ( ATON) Any device external to a vessel or aircraft specifically intended to assist navigators in determining their position or safe course, or to warn them of dangers or obstructions to navigation.

All hands: Entire ship’s company, both officers and enlisted personnel.

All-Round White Light: On power-driven vessels less than 39.4 feet in length, this light may be used to combine a masthead light and sternlight into a single white light that can be seen by other vessels from any direction. This light serves as an anchor light when sidelights are extinguished.

Aloft: Above the ship’s uppermost solid structure; overhead or high above.

Alongside: By the side of a ship or pier.

Amidships (or midships): In the middle portion of the ship, along the line of the keel.

Anchor ball: Black shape hoisted in the forepart of a ship to show that ship is anchored in a fairway.

Anchor buoy: A small buoy secured by a light line to anchor to indicate the position of the anchor on the bottom.

Anchor chain or cable: Chain connecting the ship to the anchor.

Anchor detail: Group of men who handle ground tackle when the ship is anchoring or getting underway.

Anchor light: White light displayed by a ship at anchor. Two such lights are displayed by a ship over 150 feet (46 m) in length.

Anchor watch: Making sure that the anchor is holding and the vessel is not drifting. Important during rough weather and at night. Most marine GPS units have an Anchor Watch alarm capability.

Anchor: An object designed to prevent or slow the drift of a ship, attached to the ship by a line or chain; typically a metal, hook-like object, designed to grip the bottom under the body of water.

Anchorage: A suitable place for a ship to anchor. Area of a port or harbor.

Anchor’s aweigh: Said of an anchor when just clear of the bottom.

As the crow flies: A direct line between two points (which might cross land) which is the way crows travel rather than ships which must go around land.

Ashore: On the beach, shore or land.

Astern: Toward the stern; an object or vessel that is abaft another vessel or object.

ASW: Anti-submarine warfare.

Asylum Harbor: A harbor used to provide shelter from a storm.

Athwart, athwartships: At right angles to the fore and aft or centerline of a ship.

Avast: Stop! Cease or desist from whatever is being done.

Awash: So low in the water that the water is constantly washing across the surface.

Aweigh: Position of an anchor just clear of the bottom.

Aye, aye: Reply to an order or command to indicate that it, firstly, is heard; and, secondly, is understood and will be carried out. (“Aye, aye, sir” to officers).

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

Azimuth compass: An instrument employed for ascertaining the position of the sun with respect to magnetic north. The azimuth of an object is its bearing from the observer measured as an angle clockwise from true north.

Back and fill: To use the advantage of the tide being with you when the wind is not.

Backstays: Long lines or cables, reaching from the rear of the vessel to the mast heads, used to support the mast.

Baggywrinkle: A soft covering for cables (or any other obstructions) that prevents sail chafing from occurring.

Bale Cube (or Bale Capacity): The space available for cargo measured in cubic feet to the inside of the cargo battens, on the frames, and to the underside of the beams.

Ballaster: One who supplies ships with ballast.

Bank (sea floor): A large area of elevated sea floor.

Banyan: Traditional Royal Navy term for a day or shorter period of rest and relaxation.

Bar pilot: A bar pilot guides ships over the dangerous sandbars at the mouth of rivers and bays.

Bar: Large mass of sand or earth, formed by the surge of the sea. They are mostly found at the entrances of great rivers or havens, and often render navigation extremely dangerous, but confer tranquility once inside. See also: Touch and go, grounding. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘Crossing the bar’ an allegory for death.

Bargemaster: Owner of a barge.

Barrelman: A sailor that was stationed in the crow’s nest.

Beacon: A lighted or unlighted fixed aid to navigation attached directly to the earth’s surface. (Lights and daybeacons both constitute beacons).

Beam ends: The sides of a ship. “On her beam ends” may mean the vessel is literally on her side and possibly about to capsize; more often, the phrase means the vessel is listing 45 degrees or more.

Beam: The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point or a point alongside the ship at the mid-point of its length.

Bear away: Turn away from the wind, often with reference to a transit.

Bear down: Turn away from the wind, often with reference to a transit.

Bearing: The horizontal direction of a line of sight between two objects on the surface of the earth.

Bee: Hardwood on either side of bowsprit through which forestays are reeved

Before the mast: Literally, the area of a ship before the foremast (the forecastle). Most often used to describe men whose living quarters are located here, officers being housed behind (abaft) the mast and enlisted men before the mast. This was because the midships area where the officers were berthed is more stable, being closer to the center of gravity, and thus more comfortable. It is less subject to the up and down movement resulting from the ship’s pitching.

Belay: To secure a rope by winding on a pin or cleat

Belaying pins: Bars of iron or hardwood to which running rigging may be secured, or belayed.

Berth: A bed on a boat, or a space in a port or harbor where a vessel can be tied up.

Best bower (anchor): The larger of two anchors carried in the bow; so named as it was the last, best hope.

Bilge: The bilge is the compartment at the bottom of the hull of a ship or boat where water collects so that it may be pumped out of the vessel at a later time.

Bilged on her anchor: A ship that has run upon her own anchor.

Bimini: Weather-resistant fabric stretched over a stainless steel frame, fastened above the cockpit of a sailboat or flybridge of a power yacht which serves as a rain or sun shade.

Bimmy: A punitive instrument.

Binnacle list: A ship’s sick list. The list of men unable to report for duty was given to the officer or mate of the watch by the ship’s surgeon. The list was kept at the binnacle.

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

Bitter end: The anchor cable is tied to the bitts when the cable is fully paid out, the bitter end has been reached. The last part of a rope or cable.

Bitts: Posts mounted on a ship for fastening ropes

Bloody: An intensive derived from the substantive ‘blood’, a name applied to the Bucks, Scrowers, and Mohocks of the seventeenth centuries.

Blue Peter: A blue and white flag hoisted at the foretrucks of ships about to sail.

Boat: A craft or vessel designed to float on, and provide transport over, water.

Boatswain or bosun: A non-commissioned officer responsible for the sails, ropes, and boats on a ship who issues “piped” commands to seamen.

Bobstay: Rope used on ships to steady the bowsprit

Bollard: From “bol” or “bole”, the round trunk of a tree. A substantial vertical pillar to which lines may be made fast. Generally on the quayside rather than the ship.

Boltrope: Strong rope stitched to edges of a sail

Booby hatch: A sliding hatch or cover.

Booby: A type of bird that has little fear and therefore is particularly easy to catch, hence booby prize.

Boom vang: A sail control that lets one apply downward tension on the boom, countering the upward tension provided by the mainsail. The boom vang adds an element of control to mainsail shape when the mainsheet is let out enough that it no longer pulls the boom down. Boom vang tension helps control leech twist, a primary component of sail power.

Boom: A spar used to extend the foot of a fore-and-aft sail.

Booms: Masts or yards, lying on board in reserve.

Bosun: Boatswain

Bottomry: Pledging a ship as security in a financial transaction.

Bow: The front of a ship.

Bower: Anchor carried at bow of a ship

Bowline: A type of knot, producing a strong loop of a fixed size, topologically similar to a sheet bend. Also, a rope attached to the side of a sail to pull it towards the bow (for keeping the windward edge of the sail steady).

Bowse: To pull or hoist.

Bowsprit: A spar projecting from the bow used as an anchor for the forestay and other rigging.

Brail: To furl or truss a sail by pulling it in towards the mast, or the ropes used to do so.

Bream: To clean a ship’s bottom by burning off seaweed.

Bridge: A structure above the weather deck, extending the full width of the vessel, which houses a command center, itself called by association, the bridge.

Bring to: Cause a ship to be stationary by arranging the sails.

Broaching-to: A sudden movement in navigation, when the ship, while scudding before the wind, accidentally turns her leeward side to windward, also use to describe the point when water starts to come over the gunwale due to this turn.

Buffer: The chief bosun’s mate, responsible for discipline.

Bulkhead: An upright wall within the hull of a ship. Particularly a load bearing wall.

Bulwark: The extension of the ship’s side above the level of the weather deck.

Bumboat: A private boat selling goods.

Bumpkin: An iron bar (projecting outboard from a ship’s side) to which the lower and topsail brace blocks are sometimes hooked. Chains supporting/stabilizing the bowsprit.

Bunt: Middle of sail, fish-net or cloth when slack.

Buntline: One of the lines tied to the bottom of a square sail and used to haul it up to the yard when furling.

Buoy: A floating object of defined shape and color, which is anchored at a given position and serves as an aid to navigation.

Buoyed Up: Lifted by a buoy, especially a cable that has been lifted to prevent it from trailing on the bottom.

Burgee: Small ship’s flag used for identification or signaling.

By and Large: By means into the wind, while large means with the wind. By and large, is used to indicate all possible situations “the ship handles well both by and large”.

By the board: Anything that has gone overboard.

Cabin boy: attendant on passengers and crew.

Cabin: an enclosed room on a deck or flat.

Cable: A large rope; also a measure of length or distance. Equivalent to (UK) 1/10 nautical mile, approx. 600 feet; (USA) 120 fathoms, 720 feet (219 m); other countries use different values.

Cabotage: Shipping and sailing between points in the same country.

Camber: Slight arch or convexity to a beam or deck of a ship.

Canister: A type of anti-personnel cannon load in which lead balls or other loose metallic items were enclosed in a tin or iron shell. On firing the shell would disintegrate releasing the smaller metal objects.

Cape Horn fever: The name of the fake illness a malingerer is pretending to suffer from.

Capsize: When a ship or boat lists too far and rolls over, exposing the keel. On large vessels, this often results in the sinking of the ship.

Capstan: A huge rotating hub (wheel) mounted vertically and provided with horizontal holes to take up the capstan bars (when manually rotated), used to wind in anchors or other heavy objects; and sometimes to administer flogging over.

Captain’s daughter: The cat o’ nine tails, which in principle is only used on board on the captain’s (or a court martial’s) personal orders.

Careening: Cause the ship to tilt on its side, usually to clean or repair the hull below the water line.

Cargo Deadweight Tons: The weight remaining after deducting fuel, water, stores, dunnage and such other items necessary for use on a voyage from the deadweight of the vessel.

Carlin: Similar to a beam, except running in a fore and aft direction.

Cat Head: A beam extending out from the hull used to support an anchor when raised in order to secure or “fish” it.

Cat: To prepare an anchor, after raising it by lifting it with a tackle to the Cat Head, prior to securing (fishing) it alongside for sea. (An anchor raised to the Cat Head is said to be catted).

Catamaran: A vessel with two hulls.

Catboat: A cat-rigged vessel with only one sail, usually on a gaff.

Centreboard: A removable keel used to resist leeway.

Chafing Gear: Material applied to a line or spar to prevent or reduce chafing. See Baggywrinkle.

Chafing: Wear on the line or sail caused by constant rubbing against another surface.

Chain-wale or channel: A broad, thick plank that projects horizontally from each of a ship’s sides abreast a mast, distinguished as the fore, main, or mizzen channel accordingly, serving to extend the base for the shrouds, which supports the mast.

Chine: A relatively sharp angle in the hull, as compared to the rounded bottoms of most traditional boat hulls.

Chock: Metal casting with curved arms for passing ropes for mooring ship.

Chock-a-block: Rigging blocks that are so tight against one another that they cannot be further tightened.

Clean bill of health: A certificate issued by a port indicating that the ship carries no infectious diseases.

Clean slate: At the helm, the watch keeper would record details of speed, distances, headings, etc. on a slate. At the beginning of a new watch the slate would be wiped clean.

Cleat: A stationary device used to secure a rope aboard a vessel.

Clew: Corner of sail with a hole to attach ropes.

Clew-lines: Used to truss up the clews, the lower corners of square sails.

Club: hauling the ship drops one of its anchors at high speed to turn abruptly. This was sometimes used as a means to get a good firing angle on a pursuing vessel.

Coaming: The raised edge of a hatchway used to help keep out water.

Cocket: Official shipping seal; customs clearance form.

Cofferdam: Narrow vacant space between two bulkheads of a ship.

Cog: Single-masted, square-sailed ship with a raised stern.

Companionway: A raised and windowed hatchway in the ship’s deck, with a ladder leading below and the hooded entrance-hatch to the main cabins.

Compass: Navigational instrument that revolutionized travel.

Complement: The full number of people required to operate a ship. Includes officers and crewmembers; does not include passengers.

Cordage: Ropes in the rigging of a ship.

Corrector: a device to correct the ship’s compass.

Courses: The mainsail, foresail, and mizzen.

Coxswain or cockswain: The helmsman or crew member in command of a boat.

Cringle: Loop at the corner of a sail to which a line is attached.

Crosstrees: Horizontal crosspieces at a masthead used to support ship’s mast.

Crow’s nest: Specifically a masthead constructed with sides and sometimes a roof to shelter the lookouts from the weather, generally by whaling vessels, this term has become a generic term for what is properly called masthead. See masthead.

Cube: The cargo carrying capacity of a ship, measured in cubic feet.

Cuddy: A small cabin in a boat.

Cunningham: A line invented by Briggs Cunningham, used to control the shape of a sail.

Cut and run: When wanting to make a quick escape, a ship might cut lashings to sails or cables for anchors, causing damage to the rigging, or losing an anchor, but shortening the time needed to make ready by bypassing the proper procedures.

Cut of his jib: The “cut” of a sail refers to its shape. Since this would vary between ships, it could be used both to identify a familiar vessel at a distance and to judge the possible sailing qualities of an unknown one.

Cut splice: A join between two lines, similar to an eye-splice, where each rope end is joined to the other a short distance along, making an opening which closes under tension.

Cutline: The “valley” between the strands of a rope or cable. Before serving a section of laid rope e.g. to protect it from chafing, it may be “wormed” by laying yarns in the cuntlines, giving that section an even cylindrical shape.

Daggerboard: A type of centerboard that is removed vertically.

Davit: Device for hoisting and lowering a boat.

Davy Jones (Locker): An idiom for the bottom of the sea.

Daybeacon: An unlighted fixed structure which is equipped with a dayboard for daytime identification.

Dayboard: The daytime identifier of an aid to navigation presenting one of several standard shapes (square, triangle, rectangle) and colors (red, green, white, orange, yellow, or black).

Deadeye: A round wooden plank which serves a similar purpose to a block in the standing rigging of large sailing vessels.

Deadrise: The design angle between the keel (q.v.) and horizontal.

Deadweight Tons (DWT): The difference between displacement, light and displacement, and loaded. A measure of the ship’s total carrying capacity.

Deadwood: Timbers built into ends of a ship when too narrow to permit framing.

Deckhand: A person whose job involves aiding the deck supervisor in (un)mooring, anchoring, maintenance, and general evolutions on deck.

Deck supervisor: The person in charge of all evolutions and maintenance on deck; sometimes split into two groups: forward deck supervisor, aft deck supervisor.

Deckhead: The under-side of the deck above. Sometimes paneled over to hide the pipework. This paneling, like that lining the bottom and sides of the holds, is the ceiling.

Decks: the structures forming the approximately horizontal surfaces in the ship’s general structure. Unlike flats, they are a structural part of the ship.

Demurrage: Delay of the vessel’s departure or loading with cargo.

Derrick: A lifting device composed of one mast or pole and a boom or jib which is hinged freely at the bottom.

Directional light: A light illuminating a sector or very narrow-angle and intended to mark a direction to be followed.

Displacement, Light: The weight of the ship excluding cargo, fuel, ballast, stores, passengers, and crew, but with water in the boilers to steaming level.

Displacement, Loaded: The weight of the ship including cargo, passengers, fuel, water, stores, dunnage and such other items necessary for use on a voyage, which brings the vessel down to her load draft.

Displacement: A measurement of the weight of the vessel, usually used for warships. Displacement is expressed either in long tons of 2,240 pounds or metric tons of 1,000 kg.

Disrate: To reduce in rank or rating; demote.

Dodger: Shield against rain or spray on a ship’s bridge.

Dog watch: A short watch period, generally half the usual time (e.g. a two-hour watch between two four hour ones). Such a watch might be included in order to slowly rotate the system over several days for fairness or to allow both watches to eat their meals at approximately normal times.

Dolphin: A structure consisting of a number of piles driven into the seabed or riverbed in a circular pattern and drawn together with wire rope.

Downhaul: A line used to control either a mobile spar or the shape of a sail.

Draft, Air: Air Draft is the distance from the water line to the highest point on a ship (including antennas) while it is loaded.

Draft: The distance between the waterline and the keel of a boat; the minimum depth of water in which a boat will float.

Dressing down: Treating old sails with oil or wax to renew them, or a verbal reprimand.

Driver: The large sail flown from the mizzen gaff.

Driver-mast: The fifth mast of a six-masted barquentine or gaff schooner. It is preceded by the jigger mast and followed by the spanker mast. The sixth mast of the only seven-masted vessel, the gaff schooner Thomas W. Lawson, was normally called the pusher-mast.

Dromond: Large single-sailed ship powered by rowers.

Dunnage: Loose packing material used to protect a ship’s cargo from damage during transport. Personal baggage.

Dyogram: Ship’s chart indicating compass deflection due to ship’s iron.

Earrings: Small lines, by which the uppermost corners of the largest sails are secured to the yardarms.

Embayed: The condition where a sailing vessel is confined between two capes or headlands, typically where the wind is blowing directly onshore.

Ensign: Large naval flag.

Escutcheon: Part of ship’s stern where name is displayed.

Extremis (also known as “in extremis”): The point under International Rules of the Road (Navigation Rules) at which the privileged (or stand-on) vessel on a collision course with a burdened (or give-way) vessel determines it must maneuver to avoid a collision. Prior to extremes, the privileged vessel must maintain course and speed and the burdened vessel must maneuver to avoid a collision.

Fairlead: Ring through which rope is led to change its direction without friction.

Fardage: Wood placed in the bottom of the ship to keep cargo dry.

Fathom: A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.8 m), roughly measured as the distance between a man’s outstretched hands.

Fender: An air or foam filled bumper used in boating to keep boats from banging into docks or each other.

Fiddley: Iron framework around hatchway opening.

Figurehead: Symbolic image at the head of a traditional sailing ship or early steamer.

Fireship: A ship loaded with flammable materials and explosives and sailed into an enemy port or fleet either already burning or ready to be set alight by its crew (who would then abandon it) in order to collide with and set fire to enemy ships.

First Lieutenant: In the Royal Navy, the senior lieutenant on board; responsible to the Commander for the domestic affairs of the ship’s company. Also known as ‘Jimmy the One’ or ‘Number One’. Removes his cap when visiting the mess decks as a token of respect for the privacy of the crew in those quarters. Officer i/c cables on the forecastle. In the U.S. Navy the senior person in charge of all Deckhands.

First Mate: The Second in command of a ship.

Fish: To repair a mast or spar with a fillet of wood. To secure an anchor on the side of the ship for sea,otherwise known as “catting”.

Flag hoist: A number of signal flags strung together to convey a message, e.g. “England expects…”.

Flagstaff: Flag pole at the stern of a ship.

Flank: The maximum speed of a ship. Faster than “full speed”.

Flatback: A Great Lakes slang term for a vessel without any self-unloading equipment.

Flemish Coil: A line coiled around itself to neaten the decks or dock.

Flog: To beat, to punish.

Fluke: The wedge-shaped part of an anchor’s arms that digs into the bottom.

Fly by night: A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.

Following sea: Wave or tidal movement going in the same direction as a ship.

Foot: The bottom of a sail.

Footloose: If the foot of a sail is not secured properly, it is footloose, blowing around in the wind.

Footrope: Each yard on a square-rigged sailing ship is equipped with a footrope for sailors to stand on while setting or stowing the sails.

Fore: Towards the bow (of the vessel).

Forebitt: Post for fastening cables at a ship’s foremast.

Forecabin: Cabin in the fore part of a ship.

Forecastle: A partial deck, above the upper deck and at the head of the vessel; traditionally the sailors living quarters. Pronounced “foc-sle”. The name is derived from the castle fitted to bear archers in time of war.

Forefoot: The lower part of the stem of a ship.

Foremast: Mast nearest the bow of a ship

Foresail: The lowest sail set on the foremast of a square-rigged ship.

Forestays: Long lines or cables, reaching from the front of the vessel to the mast heads, used to support the mast.

Forward: The area towards the bow.

Founder: To fill with water and sink → Wiktionary.

Frap: To draw a sail tight with ropes or cables.

Freeboard: The height of a ship’s hull (excluding superstructure) above the waterline. The vertical distance from the current waterline to the lowest point on the highest continuous watertight deck. This usually varies from one part to another.

Full and by: Sailing into the wind (by), but not as close-hauled as might be possible, so as to make sure the sails are kept full. This provides a margin for error to avoid being taken aback (a serious risk for square-rigged vessels) in a tricky sea. Figuratively it implies getting on with the job but in a steady, relaxed way, without undue urgency or strain.

Furl: To roll or wrap a sail around the mast or spar to which it is attached.

Futtock: Rib of a ship.

Gaff: The spar that holds the upper edge of a fore-and-aft or gaff sail. Also, a long hook with a sharp point to haul fish in.

Gaff-topsail: Triangular topsail with its foot extended upon the gaff.

Galley: The kitchen of the ship.

Gangplank: A movable bridge used in boarding or leaving a ship at a pier; also known as a “brow”.

Gangway: Either of the sides of the upper deck of a ship

Garbled: Garbling was the (illegal) practice of mixing cargo with garbage.

Garboard: The strake closest to the keel (from Dutch gaarboard).

Genoa: Large jib that overlaps the mainsail

Global Positioning System (GPS): A satellite-based radio navigation system providing continuous worldwide coverage. It provides navigation, position, and timing information to air, marine, and land users.

Grain Cube (or Grain Capacity): The maximum space available for cargo measured in cubic feet, the measurement being taken to the inside of the shell plating of the ship or to the outside of the frames and to the top of the beam or underside of the deck plating.

Grapnel: Small anchor used for dragging or grappling.

Gross Tons: The entire internal cubic capacity of the ship expressed in tons of 100 cubic feet to the ton, except certain spaces which are exempted such as: peak and other tanks for water ballast, open forecastle bridge and poop, access of hatchways, certain light and air spaces, domes of skylights, condenser, anchor gear, steering gear, wheelhouse, galley and cabin for passengers.

Groundage: A charge on a ship in port.

Gudgeon: Metal socket into which the pintle of a boat’s rudder fits.

Gunnage: Number of guns carried on a warship.

Gunwhale: Upper edge of the hull.

Gybe: To swing a sail from one side to another.

Halyard or Halliard: Originally, ropes used for hoisting a spar with a sail attached; today, a line used to raise the head of any sail.

Hammock: Canvas sheets, slung from the deckhead in mess decks, in which seamen slept. “Lash up and stow” a piped command to tie up hammocks and stow them (typically) in racks inboard of the ship’s side to protect the crew from splinters from shot and provide a ready means of preventing flooding caused by damage.

Hand Bomber: A ship using coal-fired boilers shoveled in by hand.

Handsomely: With a slow even motion, as when hauling on a line “handsomely.”

Hank: A fastener attached to the luff of the headsail that attaches the headsail to the forestay. Typical designs include a bronze or plastic hook with a spring-operated gate or a strip of cloth webbing with a snap fastener.

Harbor: A harbor or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural.

Haul wind: To point the ship so as to be heading in the same direction as the wind, generally not the fastest point of travel on a sailing vessel.

Hawse: Distance between ship’s bow and its anchor.

Hawse-hole: A hole in a ship’s bow for a cable or chain, such as for an anchor, to pass through.

Hawsepiper: An informal maritime industry term used to refer to a merchant ship’s officer who began his or her career as an unlicensed merchant seaman and did not attend a traditional maritime college/academy to earn the officer license.

Hawser: Large rope for mooring or towing a ship.

Head of navigation: A term used to describe the farthest point above the mouth of a river that can be navigated by ships.

Head: The toilet or latrine of a vessel, which for sailing ships projected from the bows.

Headsail: Any sail flown in front of the most forward mast.

Heave down: Turn a ship on its side (for cleaning).

Heave: A vessel’s transient up-and-down motion.

Heaving to: To stop a sailing vessel by lashing the helm in opposition to the sails. The vessel will gradually drift to leeward, the speed of the drift depending on the vessel’s design.

Heeling: The lean caused by the wind’s force on the sails of a sailing vessel.

Helm: Ship’s steering wheel.

Helmsman: A person who steers a ship.

Hogging or hog: The distortion of the hull where the ends of the keel are lower than the center.

Hold: In earlier use, below the orlop deck, the lower part of the interior of a ship’s hull, especially when considered as storage space, as for cargo. In later merchant vessels, it extended up through the decks to the underside of the weather deck.

Holiday: A gap in the coverage of newly applied paint, slush, tar, or other preservatives.

Holystone: Sandstone material used to scrape ships’ decks

Horn: A sound signal which uses electricity or compressed air to vibrate a disc diaphragm.

Horse: Attachment of sheets to the deck of the vessel (Main-sheet horse).

Hounds: Attachments of stays to masts.

Hull: The shell and framework of the basic flotation-oriented part of a ship.

Hydrofoil: A boat with wing-like foils mounted on struts below the hull.

Icing: A serious hazard where cold temperatures (below about -10°C) combined with high wind speed (typically force 8 or above on the Beaufort scale) result in spray blown off the sea freezing immediately on contact with the ship.

Idlers: Members of a ship’s company not required to serve watches. These were in general specialist tradesmen such as the carpenter and the sailmaker.

In Irons: When the bow of a sailboat is headed into the wind and the boat has stalled and is unable to maneuver.

In the offing: In the water visible from on board a ship, now used to mean something imminent.

Inboard: Inside the line of a ship’s bulwarks or hull.

Inboard-Outboard drive system: A larger Power Boating alternative drive system to transom mounted outboard motors.

Jack: Ship’s flag flown from jack-staff at the bow of a vessel.

Jack-block: Pulley system for raising topgallant masts.

Jack-cross-tree: Single iron cross-tree at the head of a topgallant mast.

Jacklines or Jack Stays: Lines, often steel wire with a plastic jacket, from the bow to the stern on both port and starboard. The Jack Lines are used to clip on the safety harness to secure the crew to the vessel while giving them the freedom to walk on the deck.

Jackstaff: Short staff at ship’s bow from which the jack is hoisted.

Jackyard: Spar used to spread the foot of a gaff-topsail

Jib: A triangular staysail at the front of a ship.

Jibboom: Spar forming an extension of the bowsprit.

Jibe: To change a ship’s course to make the boom shift sides.

Jigger-mast: The fourth mast, although ships with four or more masts were uncommon, or the aft-most mast where it is smallest on vessels of less than four masts.

Junk: Old cordage past its useful service life as lines aboard ship. The strands of old junk were teased apart in the process called picking oakum.

Jurymast: Mast erected on a ship in place of one lost.

Kedge: Small anchor to keep a ship steady.

Keel: A boat’s backbone; the lowest point of the boat’s hull, the keel provides strength, stability and prevents sideways drift of the boat in the water.

Keel: The central structural basis of the hull.

Keelson: Lengthwise wooden or steel beam in ship for bearing stress.

Kentledge: Pig-iron used as ballast in ship’s hold.

Killick: A small anchor. A fouled killick is the substantive badge of non-commissioned officers in the RN. Seamen promoted to the first step in the promotion ladder are called “Killick”. The badge signifies that here is an Able Seaman skilled to cope with the awkward job of dealing with a fouled anchor.

Ladder: On board a ship, all “stairs” are called ladders, except for literal staircases aboard passenger ships. Most “stairs” on a ship are narrow and nearly vertical, hence the name. Believed to be from the Anglo-Saxon word “hiaeder”, meaning ladder.

Lagan: Cargo jettisoned from the ship but marked by buoys for recovery.

Laker: Great Lakes slang for a vessel who spends all its time on the 5 Great Lakes.

Landlubber: A person unfamiliar with being on the sea.

Lanyard: Rope or line for fastening something in a ship.

Larboard: The left side of the ship.Derived from the old ‘lay-board’ providing access between a ship and a quay.

Lastage: Room for stowing goods in a ship.

Lateen: Triangular sail rigged on ship’s spar.

Lateral System: A system of aids to navigation in which characteristics of buoys and beacons indicate the sides of the channel or route relative to a conventional direction of buoyage (usually upstream).

Laveer: To sail against the wind.

Lay down: To lay a ship down is to begin construction in a shipyard.

Lay: To come and go, used in giving orders to the crew, such as “lay forward” or “lay aloft”. To direct the course of the vessel. Also, to twist the strands of a rope together.

Lazaret: Space in ship between decks used for storage.

League: A unit of length, normally equal to three nautical miles.

Lee shore: A shore downwind of a ship. A ship which cannot sail well to windward risks being blown onto a lee shore and grounded.

Lee side: The side of a ship sheltered from the wind (opposite the weather side or windward side).

Leeboard: Wood or metal planes attached to the hull to prevent leeway.

Leech: The aft or trailing edge of a fore-and-aft sail; the leeward edge of a spinnaker; a vertical edge of a square sail. The leech is susceptible to twist, which is controlled by the boom vang and mainsheet.

Lee helm: If the helm was centered, the boat would turn away from the wind (to the lee). Consequently, the tiller must be pushed to the lee side of the boat in order to make the boat sail in a straight line.

Leeward: In the direction that the wind is blowing towards.

Leeway: The angle that a ship is blown leeward by the wind. See also “weatherly”.

Length at Waterline (LWL): The ship’s length measured at the waterline.

Length Overall (LOA): The maximum length of the ship.

Length: The distance between the forwardmost and aftermost parts of the ship.

Let go and haul: An order indicating that the ship is in line with the wind.

Lifeboat: A small steel or wood boat located near the stern of a vessel. Used to get the crew to safety if something happens to the mothership.

Line: The correct nautical term for the majority of the cordage or “ropes” used on a vessel. A line will always have a more specific name, such as mizzen topsail halyard, which describes its use.

Liner: Ship of The Line: a major warship capable of taking its place in the main (battle) line of fighting ships. Hence the modern term for most prestigious passenger vessel: Liner.

List: The vessel’s angle of lean or tilt to one side, in the direction called the roll.

Loggerhead: An iron ball attached to a long handle, used for driving caulking into seams and (occasionally) in a fight. Hence: “at loggerheads”.

Loxodograph: Device used to record the ship’s travels.

Lubber’s line: A vertical line inside a compass case indicating the direction of the ship’s head.

Luff: The forward edge of a sail. To head a sailing vessel more towards the direction of the wind.

Luffing: When a sailing vessel is steered far enough to windward that the sail is no longer completely filled with wind. The flapping of the sail(s) which results from having no wind in the sail at all.

Lugsail: Four-sided sail bent to an obliquely hanging yard.

Lutchet: Fitting on ship’s deck to allow the mast to pivot to pass under bridges.

Lying ahull: Waiting out a storm by dousing all sails and simply letting the boat drift.

Mainbrace: The brace attached to the mainmast.

Mainmast (or Main): The tallest mast on a ship.

Mainsail: Principal sail on a ship’s mainmast.

Mainsheet: Sail control line that allows the most obvious effect on mainsail trim. Primarily used to control the angle of the boom, and thereby the mainsail, this control can also increase or decrease downward tension on the boom while sailing upwind, significantly affecting sail shape. For more control over downward tension on the boom, use a boom vang.

Mainstay: Stay that extends from the main-top to the foot of the foremast.

Man overboard: A cry let out when a seaman has gone overboard.

Manrope: Rope used as a handrail on a ship.

Marina: A docking facility for small ships and yachts.

Martingale: Lower stay of rope used to sustain the strain of the forestays.

Mast: A vertical pole on a ship which supports sails or rigging.

Master: Either the commander of a commercial vessel, or a senior officer of a naval sailing ship in charge of routine seamanship and navigation but not in command during combat.

Masthead Light: This white light shines forward and to both sides and is required on all power-driven vessels.

Masthead: A small platform partway up the mast, just above the height of the mast’s main yard. A lookout is stationed here, and men who are working on the main yard will embark from here. See also Crow’s Nest.

Matelot: A traditional Royal Navy term for an ordinary sailor.

Mess: An eating place aboard ship. A group of the crew who live and feed together.

Midshipman: A non-commissioned officer below the rank of Lieutenant. Usually regarded as being “in training” to some degree.

Mizzen staysail: Sail on a ketch or yawl, usually lightweight, set from, and forward of, the mizzen mast while reaching in light to moderate air.

Mizzen: Three-masted vessel; aft sail of such a vessel.

Monkey fist: A ball woven out of line used to provide heft to heave the line to another location. The monkey fist and other heaving-line knots were sometimes weighted with lead (easily available in the form of foil used to seal e.g. tea chests from dampness) although Clifford W. Ashley notes that there was a “definite sporting limit” to the weight thus added.

Moonraker: Topmost sail of a ship, above the skyscraper.

Moor: To attach a boat to a mooring buoy or post. Also, to a dock a ship.

Navigation rules: Rules of the road that provide guidance on how to avoid collision and also used to assign blame when a collision does occur.

Net Tons: Obtained from the gross tonnage by deducting crew and navigating spaces and allowances for propulsion machinery.

Nipper: Short rope used to bind a cable to the “messenger” (a moving line propelled by the capstan) so that the cable is dragged along too (Used because the cable is too large to be wrapped around the capstan itself). During the raising of an anchor, the nippers were attached and detached from the (endless) messenger by the ship’s boys. Hence the term for small boys: “nippers”.

Oakum: Old ropes untwisted for caulking the seams of ships.

Oreboat: Great Lakes Term for a vessel primarily used in the transport of iron ore.

Orlop deck: The lowest deck of a ship of the line. The deck covering in the hold.

Outhaul: A line used to control the shape of a sail.

Outrigger: Spar extended from the side of the ship to help secure mast.

Outward bound: To leave the safety of the port, heading for the open ocean.

Overbear: To sail downwind directly at another ship, stealing the wind from its sails.

Overfall: Dangerously steep and breaking seas due to opposing currents and wind in a shallow area.

Overhaul: Hauling the buntline ropes over the sails to prevent them from chaffing.

Overhead: The “ceiling,” or, essentially, the bottom of the deck above you.

Overreach: When tacking, to hold a course too long.

Overwhelmed: Capsized or foundered.

Owner: Traditional Royal Navy term for the Captain, a survival from the days when privately-owned ships were often hired for naval service.

Ox-Eye: A cloud or other weather phenomenon that may be indicative of an upcoming storm.

Painter: Rope attached to the bow of a boat to attach it to a ship or a post.

Pallograph: Instrument measuring ship’s vibration.

Parrel: A movable loop, used to fasten the yard to its respective mast.

Patroon: Captain of a ship; coxswain of a longboat.

Pay: Fill a seam (with caulking or pitch), or to lubricate the running rigging; pay with slush (q.v.), or protect from the weather by covering with slush. See also: The Devil to pay. (French from paix, pitch).

Paymaster: The officer responsible for all money matters in RN ships including the paying and provisioning of the crew, all stores, tools, and spare parts. See also: purser.

Pilot: Navigator. A specially knowledgeable person qualified to navigate a vessel through difficult waters, e.g. harbor pilot, etc.

Pipe (Bos’n’s), or a Bos’n’s Call: A whistle used by Boatswains (bosuns or bos’ns) to issue commands. Consisting of a metal tube which directs the breath over an aperture on the top of a hollow ball to produce high pitched notes. The pitch of the notes can be changed by partly covering the aperture with the finger of the hand in which the pipe is held. The shape of the instrument is similar to that of a smoking pipe.

Pipe down: A signal on the bosun’s pipe to signal the end of the day, requiring lights (and smoking pipes) to be extinguished and silence from the crew.

Piping the side: A salute on the bos’n’s pipe(s) performed in the company of the deck watch on the starboard side of the quarterdeck or at the head of the gangway, to welcome or bid farewell to the ship’s Captain, senior officers and honored visitors.

Pitch: A vessel’s motion, rotating about the beam axis, so the bow pitches up and down.

Pitchpole: To capsize a boat end over end, rather than by rolling over.

Pontoon: A flat-bottomed vessel used as a ferry or a barge or float moored alongside a jetty or a ship to facilitate boarding.

Poop deck: A high deck on the aft superstructure of a ship.

Port: Towards the left-hand side of the ship facing forward (formerly Larboard). Denoted with a red light at night.

Preventer (Gybe preventer, Jibe preventer): A sail control line originating at some point on the boom leading to a fixed point on the boat’s deck or rail (usually a cleat or pad eye) used to prevent or moderate the effects of an accidental jibe.

Primage: Fee paid to loaders for loading ship.

Privateer: A privately-owned ship authorized by a national power (by means of a Letter of Marque) to conduct hostilities against an enemy. Also called a private man of war.

Propeller walk or prop walk: Tendency for a propeller to push the stern sideways. In theory, a right-hand propeller in reverse will walk the stern to port.

Prow: A poetical alternative term for bows.

Purser: Ship’s officer in charge of finances and passengers.

Quarterdeck: The aftermost deck of a warship. In the age of sail, the quarterdeck was the preserve of the ship’s officers.

Quartering: Sailing nearly before the wind.

Quayside: Refers to the dock or platform used to fasten a vessel to.

Radar reflector: A special fixture fitted to a vessel or incorporated into the design of certain aids to navigation to enhance their ability to reflect radar energy. In general, these fixtures will materially improve the visibility for use by vessels with radar.

Radar: Acronym for Radio Detection And Ranging. An electronic system designed to transmit radio signals and receive reflected images of those signals from a “target” in order to determine the bearing and distance to the “target”.

Rake: The inclination of a mast or another part of a ship.

Range lights: Two lights associated to form a range (a line formed by the extension of a line connecting two charted points) which often, but not necessarily, indicates the channel centerline. The front range light is the lower of the two, and nearer to the mariner using the range. The rear light is higher and further from the mariner.

Ratlines: Rope ladders permanently rigged from bulwarks and tops to the mast to enable access to topmasts and yards. Also, serve to provide lateral stability to the masts.

Reach: A point of sail from about 60° to about 160° off the wind. Reaching consists of “close reaching” (about 60° to 80°), “beam reaching” (about 90°) and “broad reaching” (about 120° to 160°).

Reef points: Small lengths of cord attached to a sail, used to secure the excess fabric after reefing.

Reef: To temporarily reduce the area of a sail exposed to the wind, usually to guard against adverse effects of strong wind or to slow the vessel.

Reef-bands: Long pieces of rough canvas sewed across the sails to give them additional strength.

Reef-tackles: Ropes employed in the operation of reefing.

Reeve: To pass a rope through a ring.

Rigging: the system of ropes, cables, or chains employed to support a ship’s masts and to control or set the yards and sails.

Righting couple: The force which tends to restore a ship to equilibrium once a heel has altered the relationship between her center of buoyancy and her center of gravity.

Rigol: The rim or ‘eyebrow’ above a port-hole or scuttle.

Roach: Curved cut in the edge of sail for preventing chafing.

Roband: Piece of yarn used to fasten a sail to a spar.

Roll: A vessel’s motion rotating from side to side, about the fore-aft axis. List (qv) is a lasting tilt in the roll direction.

Rolling-tackle: A number of pulleys, engaged to confine the yard to the weather side of the mast; this tackle is much used in a rough sea.

Rostrum: Spike on the prow of warship for ramming.

Rowlock: Contrivance serving as a fulcrum for an oar.

Royal: Small sail on the royal mast just above topgallant sail.

Running rigging: Rigging used to manipulate sails, spars, etc. in order to control the movement of the ship. Cf. standing rigging.

Sailing Certification : An acknowledgment of a sailing competence from an established sailing educational body (like NauticEd).

Sail-plan: A set of drawings showing various sail combinations recommended for use in various situations.

Saltie: Great Lakes term for a vessel that sails the oceans.

Sampson post: A strong vertical post used to support a ship’s windlass and the heel of a ship’s bowsprit.

Scandalize: To reduce the area of a sail by expedient means (slacking the peak and tricing up the tack) without properly reefing it.

Scud: To sail swiftly before a gale.

Scudding: A term applied to a vessel when carried furiously along by a tempest.

Scuppers: An opening on the side rail that allows water to run off the deck.

Scuttle: A small opening, or lid thereof, in a ship’s deck or hull. To cut a hole in, or sink something.

Scuttlebutt: Cask of drinking water aboard a ship; rumour, idle gossip.

Scuttles: Portholes on a ship.

Sea anchor: A stabilizer deployed in the water for heaving to in heavy weather. It acts as a brake and keeps the hull in line with the wind and perpendicular to waves.

Sea chest: A valve on the hull of the ship to allow water in for ballast purposes.

Seaman: Generic term for a sailor.

Seaworthy: Certified for, and capable of, safely sailing at sea.

Self-Unloader: Great Lakes slang term for a vessel with a conveyor or some other method of unloading the cargo without shoreside equipment.

Shaft Horsepower (SHP): The amount of mechanical power delivered by the engine to a propeller shaft. One horsepower is equivalent to 746 watts in the SI system of units.

Shakes: Pieces of barrels or casks broken down to save space. They are worth very little, leading to the phrase “no great shakes”.

Sheer: The upward curve of a vessel’s longitudinal lines as viewed from the side.

Sheet: A rope used to control the setting of a sail in relation to the direction of the wind.

Ship: Strictly, a three-masted vessel square-rigged on all three masts, though generally used to describe most medium or large vessels. Derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “scip”.

Ship’s bell: Striking the ship’s bell is the traditional method of marking time and regulating the crew’s watches.

Ship’s company: The crew of a ship.

Shoal: Shallow water that is a hazard to navigation.

Shrouds: Standing rigging running from a mast to the sides of ships.

Sickbay: The compartment reserved for medical purposes.

Sidelights: These red and green lights are called sidelights (also called combination lights) because they are visible to another vessel approaching from the side or head-on. The red light indicates a vessel’s port (left) side; the green indicates a vessel’s starboard (right) side.

Siren: A sound signal which uses electricity or compressed air to actuate either a disc or a cup-shaped rotor.

Skeg: Part of ship connecting the keel with the bottom of the rudderpost.

Skipper: The captain of a ship.

Skysail: A sail set very high, above the royals. Only carried by a few ships.

Skyscraper: A small, triangular sail, above the skysail. Used in light winds on a few ships.

Slipway: Ramp sloping into the water for supporting a ship.

Slop chest: A ship’s store of merchandise, such as clothing, tobacco, etc., maintained aboard merchant ships for sale to the crew.

Small bower (anchor): The smaller of two anchors carried in the bow.

Snotty: Naval midshipman.

Sonar: A sound-based device used to detect and range underwater targets and obstacles. Formerly known as ASDIC.

Spanker: Sail on the mast nearest the stern of a square-rigged ship.

Spanker-mast: The aft-most mast of a fore-and-aft or gaff-rigged vessel such as schooners, barquentines, and barques. A full-rigged ship has a spanker sail but not a spanker-mast (see Jigger-mast).

Spar: A wooden, in later years also iron or steel pole used to support various pieces of rigging and sails. The big five-masted full-rigged tall ship Preussen (German spelling: Preußen) had crossed 30 steel yards, but only one wooden spar—the little gaffe of its spanker sail.

Spindrift: Finely-divided water swept from the crest of waves by strong winds.

Spinnaker pole: A spar used to help control a spinnaker or other headsail.

Spinnaker: A large sail flown in front of the vessel while heading downwind.

Spirketing: Inside planking between ports and waterways of a ship.

Splice: To join lines (ropes, cables, etc.) by unraveling their ends and intertwining them to form a continuous line. To form an eye or a knot by splicing.

Sponson: Platform jutting from ship’s deck for gun or wheel.

Sprit: Spar crossing a fore-and-aft sail diagonally.

Spritsail: Sail extended by a sprit.

Squared away: Yards held rigidly perpendicular to their masts and parallel to the deck. This was rarely the best trim of the yards for efficiency but made a pretty sight for inspections and in the harbor. The term is applied to situations and to people figuratively to mean that all difficulties have been resolved or that the person is performing well and is mentally and physically prepared.

Squat effect: Is the phenomenon by which a vessel moving quickly through shallow water creates an area of lowered pressure under its keel that reduces the ship’s buoyancy, particularly at the bow. The reduced buoyancy causes the ship to “squat” lower in the water than would ordinarily be expected.

Standing rigging: Rigging which is used to support masts and spars, and is not normally manipulated during normal operations. Cf. running rigging.

Starboard: Towards the right-hand side of a vessel facing forward. Denoted with a green light at night. Derived from the old steering oar or ‘steerboard’ which preceded the invention of the rudder.

Starbolins: Sailors of the starboard watch.

Starter: A rope used as a punitive device.

Stay: Rigging running fore (forestay) and aft (backstay) from a mast to the hull.

Staysail: A sail whose luff is attached to a forestay.

Steering oar or steering board: A long, flat board or oar that went from the stern to well underwater, used to control the vessel in the absence of a rudder.

Steeve: To set a ship’s bowsprit at an upward inclination.

Stem: The extension of the keel at the forward of a ship.

Stemson: Supporting timber of a ship.

Stern tube: The tube under the hull to bear the tail shaft for propulsion (usually at the stern).

Stern: The rear part of a ship, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter to the taffrail.

Sternlight: This white light is seen only from behind or nearly behind the vessel.

Sternpost: Main member at the stern of a ship extending from keel to deck.

Sternway: Movement of a ship backward.

Stevedore: Dock worker who loads and unloads ships.

Stokehold: Ship’s furnace chamber.

Strake: One of the overlapping boards in a clinker-built hull.

Studding-sails (pronounced “stunsail”): Long and narrow sails, used only in fine weather, on the outside of the large square sails.

Stunsail: Light auxiliary sail to the side of principal sails.

Supercargo: Ship’s official in charge of business affairs.

Surge: A vessel’s transient motion in a fore and aft direction.

Sway: A vessel’s motion from side to side. Also used as a verb meaning to hoist. “Sway up my dunnage.”

Swigging: To take up the last bit of slack on a line such as a halyard, anchor line or dock line by taking a single turn round a cleat and alternately heaving on the rope above and below the cleat while keeping the tension on the tail.

Swinging the compass: Measuring the accuracy in a ship’s magnetic compass so its readings can be adjusted – often by turning the ship and taking bearings on reference points.

Swinging the lamp: Telling sea stories. Referring to lamps slung from the deckhead which swing while at sea. Often used to indicate that the storyteller is exaggerating.

Swinging the lead: Measuring the depth of water beneath a ship using a lead-weighted sounding line.

Taffrail: Rail around the stern of a ship.

Tail shaft: A kind of metallic shafting (a rod of metal) to hold the propeller and connected to the power-engine. When the tail shaft is moved, the propeller may also be moved for propulsion.

Taken aback: An inattentive helmsmen might allow the dangerous situation to arise where the wind is blowing into the sails “backward”, causing a sudden (and possibly dangerous) shift in the position of the sails.

Tally: The operation of hauling aft the sheets, or drawing them in the direction of the ship’s stern.

The Ropes: Refers to the lines in the rigging.

Thole: Pin in the side of a boat to keep an oar in place.

Three sheets to the wind: On a three-masted ship, having the sheets of the three lower courses loose will result in the ship meandering aimlessly downwind.

Tiller: Handle or lever for turning a ship’s rudder.

Timberhead: Top end of ship’s timber used above the gunwale.

Timenoguy: Rope stretched from place to place in a ship.

Timoneer: From the French, “timonnier”, is a name given on particular occasions to the steersman of a ship.

Ton: The unit of measure often used in specifying the size of a ship. There are three completely unrelated definitions for the word. One of them refers to weight, while others refer to volume.

Tonnage: A measurement of the cargo-carrying capacity of merchant’s vessels. It depends not on weight, but on the volume available for carrying cargo. The basic units of measure are the Register Ton, equivalent to 100 cubic feet, and the Measurement Ton, equivalent to 40 cubic feet. The calculation of tonnage is complicated by many technical factors.

Topgallant: Mast or sail above the topmast and below the royal mast.

Topmast: The second section of the mast above the deck; formerly the upper mast, later surmounted by the topgallant mast; carrying the topsails.

Topsail: The second sail (counting from the bottom) up to a mast. These may be either square sails or fore-and-aft ones, in which case they often “fill in” between the mast and the gaff of the sail below.

Topsides: The part of the hull between the waterline and the deck. Also, Above-water hull.

Touch and go: The bottom of the ship touching the bottom, but not grounding.

Towing: The operation of drawing a vessel forward by means of long lines.

Traffic Separation Scheme: Shipping corridors marked by buoys which separate incoming from outgoing vessels. Improperly called Sea Lanes.

Tranship: To transfer from one ship to another.

Transire: Ship’s customs warrant for clearing goods.

Transom: A more or less flat surface across the stern of a vessel.

Travellers: Small fittings that slide on a rod or line. The most common use is for the inboard end of the mainsheet; a more esoteric form of traveler consists of “slight iron rings, encircling the backstays, which are used for hoisting the top-gallant yards, and confining them to the backstays”.

Treenail: Long wooden pin used to fix planks of the ship to the timbers.

Trice: To haul in and lash secure a sail with a small rope.

Trick: A period of time spent at the wheel (“my trick’s over”).

Trim: Relationship of ship’s hull to the waterline.

Trunnel: Wooden shipbuilding peg used for fastening timbers.

Trysail: Ship’s sail bent to a gaff and hoisted on a lower mast.

Tuck: Part of the ship where ends of lower planks meet under the stern.

Turtleback: Structure over ship’s bows or stern.

Turtling: When a sailboat (in particular a dinghy) capsizes to a point where the mast is pointed straight down and the hull is on the surface resembling a turtle shell.

Under the weather: Serving a watch on the weather side of the ship, exposed to wind and spray.

Underway: A vessel that is not at anchor, or made fast to the shore, or aground.

Underwater hull or underwater ship: The underwater section of a vessel beneath the waterline, normally not visible except when in drydock.

Unreeve: To withdraw a rope from an opening.

Vanishing angle: The maximum degree of heel after which a vessel becomes unable to return to an upright position.

Wake: Turbulence behind a ship.

Wales: A number of strong and thick planks running length-wise along the ship, covering the lower part of the ship’s side.

Walty: Inclined to tip over or lean.

Wardroom: Quarters for ship’s officers.

Washboard: Broad thin plank along ship’s gunwale to keep out sea water.

Watch: A period of time during which a part of the crew is on duty. Changes of watch are marked by strokes on the ship’s bell.

Watching: Fully afloat.

Watercraft: Water transport vessels. Ships, boats, personal watercraft.

Waterline: The intersection of a boat’s hull and the water’s surface, or where the boat sits in the water.

Waveson: Goods floating on the sea after a shipwreck.

Wear: To turn a ship’s stern to windward to alter its course

Weather deck: Whichever deck is exposed to the weather—usually either the main deck or, in larger vessels, the upper deck.

Weather gage: Favorable position over another sailing vessel to with respect to the wind.

Weather side: The weather side of a ship is the side exposed to the wind.

Weatherboard: Weather side of a ship.

: If the helm was centered, the boat would turn towards the wind (weather). Consequently, the tiller must be pulled to the windward side of the boat in order to make the boat sail in a straight line. See lee helm.

Weatherly: A ship that is easily sailed and maneuvered; makes little leeway when sailing to windward.

Weatherly: Able to sail close to the wind with little leeway.

Weigh anchor: To heave up (an anchor) preparatory to sailing.

Wells: Places in the ship’s hold for the pumps.

Wheelhouse: Location on a ship where the steering wheel is located, often interchanged with pilothouse and bridge.

Whipstaff: Vertical lever controlling ship’s rudder.

White Horses: Waves in wind strong enough to produce foam or spray on the wave tops.

Wide berth: To leave room between two ships moored (berthed) to allow space for a maneuver.

Windage: Wind resistance of the boat.

Windbound: A condition wherein the ship is detained in one particular station by contrary winds.

Windlass: A winch mechanism, usually with a horizontal axis. Used where mechanical advantage greater than that obtainable by block and tackle was needed (such as raising the anchor on small ships). Modern sailboats use an electric “Windlass” to raise the anchor.

Windward: In the direction that the wind is coming from.

Xebec: Small three-masted pirate ship.

Yard: Tapering spar attached to ship’s mast to spread the head of a square sail.

Yardarm: The very end of a yard. Often mistaken for a “yard”, which refers to the entire spar. As in to hang “from the yardarm” and the sun being “over the yardarm” (late enough to have a drink).

Yarr: Acknowledgement of an order, or agreement.

Yaw: A vessel’s motion rotating about the vertical axis, so the bow yaws from side to side.

Yawl: Ship’s small boat; sailboat carrying mainsail and one or more jibs.

Zabra: Small Spanish sailing vessel.

Latest News

NEWS | June 27, 2024

125′ rosetti 2021 sold by alex g. clarke [emocean].

125′ Rosetti 2021 Sold by Alex G. Clarke [EMOCEAN] EMOCEAN, a 125′ Rosetti built in 2021, was sold by Alex G. Clarke, who represented the Seller. Scott Wellington-Stones of Yachtsmen introduced the Buyer. A special thank you to Aleksander Zivanovic & Captain Scott Pearce for all of your assistance

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Definition of yacht

(Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of yacht (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

Examples of yacht in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'yacht.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

obsolete Dutch jaght , from Middle Low German jacht , short for jachtschip , literally, hunting ship

1557, in the meaning defined above

1836, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing yacht

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Cite this Entry

“Yacht.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yacht. Accessed 28 Jun. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of yacht.

Kids Definition of yacht (Entry 2 of 2)

from obsolete Dutch jaght (now jacht ), short for jachtschip, literally, "hunting ship"

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Yachting and Boating Glossary of Terms

Which side is "Starboard"? Important yachting and boating terms, all in one place!

The yachting world is full of nicknames and jargon - it can be hard to understand some of the technical language used. Scroll down to read through some of the most popular sailing terms and what they mean!

Aft deck . On motor yachts, the guest area closest to the back of the boat on the main level. Often the location of the main outdoor dining area. Aft cabin . Sleeping quarters beneath the aft or rear section of the boat (sometimes called a mid cabin when located beneath the helm) Alee . The side of a boat or object away from the direction of the wind. Aloft . Above deck in the rigging or mast. Amidships . In the center of the yacht Anti-fouling paint . A special paint applied to a boat's hull to prevent marine growth. APA . Advance Provisioning Allowance. The APA is money paid to a bank account for the Captain of the yacht to provision on the charterer’s behalf. Key provisioning is fuel, food, drinks, and port fees. The Captain is obligated to keep all receipts and balance the account for the charterer. At the end of the charter, the Captain provides a full account of expenditures, and any amounts not used will be refunded. Apparent wind . The direction and speed of the wind as felt in a moving boat - the way it 'appears”. Astern . The direction toward or beyond the back of the boat (stern). Athwartships . Perpendicular to the yacht’s centerline. An 'athwartships berth,” means the bed is parallel to the yacht’s sides instead of to its bow and stern. This can create uncomfortable motion while you sleep. Aweigh . An anchor that is off the bottom. Antigua. North of Guadeloupe , a popular bareboating destination. Anguilla. An exclusive destination in the Caribbean.

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Backstay . Support for the mast to keep it from falling forward. Banyan. A short period of rest, often a day or so, while on a charter Bareboat . A yacht that you charter and run yourself, without a crew. See our Bareboat Page . Base charter rate . The rate the charterer pays on a charter for the yacht and crew. The base rate does not typically include provisioning or other expenses such as food, fuel, dockage and tip. Beam . Measurement of a boat at its widest point. Also, a transmitted radio, sonar or radar signal. Bearing . Direction to an object from your current position. Bear off . To turn away from the wind. Beating . Sailing upwind. Berth . 1 - A cabin or other place to sleep aboard a boat. 2 - A boat slip at a dock where the boat can be moored. Bermuda Triangle . A section of the North Atlantic Ocean off North America in which more than 50 ships and 20 airplanes are said to have mysteriously disappeared. Bermuda . A British island territory in the North Atlantic Ocean known for its pink-sand beaches such as Elbow Beach and Horseshoe Bay. Bimini . A sun shade or rain cover that covers a portion of a yacht or boat. Blue Peter. A blue/white flag that indicates the yacht is ready to sail Bow . Forward portion/front of a boat. Bowline. The most popular, and essential knot. It has many uses, and is easily 'broken' even when pulled tight. Buoy (normally pronounced "boowie”, but sometimes "boy”). An anchored floating object that serves as a navigation aid or hazard warning. BVI . The British Virgin Islands . A major sailing and yachting area in the Caribbean, near the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico .

Bareboats!

Captain-only charter . A yacht that comes with a captain but no additional crew. The captain drives the yacht, and you take care of everything else, including cooking and housekeeping. Often called Bareboat with Skipper Charter yacht broker . A person who specializes in booking personalized yacht vacations on behalf of clients. Also, the firm that person works for, as in Charter Yacht Broker Agency . See our article on why you should use a Charter broker . Charter terms . The contract under which you charter a yacht. There are different terms used in different parts of the world. Some give you everything on an all-inclusive basis, some give you all meals aboard, some give you no meals aboard, and so forth. Charter yacht . A yacht that is available for charter/rental. Cockpit . The outdoor area of a sailing yacht (typically in the stern) where guests sit and eat, and from where the captain may steer and control the boat. Commission . The fee a yacht’s owner pays to a charter broker for booking a charter. Note - the charterer does not pay the charter broker’s commission directly. Crew . The team that operates your charter yacht. The crew can include a captain plus any combination of: mate, deckhand, stewardess, engineer and chef. Some crew has additional skills such as wellness/massage therapy and scuba instruction . Crewed charter . The charter of a yacht that has a permanent crew aboard who run and manage all aspects of the yacht and charter. See more about Crewed Charter . CYBA . Charter Yacht Broker Association, one of the primary professional organizations for reputable charter brokers. Corsica. A French island north of Sardinia. Cuba . Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba , is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos located in the Caribbean sea .

Crewed Motor Yachts!

what does a draft mean in sailing terminology

Dead Ahead. Right in front, just ahead. The direction you are sailing/cruising. Dinghy . A small boat that a yacht carries or tows. Used for transfers to and from shore, and short day cruises and, if powerful enough, water sports. Also typically called a tender on larger yachts. Displacement . The weight of water displaced by a hull. Also, a type of hull that smoothly displaces (pushes aside) water as opposed to tipping up and riding on top of it. Dodecanese . The Dodecanese islands located in the southeastern Aegean Sea, are a group of Greek islands known for their medieval castles, beaches and ancient archaeological sites. Double cabin . A charter yacht cabin that includes a double bed to sleep two guests. Not to be confused with "twin cabin," which means a cabin with two twin-size beds. Draft . The depth of a yacht below the waterline, as measured vertically. It is important when navigating shallow water to assure the boat can pass.

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e-boat . A boat or yacht powered entirely by electricity (no diesel motor or generator). See more on our Electric Boat Revolution page. Ease . To slacken (loosen) a rope/line. Eco . 1) the spoken term for the letter "E" 2) short for Ecological, eg. good for the environment. Eddy water . Area of calm sea. Electric generator. Equipment that burns fuel to provide electricity aboard when there are no electrical connections or sources.

Fathom . Depth measurement equaling six feet. Fethiye . Fethiye is a port on Turkey's southwestern Turquoise Coast First Mate . The second in command on the yacht Fleet . A group of yachts that are under management by the same company, called a fleet manager or CA. Flank . The maximum speed of a ship Flotilla . A group of yachts cruising together. Flying bridge (or Flybridge). A raised, second-story helm station (steering area) that often also has room for passengers, providing views and a sun deck. Furling . Rolling or folding a sail on its boom. Many charter yachts today are 'self-furling” which takes much of the work out of dropping the sails. French Riviera. A stretch of coastline in the southern part of France. The 'Riviera' doesn't have an official boundary, however, most locals say that from Toulon to the Italian border is considered the 'French Riviera'.

Galley . The kitchen/cooking area on a yacht. Gulet . A type of motorsailer typically found in Turkey. Gulets originated from sponge boats, but now offer luxury crewed charters, normally with en-suite bathrooms, large deck space, and full service. See more about Gulet Charters . Gunwale (Gun-ul). The upper edge of the side of a boat. Gybe . Also spelled jibe. To change the course of a boat by swinging a fore-and-aft sail across a following wind (eg the wind is blowing from behind the boat). Gocek. A popular bareboating sailing destination in Turkey. Gulf. Is a sizable amount of the ocean that penetrates the land. See 'Mexican Gulf'.

Halyard . Line (rope) used to hoist a sail. Harbour. An area designated for yachts to moor. Harbor fees . Charges paid by the yacht, and normally passed on to the charterer, for docking in certain harbors around the world. The rate depends very much on the season and attractiveness of the port. Harbormaster . The person at a harbor in charge of anchorages, berths and harbor traffic. Head . Toilet room. Heel . To temporarily tip or lean to one side. Monohulls heel more than catamarans. Helm . The steering wheel of the boat or yacht Hull . The structural body of the boat that rests in the water and is built to float.

'Inclusive” charter rate . The cost of a charter that includes nearly all expenses, including the yacht and crew, food, alcohol (within reason), fuel and dockage. Itinerary . The course a yacht intends to travel while on charter. The itinerary is normally planned in advance but should remain flexible depending on weather conditions and guest preferences. Idle. When the engines run on 'idle' this means the yacht is just ticking over. Often referred to in fuel rates "Rates include fuel with engines at idle" In Irons. A sailing word to describe a yacht losing her forward momentum when heading into the wind. The yacht becomes untearable as she loses her way. Ischia. Ischia is a volcanic island in the Gulf of Naples , Italy, known for its mineral-rich thermal waters. Inboard. When the engine is IN the yacht, as opposed to being attached to the stern - this would be called an OUTboard. Inshore. Close or near the shoreline so line-of-sight sailing is possible. Iron wind. Sailor's nickname to the engine.

Jib . Triangular sail projecting ahead of the mast. Jibe . See gybe Jackeline's. Lines that run from Aft > forward that your harness can be attached to in bad weather. Jury rig (jerry-rig). A temporary fix to something which has broken on the yacht.

Knot . A unit of speed equivalent to one nautical mile per hour. "We are cruising at 6 knots". See nautical mile. Kedge. A small anchor that can be thrown overboard to either change the direction of the yacht (pivot point) or to help anchor the yacht further in bad weather. Often used then yachts "raft up". Ketch. A two-masted yacht. Kicking strap. A name to the line that pulls the boom down to flatten the sail.

Lee . The side furthest away from the wind. Leeward . The side of an object that is sheltered from the wind. Often pronounced "loo ərd". Lee helm. In strong winds, the yacht can have a tendency to move to the lee without the rudder moving position. LOA - Length Over All. The length of a charter yacht as measured from 'stem to stern”. This is important because yachts are usually charged a price by the foot for dockage at marinas. Luxury Yacht - a crewed charter yacht the strives to provide 5-star service to its charterers including cuisine, water sports, housekeeping, and navigation. See our Luxury Yacht Charter Page. Lazy jack. A sail bag attached to the boom where the mainsail can fall into. Leech. The aft part of the sail. Luff. The forward part of the sail. Luffing up. Bringing the yacht into wind - moving the luff of the sail (the forward part of the sail called 'the luff' moves into the wind).

Mainsail . The largest regular sail on a sailboat. Main salon . the primary indoor guest area on a yacht’s main deck. Make fast . To secure a line. Marina . A place where yachts dock and receive services such as provisioning, water and fuel. Typically marinas offer protection from bad weather, and have hundreds of slips for yachts of various sizes. Slips are rented long term or by the day. Mast . Vertical spar that supports sails. Master cabin . Typically the best/largest cabin onboard any charter yacht. Megayacht . A large, luxury motoryacht. No hard and fast definition, but normally crewed luxury yachts 100 feet or longer. Similar to Superyacht. Midships . Location near the center of a boat. Monohull . A yacht with one hull, as opposed to a multihull or catamaran that has pontoons. While most motor yachts are monohulls, the term typically refers to sailing yachts. Motorsailor . A yacht built to sail and cruise under power with equal efficiencies, such as a Gulet. They typically look like sailing yachts, but have strong engines and are often skippered like they are motor yachts. Motoryacht . A yacht whose primary form of propulsion is engines. Multihull . A yacht with more than one hull - typically a catamaran (two) or trimaran (three). They can be either powerboats or sailboats. MYBA - The Worldwide Yachting Association - originally the Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association (pronounced 'Mee ba”). An international yacht brokers' association based in the Mediterranean, one of the primary professional organizations for reputable charter brokers. MYBA Contract . A contract used for luxury yachts, that has become the standard in the Mediterranean and many other parts of the world. Offers protections for charterers in case of cancellation and clearly states the legal rights of all parties to the charter.

Nautical mile . A distance of 6,076.12 feet or 1,852 meters, which is about 15 percent longer than a statute mile. Equivalent to one minute of latitude on a navigation chart. See our Charter Distance and Cost Calculator here . Navigation. All activities that produce a path Nautical. Anything relating to the sea or yachts. Narrows. A narrow part of a navigable waterway. Nautical chart. 'Maps' designed specifically for sea navigation. Nun. Navigational, cone-shaped buoy (in IALA A = port in IALA B = starboard)

Outboard . An engine that is outside the boat (normally attached to the stern), as is commonly seen on tenders, dinghies, and smaller speed boats. Owner-operator . A person who owns and skippers a charter yacht, instead of hiring a captain to perform charters for guests.

Painter. The rope used to tie the dinghy or tender up to the boat. Passarelle . The passageway you walk on from the dock to the yacht. Often incorrectly called a gangplank. Personal flotation device (PFD). A safety vest or jacket capable of keeping an individual afloat. Pitch . The theoretical distance a propeller would travel in one revolution. Also, the rising and falling motion of a boat's bow and stern. Planing hull . A boat hull designed to ride on top of the water rather than plowing through it. Port (direction). The left side of a boat when facing the bow. Signified by Red. The opposite side from Starboard. Trick to remember - 'After a party, there’s no red port left'. Port (place). A marina harbor or commercial dock for boats. Port (drink). A strong, sweet, typically dark red fortified wine, originally from Portugal. (Well not exactly a nautical term, but lots of yachties like a good port after dinner!) Power catamaran . A multihulled powerboat with two identical side-by-side hulls. Characterized by excellent fuel mileage and less rolling in the water than a monohull powerboat. Power cruiser . A motor yacht with overnight accommodations, typically up to 40 feet long. Preference sheet . A questionnaire that guests fill out before a crewed charter. It alerts the crew to allergies and medical conditions, as well as to preferences for types of food, wine and service. As such, it is an invaluable document for the crew to plan the charter and assists greatly in customer satisfaction. Private yacht . A yacht that is not available for charter. Provisioning sheet . A questionnaire that guests fill out before a bareboat charter. It tells the management company what foods and other supplies you want to have to wait for you when you arrive for your vacation. It’s not mandatory, as many bareboaters prefer to provision themselves when they arrive. Pullman berth . A twin-size bed that is atop another bed, in bunk-bed fashion, that adds additional sleeping accommodation to the yacht. It often 'pulls” out of the wall when needed. Pump toilet . A marine toilet that requires the user to pump a handle to flush.

Reach . To sail across the wind. Regatta . A boat race, often with classic yachts. See more on our regatta charter guide . RIB (acronym for Rigid Inflatable Boat). An inflatable boat fitted with a rigid bottom often used as a dinghy or tender. They are great for shallow water and landing on sandy beaches. Rope . A cord used to moor or control a yacht. Note: experienced sailors always refer to ropes as lines. Runabout . A kind of small, lightweight, freshwater pleasurecraft intended for day use.

Sailing yacht . A yacht whose primary method of propulsion is sailing. Nearly all sailing yachts have engines in addition to their sails. Sedan cruiser . A type of large boat equipped with a salon and a raised helm or bridge. Semi-displacement hull . A hull shape with soft chines or a rounded bottom that enables the boat to achieve minimal planing characteristics (see Planing hull). This increases the top potential speed of the yacht. Schooner . A large sailboat with two or more masts where the foremast is shorter than aft mainmast. Skippered bareboat . A bareboat that has been chartered with a skipper, but no other crew. The skipper’s responsibility is navigating the boat and assuring the safety and wellbeing of the charterer. The skipper may cook and provision, but this is not a requirement. Also known as a captain-only charter or skipper-only charter. Sky lounge . The indoor guest area on the bridge deck of a luxury motor yacht. Often less formal than the main saloon, and sometimes ideal for cocktail parties, happy hour or children’s activities, especially if the weather is not perfect. Starboard . The right side of a boat when facing the bow. Opposite of Port. Stabilizers . A feature that helps to prevent a Motoryacht from rolling too drastically, especially in bad weather, greatly improving the comfort of the guests. The most advanced form is a zero-speed stabilizer, which works both underway and at anchor. Stem . The most forward section of the hull. Stern . Aft (back) portion of a boat. Swim platform . The space at the back of the yacht from which you typically can go swimming or board a dinghy. Lately, these have become entire pool/beach areas on some of the larger luxury yachts.

Tack (sail). The lower corner of a sail. Tack (sailing). Each leg of a zigzag course typically used to sail upwind. Tandem charter . A charter that includes more than one yacht. Tender . A boat that a yacht carries or tows used for transfers to and from shore, and short day cruises and watersports. Also sometimes called a dinghy. Transom . The rear section of the hull connecting the two sides. True wind . The direction and velocity of wind as measured on land, distinct from apparent wind which is how it appears on a moving yacht. Twin cabin . A yacht cabin that features two twin beds, often best suited for children or friends.

V-berth . A bed or berth located in the bow that has a V-shape. VAT . Value-added tax (TVA in France). A tax sometimes charged to charter guests who book boats in certain nations, most often in Europe. VAT can add 20 percent or more to your bill. Very happy . The state that most charterers are in the majority of the time they are aboard their yacht! VHF . Very high frequency; a bandwidth designation commonly used by marine radios. VICL . Virgin Islands Charter League, an organized group of charter yacht owners in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Membership in this group indicates a yacht owner’s willingness to be part of the larger charter community and to follow its standards. VIP cabin . Typically the second-best cabin onboard any charter yacht.

Waterline . The intersection of the hull and the surface of the water. Waypoint . The coordinates of a specific location. Weigh . To raise the anchor. Windlass . Rotating drum device used for hauling line or chain to raise and lower an anchor. Windward . The side of a boat or object that is facing or being hit by the wind - the windy side. Windward Islands . The Windward Islands are the southern, generally larger islands of the Lesser Antilles, within the West Indies Wet head . A bathroom that serves as both the toilet/sink area and the shower compartment, meaning the sink and toilet get wet when you use the showerhead.

Yacht . A sailing or motor yacht designed for pleasure boating that typically ranges from 40 to 100+ feet long. Yachting . The experience of being on a yacht. Yaw . To veer off course.

Zero-speed stabilizers . The most sophisticated type of motor yacht stabilizers that keep the yacht from rolling both underway and at anchor, significantly improving their comfort.

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The TMX project: This ship should not have sailed

On May 22, the first oil tanker left the newly expanded Trans Mountain pipeline terminal in Burnaby, B.C., bound for China with 550,000 barrels of tar-sand oil. This marks the completion of the pipeline expansion project — jeopardizing the shared waters of the Salish Sea and threatening our ecosystems, economy, Indigenous sovereign interests and fight against climate change. This threat is one our state and national regulators cannot afford to ignore.

This milestone comes 12 years after the pipeline’s original owner — Kinder Morgan — filed a proposal with the National Energy Board of Canada to construct a second pipeline alongside the one built in 1953, connecting the massive tar-sand deposits in Alberta to a tanker port in Burnaby near Vancouver, B.C. It will triple the oil flow from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day and increase the number of tankers navigating through swift currents and along rocky shores from five per month to 34 per month.

The expansion project was so plagued by protests and lawsuits on both sides of the border and by massive cost overruns that Kinder Morgan suspended its efforts in 2018. Despite claims of being a climate leader and steward of endangered southern resident orcas, the Canadian government quickly purchased the incomplete heavy oil pipeline for $3.3 billion, insisting it was in the national interest. While the final cost exceeded $24.8 billion, the long-term cost of tar sands extraction, transport and refining is its colossal carbon footprint.

Of immediate concern is the elevated increase in underwater noise and risk of a major oil spill due to a sevenfold increase in tanker traffic between Burnaby and refineries in Puget Sound, California and markets across the Pacific. While the expansion project originates in Canada, an oil spill, like tankers, salmon and orca, heeds no borders.

Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman said, “The increase in tanker traffic in our ancestral fishing grounds threatens the Suquamish Tribe and traditional way of life.” A tar-sand oil spill is particularly toxic and difficult to clean up. Volatile dilutants added to the heavy bitumen from Alberta enable it to flow through the pipeline. The resulting mixture, “dilbit,” retains two of the worst qualities for oil recovery. Once spilled, the evaporating dilutants render it unsafe for responders to get close enough to contain it before it spreads. The remaining heavy oil tends to sink, making cleanup unlikely in the Salish Sea’s deep straits.

While Canada made significant, though insufficient maritime safety investments, it was extremely disappointing to read what the Washington State Department of Ecology’s head of prevention recently told The Seattle Times : “We won’t be doing anything differently after May 1.” This was said despite Ecology and the Board of Pilotage Commissioners evaluating the expanded use of tugboats to escort small tankers and oil barges in case of an emergency. Furthermore, there’s a national review underway regarding the use of tug escorts in response to surprisingly common incidents like those involving the container ship Dali in Baltimore and the barge that spilled oil in Galveston, Texas.

Ecology also recently submitted a report to the Legislature that significantly underestimates the value of establishing an Emergency Response Towing Vessel near the San Juan Islands. It could be similar to the very successful operation in Neah Bay , which has assisted over 50 ships on both sides of the border since 1999.

In reciprocity, the Canadian government should also station an ERTV in Sydney, B.C., adjacent to Turn Point — the most vulnerable portion of the increasingly busy tanker route also transited by cargo ships serving Canada’s largest port in Vancouver; it receives more cargo volume than the ports of Seattle and Tacoma combined.

Ecology must ensure it’s not prejudging the findings of the tug escort rule making, and our Legislature and Congress must work with Canada to require an ERTV and other resources are appropriately stationed to protect the rich, yet vulnerable waters surrounding our shared waters from this unacceptable endeavor.

14 Everyday Phrases That Most People Don't Know Came From The Navy

Posted: June 25, 2024 | Last updated: June 25, 2024

<p>Throughout history, sailors have come up with a unique vocabulary to talk about various objects, people, activities, and locations. Many expressions from this vocabulary have been mixed into the English language, often without many people understanding that their origins are in maritime traditions.</p> <p>Curious to discover the nautical origins of certain phrases? Continue reading to find out!</p>

14 Everyday Phrases That Most People Don’t Know Came From The Navy

Throughout history, sailors have come up with a unique vocabulary to talk about various objects, people, activities, and locations. Many expressions from this vocabulary have been mixed into the English language, often without many people understanding that their origins are in maritime traditions.

Curious to discover the nautical origins of certain phrases? Continue reading to find out!

<p>When a vessel is returning to port for repairs, a sailor may say that the ship is returning to her husband. In this instance, the "husband" refers to the man in charge of the shipyard where the vessel will be returned to working order.</p>

Ships husband

When a ship is heading back to port for repairs, sailors often casually refer to it as returning to its "husband." Here, "husband" denotes the person overseeing the shipyard responsible for restoring the vessel to seaworthy condition.

<p>Most are familiar with the British phrase, "Keep calm and carry on," but were you aware that the last part has naval origins? On days that experienced particularly good weather - gentle winds, if we're being specific - the <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/o/origin-navy-terminology.html" rel="noopener">order to "carry on"</a> would be given.</p> <p>This indicated that all available sails should be raised.</p>

Most are familiar with the British phrase, "Keep calm and carry on," but were you aware that the last part has naval origins? On days that experienced particularly good weather - gentle winds, if we're being specific - the order to "carry on" would be given.

This indicated that all available sails should be raised.

In through the hawsepipe

"In through the hawsepipe" is Navy slang used by seamen who become officers through non-traditional means, describing their rise through the ship's ranks. In this context, it signifies starting from the very bottom. The hawsepipe, also known as the hawsehole, is the hole in the bow through which the anchor cable passes.

<p>Letting the cat out of the bag is Navy slang to describe the punishment of whipping. The "cat" refers to the cat o' nine tails, a formidable multi-tailed whip stored within a cloth bag. Sailors knew it was about to be used when the superior doling out the punishment pulled it out of its bag.</p>

Let the cat out of the bag

"Letting the cat out of the bag" is Navy slang for the punishment of whipping. The "cat" refers to the cat o' nine tails, a fearsome multi-tailed whip kept in a cloth bag. Sailors knew it was about to be used when the superior in charge of the punishment pulled it out of the bag.

<p>A knot is a unit used worldwide as a measurement of speed through water. The term originated from the way sailors measured a ship's speed. A vessel had a length of rope with colored knots every 47.33 feet. At the end was a buoyant piece of wood that remained stationary in the water, unreeling the rope as the ship moved through the water.</p> <p>The number of knots that passed through a sailor's fingers over a 28-second period provided a measurement of the vessel's speed.</p>

A knot is a unit used worldwide as a measurement of speed through water. The term originated from the way sailors measured a ship's speed. A vessel had a length of rope with colored knots every 47.33 feet. At the end was a buoyant piece of wood that remained stationary in the water, unreeling the rope as the ship moved through the water.

The number of knots that passed through a sailor's fingers over a 28-second period provided a measurement of the vessel's speed.

Scuttlebutt

"Scuttlebutt" in naval slang refers to a rumor. Its origins trace back to "scuttle," meaning the deliberate sinking of a ship by creating openings in its hull, and "butt," the common water receptacle where sailors would gather for conversation. Essentially, it represents the impact rumors can have on morale.

Taken aback

While it might not seem like a phrase of naval origin, the fact is that "taken aback" is a form of Navy slang! Modern speakers use it to describe when they're shocked or surprised about something, but it originally referred to when a sudden strong gust of wind hit a ship's sails and pushed them in the opposite direction.

<p>This term, commonly used in the English language, was originally used to describe a novice sailor. It would be printed on their discharge and meant they knew the names and purpose of a ship's main ropes... Basically, it informed their superiors that they knew the very basics of seamanship.</p>

He knows the ropes

This term, commonly used in the English language, was originally used to describe a novice sailor. It would be printed on their discharge and meant they knew the names and purpose of a ship's main ropes... Basically, it informed their superiors that they knew the very basics of seamanship.

<p>Today, to spin a yarn means to tell a story, one that's perhaps slightly exaggerated. Its <a href="https://grammarist.com/idiom/spin-a-yarn/" rel="noopener">seagoing origins</a> date back to naval officers who believed that, if seamen spent too much time telling stories, then no work would be done.</p> <p>At least once a week, a ship's crew would have to unravel old lines of rope. During this, the men could converse and tell stories as much as they pleased, and the time became known "spinning yarns." Eventually, telling a tall tale turned into spinning a yarn.</p>

Spinning a yarn

Today, to spin a yarn means to tell a story, one that's perhaps slightly exaggerated. Its seagoing origins date back to naval officers who believed that, if seamen spent too much time telling stories, then no work would be done.

At least once a week, a ship's crew would have to unravel old lines of rope. During this, the men could converse and tell stories as much as they pleased, and the time became known as "spinning yarns." Eventually, telling a tall tale turned into spinning a yarn.

<p>This expression is used today to describe that something unwanted is looming. However, some claim the term <a href="https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dev1.htm" rel="noopener">originates</a> from the despised task of waterproofing a wooden ship's longest seam along the keel. This is sometimes disputed, but there are many who believe it.</p> <p>The seam was named the "devil" and would be "paid" or covered by tar. Paying the devil was an extremely unpleasant and difficult job, and the name was eventually used to describe any unwanted situation.</p>

Devil to pay

This expression is used today to describe that something unwanted is looming. However, some claim the term originates from the despised task of waterproofing a wooden ship's longest seam along the keel. This is sometimes disputed, but there are many who believe it.

The seam was named the "devil" and would be "paid" or covered by tar. Paying the devil was an extremely unpleasant and difficult job, and the name was eventually used to describe any unwanted situation.

On the fiddle

The fiddle was a raised lip around the edge of a sailor's plate. If food touched it, this meant he had too much and was described as being "on the fiddle." This could earn him a whipping.

<p>A sailor may say the word bokoo, meaning "many." This actually comes from the French word, <em>beaucoup</em>, which has the same meaning. The spelling was simplified over time and is an example of the many words from other languages that have been incorporated into Navy slang when traveling the world.</p>

A sailor may say the word bokoo, meaning "many." This actually comes from the French word, beaucoup , which has the same meaning. The spelling was simplified over time and is an example of the many words from other languages that have been incorporated into Navy slang when traveling the world.

Square meal

"Square meal" is one type of Navy slang that's quite literal in its origins. Back in the day, it referenced the square plates sailors ate their meals off of.

Along with their unique shape, they also had raised edges, known as "fiddles," which prevented food from falling off in turbulent seas. As aforementioned, it's said that a crewman was "on the fiddle" if part of their meal ended up off their plate.

<p><strong>More from us:</strong> <a href="https://www.warhistoryonline.com/ships/uss-thresher.html" rel="noopener">USS Thresher (SS-200): The Most Decorated American Submarine of WWII</a></p> <p>A peacoat is a thick jacket worn by sailors during bad weather. A potential origin for the name comes from the material from which its made, pilot cloth. Sailors would refer to the coarse, heavy fabric with the initial "P," instead of pilot, which eventually became the "pea" in peacoat.</p>

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A peacoat is a thick jacket worn by sailors during bad weather. A potential origin for the name comes from the material from which it's made: pilot cloth. Sailors would refer to the coarse, heavy fabric with the initial "P," instead of pilot, which eventually became the "pea" in peacoat.

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Justice John Roberts says the Supreme Court’s last decisions of this term are coming on Monday

The Supreme Court building is seen on Friday, June 28, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will issue the final opinions of its terms on Monday.

Chief Justice John Roberts made the courtroom announcement on Friday. Four cases remain to be decided, including whether former President Trump has immunity from prosecution.

These Are The Likely Democratic Presidential Candidates If Biden Drops Out—As Rough Debate Prompts Calls To Stand Down

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President Joe Biden’s rocky debate performance Thursday has prompted widespread concern among Democrats that if Biden doesn’t drop out of the race, President Donald Trump will win the November election, leaving these Democrats best poised to step into his shoes if the party replaces Biden.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on the Senate's recent passage of the National Security Supplemental ... [+] Bill, which provides military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, in the State Dining Room of the White House on February 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. During his remarks Biden urged House Republicans and U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) to move the legislation through the House of Representatives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

After a rough debate Thursday in which Biden lost his train of thought, spoke with a hoarse voice and made several verbal flubs, some Donald Trump opponents and Biden allies raised the idea of Biden stepping aside.

Biden’s age, coupled with his habit of rhetorical gaffes and low approval rating, have fueled speculation among politicos for months about possible Biden replacements, though most of the suggestions are fierce defenders of the president who have rejected any assertions they would challenge Biden.

If health issues were to prevent Biden from fulfilling the duties of the presidency—and render him unable to run for a second term—Vice President Kamala Harris would be elevated to the presidency, but it doesn’t mean she would replace him as the party’s nominee.

Harris is the most obvious, de facto pick for a potential Biden replacement on the general election ticket, but her bleak polling numbers (her approval rating currently stands below 40%, according to FiveThirtyEight ) would likely raise concerns that she could lose the general election to Trump.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ’s political activity, including his support for Democrats in elections outside of California, prompted rumors last year he was running a “ shadow campaign ” for the White House, but Newsom has firmly dismissed the possibility, vowing his allegiance to Biden’s 2024 campaign and serving as a Biden campaign surrogate.

Other Democratic governors who have elevated their national profiles—Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker , Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer , Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro —are also regularly listed as potential Biden alternatives, especially after all four won gubernatorial races by double digits in 2022, but they’re all stumping for Biden’s 2024 campaign and have ruled out running against him.

An advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is a year older than Biden, said in a 2022 memo he hadn’t ruled out a run for president in 2024 in the event of an open primary, but Sanders has since pledged to sit out the race and has endorsed Biden instead (Sanders ran in the 2016 and 2020 primaries but fell short to Hillary Clinton and Biden, and some Democrats fear his status as a self-described democratic socialist could harm his general election chances).

None of the third-party candidates challenging Biden from the left are considered viable challengers, but they could see Biden dropping out of the race as a chance to build enthusiasm for their long-shot candidacies—including independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West .

Democratic primary contender Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) ran against Biden in the 2024 primary, largely focusing on Biden’s age , but he received little support before dropping out.

Surprising Fact

The unfounded theory that Democrats could elevate Michelle Obama as their 2024 nominee has been circulating for years, as polls have shown she has high favorability ratings. But Obama has said repeatedly she will never run for president and doesn’t want the job.

Biden clinched the Democratic nomination this year by nearly sweeping the primaries, earning him the vast majority of his party’s delegates, but a new nominee could theoretically be chosen at the Democratic National Convention if he stepped aside. Since delegates are not required to support the nominee at the party’s Aug. 19 convention, Biden could urge them to support another candidate in the unlikely event that he ends up dropping out. If Biden were to win the nomination at the convention, but was unable to run in the November general election, convention rules would require Democratic Party Chair Jaime Harrison to consult Congress and the Democratic Governors Association to recommend a new nominee to the Democratic National Committee.

Key Background

Biden lost his train of thought and gave an incoherent answer to a question just minutes into Thursday’s debate, one of several instances in which he struggled to form sensical responses and had to repeatedly correct himself. Biden spoke with a hoarse voice and seldom reacted when Trump was speaking, often standing with a blank stare on his face, his mouth agape. By the end of Thursday’s 90-minute program, the Democratic Party was reportedly in panic mode, with operatives, lawmakers and donors privately discussing replacing Biden on the ticket, multiple outlets reported. Left-leaning national media figures who have close relationships with Biden, from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, to The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, publicly suggested he should bow out of the race in the wake of Thursday’s debate, with Friedman writing Biden “has no business running for re-election” and Scarborough asking the rhetorical question on air Friday morning “can he run for president in 2024?” Biden rejected calls for him to drop out after Thursday’s debate, telling reporters he had a sore throat when asked about his hoarse voice. “It’s hard to debate a liar,” Biden said of Trump.

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Celebrities Accused Of 'Yachting' In Hollywood — And What Being A 'Yacht Girl' Really Means

Rumors suggest some women are paid to play..

Micki Spollen

Written on Jan 11, 2022

It’s easy to be envious when seeing the Instagram photos of young, carefree celebrity women seemingly having the time of their lives on yachts floating in exotic waters and in the VIP sections of the most exclusive clubs.

However, rumor has it there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to these ‘yacht girls’ and their extravagant lifestyles.

What is a yacht girl?

According to Urban Dictionary , a yacht girl is “an attractive young woman who finds ways to get access to luxurious surroundings by being available to wealthy men.”

For example, you may follow a woman or two on Instagram who always seems to be partying or vacationing somewhere expensive (notably without ever showing who she’s actually with). This is a person you could potentially describe as being a yacht girl.

And it’s not just those Instagram models and wannabe stars that are considered yacht girls. As you work up the wealth chain, you may be surprised to recognize some celebrity names synonymous with yachting.

RELATED: Director Who Saw Robin Thicke Allegedly Grope Emily Ratajkowski Says He Only Did It Because He Was Drunk

What is 'yachting' in Hollywood?

In Hollywood, the term yacht girl essentially means a woman who works as an escort for high-end clientele , not just on yachts but for any social event.

While the practice has only somewhat recently gained mainstream notoriety, if you think back on the many tabloid photos of models and actresses on yachts from years past, it appears to be something that's gone on in Hollywood “for 60 years,” according to Elie Nahas, who ran a Beirut-based modeling agency before being arrested on charges of running a prostitution ring in 2007.

In 2013, "The Hollywood Reporter" ran a feature describing this so-called yachting during the Cannes Film Festival.

“Every year during the festival there are 30 or 40 luxury yachts in the bay at Cannes, and every boat belongs to a very rich person. Every boat has about 10 girls on it; they are usually models, and they are usually nude or half nude,” Nahas told THR.

At the end of the night, each woman would receive a “gift,” a generous amount of money that the client would put in an envelope for her.

And while many of these women were self-proclaimed local prostitutes and escorts, the Cannes Film Festival is, of course, known for its celebrity attendees — and it’s rumored that celebrity women trying to fast-track a name for themselves in Hollywood become yacht girls, too.

“Women installed on yachts in Cannes during the film festival are called ‘yacht girls,’ and the line between professional prostitutes and B- or C-list Hollywood actresses and models who accept payment for sex with rich older men is sometimes very blurred, explains one film industry veteran,” Dana Kennedy wrote for THR.

RELATED: What Is Instagram Face — And Which Celebrities Have It?

Some women in Hollywood have accused their celebrity peers of being yacht girls.

A 2017 blind item (celebrity gossip that doesn’t outwardly name the celebrity) allegedly written by a struggling actress describes being lured by another actress into the world of yachting :

“The actress I was talking to made it sound super easy and that she only had [sex] a few times with guys while yachting and that it was mostly partying and being arm candy,” she writes, explaining that eventually she agreed to try it for $25,000 upfront, but admitting that the experience was less than glamorous.

Blind item readers guessed that Canadian actress Vanessa Lengies wrote the blind item and further surmised that it may be one of the Glee actresses Naya Rivera or Heather Morris that introduced her to yachting. None of these claims have ever been substantiated.

If you believe the rumors, it would seem that yachting is a rite of passage for women hoping to “make it” in Hollywood, and even some celebrities we now consider A-List are thought to be former yacht girls.

In an excerpt from her 2021 memoir , “My Body,” Emily Ratajkowski details being paid $25,000 at the start of her career to go to the Superbowl with now-disgraced Malaysian financier Jho Low, who "‘just liked to have famous men and women around,’” she explains her manager told her at the time.

She writes about attending the star-studded Coachella on someone else’s dime, having drinks paid for at clubs, and attending afterparties with Oscar-winning actors before actually becoming a celebrity herself.

One could infer from this recollection that, in order to be able to tell these stories, Ratajkowski was herself a yacht girl. “My Body” suggests as much, and in it, she subtly gives away the identity of another celebrity woman who yachted alongside her.

Ratajkowski describes watching as Low gave shots to a Victoria’s Secret model. While she doesn’t name drop, Ratajkowski gives just enough information for readers to figure who that model likely was.

“Now she kept her eyes locked on him as he took his shot, throwing her head back dramatically as he did, only to quickly toss the alcohol over her shoulder,” Ratajkowski writes. “When he faced her again, her eyes sparkled and the famous dimples appeared on her cheeks.”

Low has since become a fugitive wanted for allegedly running an international money laundering scheme, and in 2017, Reuters reported that model Miranda Kerr — known for her dimples — was being ordered to return “diamond pendants, earrings and other jewelry worth about $8 million” that Low allegedly gifted her to government agents.

In 2017, Ratajkowski also posted a video on Instagram potentially outing Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber as yacht girls as they danced aboard a yacht during that year’s Cannes Film Festival.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata)

Many people have also accused Meghan Markle of yachting (but then again, what haven't people accused Markle of at this point).

People have pointed to an old photo of Markle on a yacht as proof that she’s a former yacht girl.

RELATED: How Meghan Markle Is Related To Prince Harry

Another old blind item also suggested the former actress was available to “rent.”

"If you see B actress post scantily clad photos of themselves on Social Media, this is often a Comm to [them] that this person is available to ‘rent’ for a weekend of ‘yachting,’” the tweet says, including a photo of Markle in a swimsuit.

"If you see B actress post scantily clad photos of themselves on Social Media, this is often a Comm to [them] that this person is available to “rent” for a weekend of “yachting”. Typically worth $30K for the “party” - Meghan Markle @3Days3Nights https://t.co/E3WfMjnVL9 pic.twitter.com/QFv476GL0b — yacht girl (@yachtgirlmm) November 27, 2019

Markle’s close friendship pre-Harry with actress Priyanka Chopra has naturally led some to guess that Chopra once yachted as well.

Another actress that faces endless rumors of yachting is Russian actress Irina Shayk , which according to THR, is par for the course as the outlet writes that yachting your way to stardom happens with “disturbing frequency,” particularly when it comes to foreign-born actresses.

According to THR, who claims to know “of at least one now-prominent actress who made her first connections on a Cannes yacht and quickly landed her debut role in a U.S.-shot movie,” such as with Shayk’s 2014 film “Hercules,” it’s “a red flag any time you see a foreign-born actress with no credits suddenly make her way into a U.S.-shot movie.”

Of course, when it comes to yachting in Hollywood, all of these claims appear to be unfounded.

These rumors make for good gossip, whether you’re talking about low-level social media influencers or high-profile celebrity actresses.

However, nothing is proven, leaving us to wonder any time we see a photo of women on a yacht.

RELATED: Ghislaine Maxwell Facing 65 Years In Prison While Questions Remain About The Names In Epstein's Little Black Book

Micki Spollen is an editor, writer, and traveler focused on relationships, news, and pop culture. Follow her on Instagram .

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BREAKING: Supreme Court makes it harder to charge Capitol riot defendants with obstruction, will issue last opinions on Monday

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: From the pool to the track, more D.C.-area athletes have qualified for the Paris Olympics

Justice John Roberts says the Supreme Court’s last decisions of this term are coming on Monday

The Associated Press

June 28, 2024, 10:55 AM

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will issue the final opinions of its terms on Monday.

Chief Justice John Roberts made the courtroom announcement on Friday. Four cases remain to be decided, including whether former President Trump has immunity from prosecution.

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Trump Eyes Bigger Trade War in Second Term

The former president’s past tariffs raised prices for consumers and businesses, economists say. His next plan could tax 10 times as many imports.

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Former President Donald J. Trump, wearing a blue suit and red tie and standing next to American flags.

By Ana Swanson and Alan Rappeport

Ana Swanson and Alan Rappeport covered tariffs and retaliation during the Trump administration.

In March 2018, a day after announcing sweeping tariffs on metals imported from America’s allies and adversaries alike, President Donald J. Trump took to social media to share one of his central economic philosophies: “Trade wars are good, and easy to win.”

As president, Mr. Trump presided over the biggest increase in U.S. tariffs since the Great Depression, hitting China, Canada, the European Union, Mexico, India and other governments with stiff levies. They hit back, imposing tariffs on American soybeans, whiskey, orange juice and motorcycles. U.S. agricultural exports plummeted , prompting Mr. Trump to send $23 billion to farmers to help offset losses.

Now, as he runs for president again, Mr. Trump is promising to ratchet up his trade war to a much greater degree. He has proposed “universal baseline tariffs on most foreign products,” including higher levies on certain countries that devalue their currency. In interviews, he has floated plans for a 10 percent tariff on most imports and a tariff of 60 percent or more on Chinese goods. He has also posited cutting the federal income tax and relying on tariffs for revenue instead.

Mr. Trump, who once proclaimed himself “Tariff Man,” has long argued that tariffs would boost American factories, end the gap between what America imported and what it exported and increase American jobs.

His first round of levies hit more than $400 billion worth of imports, including steel, solar panels, washing machines and Chinese goods like smart watches, chemicals, bicycle helmets and motors. His rationale was that import taxes would revive American manufacturing, reduce reliance on foreign goods and allow U.S. companies to better compete against cheap products from China and other countries.

Economists say the tariffs did reduce imports and encouraged U.S. factory production for certain industries, including steel, semiconductors and computer equipment. But that came at a very high cost, one that most likely offset any overall gains. Studies show that the tariffs resulted in higher prices for American consumers and factories that depend on foreign inputs, and reduced U.S. exports for certain goods that were subject to retaliation.

Mr. Trump is now envisioning taxing perhaps 10 times as many imports as he did during his first term, an approach that economists say could trigger a trade war that drives up already high prices and plunges the U.S. into a recession.

David Autor, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the proposals would have “a very large effect on prices almost immediately.”

“I don’t think they’ll do it,” Mr. Autor said. “It could easily cause a recession.”

In a recent letter, 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists wrote that they were “deeply concerned” about the risks a second Trump administration posed to the economy, inflation and the rule of law.

“We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the U.S.’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S.’s domestic economy,” they wrote.

Mr. Trump and his supporters have a much more positive view of tariffs, arguing that they serve as leverage with foreign governments, reduce the trade deficit with China and result in the growth of U.S. manufacturing jobs .

“I happen to be a big believer in tariffs because I think tariffs give you two things: They give you economic gain, but they also give you political gain,” Mr. Trump said on a recent podcast .

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign national press secretary, said in a statement that “the American people don’t need worthless out-of-touch Nobel Prize winners to tell them which president put more money in their pockets.”

“President Trump built the strongest economy in American history,” she said. “In just three years, Joe Biden’s out-of-control spending created the worst inflation crisis in generations.”

Jamieson L. Greer, a partner in the international trade team at King & Spalding, who was involved with China trade negotiations during the Trump administration, said the view of Trump officials was that tariffs “can help support U.S. manufacturing jobs in particular, especially to the extent that they’re remediating an unfair trade practice.”

China has long engaged in policies that disadvantage American workers, but other countries also have unfair trade and tax policies or misaligned currencies, Mr. Greer said.

“If you level out that playing field, it makes it so that Americans don’t have to compete unfairly,” he said.

Mr. Trump’s tariffs have domestic supporters among the industries that have benefited from them. And President Biden gave them his own stamp of approval by choosing to keep Mr. Trump’s China tariffs in place while adding some of his own, including on electric cars, steel and semiconductors.

But some of the industries that were hit hardest by Mr. Trump’s trade wars are not looking forward to a sequel. Executives in sectors like retail and spirits worry that another round of tariffs could reignite tensions, raise their costs and again close off critical markets abroad.

Spirit exports to Europe declined by 20 percent after the European Union imposed a 25 percent retaliatory tariff on American whiskey in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on steel and aluminum. And the China tariffs increased the prices that retailers had to pay for their products, forcing them to either raise prices for their customers or cut into their profits.

“We need a trade policy, not just more tariffs,” said David French, executive vice president of government relations at the National Retail Federation. His group, which represents department stores, e-commerce sites and grocers, ran a television ad campaign opposing the Trump tariffs in 2018. “All they’ve done is add friction to the supply chain and cost consumers $220 billion.”

“Former President Trump looks at trade as some sort of zero-sum game — if you win, I lose and vice versa,” Mr. French said. “That’s really not the way trade works.”

The power of tariffs to help or hinder exports is clear in industries that eventually won a reprieve. In 2021, whiskey tariffs were temporarily suspended as part of a deal the Biden administration made with the European Union. American whiskey exports to the bloc rose from $439 million in 2021 to $705 million last year.

Chris Swonger, the chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, said he was hopeful that, if re-elected, Mr. Trump would appreciate that strong exports of American spirits would help achieve his goal of reducing the trade deficit. The lobbying group wants the E.U. tariff suspension, which expires next March, to be extended.

“For President Trump, obviously we appreciate and respect his efforts to reduce the trade deficit,” said Mr. Swonger, who has made his case to Trump campaign officials. “Imposing tariffs on distilled spirits would be counter to reducing the trade deficit.”

Research suggests the tariffs did accomplish their goal of increasing domestic production in the industries they protected, but did so by imposing other costs on the U.S. economy.

One nonpartisan government study found that the tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum increased U.S. production of those metals by $2.2 billion in 2021. But American factories that use steel and aluminum to make other things, like cars, tin cans and appliances, had to pay higher costs for their materials, and that reduced the output of those factories by $3.5 billion in the same year.

Studies suggest the tariffs also had a mixed record when it came to jobs. In a recent paper, Mr. Autor and other economists found that the cumulative effect of Mr. Trump’s trade policies and other countries’ retaliation was slightly negative for American jobs , or at best a wash.

In terms of inflation, studies have estimated that American households faced higher prices as a result of the tariffs — from several hundred dollars to more than $1,000 annually.

But economists say consumers probably did not associate the higher prices they paid with the tariffs, given that inflation was low throughout Mr. Trump’s tenure and the economy was strong.

While the economy remains robust, prices have spiked since 2021, and inflation remains elevated. That could make tariff-induced price increases more obvious and more painful this time around.

A recent analysis by the Peterson Institute of International Economics found that if Mr. Trump did impose a 10 percent tariff on all goods and a 60 percent tariff on China, it would cost a typical household in the middle of the income distribution about $1,700 in increased expenses each year.

Another analysis, by the right-leaning American Action Forum, estimated that a 10 percent tariff could impose additional annual costs of up to $2,350 per American household. Adding a 60 percent tariff on China would add another $1,950 to U.S. household costs.

The burden of those tariffs would fall more heavily on poorer households, because they spend a larger share of their income on everyday products.

That could ultimately backfire on Mr. Trump, given that voter concerns about inflation are top of mind.

As he waited in line to attend Mr. Trump’s rally on Saturday in Philadelphia, Paul Rozick, an electrical warehouse manager from Bensalem, Pa., said high grocery and gas prices had outpaced his pay raises.

“Inflation is going up like 20 percent, but our paychecks go up like 2 percent,” Mr. Rozick said. “I’ve got less money in the bank because I’m spending more money when I walk out the door.”

Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade. More about Ana Swanson

Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters. More about Alan Rappeport

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Henley-on-Todd Regatta in Alice Springs cancelled after unsuccessful grant application

Ships shoot water pistols in the Todd River

An iconic Alice Springs tradition billed as the "world's only dry river boating event" has been cancelled for this year.

It will be just the third time in more than 60 years the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, which draws tourists from around the country, has not gone ahead.

The regatta sees boat-like creations hauled by foot up the dry bed of the Todd River, and crews of pirates and Vikings engage in mock battles on the sandy riverbed.

The volunteer organisers missed out on a vital grant because they did not submit documents accounting for how the grant money they received the previous year was spent by the deadline.

"We certainly didn't get everything right on our side," the event's commodore Lester Hamilton told the ABC.

"The acquittal of the grant from the previous year — everything was done, but it was just held up by the auditor and that hadn't been cleared by the time the grant submission went in."

Mr Lester said the "hardworking volunteers" had been doing their best but "one small step" was overlooked.

"We were able to put [our application] in at a later date but by that time a deadline had passed and we missed out on the entire funding," he said.

Mr Lester said the organisers had attempted to scramble for alternative funding once it became clear the usual NT government grant money would not be coming.

A man dressed as a viking holds the sign of the horns

"We went around and knocked on so many doors … and the doors didn't open," he said.

He said the event would be returning in 2025.

Push for longer-term contracts

Tourism industry representatives said the cancellation was "very sad".

Tourism Central Australia CEO Danial Rochford said the accounting obligations placed on volunteer organisations were necessary but difficult for groups to deal with.

Mr Rochford suggested longer-term funding deals could ease the administrative burden.

He cited the example of his own tourism peak body, which represents the industry and is in a five-year funding agreement with the NT government.

"An event like the Henley-on-Todd should not having be having to come back to request yearly money," Mr Rochford said.

"We should start to be getting into multi-year agreements with many of our iconic events."

"I hope out of this negative comes a positive."

The event has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in NT government funding from the Community Benefit Fund.

Documents show it receives around $150,000 for each year, but has received multi-year contracts previously.

In the 2018/19 financial year it received $450,000 for a three-year deal.

Event 'transitioning' to business model

NT major events minister Brent Potter said his government "strongly supports" the regatta and had invested $50,000 this year in the "iconic" event.

It had given that sum in the meantime "while a three-year plan to continue delivering the event by Rotary Alice Springs is being finalised", Mr Potter said in a statement.

"On the 26th of June, the new Henley on Todd committee advised [NT Major Events] they have decided to postpone the 2024 event for a raft of reasons including a lack of volunteers and a desire to re-focus and deliver a free event in 2025."

A historic photograph shows makeshift boats being carried across a sandy riverbed.

The event organiser Mr Lester did cite other issues beyond the grant money, including an inability to recruit an event manager.

But he said a lack of volunteers had not been an issue.

The organisers had been "transitioning" to a professional business to be less reliant on volunteers as a previous generation of core volunteers moved into retirement.

"We budgeted for that, we planned for that, and then at the last minute, the mat's been pulled out from underneath," Mr Lester said.

The first cancellation in the event's long history was in 1993 when the Todd River ran, making a dry riverbed race impossible.

The second was in 2020 due to restrictions put in place for the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Yellow submarine to make dry river run at Henley-on-Todd

Four competitors in the Henley-on-Todd dry river bed regatta's standing in their yellow submarine.

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Buying long-term care coverage in your 60s? 5 tips to compare policy options

By Aly Yale

Edited By Angelica Leicht

June 28, 2024 / 9:42 AM EDT / CBS News

Long-term care is costly and can easily eat into your budget as you age. In fact, according to 2023 data, even a shared room in a nursing home facility would cost you nearly $9,000 per month . And a traditional Medicare policy is, unfortunately, no help with these costs. A long-term care insurance policy is, though.

And while buying this type of coverage early is the best way to protect yourself, you may still want to purchase long-term care insurance well into your 60s . If this is the case, you'll need to compare policies and insurers carefully, as options (and premiums) can vary widely as you age.

Start comparing your top long-term care policies online now .

Here's how you can compare long-term care insurance policies successfully:

Understand your health risks

The first thing you'll want to think about is your health — or any conditions that could impact your options or premiums.

"Many people 60 and over have a higher likelihood of being declined coverage due to complicated health conditions," says Brian Gordon, a long-term care advisor and president at Gordon Associates. "The first step at any age is to be prescreened from a health standpoint."

An insurance broker can help you with prescreening. "It helps us set realistic underwriting expectations," Gordon says.

Whatever you do, make sure you're honest with your agent about your health and medical history.

"Many people start developing all sorts of health issues in their 60s and you should always be very open with the agent about all medical issues," says Mark Baron, owner of Baron Long Term Care Insurance. "If you can avoid getting declined by having your health issues out in the open, you will have more options later. It will also help the agent steer you to the correct plan that's suitable for you."

Find out what your best long-term care coverage options are now .

Read the fine print

Premiums are one thing to look at, but you should also consider the fine print of each policy you're eyeing. First, understand the coverage details.

"Does the policy include in-home care, assisted living, or nursing home care?" asks Shinobu Hindert, a certified financial planner and author of Investing Is Your Superpower . "It's important to understand what you're buying so make sure you're clear on the benefit triggers."

You should also look at the benefit amounts, how long the benefits last and added features, like inflation protection, which ensures your policy "keeps pace with rising care costs," Hindert says.

Look at the elimination period

Long-term care insurance policies usually come with elimination periods — essentially waiting periods until your benefits can kick in. It's important to think about these when weighing policies, as you may need to cover any gaps out of pocket.

"Longer elimination periods usually result in lower premiums," Hindert says. "But you should be prepared to cover care costs out-of-pocket during this period."

You also might consider a short-term care policy to cover the gap. Talk to an insurance agent to see if this is the right move for you.

Research the insurer

Look into each insurance company you consider, too. Since you may not use your benefits for a few years (or even decades) down the line, you need to know the insurers will still be around and solvent enough to cover your claims.

"Do your due diligence on the financial stability of the insurer by looking at ratings from agencies such as A.M. Best, Moody's, or Standard & Poor's to ensure they can pay out future claims," Hindert says.

You can also look up customer reviews, and check their rating with the Better Business Bureau.

"I prefer highly rated carriers that have multiple insurance product lines and therefore has a well-rounded business that could weather the occasional spike in long-term care claims," says Joseph Gaj, director of insurance at Wealth Enhancement Group.

Asking for a professional's help is always smart when it comes to health and retirement planning. An insurance agent can help point you toward the right products for your budget and goals, and they can also assist with comparing premiums , insurance companies , and coverage options .

"It's imperative that the agent looks at more than one plan to compare, unless you have health issues that drives the decision towards one particular plan that may be the only one that would consider you," Baron says. "Some plans are priced much better for younger people and other plans are priced better for older folks."

You can also look at alternatives to long-term care policies if you can't qualify — things like annuities, certain retirement accounts, or a health savings account. A financial pro can guide you toward the best solution for your specific scenario.

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Raptors Ink Starting Point Guard to Long-Term Deal

Aaron rose | 6 hours ago.

Apr 10, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley (5) drives to the basket against Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) during the fourth quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

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Immanuel Quickley is re-signing with the Toronto Raptors.

The 25-year-old point guard has reportedly inked a five-year, $175 million contract, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski . The deal will pay him roughly $35 million per season to stay in Toronto.

Toronto re-signing Quickley had never been in doubt. The organization acquired the 25-year-old point guard as the centerpiece of the OG Anunoby trade with the New York Knicks in December. He'd been set to enter restricted free agency this summer which would have given the Raptors the opportunity to match any offers made to Quickley in free agency.

New York opted to move on from Quickley after being unable to agree to a contract extension with the 6-foot-3 point guard. The Knicks had reportedly offered Quickley a deal worth roughly $18 million per season, according to HoopsHype's Michael Scotto .

Toronto now has its core locked up on long-term deals with Scottie Barnes set to ink a five-year extension that’ll start following this upcoming season. RJ Barrett is under contract through the 2026-27 season and Toronto has Gradey Dick on a rookie contract through the next three seasons.

Quickley saw his numbers jump significantly once stepping into a bigger role with the Raptors. He averaged 18.6 points and 6.8 assists while shooting 39.5% from three-point range in 38 games with Toronto. For his career, Quickley is a 37.5% three-point shooter and one of the best pull-up shooters in the league.

Toronto cannot officially sign the deal until July 6.

Aaron Rose is a Toronto-based reporter covering the Toronto Raptors since 2020.

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Houthi Ship Attacks Pose a Longer-Term Challenge to Regional Security and Trade Plans

An explosion hits the civilian cargo vessel MV Tutor in the Red Sea - source: Houthi Media Center

Noam Raydan is a Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute.

The immediate effects of the Houthi antishipping campaign are measurably serious, but the United States, Saudi Arabia, and other partners also need to prepare for the emboldened group to exert its newfound leverage in other ways beyond the Gaza war.

Throughout the Gaza war and the associated Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea region, The Washington Institute has been monitoring the Houthi threat to commercial shipping via its maritime incident tracker and, more recently, its Maritime Spotlight hub. Two things are clear from this data: the threat is still escalating considerably in quantity and quality, and neither the U.S.-led coalition nor the recently launched European Union Naval Force Aspides have been able to curtail Houthi attacks, which the group first launched in response to the fighting in Gaza.

In the five months since the United States and Britain began conducting military strikes in Yemen with non-operational support from various other countries, over 100 additional incidents have been recorded, including several naval interceptions of Houthi weapons. Some companies trading with Israel initially brushed off Houthi threats and kept operating in the region; eventually, the group began to attempt deadlier, more complex attacks. For instance, on June 12, the group attacked a bulk carrier using an uncrewed surface vessel (USV), which successfully inflicted serious damage on a commercial ship for the first time since November. The ship later sank, and one seafarer was reported dead. On June 13, the Houthis launched a double attack on a cargo ship using at least three missiles, leaving one seafarer severely injured and forcing the rest of the crew to abandon the vessel.

The growing risks have convinced multiple shipping companies to steer away from the region, causing a sharp drop in overall transits through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes. Between June 10 and 16, traffic through the strait was down by more than 50 percent compared to week 24 of last year (see graph below). The attacks are expected to increase even further if the Gaza war continues or if Israel and Hezbollah escalate to a wider conflict in Lebanon.

Graph showing decrease in Bab al-Mandab transits.

Yet despite the understandable focus on the immediate maritime and trade effects of these attacks, more attention needs to be paid to how well-entrenched the Houthi threat has become, and how it might use its newfound leverage to serve different political agendas in the future. Although the maritime threat may gradually die down if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza, it will not disappear—rather, its effectiveness in disrupting global commerce will only embolden the Houthis.

How would a persistent maritime threat affect U.S. regional partners, some of whom had been planning to drive trade growth before the Gaza war by becoming global logistics hubs? Can they still leverage their strategic location between three continents if those continents remain partially disconnected by ongoing attacks?

A More Lethal “Fourth Stage”

On May 16, just days after Israel launched its offensive in Rafah, the leader of the Houthi movement warned, “We will seek to strengthen the fourth stage of escalation in terms of [number of attacks] and impact of strikes,” reiterating that the campaign’s purpose was to support Palestinians in Gaza. Since then, the group has expanded its target list—if a company has ships that call on Israeli ports, all of its vessels may now be targeted, even those that are not sailing to Israel. In the previous three “stages,” the Houthis focused mainly on ships that sailed to Israel or had known links to the United States, Britain, or Israel, though several of their attacks had unclear motives or were based on inaccurate information.

As promised, the current wave has also been more aggressive. Many attempted strikes have been intercepted by Western forces, but the overall quantity of attacks has been almost nonstop since May 23, when the Houthis launched a missile at the Malta-flagged bulk carrier Yannis (IMO 9401910). As in previous waves, the majority of these attacks have taken place in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea have each seen at least one confirmed attack during the Houthi campaign).

Graph showing the number of Houthi attacks in different waterways.

Several of the targets in the current wave were affiliated with Greek-based companies , including Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited (EASTMED), Evalend, and Grehel. Evalend owns the Tutor (IMO 9942627), the vessel that sank after being attacked multiple times by a USV and other weapons earlier this month. The Houthis have also made several questionable and unverified claims about attacks in the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Israel’s port of Haifa, in some cases involving alleged collaboration with Iran-backed Iraqi militias .

Earlier this month, the U.S. Defense Department stated that the Houthis have launched around 190 attacks since November 19, but “only a handful” have been successful due to the “effectiveness of coalition forces at stopping the attacks.” While assessments of the coalition’s operational impact may vary, the negative results of the Houthi escalation are undeniable—more ships are being targeted, several shipping companies continue to avoid the region’s waterways, and the Houthis appear to feel empowered rather than weakened. After enduring months of coalition strikes, they are still setting the goalposts for which companies can send vessels to and through the region, violating the most fundamental principles of freedom of navigation.

Meanwhile, commercial ships that do continue sailing through the Red Sea are taking unusual steps to lessen their risk of being attacked. Some have used their automatic identification system to signal that they have “no links to Israel,” while others broadcast messages such as “All Muslim crew,” “All Syrian crew,” or “China ship crew.” One vessel broadcasted “Russian crude oil” rather than indicating its next port of call. Even tankers laden with Russian oil have occasionally been targeted, however, typically due to inaccurate or outdated information about the ship’s ownership—for instance, the tanker Wind (IMO 9252967) was hit on May 18 while carrying Russian fuel oil bound for China, as detailed by the Institute’s attack tracker .

Screenshot from MarineTraffic showing how ships are altering their AIS data to avoid Houthi attacks.

The Challenge to Regional Maritime Ambitions

By this point, the Houthis have proven they can substantially disrupt traffic between different trading regions, with giant firms such as the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk deciding to avoid the southern Red Sea. Consequently, the volume of container ships transiting the Bab al-Mandab has dropped by around 55 percent, according to the most recent data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence. Among other affected destinations, the number of such vessels visiting King Abdullah Port and Jeddah—Saudi Arabia’s largest transshipment hub and largest container port, respectively— decreased sharply earlier this year.

In May 2023, just a few months before the Houthis launched their attack campaign, Maersk announced a new ocean service connecting Middle Eastern markets to Europe and rotating between key ports such as Jeddah. By December, however, Houthi attacks had led Maersk to announce that it was suspending traffic in the Red Sea and rerouting vessels around the Cape of Good Hope “for the foreseeable future.” Last month, the company offered an even grimmer forecast: “The risk zone has expanded, and attacks are reaching further offshore. This has forced our vessels to lengthen their journey further, resulting in additional time and costs..., bottlenecks and vessel bunching, as well as delays and equipment and capacity shortages. We estimate an industry wide capacity loss of 15-20% on the Far East to North Europe and Mediterranean market during Q2.”

As for MSC, the Saudi Ports Authority announced in March 2023 that the company would be adding Jeddah to its Red Sea and East Africa-Red Sea shipping services. Since November, however, several of its ships have been directly targeted. The Houthis inaccurately regard the Switzerland-based firm as an “Israeli company,” most likely due to its trade cooperation with Israeli shipping companies.

Accordingly, Saudi Arabia and other affected regional states would be wise to prepare for a future in which their critical infrastructure remains under threat from the Houthis indefinitely. The group now has the capacity to launch more sophisticated attacks in different political contexts beyond the Gaza war, most likely with support from Iran. For instance, it could eventually decide to resume or escalate its maritime attacks if an Israel-Saudi normalization agreement seems imminent—especially if the Yemen conflict is not resolved . Thus far, Riyadh has preferred to remain on the sideline and avoid a confrontation with the Houthis, believing that this would only make the crisis worse and put Saudi vessels at risk of attack.

Red Sea stability is crucial to the kingdom’s ambitions for expanding its logistics sector—a key element in both its National Industrial Development and Logistics Program and its wider Vision 2030 strategy. Over the next few years, Riyadh plans to increase the competitiveness of its ports and enhance their international connectivity. Yet establishing a global maritime logistics center requires a stable environment—not just in the northern Red Sea, where the Saudis recently launched a new shipping service in partnership with the French giant CMA CGM, but also in the highly volatile southern Red Sea.

According to some projections , the current Houthi attack campaign will continue for at least the rest of this year, and many commercial vessels will keep avoiding the Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea until 2025 or beyond. A Gaza ceasefire could ease the attacks somewhat, but even then the Houthis might not halt their campaign entirely. Although some ship owners have seen their profits increase due to higher freight rates, the overall impact on maritime traffic and global supply chains has been severe. Gulf states are hardly immune to these effects, so Washington should urge them to find a diplomatic means of halting the attacks, regardless of what happens on the separate U.S. diplomatic tracks in Gaza and Lebanon .

Finally, Washington and its partners should include the potential threat of long-term Houthi escalation in their military planning. Earlier this month, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group left the Red Sea, where it had been deployed to counter Houthi threats since late last year. If the current campaign escalates further, or if the group dials up its attacks in the future, Western naval forces may need to deploy even more assets to protect commercial ships.

Noam Raydan is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute.