fathom: six feet.
fife rail: wooden rails found generally at the base of the masts and pierced with holes to accept belaying pins.
first rate: the largest class of naval ship, carrying one hundred or more guns. Ships were rated from first to six rates depending on the number of guns. Sloops, brigs, schooners, and other small vessels were not rated.
flemish: to coil a rope neatly down in concentric circles with the end being in the middle of the coil.
fore-and-aft: parallel to the centerline of the ship. In reference to sails, those that are set parallel to the centerline and are not attached to yards. Also used to mean the entire deck encompassed, e.g. "Silence, fore-and-aft!"
forecastle: pronounced fo'c'sle. The forward part of the upper deck, forward of the foremast, in some vessels raised above the upper deck. Also, the space enclosed by this deck. In the merchant service the forecastle was the living quarters for the seamen.
forestay: standing rigging primarily responsible for preventing the foremast from falling back when the foresails are ABACK. Runs from under the fore top to the bowsprit.
forward: toward the bow, or front of the ship. To send an officer forward implied disrating, sending him from the officers' quarters aft to the sailors' quarters forward.
frigate: vessels of the fifth or sixth rate, generally fast and well armed for their size, carrying between twenty and thirty-six guns.
furl: the process of bundling a sail tightly against the YARD, stay, or mast to which it is attached and lashing it in place with GASKETS.
futtock shrouds: short, heavy pieces of standing rigging connected on one end to the topmast shrouds at the outer edge of the TOP and on the other to the lower shrouds, designed to bear the pressure on the topmast shrouds. When fitted with RATLINES, they allow men going aloft to climb around the outside of the top, though doing so requires them to hang backward at as much as a forty-five degree angle.
gangway: the part of the ship's side from which people come aboard or leave, provided with an opening in the bulwark and steps on the vessel's side.
gantline: a line run from the deck to a block aloft and back to the deck, used for hauling articles such as rigging aloft. Thus, when the rig is "sent down to a gantline", it has been entirely disassembled save for the gantline, which will be used to haul it up again.
garboard: the first set of planks, next to the keel, on a ship or boat's bottom.
gasket: a short, braided piece of rope attached to the yard and used to secure the furled sail.
gig: small boat generally rowed with six or fewer oars.
glim: a small candle.
grapeshot: a cluster of round, iron shot, generally nine in all, wrapped in canvas. Upon firing, the grapeshot would spread out for a shotgun effect. Used against men and light hulls.
grating: hatch covers composed of perpendicular, interlocking wood pieces, much like a heavy wood screen. They allowed light and air below while still providing cover for the hatch. Gratings were covered with tarpaulins in rough or wet weather.
gudgeon: one-half of the hinge mechanism for a rudder. The gudgeon is fixed to the sternpost and has a rounded opening that accepts the PINTLE on the rudder.
gunwale: the upper edge of a ship's side.
halyard: any line used to raise a sail or a yard or gaff to which a sail is attached.
headsails: those sails set forward of the foremast.
heave to: to adjust the sails in such a way that some are full and some aback so as to stop the vessel in the water.
heaver: a device like a wooden mallet used as a lever for tightening small lines.
hogshead: a large cask, twice the side of a standard barrel. Capacity varied but was generally around one hundred gallons.
holystone: a flat stone used for cleaning a ship's decks.
hoy: a small vessel, chiefly used near the coast, to transport passengers or supplies to another vessel.
hull down: said of a ship when her hull is still hidden below the horizon and only her masts or superstructure is visible.
jolly boat: a small workboat.
lanyard: line run through the holes in the DEADEYES to secure and adjudt the SHROUDS. Also any short lines used to secure or adjust an item on shipboard.
larboard: until the nineteenth century the term designated the left side of a vessel when facing forward. The term port is now used.
leech: the side of a square sail or the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail.
leeward: downwind.
letters of marque: a commission given to private citizen in times of war to take and make prizes of enemy vessels.
lifts: ropes running from the ends of the yards to the mast, used to support the yard when lowered or when men are employed thereon.
limber holes: holes cut through the lower timbers in a ship's hull allowing otherwise trapped water to run through to the pumps.
line: term used for a rope that has been put to a specific use.
log: device used to measure a vessel's speed.
longboat: the largest boat carried on shipboard.
lugsail: a small square sail used on a boat.
mainstay: standing rigging primarily responsible for preventing the mainmast from falling back when the mainsails are aback. Runs from under the maintop to the bow.
make and mend: time allotted to the seamen to make new clothing or mend their existing ones.
marline spike: an iron spike used in knotting and splicing rope.
mizzen: large fore-and-aft sail, hung from a gaff abaft the mizzenmast.
mizzenmast: the aftermost mast on a three-masted ship.
painter: a rope in the bow of a boat used to tie the boat in place.
parceling: strips of canvas wrapped around standing rigging prior to SERVING.
partners: heavy wooden frames surrounding the holes in the deck through which the mats and CAPSTAN pass.
pawls: wooden or iron bars that prevent a windlass or capstan from rotating backward.
pintles: pins attached to the rudders, which fit in the GUDGEONS and form the hinge on which the rudder pivots.
post: in the Royal Navy, to be given official rank of captain, often called a post captain, and thereby qualified to command a ship of twenty guns or larger.
privateer: vessel built or fitted out expressly to operate under a LETTER OF MARQUE.
quadrant: instrument used to take the altitude of the sun or other celestial bodies in order to determine the latitude of a place. Forerunner to the modern sextant.
quarter: the area of the ship, larboard or starboard, that runs from the main shrouds aft.
quarter gallery: a small enclosed balcony with windows located on either side of the great cabin aft and projecting out slightly from the side of the ship.
quarterdeck: a raised deck running from the stern of the vessel as far forward, approximately, as the mainmast. The primary duty station of the ship's officers, comparable to the bridge on a modern ship.