Ship Design

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A Glossary of Terms

Some nice drawings of sections of ships including sails

bulletATHWARTSHIPS Across the ship from side to side.

 

bulletBEAM. The maximum width of a vessel. ABEAM means at right angles to the ship`s side and ON THE PORT (or STARBOARD) BEAM means that something (another ship, land etc.) is on that line. ABAFT THE BEAM means that is on the stern side of that line and FORWARD OF THE BEAM that it is on the bow side of the line. (note forward is pronounced `forrard`)

 

bulletBOW or BOWS. The front of a vessel. The sharp or rounded part that cuts through the water. Anything which is within 45 degrees of straight ahead is said to be on the PORT (or STARBOARD) BOW. FINE ON THE (P or S) BOW would refer to something not quite straight ahead. BOW CHASER guns fire straight ahead during a sea chase.

 

bulletBROADSIDE. The majority of guns in a warship were mounted on one or more decks and faced sideways out of the ship through GUN PORTS cut in the side of the ship. The simultaneous discharge of all the guns on one side of a ship is referred to as a broadside, and could involve 1000 lb of iron being fired against an opponent from very short range.

 

bulletCATHEAD. Beams projecting on either side of the forcastle near the bow to secure the anchor after it was hoisted out of the water. An anchor thus secured was CATTED.

 

bulletDECKS. The horizontal levels which divide a ship. The lowest level was the ORLOP DECK . On a warship with three decks the LOWER DECK came next and the heaviest guns were mounted here, firing through the lowest line of gun-ports. The majority of the seamen lived on the lower deck. Above this the MIDDLE DECK with the medium sized guns and then the MAIN or SPAR DECK with the lightest guns. In the stern there were partial decks above the Main deck. These were the QUARTER DECK, reserved for officers, and the POOP DECK where the ship was steered. Three lanterns were mounted on the poop. Another partial deck was the FORECASTLE (pronounced fo`c`sle) in the fore part of the ship. The part of the main deck in between was the WAIST. Below the Orlop was the hold in which the provisions required by all the crew (more than 800 men on a 1st Rate ship) for six months or more could be stored.

 

bulletFORE and AFT. Running from bow to stern as distinct from athwartships.

 

bulletKEEL. The lowest fore and aft timber on which the whole framework of the ship is built. Above it is the KEELSON, a line of timbers which secure the keel to the upper framework. This framework consists of the RIBS which rise upward and outward to form the skeleton of the ship to which the planking is fastened.

 

bulletPORT & STARBOARD. Looking towards the bow the left hand side of a vessel is the PORT side and the right hand side is the STARBOARD side. Until the name was changed in the middle of the nineteenth century to avoid confusion, the port side was known as the LARBOARD side. The names probably derive from `Steer-board`, a large oar on the starboard quarter which was used to steer a vessel before the rudder arrived, and `Load-board`, the opposite side which was against the quay for loading cargo. The color of the navigation light on the port side is red and, on the starboard side, green. Port is also associated with `even` and starboard with `odd`, since in a ship`s boat known as a whaler there are two oars on the port side and three on the starboard

 

bulletSTERN. The rear end of a ship. ASTERN means behind the ship. The two sides of the stern within 45 degrees of dead astern are referred to as the QUARTERS. Thus another ship not directly astern could be described as on the PORT (or STARBOARD) quarter. To GO ASTERN is to go backwards. It is used in combinations such as STERN-CHASER, that is guns that point astern to fire at ships chasing you.

 

bulletTONNAGE. Either the capacity or the weight of a ship. A figure for tonnage is completely meaningless unless one knows which system of measurement is used. The term derives from `tun`, a cask of wine, and a ships BURTHEN or BURDEN was the number of tuns she could carry. This was also known as BUILDER`S MEASUREMENT or bm. The figure quoted for most ships up until the 1870`s will be bm, and can be calculated from :-

 

           

              (L - 3/5B) x B x 1/2B     where L = length in feet

       bm =  -----------------------          B = beam in feet

                     94

Warships are now measured in DISPLACEMENT TONNAGE, the weight of the water displaced by the ship when she is fully ready for sea.

 

bulletTOP. The TOP or FIGHTING TOP. A platform at the head of the lower masts where sharpshooters were stationed during battle to fire down on the decks of enemy ships. A private battle often developed between the fighting tops of opposing ships.

 

bulletTOPSIDES. the ship`s sides above the water line.

 

bulletWALES. Strengthening pieces of wood forming protective bands around the hull. The lower wale is indicated on the drawing. The upper edge of the side of a ship or boat is called the GUNWALE, pronounced `gunnel`.

 

bulletWEATHER & LEE SIDE. The WEATHER SIDE is the windward side, the side from which the wind is blowing, and the LEE SIDE is the sheltered side. The weather side of the Quarter deck being higher because of the ship`s heel was reserved for senior officers, the midshipmen kept to the lee side. The Weather side was always sought in naval battles because to have the WEATHER GAGE meant having an advatange over an opponent since one could choose the moment of attack against ships to LEEWARD. The copious amounts of smoke produced by cannon fire was blown to leeward obscuring the enemy`s vision. A WEATHER SHORE lies to windward and is safe, whereas a ship is blown towards a LEE SHORE and it is very dangerous.

 

The Sails

 

    A  Fore royal                      H  Mizen royal

    B  Fore topgallant                 J   Mizen topgallant

    C  Fore topsail                    K  Mizen topsail     

    D  Main course or Fore mainsail    L   Driver

    E  Main royal                      M  Flying jib 

    F  Main topgallant                 N   Outer jib

    G  main topsail                    O   Inner jib

The top and bottom edges of a square sail are called the HEAD and the FOOT. The outer edge is the LEECH. The main belly or centre of the sail is the BUNT. The two top corners are EARINGS and the bottom two corners CLEWS.

Sails are named by their mast and their position on the mast. They are carried on YARDS. A SQUARE YARD is a spar tapered at each end and held at its midpoint at right angles to the mast. The outer end of the yard is the YARDARM. Ropes called BRACES run from each yardarm and allow the yard to be swiveled horizontally to catch the wind. Other ropes called LIFTS from the masthead to the yardarms and SLINGS to the middle of the yard contol the vertical movement of the yard by means of HALYARDS. The ropes connected to the clews are known as SHEETS. They are either fastened to the yardarms below or, in the case of the main courses, used to control the sail. CLEWLINES connect the clews to the middle of the sail`s spar. BUNTLINES are used in REEFING (making a sail smaller by rolling up part of it ) or FURLING (bundling sails up and securing them to a yard). A FOOT ROPE runs underneath the yards for men to stand on while furling the sails.

All the ropes used to control the sails in working the ship are known as the RUNNING RIGGING as distinct from the STANDING RIGGING which supports the masts. In the latter case SHROUDS go from the masts to the sides of the ship while STAYS (FORE STAYS and BACK STAYS etc.) run fore and aft.

Larger ships than the sloop shown in the illustration carry more sails. Above the Main royal would be the SKYSAIL and the MOONRAKER and there would be STAYSAILS, which are fore and aft sails between the masts. To get the maximum amount of canvas in light winds STUDDING SAILS or STUNSAILS (pronounced stuns`l) were used on either side of the main sails, top sails and top gallants, carried on extensions to the yards. Stunsails are said to be the invention of Sir Walter Raleigh.