Glossary
15.2
Berth: (1) a place for a person to sleep. (2) a
place where the ship can be secured. (3)
a safe and cautious distance, such as
“We gave the shark a wide berth.”
Bight: A bend or loop in a rope.
Bilge: The lower, round part inside the hull
where the water collects.
Binnacle: The mount for the compass, usually locat-
ed on the wheel’s pedestal.
Bitt: A sturdy post mounted on the bow or stern
to which anchor or mooring lines may be
attached.
Bitter
end:
The end of a line. Also the end of the
anchor rode attached to the boat.
Block: One or more wheels with grooves in them
(pulleys) designed to carry a line and
change the direction of its travel. A hous-
ing around the wheel allows the block to
be connected to a spar, or another line.
Lines used with a block are known as
tackle.
Block and
tackle:
A combination of one or more blocks and
the associated tackle necessary to give a
mechanical advantage. Useful for lifting
heavy loads.
Boat-
swain:
Also bosun, bos’n, bo’s’n, and bo’sun, all
of which are pronounced bosun. A crew
member responsible for keeping the hull,
rigging and sails in repair.
Boot-top-
ping:
A narrow colored stripe painted between
the bottom paint and the topside enamel.
Bottle-
screw:
See Rigging screw.
Bow: The front of the boat.
Bowline: A knot used to make a loop in a line.
Easily untied, it is simple and strong. The
bowline is used to tie sheets to sails.
Breakers: A wave that approaches shallow water,
causing the wave height to exceed the
depth of the water it is in, in effect trip
-
ping it. The wave changes from a smooth
surge in the water to a cresting wave with
water tumbling down the front of it.
Bridge: The room from which a ship is controlled.
On a smaller boat this is usually not a
room, is outside, and is known as a cock
-
pit.
Broach: When a boat running downwind slews
broadside to the wind and heels danger-
ously. It is caused by heavy following seas
or helmsman’s error.
Broach-
ing:
The unplanned turning of a vessel to
expose its side to the oncoming waves. In
heavy seas this could cause the boat to
be knocked down.
Broad
reach:
The point of sailing between a beam
reach and a run, when the wind blows
over a quarter.
Bulkhead: An interior wall in a vessel. Sometimes
bulkheads are also watertight, adding to
the vessel’s safety.
Cabin: A room inside a boat.
Camber: The curvature of an object such as a sail,
keel or deck. Usually used when referring
to an objects aerodynamic or hydrody
-
namic properties.
Can buoy: A cylindrical buoy painted green and hav-
ing an odd number used in the United
States as a navigational aid. At night they
may have a green light. Green buoys
should be kept on the left side when
returning from a larger body of water to a
smaller one.
Captain: The person who is in charge of a ves-
sel and legally responsible for it and its
occupants.
Cardinal
points:
The points of North, South, East and West
as marked on a compass rose.
Caulk: To make the seams between wooden
planks watertight by filling with cotton,
oakum or a compound.
Cavita-
tion:
The formation of a vacuum around a pro-
peller, causing a loss in efficiency.
Celestial
naviga-
tion:
A method of using the stars, sun and moon
to determine one’s position. Position is
determined by measuring the apparent
altitude of one of these objects above the
horizon using a sextant and recording the
times of these sightings with an accurate
clock. That information is then used with
tables in the Nautical Almanac to deter
-
mine one’s position.
Center
line:
The imaginary line running from bow to
stern along the middle of the boat.
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