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Seafaring Glossary M-Z
MAINMAST The principal mast of a sailing ship. On ELISSA, it is the mast located second when counting from the bow.
MANILA The fiber of the abaca, used for making rope.
MARITIME Anything related to commerce or navigation on the sea.
MAST A tall vertical spar that rises from the keel of a sailing vessel to support the sails and rigging.
MIZZENMAST The mast located third when counting from the bow, in a vessel having three or more masts. Also the after mast in a ketch or yawl.
PASSENGER MANIFEST Also called a passenger list. Document showing detailed information concerning each passenger embarking for a foreign country, as required by customs offices at the ports of departure and arrival.
PINRAIL A stout hardwood rail fitted along a ship's bulwark, parallel to and below the caprail [top of the bulwark]. It is rounded on its projecting edge and fitted with necessary holes to receive belaying pins for running rigging.
PORT A town or city with a harbor. Also the left side of the ship, facing forward.
PORT OF CALL A port where ships dock in the course of voyages to load or unload cargo, obtain supplies, or undergo repairs.
PORT OF ENTRY A place where travelers or goods may enter or leave a country under official supervision.
RIGGING A broad term for all ropes, chains, and gear used for supporting and operating masts, yards, booms, gaffs, and sails. More generally, rigging is the whole apparatus of masts, yards, sails, and cordage, by which the force of the wind is utilized to move a sailing vessel against the resistance of the water.
RUDDER A vertically hinged plate of metal or wood mounted at the stern of a vessel for directing its course.
SAILING RIG The configuration of masts, sails and lines on a ship.
SCHOONER Generally, a ship with two or more fore-and-aft-rigged masts, the mainmast being taller than the foremast.
SEA CHANTIES A song sailors sing to the rhythm of their work.
SHROUD A grouping of steel ropes which laterally support a mast, preventing it from moving from side-to-side, and facilitate climbing the rig. They are a key part of a vessel's standing rigging.
SPAR General term for a boom, mast, yard, stout pole, etc., on board a vessel.
SQUARE-RIG A rig for sailing ships where sails are attached to yards, which in turn are mounted at right angles to the mast.
SQUARE-RIGGER A sailing vessel that is square-rigged on at least one mast.
SQUARE SAILS Sails which are set 'square' to, or generally perpendicular to the length of the ship.
STARBOARD The right-hand side of ship, as one faces forward.
STAY Part of the standing rigging of ship. It is one of the ropes,
usually of wire, used to support or stiffen a mast in the fore-and-aft direction.
STAYSAIL Properly, any fore-and-aft sail of triangular shape - excepting jibs - spread from a stay. Staysails are named for the stay on which they are secured.
STEM The more or less upright continuation of of the keel at the extreme forward end of the hull.
STERN The back or 'after' end of the ship.
STRAKE One of the rows of planking or plating that constitute the outside surface of a ship's hull.
TOP In square-rigged vessels, a platform at a lowermasthead, usually semicircular in shape. Serves to spread topmast shrouds and as a working floor for crewmembers engaged in rigging repairs, splicing, etc.
TOPGALLANT In a square-rigged vessel, the mast, sail, rigging, or yard next above the topmast.
TOPMAST The spar above the lowermast, but below the topgallant mast. ELISSA's foremast and mainmast have three sections: lowermast, topmast, and topgallant mast. Her mizzenmast has two sections: lowermast and topmast.
TOPSAIL A sail set on a topmast. In square-rig, it is the sail[s] next above the course. In fore-and-aft rig, it is the sail set above a gaff sail. ELISSA has both types: square upper and lower topsails on the foremast and mainmast, as well as a gaff topsail on the mizzenmast.
WINDLASS A winch of special design, usually used for heaving in an anchor cable or mooring lines.
YARDS The horizontal spars to which the square sails are attached.
YAWL A two-masted, fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel, with a smaller mast aft of both the mainmast and rudder post.
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