Nautical Terms
AFT - (afterward) toward the back/rear/stern/after end of ship; opposite to forward
ABOARD - The inside of a ship
ADRIFT - The state of a ship broken from her moorings and driving without
control
AGROUND - The condition of a ship when her bottom, or any part of it, rests in
the ground
ALOFT - At the mastheads or anywhere about the higher rigging
ALONGSIDE - Side by side or joined to a ship or wharf
ASTERN - Any distance behind a ship
AVAST - The command to stop, or cease, in any operation
BALLAST - Heavy material (eg. seawater, concrete or iron) usually placed in the
base of a ship for achieving stability or to secure greatest possible economy of
propelling power
BAY - A place for ships to anchor
BATTEN - A thin piece of wood used to nail upon tarpaulins so that they are not
washed off
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BUNKERS - Loading of fuel oil into the ship’s fuel tank to keep its engines going,
in the same way as a car pulls into a petrol station to refuel
BEARING - The situation of one place from another, with regard to points of the
compass
BETWEEN DECKS - The space contained between any two decks of a ship
BIGHT - A narrow inlet of the sea
BULKHEAD - A partition
BUOY - A floating conical cask, moored upon shoals, to show where danger is;
also used on anchors to show where they lie
CASTING - The motion of falling off, so as to bring the direction of the wind on
either side of the ship, after it has blown some time right ahead
CENTRE - The word is applied to a squadron of a fleet, in line of battle, which
occupies the middle of the line; and to that column (in the order of sailing) which is
between the weather and lee columns
CHAFING - When two things rub and injure each other
COCKBURN SOUND - Named by Captain James Stirling after George Cockburn,
later Sir George Cockburn GCB, a Junior Lord of the Admiralty who fought in the
Napoleonic Wars
COMMANDER - A large wooden mallet to drive the fid into the cable when in the
act of splicing
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CONTAINER SHIPS - Carry goods of all kinds packed in metal containers. These
metal containers are rectangular in shape, like giant shoeboxes, 6 to 12 metres in
length. They have doors that open at the end and are designed to allow a forklift
to be driven inside to load or unload goods. Wooden pallets (square platforms
which can be lifted easily by forklifts) are often used to stack the goods inside the
containers. Manufacturers load their finished goods into containers, which are
provided by the shipping company. If goods are frozen, they are loaded into
refrigerated containers called ‘reefers’. The containers are then delivered to the
wharf for loading onto the container ship by means of large portainer cranes.
Containerisation of cargo began in the mid 1950s and saves shippers money by
reducing labour costs and reducing the risk of damage to cargoes.
DISMASTED - Ship that has lost its masts
DISTANCES - The statute mile used on land is 5,280 feet, whereas the nautical
mile used exclusively at sea is 6,080 feet of 1.15 statute miles. The kilometre is
3,280 feet or 0.63 of a statute mile.
DOWSE - To lower suddenly or slacken
DRIFT - The angle which the line of a ship’s motion makes with the nearest
meridian
ENSIGN - The flag worn at the stern of the ship
EVEN KEEL - When the keel is parallel with the horizon
FAIR WIND - A term for the wind when favourable to a ship’s course
FALL - Any rope that passes through two or more blocks
FLAW - A sudden breeze or gust of wind
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FLEET - Above five sail of the line
FLOATING - The state of being buoyed up by the water from the ground
FLOOD-TIDE - The tide when it flows or rises
FORE - (foreward) toward the front/bow/front end of ship
FULL - Sails when they are kept distended by the wind
GAGE ROADS - named by Captain James Stirling in 1827 after Rear Admiral W
Gage, who was Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s East Indies Station
when Stirling was surveying the Swan River. Road in that sense is an
abbreviation of roadstead (means searoad), a stretch of water near shore in which
ships can ride at anchor.
GROSS TONNAGE - is expressed in tons of 100 cubic feet (2.83 cubic metres)
each and represents the total volume of enclosed space in a ship
GROUND TIER - That is, the tier which is lowest in the hold
GRUMMET - A piece of rope, laid into a circular form and used for large boats
oars instead of rowlocks
GUY - A rope fixed to keep anything in its place
HAIL - To salute or speak to a ship from a distance
HANK - Pieces of wood to attach stay sails to their stays
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HAUL - To pull a rope
HELM - The instrument by which the ship is steered
HOLD - The space between the lower deck and the bottom of the ship where her
stores are held
HULL - The body of the ship
KEEL - The principal piece of timber on which a vessel is built
KINK - When a rope has too much twist
KNEES - Pieces of timber which confine the ends of the beams to the side of the
vessel
KNOT - A division of the knot line, answering in the calculation of the ship’s
velocity, to one mile
LEAK - A breach in the sides or bottom of a ship, through which water enters into
the hull
LIST INCLINE - The ship has a list to port
LOGGERHEAD - A large iron ball, with a stem to it
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LUFF - The order to the steersman to put the helm towards the lee side of the
ship, in order to sail nearer to the wind
MAGAZINE - A place where gunpowder is kept
MAUL - Large hammer to drive the fid of the top-mast either in or out
MESSENGER - A small kind of cable, which being brought to the capstan and the
cable by which the ship rides made fast to it, it purchases the anchor
MOORING - Securing a ship in a particular station by chains or cables, which are
either fastened to an adjacent shore, or to anchors at the bottom
OVERBOARD - Out of the ship; as in he fell overboard, meaning he fell out of, or
from, the ship
OVERHAUL - The clear away and disentangle of any rope
PAINTER - A rope attached to the bows of a boat, used to make her fast
PALM - A piece of steel when mounted acts as a thimble for sewing canvass
PARTING - Being driven from the anchors by the breaking of the cable
PREVENTER - An extra rope to assist another
PILOTAGE SERVICES - Pilotage is compulsory in the Port of Fremantle for all
ships over 150 gross registered tons with an exception being made for coastal
and interstate ships. This service is available 24 hours a day. A pilot is
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responsible for bringing the ship safely to its nominated berth. The pilot boat
(internationally orange in colour) and the ship while under the pilot’s direction,
both fly the flag which is known as the Pilot’s Flag (top half white/bottom half red)
PLIMSOLL LINE - Is a safe-load mark required on all ships. It assures the vessel
is not loaded beyond its safe point of buoyancy. The Plimsoll mark is painted on
each side of the hull amidships (middle part of the ship)
PORT - (colour red) is the left side of a ship/boat looing forward (fore)
QUARTERS - The several stations of a ship’s crew in time of action
QUOIL - Rope or cable laid up round, one fake over another
RAFT - A parcel of spars lashed together
RO-RO SHIP - roll on/roll off ships have a stern or side opening. Forklifts are used
to drive containers up ramps. Ro-ro ships also carry cars and heavy machinery.
RUDDER - The steering mechanism
SIGNAL STATION - Situated on top of Fremantle Ports’ Administration Building, it
is the control centre for many of the ports’ shipping activities and operates 24
hours a day
STERN - back-end of ship or boat (aft)
TIDE - The rise and fall of ocean waters, on a definite time schedule. Both the sun
and the moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth. Fremantle Ports has very little
tidal range (the difference between high water and low water); it is usually less
than a metre.
WIND SPEED - Is expressed as knots per hour. To convert knots to kilometres
per hour, multiply the number of knots by 1.84.
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