Astern Manoeuvring a vessel backwards; to the rear of the vessel
Barge A towed or self-propelled flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river, canal and coastal transport of heavy goods
Bawley A broad-beamed, shallow-draught, cutter-rigged fishing boat used for shrimping in the Thames Estuary. The name derives from the ‘boiler’ fitted on the boats by shrimpers to cook the catch on the way back to port
Bilge Lower point of the inner hull of a ship
Boom A spar attached to the foot of a sail
Bow The front of a boat
Bow line A mooring line tied to the bow (a bowline is a knot)
Bowsprit A spar that extends at the bows of a ship
Brail To furl a sail by pulling it in towards the mast, or the ropes used to do so
Catamaran A twin-hulled boat
Close-hauled Sailing to windward with the sails sheeted in
Coaster A shallow-hulled ship used for trade
Cutter A small, single-masted boat with two or more headsails and often a bowsprit
Derrick A lifting device composed of one mast or pole and a boom or jib
Ensign A red, white or blue flag with a Union Jack at the top corner next to the flag staff flown by British-registered ships and boats
Estuary One Design (EOD) Originally made as a wooden clinker racing dinghy, designed by Morgan Giles in 1919
Fin keel A boat’s single keel, shaped like an inverted dorsal fin
Fo’c’sle/forecastle The forward part of a ship below the deck, traditionally used as the crew’s living quarters
Foredeck The deck at the forward part of a boat or ship
Foresail A triangular sail set at the bow of a boat
Gaff A spar on a traditionally rigged vessel such as a Thames barge
Gaff-rigged A boat rigged with a four-cornered sail supported by a spar or gaff which extends aft from the mast
Genoa A large, triangular foresail that overlaps the mainsail
Gybe A sailing manoeuvre that involves swinging a sail or boom across the boat in a following wind
Halyard A rope or tackle for hoisting and lowering sails
Horse Attachment of sheets to the deck of the vessel (mainsheet horse)
Hull The shell and framework of a boat
ISO A fourteen-foot, two-man trapeze boat with an asymmetrical spinnaker
Jack stays Safety lines that run along a boat’s deck to enable sailors to attach themselves to the boat via a harness
Jib A small, triangular foresail
Keel The central structural basis of the hull
Kent and Essex IFCA Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries Conservation
Ketch A two-masted sailboat
Knot A unit of speed: 1 nautical mile (1.852 km; 1.1508 mile) per hour
Leeboard Wood or metal attachments to the hull to prevent leeway
Leeward On or towards the side sheltered from the wind (opposite to windward)
Lighter An unpowered, flat-bottomed barge used to transfer goods and passengers to and from moored ships
Mainsail Principal sail on a ship’s main mast
Mast A vertical pole on a ship, which supports sails or rigging
Mate The person on a boat who is second in charge after the captain
Mizzen – The small mast at the rear of a two-masted ketch or yawl
MMO Marine Monitoring Organisation
Pongoes A British slang term for soldiers, dating from the nineteenth century
Port When facing forward, the left-hand side of a ship
Ratline A small rope forming a rung of a rope ladder on a ship
RIB A rigid inflatable boat
Rigging The system of masts and lines on ships and other sailing vessels
Ro-ro Vessel with ‘roll-on/roll-off’ facilities
Rudder A steering device
Schooner A type of sailing vessel with two or more masts, typically with the foremast being smaller than the main mast
Skiff A small boat, traditionally a coastal or river craft, for leisure or fishing, which can be crewed by one person
Skipper The ship’s captain
Smack A traditional fishing boat used in England and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the nineteenth century
Spar A ship’s mast, boom, yard or gaff
Spinnaker A large, three-cornered, lightweight sail carried in front of the mast when the wind is astern
Sprit A spar crossing a four-cornered sail diagonally
Spritsail rig A four-cornered sail extended by a sprit
Starboard When facing forward, the right-hand side of a ship
Stern The back part of a ship
Stevedore A person employed at a dock to load and unload ships
Telegraph A heavy brass instrument used as a communicating device between the bridge and the engine room
Telltales Small lengths of cloth or wool on either side of a sail to indicate airflow
Tender A boat used to service or support other, larger boats
Third hand A licensed crew member of a merchant ship; fourth, or on some ocean liners, fifth in command
Topsail A ship’s sail above the mainsail
Trawler Either a fishing boat that uses a trawl net to catch fish or a fisherman who uses a trawl net
Tug A boat that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or towing them
Wayfarer A wooden- or fibreglass-hulled, Bermuda-rigged sailing dinghy
Wheelhouse A shelter where the ship’s steering wheel is kept
Winch A mechanical device used to adjust the tension of a rope
Windlass A winch used to raise a ship’s anchor
Yawing To twist or oscillate about a vertical axis