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Nautical Dictionary - Nautical Glossary - Maritime Terminology

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Nautical Dictionary

Nautical Glossary - Maritime Terminology

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Pack-Ice: Numbers of large pieces of floating ice that have come together and lie more or less in contact.

Pad Eye: A loop shaped fitting attached to the deck, spar, boom, etc., used to secure a line or block to some part of the vessel.

Paddle: A stick with a blade in the end of it used to propel a small boat through the water; The act of using a paddle to propel a boat.

Paddy's Purchase: Seaman's scornful name for any lead of a rope by which effort is lost or wasted.

Painter: A line tied to the bow of a small boat for use in towing, securing or tying up

Pallett: A flat tray, generally made of wood but occasionally of steel, on which goods particularly those in boxes, cartons or bags, can be stacked. Its purpose is to facilitate the movement of such goods, mainly by the use of forklift trucks.

Palm: A leather tool worn on the hand with a thimble shaped structure on it, and used when sewing canvas or sails.

PAN PAN: An urgent message used on a radio regarding the safety of people or property. A PAN PAN message is not used when there is an immediate threat to life or property, instead the MAYDAY call is used. PAN PAN situations may develop into MAYDAY situations. As with a MAYDAY, PAN PAN messages have priority on the radio channels and should not be interrupted. In the case of a less urgent safety message, such as a hazard to navigation, the appropriate signal to use is SECURITE.

Pancake Ice: Small, circular sheets of newly-formed ice that do not impede navigation.

Panting: Describes the pulsating, in and out movement of ship's plating subjected to variations in water pressure, especially during heavy weather as the ship alternately rises and plunges deep into the water.

Panting Beam: Beam placed from shipside to shipside to support the shell plating against panting.

Panting Frames: Frames placed in the forward and after sections of the hull to resist the panting action of the shell plating.

Panting Stringer: A horizontal stiffener with a breast hook giving added strength against panting.

Parachute Flare: An emergency signal flare that will float down on a parachute after launch, hopefully improving its visibility.

Parallax Error: Error that can be introduced when not reading an instrument, such as a compass, directly from its front, due to the separation of the indicator and the scale being read.

Parallel Rule: Tool used for transferring course and bearing to and from the compass rose on a chart

Parallels: Latitude lines.

Parbuckle: A means of hauling up or lowering a cylindrical object.

Parcel a Rope: To put a narrow piece of canvas around it after it has been wormed, and before it has been served.

Parcel a Seam: After a seam is caulked, to lay over it a narrow piece of canvas and then pour on hot pitch and tar .

Parclose: Limber hole of a ship.

Part: Break; e.g., the line parted under strain

Parting Strop: Strop inserted between two hawsers, and weaker than the hawsers, so that strop, and not hawsers, will part with any excessive strain.

Partners: A framework of supporting structures used to support areas where high loads come through openings in the deck, such as the opening in the deck through which the mast passes.

Passage: A journey from one place to another.

Passed West: Died. Perhaps derived from the sun setting in the west.

Passenger Ship: A ship that is authorized to carry more than twelve passengers.

Patrimonial Sea: The waters adjacent to a country over which it claims jurisdiction. also, Territorial Waters.

Pay Off: (1) Said of ship's head when it moves away from wind, especially when tacking. (2) To discharge a crew and close Articles of Agreement of a merchant ship.

Pay Out: To ease out or slacken a line, chain or cable or let it run in a controlled manner.

Peak: The upper corner of a four sided sail or outer end of the gaff.

Pedestal: Columnar support for the steering wheel in the cockpit.

Peggy: Merchant Navy nickname for seaman whose turn of duty it is to keep the mess clean.

Pelorus: A card marked in degrees and having sightings on it that is used to take bearings relative to the ship, rather than magnetic bearings as taken with a compass.

Pendant: The line by which a boat is connected to a mooring buoy; a short rope hanging from a spar having at its free end a spliced thimble or a block. Sometimes called "Pennant".

Pennant: A small tapering flag, which can be used for identification or communication.

Personal Flotation Device (PFD): Official terminology for life jacket. When properly used a PFD will support a person in the water. Also called a life jacket, life preserver or life vest.

Personal Watercraft (PWC): Small boat similar to and including jetskis

Petty Officer: Rank intermediate between officer and rating, and in charge of ratings; more or less equivalent to the rank of sergeant.

Phonetic Alphabet: Alphabet used by the Navy when making sure that a letter is understood; i.e. "BRAVO OSCAR ALPHA TANGO spells BOAT"

Pier: A loading/landing platform or structure extending at an angle from the shore.

Piggin: Very small wooden pail having one stave prolonged to form a handle. Used as a bailer in a boat.

Pile: A wood, metal or concrete pole driven into the bottom. Craft may be made fast to a pile; it may be used to support a pier or a float.

Pile-Driver: (1) A piece of equipment used to drive piles into the ground. (2) Name given to a ship which because of her short length, cannot ride two consecutive waves, and pitches violently into the second.

Piling: Support, protection for wharves, piers etc.; constructed of piles.

Pillar: Any steel bar or column, fitted vertically, to support a deck, or any part of a ship's structure. Also called a stanchion.

Pillow: Block of timber mounted on the deck just inside the bow on which the inner end of the bowsprit was supported.

Pilot: An individual with specific knowledge of a harbor, canal, river or other waterway, qualified to guide vessels through the region. Some areas require that boats and ships be piloted by a licensed pilot.

Pilotage: The act carried out by a pilot of assisting the master of a ship in navigation when entering or leaving a port. Sometimes used to define the fee payable for the services of a pilot. Also, the act of navigating a vessel coastwise when land is near and the water is relatively shallow.

Pilothouse: A compartment on or near the bridge of a ship that contains the steering wheel and other controls, compass, charts, navigating equipment and means of communicating with the engine room and other parts of the ship. Also known as wheelhouse

Piloting: Navigation by using visible references, the depth of the water, etc.

Pin End: In sailboat racing, the mark or buoy that signifies one side of the starting line, opposite of the race committee boat.

Pin Rail: A rail fastened along the inside of the bulwarks of a vessel and pierced to hold belaying pins

Pinch: To sail too close to the wind so that the sails start to luff.

Pinching: Sailing too close to the wind

Pinnace: Formerly, a small, two-masted sailing vessel sometimes with oars.

Pintle: A tapered metal pin which fastens the rudder to the stern by dropping into gudgeons.

Pipe: Another name for the bo'sun's whistle.

Pipe Down: A call on the bo'sun's pipe at night for the hands to turn in, for silence in the messdecks, and for lights to be extinguished. Also a term used by a sailor to another to make them stop talking.

Piracy: The act of taking a ship on the high seas from those lawfully entitled to it.

Pitch: (1) The alternate rise and fall of the bow of a vessel proceeding through waves; also called hobby horsing (2) The theoretical distance advanced by a propeller in one revolution. (3) Tar and resin used for caulking between the planks of a wooden vessel.

Pitchpole: Said of a boat which turns end over end in very rough seas.

Plain Sailing: Anything that is straightforward and easy.

Plane, Planing: To gain hydrodynamic lift, causing the boat to lift, rising slightly out of the water so that it is gliding over the water rather than plowing through it, reaching speeds in excess of those normally associated with its waterline length.

Planing Hull: A type of hull shaped to glide easily across the water at high speed.

Planing Speed: The speed needed for a boat to begin planing.

Plank Sheer: On a wooden vessel, the outermost deck plank covering the gunwale. also called Covering Board

Planking: Wood boards used to cover the ribs, frames, deck or hull of a wooden vessel.

Plating: Flat steel stock of various thicknesses used in the construction of a ship to form the sides and decks.

Play: The difference between the diameter of a shaft rod, etc., and that of the hole in which it works.

Plimsoll Line: The mark stencilled in and painted on a ship's side, designated by a circle and horizontal lines to mark the highest permissible load water lines under different conditions.

Plot: To mark a course on a chart.

Plug: (1) A tapered device, usually made from wood or rubber, which can be forced into a hole to prevent water from flowing through it. Plugs should be available to fit every through hull fitting on the boat. (2) The pattern on which the hulls of small craft are molded in fiberglass.

POB: Persons on board.

Pod: A group of whales.

Point: To sail as close as possible to the wind. Some boats can point better than others, sailing closer to the wind.

Points: Division of the circumference of the magnetic compass card into thirty-two points, each of 11° 15'.

Points of Sail: The headings of a sailboat in relation to the wind, i.e., upwind, close reach, reach, broad reach, downwind.

Polaris: The North Star; visible in the northern hemisphere and indicates the direction of north. In the southern hemisphere the Southern Cross is used to find the direction of south.

Pole: (1) A spar. Such as a pole used to position a sail (e.g., spinnaker pole or whisker pole, which serves the same purpose for a jib). (2) One of the two points around which the earth spins, known as the north and south poles.

Pontoon: A hollow, watertight tank used to give buoyancy.

Poop Deck: The short aftermost raised deck of a vessel.

Poop Rail: A rail surrounding the poop deck.

Pooped: Hit by a wave over the stern; having a wave wash over the stern of the boat. This can be a very dangerous situation.

Popple: A short, confused sea.

Port: (1) The left side of the boat when facing forward; originally called larboard. The opposite of starboard. (2) A porthole. A window in the side of a boat, usually round or with rounded corners. (3) A harbor.

Port Tack: Sailing with the wind coming from the port side, with the boom on the starboard side.

Port of Call: Country, island or territory the vessel visits.

Porthole: Openings in a ship's hull for ventilation, light and other purposes.

Poseidon: The Greek god of the sea.

Position Line or Line of Position: A line drawn on a chart, as a result of a bearing, along which the boat is positioned

POSH: Port Out, Starboard Home ... Used for Cruising Liners years ago for the "BEST" Cabins. Hence the name!

Pram: A flat bottomed, blunt nosed dinghy (or small boat).

Pratique: Certificate given to a ship arriving from a foreign port, by the port's health officer, indicating that there are no cases of disease aboard the ship and the health of all on board is good.

Preferred Channel Buoy: Also known as a junction buoy. A red and green horizontally striped buoy used in the United States to mark the separation of a channel into two channels. The preferred channel is indicated by the color of the uppermost stripe. Red on top indicates that the preferred channel is to the right as you return.

Prevailing Winds: The typical winds for a particular region and time of year.

Preventer: (1) Line and blocks or the boom vang used to keep the boom in place while reaching or running and to prevent an out of control swing during an accidental jibe. (2) Any additional line or wire temporarily rigged to back up any standing rigging in heavy weather.

Primage: Money paid by shipper to Master of ship for diligence in care of cargo. Not now paid to Master, but added to freight. Amount was usually about 1% of freight.

Prime Meridian: The meridian from which longitude is measured eastwards or westwards. The longitude of the prime meridian, passing through Greenwich, England, is 0°

Privateer: A ship owned and armed by a private individual that is empowered by a government to fight with enemy ships and capture enemy shipping in time of war.

Privileged Vessel: A vessel which, according to the applicable Navigation Rule, has right-of-way. Also known as the "stand on" vessel.

Prize: An enemy vessel captured at sea by a privateer or a ship of war. The term is also applied to contraband cargo taken from a merchant ship.

Procuration: The acting of one person on behalf of another; a document authorizing one person to act on behalf of another.

Profile Plan: The side elevation of a ship's form.

Progressive Flooding: When water from a leak passes successively from one compartment to the next, usually in the absence of watertight bulkheads or watertight doors left open. This is what eventually sank the Titanic.

1 Prop: Slang for propeller.

Prop Walk: Sideward force created by a spinning propeller.

Propeller: A rotating device, with two or more blades, that acts as a screw in propelling a vessel. Sometimes called a screw.

Propogation: Movement of crest of a progressive wave. Can also refer to radio waves.

Protest: The method by which a racing yacht may object to the actions of a rival on the basis of a breach of the racing rules. A protest committee will hear both sides, and if the protest is upheld, the offending yacht may be penalized.

Protest Signal: A signal which is hoisted during a sailing race to protest the actions of another (for rules infractions)

Prow: The bow and forward part of the vessel above the waterline.

Puff: A sudden burst of wind stronger than the current wind conditions.

Pulpit: An elevated guardrail set up at the bow of a vessel. When erected at the stern, it is called a pushpit.

Pumpout: Removing waste from a holding tank.

Punt: A small flat bottomed boat square at either end.

Puoy: Spiked pole used for propelling a barge or boat by resting its outboard end on an unyielding object.

Purchase: Any sort of mechanical device to increase power employed in raising or moving heavy objects. Where two or more blocks are involved in a purchase, it is generally known as a tackle (pronounced "taykle").

Purse Seine: The small boats used to drag and close the Seine.

Purser: A ship's officer who is in charge of accounts, especially on a passenger ship.

Purser's Grin: Hypocritical smile, or sneer.

Pushpit: A pulpit located on the stern.

Put About: To change the course of a sailing vessel.

Put In: To enter a port or harbor

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