A Dictionary of the Sea
Howard Patterson’s illustrated encyclopedia of 1891 gathers the whole language of the mariner — the sea terms of sail and steam, the shipwright’s craft, the navigator’s art and the man-of-war’s custom — here arranged from A to Z.
Browse A to Z
182 termsB
470 termsC
495 termsD
213 termsE
109 termsF
304 termsG
195 termsH
243 termsI
73 termsJ
84 termsK
56 termsL
267 termsM
256 termsN
86 termsO
77 termsP
284 termsQ
38 termsR
239 termsS
796 termsT
326 termsU
47 termsV
42 termsW
177 termsX
1 termsY
22 termsZ
10 terms
The Superstition Locker
The Five Branches
General Sea Terms
The common speech of the sea — from “aback” to “yawl,” the words of ships, sails, rigging and the sailor’s life.
2960 entriesShipbuilding Terms
The shipwright’s vocabulary: keels, frames, planking, fastenings and the anatomy of a wooden hull.
343 entriesNavigation Terms
The navigator’s art — instruments, observations, sailings and the working of the ship across the chart.
850 entriesMarine Engineering Terms
Below decks in the age of steam: boilers, engines, condensers and the machinery of the modern vessel.
370 entriesNaval Terms
The man-of-war’s world — guns and gunnery, ranks and ceremonies, signals and the customs of the service.
569 entriesTables & Appendices
A Table of Specific Gravities
The comparative weights of metals, woods and waters, as given for the shipbuilder.
Properties of Saturated Steam
The engineer’s table of pressures, temperatures and heats of saturated steam.
Nomenclature of Gun Carriages
The named parts of the gravity-return broadside and shifting carriages, and the Hotchkiss field carriages.