O

Old pieces of rope, called junk, untwisted and picked into shreds. It is used for caulking…

Old rope, untwisted and loosened like hemp, in order to be used in caulking.

A wooden instrument used to propel a boat. It consists of the blade, loom and handle. The loom…

The square, open hole cut in the wash streak of a boat, also known as row-lock. Where iron…

An order given to a boat's crew by the coxswain signifying that the crew are to cease rowing…

The lens in the large end of a telescope; the lens which is the first to receive the rays of…

The act of measuring an altitude of a heavenly body. Working an Observation. The process of…

The angular distance of a body measured on an instrument of reflection, such as a quadrant,…

The eclipse of one heavenly body by another. The commencement of the occultation is known as…

A term applied to fast steamships.

A navigating instrument of reflection. An octant is really a metal-frame quadrant, and is…

A vessel stands off-and-on when by alternate tacks she approaches the land and again recedes…

A tide setting from the shore.

A wind blowing from the land.

Water so deep that soundings cannot be obtained with the deep-sea lead and line, which is…

A vessel is off the wind when she is sailing two or three points free.

The officer of the watch who has charge of the ship.

The watch officer in charge of the deck and the general management of the ship. When at sea,…

(See Officer of the Deck.)

All documented vessels of the United States are required by law to obtain from the Bureau of…

A distance to seaward. Beyond anchoring ground, but within sight of the land.

(See Cautionary Signals.)

(See Quelling Oil.)

Small cups through which oil is fed to wearing surfaces.

Grooves cut in the wearing surface of a bearing, which allow the oil to reach all parts of the…

One of the engineer force whose duty it is to keep the wearing parts supplied with the proper…

A name applied to ice made in a previous winter.

A ship is on a bowline or on the wind when she is close-hauled; one is on board a vessel when…

(See Aboard.)

When the ship is sailing over a depth of water that can be measured with the lead and a line…

A depth of water capable of being measured with the deep-sea lead and line.

Any object bearing so as to be at right angles with the line of the vessel's keel.

The bearing of an object contained between the ship's head and inclusive of four points (45…

The bearing of any object contained in an arc of 45 deg. measured from right-aft to four…

A preparatory flag signal is made, and usually about ten minutes later a single gun is fired,…

A seal-skin boat of Greenland.

A harbor is said to be open when it is exposed to the sea. A distant object not intercepted in…

A boat not decked over.

When with two anchors down the cables lead straight ahead to their respective bowers the ship…

When the longtitude of a heavenly body is 180 degrees from the sun it is said to be in…

The imaginary line described by a planet round the sun, or a satellite round its primary.

A vessel is in ordinary when she is laid up--out of commission.

When vessels are laid up--out of commission--they are said to be in ordinary.

(See Charge.)

A sailor inferior in knowledge to a seaman; the next lower grade to ordinary seaman is…

A rating next below that of seaman, and next above that of landsman.

A term embracing cannon, mortars, howitzers, and machine-guns.

The first watch officer of a man-o'-war is also the ordnance officer. Formerly the navigating…

Appointing the petty officers and placing the vessel under efficient discipline, drilling the…

Formation; the state of being organized.

The lowest deck of a line of battle ship. It is laid over the beams in the hold.

(See Uniform.)

To sail faster than another vessel is to out foot her.

An order given in boat service where trailing oars are used, signifying that the crew are to…

Said of a vessel when she does not sit properly on the water.

Attached to but outside the vessel.

That which supports the outer end of a paddle-wheel shaft.

Those at the side of the vessel through which the discharge water from the condenser is led…

The head sail next forward of the inner jib on some merchant sailing vessels. (See engravings…

The rope that hauls out the clew of some boom sails, the tack of a lower studding sail, and…

A reef or cluster of rocks are outlying when some distance from the shore.

For one vessel to sail closer to the wind than another is to out-point. Also known as sailing…

A spar (sometimes of iron) projecting from the cross-trees to give spread to the backstays, or…

An open or ocean course.

Outward pilotage, towing out of the harbor, and any other expense that may be incurred in…

The extreme length of the hull of a vessel from end to end on deck.

One vessel overbears another when from her stability she is able to carry a greater press of…

Over the side; out of the ship.

The projection of a vessel's stern from the stern post, or of a vessel's head from the stem.

To examine; to separate the blocks of a tackle by coming up with the hauling part and pulling…

An overlap is established when an overtaking vessel has no longer a choice on which side she…

To run the butt of one plank to a certain distance beyond the next but above or beneath it, in…

When a vessel is at anchor in a heavy seaway and the waves break over her head they are said…

When a vessel has heavier gear than necessary.

A vessel showing such a high side out of water as to be out of all proportion for her length…

When a vessel has heavier masts and yards, or booms and gaffs, than necessary.

A small cloud peculiar to the African coast, and which derives its name from its form…