A vessel carrying slaves.
-
-
A sailing vessel with a single fore-and-aft rigged mast.
-
Slops refers to ready-made clothing carried on board ship and issued to seamen, with the cost deducted from their wages.
-
Term broadly applied to small fishing vessels. In the United States, a smack is a small fishing schooner or sloop engaged in the fresh fishery, formerly having a well to preserve fish alive. Often now used as a term for a motorized fish-carrying boat.
-
Short items made by sawmills, including shingles and barrel staves.
-
Small anadromous fish that is a food fish for other species. Netted in winter on both lakes and in tidal waters.
-
Captain John Smithc.1580-1631. English soldier, sailor, and writer, who became the leader of the Jamestown Colony. Chiefly known in New England for his 1614 voyage in which he mapped much of the coast. He published the story of this voyage as "Description of New England" in 1616. It described the fishing, flora, fauna, inhabitants, and climate, and created the name "New England". This publication did much to promote New England as a destination.
-
Built in 1851 in South Portland, Snow Squall is the only American clipper for which there are any remains. Not a larger clipper, Snow Squall was 157 feet long, measured 742 registered tons and carried a crew of 18 to 20. She ended in 1864 when she ran aground near Cape Horn then sailed to the Falkland Islands where she was condemned and abandoned. In 1979 she was rediscovered in the Falklands, and in 1983 an archaeologial expedition returned her bow and other pieces to Maine. The bow section is now on view at the Maine Maritime Museum.
-
A group of Pacific Islands in French Polynesia, probably named by Captain James Cook.
-
Derived from Sound Navigation and Ranging Device. An apparatus used in locating submerged submarines, consisting of a transducer and receiver attached to the hull of a ship. The transducer emits pulses of high frequency sound which pass through the water until reflected back by a solid object. The accurate measurement of the time between emission of a pulse and arrival of the returning echo gives the range of the object.
-
The name given to a depth of water obtained by a lead line sounding machine, or echo-sounder, or by any other means. The figures on a maritime chart which indicate the depth of water are also known as soundings.
-
A mechanical device invented by Lord Kelvin by which the depth of the sea is measured. It consists of a drum of piano wire mounted on a framework on deck. A sinker is fastened to the end of the wire and allowed to run out until it touches the sea bottom, at which point a reading on the sounding machine indicates depth.
-
An additional sail hoisted on the mizzen mast of sailing ships to take advantage of a following wind.
-
A round timber or metal pole used for masts, yards, booms, etc.
-
The eggs of fish, or, as a verb, the laying of eggs by fish.
-
Speaking tubes are tubes used to convey voice between compartments. On small ships a speaking tube might be fitted between the bridge or wheel house and the engine room.
-
Coined money.
-
The process of creating a product or artwork without a commission or contract, then trying to sell it.
-
Elmer A. Sperry1860-1930. American engineer and inventor best known for his work on the gyrocompass. In 1908 he patented the gyrocompass and in 1910 set up the Sperry Gyroscope Company to build it. After trials in 1911, orders began being taken for the gyrocompass. The technology was also adapted to gunfire control, autopilots and stabilization. During World War II, over 100,000 people were working for the company. It is now part of Northrup-Grumman.
-
Popular name for the Molucca Islands in Indonesia, for some centuries the only economically important source of spices such as cloves, nutmeg and mace.
-
The method of joining two ropes or wires together by unlaying the strands at the two ends and tucking or relaying them according to the nature of the splice required.
-
Chinese artist active in Canton from around 1770-1805.
-
A canvas hood stretched over a frame that keeps spray off the crew of a boat. Found primarily in small power boats.
-
An evergreen, coniferous tree related to the pine.
-
A trapezoidal-shaped sail laced to yards on square-rigged ships.
-
The arrangement of sails in a vessel where the main driving sails are laced to yards lying square to the mast. It is the oldest type of known rig. Such a vessel is called a square rigger.
-
An island in the South Atlantic Ocean, discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. It was an important stopping place for ships sailing from China to North America or Europe. It was used by the British as a place of exile, most notably for Napoleon Bonaparte.
-
An upright post or support used to support the various decks of a vessel.
-
The lines that hold up the mast. They are wormed, parceled, and served for water-proofing.
-
Altitude observations of stars needed for celestial navigation.
-
The right-hand side of a vessel as seen from aft. The term is of Norse origin; the steering oar on a Viking ship was rigged on the right hand side. Used also as a term to describe the second mate's watch on a sailing vessel.
-
Isla de los EstadosIsland separated from Tierra del Fuego by the Straits of Le Maire.
-
Fishing gear which traps fish. It may be nets, weirs, or traps like lobster traps.
-
shookThe curved wooden parts of a cask or barrel, rabbeted at both ends to take the bottom and top.
-
A triangular fore-and-aft sail which is set by being hanked (fastened with small rings or hoops) to a stay (the part of the standing rigging which supports the mast) Staysails are set in both square-rigged and fore-and-aft rigged vessels.
-
steamboat, steamshipA mechanically-propelled vessel in which the principal motive power is steam, as opposed to a sailing vessel or motorship. Steamboats traditionally were the sometimes sizable coastal steamers, while steamship referred to ocean going vessels.