What are sailors quarters called?
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What are sailors quarters called?
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors’ living quarters.
What is it called when there is no wind when sailing?
In the Doldrums Depressed or listless. The “doldrums” refers to the belt around the Earth near the equator. Because there is often little surface wind for ships’ sails to use in this geographic location, sailing ships got stuck on its windless waters.
What’s a forecastle on a ship?
The forecastle and aftercastle (or sterncastle) are at the bow and stern of the vessel. The forecastle remained the designation for the area around the foremast in 19th-century men-of-war, although the deck was flush from bow to stern.
What are doors called on a ship?
Entrances from one compartment to another are called doors. Openings from one deck to another are called hatches. The handles on the watertight hatch or door are called dogs….STRUCTURAL PARTS OF THE HULL.
| 3 | Indicates the third deck. |
|---|---|
| M | Indicates the compartment is used for ammunition (see above). |
What do sailors call calm seas?
keel
Even keel – A vessel that floats upright without list is said to be on an even keel and this term has come to mean calm and steady. A keel is like the backbone of the vessel, the lowest and principal centerline structural member running fore and aft. Keeled over (upside down) was a sailor’s term for death.
What did sailors use for toilet paper?
They were called shakings. They were saved up and used as toilet paper. Tow is a term for the un-spun fibers of hemp, flax (linen), or jute. I’m not quite sure why ships would carry tow, because they didn’t normally have any ability to make their own rope, but tow could also be used as toilet paper.
How did sailors wipe?
Sailors in the Age of Sail used tow-rags. After using the head, the sailor could then clean his backside with the wet rag then drop the rope back over the side. The rag would then be cleaned either by being literally towed by the ship under sail or to be washed by the action of wave and current if at anchor.
What is a devil seam?
“Devil – the seam which margins the waterways on a ship’s hull”. This definition is from Admiral Henry Smyth’s important The Sailor’s Word-Book: an alphabetical digest of nautical terms, 1867. That definition wasn’t entirely clear to me, but a correspondent who describes himself as ‘an engineer and vessel constructor’ clarified it this way:
What is the Devil on a ship?
“Devil – the seam between the deck planking and the topmost plank of the ship’s side”. This seam would need to be watertight and would need filling (caulking) from time to time. On a ship at sea this would presumably require a sailor to be suspended over the side, or at least to stand at the very edge of the deck.
What is the origin of the phrase ‘seaman’s Devil’?
It is widely believed that the phrase is of nautical origin and that the ‘devil’ refers to the seam on a ship’s hull. The evidence for that is lacking and it is more likely that the ‘devil’ is a reference to Satan.
Where did the expression between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea originate?
Origin of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. This expression has existed since at least the 1600s. This expression doesn’t have to do with the devil of the Bible but to a seam around a ship’s hull near the water. When a sailor attempted to caulk this seam in heavy seas, he was in serious danger of failing overboard and drowning.