The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
Editors: Dear, I. C. B and Kemp, Peter
Publication Year: 2016
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Inc.
Price: Core Collection Only

ISBN: 978-0-19-880050-7
Category: Science - Marine sciences
Image Count:
265
Book Status: Available
Table of Contents
The most comprehensive and authoritative reference book of its kind, the Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea provides coverage of a huge range of topics, from shipbuilding, yachting, diving, marine engineering, and marine mammals, to smuggling, tsunamis, mermaids, and the language and literature of the sea.
This book is found in the following Credo Collections:
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- A
- Aaron Manby
- AB
- aback
- abaft
- abalone
- abandonment
- ‘abandon ship’
- abatement of false lights
- abeam
- able seaman
- aboard
- about
- above board
- abox
- A-bracket
- abreast
- a-burton
- accommodation
- accommodation ladder
- account, to go on the
- a-cockbill, orig. a-cockbell
- acorn
- acrostolium
- acting
- active list
- actuaire
- actuairole
- acumba
- Adams, William (1564–1620)
- admiral
- Admiralty
- Admiralty midshipman
- adornings
- adrift
- advantage
- adventure
- advice boat
- adze, or sometimes spelt addes
- aerodynamics
- affreightment, contract of.
- afloat
- aft
- afterbody
- afterguard
- afterturn
- age of the moon
- aground
- ahead
- ‘ahoy!’
- a-hull, or lying a-hull
- aircraft carriers
- Alabama
- ‘Albany beef’
- albatross.
- Albemarle, CSS
- Aldis lamp
- a-lee
- Alfred the Great (848–c.900)
- Algerine pirates
- all-a-taunt-o
- alleyway
- ‘all hands’
- all in the wind
- all standing.
- aloft
- aloof
- alow
- alternating light
- altitude
- amain
- ambergris
- America
- America's Cup
- amidships
- amplitude
- Amundsen, Roald (1872–1928)
- AMVER or Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System
- anchor.
- anchorage
- anchor buoy
- anchor light
- anchor warp
- anchor watch
- ancient
- ‘Ancient Mariner, The Rime of the’
- ‘Andrew’
- anemometer
- angary, right of
- angel-shot
- angle of cut
- Anson, Lord George (1697–1762)
- answering pennant
- Antarctic Convergence
- antifouling
- ‘anti-guggler’
- anti-rolling devices
- apeak, orig. apeek
- apostles
- apparent wind
- apron.
- Argonauts
- argosy
- ark
- arm, to
- Armada
- armillary sphere
- ‘armstrong patent’
- artemon
- articles of agreement
- Articles of War
- artificial horizon
- ASDIC
- ashore
- aspect ratio
- astern
- astrolabe
- Athene
- athwartships
- Atlantis
- Atlas
- atoll
- a-trip.
- auks
- aurora
- auster
- automatic identification system
- automatic pilot
- auxiliary.
- Avalon
- avast
- Avery, John (b. c.1653)
- awash
- a-weigh, or aweigh
- awning.
- axle-trees.
- ‘aye aye, sir’
- azimuth
- azimuth compass
- B
- baboon watch
- babystay
- back, to.
- back a strand, to
- backboard
- back splice
- backstay
- badge
- baggywrinkle
- bagpipe the mizzen, to
- bag reef
- bail, to
- balance, to
- balancelle
- Balboa, Vasco Nuñez de (1475–1519)
- bald headed
- bale
- balinger
- balk
- Ballard, Robert D. (b. 1942)
- ballast
- banjo
- banker
- Banks, Sir Joseph (1743–1820)
- banyan days
- Barbarossa
- Barbary pirates
- barbette
- barca-longa
- barcarolle, or barcarole
- bare boat, or demise, charter
- Barents, Willem (c.1550–97)
- bare poles
- barge
- bargee
- bark
- bark's head
- barnacle
- barograph
- barometer
- barque, or bark
- barquentine, or barkenteen
- ‘barrack stanchion’
- barratry
- barricade
- barricado
- Bart, Jean (1650–1702)
- ‘Bartimeus’
- basilisk
- Batavia
- bateloe
- bathyscaphe
- bathysphere
- batten.
- batten down, to
- battlecruiser
- battle honours
- battleship
- bawley
- bay.
- bayamo
- beachcomber
- beacon.
- beak
- beakhead
- beam.
- beam ends.
- bean-cod
- bear, to
- bearing
- beat, to.
- Beaufort Scale
- becalm, to
- becket.
- becue, to
- bed.
- bee
- bee blocks
- beetle
- before the mast
- beitass
- belay, to
- belaying pins
- Belfast, HMS
- belfry
- bell buoy
- Bellerophon, HMS
- Bellingshausen, Fabian Gottlieb von (1778–1852)
- bellum
- belly band
- bend.
- bends.
- beneaped
- Bentinck.
- ‘bent on a splice’
- bergantina
- Bering or Behring, Vitus (1681–1741)
- Bermudan rig, or Bermudian rig
- Bermuda triangle
- berth.
- berthing hawsers
- Berthon boat
- best bower
- between decks
- bezan, or bizan
- bibbs
- ‘bible’
- Big Class
- bight.
- bilander, or billander
- bilboes
- bilge.
- bilge keel
- bill of health
- bill of lading.
- bill of sight
- bill of store
- billy-boy, or billy-boat
- Bimini top
- bingeing
- binnacle (formerly bittacle)
- biological oceanography
- bird's nest.
- bireme
- biscuit
- bite, to
- bitter
- bitts
- bitt stopper
- ‘Blackbeard’
- blackbirding
- black-down, to
- black jack.
- black ship
- black squall
- ‘black's the white of my eye’
- black strake
- Blackwall frigates
- Blake, Sir Peter (1948–2001)
- Blake, Robert (1599–1657)
- blake slip
- bleed, to.
- Bligh, William (1754–1817)
- block
- blockade
- block coefficient
- blockship
- ‘blood is thicker than water’
- ‘bloody flag’
- ‘blowing great guns and small arms’
- ‘blowing the grampus’
- blue ensign.
- bluejacket
- blue light
- blue peter
- ‘blue pigeon’
- blue riband, or ribband
- board.
- boarders
- Board of Longitude
- boat
- boathook.
- boating
- Boat People
- boatswain
- boatswain's chair
- boatswain's pipe
- bobstay
- body plan
- boeier, or boier
- bollard
- bolster
- bolt-rope
- Bombard, Alain (1924–2005)
- bomb ketch
- bonaventure
- bone.
- bonnet.
- booby
- booby-hatch.
- boom.
- boom boats
- boom-irons
- booms
- bootneck
- boottop
- booty
- bora
- bore, or eager
- ‘born with a silver spoon’
- boss
- bo'sun
- botargo
- botter
- ‘bottle’
- bottlescrew, or turnbuckle
- bottomry, sometimes also known as bummaree
- Bougainville, Comte Louis Antoine de (1729–1811)
- bounty
- Bounty
- bow
- bow-chaser
- bower anchors
- bow-grace
- bowline (pron. bolin as in no).
- bowse, to
- bowsprit (pron. bo- as in no), orig. boltsprit
- bow thruster
- box-hauling
- box off, to
- box the compass, to
- brace, to
- ‘brace of shakes’
- braces
- brackets
- brails
- brake
- branch
- Brasil or Brazil, or Hy Brazil
- brassbounder
- breach, to.
- ‘bread-room jack’
- break
- break bulk, to
- breaker.
- breaking ground
- break sheer, to.
- breakwater.
- breaming
- breast backstays
- breeches buoy
- breeching
- breech of a block
- Brendan (c.484–578)
- bridge
- bridle.
- bridle-port
- brig.
- brigantine
- brine, or pickle
- bring to, to
- bring up, to
- Britannia.
- Britomart
- ‘Britons, Strike Home’
- broach to, to
- broad pennant
- broadside
- broke or broken
- broom.
- Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1896–59)
- bubble horizon
- buccaneers.
- Bucentaur
- ‘bucko’ mate
- budge-barrel
- bugeye
- buggalow, or bugalilo
- Builders Old Measurement
- bulbous bow
- bulge
- bulk carrier
- bulkhead
- ‘bullock’
- bull rope.
- bullseye.
- bully beef
- bulwark
- bumboat
- bumpkin, or bumkin
- ‘bundleman’
- bunk
- bunkers
- bunt
- bunting
- buntline hitch
- buntlines
- buoy
- buoyancy tank, or airtank
- burgee
- burgoo
- burthen
- Bushnell, David (c.1742–1824)
- busking
- buss
- ‘butcher's bill’
- butt.
- Butter-box
- buttock lines
- Buys Ballot law
- by
- by guess and by God
- Byng, John (1704–57)
- by the board
- by the head
- by the lee
- C
- cabin
- cabin sole
- cable.
- cable-holders
- cable-laid rope
- cable ship
- cable stoppers
- cable-tier
- caboose, also camboose
- Cabot, John, the Anglicized form of Caboto, Giovanni (c.1450–98)
- cabotage
- caique
- caisson
- calashee, or coolashi, watch,, watch
- Cales
- calf.
- calibre
- call
- call sign
- camber.
- camel.
- camship
- can buoy
- cannon.
- canoe
- cant.
- cant rope
- Canute, or Cnut (c.995–1035)
- canvas.
- cap
- Cape Horners.
- Cape Horn fever
- caper
- capital ship
- capping
- capsize, to
- capstan
- captain
- captain's servant
- caravel
- carbon fibre
- carcass
- cardinal mark
- cardinal points
- careen, to
- cargo jack
- cargo net
- carley float
- carlings, or carlines
- carous
- carpenter's stopper
- carrack
- carrick bend
- carronade
- carry, to
- carrying away
- cartel.
- carvel
- carvel built
- casco
- case-shot.
- cast, to
- castaway
- cast off, to
- cast of the lead
- cat.
- catamaran
- catboat
- catenary
- catharpings, or catharpins.
- Cathay
- cathead
- catholes
- cat-o’-nine-tails
- catspaw.
- catwalk
- caulk, to
- cavitation
- ceiling
- celestial navigation, or astronomical navigation.
- celestial sphere
- centreboard
- centre of buoyancy
- centre of effort
- centre of lateral resistance
- centring chains
- cesser clause
- chain
- chain, or cable, locker
- chain-plates
- chains.
- chain shot
- Challenger, HMS
- chambers.
- ‘channel fever’
- chantey, or chanty
- Chapelle, Howard Irving (1900–75)
- chapelled
- chapels
- characteristic
- charley noble
- Charlotte Dundas
- chart
- chart datum
- charter
- chartmaking.
- chase.
- chase guns
- chasse-marée
- Chatham Chest
- chearly
- check, to.
- cheeks.
- cheese down, to
- chemical oceanography
- Chesapeake, USS
- chesstrees
- Chiloé
- chine
- Chinese gybe
- chinse, orig. chinch, to,, to
- chip log
- chips.
- chock, to
- chock-a-block
- chocolate gale
- choking the luff
- chops
- Christian, Fletcher (1764–93?)
- chronometer
- c.i.f.
- Cinque Ports
- Cipangu
- clamps.
- clap on, to
- class
- classification
- claw off, to
- claw ring
- clean
- clean bill
- clean slate
- clear, to
- clearance
- ‘clear lower deck’
- clear-view screen
- cleat.
- clench, to.
- Clermont
- clew.
- clew lines
- climate change.
- clinching
- clinker, or clinch, built
- clip-hooks
- clipper
- close hauled
- close-quarters.
- close reefed.
- clothes
- clothing
- cloths
- cloud formations
- clove hitch
- club haul, to
- clump block
- coach
- ‘coach horses’
- coach-roof
- coachwhipping
- coak.
- coaming
- coastal navigation.
- coaster
- coastguard
- Coast Pilot
- coat
- cobbing
- coble
- cockbill, or a-cockbill.
- cocked hat
- cockpit.
- cockscomb
- cod
- cod-banger
- cod-end
- codline
- cofferdam.
- cog.
- coil
- coir
- collar.
- collier
- collision mat
- Colossus
- colours
- Colregs
- colt
- Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506)
- ‘combing the cat’
- come, to
- come home, to.
- commander.
- commission.
- commissioning pennant
- commodore
- common whipping
- companion
- companion ladder
- company
- compartments.
- compass
- compass error
- compass rose
- compass timber
- composite built
- composite great circle sailing
- compound engine
- comprador
- compressor, or compressor stopper, stopper
- con, cond, or cun, to,, to
- concluding line
- condemn, to
- condenser
- Confederate States Navy (CSN)
- conical buoy
- conning tower.
- Conrad, Joseph (1857–1924)
- Consol
- Constellation, USS
- Constitution, USS
- constructive total loss
- container ship
- Continental Navy
- continental shelf
- continuous voyage
- contline
- contraband
- convoy
- Cook, James (1728–79)
- coordinates
- copper sheathing
- coracle
- coral reefs
- corbita
- cord
- Corinthian
- Coriolis force
- corsair
- corvette
- Costain gun
- cot
- counter
- counter-brace, to.
- counter-currents
- course.
- Cousteau, Jacques-Yves (1910–97)
- cove.
- covering board
- cow-hitch
- cowl.
- coxswain, orig. cockswain
- crab
- craft
- cran
- crance, crans, or cranze.
- crane lines.
- crank.
- creeper
- crib
- crimp
- cringle
- crossing the line
- ‘crossing the T’
- cross-jack (pron. crojeck or crojick) yard, yard
- cross lashing
- cross sea
- cross-staff, or forestaff
- crosstrees
- crowd, to
- crown.
- crow's foot
- crow's nest
- cruiser, orig. cruizer
- cruise ship
- ‘crusher’
- Crustacea
- crutch.
- CSS
- cubbridge heads
- cuddy
- culverin
- Cunningham
- currach or curragh
- currents
- cut and run, to
- cutch
- cutlass
- cut of his (her) jib, the
- cut splice
- cutter
- cutter rig
- cutting his painter
- Cutty Sark
- cutwater
- cyclone
- D
- dagger
- dagger-board
- dahabeeyah, or dahabiah
- damelopre
- Dampier, William (1652–1715)
- Dana, Richard Henry (1815–82)
- dan buoy
- dandy-rig
- Darling, Grace Horsley (1815–42)
- Darwin, Charles (1809–82)
- Darwin mounds
- ‘Davids’
- Davis's quadrant, or back-staff
- davits
- Davy Jones
- deadeye, orig. dead-man's-eye
- dead freight
- dead horse
- deadlight
- dead marine
- dead men
- dead reckoning
- dead shares
- dead water
- deadweight tonnage
- deadwood
- dead work
- Decca
- decker
- deckhouse
- decks
- declination
- decompression sickness
- deep
- Deep Scattering Layers (DSLs)
- degauss, to, or degaussing
- degree
- de Horsey rig
- demurrage
- departure.
- depth charge
- Derbyshire
- derelict
- derrick
- derroterro
- destroyer
- deviation
- devil
- dghaisa (pron. duyser as in buy)
- dhow
- diagonal built
- diamond knot
- diamond shrouds
- diaphone
- Diaz de Novaes, Bartholomew (c.1455–1500)
- dickies
- diesel engine
- differential global satellite navigation systems
- digital selective calling (DSC)
- dinghy
- dip
- dipping lug
- director sight
- dirk
- disadvantage
- Discovery Investigations
- dismast, to
- displacement
- distant signals
- distress signals
- ditty box
- diving.
- dock
- dockyard
- dodger
- dog, to
- dogger
- Dogger Bank
- doghouse
- dogs.
- dog-stopper
- dog vane
- dog watches
- doldrums
- dolly.
- dolphin.
- dolphin striker
- donkey engine
- donkey frigate
- donkey's breakfast
- Dorade ventilator
- dory.
- double bottoms
- double capstan
- double-clewed jib
- double clews, or clues
- double diagonal build
- double ender
- doubling.
- ‘Down Easter’
- downhaul
- Downs
- drabler, or drabbler
- drag.
- drag chains
- Drake, Sir Francis (c.1543–96)
- Drake's drum
- draught.
- draw, to.
- Dreadnought
- dredge
- dredger
- dress ship, to
- drift.
- drifter
- drift net
- drive, to.
- driver.
- drogue
- dromon, or dromond
- drop keel.
- drown the miller, to
- drumhead
- dry-dock
- dub, or dubb, to
- ducking at the yardarm
- ‘duck up’
- dugout
- DUKW
- Dulcibella
- dumb barge
- dunnage
- dwt
- ‘dynaship’
- E
- eagre
- earing
- ease, to, or easy
- East India Company
- East Indiamen
- ebb
- echinoderms
- echo sounder
- ecliptic
- eddy
- eels
- electric propulsion
- electronic charts
- El Niño
- embargo
- embark, to
- engines
- ensign.
- enter, to.
- Enterprize
- entrepôt
- entry
- environmental issues.
- ephemeris
- EPIRB, or Electronic Position Indicator Radio Beacon
- equinoctial
- Erik the Red (fl.985)
- esnecca, or snekkja
- establishment of the port
- Eugenie
- evaporators
- even keel.
- Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
- Execution Dock
- exploration by sea
- explosion vessel
- eye.
- eyebolts
- F
- fag-end
- faggots
- fag out, to
- fair
- fairlead
- fairway
- fall
- fall off, to
- false fire
- false keel
- fancy line.
- Fanny Adams
- fantail
- fardage
- farthell, to
- fashion pieces
- fast
- fathom
- fay, to
- feather, to.
- feaze, to
- felucca
- fender
- fend off, to
- ferry
- fetch, to
- fid.
- fiddle
- fiddle block
- fiddlehead bow
- Fiddler's Green
- fiddley
- fife rails.
- fighting instructions
- ‘Fighting Téméraire’
- fights
- figurehead
- figure of eight knot
- filibuster
- fill, to
- ‘fire and lights’
- fireships
- fireworks
- First Fleet
- fish
- fish, to.
- fisheries
- fisherman's bend
- fishing boat
- fishing fleet.
- fitting out
- Fitzroy, Robert (1805–65)
- fix
- fixed and flashing light
- fixed light
- flag
- flag etiquette
- flag rank
- flagship
- flags of convenience
- flake, or fake
- flare.
- flashing light
- flatboat
- fleet.
- fleet train
- Flemish horse
- flense, to
- Flinders, Matthew (1774–1814)
- floating battery
- floating dock
- float plan
- flogging round the fleet
- flog the glass, to
- flood
- floor
- flota
- flotilla
- flotsam.
- flowers of the wind
- flowing.
- fluke.
- fluky
- flush deck
- fly.
- fly-boat
- fly-by-night
- Flying Dutchman, the
- flying jib
- f.o.b.
- fo‘c'sle
- fog-buoy
- foghorn
- fog signals.
- foot
- ‘foot it in’
- footropes
- fore-and-aft rig.
- forebitter
- forecastle, (pron. fo‘c'sle)
- forefoot
- fore-ganger.
- foregirt, or fargood
- foreguy
- Foreland, North and South
- forelock
- fore-reach
- foresail
- fore-sheets
- forestay
- Forester, Cecil Scott (1899–1966)
- fore-triangle
- foreturn
- forge over, to.
- former
- Fortunus
- forward (pron. forrard)
- fothering
- foul
- foul, or fouled, anchor.
- fouling.
- founder, to
- fox
- Fram
- frame
- Franklin, Sir John (1786–1847)
- frap, to
- free.
- freeboard
- freezing
- freight
- Frenchman
- ‘freshening his hawse’
- freshes
- Friendship sloop
- frigate
- Frobisher, or Forbisher, Sir Martin (c.1535–94)
- frocking
- front.
- full and by
- ‘full sea’
- fulmars
- Fulton, Robert (1765–1815)
- furl, to
- furniture
- furring
- futtock
- futtock shrouds, or puttock shrouds
- G
- Gabbard, the
- Gades
- gaff
- gaff rig
- gage, sometimes gauge
- gale
- galizabra
- galleass, or galleasse
- galleon
- gallery
- galley.
- galley frigate
- galley pepper
- galligaskins
- galliot
- gallows.
- Gama, Vasco da (c.1460–1524)
- gammon iron
- gammon lashing, or gammoning
- gang
- gangway
- gantline
- gantlope, or gauntlope (pron. gantlet)
- garboard, or garboard strake
- garland.
- garnet
- ‘garters’
- gasket
- gas-turbine engines
- gate vessel
- gaussin error
- general-at-sea
- general average
- general chase
- Gennaker
- genoa
- gentlemen captains
- geological oceanography
- German mile
- get spliced, to
- ghoster
- ghosting
- gig
- gimbals
- gimblet, to, or gimbleting
- gin block
- gingerbread, or gingerbread work
- gin palace
- gird, to
- girdle
- girt.
- glass
- Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS)
- global positioning system
- globe
- globular projection
- Gloire
- glut.
- GMDSS
- gnomonic chart
- ‘gobbie’
- going about
- goke
- gondola
- gong buoy
- Goodwin Sands, the
- gooseneck
- goose-winged
- goose-wings
- gores
- GPS, or global positioning system
- grab
- grain
- Grand Banks, the
- Grand Fleet
- grapnel, sometimes grapple
- grass-line
- graticule.
- grave, to
- graving dock
- Great Barrier Reef
- Great Britain
- great circle
- great circle sailing
- Great Eastern
- Great Harry
- Great Western
- Greek fire
- green men
- Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
- gregale
- Grenville, Sir Richard (1542–91)
- ‘Greta Garbo’
- grid, or gridiron
- gripe, to
- gripes
- grog
- ‘grog-blossom’
- gromet, or grummett
- grommet (pron. grummet)
- ground tackle
- ground tier
- group
- grow, to
- growler
- GRP
- GRT
- guarda-costa
- guardrail
- guard-ship
- gudgeon, orig. googing.
- guerre de course
- guest-rope
- gufah, or gopher
- Gulf Stream
- gull
- gull, to
- gun
- gunboat
- gundalow, or gundelo
- gunner's daughter
- gunport
- gunroom
- gun tackle
- gunter rig
- gunwale (pron. gunnel).
- guy.
- gyassi, or gaiassa
- gybe, or jibe, to
- gyn
- gypsy
- gyroscopic, or gyro, compass
- H
- hack watch
- Hadley's reflecting quadrant
- Hakluyt, Richard (pron. Hacklit) (c.1552–1616)
- half beams
- half-deck
- half hitch
- half-musket shot
- ‘half seas over’
- halyards, or halliards
- hambro line
- hammock
- hance
- hand, to
- hand-bearing compass
- hand over hand
- handsomely
- handy billy
- hank.
- Hanseatic League
- harbour dues
- harden in, to
- harmattan
- harness cask
- harpings, or harpens.
- hatch
- haul, to
- Hawkins, Sir John (1532–95)
- hawse
- hawse bag
- hawsehole
- hawse-pieces
- hawsepipe
- hawser
- hawser-laid rope
- haze, to
- head
- headboard
- head-rope
- heads
- headsail
- heart
- ‘Heart of Oak’
- heave to, to.
- heaving line
- heel.
- heeling error
- heeling moment
- Hellespont
- helm
- hemp
- hengst
- Henry Grâce à Dieu
- Henry the Navigator (1394–1460)
- hermaphrodite brig
- Herreshoff, Nathanael Greene (1848–1938)
- herring
- Heyerdahl, Thor (1914–2002)
- Highfield lever
- high seas
- High Seas Fleet
- Hispaniola
- hitch
- HMS
- hog.
- hoist.
- hold
- holiday
- holystone
- hood
- hood-ends
- hooker.
- hoop.
- hopper
- Horatio Hornblower
- horizon
- horizontal sextant angle
- hornpipe
- horns.
- horse.
- horse latitudes
- horsing iron
- ‘hot chase’
- hounds
- hour angle
- house, to
- hovercraft
- hoy
- huddock
- Hudson, Henry (b. c.1565, d. after June 1611)
- hulk.
- hull.
- hullock
- husband, or ship's husband
- Hy Brazil
- hydrodynamics
- hydrofoil
- hydrography
- hydroplanes
- hydrothermal vents
- hyperbolic navigation system.
- I
- IALA maritime buoyage system
- ice
- ice-breaker
- idlers
- impressment
- inertial navigation.
- Inmarsat
- in soundings, or on soundings.
- in stays
- intercept
- International Code of Signals
- International Congress of Maritime Museums (ICMM)
- International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)
- International Date Line
- International Lifeboat Federation (ILF)
- international maritime law
- International Maritime Organization (IMO)
- International Metre Class
- International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
- International Rule
- International Sailing Federation (ISAF)
- Irish horse
- Irish pennants
- ironclads
- irons.
- irradiation
- isobath
- isogonic lines
- isolated danger mark
- J
- jack.
- jackanapes coat
- jackass.
- jackass-barque
- jack in the basket
- Jack of the Dust
- jackstaff
- jackstay
- Jack tar
- jackyard
- jackyard topsail
- Jacob's ladder.
- jaegt
- Jamaica discipline
- jaw.
- J-class yachts
- jeers
- jellyfish
- jetboats
- jetsam
- jettison, to
- jetty
- jewel blocks
- jew's harp
- jib
- jib-boom
- jibe, to
- jib-headed topsail
- jib-of-jibs
- jigger.
- jigger-mast
- jockey pole
- joggle shackle
- ‘jollies’
- jolly-boat
- Jolly Roger
- Jonah
- Jones, John Paul (1747–92)
- Jubilee Sailing Trust
- jugle, or joggle
- ‘jumbo’
- jumper
- jumping, or jumper, wire
- junk.
- junk rig.
- jury rig
- jylson, or jillson, block
- K
- kamal
- kamikaze
- kapal
- kayak
- K-class submarine
- Kearsage, USS
- keckle, to
- kedge
- keel.
- keel blocks
- keel-hauling
- keelson, or kelson
- kelpie
- Kentish Knock
- kentledge
- ketch
- kevel, sometimes known as kennet
- Kevlar
- key, or cay
- khamsin, or kamsin
- Khizr
- kicking strap
- Kidd, or Kid, Captain William (c.1645–1701)
- Kiel Canal
- kellick, or killock
- kingpost
- king spoke
- King's Letter boy
- kite.
- klipper
- knarr
- knee
- knightheads
- knock down, to
- knot.
- kraken
- krill
- ‘kye’
- L
- L.
- labour, to
- lace.
- ladder.
- lade, to
- lagan
- lagoon
- laid
- laminated construction
- Lanby buoy
- land breeze
- landmark
- landsmen, or landmen
- langrel, or langrace, or, in American usage, langrage
- lanyard
- lapstrake
- larboard
- ‘larbolins’, or ‘larbolians’
- large
- lash, to
- lask, to
- laskets
- lateen rig
- lateral mark
- latitude
- launch.
- launching
- lay.
- lay days
- lay up, to.
- lazaretto, lazaret, lazarette.
- lazy guy
- lazyjacks
- lazy painter
- leading block
- leading mark
- leading wind
- lead line
- league
- leatherneck
- lee
- leeboards.
- leech
- lee-fang
- ‘lee-oh’
- leeskaertan
- leeward (pron. loo’ard)
- leeway
- leg
- legs
- lem, to, or lemming
- lemsteraak
- Lesseps, Ferdinand de (1805–94)
- let fly, to.
- ‘let go and haul’, or ‘afore haul’
- letter of marque
- levanter
- leviathan
- Lewis, David (1917–2003)
- liberty
- Liberty ships
- lie to, to, or lying a-try
- lieutenant
- lifeboat
- lifelines
- lifesaving.
- lifts
- lighter
- lighthouse
- light lists
- lightship
- ‘light to’
- lignum vitae
- limbers
- ‘Limey’
- line of battle
- line of bearing
- line officers
- liner
- lines
- linings
- list
- lizard
- Ljungstrom rig
- Lloyd's
- Lloyd's Register
- load line
- loblolly boy
- lobscouse
- lodeman
- lodestar
- lodestone, or loadstone
- log.
- log book
- loggerhead.
- log-line
- loll
- longboat
- long clothes
- longitude
- long-jawed
- long-lining
- longship
- long splice
- loof.
- loom.
- loose, to
- loose cannon
- loose-footed
- Loran-C.
- lorcha
- Lord High Admiral
- Lord Mayor's Men
- low and aloft
- lower deck
- lubber's hole
- lubber's line, or point
- luff
- luff tackle
- lug.
- lugger
- lugsail
- lunar distance
- lunar parallax
- lunch hook
- Lusitania
- lutchet
- Lutine bell
- Lyonesse
- M
- macaroni lug
- macaroni mate
- Madoc
- Mae West
- Maelduin, The Voyage of
- maelstrom
- Magellan, Ferdinand (c.1480–1521)
- magellanic clouds
- magnetic compass
- magnitude
- Mahan, Alfred Thayer (1840–1914)
- mainsail
- ‘mainsail haul’
- make and mend
- make her number, to
- Mallows
- manger
- mangroves
- manifest
- manila
- manta ray (Manta birostris)
- man the yards, to, or man ship, to
- marconi rig
- Marco Polo (c.1254–1324)
- Marcq Saint-Hilaire method
- Marder, Arthur Jacob (1910–80)
- mare clausum, or ‘Closed Sea’
- marina
- marine and underwater archaeology.
- marine biology
- marine literature.
- marine mammals
- marine meteorology
- marine painting.
- marine pharmaceuticals
- marine plants
- marine reptiles
- marines
- Marine Society
- Marin-Marie
- Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)
- maritime museums and museum ships
- mark
- marl, or marle, to
- marlin
- marline
- marline spike
- marling hitch
- maroon, to
- MARPOL
- marry, to
- Marryat, Frederick (1792–1848)
- martingale.
- martnets
- Mary Celeste
- Mary Rose
- Masefield, John Edward (1878–1967)
- mast
- mast coat
- master
- master-at-arms
- master's mate
- mast ship
- mate.
- Matthew Walker knot
- Maury, Matthew Fontaine (1806–73)
- ‘mayday’
- Mayflower
- Melville, Herman (1819–91)
- men-in-lieu
- Mercator projection
- merchant marine
- mercy ships
- meridian
- mermaids
- Merrimac, USS
- merrow
- merry dancers
- Merry Men of May
- messenger.
- metacentric height
- meteorology
- middle ground
- middle passage
- midshipman
- millibar
- mirage
- mistral
- mitre
- mizzen
- Moby-Dick
- moidore
- mole
- molluscs
- mollymawk
- monitor
- monkey.
- monkey block
- monkey jacket
- monkey's fist
- monk's seam
- monsoon
- moon-lore.
- moonrakers
- moor, to
- mooring
- Morgan, Sir Henry (c.1635–88)
- Morse code
- moses
- Mother Carey's Chickens
- motor yachts
- moulding
- mould-loft
- moulds
- mouse
- mudhook
- Mulberry Harbours.
- multihull
- murderer
- muster, to
- mutiny
- MV
- MY
- Mylar
- N
- ‘naked’
- ‘Nancy Dawson’
- Nansen, Fridtjof (1861–1930)
- nao
- Narrow Seas
- National Coastwatch Institution (NCI)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- nautical almanac
- nautical mile
- Nautilus
- nautophone
- naval architecture
- naval hoods or whoods
- navel pipe
- navicert
- navigate, to
- navigation
- Navigation Acts
- navigational warnings
- navigation lights
- navigator
- NAVTEX.
- navy
- neal-to
- neap tides
- nef
- Nelson, Horatio, first Viscount (1758–1805)
- Neptune
- Nereides
- Nereus
- net register tonnage
- nettings.
- nettle, sometimes written as knittle.
- New Ironsides, USS
- nigger heads
- nip.
- nipper.
- Noah's Ark
- nocturnal
- Nore, the
- Norman.
- ‘no room to swing a cat’
- North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
- north magnetic pole
- North-West Passage
- notices to mariners
- nugger, or nuggar
- ‘number’
- nun buoy
- nut
- O
- oakum
- oar
- O’Brian, Patrick (1914–2000)
- occulting light
- Oceania
- Oceanides, or Oceanitides
- ocean liners
- oceanographic institutes.
- oceanography
- ocean racing
- oceans.
- Oceanus
- octant
- Odysseus
- offing
- offshore oil and gas.
- off soundings
- off the wind
- oldster
- Oleron, the Laws of
- Omega
- one-design class
- ‘on the beach’
- on the wind
- open hawse
- order of sailing
- ordinary
- ordinary seaman
- orlop, orig. over-lop
- Oropesa sweep
- otter
- outhaul
- outlicker, outligger, or outleager
- outrigger.
- overfall
- overhaul, to.
- over-raked
- overtaking light
- ox-eye
- oxter plate
- P
- Pacific iron.
- packet
- paddle steamer
- paddle-wheel boat
- painter
- pair of oars
- palm.
- pampero
- Panama Canal
- Panama plate
- papagayo
- parallax.
- paraselene
- paravane
- parbuckle
- parcel, to
- pareja
- parhelion
- ‘parish-rigged’
- Park Avenue boom
- Parliament, or parliamentary, heel
- parrel, or parral
- partners
- part of the ship
- passarado
- passaree
- passat
- passenger ship
- passerelle
- paternoster
- paunch, or panch
- pavesse
- pawls
- pay, to
- pay off, to.
- pay out, to
- peak.
- Peary, Robert Edwin (1856–1920)
- peggy-mast
- pelorus
- Pelorus Jack
- pendant.
- penguin.
- pennant, sometimes written as pendant
- pennon
- Pepys, Samuel (1633–1703)
- periagua
- periplus, or periplous
- Perry, Matthew Calbraith (1794–1858)
- Peter the Great (1672–1725)
- petty officer
- petty warrant
- PFD
- phosphorescence
- physical oceanography
- picaroon, or pickaroon
- pickle.
- pieces of eight
- pier
- pierhead jump
- pig yoke
- pillage
- pillar buoy
- pillow
- pilot.
- pilotage
- pinch, to
- pink
- pinky
- pinnace.
- pinrail
- pintle
- pipe, to
- pipe cot
- pipe down
- piping the side
- piracy
- pirogue, or piragua
- pitch
- pitchpole, to
- plain sailing
- plane, to
- plank sheer
- plankton
- plat, to.
- plate.
- pledget
- Plimsoll Line
- plotting sheet
- plug.
- plush
- PLUTO
- pocket battleship
- pod
- point.
- points of sailing
- polacre
- Polaris
- poleaxe
- Pole Star
- pollution
- Polo, Marco
- ‘Pompey’
- pontoon.
- poop.
- poop royal
- poor John
- port.
- porthole
- port-last, or portoise
- portolano
- ports
- port sills, or cills
- port tack
- Portuguese man-of-war
- portulan, or portolan, chart.
- Poseidon.
- POSH
- position line
- post-bark
- post-captain
- Potemkin
- pouches
- powder monkey
- powerboats
- pram, praam, or prame.
- pratique
- press gang
- preventer
- prick, to.
- prime, to
- prime meridian
- priming iron
- prismatic coefficient
- privateer
- prize
- prize money
- proa
- propeller
- propulsion pod
- protection
- protest.
- proviso.
- prow
- puddening
- puffer
- pull, to
- pulpit.
- pump
- punt.
- purchase
- purser.
- purse seine net
- pushpit
- Q
- Q-ship
- quadrant
- quadrilateral jib
- quadruple expansion engine
- quarantine
- quarter
- quarter bands
- quarter-bill
- quarter blocks.
- quarter-cloths
- quarterdeck
- quarter gallery
- quarter-gunner
- quartermaster
- quatuor maria
- quay
- quick flashing light
- quickwork
- quilting
- quintant
- quoin
- R
- rabbet
- rabelo
- race.
- racing rules.
- rack, to
- racon
- radar
- radar reflector
- raddle
- radio beacon
- radio direction finder
- raffee
- raft.
- rake.
- Raleigh, or Ralegh, Sir Walter c.1552–1618)
- ram.
- ramark
- ram schooner
- randan
- random range
- range, to
- Ransome, Arthur (1884–1967)
- rate.
- rate of change
- rating.
- ratline
- rattle down, to
- razee, or rasee
- reach.
- ‘ready about’
- reciprocating engine
- reckoning
- red ensign.
- red tides
- reef.
- reef-band
- reef-cringles
- reef knot
- reef-points
- reef-tackle
- reeming iron
- reeve, to
- reformado, or reformade
- refraction
- regime
- register ship
- register tonnage
- regulating captain
- relative bearings
- relieving tackles.
- remote sensing
- render, to.
- rendezvous
- replica ship
- reprisal
- research ships
- respondentia
- Revenge, HMS
- revenue cutter
- rhumb line
- RIB
- ribband
- ribs
- rickers
- Riddle of the Sands, The
- ride, to
- riders.
- ridge rope
- riding light
- riding slip
- rig.
- rigger
- rigging
- rigging screw
- rigol
- ringtail
- rising
- RMS
- RNLI
- RNR
- RNVR
- roach
- Roaring Forties
- robands (pron. robbins)
- Roberts, Bartholomew (1682–1722)
- robinet
- Robinson Crusoe
- rocket
- roding
- rogue knot
- ‘Rogue's March’
- rogue's yarn
- roller furler
- rolling hitch
- rope
- rope clutch
- ro-ro (roll-on roll-off) ship
- rose box
- rose lashing
- rotating rig
- round, to.
- round house
- round of a rope
- round seizing
- round ship
- round turn and two half hitches
- rouse in, to
- rouse out, to
- rov
- rove
- rover
- rowlock
- royal
- royal dockyards
- Royal George, loss of the
- Royal Yachting Association
- rubber
- rubbing strake
- rudder
- Rule of the Road
- run
- runners
- running free
- running rigging
- run the easting down, to
- rutter
- S
- saddle
- safe water mark
- sag, to.
- saic
- sail burton
- sailing
- sailing directions
- sailing thwart
- sailmaker's stitching
- sailmaker's whipping
- sailor-by-the-wind
- sailors’ dress.
- sails
- sail training
- St Elmo's Fire
- salinity
- Sallee pirates
- sally port.
- salt horse
- salutes at sea
- salvage.
- sampan
- samson post.
- sandbagger
- sand-glass
- SAR
- Sargasso Sea
- sargasso weed
- satellite navigation
- Savannah
- save-all
- scampavia
- scandalize, to
- scant
- scantlings
- Scapa Flow
- ‘Scarborough warning’
- scarf, or scarph
- scend (pron. send)
- schnorkel, or snorkel.
- schokker
- schooner
- scope.
- score.
- scotsman
- Scott, Robert Falcon (1868–1912)
- scow
- screw slip
- scrimshaw
- SCUBA
- scud, to
- scull, to
- sculler
- scupper, to
- scuppers
- scurvy
- scuttle.
- scuttle, or scuttled, butt
- Scylla and Charybdis
- sea anchor
- Sea Beggars
- seabirds.
- seaboat
- Seacat
- seacock
- Sea Fencibles
- sea gods and goddesses
- seahorses
- sea level.
- sealing
- Sea Lord
- seam.
- seamanship
- seaman's quadrant
- sea-mark
- sea-pie
- seas.
- sea songs
- seaweeds
- sections
- seel, to
- seize, to
- seizing
- Selkirk, Alexander (1676–1721)
- selvagee
- semaphore
- semi-diameter
- sepulchral ships
- serang
- serpentine
- serve, orig. sarve, to
- serving mallet
- set.
- settee
- settle, to
- sewed, (pron. sued)
- sextant
- shackle.
- Shackleton, Sir Ernest Henry (1874–1922)
- shake.
- ‘shake a cloth in the wind, to’
- ‘shake a leg’
- shake out a reef, to
- shakings
- shallop.
- shamal
- Shamrock
- shan
- shanghai, to.
- shank
- shanty, or chantey
- shape, to
- sharks
- Sharp, or Sharpe, Bartholomew (c.1650–88)
- sharpie.
- sharpshooter.
- sharp up
- shear.
- sheave
- sheepshank
- sheer.
- sheer draught
- sheer legs, or sheers
- sheer pole
- sheer strake
- sheet.
- sheet anchor
- sheet bend
- shell.
- shellback
- shellfish
- Shelvocke, George (1675–1742)
- shift
- shifter
- shifting boards
- ship
- ship broker
- shipbuilding.
- ship-money fleets
- ship of the line
- ship preservation
- ship rigged
- ship's bell.
- shipshape and Bristol fashion
- ship's number
- shipwrecks
- shiver.
- ‘shiver my timbers’
- shoal.
- shoe.
- shoot, to
- shore
- short
- shorten in, to
- short splice
- shot
- Shovel, or Shovell Sir Clowdisley (1659–1707)
- ‘show a leg’, or ‘shake a leg’
- shroud-laid rope
- shrouds
- sickbay
- side lever engine
- siding
- sight
- signal letters
- signals at sea
- sill, sometimes written as cill.
- simoon
- Simpson's Rules
- ‘Sinbad the Sailor’
- ‘singeing the King of Spain's beard’
- sinnet, synet, sennet, sennit, or sinnit
- SINS
- Sirens, or Sirenes
- Sirius
- sirocco, or scirocco
- sisal
- sister blocks
- six water grog
- skeet, or skeat
- skeg
- skid-booms, skids, or skid beams
- skiff
- skilly
- skillygalee, or skillygolee
- skimming dish
- skipjack
- skipper
- ‘skipper's daughters’
- skylight
- skysail
- slab-lines
- slack water
- slatch
- slave trade.
- slicks
- slings
- slip hook
- slippery hitch
- slipway
- Slocum, Joshua (1844–c.1910)
- sloop.
- slush
- smack
- Smith, Sir Francis Pettit (1808–74)
- smiting line
- SMS
- smuggle, to
- snatch block
- snotter
- snotty
- snow
- snub, to.
- Society for Nautical Research
- SOLAS
- ‘soldier's wind’
- sole
- sonar
- songs
- son of a gun
- ‘SOS’
- sound, to.
- sounding.
- sounding machine
- sounding rod
- Southern Cross
- South Sea Bubble
- South Seas
- spall, to
- span.
- Spanish Armada
- Spanish burton
- Spanish Main
- Spanish reef
- Spanish windlass
- spanker
- spar
- spar buoy
- spar deck
- spar torpedo
- speak, to, or speak to a ship, to
- special mark
- spectacle iron, or plate
- spencer
- spend, to.
- Sperry, Elmer Ambrose (1860–1930)
- spider.
- spider band
- spile, to
- spill, to
- spilling lines
- spinnaker.
- spirketting
- spitfire jib
- Spithead
- splice, to
- spliced, to get
- splice the main brace, to
- spoil ground
- spoke
- sponges
- sponson
- spoon, to
- spreaders.
- spring.
- spring a leak, to
- spring stays
- spring tides
- sprit
- spritsail.
- spunyarn
- spurling line
- squadron
- squadronal colours
- squall
- square
- square rig
- squid
- SS
- stability
- stabilizers
- staghorn
- stanchions
- standing lug
- standing part
- standing rigging
- starboard
- starboard tack
- ‘starbolins’
- starshell
- start, to.
- stateroom
- station pointer
- stationaire
- stave, to
- staves
- stay.
- stayband
- staysail
- steaming lights
- steam propulsion.
- steam-turbine engine
- steer, to
- steerage.
- steerage way
- steering gear.
- steering oar
- steeve
- stem.
- step
- stern
- sternboard
- sternpost
- stern rope
- sternsheets
- sternwalk
- sternway
- stevedore
- stiff.
- stinkpot
- stirrups
- stock
- stocks
- stone frigate
- stop, to
- stopper
- stopper knot
- storm
- storm signals
- stowaway
- strake
- strand.
- stray line
- stream, to
- stream anchor
- stretcher.
- strike, to
- strike down, to
- stringer
- stripped to the girt-line
- strop
- studding sails (pron. stuns’ls)
- submarine
- sucking the monkey
- Suez Canal.
- Sumner position line
- ‘sundowner’
- ‘sun is over the yardarm, the’
- supercargo
- superstitions of sailors.
- superstructure
- surface effect ship
- surf boat
- surge, to.
- swallow
- ‘swallow the anchor, to’
- SWATH ship (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull)
- sway
- sweat, to
- sweep
- swell
- swifter.
- swim, to
- swing a ship, to
- swing keel
- synoptic chart
- T
- tabernacle
- table, to
- tabling
- tack.
- tackle (pron. taykle)
- tackline.
- tactical diameter
- taffrail.
- tail, to
- Talbot, Mary Anne (1778–1808)
- tall ships
- Talurit® splicing
- tan, to
- tanker
- tar
- tarpaulin, orig. tarpawling
- tarpaulin captain
- tarpaulin muster
- tarry-breeks
- tartan, or tartane
- Tasman, Abel Janszoon (c.1603–59)
- tattoo.
- taunt
- taut
- taut wire measurement
- Teach, or Thatch, Edward (d. 1718)
- tea clippers
- telltale.
- tender
- teredo
- Terra Australis Incognita
- territorial waters
- Tethys
- Thames Measurement
- thermocline
- Thermopylae
- Thetis
- thimble
- thole pin
- Thomas W. Lawson
- Thomson, William, first Baron Kelvin (1824–1907)
- thorough foot, to.
- ‘three sheets in the wind’
- ‘three sisters’
- throat
- throat halyards
- throat seizings
- thrum, to
- thumb cleat
- thumb knot
- Thurot, François (1726–60)
- thwart
- ticket
- tidal atlas
- tidal power.
- ‘tiddley’
- tide-race
- tide-rip
- tide-rode
- tides
- tideway
- tiding over
- tier.
- tierce
- tiller
- tiller ropes
- tilt
- timber heads
- timber hitch
- timbers
- timenoguy
- timoneer
- Titanic
- tjalk
- tjotter
- toggle.
- ‘Tom Bowling’ or ‘Tom Bowline’
- tonnage
- top
- top-armours
- top-chain
- topgallant mast
- topgallant sail
- topgallant yard
- topmark
- topmast
- topmen, or yardmen
- topping lift
- topsail.
- topsail yard
- topsides.
- torsion
- total loss
- touching
- tow.
- towage
- trabacolo, or trabaccolo
- track.
- trade winds
- traffic separation schemes
- trail-board
- train
- training ships
- train-tackle
- tramontana
- tramp ship
- trane, or train, oil
- transom.
- transport
- traveller.
- traverse board
- traverse table
- trawler
- trawls
- treasure ship.
- treenails (pron. trennels or trunnels)
- trench
- trestle-trees
- triatic
- trice up, to
- trick
- trident
- trim.
- trimaran
- Trinity House
- trip an anchor, to
- triple expansion engine
- tripping line
- trireme
- Triton
- tropical storms
- trot
- truck.
- true
- trundle-head
- truss
- trysail
- trysail mast
- try works
- tsunami
- tuck
- tug
- tumble-home, or tumbling-home
- tun
- tuna
- turk's head
- turnbuckle
- turret
- turtle-boat
- turtle deck
- twice laid.
- ‘two blocks’
- tye
- typhoon
- U
- U-boat
- ullage.
- umiak
- Una rig
- under bare poles
- under-run, to
- underwater vehicles
- under way
- underwriter
- United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
- Universal Rule
- unstayed rig
- up and down
- ‘up funnel, down screw’
- uphroe, or euphroe.
- upper deck
- upwelling
- urca or uxer.
- US Coast Guard (USCG)
- US Power Squadrons (USPS)
- USS
- US Sailing Association (US Sailing)
- V
- vail, to
- vakka
- vale, to
- van
- Vancouver, George (1757–98)
- vane.
- vane self-steering gear
- vangs
- variation
- Vasa
- veer, to.
- veer and haul, to
- Verne, Jules (1828–1905)
- Verrazzano, Giovanni da (1485–1528)
- vertex
- vertical sextant angle
- very lights
- Vespucci, Amerigo (1454–1512)
- Victory, HMS
- Victory ships
- victualler
- Victualling Board
- vigia
- Viking compass
- Villeneuve Pierre Charles Jean Baptiste Silvestre, Comte de (1763–1806)
- Villiers, Alan John (1903–82)
- Vinland
- viol, violl, voyal, or voyol
- Voss, John Claus (c.1854–1922)
- Vulcan
- W
- waft, to
- waist
- waistcloth, or wastecloath
- waister
- wale
- walking beam engine
- wall knot
- walt
- wardrobe
- wardroom
- warfare at sea.
- warm the bell, to
- warp.
- Warrior, HMS
- washstrake, or washboard
- watch.
- watch-bill
- watch buoy
- water-laid rope
- water sail
- waterspout.
- waterway
- wave line theory
- waves
- ‘wavy navy’
- way
- waypoint
- ways
- wear, to.
- weather
- weather helm.
- weather lore
- weatherly.
- weather ship
- wedding garland
- weigh, to
- well
- well deck
- well found
- West Country whipping
- ‘wet’
- wetted surface
- whack
- whale
- whaleboat
- whaler.
- whaling
- wharf.
- wharfage
- wharfinger
- wheelhouse
- whelps
- wherry.
- whip.
- whipstaff
- whisker pole
- whiskers
- white ensign
- widows’ men
- Wilkes, Charles (1798–1877)
- Wilkins, Sir George Hubert (1888–1958)
- williwaw
- winch
- wind
- windjammer
- windlass
- wind-rode
- wind-rose
- windrow
- windsail
- windseeker
- windward
- wing-in-surface effect ship (WISES)
- wire rope
- wishbone
- woolding, wolding, or woulding
- worm, to
- wreck
- wreck buoy
- wreckers.
- wreck vessel
- X
- xebec, or sometimes chebeck
- Y
- yacht
- yachtbuilding.
- yacht clubs
- yacht designers
- yachting
- yacht routine
- yankee
- yard.
- yardarm
- yardmen
- yaw, to.
- yawl
- ‘yellow admiral’
- yellow jack
- yoke
- yuloh
- Z
- zenith
- zenith distance
- zone times
- zulu