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Nautical Lexicon - What The Words Mean


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Also; The Forcastle (Fos'cil)..sp..is the area on the Bow where the wenches are located. The Bow is forward and Aft is the stern or Fantail. Midships is just that. You are supposed to walk forward on the Starboard side and Aft on Port. It's not a ceiling it's an overhead and the Bridge is where the ship is controlled. It's not called a bathroom it's a head. "Passing with flying colors" means the ship is flying all its flags. "Let the cat out of the bag" was a form of punishment using a form of whip called the cat of 9-tails. Being keel hauled dragged you under the ship so barnacles would cut you. Happy Sailing.

 

If my wife loses track of me, she will now know to look on the bow to find me staring at the "wenches"! Oh, you mean winches, I stare at those too!:halo: :D

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Thanks! That was very helpful (especially the photos). One less thing to worry about / ponder over.

 

Just remember that the muster is not about the boats, it is about accountability. It is getting all the untrained passengers to safe areas, and counting them to know if anyone is missing. This way, emergency teams can focus on the emergency, if no passenger is missing, instead of having to search for these people, or having to send further crew into the danger area looking for passengers.

 

As passenger areas are checked and found unoccupied, the crew assigned to do this on each deck, and those assigned to direct traffic to the muster stations, will "collapse" their teams down to central areas to provide more crew to deal with all the passengers at the muster stations, whether that be to move to a different location (the muster station is threatened by the emergency) or from the muster station to the boats.

 

Passenger muster drill is known in the industry as "herding cats".

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Excellent info, thanks so much!

 

I have some mobility issues -- I can move around unaided, but I can't move very fast. As long as I don't have to race up/down stairs, I should be fine. :)

 

Back in the old days people had to bring their life vests with them to the muster drills (as my photos show). This meant that after the muster drill everyone wanted to go back to their cabins to drop of their life vests. The elevators and stairs were a madhouse.

 

 

However, too many people let the straps on their life vests drag on the ground, causing people to trip and fall. So now the cruise lines say that you don't have to bring your life vests to the muster drill. This means that you can go straight from the muster drill to where ever you want (on the ship). As a result, the stairs and elevators are still busy, but it is not as bad because the passengers are not all trying to go to the same general area.

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  • 2 months later...
Abaft means to the rear of, aft of, in the direction of the stern; for example, abaft of the mainmast (on a sailboat).

 

 

SBtS

 

 

 

 

Well, you're close. Abaft (like abeam for the widest section of a boat perpendicular to its length) is the imaginary line across the stern of a boat perpendicular to its length.

 

 

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Abaft means to the rear of, aft of, in the direction of the stern; for example, abaft of the mainmast (on a sailboat).

SBtS

 

Well, you're close. Abaft (like abeam for the widest section of a boat perpendicular to its length) is the imaginary line across the stern of a boat perpendicular to its length.

 

 

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Uh, no. Sailbad is closer to the definition than you are. You are saying that "abaft" is an imaginary line at the stern, in other words it is a noun, naming this line. Actually, "abaft" is an adverb or preposition: "the pier is abaft of the bow" or "he is walking abaft the pool".

 

Abeam is also not a line, but refers to something in relation to the line perpendicular to the length of the ship (not the widest point). "the stern is abeam of the buoy".

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Uh, no. Sailbad is closer to the definition than you are. You are saying that "abaft" is an imaginary line at the stern, in other words it is a noun, naming this line. Actually, "abaft" is an adverb or preposition: "the pier is abaft of the bow" or "he is walking abaft the pool".

 

 

 

Abeam is also not a line, but refers to something in relation to the line perpendicular to the length of the ship (not the widest point). "the stern is abeam of the buoy".

 

 

 

Not so in yacht racing (as in "mast abeam," a no-longer-used rule that turned off a leeward boat’s luffing rights when a windward boat’s helm was forward of a line that crossed through the leeward boat’s mast and was perpendicular to its centerline).

In this case (as with one interpretation of the phrase "abaft" -relating to the transom), the perpendicular line is a somewhat fixed location more than a relational one.

 

 

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"Abaft" is a relative - not definitive - term. It essentially means "closer to the stern" than the object referred to.

 

It is simply the opposite of "forward".

 

Virtually the entire ship is abaft of the bow. The mid-ship elevators are abaft of the forward elevators. But those same mid-ship elevators are forward of the aft elevators.

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  • 1 month later...
Back in the old days people had to bring their life vests with them to the muster drills (as my photos show). This meant that after the muster drill everyone wanted to go back to their cabins to drop of their life vests. The elevators and stairs were a madhouse.

 

Those old days still exist on Princess.

 

Uh, no. Sailbad is closer to the definition than you are. You are saying that "abaft" is an imaginary line at the stern, in other words it is a noun, naming this line. Actually, "abaft" is an adverb or preposition: "the pier is abaft of the bow" or "he is walking abaft the pool".

 

Correct. You beat me to it. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
I always wondered why we don't just say front, back, left, and right for ships. We do for road vehicles and bikes. Sometimes people slip up and say front or back anyway, even though they know the nautical lexicon, out of habit.

 

Another curiosity: Why is left called port if we don't always get off that side of the ship? Why is right called starboard if there is no board with a star on it?

 

Because in cars and bikes, everyone is facing the same way. On a boat or ship, some people may be standing facing aft, and their left and right are reversed from a person facing forward.

 

When we raced sailboats, a new person would as the same question. Normally while looking aft at me at the helm. So I would shout, LOOK LEFT, and they would look to THEIR left, not the boat's left. They got it.

 

In the old days, the port side of the ship would be the side to the pier or dock. But no longer. Just like you no longer pull on a lever tl brake your vehicle.

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  • 3 months later...
Back in the old days people had to bring their life vests with them to the muster drills (as my photos show). This meant that after the muster drill everyone wanted to go back to their cabins to drop of their life vests. The elevators and stairs were a madhouse.

 

 

However, too many people let the straps on their life vests drag on the ground, causing people to trip and fall. So now the cruise lines say that you don't have to bring your life vests to the muster drill. This means that you can go straight from the muster drill to where ever you want (on the ship). As a result, the stairs and elevators are still busy, but it is not as bad because the passengers are not all trying to go to the same general area.

 

Some cruise lines still require you to take your life jacket from your cabin to the muster station. Try it on at the station when instructed to do so, re-pack it and return it to your cabin. Some open the emergency stairs, (normally crew only area) to speed up the process and familiarise you with strange routes. Re-packing ensures you can tuck it all in tidy. The procedures vary line by line.

 

If you are disabled in any way it is prudent to arrive at the muster location for the drill, very early. At the end it is wise to leave it thirty minutes before going back to your cabin as getting a lift is like being in a rugby scrum for at least this length of time. There is always a tumult of fit looking passengers trying go get the elevators a couple of decks up to avoid walking up the stairs.

 

Regards John

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