Sailing Idioms

[Yellowtulip]

"Gone by the board". Something fell off the Lee side of a ship past the leeboard.

"Between the devil and the deep blue sea". The devil seam was the seam between the deck planking and the hull. To pay (i.e. Caulk it) was risky with a high risk of falling overboard. To refuse to do the job was even riskier.

"Touch and go". Thames barges when tacking up rivers before buoyage, would wait for the leeboard to touch bottom and then they'd "go" i.e. tack. The source for this was, I think, Tristan Jones' autobiography, 'A Steady Trade'. I've also read in a Maurice Griffiths book, that it derives from crossing a sandbar on a rising tide.

[mlydon]

Just found this.....

See the Sea - Nautical Language

Matt

[Adelie]

Yar..

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Connemara

The full phrase is "There's the devil to pay and no pitch hot." It does have a nautical connection to closing the seams of a wooden boat, although that was not the origin of the first part of it. See https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/devil-to-pay.html

Connemara

That's an entirely different phrase to "Strike while the iron's hot"

[StuM]

Originally Posted by mlydon

here's some more -

3 sheets to the wind - completely wacked out, drunk....used to mean all 3 masts sheets were lose - not in control

by and large - all around good sailing boat (did well both by the wind and large (downwind)

What are "masts sheets?

[mlydon]

Sorry if i was unclear.

A full 'ship' rigged vessel had 3 masts - fore, main, and mizzen. Each mast had several sails - course, main, top, topgallants and occasionaly royals. Each of these was rectangular and spread on yards- the cross-mast spars. The yards, and thus the sails, were angled appropriately by sheets (ropes) running to the tips of each yard, port and starbd. So 3 sheets to the wind - all the sheets were loose and flapping - same as if your jib sheet gets awar from you, times 10

Matt

[HopCar]

“The devil to pay and no tar hot.”
The devil was the outermost seam of the deck. It was called the devil because it was difficult to caulk. It was caulked with cotton or oakum and then pitch was poured on top with a “pitch payer”

“Strike while the iron is hot”
After the pitch was applied to a seam, a round rod, the iron, was heated and run down the seam to smooth it. This was called striking the seam.

I actually sold pitch payers and big square metal cans of “marine glue” or Stockholm Tar.

This is a video showing the process, and you guys thought 5200 was a bitch to work with.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c4OgVytwaRk

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by mlydon

Sorry if i was unclear.

A full 'ship' rigged vessel had 3 masts - fore, main, and mizzen. Each mast had several sails - course, main, top, topgallants and occasionaly royals. Each of these was rectangular and spread on yards- the cross-mast spars. The yards, and thus the sails, were angled appropriately by sheets (ropes) running to the tips of each yard, port and starbd. So 3 sheets to the wind - all the sheets were loose and flapping - same as if your jib sheet gets awar from you, times 10

Matt

My understanding is that "three" was the critical message in the phrase "three sheets to the wind".

The sheets are the jib sheets and typically a full rigged ship had four jibs (although occasionally three and sometimes up to six).

When close hauled on the wind, much care was needed not to come up too much on the wind and losing drive (ending up in irons etc).

The foremost jib would be the first to stall and if left uncorrected by steering off the wind, it would be taken aback and it's sheet would now be to windward rather than the lee. A good helmsman could correct at this point.

However if not corrected, the next jib to stall would be the next outermost one and again it's sheet would be on the windward side.

If the helmsman was so inattentive as to let three jibs stall, he was in the poo with the master (or mate of the watch).

Also, by this point, it might not be possible to correct with rudder alone so he would be in the poo with the rest of the crew.

Of course, I could be wrong

[senormechanico]

The Tea Party Museum guy ought to know that it's GALVANIC CORROSION not "electrolysis".

[Kivalo]

Originally Posted by StuM

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/brass-monkeyshines/


"Somebody’s fanciful imagination is at work cooking up spurious etymologies again. In short, this origin for the phrase “cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” is nonsense because:
..."

And more from my go-to site for all things linguistic
World Wide Words: Brass monkey weather

Interesting, the corrosion aspect makes perfect sense.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by mlydon

Sorry if i was unclear.

A full 'ship' rigged vessel had 3 masts - fore, main, and mizzen. Each mast had several sails - course, main, top, topgallants and occasionaly royals. Each of these was rectangular and spread on yards- the cross-mast spars. The yards, and thus the sails, were angled appropriately by sheets (ropes) running to the tips of each yard, port and starbd. So 3 sheets to the wind - all the sheets were loose and flapping - same as if your jib sheet gets awar from you, times 10

Matt

Unless it has 4 or 5 masts.


No, the square sails are angled by the braces attached to the yards, the sheets (only attached to the loose lower corners of a square sail ) adjust the fullness.


And if three sheets are loose on a fully rigged ship, there could be another 20 or so sheets that are still fast.


Or to put it another way, "masts sheets" is a very dubious term.

[redneckrob]

A few common idioms among the boat people in the Coast Guard:
"Fair winds and following seas" - a good luck goodbye
"Take a round turn" - Generally used by leadership to indicate something needs to be fixed, as in "we need to take a round turn on that HR software project, it's way behind schedule".
"Crossed the bar" - passed away, as in "Sadly Tom Jones crossed the bar last night"
"Sea legs", as in "he hasn't quite got his sea legs in the new job yet.
"Bravo Zulu" or BZ - Good job
"Turn to" - Get to work
"Knock off" - finish up work and go home
"Scuttlebut" - Rumor mill, literally the word for a drinking cask so comes from the same origins as the current "water cooler" usage

[sailor1924]

Originally Posted by Connemara

The full phrase is "There's the devil to pay and no pitch hot." It does have a nautical connection to closing the seams of a wooden boat, although that was not the origin of the first part of it. See https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/devil-to-pay.html

Connemara

The Devil Plank was the last plank on the outer edge of the deck, it was very difficult to caulk because it was repeatedly penetrated by the top end of the frames or sisters of the frames which were used to create the bulwarks at the deck edge. Having knelt and worshiped a teak deck for 15 years the phrase is accurately expressing the sentiment of frustration when it begins to leak yet again.

[Tingum]

BLAMF. Blowing like a M Fer

[jmorrison146]

WARNING -- Might be deemed totally irrelevant!

The US Coast Guard is a world unto itself. More Coastie jargon:

"Two-blocked" means no more to give. When the blocks of a block and tackle rig are touching, the line has been fully use and no more effort can be expended. A person is "two-blocked" if to busy to take on another task.

"Fromunda" is that confused pile of line, wire, old paint brushes, and rags that may be found in the fore peak of a buoy tender.

"Up behind" is the command given when the line on a winch has done its job and the line is to be slacked and taken off the winch.

"Up behind on the hog" (a personal favorite) is the command given when the cross-deck winch, used to "hog" a buoy chain into the chain stopper, has done its job and the line is to be slacked and taken off the winch.

"Hard for the Guard" means excited about the job.

"Square grouper" are bales of pot recovers from the sea.

"Sand crab" is anyone not a sailor, a land dweller.

"Duck scrubber" is any Coastie that has chosen amshore-based environmental response job rather than the sea.

"The Third Coast" is the Gulf of Mexico".

"More balls than brains" applies to surfmen and rescue swimmers.

"Tits up" means upside down, broken, out of commission.

"Iggy Piggy" is a questionable girl,from St. Ignace, previous site of the Great Lakes buoy tender roundup in which five 180-foot buoy tenders (50 crew each) gathered for three days of drunken debauchery.

"Mustang" is a prior enlisted member that has completed Officer Candidate School (was wild but has been tamed).

"Ring knocker" is an Academy graduate that is proud of his alma mater.

"Deck ape" is a non-rate assigned to the deck force.

There are derogatory terms for every enlisted specialty. A "snipe" is a Machinery Technician, a "bridge pussy" is a Quartermaster, a "turd chaser" is a Damage Controlman, a "nose picker" is an Aviation Machinists Mate, a "pecker checker" Corpsman, a tooth fairy" is a Dental Technician, etc. Gunners Mates are called things that cannot be repeated, even here.