20 Terms
Contributors in General boating
General boating
driver-mast
Boat; General boating
The fifth mast of a six-masted barquentine or gaff schooner. It is preceded by the jigger mast and followed by the spanker mast. The sixth mast of the only seven-masted vessel, the gaff schooner ...
magnetic north
Boat; General boating
The direction towards the North Magnetic Pole. Varies slowly over time.
no room to swing a cat
Boat; General boating
The entire ship's company was expected to witness floggings, assembled on deck. If it was very crowded, the bosun might not have room to swing the 'cat o' nine tails' (the whip).
devil seam
Boat; General boating
The devil was possibly a slang term for the garboard seam, hence "between the devil and the deep blue sea" being an allusion to keel hauling, but a more popular version seems to be the seam between ...
