black strake
A wide band of planking along a ship's side, just above the wales, which was painted during the 17th and 18th centuries with tar and lamp black as a preservative. It was also used to contrast the ...
breaming
In the early days of sail, the method of cleaning the fouling off a ship's bottom by careening, and then burning off the seaweed, barnacles, etc., which had grown there through long immersion. The ...
coat
Canvas painted with thick tar and secured around a mast or bowsprit where it passed through a vessel's deck, or was bedded down over its stem, to stop water penetrating into the vessel. Nowadays ...
distress signals
A means of calling for help or assistance at sea. All ships over 300 tonnes are required to have equipment specified by Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) regulations. The following ...
gufah
A coracle, shaped like a cauldron and constructed of dried reeds coated with tar, indigenous to the River Tigris. They vary in size from just over one metre to over 3.5 metres (4–12 ft) in diameter. ...
keratolytic
(ke-ră-toh-lit-ik)an agent, such as salicylic acid, that breaks down the outer horny layer of epidermis and is used for treating warts.
loggerhead
1 The wooden bitt in the stern of a whaling boat around which the harpoon line was controlled as it ran out after striking a whale in the days when harpoons were launched by hand.2 A ball of iron ...
pay
V. past and past part. payed seal (the deck or hull seams of a wooden ship) with pitch or tar to prevent leakage.
pitch
A sticky resinous black or dark brown substance that is semi-liquid when hot and hardens when cold, taken as the type of blackness or darkness (as in pitch-dark, pitch-black).See also he that touches ...
sailor
N. a person whose job it is to work as a member of the crew of a commercial or naval ship or boat, especially one who is below the rank of officer.[...]
son of a gun
A description given by the lower deck to children born on board ships of the British Navy during the period when the wives of seamen were allowed to live on board in harbour and, occasionally, at ...
tarry-breeks
A north of England name for a seaman, probably from the same origin as ‘Tar’ or ‘Jack Tar’, and from the Scottish word for breeches. In a sailor's song, popular in the 18th century, a girl whose ...
to black-down
The operation of tarring and blacking a ship's rigging, or of blacking its side. The best mixture was said to be coal tar, vegetable tar, and salt water boiled together and laid on hot. In both cases ...
to prick
1 To sew an additional central seam between the two seams which were normally employed to join the cloths of a sail. This was normally only done when the sails were worn and the original stitching ...
