Components of a Square Rigged Sailing Ship Quiz

Answer: The main (mast)

The three masts are (from the bow) the fore mast, the main mast and the mizzen mast.

The mizzen mast is the third mast from the bow on a ship with three or more masts or the rear mast on a two masted ship.

Strangely the word "mizzen" derives from the French "misaine" meaning "foresail" or "foremast"

Answer: The anchor

The catheads project horizontally from the bows of the ship and are used for fastening up the anchor (fishing) so that it does not touch the bows. The inner end is called the cat's tail and is fitted to the cat beam. The anchor is fastened using the cat stopper. Fastening the anchor is known as "fishing" it and once it has been "fished" it is said to be "catted". And you thought English was inconsistent!

The rudder is at the other end of the ship (technically known as the blunt end) and is used to steer the ship.

The toilets are called "The Heads" because they used to be situated at the head of the ship.

The figurehead is a carved image on the bow of the ship placed there for luck and decoration. They often depicted semi naked-women - a symbol of luck in most men's language and nothing is more decorative (at least to your average sailor).

Answer: Going through the tops

"The tops" are the platforms at the top of each mast, specifically at the top of the lowest stage of each mast, remembering that a mast is made up of at least three pieces joined end to end. The tops are used for placing lookouts when sailing and sharpshooters when engaged with the enemy. Nelson was killed by a perfidious Frenchman situated in the fighting tops of the Redoubtable. The tops should not be confused with the "crows nest" which is a platform at the very top of the mast assembly.

To get to the tops a proper seaman will climb the shrouds until they meet the futtock shrouds and then move onto the latter and hang almost upside down while he climbs out and onto the tops around the projecting edge of the platform. A lubber (an unseamanly person) will climb the shrouds and then pass under the futtock shrouds and through the lubbers hole which pierces the platform of the tops alongside the mast.

Both seamen and lubbers had need of the heads which were basically holes in a plank hanging over the ocean.

Ships had bottoms and the last thing they needed was a hole going through them. The common name for a hole in the ships bottom is "Oh @#^*)%".

Answer: The part of the ship's side where it slopes inward as you go higher

Most British and French ships of the period narrowed from the waterline upwards in order to enhance stability. Dutch ships were often flat sided hence the term "slab-sided, Dutch built bugger".

The word "tumblehome" is still used today to describe the slope of the sides of a motor car where they angle to meet the roof.

On a well regulated ship nothing tumbles anywhere in a storm or the First Lieutenant will have something to say about it. And if it did it would end up in the bilges.

Answer: It's the lowest deck of a ship

The "orlop" is the very lowest deck just above the hold. Offering only very low headroom the orlop was usually used for stowing cables and hawsers. In action the surgeon set up shop on the orlop so that he and the wounded were out of the way. Nelson died on Victory's orlop at Trafalgar.

The powder nagazine was sometimes down on the orlop and was a sealed cubicle with flashproof doors and no lighting (for obvious reasons).

Copper sheathing was applied to ships' bottoms to stop worms and was known as "copper sheathing".

Ships usually did carry livestock for meat, milk and eggs. Usually they were the first things overboard when going into action or when trying to lighten the ship to get away from trouble. One moment you're chewing your cudd enjoying the ocean cruise and the next moment you're in the middle of the Atlantic having your very first swimming lesson. It was a tough life in the navy even for a cow.

Answer: A soft iron bar used to correct a magnetic compass

A ship has an inherent vertical magnetism. To counteract this a soft metal bar is placed at the fore of the binnacle where the compass is mounted. The size and position of the bar is determined during the calibration process known as "swinging the compass". If a Flinders Bar doesn't fully counteract the ship's magnetism then magnets or "Kelvin's Balls" are used. No discussion about the juxtaposition of "Flinder's Bar" and "Kelvin's Balls" will be entered into. We are all grown ups, yes?

The Flinders Bar was named after Matthew Flinders an English explorer and navigator who was the first person to circumnavigate Australia thus proving it was one large island.

When facing heavy weather the captain will order "Batten down the hatches". This means that pieces of timber are fastened across the hatches (doorways etc) to stop them blowing off or washing away. Surprisingly the timbers used to "batten down the hatches" are known as "battens".

"Splicing the mainbrace" is term for having a tot (or twenty) of rum. The very thought of a bar standing between a sailor and his tot is quite ridiculous.

Answer: Connecting the ship's beams to its sides

Knees are angled pieces of timber which join the lateral beams and deck beams of the ship to the side plates and ribs. Typically they are made from naturally bent pieces of oak individually selected for each angle.

I can find no reference to a ship having a "foot" which is really surprising given that most other body parts are covered (don't ask what another name for a spigot in a barrel is this is a family site - think male chook).

Answer: A post mounted at the bow for fastening cables to

Once the anchor has been weighed and bowsed up the cable is fastened to the "bitt". The end of the cable fastened to the bitt is called the "bitter end". Once you have hold of that there ain't no more.

A "bit" is a bit of wood or (more commonly today) metal placed in a horses mouth to allow the rider to steer the thing. You steer a ship with a rudder rather than via torture.

A "butt" is a large barrel. Butts placed on deck to hold drinking water were known as "scuttlebutts" giving name to the rumours and info picked up while lounging around having a drink. In 200 years will we call such talk photocopier or coffee machine? For a similar reason in Australia we refer to misleading rumours as "Furphies". In WW1 water was delivered in metal tanks made by J Furphy and Son of Shepparton Victoria.

A guess you could call a small sail "a bit of a sail" but if you did I'm sure that the sailors would point at you and call you names.

Answer: It is wrapped around standing rigging to protect sails from chaffing

There are many places on board where the sails come into contact with the standing rigging and the resultant friction will obviously wear the sails unnecessarily. To stop this baggywrinkles are made by tying lengths cut from old lines to longer lengths of line using a "railway sennit". This is then wrapped around the offending rigging to form a sort of furry cylinder.

The cat is stored in a bag and kept by the bosun's mate. The phrase (the cat is out of the bag" has been erroneously ascribed to this arrangement but is more likely derived from the practice of selling a cat in a bag while pretending it is a pig. What a disappointment, you get home looking forward to a nice pork chop and you get a spitting, squealing, dirty little moggie instead.

Tha cable used to secure the anchor is too heavy to wrap around the capstan so smaller ropes are attached to it and warped to the capstan. These lines are known as messengers.

Answer: A type of projectile fired from a ship's gun

Canister shot is anti-personnel ammunition consisting of small balls or other bits of metal packed into a thin metal tin. On firing the tin burst and the small pieces sprayed from the barrel with hideous effect. Canister should not be confused with grape shot which employed much bigger balls fewer in number.

Prior to eating salt beef or pork (often referred to as "horse") needed to be boiled for some hours. This would be done in cauldrons in the galley and the meat issued to representatives of groups of sailors (messes) when ready. The scum floating on the boiling water was known as "slush" and was highly prized as a lubricant or leather treatment. The cook and his mate regarded slush as their perk and would often sell it or trade it for grog. "Slush" is not to be confused with "slops" which are leftover clothes often as a result of a sailor dying. A dead sailor's slops would be auctioned at the mast with the proceeds going to his family.

In the days of sailing ships depth was measured in fathoms. A fathom is six feet which is a touch over 1.8 metres in modern day parlance.

The main stowage on board are the "holds".