close-hauled

In or on board a ship. The word is also widely used in other maritime meanings: for one ship to fall aboard another was for it to fall foul of another; in the days of sailing navies to lay...

A branch of the science of pneumatics which deals with air and other gases in motion and with their mechanical effects. In its maritime connection it can be used to explain how a wind...

1 The distance a sailing vessel runs between tacks when working to windward. Thus a ship tacking across the wind to reach a point to windward of its present position can make...

ˈbōlin; ˈbōˌlīn

n. a rope attached to the weather leech of a square sail and leading forward, thus helping the ship sail nearer the wind.

1 Short ropes attached to the futtock shrouds under the tops in square-rigged vessels. They are used to brace in the shrouds more tightly and thus give space to brace the yards...

A ship is said to be chapelled, or to build a chapel, when, after losing way through the water in a light or baffling wind (see also catspaw), it turns completely round or, when close...

A sliding centreboard of wood or metal. It can be raised or lowered inside a case through a slot in the keel of a shallow-draught boat, to increase the effective draught and so reduce...

A project launched during the 1970s in Germany to examine the possibility of using wind as the main motive power for merchant vessels. The proposition was to reintroduce square-rigged ships...

1 Length of water surface over which the wind blows in generating waves. Together with wind velocity and duration, this determines wave height. Many features of coastal...

A triangular sail set by sailing vessels on the stays of the foremast. The largest square-rigged sailing vessels of the late 19th century and early 20th century carried as many as six jibs,...