NAUTICAL TERMS 
ABAFT: Toward the stern; further aft than. 
AFT: At, toward, or near the stern. 
ALLEYWAY: Passageway. 
ALTITUDE. Angular elevation of the Pole above the horizon. 
BALLAST: Any weight or weights used to keep the ship from 
becoming top-heavy. 
BEAM: Greatest width of a vessel. 
BILGE: The flat, or nearly flat, part of a ship's bottom. 
BITTS: Heavy steel castings fitted to a deck for securing mooring 
lines or hawsers. 
BOOM: A long, round, heavy spar, pivoted at one end, generally 
used for hoisting cargo, etc. On sailing vessels the spar hold¬ 
ing the bottom of a fore-and-aft sail. 
BOW: The forward part of a vessel. 
BRIDGE: The observation platform or partial deck built across and 
above a ship's deck for the use of officers in navigating the 
vessel. 
* 
BULKHEAD: A vertical partition running from side to side or fore- 
and-aft beneath the deck. A collision bulkhead is the first 
partition forward, near the bow. 
BUNKER: A compartment used for storage of fuel. 
CABLE: The chain to which the anchor is fastened. The term 
"cable s length" means about 100 fathoms or 600 feet, one- 
tenth of a sea mile. 
CAPSTAN: A windlass for winding the cable. 
CHART: A sea map used in navigation, showing depth of the sea, 
location of rocks, configuration of coast, etc. 
