Jargon

[aggienaut]

   "That's a beautiful schooner!" says one of my shipmates about the Lady Hawk, another vessel in the Sequim marina.
   "It's actually a ketch, see how the front mast is taller than the aft one" corrects another shipmate, highlighting the only difference between a schooner and a ketch.
   "I think it might actually even be a yawl" says a third shipmate, going on to point out the (only) difference between a ketch and a yawl -- that the mizzen (aft / more towards the back of two) is aft of the rudderpost rather than forward of it.

   Why we need distinct names for such very subtle differences in design beats me. I'm also fascinated by the more obscure bits of terminology on the boats.

   On the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain the "lazarette" is the storage space under the aft cabin. On the Pilgrim the lazarettes are storage spaces under benches on the foredeck.
   On the Lady Washington the triangular room used as storage space in the very very front of the vessel is called the cable-tiers (usually rendered as one word, the cabletiers), whereas the corresponding same space on the Chieftain is the forepeak.
   And then there's another space on the Chieftain above the bilges just aft of the main hold that's called the "liquor locker." There's no liquor stored there and I doubt there ever was but that's the name that the space seems to have. Is there an established nomenclature as to what constitutes a "liquor locker?"

   And on the Lady under the bunks there are drawers in which personal stuff can be put and they are called "pookas" (sp?), and I always thought that was highly odd, and then we're touring the oil spill response vessel WC Parks Responder and the captain refers to crew lockers as pookas as well. So I guess it IS the term for such things??

   And I'm sure I could come up with a dozen more examples of the more obscure nautical jargon, but at least most of these things are relatively unimportant. Just remember a chart is a chart and not a map, and I still want to see someone cite a source as to why a cannon is a gun and not a cannon.


Picture of the Day

Lady Washington at Port Angeles

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/amalie_/]

I consulted Aviv and his abundant knowledge of the sea, and this is what he told me:

Liquor lockers were originally designed to house beer (grog) and spirits. Eagle had a liquor locker where they stored the booze they used for parties or that shipmates had bought in foreign lands. Basically the liquor locker was a safe and locked space where the alcohol could be kept where the crew couldn't get to it until it was time to ration out the contents. Incidentally, the liquor lockers ended up being better locked-up than where they kept the weapons. So even though your ships don't have alcohol in the liquor locker, having a liquor locker gives the ship a more authentic design.

Pookas is an appropriate term. Military vessels usually call it something else like "lockers" but generally most non-military vessels will call them pookas. The reason why they call it a pooka is because according to Irish lore, pookas are shape-shifting fairies. People then called those bunk storage lockers pookas because it was a hidden place to store things - as if their bed could shapeshift into a storage compartment just like the pookas could shapeshift.

As far as the cannons go it's just a nomenclature thing. Back in the day "canon" referred to a weapon used on land - large bore weapons with wheels ideally suited for rolling around on land that were generally more accurate with greater fire power. "Gun" referred to weapons used at sea - a sea-cannon if you will, much smaller, not as accurate, but due to to their lesser weight more can be held on a deck of a ship, with smaller wheels. During a battle on land a scout might peek on the enemy and if he reported to his superiors that the enemy was using guns, this meant that they had taking their guns off the ship and put them on land. Muskets, rifles, and pistols were always called as such, never as guns. So a gun was more or less thought of as a type of cannon used at sea.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Hmm silly. This location isn't secure at all. We ARE supposed to check all liquor in with the captain at the end of every night though and retrieve it from him when we want it once we've been stood down. I find it strangely distrustful, as if we were liable to be incorrigible alcoholics if we had access all day, but hey it means I don't have to devote any of MY extremely meagre personal space to storing it.

Quite silly about the origin of pooka though. (: