List of ship directions
This list of ship directions provides succinct definitions for terms applying to spatial orientation in a marine environment or location on a vessel, such as fore, aft, astern, aboard, or topside.
Terms
- Abaft (preposition): at or toward the stern of a ship, or further back from a location, e.g. the mizzenmast is abaft the mainmast.[1]
- Aboard: onto or within a ship, or in a group.[2]
- Above: a higher deck of the ship.[1]
- Aft (adjective): toward the stern (rear) of a ship.[1]
- Adrift: floating in the water without propulsion.
- Aground: resting on the shore or wedged against the sea floor.[3]
- Ahull: with sails furled and helm lashed alee.[4]
- Alee: on or toward the lee (the downwind side).[5]
- Aloft: the stacks, masts, rigging, or other area above the highest solid structure.[1]
- Amidships: near the middle part of a ship.[1]
- Aport: toward the port side of a ship (opposite of "astarboard").[6]
- Ashore: on or towards the shore or land.[7]
- Astarboard: toward the starboard side of a ship (opposite of "aport").[8]
- Astern (adjective): toward the rear of a ship (opposite of "forward").[9]
- Athwartships: toward the sides of a ship.[1]
- Aweather: toward the weather or windward side of a ship.[10]
- Aweigh: just clear of the sea floor, as with an anchor.[11]
- Below: a lower deck of the ship.[1]
- Belowdecks: inside or into a ship, or down to a lower deck.[12]
- Bilge: the underwater part of a ship between the flat of the bottom and the vertical topsides[13]
- Bottom: the lowest part of the ship's hull.
- Bow: front of a ship (opposite of "stern")[1]
- Centerline or centreline: an imaginary, central line drawn from the bow to the stern.[1]
- Fore or forward: at or toward the front of a ship or further ahead of a location (opposite of "aft")[1]
- Inboard: attached inside the ship.[14]
- Keel: the bottom structure of a ship's hull.[15]
- Leeward: side or direction away from the wind (opposite of "windward").[16]
- On deck: to an outside or muster deck (as "all hands on deck").[17]
- On board: on, onto, or within the ship[18]
- Onboard: somewhere on or in the ship.[19]
- Outboard: attached outside the ship.[20]
- Port: the left side of the ship, when facing forward (opposite of "starboard").[1]
- Starboard: the right side of the ship, when facing forward (opposite of "port").[1]
- Stern: the rear of a ship (opposite of "bow").[1]
- Topside: the top portion of the outer surface of a ship on each side above the waterline.[1]
- Underdeck: a lower deck of a ship.[21]
- Yardarm: an end of a yard spar below a sail.
- Waterline: where the water surface meets the ship's hull.
- Weather: side or direction from which wind blows (same as "windward").[16]
- Windward: side or direction from which wind blows (opposite of "leeward").[16]
Date of first use
- "Aboard": 14th century[2]
- "Aft": 1580[22]
- "Outboard": 1694[23]
- "Inboard": 1830[20]
- "Belowdecks": 1897.[12]
See also
- Deck (ship) - defines the various decks on ships
- Port and starboard - explanation, with signal lights, and history
- Glossary of nautical terms - list of over 2,400 nautical words or phrases
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Ship Directions - TKDTutor" (glossary), TKDtutor.com, 2012, web: SD Archived 2012-05-26 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b "Aboard - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-ab
- ^ "Aground - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-agr
- ^ "Ahull - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-ahull
- ^ "Alee - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-alee
- ^ "Aport - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-aport
- ^ "Ashore - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-ash
- ^ "Astarboard - Definition and More from Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-astar
- ^ "Astern - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-astern
- ^ "Aweather - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-aweat
- ^ "Aweigh - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-aweigh
- ^ a b "Belowdecks - Definition and More from Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-belowd
- ^ "Bilge - Definition and More from Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-bilge
- ^ "Inboard - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-inb
- ^ "Bilge keel - Definition and More from Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-bilgek
- ^ a b c "Windward - Definition and More from Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-windw
- ^ "Deck - Definition and More from Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-deck
- ^ "Definition of ABOARD". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
- ^ "Onboard - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-onb
- ^ a b "Outboard - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-outb
- ^ "Underdeck - Definition and More from Merriam-Webster Dictionary", Merriam-Webster Dictionary, May 2012, web: MW-underd
- ^ "aft". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ "outboard". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)