Share some Sailing Terms....

[jongleur]

Originally Posted by ryon

--- Confusing quote bracketing above. Start of new post:

Sorry, but I think that would be the tack. There may be exceptions, but the downhauls I am familiar with oppose the halyard at the head of the sail.

I'm not sure what bracketing you're referring to.

I haven't seen any reference to the term "tack"
being a line to pull down and tighten
a luff. I have, however, seen the term "downhaul"
used in that regard. A "cunningham"
is a form of "downhaul" which is connected
at a different place than is a typical "downhaul."

I'd like to suggest that there may be
information in places that the Google hasn't
ventured. I stand by my championing of
the term "disgracing line."

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by jongleur

I stand by my championing of
the term "disgracing line."

Can you cite any book, dictionary, magazine, newspaper, or website that has used the term? In Old English, Middle English, or Modern English?


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ryon]

Originally Posted by jongleur

I'm not sure what bracketing you're referring to.

I haven't seen any reference to the term "tack"
being a line to pull down and tighten
a luff. I have, however, seen the term "downhaul"
used in that regard. A "cunningham"
is a form of "downhaul" which is connected
at a different place than is a typical "downhaul."

I'd like to suggest that there may be
information in places that the Google hasn't
ventured. I stand by my championing of
the term "disgracing line."

I meant that the quote you were referring to was difficult to resolve when I made my comment. I wasn't happy with the editing software on this site. I'm not terribly fond of the the '"' that keeps appearing either.

A tack can be a line for hauling down the luff. Visualize a gaff topsail, maybe 80 feet off the deck, with this line attached to the tack of the sail. The downhaul will be even higher, opposing the halyard at the head of the sail.

On some ships, you would strike the sail by hauling it down to the deck by its tack. On others, the gaff top is furled in place, necessitating a downhaul, unless you want to lay aloft just to strike sail.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

Can you cite any book, dictionary, magazine, newspaper, or website that has used the term? In Old English, Middle English, or Modern English?


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Apparently not based on his response in post #66.

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by StuM

Apparently not based on his response in post #66.

Ach!


So "champion" means "to invent a 'sailing' term"?


If so, we're talking about a new class or genre of sailing terminology, namely the class of fantasy or invented terms used only by one person.


After all:


'limber holes' has been documented in published English since 1626;


'limbers' as a word by itself documented since 1729;


'truck' for the top of a mast or flagpole, especially a top part that includes a block for a flag halyard or sail halyard, documented since 1626;


'mast-head' for the top of a mast (but never for the front face thereof) documented since 1748 and as 'masthead' since 1860; and.



'cut of one's jib' or 'cut of their jib' documented since 1823/1824.


For that matter, 'jib-down-haul' has been in published use since 1825; and


'downhaul' documented since 1669 (as 'doone hall', as 'downhaul' in 1727, and defined in a dictionary in 1867 'Down-haul, a rope passing up ... to the upper corner of the sail to pull it down when shortening sail. Also ... to the outer yard-arms of studding-sails, to take them in securely')

[sartorst]

Back when a common sailor was known as Jack and the prostitutes would row out to an anchored ship to sell there services they started the conversation by saying Hi Jack ,many crew members were lost this way hence the term.
I read this many years ago but cant currently substantiate this

[StuM]

Originally Posted by sartorst

Back when a common sailor was known as Jack and the prostitutes would row out to an anchored ship to sell there services they started the conversation by saying Hi Jack ,many crew members were lost this way hence the term.
I read this many years ago but cant currently substantiate this

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be of nautical origin at all.

Hijack is generally accepted to have first been used in the 1920's in the US.

See for example:
Hijack | Define Hijack at Dictionary.com

or

Wordorigins.org

[sartorst]

If its on the internet its true

[StuM]

Originally Posted by sartorst

If its on the internet its true

"The problem with internet quotes is that you cant always depend on their accuracy" -Abraham Lincoln, 1864

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by StuM

"The problem with internet quotes is that you cant always depend on their accuracy" -Abraham Lincoln, 1864

"We crossed the Delaware because the WIFI reception was better in New Jersey marinas" - George Washington, 1776

[ryon]

Speaking of "Jack", lines run through the rig for the sailors to grab onto are called jacklines, or jackstays.

Is this topic about any nautical word, or should it be about just those terms that have found their way into contemporary speech? Here's one for you: On squareriggers, the yards will have two lines, or braces, port and starboard to brace the yard around from one tack to the other. One side is the hauling side, the other is the slacking side. You do not want to be known among the crew as a 'slacker'.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by ryon

Speaking of "Jack", lines run through the rig for the sailors to grab onto are called jacklines, or jackstays.

Is this topic about any nautical word, or should it be about just those terms that have found their way into contemporary speech? Here's one for you: On squareriggers, the yards will have two lines, or braces, port and starboard to brace the yard around from one tack to the other. One side is the hauling side, the other is the slacking side. You do not want to be known among the crew as a 'slacker'.

Hence the term "man the braces"

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Hence the term "man the braces"

...and a diversion from this brings us back to issuing the ration of rum to the crew as "splicing the main brace".

[Tayana42]

And of course,"three sheets to the wind."


S/V B'Shert

[jongleur]

Okay, let's try this tack: Two scenarios.

#1
Captain: Sailor! Haul the downhaul!
Sailor: Aye aye Captain!
Captain: Sailor! I thought I told you to haul the downhaul.
Sailor: I did, Captain. The luff is tight.
Captain: No, no. I meant haul that other downhaul line,
the one that takes the sail down.
Sailor: Oh. Yes sir. Right away sir.

Or

#2
Captain: Sailor! Haul the disgracing line.
Sailor: Aye Aye Captain!
Captain: Well done, Sailor.

References? We don' need no stinkin' references.