sitesALIVETM Glossary sitesALIVETM Glossary Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary.
ballast - Weighted materials used as a counterweight to stabilize a boat
beam - The width of a ship
Beaufort Force - A scale of numbers, usually from 1 to 12 (although sometimes extended to 15), which indicate wind strength. Each number represents a range of several knots of wind. Beaufort Force 1 is calm, while Beaufort Force 12 is hurricane, i.e., 63 knots or 75 mph.
belay - To make a line or rope fast to a pin or cleat
bow - Forward part of the boat
bowsprit - A spar that juts out forward of the bow; it enlarges the sail area of the ship by permitting extra jibs out in front of the boat
capstan - large manual winch used for any extremely heavy lifting; especially the raising of the anchor
displacement - the weight or volume of water displaced by a ship
exoskeleton - Some animals have a skeleton on the OUTSIDE, not inside their bodies. These animals include insects, arachnids (spiders) and other animals that are in the group called arthropods. Turtles and lobsters are two animals with an exoskeleton.
fathom - A nautical measure of depth or distance equal to 6 feet
foremast - Aboard the three-masted Concordia, the forward most of the three masts
head - Bathroom, or sink, shower, and toilet
helmsman - the person who is at the wheel steering the ship
hull - The body of a boat
knot - Rate of motion equal to 1 nautical mile per hour (about 1.15 miles per hour)
latitude - One of the two coordinates (the other being longitude) used to locate a position at sea; marked in degrees north or south of the equator, from 0 degrees at the equator to 90 degress north or south at the poles; one degree of latitude = 60 minutes of latitude; as one minute equals a mile, a common saying at sea is "a minute's a mile". Latitude is comparable to the x-axis on a graph.
longitude - One of the two coordinates (the other being latitude) used to locate a position at sea; marked in degrees east or west of the prime meridien (0 degrees longitude) universally accepted to be at Greenwich, England. As there are 360 degrees in a circle, longitude may range up to 180 degrees East or West. 180 degrees East and West, in fact, meet on the other side of the globe from Greenwich, at the International Date Line. Longitude is comparable to the y-axis on a graph.
mainmast - Aboard the three-masted Concordia, the middle of the three
mizzenmast - Aboard the three-masted Concordia, the aft most of the three
nutrients - nitrogen and other minerals that animals and plants use for food.
polyps - an individual coral animal. Polyps live together in groups (colonies.) They capture smaller animals that float past them with small tentacles that are around their mouths.
port - The left side of a ship when facing forward
scuba dive - S.C.U.B.A. stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. It's the tanks, tubes and mouthpieces that you've seen on Jacques Cousteau TV programs. In fact, Cousteau invented scuba!
starboard - The right side of a ship when facing forward
stern - The rear of a boat
submersible - A mini-submarine that's used by scientists to go down deep into the ocean for research. A famous one is the Alvin that's operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
wheelhouse - Where the steering wheel and engine controls are
yardarm - The horizontal booms which hold the square sails out crosswise from the foremast
Ocean Challenge / e-mail: ocean@oceanchallenge.com / Class Afloat '96-'97