Fateful Voyage
Glossary & Nautical Dictionary
K
- kava
- W: 1. A plant from the South Pacific, Piper methysticum. 2. An intoxicating
beverage made from the kava plant.
- keckle
- TFD: To wind old rope around, as a
cable, to preserve its surface from being
fretted
- keckling
- TFD: Old rope or iron chains wound around a
cable.
- F: a name given to any old ropes, which are wound about a cable, with a small interval between
the turns, and used to preserve the surface of the cable from being
fretted, when it rubs against the ship's
bow, or
forefoot.
- kedge
- W: A small
anchor used for
warping a vessel
- B: A small anchor with an iron
stock.
- F: a small anchor used to keep a ship steady whilst she
rides in a harbour or river, particularly
at the turn of the tide, when she might otherwise drive over her principal anchor, and entangle the stock or
flukes with her slack
cable, so as to loosen it from the ground. This is accordingly prevented by a kedge
rope that restrains her from approaching it. The kedges are also particularly useful in transporting a ship,
i.e. removing her from one part of the harbour to another, by means of ropes, which are fastened to these anchors.
They are generally furnished with an iron stock, which is easily displaced, for the convenience of
stowing them.
- keel
- W: A large
beam along the underside of a ship’s hull from
bow to
stern.
- B: The principal piece of timber in a ship, which is usually first laid on the blocks in building.
- keelson, kelson
- TFD: A timber or girder fastened above and parallel to the keel of a ship or boat for additional strength.
- B: A piece of timber forming the interior of the keel; being laid on the middle of the floor timbers
immediately over the keel, and serving to unite the former to the latter.
- keep the luff
- F: to continue close to the wind, i.e. sailing with a course inclined to the direction of the wind,
as much as possible, without deviating
to leeward.
- ketch
ketch
- F: a vessel equipped with two masts, viz. the
mainmast and
mizenmast, and usually from 100 to 250
tons
burthen.
- kevel
- TFD: A sturdy
belaying pin for the heavier
cables of a ship.
- key
- A small, low island composed largely of coral or sand.
- F: a long wharf, usually built of stone, by the side of a harbour or river, and having several
store houses for the convenience of lading and discharging merchant ships. It is accordingly furnished with
posts and rings, whereby they are secured; together with cranes,
capstans, and other engines, to lift the
goods into, or out of, the vessels which lie alongside.
- kicker, kicking strap
- W: A piece of rope that connects the lower end of the
mast and the
boom in order to provide a means
for exerting downward force on the boom and thus controlling the shape of the sail.
- killick
- TFD: A small
anchor, especially one made of a stone in a wooden frame.
- king's evil
- WN: scrofula: a form of tuberculosis characterized by swellings of the lymphatic glands
- kittereen
- carriage, conveyance
- knee
- WP: a curved piece of load-bearing wood that is often used to connect adjacent members at
approximately right angles to one another. Knees are often used in the construction of wooden boats and ships,
particularly as natural angle brackets to fasten the deck to the hull and to reinforce critical structural locations.
- F: a crooked piece of timber, having two branches, or arms, and generally used to connect the
beams of
a ship with her sides or timbers. The branches of the knees form an angle of greater or smaller extent, according
to the mutual situation of the pieces which they are designed to unite. One branch is securely bolted to one of
the deck beams, whilst the other is in the same manner attached to a corresponding timber in the ship's side.
Besides the great utility of knees in connecting the beams and timbers into one compact frame, they contribute
greatly to the strength and solidity of the ship, in the different parts of her frame to which they are bolted,
and thereby enable her, with greater firmness, to resist the effects of a turbulent sea. In fixing of these pieces,
it is occasionally necessary to give an oblique direction to the vertical, or side branch, in order to avoid the
range of an adjacent gun port, or, because the knee may be so shaped as to require this disposition; it being
sometimes difficult to procure so great a variety of knees as may be necessary in the construction of a number
of ships of war.
- knittle
- F: a small line, which is either plaited or twisted, and used for various purposes at sea; as to fasten
the
service on the
cable, to
reef the
sails by the bottom, and to hang the
hammocks
between decks; this name is also given to the loops or buttons of a
bonnet.
- knot
- W: 1. A looping of a piece of string or of any other long, flexible material that cannot be untangled
without passing one or both ends of the material through its loops. 2. A unit of speed, equal to one nautical
mile per hour. (Which is equal to exactly 1.852 km/h and approximately 1.151 mph.)
- B: A division of the
log line, answering in the calculation of the ship's velocity, to one mile.
- F: a large knob formed on the extremity of a rope, by untwisting the ends thereof, and interweaving
them regularly amongst each other. There are several sorts of knots, which differ in their form and size,
according to the uses for which they are designed; the principal of these are the diamond knot, the rose knot,
the wall knot, or walnut, some of which are single, and others double. The knots are generally used to fasten one
rope to another, by means of a small cord attached to the neck of the knot, called the
lanyard, which is firmly
tied about both ropes. They are also designed to prevent the end of a rope from sliding through an eye, which
the knot is intended to confine in a particular situation.
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