A glossary of nautical terms

Each month, we will add nautical terms to this list in alphabetical order. This is a partial glossary of nautical terms; some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries.

A to C - D to F - G to I - J to L - M to O

Daggerboard - A type of light centerboard that is lifted vertically; often in pairs, with the leeward one lowered when beating.
Dandy - 1. A rig with a small mizzen abaft the steering post. 2. In British usage, an alternative term for a yawl. 3. In British usage, a small after-sail on a yawl.
Dart - To run dart, to run dead before the wind.
Davit - 1. A spar formerly used on board ships as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship. 2. A crane, often working in pairs and usually made of steel, used to lower things over the side of a ship, including launching a lifeboat over the side of a ship.
Davy Jones' Locker - An idiom for the bottom of the sea.
Day beacon - An unlighted fixed structure which is equipped with a dayboard for daytime identification.
Day-blink - Moment at dawn where, from some point on the mast, a lookout can see above low lying mist which envelops the ship.
Dayboard - The daytime identifier of an aid to navigation presenting one of several standard shapes (square, triangle, rectangle) and colors (red, green, white, orange, yellow, or black).
Dead ahead - Exactly ahead, directly ahead, directly in front.
Dead in the water - Not moving (used only when a vessel is afloat and neither tied up nor anchored). Term is abbreviated to DIW by the US Navy. It is often used to indicate a pirate or drug runner vessel has been immobilised.
Dead wake - The trail of a fading disturbance in the water. See also wake.
Deadeye - A wooden block with three holes (but no pulleys) which is spliced to a shroud. It is used to adjust the tension in the standing rigging of large sailing vessels, by lacing through the holes with a lanyard to the deck. Performs the same job as a turnbuckle.
Deadhead - A snag.
Deadlight - A strong shutter fitted over a porthole or other opening that can be closed in bad weather.
Deadrise -The design angle of the hull at the keel (q.v.) relative to horizontal when viewing the cross section, or the distance of rise from the keel to a defined point on the hull.
Deadwood - A wooden part (vertical timbers or planking) of the centerline structure of a boat, usually between the sternpost and amidships. It is used to "fill the spaces where, owing to the shape of the vessel, the floor-timbers have to be discontinued."
Death roll- In a keel boat, a death roll is the act of broaching to windward, putting the spinnaker pole into the water and causing a crash-gybe of the boom and mainsail, which sweep across the deck and plunge down into the water. During a death roll, the boat rolls from side to side, becoming gradually more unstable until either it capsizes or the skipper reacts correctly to prevent it.
Debarcation or disembarkation - The process of leaving a ship or aircraft, or removing goods from a ship or aircraft.
Debunk - The process of removing fuel from a vessel. After a ship wreck, a "debunkering" operation will be performed in an effort to minimize damage and protect the environment from fuel spills.
Decks - The top of the boat; the surface is removed to accommodate the seating area. The structures forming the approximately horizontal surfaces in the ship's general structure. Unlike flats, they are a structural part of the ship.
Deck hand or decky - A person whose job involves aiding the deck supervisor in (un)mooring, anchoring, maintenance, and general evolutions on deck.
Deck supervisor - The person in charge of all evolutions and maintenance on deck; sometimes split into two groups: forward deck supervisor, aft deck supervisor.
Deckhead - The under-side of the deck above. The inside of the boat is normally paneled over to hide the structure, pipes, electrical wires. It can be in thin wood planks, often covered with a vinyl lining, or in thin PVC or now even in fiberglass planks.
Deckhouse - A cabin which protrudes above a ship's deck.
Deadrise - The design angle of the hull at the keel (q.v.) relative to horizontal when viewing the cross section, or the distance of rise from the keel to a defined point on the hull.
Decks awash - A situation in which the deck of the vessel is partially or wholly submerged, possibly as a result of excessive listing or a loss of buoyancy.
Decommission - To formally take (a naval vessel) out of active service, after which the vessel is said to be out of commission or decommissioned. Sometimes used less formally to mean taking a commercial ship out of service.
Depot ship - A ship which acts as a mobile or fixed base for other ships and submarines or supports a naval base.
Depth of hold - The height from the lowest part of the hull inside the ship, at its midpoint, to the ceiling that is made up of the uppermost full length deck. For old warships it is to the ceiling that is made up of the lowermost full length deck.
Derrick - A lifting device composed of one mast or pole and a boom or jib which is hinged freely at the bottom.
Despatch boat - Alternative spelling of dispatch boat.
Destroyer (originally torpedo boat destroyer) - A type of fast and maneuverable small warship introduced in the 1890s to protect capital ships from torpedo boat attack, since increased in size and capabilities to become a long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or battle group and defend them against submarines, surface ships, aircraft, and missiles.
Destroyer escort - US Navy term for a smaller, lightly armed warship built in large numbers during World War II (and in smaller numbers thereafter), cheaper, slower, and less-well-armed than a destroyer but larger and more heavily armed than a corvette and designed to escort convoys of merchant ships or naval auxiliaries or second-line naval forces. Employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provided some protection against aircraft and smaller surface ships. Generally known as "frigates" in other navies, and designated as such in the US Navy as well by the 1970s.
Destroyer leader - A large destroyer suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships; a type of flotilla leader.
Devil seam - The devil was possibly a slang term for the garboard seam, hence "between the devil and the deep blue sea" being an allusion to keel hauling, but a more popular version seems to be the seam between the waterway and the stanchions which would be difficult to get at, requiring a cranked caulking iron, and a restricted swing of the caulking mallet.
Devil to pay (or Devil to pay, and no pitch hot) - "Paying" the devil is sealing the devil seam. It is a difficult and unpleasant job (with no resources) because of the shape of the seam (up against the stanchions) or if the devil refers to the garboard seam, it must be done with the ship slipped or careened.
Dhow - the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region, typically weighing 300 to 500 tons, with a long, thin hull. They are trading vessels primarily used to carry heavy items, like fruit, fresh water or merchandise. Crews vary from about thirty to around twelve, depending on the size of the vessel.
Dinghy - 1. A type of small boat, often carried or towed as a ship's boat by a larger vessel. 2. Also a small racing yacht or recreational open sailing boat, often used for beginner training rather than sailing full-sized yachts. 3. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor, but some are rigged for sailing.
Directional light - A light illuminating a sector or very narrow angle and intended to mark a direction to be followed.
Dipping the eye - Method of attaching more than one hawser to a single bollard, so that each can be lifted off without disturbing the other(s). The second hawser is passed under the first, then up through the eye of the first (hence the name), before being secured over the bollard.
Dispatch boat - A vessel ranging in size from a small boat to a large ship tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship, from ship to shore, or, occasionally, from shore to shore.
Displacement - The weight of water displaced by the immersed volume of a ship's hull, exactly equivalent to the weight of the whole ship.
Displacement hull - A hull designed to travel through the water, rather than planing over it.
Disrate - To reduce in rank or rating; demote.
Distinguishing mark - A flag flown to distinguish ships of one seagoing service of a given country from ships of the country's other seagoing service(s) when ships of more than one of the country's seagoing services fly the same ensign.
Dock - 1. In American usage, a fixed structure attached to shore to which a vessel is secured when in port, generally synonymous with pier and wharf, except that pier tends to refer to structures used for tying up commercial ships and to structures extending from shore for use in fishing, while dock refers more generally to facilities used for tying up ships or boats, including recreational craft. 2. In British usage, the body of water between two piers or wharves which accommodates vessels tied up at the piers or wharves. 3. To tie up along a pier or wharf.
Dockyard - A facility where ships or boats are built and repaired. Routinely used as a synonym for shipyard, although dockyard sometimes is associated more closely with a facility used for maintenance and basing activities, while shipyard sometimes is associated more closely with a facility used in construction.
Dodger - A hood forward of a hatch or cockpit to protect the crew from wind and spray. Can be soft or hard.
Dog watch - A short watch period, generally half the usual time (e.g. a two-hour watch rather than a four-hour one). Such watches might be included in order to rotate the system over different days for fairness, or to allow both watches to eat their meals at approximately normal times.
Doghouse - A slang term (in the US, mostly) for a raised portion of a ship's deck. A doghouse is usually added to improve headroom below or to shelter a hatch.
Dogvane - A small weather vane, sometimes improvised with a scrap of cloth, yarn or other light material mounted within sight of the helmsman. (See tell-tale)
Doldrums or equatorial calms - The equatorial trough, with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds.
Dolly winch - A small winch mounted on the windlass which is used as an alternative to the brails winch when that is obstructed in some way.
Dolphin - A structure consisting of a number of piles driven into the seabed or riverbed as a marker.
Donkey engine - A small auxiliary engine used either to start a larger engine or independently, e.g. for pumping water on steamships.
Donkeyman - One of a ship's engineering crew. Often a crewman responsible for maintaining a Steam donkey, or any machinery other than the main engines. On some ships, the Petty Officer in charge of engineroom ratings.
Dory or doree, dori, or (Royal Navy) dorey - A shallow-draft, lightweight boat, about 5 to 7 metres (16 to 23 feet) long, with high sides, a flat bottom and sharp bows. Traditionally used as fishing boats, both in coastal waters and in the open sea.
Double-shotted - The practice of loading smooth-bore cannon with two cannon-balls.
Dover cliffs - Very rough seas with large white capped waves.
Downbound - 1. A vessel traveling downstream. 2. Eastward-traveling vessels in the Great Lakes region (terminology as used by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation).
Downhaul - A line used to control either a mobile spar, or the shape of a sail. A downhaul can also be used to retrieve a sail back on deck.
Drabbler - An extra strip of canvas secured below a bonnet, further to increase the area of a course.
Draft or draught - The depth of a ship's keel below the waterline.
Dragon boat (also dragonboat) - One of a family of traditional paddled long boats of various designs and sizes found throughout Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands. For competitive events, they are generally rigged with decorative Chinese dragon heads and tails. Dragon boat races are traditionally held during the annual summer solstice festival.
Dreadnought - A type of battleship designed with an "all-big-gun" armament layout in which the ship's primary gun power resided in a primary battery of its largest guns intended for use at long range, with other gun armament limited to small weapons intended for close-range defense against torpedo boats and other small warships. Most, but not all, dreadnoughts also had steam turbine propulsion. Predominant from 1906, dreadnoughts differed from earlier steam battleships, retroactively dubbed "predreadnoughts", which had only a few large guns, relied on an intermediate secondary battery used at shorter ranges for most of their offensive power, and had triple-expansion steam engines.
Dress overall - To string International Code of Signals flags, arranged at random, from stemhead to masthead, between mastheads (if the vessel has more than one mast), and then down to the taffrail, on a ship in harbor as a sign of celebration of a national, local, or personal anniversary, event, holiday, or occasion. When a ship is properly dressed overall, ensigns fly at each masthead unless displaced by another flag – for example, that of a flag officer on board – in addition to the ensign flown in the usual position at the stern.
Dressing down - 1. Treating old sails with oil or wax to renew them. 2. A verbal reprimand.
Dressing lines - Lines running from stemhead to masthead, between mastheads, and then down to the taffrail, to which flags are attached when a ship is dressed overall.
Drifter - A type of fishing boat designed to catch herring in a long drift net, long used in the Netherlands and Great Britain.
Drink - Overboard and into the water, as it fell into the drink.
Driver - The large sail flown from the mizzen gaff.
Driver-mast - The fifth mast of a six-masted barquentine or gaff schooner. It is preceded by the jigger mast and followed by the spanker mast. The sixth mast of the only seven-masted vessel, the gaff schooner Thomas W. Lawson, was normally called the pusher-mast.
Drogue - A device to slow a boat down in a storm so that it does not speed excessively down the slope of a wave and crash into the next one. It is generally constructed of heavy flexible material in the shape of a cone. See also sea anchor.
Drudging - A technique of maintaining steerage-way when going downstream with neither engine nor wind to sail. The vessel uses its anchor to draw itself head-to-stream, then lifts the anchor and drifts stern-first downstream, ferry gliding to maintain position within the stream. As steerage begins to reduce, the vessel anchors again and then repeats the whole procedure as required.
Drydock - A narrow basin or vessel used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform.
Dunnage - 1. Loose packing material used to protect a ship's cargo from damage during transport. 2. Personal baggage.
Dunsel - A part on a ship that has no use.

Book a Course

Earings - Small lines, by which the uppermost corners of the largest sails are secured to the yardarms.
East Indiaman - Any ship operating under charter or license to the East India Company (England), or to the Danish East India Company, French East India Company, Dutch East India Company, Portuguese East India Company, or Swedish East India Company from the 17th to the 19th centuries.
Echo sounding - Measuring the depth of the water using a sonar device. See also sounding and swinging the lead.
Embayed - The condition where a sailing vessel (especially one which sails poorly to windward) is confined between two capes or headlands by a wind blowing directly onshore.
En echelon - An arrangement of gun turrets whereby the turret on one side of the ship is placed further aft than the one on the other side, so that both turrets can fire to either side.
Engine order telegraph - A communications device used by the pilot to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed.
Engine room - One of the machinery spaces of a vessel, usually the largest one, containing the ship's prime mover (usually a diesel or steam engine or a gas or steam turbine). Larger vessels may have more than one engine room.
Ensign - 1. Ensign, the principal flag or banner flown by a ship to indicate her nationality. 2. Ensign, the lowest grade of commissioned officer in the US Navy.
Escort carrier - An aircraft carrier, smaller and slower than a fleet carrier, used by some navies in World War II to escort convoys, ferry aircraft, and provide air support for amphibious operations.
Extremis - (also known as "in extremis") the point under International Rules of the Road (Navigation Rules) at which the privileged (or stand-on) vessel on collision course with a burdened (or give-way) vessel determines it must maneuver to avoid a collision. Prior to extremis, the privileged vessel must maintain course and speed and the burdened vessel must maneuver to avoid collision.
Eye splice - A closed loop or eye at the end a line, rope, cable, etc. It is made by unraveling its end and joining it to itself by intertwining it into the lay of the line. Eye splices are very strong and compact and are employed in moorings and docking lines among other uses.

Factory ship - A large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Some also serve as mother ships for smaller fishing or whaling vessels. Those used for processing fish are also known as fish processing vessels.
Fair - 1. A smooth curve, usually referring to a line of the hull which has no deviations. 2. To make something flush. 3. A line is fair when it has a clear run. 4. A wind or current is fair when it offers an advantage to a boat.
Fair winds and following seas - A blessing wishing the recipient a safe journey and good fortune.
Fairlead - A ring, hook or other device used to keep a line or chain running in the correct direction or to prevent it rubbing or fouling.
Fairwater - A structure that improves the streamlining of a vessel.
Fake - To coil a rope down on the deak to enable it to pay out without fouling.
Falkuša - A traditional fishing boat with a lateen sail on a single mast used by fishermen from the town of Komiža on the Adriatic island of Vis.
Fall - The part of the tackle that is hauled upon.
Fall off - To change the direction of sail so as to point in a direction that is more down wind. To bring the bow leeward. Also bear away, bear off or head down. This is the opposite of pointing up or heading up.
Fantail - Aft end of the ship, also known as the Poop deck.
Fardage - Wood placed in bottom of ship to keep cargo dry. (See also dunnage)
Fashion boards - Loose boards that slide in grooves to close off a companionway or cabin entrance.
Fast - Fastened or held firmly (fast aground: stuck on the seabed; made fast: tied securely).
Fathom - A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.8 m), roughly measured as the distance between a man's outstretched hands. Particularly used to measure depth.
Fathometer - A depth finder that uses sound waves to determine the depth of water.
Felucca - A traditional wooden sailing boat with a rig consisting of one or two lateen sails, used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean and particularly along the Nile in Egypt and Sudan, and also in Iraq.
Fend off - A command given to the crew to stop what they are now doing and to immediately manually prevent the boat from banging into the docks or other boats.
Fender - A flexible bumper used in boating to keep boats from banging into docks or each other. Often an old car tyre.
Ferry glide - To hold a vessel against and at an angle to the current/stream such that the vessel moves sideways over the bottom due to the effect of the current operating on the upstream side of the vessel.
Fetch - 1. The distance across water which a wind or waves have traveled. 2. To reach a mark without tacking.
Fid - 1. A tapered wooden tool used for separating the strands of rope for splicing. 2. A bar used to fix an upper mast in place.
Fife rail - A freestanding pinrail surrounding the base of a mast and used for securing that mast's sails' halyards with a series of belaying pins.
Fifie - A sailing boat with two masts with a standard rig consisting of a main dipping lug sail and a mizzen standing lug sail developed in Scotland; used for commercial fishing from the 1850s until the 20th century.
Fig - US Navy slang for a guided-missile frigate, especially of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, derived from its class designation ("FFG").
Fighting top - An enlarged top designed to allow gunfire downward onto an enemy ship. A fighting top could have small guns installed in it or could serve as a platform for snipers armed with muskets or rifles.
Figure of eight - A stopper knot.
Figurehead - A symbolic image at the head of a traditional sailing ship or early steamer.
Fin - A term used in European and British Commonwealth countries for a tower-like structure on the dorsal (topside) surface of a submarine; called a sail in the United States.
Fine - Narrow (fine) in appearance from the vantage point of a lookout or other person viewing activity in the vicinity of a ship, e.g., another ship off the starboard bow with her bow or stern facing the viewer's ship could be described as "fine on the starboard bow" of the viewer's ship.
Fire ship - A ship loaded with flammable materials and explosives and sailed into an enemy port or fleet either already burning or ready to be set alight by its crew (who would then abandon it) in order to collide with and set fire to enemy ships.
Fire room, also boiler room - The compartment in which the ship's boilers or furnaces are stoked and fired.
First-rate - The classification for the largest sailing warships of the 17th through 19th centuries. They had 3 masts, 850+ crew and 100+ guns.
First lieutenant - 1. In the Royal Navy, the senior lieutenant on board; responsible to the commanding officer for the domestic affairs of the ship's company. Also known as 'Jimmy the One' or 'Number One'. Removes his cap when visiting the mess decks as token of respect for the privacy of the crew in those quarters. Officer in charge of cables on the forecastle. 2. In the US Navy, the officer on a ship serving as the senior person in charge of all deck hands.
First mate - The second-in-command of a commercial ship.
Fish - 1. To repair a mast or spar with a fillet of wood. 2. To secure an anchor on the side of the ship for sea (otherwise known as "catting".) 3. A slang term for a self-propelled torpedo.
Fisherman's reef - A sailing tactic for handling winds too strong for the sail area hoisted when reefing the sails is not feasible or possible. The headsail is set normally while the mainsail is let out till it is constantly luffing. This creates loss of force on the main and also reduces the efficiency of the headsail while still retaining sailing control of the vessel.
Fitting-out - The period after a ship is launched during which all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and she is readied for sea trials and delivery to her owners.
Fixed propeller - A propeller mounted on a rigid shaft protruding from the hull of a vessel, usually driven by an inboard motor; steering must be done using a rudder. See also outboard motor and sterndrive.
Flag hoist - A number of signal flags strung together to convey a message, e.g., 'England expects...'
Flag of convenience - The business practice of registering a merchant ship in a sovereign state different from that of the ship's owners, and flying that state's civil ensign on the ship. The practice allows the ship's owner to reduce operating costs or avoid the regulations of the owner's country.
Flag officer - 1. A commissioned officer senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the ship or installation from which he or she exercises command, in English-speaking countries usually referring to the senior officers of a navy, specifically those who hold any of the admiral ranks and in some cases to those holding the rank of commodore. In modern American usage, additionally applied to US Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps officers and general officers in the US Army, US Air Force, and US Marine Corps entitled to fly their own flags. 2. A formal rank in the mid-19th-century US Navy, conveyed temporarily upon senior captains in command of squadrons of ships, soon rendered obsolete by the creation of the ranks of commodore and rear admiral.
Flagship - 1. A vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships. The term derives from the custom of the commander of such a group of ships, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag aboard the ship on which he or she is embarked. 2. Used more loosely, the lead ship in a fleet of naval or commercial vessels, typically the first, largest, fastest, most heavily armed, or, in terms of media coverage, best-known.
Flank - The maximum speed of a ship. Faster than "full speed".
Flare - 1. A curvature of the topsides outward towards the gunwale. 2. A pyrotechnic signalling device, usually used to indicate distress.
Flatback - A Great Lakes slang term for a vessel without any self-unloading equipment.
Flattop - Slang term for an aircraft carrier.
Flemish - To coil a line that is not in use so that it lies flat on the deck.
Flettner rotor - A spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind power to propel a ship.
Flight deck - A flat deck used for the launch and recovery of aircraft.
Floor - The transverse structural timbers to which the longitudinal bottom planking is attached. The equivalent side timbers are called the frames. The keelson is fastened on top of the floors, bolting them to the keel. The planking is the exterior of the hull, while the ceiling is attached on top of the floors, and it forms the base of the hold.
Floorhead - Any of the upper extremities of the floor (q.v.) of a vessel.
Flotilla leader - A warship suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer, in the latter case known as a destroyer leader.
Flotsam - Debris or cargo that remains afloat after a shipwreck. See also jetsam.
Fluke - The wedge-shaped part of an anchor's arms that digs into the bottom.
Flush deck - An upper deck of a vessel that extends unbroken from stem to stern.
Flush decker - 1. A US Navy destroyer of the World War I-era Caldwell, Wickes, or Clemson class, produced in very large numbers. 2. Any ship with a flush deck.
Flushing board - Board inserted vertically in a cabin entrance.
Fluyt (also fluit or flute) - A Dutch transoceanic sailing cargo vessel, square-rigged with two or three masts that were much taller than the masts of a galleon, developed in the 16th century and widely used in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Fly by night - A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.
Folding propeller - A propeller with folding blades, furling to reduce drag on a sailing vessel when not in use.
Following sea - Wave or tidal movement going in the same direction as a ship.
Foo-foo band - An impromptu musical band on late 19th-century sailing vessels, made up from members of the ship's crew.
Foot - 1. The lower edge of any sail. 2. The bottom of a mast. 3. A measurement of 12 inches.
Footloose - If the foot of a sail is not secured properly, it is footloose, blowing around in the wind.
Footboat - A barges boat or dinghy.
Footrope - Each yard on a square rigged sailing ship is equipped with a footrope for sailors to stand on while setting or stowing the sails.
Fore, forward (/ˈfɒrərd/, and often written "for'ard") - Towards the bow (of the vessel).
Fore-and-aft rig - A sailing rig consisting mainly of sails that are set along the line of the keel rather than perpendicular to it. Such sails are referred to as "fore-and-aft rigged."
Fore-and-afters - removable wooded beams running along the centre of the hold openings, beneath the hatches that they support.
Fore horse - Transverse wooden or iron beam afore the main mast to which the foresail sheet is attached.
Forecastle - A partial deck, above the upper deck and at the head of the vessel; traditionally the sailors' living quarters. Pronounced /ˈfoʊksəl/. The name is derived from the castle fitted to bear archers in time of war.
Forefoot - The lower part of the stem of a ship.
Foremast jack - An enlisted sailor, one who is housed before the foremast.
Forepeak - The part of the hold of a ship within the angle of the bow.
Foresail - 1. A fore and aft sail set on the foremast. 2. The lowest sail set on the foremast of a full rigged ship or other vessel which is square-rigged.
Forestays - Long lines or cables, reaching from the bow of the vessel to the mast heads, used to support the mast.
Forestaysail - Triangular sail set on the forestay.
Foul - 1. Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; the opposite of clear. For instance, a rope is foul when it does not run straight or smoothly, and an anchor is foul when it is caught on an obstruction. 2. A breach of racing rules. 3. An area of water treacherous to navigation due to many shallow obstructions such as reefs, sandbars, or many rocks, etc. 4. Foul the range: To block another vessel from firing her guns at a target.
Foulies - Slang for oilskins, the foul-weather clothing worn by sailors.
Founder - To fill with water and sink.
Four piper - A term sometimes used to refer to United States Navy four-funneled destroyers of the Bainbridge, Paulding, Wickes, and Clemson classes, all built for service in World War I.
Fourth rate - In the British Royal Navy, a fourth rate was, during the first half of the 18th century, a ship of the line mounting from 46 up to 60 guns.
Frame - A transverse structural member which gives the hull strength and shape. Wooden frames may be sawn, bent or laminated into shape. Planking is then fastened to the frames. A bent frame is called a timber.
Freeboard - The height of a ship's hull (excluding superstructure) above the waterline. The vertical distance from the current waterline to the lowest point on the highest continuous watertight deck. This usually varies from one part to another.
Freighter - A cargo ship.
Frigate - 1. In the 17th century, any warship built for speed and maneuverability. 2. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a sailing warship with a single continuous gun deck, typically used for patrolling, blockading, etc., but not in line of battle. 3. In the second half of the 19th century, a type of warship combining sail and steam propulsion, typically of ironclad timber construction, with all guns on one deck. 4. In the 20th and 21st centuries, a warship, smaller than a destroyer, originally introduced during World War II as an anti-submarine vessel but now general-purpose. 5. In the US Navy from the 1950s until the 1970s, a type of guided-missile antiaircraft ship built on a destroyer-sized hull, all reclassified as "guided-missile cruisers" in 1975.
Full and by - Sailing into the wind (by), but not as close-hauled as might be possible, so as to make sure the sails are kept full. This provides a margin for error to avoid being taken aback (a serious risk for square-rigged vessels) in a tricky sea. Figuratively it implies getting on with the job but in a steady, relaxed way, without undue urgency or strain.
Full-rigged ship - A sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a "ship rig".
Funnel (also stack) - The smokestack of a ship, used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust.
Furl - To roll or gather a sail against its mast or spar.
Fusta (also fuste, foist, or galliot) - A narrow, light, and fast ship with shallow draft, powered by both oars and sail, with a single mast carrying a lateen sail; a favorite of North African corsairs during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Futtocks - Pieces of timber that make up a large transverse frame.

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