Category Archives: Nautical Nuggets

Always a source of confusion for non-sailors, a knot is a measurement of speed equal to one nautical mile (equal to 1.15 land miles) per hour and is used for measuring the speed of ships and boats. The word ‘knot’ … Continue reading →

A complimentary term for a sailor suggesting he was a natural, born to the job; or more precisely, born on the job. It comes from the time when women shared the gun deck accommodations with men aboard ships in port … Continue reading →

A “dead horse” was a mariner’s term for the first month at sea. A month for which they’d have already been paid. Men being men, the money was spent rather quickly, usually on booze and whores. So it seemed to … Continue reading →

From the old Dutch word ‘loef,’ meaning windward. It was adopted by English sailors in the 1600’s and in books chronicling long forgotten voyages it’s written as aluffe, a-luff and aloof. It describes a vessel which is sailing along a … Continue reading →

One of the more interesting announcement codes to come over the public address system is “Bright Star.” We don’t hear it very often, thankfully, but when it’s announced, people run. To not alarm the other passengers, if there’s a medical … Continue reading →

When you live on a boat, you learn things…about boats. As I’m a sharer, I like to share what I’ve learned. Most of the information you’ll read in this new feature, Nautical Nuggets, will be culled from various sources: the … Continue reading →