Aft
Toward the back of the boat, or stern.
Bow
The front of a ship.
Bowsprit
The pointed end of the bow of a ship. The figurehead is mounted on the bowsprit. Anchor moorings are often located just behind the bowsprit. Many bowsprit masts attach forward lines for jib and flying jib sails.
Battery
A ship's weaponry center. In sailing battleships, the battery might be composed of two to three decks of guns on either side of the vessel. Modern ships may have a battery composed of several high-powered guns in turrets.
Bore
Refers to the diameter of a cannon or gun's muzzle.
Breech Loader
Cannon or artillery guns that are loaded from the breech (or the back) rather than from the muzzle (or the front). Most early cannons and guns were loaded by stuffing the shot, gunpowder, and a cushioning cloth of some kind down the barrel from the front. Designing a cannon loaded from the breech with a giant screw device for cannon (or a sliding door for an artillery gun) cut loading times and facilitated use of pre-fabricated shells.
Bridge
In older sailing ships, these are literally bridges that link port and starboard sides of the ship for commanders to observe operations and call out orders without getting in the way of crew working with sails and ropes.
Broadside
The firing of guns simultaneously from one side of a ship.
Bulkhead
Generally, an interior ship wall designed for structural integrity.
Capstan
A huge ratchet mechanism used to haul in a ship's anchorage. In pre-steam days, the capstan was manually operated by men pushing ten foot poles fed into the sides of the capstan. Modern capstans are machine-driven.
Conning Tower
Based on the nautical term "con" ( "to navigate"), the conning tower is quite literally, a tower for navigation. The conning tower is a protected command area, near the top of a vessel, often equipped with operational controls and weaponry command for use during battle.
Displacement
Nautical term for weight. Displacement actually refers to the weight of the water displaced by the ship hull in the water.
Draft
The amount of a ship's hull that is underwater.
Exploding Cannon Ball
A hollow cannon ball or shell, filled with gunpowder and grape shot. It was ignited by a small fuse lit when the cannon was fired. Although the use of a fuse to light the exploding ball's gunpowder did not always allow for accurate deployment, when these exploding cannon balls did hit the mark, they had a devastating effect on ships and crew alike.
Fore
Toward the front of a boat, or bow.
Gun Deck
See Battery.
Helm
The navigation control area of a ship. The helm of sailing ships is composed of a wheel controlling the rudder. Engine-propelled ships may have a small wheel, and a series of throttles controlling engines.
Howitzer
The modern name for a type of cannon developed in the mid-1800s for the launching of exploding shells. The invention of these shells devastated wooden-hulled ships and led to the development of the ironclad warship.
Ironclad
A transitional ship style between the ages of sail and Dreadnought class steam-driven warships. Many advances were made during this era that became part of standard modern ship design. Ironclad ships were generally plated with four inch (or more) sheets of iron, that rendered cannon fire largely useless. Some ironclads were wood-hulled with a band of iron plate, while others employed an iron superstructure, with iron plate mounted on a wooden planking. Eventually, all ships were completely made of metal hull material.
Knot
The term for one nautical mile per hour. One knot is equal to 1.15 land miles per hour or 1.85 kilometers per hour.
Magazine
A well-protected and lined storage area for ammunition and gun powder.
Mizzen Mast
The mast next behind the main mast on a ship. On a three mast ship, it would be the mast at the back or the stern of the ship.
Muzzle Loader
A cannon or gun that must be loaded from the front. Almost all early cannons and guns were muzzle-loaders. This required that powder, flammable cloth and shot be poured down the front of the cannon or gun bore. Breech loading (from the back) was invented in the 1500s, but not perfected for use until the late 1800s.
Paddlewheel
A large outboard wheel mounted on a ship to utilize steam propulsion. Paddlewheel steamboats were popular and fairly practical for rivers and lakes, where waters might be shallow, but were not very practical for ocean-going ships, where waves cut their contact with the water. The first official steamboat, designed by Robert Fulton, was a paddlewheel.
Paixhans Cannon
See Howitzer
Port
Facing front, the left side of a ship or boat.
Rifled Cannon
A rifled cannon means that the interior of the weapon barrel has spiral grooves drilled from end to end. The grooves impart spin on the shot, helping it travel further, faster and more accurately.
Screw Propeller
Shaped like a corkscrew, the screw propeller was favored over the paddlewheel for propulsion of warships. It was introduced by Swedish inventor John Ericsson in 1839. The screw propeller formed the basic shape of all ship propellers to come.
Shot
Also known as cannon balls.
Steam Engine
Developed by James Watt around 1744, a steam engine's primary function is to crank one or more pistons by channeling pressurized steam (created by boiling water usually heated by burning coal) through its piston shaft. The resulting movement can be used to turn just about anything. While many men worked on bringing steam power to ships, Robert Fulton is credited with designing the first "steam boat" in the form of the Claremont, a paddle wheel river boat launched in 1807.
Turret
Generally, a rotating, armored housing for up to four guns that is mounted on a ship's deck. Twin turrets can accomodate two guns; triple turrets can accomodate three.
Waterline
The point on a ship's hull that marks the start of the ocean's surface.
