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Sailing ships frequently encounter difficult conditions, whether by storm or combat, and the crew frequently called upon to cope with accidents, ranging from the parting of a single line to the whole destruction of the rigging, and from running aground to fire.
The sailboat is particularly vulnerable to capsizing or hitting a shoal or rock in the water when the steering fails. In heavy chop there is a lot of force on the rudder as it is pushed by the water. If the ship is flying a Spinnaker and it loses steering, the boat will most likely broach (head up into wind), which will, on most boats, cause a capsize in heavy weather. It is possible to sail smaller dinghies without a rudder using only sail adjustment.
Running rigging is often subject to parting, especially during bad weather, or when attempting to carry too much sail in a strong wind. For instance, the brace on the weather side is under a considerable strain, and its parting would allow the entire yard to swing free, a rather ugly prospect for a spar up to 30 meters long. In general, for each line there is a procedure to a) reduce the forces at play, b) use other lines to bring loose items under control, and c) run a replacement line (retying is not usually an option, since the knot will not fit through the blocks). The most critical lines will sometimes have a backup in the form of a "preventer" line serving the same function.
Standing rigging is a structural element that holds up the masts, and loss of standing rigging puts them at risk of being sprung (cracked) or simply snapped off. By the end of the age of sail, most stays had preventers, and warships equipped themselves with "rigging stoppers" or "fighting stoppers", small lengths of rope arranged so they could be attached to shrouds quickly and tightened.
In the days of wooden construction, sprung masts were a serious problem, because their structural integrity was compromised, and the next gust of wind could easily bring them down. Upper masts were usually just replaced by spares carried for the purpose. The usual recourse for the lower mast was to "fish" it by lashing a special set of spars to the mast along the cracked area.
If the mast was gone altogether, it had to be replaced with a jury rig assembled from whatever spars were available.
On a ship, cargo must be stowed evenly so that the ship floats upright. All ships are vulnerable to cargo shifting, causing the ship to develop a list to one side. However sailing ships are particularly vulnerable because the ship naturally heels over in reaction to the force of the wind on the sails. If the cargo is not adequately secured the cargo may fall to the leeward side of the ship. Loose cargos (e.g. grain) flow downhill like water if not adequately secured (e.g. by shifting boards) and are particularly prone to shifting. If a large quantity of cargo shifts the ship may develop such a heavy list that she capsizes. A catastrophic cargo shift caused the loss of the tall ship Pamir in 1957.
Ship grounding is a type of marine accident that involves the impact of a ship on the seabed, resulting in damage of the submerged part of her hull and in particularly the bottom structure, potentially leading to water ingress and compromise of the ship's structural integrity and stability. Grounding induces extreme loads onto marine structures and is a marine accident of profound importance due to its impact:
A capsize is when a vessel rolls over beyond the limit angle of positive static stability. [1] The severity of a capsize depends on the size and design of a vessel. A small dinghy is designed to capsize and be righted by her crew. Yachts are typically built to right themselves even if heeled over beyond 90 degrees. However a large sailing ship will typically lose all stability at a smaller angle of heel, and will be vulnerable to downflooding and sinking if heeled beyond this point.
Ballasted monohull sailing yachts will capsize very easily if they lose their external ballast keel. Fortunately, this is rare, but if it does, it is a life-threatening danger, as seen in the case of the sunken Cheeki Rafiki .
Fire is a serious threat to all ships, but to a ship made of wood, rope, and canvas, it was the greatest danger of all. Cooking fires in the galley were watched constantly, and put out instantly if the weather turned ugly, or an enemy ship appeared in the distance. Warships had an elaborate set of procedures for handling their gunpowder; the magazines were deep in the ship and the lanterns kept in another room, with a window between.
The introduction of steam power in the mid-19th century was attended by the use of "fire-engines" consisting of pumps and hoses. Even so, fire was fatal to a ship far more often than not.
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water, on ice (iceboat) or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation.
Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. Standing rigging is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. Running rigging is rigging which adjusts the position of the vessel's sails and spars including halyards, braces, sheets and vangs.
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
A sailing vessel's rig is its arrangement of masts, sails and rigging. Examples include a schooner rig, cutter rig, junk rig, etc. A rig may be broadly categorized as "fore-and-aft", "square", or a combination of both. Within the fore-and-aft category there is a variety of triangular and quadrilateral sail shapes. Spars or battens may be used to help shape a given kind of sail. Each rig may be described with a sail plan—formally, a drawing of a vessel, viewed from the side.
A jibe (US) or gybe (Britain) is a sailing maneuver whereby a sailing vessel reaching downwind turns its stern through the wind, which then exerts its force from the opposite side of the vessel. Because the mainsail boom can swing across the cockpit quickly, jibes are potentially dangerous to person and rigging compared to tacking. Therefore, accidental jibes are to be avoided while the proper technique must be applied so as to control the maneuver. For square-rigged ships, this maneuver is called wearing ship.
Boat building is the design and construction of boats — and their on-board systems. This includes at minimum the construction of a hull, with any necessary propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other service systems as the craft requires.
Pamir was a four-masted barque built for the German shipping company F. Laeisz. One of their famous Flying P-Liners, she was the last commercial sailing ship to round Cape Horn, in 1949. By 1957, she had been outmoded by modern bulk carriers and could not operate at a profit. Her shipping consortium's inability to finance much-needed repairs or to recruit sufficient sail-trained officers caused severe technical difficulties. On 21 September 1957, she was caught in Hurricane Carrie and sank off the Azores, with only six survivors rescued after an extensive search.
Running rigging is the rigging of a sailing vessel that is used for raising, lowering, shaping and controlling the sails on a sailing vessel—as opposed to the standing rigging, which supports the mast and bowsprit. Running rigging varies between vessels that are rigged fore and aft and those that are square-rigged.
A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or more masts. Luggers were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively in size and design. Many were undecked, open boats, some of which operated from beach landings. Others were fully decked craft. Some larger examples might carry lug topsails.
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".
Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel from a capsize is called righting. Capsize may result from broaching, knockdown, loss of stability due to cargo shifting or flooding, or in high speed boats, from turning too fast.
In sailing, hiking is the action of moving the crew's body weight as far to windward (upwind) as possible, in order to decrease the extent the boat heels. By moving the crew's weight to windward, the moment of that force around the boat's center of buoyancy is increased. This opposes the heeling movement of the wind pushing sideways against the boat's sails. It is usually done by leaning over the edge of the boat as it heels. Some boats are fitted with equipment such as hiking straps and trapezes to make hiking more effective.
The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spritsail has four corners: the throat, peak, clew, and tack. The Spritsail can also be used to describe a rig that uses a spritsail.
A boat is said to be turtling or to turn turtle when it is fully inverted. The name stems from the appearance of the upside-down boat, similar to the carapace of a sea turtle. The term can be applied to any vessel; turning turtle is less frequent but more dangerous on ships than on smaller boats. It is rarer but more hazardous for multihulls than for monohulls, because multihulls are harder to flip in both directions. Measures can be taken to prevent a capsize from becoming a turtle.
Potosi was a five-masted steel barque built in 1865 by Joh. C. Tecklenborg ship yard in Geestemünde, Germany, for the sailing ship company F. Laeisz as a trading vessel. Its primary purpose was as a "nitrate clipper" collecting guano in South America for use in chemical companies in Germany. As its shipping route was between Germany, Bolivia until 1870 but, during the "pacific War" was transferred to Chile, it was designed to be capable of withstanding the rough weather encountered around Cape Horn.
Shipwrecking is an event that causes a shipwreck, such as a ship striking something that causes the ship to sink; the stranding of a ship on rocks, land or shoal; poor maintenance, resulting in a lack of seaworthiness; or the destruction of a ship either intentionally or by violent weather.
Dismasting, also called demasting, occurs to a sailing ship when one or more of the masts responsible for hoisting the sails that propel the vessel breaks. Dismasting usually occurs as the result of high winds during a storm acting upon masts, sails, rigging, and spars.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water. Some remain current, while many date from the 17th to 19th centuries. The word nautical derives from the Latin nauticus, from Greek nautikos, from nautēs: "sailor", from naus: "ship".
A sail plan is a drawing of a sailing craft, viewed from the side, depicting its sails, the spars that carry them and some of the rigging that supports the rig. By extension, "sail plan" describes the arrangement of sails on a craft. A sailing craft may be waterborne, an iceboat, or a sail-powered land vehicle.