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Vincent Pica
Chief of Staff, First District, Southern Region (D1SR)
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
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“Sabby the Lingo?” Maritime Language – XVI
As noted prior, each discipline has a language and that language conveys competency to the listener. This column is part of a series of maritime vocabulary words. So you can sound like the salty ol’ mariner you are… We’ll run enough of these to get the major concepts and phraseology from Alpha to Zulu in front of you!
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| N - November International Meaning: No or negative. |
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- Narrows - Small passages
- National Flag - The flag carried by a ship to show her nationality.
- Nautical Almanac - An annual publication that contains tidal information and information about the position of the sun, moon, planets and stars. This information is used for celestial navigation.
- Nautical Mile - Distance at sea is measured in nautical miles, which are about 6067 feet, 1.15 statute miles or 1852 meters. Nautical miles have the unique property that a minute of latitude is equal to one nautical mile. Measurement of speed is done in knots where one knot equals one nautical mile per hour.
- Navigable Water - Water of sufficient depth to allow a boat to travel through it.
- Navigation - The art and science of determining the position of a boat and the course needed to safely and efficiently move the boat from place to place.
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- Navigation Bridge – the Bridge used for taking observations, or directing the handling of the ship.
- Navigation Lights - Required lights on a boat help others determine its course, position and what it is doing. Boats underway should have a red light visible from its port bow, a green light on the starboard bow and a white light at its stern. Other lights are required for vessels under power, fishing, towing, etc.
- Navigation Rules - The maritime regulations governing the movement of vessels in relation to each other, generally called steering and sailing rules. - COLREGS
- Navigational Aid - Any object that a navigator may use to find his position, such as permanent land or sea markers, buoys, radiobeacons, and lighthouses.
- Navigator - The officer on board responsible for the navigation of the ship.
- Neap Tide - The tide with the least variation in water level, occurring when the moon is one quarter and three quarters full. The lowest high tide and the highest low tide occur at neap tide. The opposite is the spring tide.
- Neptune - The Roman god of the sea, associated with Salacia, the goddess of Salt Water.
- Neptune's Sheep - Nickname for waves breaking into foam.
- Net Tonnage - Useful cargo carrying capacity of vessel. The volume of cargo a ship could carry, equal to gross tonnage minus the crew cabins, storerooms and machinery spaces. One ton equals 100 cubic feet.
- Nip - (1) A short turn or twist in a line. (2) The seized part of an eye splice.
- Nipped - Said of a vessel when caught between ice on both sides.
- Nipper - A short length of line, usually braided or marled, used to temporarily bind the anchor cable to the messenger when the anchor is weighed by hand around the capstan.
- No Go Zone - Area into which a sail boat cannot go without tacking.
- No Man's Land - On a square-rigged ship, the area between the after end of the forecastle and the forward end of the booms where lines, blocks, and tackle were stored.
- No Room To Swing a Cat - Describing a small or confined space. Originated from the time when a cat-o'-nine-tails was used to inflict punishment.
- NOAA - National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (U.S.), produces nautical charts and weather forecasts
- Noon Sight - A sighting taken for celestial navigation at noon, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
- Noon Watch - The watch or work shift beginning at noon, usually lasting until 4pm or the evening meal. 1
- nor'easter - a wind coming from the northeast
- Norman - A pin placed through the head of a rudder to prevent it from being lost.
- North - One of the 4 cardinal compass points. North is the direction toward the North Pole and is at 0° or 360° on a compass card.
- North Pole - The top point of the line about which the earth rotates.
- North Star - Polaris, the North Star, is visible in the northern hemisphere and indicates the direction of north. In the southern hemisphere the Southern Cross is used to find the direction of south.
- North Wind, Northerly Wind - Wind coming from the north.
- Notices to Mariners - Periodic publications containing details of any alterations to charts, to keep them up to date.
- Nun - A kind of navigational buoy
- Nunatak - Isolated rocky peak rising from a sheet of inland ice.
More in the weeks ahead…!
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BTW, if you are interested in being part of USCG Forces, email me at JoinUSCGAux@aol.com or go direct to the D1SR Human Resources department, who are in charge of new members matters, at DSO-HR and we will help you “get in this thing…”
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