The parts of a ship vary, depending on what kind of boat it is, but a few general parts are common to all types. Knowing the parts will increase your understanding when reading about boating related topics, and will also help you orient yourself when on board a ship. Many of the terms used are very old, as humans have been building, sailing, and talking about ocean-going vessels for thousands of years.
The parts of a ship vary, depending on what kind of boat it is, but a few general parts are common to all types. Knowing the parts will increase your understanding when reading about boating related topics, and will also help you orient yourself when on board a ship. Many of the terms used are very old, as humans have been building, sailing, and talking about ocean-going vessels for thousands of years.
The core of a ship is the structural keel, a heavily reinforced spine which runs along the bottom, in the middle. The keel supports the structure of the ship, and is the first part to be built, since it serves as a foundation. Some ships also have a hydrodynamic keel designed to increase their performance efficiency, which takes the form of a streamlined projection from the bottom of the ship to help it move quickly and smoothly through the water. The framework for the hull or shell, the body, is attached to the keel.
The hull is the most visible part of a ship, because it is the body of the watercraft. The hull makes the ship buoyant while providing shelter to those on board, and is divided by bulkheads and decks, depending on its size. Bulkheads are compartments which run across the ship from side to side, creating isolated areas, while decks are analogous to the floors of a house. A small boat may only have one primary deck, while larger ones may have over 10 decks, stacked from top to bottom.
The very bottom is known as the bilge, and the top is usually called the top deck. The top deck is broken up by the bridge, a covered room which serves as the command center. On larger ships, the top deck may have several levels, designed to isolate various parts. There may also be several deck areas topside, including the poop deck, the deck in the rear of the ship, and the afterdeck, located directly behind the bridge. The rig, including, masts, rigging, and sails, rises up from the top deck.
The front region is called the bow, and the rear is the stern. When someone is forward, they are in the front of the boat, while a sailor located amidships would be in the middle, and a person to the rear is aft. The right hand side is starboard, and the left is port.
Stateroom: An officer's or passenger's cabin aboard a merchant ship, or the cabin of an officer other than the captain aboard a naval ship, The term may be derived from the fact that in the 16th and 17th centuries, ships often had a cabin reserved for royal or noble passengers.
Steerage: Originally the junior officers' quarters in a naval vessel, referring to the fact that the ship's tiller often projected into the compartment, located far aft. In the 19th century, the term came to mean the cheapest passenger quarters aboard a liner, again, often near the ship's stern where the noise of the ship's screws and engines was unrelenting,
Stern: The rear of any vessel. The word came from the Norse Stjorn (pronounced "Styorn"), meaning "steering"
Steward: A general term for any member of a ship's crew involved with Commissary duties or personal services to passengers and/or crew. The term comes from an old Anglo-Saxon term: Styweard or Sty-warden, the keeper-of-the-pigs. Whether the pigs referred to here are the live animals once kept aboard as provisions on long voyages, or a commentary on the habits and personalities of the passengers is a matter of conjecture,
Tackle: Traditionally pronounced "tay-kle," it refers to gear on deck in general or, specifically, to blocks and their associated lines-as in "block-and-tackle." The word comes from the Middle Dutch taekel, meaning tackle, and from which the pronunciation was derived.
Thwart: A seat orcrossbeam in a small boat, from the Middle English thwarte, meaning "across," "Thwartships" means across the ship.
Topside: The part of the ship above water. Generally Used as a way Of saying "on deck" or "up," as in "lay up topside to see the captain,"
Weather Deck: Any deck on a ship open and exposed to the… well, weather.
Wings: Extensions to either side of the ship. Specifically, the port and starboard wings of the bridge are open areas to either side of the bridge, Used by lookouts and for Signaling.
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