Nautical Terminology

Love you guys! I needed some chuckles yesterday and didn't expect YF to be my go-to place for that too!

Abaft - I just can't stand the use of that term. I don't like the way it sounds, just not my cup of tea, won't use it if you paid me. Antiquated and no need to dust off as a 21st century term IMO.

I'll stick with Aft and listen to all the purists cringe.........

If something is abaft, it’s towards the rear, or stern, of a boat. Abaft means “in the back.”

Though rarely heard on dry land, this old seafaring word refers to the rear end of a ship. Abaft can also refer to the back end of an airplane. Even if you’re not a sailor (or pilot), if you read Moby Dick or other stories of the sea, then you’ll need to know what abaft means. Think of the word after when you see that aft on the end.

I know the definition well, still do not see the need for the term, Aft suffices for me in all cases even if I have to through in a few modifiers.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aft

It just rolls of the tongue horribly, like a Shakespearean play....

The term as I understand it used to describe the location of something relative to another in the aft section of the ship. eg abaft the mizzen mast - we all have one of those things

Your linguistics lesson doesn't account for why "she" was chosen over "he." So, "Old sailors tale" is still in the running as a valid explanation.

22.5* abaft THE ( or HER ) beam.
It's the only time I believe I've ever heard the term used but I remember it clearly.

that sounds like a compass point reference pointing to something outside the ship reckoned from the midship/beam position

There are lots of terms fallen out of use. When is the last time you called your lunch anchor a "browser"? or is it the "kedge"? dunno, one of those though

The angle in relative degrees from the bow would be 112.5* or as mentioned after the beam 22.5*.
Port and starboard this is your field of vision for red & green screens.

BINGO.
Give that man a Rum & coke !
Or three.............

Think I'll go for it tonight. Thx.

Oh the calamity. Oh the flash-backs!! LOL

I already drank all the rum. Sorry to report to you; not much left.

Yep, wife is pissed. She did not believe me in blaming chesapeake46 till I showed her our posts this morning.

Come down to my hood and I'll make the rum or any hooch up to you.

My step-son was finally married off this afternoon on board. A wonderful event marking my retirement.

So for the rest of my career, I'll be experimenting with changing fluids into ammonia based cleaners (hooch to urine).

Congratulations on both the step son and the new super power. ( hooch to urine )

There’s a bell rope
Bolt rope - holds a sail in a track
Foot rope - for working aloft

From my "way-back" machine. . . FRAM cans in the '70's while blowing up sh!t in NVN.

Rope yarn Sunday!!

FRAM Cans;
Usually older Tin Cans and Escorts rehabbed for ASW use.
I was a contractor servicing NAS JAX for 8 years, our Master ASW base.

My "home" during those formative years. LOL
FRAM1 & FRAM 2. DD-830, USS LARSON was known as "the last of the six guns". We used to say, "If it wasn't FRAM'd, it wasn't a can!!" The more modern DD's, like the Forest Shermans, and Knox DE's didn't "qualify".
(sorry to hijack thread-nostalgia "overcame" me!)

Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization

A total of 94 Gearings and 33 Allen M. Sumners received FRAM modifications 1960–1965. Many of the ships provided significant gunfire support in the Vietnam War.

Yeah, here's me making it happen in 1972 - DD830. Four gun salvo outbound. 208 lbs of USN diplomacy!!