Ships were lost during these dark voyages, and said to have had 'a rotten deck'.
**ROTTEN OAK** | A wooden vessel that sinks; a ship that sinks on the way.
**ROTTEN-ROTTEN-ROTTEN** | Poorly constructed and damaged ships were also called this.
**ROUNDABOUT** | A compass course that describes a closed circular arc when steered from one point to another; see also 'BEARING' (above).
**ROUND-SHIP** | An old term, also often used for any old-fashioned ship of three masts (square rig), even one of smaller size, but usually confined to three-masted vessels.
**ROUND-SHIP-BOARD** | See 'BEND' (above).
**RUNAWAY** | On a voyage from a port of origin to its destination, when the ship fails to return to the port where it was originally bound; a ship that does not return to its home port from a sea voyage.
**RUNAWAY COLLISIONS** | Collisions in which one ship or vessel overtakes and runs aground another ship or vessel, and the two then collide and damage each other.
**SANDWICH** | A vessel, usually old, with a deck built on the top of a hull below it, or a ship that has two or more decks with superstructures.
**SCUTTLE** | A small wooden frame in which paint is stuck on to timber.
**SEABOARD WALK** | A passageway, or gangway, along a ship's side, usually having one side rail to prevent falls.
**SEA-CAKE** | A mass of solidified saltwater that floats on the surface of the sea, also known as a 'Sandy Ebb'; like a 'mud pot', a sea-cake is a danger to a ship's rigging.
**SEA-COAL** | A large quantity of coal accidentally dropped overboard.
**SEA-DOGS** | Also called 'Pigs of the Sea', sailors who have deserted their ships and gone to sea were, in the language of sailors, 'sea-dogs'.
**SEA-MUD** | Also called 'Mud', mud or dirt that has become hardened by the sea; it is a danger to wooden ships, especially hulls.
**SEA-MUD-BED** | A thick deposit of mud beneath the sea.
**SEAMAN** | A mariner who serves as either a seaman or a landsman in a navy.
**SEAMAN OF THE SHIP** | The ship's captain and/or chief mate; usually abbreviated to 'Shipmate'.
**SEA-PEAS** | The edible seeds or fruit of the green _Pisum sativum_ and the related genus _Vicia_ , both plants grown in fields on land.
**SEDIMENT** | Rocks, sand or mud; debris from the sea bed.
**SERVICE** | The work required to keep a ship at sea in readiness for the service that it is intended to perform; also termed 'wages of employment'.
**SHEER, SHEER AWAY** | To pull on the sheet or rope to give a ship more way, making the vessel head away from the wind, usually by pulling hard on the line to windward.
**SLANT, LAY-A-BELOW** | A strong south-westerly wind blows when the wind is exactly at right angles to the line of the waves, and the wind forces the ships' course to be close-hauled, or leeward.
**SLOP** | To empty slop-chests, and to empty the lower portions of the ship, such as the hold; 'low and dirty', and 'low-spirited'.
**SLOPS** | Nautical term for 'bed-linen', or 'under-clothing', or 'breeches'.
**SMALL FISH** | A ship in deep water that has the same rig (three-masted) as a ship of the same size sailing under normal conditions.
**SMOKING** | To be close-hauled, having reduced sail to increase the wind's power of driving the ship through the water.
**SMOOTH** | The part of the sea where waves are long and regular and of the same size, allowing them to pass on one side of the ship as another.
**SMOOTH SAILING** | A ship or vessel proceeding under favourable conditions; also known as 'go-as-you-please', 'making quick passages' or 'making easy work'.
**SOFT, THE** | A light to moderate wind in the direction of the ship's motion.
**SOLAN GOAT** | The small spotted animal, weighing a little less than a kilo, similar to the wild pig, said to be a 'tame pig' and kept in houses in the Caribbean and elsewhere.
**SPAN** | A wide space of water or ground covered by the sea at high tide.
**SPARTICLE** | A pin used to secure gun-carriages or the wheels of ships in harbour, for repairs to ships, and for various uses aboard ship.
**SPELL-UP** | A rough but fairly reliable survey by a master of a chart, often done without an astrolabe or quadrant, based on dead reckoning.
**SPIN** | To try to bring a ship's wheel around on a particular point.
**SPOON** | A heavy anchor kept in a ship's hold; also a large anchor at the head of the bowline, to be let go from the bow to prevent the ship running down by the head.
**SPRING-BACK** | To let go a halyard or sheet in order to turn a ship's boom or gaff around in the direction of the wind or swell; to swing the sails to windward.
**STARBOARD** | The right side of a ship when facing forward and looking to the right; the left side of the ship when facing forward and looking to the left; the word is also used to refer to any ship.
**STEAL AWAY** | To try to flee, as if making away, out of a harbour, when it is bad weather.
**STEEL** | A sword-like spear used as a weapon of war.
**STEERAGE** | The innermost section of a ship's quarters where passengers were confined in large ships; also the room for passengers in a barge or a ferry.
**STEERAGE-PASSENGER** | A passenger who is conveyed in a boat along with cargo.
**STERN** | A ship's stern is the back end of a ship, from which it derives its name.
**STERN MANGER** | A ship's hold that stores grain.
**STERN-WORK** | A square of oak timber, secured to the ship's keel by iron stanchions, below the waterline, against which the chain cables of a ship's anchor were led.
**STILL, THE** | A wind is said to be 'still' when there is no wind.
**STOCK-FISH** | Salted or pickled fish used as food.
**STRAIGHT** | A term for a ship under sail that cannot make any progress against the wind.
**STRETCHER** | A long piece of rope or cable used for measuring a ship's speed by heaving from the bollard on the quarterdeck and timing the ship's speed, and for other uses when measuring and measuring objects on board.
**STRIDING** | A word to describe a ship sailing fast or nimbly, usually as fast as or faster than the wind's power; also, the noise a ship makes when it is under sail, usually the sheets and halyards being banged about by the wind.
**STROKE** | A part of the sail, normally measuring 3 _fathoms_ by 3 _fathoms_ , including a lower corner; used especially in the expression 'to take two and a half strokes'.
**STROKE A-HEAD** | Used as a term to describe a boat or other watercraft that is in danger of losing its wind by taking courses too near the wind or the shore, often in an area where there are large rocks or reefs.
**STUDDINGSAIL** | A small triangular sail used for light vessels and small craft; also called a 'gaff'.
**STUFF** | A sailor's term for 'any small change', in particular used by sailors in a port where goods are kept for sale.
**SUBMARINE FERRY** | A flat-bottomed boat using paddles on the bottom, a system developed by a British inventor in 1770, to make passenger and cargo ferries crossing lakes, rivers or canals.
**SUPERANNUATED VESSELS** | A term to describe a ship of 'old timber', particularly when the ship has an overall design and construction similar to those of ships built some 400 years ago.
**SURVEY
