Information about Bow (ship)
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Bow of the Cruise ship Spirit of Endeavour
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The bow (pronounced to rhyme with how) is a nautical term that refers to the forward part of the hull of a ship or boat, the point that is most forward when the vessel is underway. Both of the adjectives fore and forward mean towards the bow. The other end of the boat is called the stern.
The term bow comes from the old days of timber boat building. It is derived from the use of the trunk and a bow (bough) or large limb of a tree where the natural strength from the grown curved fibres of the wood provides the strength for this most vulnerable part of the ship or boat. The shipwright would cut the bow and trunk vertically through the felled tree to find the most natural curved form.
The bow is designed to reduce the resistance of the hull cutting through water and should be tall enough to prevent water from easily washing over the top of it. On slower ships like tankers, a fuller bow shape is used to maximise the volume of the ship for a given length.
The forward part of the bow, usually on the ship's centreline, is called the stem. Traditionally, the stem was an upright timber or metal bar into which side planks or plates were joined.
A "wet bow" results from seawater washing over the top of the hull. A raked stem can help to reduce the wetness of the bow. Aside from making the deck slippery, water can corrode the metal of the ship. If the temperature is low enough this water can also freeze on the deck, rails, turrets, and other exposed surfaces, increasing the topside weight.
In naval slang, 'bows' can also refer to the foremost guns of a ship.
See also
- Prow
- Boat building
- Cruise ship
- Deck
- Figurehead
- Naval architecture
- Shipbuilding
- Stern
- Superstructure
- Bulbous bow
- Port
- Starboard
This is a glossary of nautical terms; some remain current, many date from the 17th-19th century. See also Wiktionary's nautical terms .
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A
- Above board
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A hull is the body of a ship or boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking.
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General features
Nearly all watercraft, from small boats to the largest ships, adhere to a general form that serve the needs of..... Click the link for more information.
ship is a large watercraft capable of offshore navigation. Ships may be operated by:
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- Governments (military, rescue, research, transportation)
- Private companies and institutions (transportation, offshore resources, research)
- Individuals (large yachts, research).
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A boat is a watercraft designed to float or plane on, and provide transport over, water. Usually this water will be inland (lakes) or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were historically designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment.
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stern is the rear or aft part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter to the taffrail.
The stern area has always been the location near the steering apparatus (rudder, tiller, ship's wheel, etc), and
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The stern area has always been the location near the steering apparatus (rudder, tiller, ship's wheel, etc), and
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drag (sometimes called resistance) is the force that resists the movement of a solid object through a fluid (a liquid or gas). Drag is made up of friction forces, which act in a direction parallel to the object's surface (primarily along its sides, as friction forces at the
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The prow is the fore part of a ship, the stem and its surrounding parts, hence used like keel, by metonymy, of the ship itself. It is often depicted in movies with carved figurehead in the form of a mermaid or other similar figure.
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Boat building, one of the oldest branches of engineering, is concerned with constructing the hulls of boats and, for sailboats, the masts, spars and rigging.
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Portions
Each part of the hull has a different name and purpose:..... Click the link for more information.
A cruise ship or a cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are considered an essential part of the experience.
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A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull[1] of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface.
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figurehead is a carved wooden decoration, often female or bestial, found at the prow of ships of the 16th to the 19th century. The practice was introduced with the galleons of the 16th century, as although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation, the figurehead
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Naval architecture is an engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction and repair of marine vehicles.
Due to the complexity associated with operating in a marine environment naval architecture is by necessity a co-operative effort between groups of technically
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Due to the complexity associated with operating in a marine environment naval architecture is by necessity a co-operative effort between groups of technically
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Shipbuilding is the construction of ships. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, originally called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.
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stern is the rear or aft part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter to the taffrail.
The stern area has always been the location near the steering apparatus (rudder, tiller, ship's wheel, etc), and
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The stern area has always been the location near the steering apparatus (rudder, tiller, ship's wheel, etc), and
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A superstructure is an extension of an existing structure or baseline. This term is applied to both physical structures (e.g buildings and ships) or to conceptual structures (social science).
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bulbous bow, a feature of many modern ship hulls, is a protruding bulb at the bow (or front) below the waterline. Usually visible only when a ship is in drydock, the bulb modifies how water flows around the hull, reducing drag and increasing in speed, range, and fuel efficiency.
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Starboard is the nautical term that refers to the right side of a vessel as perceived by a person on board the ship and facing the bow (front).
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Overview
The origin of the term comes from old boating practices...... Click the link for more information.
Sailing ship is now used to refer to any large, wind-powered, vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant.
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anchor is a heavy object, often made out of metal, that is used to attach a ship to the bottom of a body of water at a specific point. There are two primary classes of anchors—temporary and permanent.
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anchor windlass is a machine that restrains and manipulates the anchor chain and/or rope on a boat, allowing the anchor to be raised and lowered. A notched wheel engages the links of the chain or the rope.
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beakhead is the protruding part of the foremost section of a sailing ship. It was fitted on sailing vessels from the 16th to the 18th century and served as a working platform by sailors working the sails of the bowsprit, the forward-pointing mast that carries the spritsails.
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A bilgeboard is a lifting foil used in a sailboat, which resembles a cross between a centerboard and a leeboard. Bilgeboards are mounted between the centerline of the boat and the sides, and are almost always asymmetric foils mounted at an angle to maximize lateral lift while
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boom brake is a device designed to control the swing of the boom on a sailboat. The boom brake acts as a preventer when sailing downwind, and can also be used to jibe the mainsail in a slow measured action.
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capstan is a rotating machine used to apply force to another element, notably used on board ship and on dock walls, for heaving-in or veering ropes, cables, and hawsers.
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A centreboard is a retractable keel which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a centerboard trunk (US) or case. The pivoting ability allows the centreboard to be raised to operate in shallow waters, to reduce drag when the full area of the centreboard isn't
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A daggerboard is a retractable keel used by various sailing craft. While other types of centreboard may pivot to retract, a daggerboard slides in a casing. The shape of the daggerboard converts the forward motion into a windward lift, countering the leeward push of the sail.
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A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull[1] of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface.
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figurehead is a carved wooden decoration, often female or bestial, found at the prow of ships of the 16th to the 19th century. The practice was introduced with the galleons of the 16th century, as although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation, the figurehead
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Forecastle", also spelled fo'c's'le (pronounced /'fəʊksəl/), originally meant the upper deck of a sailing ship, forward of the foremast.
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The gunwale, (IPA /gʌnəl/ ) pronounced "gunnel" to rhyme with "tunnel", is a nautical term describing the top edge of the side of a boat.
Wale is the same word as the skin injury, a weal, which, too, forms a ridge.
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Wale is the same word as the skin injury, a weal, which, too, forms a ridge.
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