Games and Fact Sheets

Glossary

AFT:
(aftward) toward the back/rear/stern/after/end of the ship.
BALLAST:
heavy material (eg seawater, concrete or iron) usually placed in the base of a ship for achieving stability or to secure greatest possible economy of propelling power.
BOW:
fore-end of ship or boat.
BREAK BULK:
general cargo conventionally stowed, as opposed to containerised cargo.
BUNKERING:
loading of fuel oil into the ship's fuel tank to keep its engines going, in the same way as a car pulls into a petrol station to refuel.
CONTAINER SHIPS:
carry goods of all kinds packed in metal containers. These metal containers are rectangular in shape, like giant shoeboxes, six to 12 metres in length. They have doors that open at the end and are designed to allow a forklift to be driven inside to load or unload goods. Manufacturers load their finished goods (anything from perfume to electronic products) into containers. If goods are frozen, they are loaded into refrigerated containers called 'reefers'. The containers are then delivered to the wharf for loading onto the container ship by means of large portainer cranes.
DEADWEIGHT TONNAGE (D.W.T):
Weight in tonnes of cargo, stores, fuel, passengers and crew carried by the ship when loaded to her maximum summer load (Plimsoll) line.
DISTANCES:
the statute mile used on land is 5,280 feet, whereas the nautical mile used exclusively at sea is 6,080 feet or 1.15 statute miles. The kilometre is 3,280 feet or 0.63 of a statute mile and the kilometre is 0.54 nautical mile.
FORE:
(forward) toward the front/bow/front end of ship.
GROSS TONNAGE:
the total of all enclosed spaces within a ship expressed in tons, each of which is equivalent to 100 cubic feet.
NAUTICAL MILE:
1852.3 metres.
PLIMSOLL LINE:
is a safe-load mark required on all ships. It assures the vessel is not loaded beyond its safe point of buoyancy. The Plimsoll mark is painted on each side of the hull amidships (middle part of the ship).
PORT:
(colour red) is the left side of a ship/boat looking forward (fore).
STARBOARD:
(green) is the right side of a ship/boat looking forward (fore).
STERN:
back-end of ship or boat (aft).
TUG:
strongly built, small tonnage vessel especially designed for towing.
TIDE:
the rise and fall of ocean waters, on a definite time schedule. Both the sun and the moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth.
WIND SPEED:
is expressed as knots per hour. To convert knots to kilometres per hour, multiply the number of knots by 1.84.