| TERMS | MEANING: |
|---|---|
| YARD | (1) A large wooden or metal spar crossing the masts of a ship horizontally or diagonally, from which a sail is set. Yards crossing the masts of a square-rigged ship horizontally are supported from the mastheads by slings and lifts and are held to the mast by a truss or parrel. Square sails are laced by their heads to the yards. By means of braces, the yards can be turned at an angle to the fore-and-aft line of the vessel in order to take the greatest advantage of the wind direction in relation to the required course of the vessel. When a yard crosses a mast diagonally, it is known as a lateen yard and is not supported by braces but hoisted by a halyard attached to a point on the yard about one-third of its length from the forward end. (2) A shortened form of the word dockyard, in which vessels are built or repaired. |
| YAW | The effect on a ship’s course produced by a following wind or sea. With the vessel travelling through the water in the same direction as that in which the sea is running or the wind blowing, the effect of the rudder is diminished and the vessel yaws away from the desired course. A good helmsman can often anticipate the moment when a vessel is most likely to yaw, and correct the tendency to do so by applying the requisite helm to counteract it. The word is also used as a noun to denote the involuntary movement caused by wind or sea by which a ship deviates from her chosen course. A yaw can also be caused by unintelligent steering on the part of a helmsman. |
| YELLOW JACK | The sailor’s name for yellow fever, and also the slang name given to the quarantine flag in the International Code of Signals, Q flag, which is coloured yellow. It was also the name often given to a naval pensioner in Greenwich Hospital who was too fond of his liquor, such men being made to wear a parti-coloured coat in which yellow was the predominant colour so that the other pensioners might be warned that he was a man who might try to wheedle their daily ration of beer out of them. |
| YOKE | A transverse board fitted to the top of a rudder in a small boat instead of a tiller, the rudder being moved by yoke lines attached to the ends of the yoke and operated by the helmsman. Yokes are mainly to be found in small boats which are pulled by oars; and very occasionally in small, open sailing craft where the position of a mizen or jigger mast makes the operation of a tiller impossible. |
| YOUTH | One of the finest short stories of the sea, written by Joseph Conrad and published, with other stories, in 1902. It is based on personal experience when Conrad was second mate of the Palestine, which caught fire and was abandoned off Java Head, the whole crew taking to the boats. |