Words of the sea

Many words used for ships also have everyday meanings:

• a knot in a rope, and a knot as a measure of a ship's speed;
• the stern of a boat (the back), and a stern look (a strict, serious one);
• the boom of a sail, and an economic boom (a time of fast growth);
• a hatch (an opening in the deck), and to hatch a plot (to plan something secretly);
• an anchor that holds a ship, and a news anchor who presents a programme.

Some compound words end in -ship: an airship floats in the air because it is filled with a light gas; a flagship carries the commander of a fleet (and, by extension, the most important product of a company); a lightship is anchored at sea and works as a floating lighthouse.

In the story, 'we took on two crewmen' means the family employed them and took them aboard.

The word 'catamaran', a boat with two hulls side by side, comes from the Tamil word kattumaram, meaning logs tied together.

The parts of a yacht: the mast (the tall pole), the mainsail, the boom (the pole along the bottom of the sail), the cockpit (where it is steered), the cabin, the bow (the front), the stern (the back) and the rudder (which steers it).