Essential Maritime Terminology and Nautical Definitions
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- Abandon vessel (abandonar el barco): To evacuate a vessel's crew and passengers following a distress.
- Adrift (a la deriva): Floating, not controlled, without a clearly determinable direction.
- Assembly station: A place on deck, in mess rooms, etc., assigned to crew and passengers where they have to meet according to the muster list when the corresponding alarm is released or announcement made.
- Backing (of wind): When a wind blows round anticlockwise (opposite of veering).
- Beach (to) (varar): To run a vessel upon a beach to prevent its sinking in deep water.
- Berth (amarradero): A sea room to be kept for safety around a vessel, rock, platform, etc., or the place assigned to a vessel when anchored or lying alongside a pier, etc.
- Blast: A sound signal made with the whistle of the vessel.
- Blind sectors (sectores ciegos): Areas which cannot be scanned by the radar of the vessel because they are shielded by parts of its superstructure, masts, etc.
- Boarding arrangements (utensilios de embarque): All gear, such as a pilot ladder, accommodation ladder, hoist, etc., necessary for a safe transfer of the pilot.
- Boarding speed (velocidad): The speed of a vessel adjusted to that of a pilot boat at which the pilot can safely embark.
- Briefing (sesión informativa): Concise explanatory information for crew and passengers.
- Capsizing: The turning of a vessel upside down while on water.
- Cardinal buoy (balizado): A seamark, i.e., a buoy, indicating the north, east, south, or west from a fixed point, e.g., a wreck.
- Casualty (muerte/lesiones graves): Death or serious injury to a person in an accident or shipping disaster; also said of a distressed vessel.
- Close coupled towing (remolque de buques a través del hielo): A method of towing vessels through polar ice by means of icebreaking tugs with a special stern notch suited to receive and hold the bow of the vessel to be towed.
- Compatibility (of goods): States whether different goods can be stowed together in one hold.
- Convoy (conjunto de buques): A group of vessels which sail together, e.g., through a canal or ice.
- COW (Crude Oil Washing): A system of cleaning the tanks by washing them with the cargo of crude oil while it is being discharged.
- CPA: Closest Point of Approach (punto de máxima aproximación).
- CSS (Co-ordinator Surface Search): A vessel, other than a rescue unit, designated to co-ordinate surface search and rescue operations within a specified area (buque designado para coordinar el rescate en una determinada área).
- Damage control team (equipo de control de daños): A group of crew members trained for fighting flooding in the vessel.
- Datum: The most probable position of a search target at a given time.
- Derelict (abandonado): Goods or any other commodity, specifically a vessel abandoned at sea.
- Destination (destino): The port which a vessel is bound for.
- Disabled (discapacitado): A vessel damaged or impaired in such a manner as to be incapable of proceeding on its voyage.