Chum

To end this debate I turned to my copy of Admiral Smyth's 'The Sailors Word Book' - which he'd almost finished compiling by the time he died at age in 1862. It's been my sailing Bible since I saw it mentioned in Yachting World about fifteen years ago, and has settled many an argument over maritime terminology.

The old buffer's let me down. 700 pages of words, no chums, not an angel and nary a kellet. Not even a flipping folderol.
 
Minn said:
It goes pretty much without saying that if the anchor chain is leading straight down I won’t bother rigging the Chum. If the chain is growing (note the Term of Art, here!) ahead a bit it’s easy to hook the Chum on. It’s a bit harder to do up a shackle of course. The slider won’t be going anywhere because I will have belayed it’s line whilst I add the weights. Since my Chum lost its own lead discs which had a radial slot in them with a wider central hole so they slotted in one above the other and were retained by the central stem I use lead ballast pigs on strops. Must make it some proper weights! It’s not hard to bowline the strops on and then drop the weights over. Having done that I just slack the line away until the weight is on the bottom in the lulls.

To recover, pull it up to the stem head again, take the weights off and get it on deck.

Much easier than a second anchor.
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Thanks.

If I am using rope I attach a loop (generally 4 turns) of spare chain of the desired weight to the rode using a soft shackle through the loops of chain and a prussik loop around the rope. I then ease the rode and the whole business deploys over the roller smooth as silk, with no leaning or reaching. Reverse to recover. Easier to do and easier to describe.

If I am using all chain it's simpler to deploy a 5-10 meters more chain; the same weight and the same effect, with not enough effect of rode length to worry over.
 
Neeves said:
It is odd that a simple device, that only reactionaries use, has so many names, chum, angel, sentinel, kellet - and the list grows daily. Contrarily and luckily the other piece of kit has only one name - an anchor.

Jonathan
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Minn said:
Bower, kedge, killick, hook, Old Cold Nose (Maurice Griffiths, that one) ...
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Not to mention synonyms for prophylactics :)
 
Minn said:
Bower, kedge, killick, hook, Old Cold Nose (Maurice Griffiths, that one) ...
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Is that really true?

Bower is short for bower anchor (OED). Thus it is an adjective used as noun, not a noun.

Kedge is short for kedge anchor (OED), the anchor used for kedging. Thus it is an adjective used as noun, not a noun.

Using either of these for anchors in general is sloppy English.

Hook is slang. Since we use chain hooks and boat hooks, it could be confusing in an anchoring conversation.

Killick is a little confusing, since I have also heard it used to describe a fellow crewmate. More cute and regional than useful. An archaism.

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Really, it's just an anchor if we are interested in clear writing.:D
 
Isn't anchoring more "to hold something secure" anyway? Like an anchor shackle has nothing to do with boats in water but from anchoring loads?

Not that it makes much difference onboard day to day. :)
 
thinwater said:
Killick is a little confusing, since I have also heard it used to describe a fellow crewmate. More cute and regional than useful. An archaism.
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In the RN, "killick" is slang for a Leading Seaman, Leading Stoker, Leading Cook, Leading Electrical Mechanic etc or just plain Leading Hand. The term comes about because he/she wears a badge denoting a single anchor (or killick) on the sleeve of his/her uniform.

Here's a photo of a Leading Seaman "swinging the lead".

"20190610-leading seaman swinging the lead.jpg

He doesn't strike me as being "cute" but, each to his own, as they say. :D
 
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thinwater said:
We're just playing with language and the history of sailing jargon. I hope it is just in fun.

And there are new terms all the time, which purists hate but stick just the same. Texting and pushpit are two examples.
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I hate hearing people say they 'parked' their boat in a marina. Illogical really, since it's perfectly obvious what they mean, but it grates somehow.
 
Minn said:
Thank you!

Before I acquired my Chum (on eBay, from a lady who had no idea what it was!) I used a couple of chain sliders, one galvanised effort from Davey &Co and one German bronze one, but neither of them slid on the chain properly, because they were not semicircular in cross section,, with up to three 28lbs pigs of lead ballast on strops. The Chum is much better. My way of going about using it is to anchor, then rig the Chum, and to recover the Chum before starting on the anchor. Pick it up by the handle and it unlatches.
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Yes.

Sir Tom has spoken:


 
I’ve always said “parked” for a marina as it doesn’t feel like
mooring.

But I have little excuse for my habit of calling the cockpit “upstairs”, the galley “kitchen” and cabins “bedrooms”.
 
In the US...

Docked is a marina or wharf situation. You can further describe it as a slip, bulkhead, or (rarely) med moor. Sometimes just "tied-up."

Mooring describes a fixed mooring point.

Anchored mean anchored using your own ground tackle.
 
Now there's a surprise! The wordy wordsmith and garrulous gaffer skipper, never far from a bottle of Boat Show Beaujolais, seems to have been enobled - when no-one was watching.
What have I missed?

As for being in complete agreement - er, me, too! He's bigger than mysulf by quite a margin....

;)
 
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