Glossary of Shipbuilding Terms

Valuable to both Maritime History Buffs and Model Ship Builders

Like any specialized field, shipbuilding has its own terminology. Whether you are a maritime history buff, or planning on reproducing a model of a ship from prototype plans, it’s important to understand the terms used.

We offer a glossary of shipbuilding terms from United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation publication The Building of a Wooden Ship by Charles G. Davis (1918), a long out-of-print book. These definitions will be very handy when reading the works of such authors as Charles Davis, Howard I. Chapelle, V.R. Grimwood, and others we reference on this site. In some cases, we have added further clarification to a definition in the form of editor’s notes. These are in italic, contained in parentheses, and attribute the modern author of the clarification.

Books Available From The Model Shipwright