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Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Deck Work & Seamanship

Windlass

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

/ˈwɪndləs/nounCommon term

In maritime & shipping, windlass means: A powerful machine on the forecastle deck that lowers and raises the anchor chain, often with drums for mooring lines as well.

In Turkish: ırgat, demir ırgatı

How it is used

Used during anchoring and mooring. The bosun operates the windlass, engages or disengages the gypsy (cable lifter) and applies the brake. A similar machine that turns on a vertical axis is called a capstan.

Example sentences

  1. Test the windlass and the brakes before we arrive at the anchorage.

  2. The windlass motor overheated while we were heaving up the anchor.

Common collocations

  • windlass brake
  • test the windlass
  • anchor windlass
  • windlass gypsy
  • anchorA heavy metal device on a chain that is dropped to the seabed to hold a ship in place. As a verb, it means to stop a ship in this way.
  • bosunThe senior deck rating, who leads the deck crew in maintenance, mooring and cargo work and takes daily orders from the chief officer.
  • mooring lineA strong rope or wire used to tie a ship to a quay, a buoy or another ship. Lines are named by their position, such as head line, stern line, breast line and spring.
  • bowThe front end of a ship. Positions and directions on board are often described in relation to it, for example 'on the port bow'.

More terms: Deck Work & Seamanship

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