Nelson & His World

Hi, George here. I'm a newby on this forum.

I'm hoping you can help me out with questions about sailing terminology. I am translating a book (German into English) that deals with an ocean voyage, and it is full of German nautical terms whose meaning is often clear to me but whose English equivalent is not.

At the moment, I am looking for the English equivalent of "Segelkammer" (literally "sail chamber"). This is the place where the sails were stored when not in use. In bad weather, repairs are made there too. Is this a "sail loft"? What is the right name for this space?

In the ship in this book, a three-masted barque, this is the forward-most space below decks, right up at the bow.

Any help is appreciated!

Regards,

-- George

Onboard ship it is a sail room.

A sail loft is the place in a dockyard where sails are made.

Thanks, Philonauticus. This is most helpful. I don't know where else I would have gotten an answer like this -- and so quickly.

Welcome to the forum, George.

There are a number of experts here (not me!) who have a wide and deep knowledge of many aspects of the age of sail and can usually come up with an answer to most questions. I am sure they will be glad to help with further queries.

George,

The sail room on a warship was usually situated on the orlop, the deck below the gun deck (and just below the waterline), right forward in the bows, where the sailmaker's cabin was also situated.

I'm sure some repairs were made here, which of course was a continuous job in itself but, since there was no natural light I would imagine that many repairs and the making of new sails would have been performed if not on the fo'c'sle, then on the upper gun deck in the natural daylight, if at all possible. The sails were also of some considerable size and weight, and they would need to be spread out, which I doubt would have been possible below. Very often many other men would also have been employed with repairs, and they would have needed space to work. This would be akin to a sail loft ashore, which was usually easy to spot because of the large windows in the roof to let in the daylight.