These words are just the beginning of our dictionary. As we post new materials on a wide variety of topics to this year's website, you're invited to watch for new words to add to your vocabulary. Aft - Near, toward or in the stern of a ship. Backstay - A stay extending from the mastheads to the side of a ship and slanting aft. Ballast - Any heavy substance used in a vessel to improve its stability or to control its draft. Beiteass - Also called a "tackpole," used to position and attach the lower leading edge of the sail to the ship. Blacksmith - someone who forges (heats, bends and shapes) iron. Bow - the forward part of a vessel. Canvas - a heavy woven cloth typically used for sails and tents. Made of flax. Coastal - adjective, describing the waters along the shoreline. Compass - a device used to determine direction through use of a magnetic needle. Draft - The depth of water a ship "draws" when loaded (the measure of the ship's surface that rests below water level). Eskers - paths from one waterway to another. Fertile land - soil with enough nuturients and the proper conditions to allow vegetation and farming. Foredeck - The forepart of a ship's main deck. Futhark - The Viking alphabet, totalling sixteen letters. Galley - the kitchen area of a vessel (usually below decks). This ship doesn't have one. Glaciers - a body of ice formed in areas where more snow falls than can ever melt. Glaciers move from higher altitudes to the coast, eventually breaking into the sea. GPS (global positioning system) - a small device used to determine latitude and longitude by sending a signal from the ground to a positioning satellite and back to the ground. The satellite calculates and reports the position of the sender by reading the angle of the transmission signal. Greenlandic - having to do with Greenland. Hackmatack - The American larch or tamarack tree, one of the woods used to build the knarr. Halyard - A rope and tackle for hoisting and lowering the sail. Head (on a ship) - the front cabin of a boat; indoor bathroom facilities on a boat. Headway - motion forward. Heavy seas - stormy weather, lots of waves. Hull - the frame or body of a vessel. Icebergs - a huge, floating mass of ice, broken from a glacier. Icepack - frozen sea ice. Immersion suits - protective wet suits which allow sailors and divers to function in cold water. Inuit - indigenous peoples of the Arctic and sub-arctic, the Inuit have many sub-cultures and homelands and are often referred to as Eskimos. Keel - the timbers along the center of the bottom of a vessel. Knarr -- wooden merchant ship of Viking design, used at the time of Leif Eriksson. Knots - the unit of speed; one knot equals one nautical mile per hour. It is redundant and incorrect to refer to speeds in "knots per hour. " Latitude - distance measured in degrees north and south from the equator. Longitude - distance measured in degrees east and west of the "Prime Meridian" in Greenwich, England. Nautical mile - a nautical mile measures 6,080 feet or 1.1516 miles. Navigator - one who determines the course of a vessel. Norsemen - Norwegians Oars - a long, slender broad-bladed wooden implement for propelling or steering a boat. Open-deck - having no sleeping or living area below decks. Port - the left side of a boat as you stand facing forward. Replica -- a copy of an original item, as historically accurate as possible. Rivets - a headed pin or bolt used to put two pieces of material together. Rudder - A piece of wood attached to the right rear side of a Viking ship so that it can be turned causing the ship's bow to turn. Runes - simple, sticklike alphabet characters, dating back to the 3rd Century. Saga - an adventurous poem or story of an Icelandic hero or family. Sails - large pieces of canvas or other fabric used to catch the wind and propel a vessel through the water. Seasickness - illness, nausea caused by the motion of a ship. Sextant - an instrument for measuring distance and latitude/longitude, by sighting the sun's angle. Shroud - Rope(s) leading from a ship's mastheads to give lateral support to the mast. Square-rigged - having the principal sails of a vessel suspended horizontally at the middle of the hull of a ship. Starboard - the right side of a boat as you stand facing forward. Stern - the back end of a vessel. Swells - a wave, or an unbroken series of them. Treenails - wooden nails that fasten planking to frames. Vessel -- a craft for navigating the water. Top of page