DICTIONARY OF

Knarr 192 Kynaston's Apparatus
Knarr. Scandinavian large open boat used chiefly in coastwise trading in and around 10th
century.
Knee. Wood grown, or shaped, to a right-angled form. Used for connecting and supporting
two members perpendicular to one another. 2. Steel or iron plates, roughly triangular, used
for above purpose.
Knee Timber. Wooden knee.
Knight Heads. Heads of two strong timbers, usually of oak, that came up on either side of
stem and on either side of bowsprit, which they supported. Also called 'Bollard Timbers'.
Knittles. 'Nettles.'
Knot. Nautical unit of velocity representing a speed of 6080 ft. per hour, 101-3 ft. per
minute, 1-69 ft. per second. Nearly equal to -5 metres per second. One metre per second
=1-944 knots. Is the only unit of velocity in existence. Name is derived from the knots in the
common log line. 2. Manipulation of a rope so that a knob is formed in it. The exception to
this is a reef knot, which is made with two ropes and is, properly, a 'bend'.
Knots per Hour. An expression never used by careful seamen, being tautological and
illogical.
Knuckle. Outer side of a sharp bend in a jetty or breakwater. An acute angle in certain
wooden timbers of a vessel.
Knuckle Timber. One of the top timbers, of angular form, in fore body of a wooden ship,
where there is a sharp change in form of the body.
Koff. Former two-masted Dutch sailing vessel having spritsail on each mast.
Kraken. Fabulous sea monster supposed to have been seen off coasts of America and
Norway. Sometimes mistaken for an island.
Krang. Carcase of a whale after all blubber has been removed.
Krennels. Small cringles for bowline bridles, on a square sail.
Kudastre. Two-masted sailing craft of China Seas. About 50 ft. in length; fitted with
outrigger.
Kuro-Siwo. Ocean current running ENE-ward from SE coast of Japan towards American
coast. Rate and direction vary with prevailing winds.
Kuzi. Arabic name for SW monsoon on E coast of Africa.
Kynaston's Apparatus. Early form (1880) of quick-release gear for boats lowered in a
seaway. Principle was pretty much the same as that of the Robinson release gear.