DICTIONARY OF

Cod's Head 89 Cold Wave
Cod's Head and Mackerel Tail. Nickname given to ships built with bluff bows and a long
and tapering run.
Coefficient. Numerical constant used as a multiplier of a varying quantity.
Coefficient of Fineness. Decimal fraction by which the volume of a rectangular block must
be multiplied to obtain displacement of a floating vessel whose underwater body has the
same maximum length, breadth and depth. Also known as 'Block coefficient'.
Coefficient of Waterplane Area. Area of waterplane, at a given draught, expressed as a
fraction of the area of a circumscribing rectangle. Value, for ship shaped bodies, usually
varies between 0-7 and 0-85.
Cofferdam. Space between two bulkheads, or walls, that receives and retains any liquid that
has leaked through one wall.
Coffin Ships. Vessels unseaworthy through defect in building, fitting or loading. Were
unduly prevalent before legislation enforced loading limits and other safety measures.
Coffin Stern. Name given to stern plating that is vertical, flat and V-shaped.
Cog. The dominant type of vessel of the period 1200 to 1400. Fist bottomed, clinker built at
first, but later carvel built, high sides, straight sloping stern and stern posts with stern rudder.
Single mast and square sail.*
Goggle.* Old name for a small cog, or boat.
Coil. Quantity of rope when made up in circular form. Length may be 113 or 120 fathoms,
more or less, according to type. To coil a rope is to lay it in coil.
Coir. Fibrous outer covering of the coconut.
Coir Hawser. Hawser made of coir fibre. About two-thirds the weight and one-quarter the
strength of hemp hawser of same size. As it floats on water it is useful for warping.
Col. Saddle-shaped area between two anticyclones and two depressions when they are
arranged so that a line joining the two depressions crosses a line joining the two
anticyclones. Through this area there is an air-flow from anticyclones to depressions.
Co-latitude. Complement of any given latitude. Value of intercepted arc of a meridian
between elevated pole and observer's zenith.
Cold Front. Line in which cold air inserts itself beneath a mass of warm air.
Cold Sector. That part of a depression in which cold air is in contact with surface of Earth.
Varies from 75 % to total according to age of depression.
Cold Wall. Longitudinal area of cold air. 2. Line of demarcation separating the Gulf Stream
from the Labrador current.
Cold Wave. Fall of temperature that follows the passing of cold front of a depression.
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*Words may change their meaning with time. By 1600 cog had become cock or cock-boat, a ship's boat propelled by oars and
sail; hulk became a ship without masts; barge became a flat-bottomed cargo boat, or the admiral's boat in a flagship.