Afloat Xword 61

Compiled by John Gray

Athwart

  7 A small merchant ship used in the First and Second world wars, fitted with concealed armament, used to lure German U-Boats (1,4)
  8 Short beams which extend from a ship’s side to the coamings of the hatchways (4,5)  10 A sea diety of Greece and Rome, son of Neptune, with body of a man and lower body of a dolphin (6)
  11 A vessel of the period of sail, used for the supply and transportation of masts (4,4)
  12 Name for the drifting small fauna of the seas and oceans (8)
  13 Wooden instruments found on boats which have blades, looms and shafts (4)
  15 A position of a yacht in relation to another, or to a mark or place – being side by side (7)
  17 Situation a yacht is experiencing, when sailing with the wind directly from astern (4,3)
  20 Insignia – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (4)
  22 Long flexible strips bolted to the ribs of a vessel to hold them in place prior to them being planked (8)
  25 Mariner’s term – to sail a boat closer to the wind (6,2)
  26 Name used in days of sail to the members of ships’ crews who did not stand normal watches – cooks etc. (6)
  27 A small supplementary sail set in square-riggers in very light weather, set above both moonsail and skysail (9)
  28 Farther aft; toward the stern (5)

Below

  1 Early instrument for measuring the positions of the heavenly stars and planets (9)
  2 On a navigational chart only the latitude scale is used to measure what? (8)
  3 Those popular Northern Atlantic, brown spotted, fish (7)
  4 Moving or directed away from the shoreline (8)
  5 Name for the satellite rescue system launched ten years after “leosar” called the “Geostationary Search and Rescue” system (6)
  6 An old maritime word meaning immediately without delay (5)
  9 A measure of boat speed equal to one nautical mile per hour (4)
  14 A former shallow inlet of the North Sea in NW Netherlands, 80 x 30 miles enclosed by a dyke (9)
  16 A bag kept on board ship where sailor’s gear left lying about was collected, and a fine paid for its return (5,3)
  18 A lift made without help, pulleys or levers etc. (4,4)
  19 Having lashed turns of rope around a sail or shroud to stop it from flapping in the wind (7)
  21 Those points on the celestial sphere directly below where one is standing (6)
  23 A U-shaped fitting on the main boom to which blocks are attached (4)
  24 Vertical spars set in ships to carry their sails (5)

Click her for the Solution to Afloat Xword 61