Afloat Xword 55 

Compiled by John Gray 

Athwart 

5 Scalp hair can cover the call sign for “A” in the International Phonetic Alphabet (5) 
8 In Greek legend the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, all nymphs of the sea (8) 
10 A restored Lom Boat houses a game similar to a lottery, with a revolving drum, was played on H.M. ships (7) 
11 The precise detailed study of the configuration of the earth’s surface (10) 
12 Sounds like a band of robbers – Pieces of spun marline used to fasten the heads of sails to their spars (7) 
13 Light-weather foresails used in yachts, on their topmast stays, similar to genoas, but cut smaller (7) 
14 Second biggest Spanish island in the western Mediterranean in the balearic group - main port is Port Mahon (7) 
17 One of a pair of flat hooks, joined with a chain, and used to haul casks on board (7) 
23 A device for pulling the clew of a sail out on to the boom (7) 
24 A system of cutting sails providing draft by putting extra cloth on the edge of the luff and foot (4,3) 
26 A marine polyp that resembles a flower but has oral rings of tentacles; – differing from coral (3,7) 
27 The national flags as worn by the ships of a nation – or a commissioned naval officer (7) 
28 A fast-moving, turbulent stretch of water, often with eddies and swirls within (4,4) 
29 Rectangular pieces of fabric used as signalling devices by yachtsmen and mariners (5)
 

Below 

1 Said of a vessel when head to wind and temporarily unable to pay off on either tack (2,5) 
2 Eastern name for beche de mer - from an imperial dynasty of China around a small representative (7) 
3 A device for catching surface fish at sea when they are shoaling, by encircling the shoal with woven net (4,3) 
4 To make a ship safe against magnetic mines by utilising a magnetic field around the hull (7) 
6 The peninsula of NE North America between Saint Lawrence and Hudson Bay (8) 
7 Traditionally the structure on the upper deck of a merchant vessel where apprentices were berthed (4,4) 
9 A toy consisting of a spool that is reeled up and down on a string by motions of the hand (4) 
10 Length of rope yarn sewn to a sail by it’s bight to stop chafing by running rigging (5) 
15 The bishop who just might use one of four points on a magnetic compass card (8) 
16 Roughly the term for the coiling of a rope on deck to present a neat appearance (8) 
18 Towable minesweeping fittings which tend to dive when towed. Slang for spinnakers (5) 
19 First name of Hornblower the hero of C.S. Forester’s novels and short stories about the British Navy (7) 
20 The upwards inclinations of vessels’ bowsprits (7) 
21 Colloquialism for a naval vessel that is armed for hostile activities (3,1,3) 
22 Name for the ‘screw’ which rids air from the fuel system in engines fitted with a leak-off pipe to the fuel filter (7) 
25 Acronym for The United States Naval Reserve (4)

For the solution to Afloat Xword 55, click here