What do “high sea” and “carry” mean in this sentence?
This is a line from Google's definition of "poop":
(of a wave) break over the stern of (a ship), sometimes causing it to capsize.
"carrying a high sea, we were badly pooped"
This line doesn't make sense to me. What do "high" sea and "carry" mean here? "High sea" doesn't seem to refer to the high seas. The verbal usage of "poop" here comes from the noun "poop" (in nautical terms refers to the raised area at the rear of a ship).
meaning phrase-meaning technical
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
add a comment |
This is a line from Google's definition of "poop":
(of a wave) break over the stern of (a ship), sometimes causing it to capsize.
"carrying a high sea, we were badly pooped"
This line doesn't make sense to me. What do "high" sea and "carry" mean here? "High sea" doesn't seem to refer to the high seas. The verbal usage of "poop" here comes from the noun "poop" (in nautical terms refers to the raised area at the rear of a ship).
meaning phrase-meaning technical
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
There are a lot of meanings of “poop”. This one seems to be a nautical term. Is this the meaning you were looking for? As someone who is not familiar with nautical terminology I am not sure what “carrying a high sea” means in this context, either.
– Mixolydian
Mar 28 at 22:22
@Mixolydian Good call pointing that out. I am adding the definition to the question.
– Eddie Kal
Mar 28 at 22:45
add a comment |
This is a line from Google's definition of "poop":
(of a wave) break over the stern of (a ship), sometimes causing it to capsize.
"carrying a high sea, we were badly pooped"
This line doesn't make sense to me. What do "high" sea and "carry" mean here? "High sea" doesn't seem to refer to the high seas. The verbal usage of "poop" here comes from the noun "poop" (in nautical terms refers to the raised area at the rear of a ship).
meaning phrase-meaning technical
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
This is a line from Google's definition of "poop":
(of a wave) break over the stern of (a ship), sometimes causing it to capsize.
"carrying a high sea, we were badly pooped"
This line doesn't make sense to me. What do "high" sea and "carry" mean here? "High sea" doesn't seem to refer to the high seas. The verbal usage of "poop" here comes from the noun "poop" (in nautical terms refers to the raised area at the rear of a ship).
meaning phrase-meaning technical
meaning phrase-meaning technical
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
edited Mar 28 at 23:55
Eddie Kal
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
asked Mar 28 at 22:18
Eddie KalEddie Kal
8,10162866
8,10162866
There are a lot of meanings of “poop”. This one seems to be a nautical term. Is this the meaning you were looking for? As someone who is not familiar with nautical terminology I am not sure what “carrying a high sea” means in this context, either.
– Mixolydian
Mar 28 at 22:22
@Mixolydian Good call pointing that out. I am adding the definition to the question.
– Eddie Kal
Mar 28 at 22:45
add a comment |
There are a lot of meanings of “poop”. This one seems to be a nautical term. Is this the meaning you were looking for? As someone who is not familiar with nautical terminology I am not sure what “carrying a high sea” means in this context, either.
– Mixolydian
Mar 28 at 22:22
@Mixolydian Good call pointing that out. I am adding the definition to the question.
– Eddie Kal
Mar 28 at 22:45
There are a lot of meanings of “poop”. This one seems to be a nautical term. Is this the meaning you were looking for? As someone who is not familiar with nautical terminology I am not sure what “carrying a high sea” means in this context, either.
– Mixolydian
Mar 28 at 22:22
There are a lot of meanings of “poop”. This one seems to be a nautical term. Is this the meaning you were looking for? As someone who is not familiar with nautical terminology I am not sure what “carrying a high sea” means in this context, either.
– Mixolydian
Mar 28 at 22:22
@Mixolydian Good call pointing that out. I am adding the definition to the question.
– Eddie Kal
Mar 28 at 22:45
@Mixolydian Good call pointing that out. I am adding the definition to the question.
– Eddie Kal
Mar 28 at 22:45
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
There's a lot of specialist nautical terminology here. I'm not an expert on this, but I've done a bit of checking with people who know more, and I'm reasonably confident.
For a sailing ship to be carrying an environmental condition - sea state, weather, etc - is a term I'm not terribly familiar with, but I gather it just means to be experiencing that condition.
A high sea is referring to the sea state, how rough the sea is.
Being badly pooped is to have a lot of water breaking over the poop deck, or the rearmost, elevated deck on a sailing ship. Even relatively small sailing ships would have this, even if they have no real forecastle to speak of, because it shields the quarterdeck in front of it, where the helmsman (or coxswain) and captain (if they aren't the same person) are, directing the ship.
Now, I tried to find where the dictionaries online might have gotten this quote, and discovered that they missed out a bit of the middle of it that might make it slightly easier to understand, though it's still obscure to the layman:
"As it grew dark I drew away, and headed up for Plymouth. Off Rame Head, carrying a high sea on the quarter, we were badly pooped" (source: Lonely Road By Nevil Shute)
That makes it more clear what carrying a high sea is meant to mean; on the quarter refers to a direction, between abeam (to one side) and astern. Thus the sea state, the high sea, is being driven from a diagonal direction to one side of and behind the ship. Because of that, there was a lot of water breaking onto the poop deck.
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
2
In this context, I think carrying is roughly synonymous with weathering or surviving. I doubt you could carry a placid sea, for example.
– Kevin
2 days ago
9
@SamBC has it right. I am a master mariner & his interpretation is correct. Every profession has its specialist terminology. To Carry a Sea on the quarter means the sea is coming from either 4:30 or 7:30. To poop badly means that a wave has broken over the stern and there is A LOT of green water on deck. This can be a very dangerous state as the vessel's buoyancy aft is significantly reduced and can lead to a broach where the vessel lies beam-on (across) to the sea and is in danger of being rolled.
– pHred
2 days ago
@pHred what did you mean by “green water”? Why is it green?
– Andrew Tobilko
2 days ago
4
"Green water" basically means a significant quantity of seawater, as opposed to just getting sprayed with foam from the tip of the wave (which would be white in appearance).
– dwizum
2 days ago
I've also heard the expression "solid green water", which I just take to mean "yup, definitely green".
– SamBC
2 days ago
|
show 5 more comments
When we say a ship is 'carrying a high sea" we mean that the sea in which it is sailing is very rough, with waves that are large enough to poop the ship (verb, meaning to break over the stern of the ship causing it to capsize, or nearly do so).
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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active
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2 Answers
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oldest
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There's a lot of specialist nautical terminology here. I'm not an expert on this, but I've done a bit of checking with people who know more, and I'm reasonably confident.
For a sailing ship to be carrying an environmental condition - sea state, weather, etc - is a term I'm not terribly familiar with, but I gather it just means to be experiencing that condition.
A high sea is referring to the sea state, how rough the sea is.
Being badly pooped is to have a lot of water breaking over the poop deck, or the rearmost, elevated deck on a sailing ship. Even relatively small sailing ships would have this, even if they have no real forecastle to speak of, because it shields the quarterdeck in front of it, where the helmsman (or coxswain) and captain (if they aren't the same person) are, directing the ship.
Now, I tried to find where the dictionaries online might have gotten this quote, and discovered that they missed out a bit of the middle of it that might make it slightly easier to understand, though it's still obscure to the layman:
"As it grew dark I drew away, and headed up for Plymouth. Off Rame Head, carrying a high sea on the quarter, we were badly pooped" (source: Lonely Road By Nevil Shute)
That makes it more clear what carrying a high sea is meant to mean; on the quarter refers to a direction, between abeam (to one side) and astern. Thus the sea state, the high sea, is being driven from a diagonal direction to one side of and behind the ship. Because of that, there was a lot of water breaking onto the poop deck.
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
2
In this context, I think carrying is roughly synonymous with weathering or surviving. I doubt you could carry a placid sea, for example.
– Kevin
2 days ago
9
@SamBC has it right. I am a master mariner & his interpretation is correct. Every profession has its specialist terminology. To Carry a Sea on the quarter means the sea is coming from either 4:30 or 7:30. To poop badly means that a wave has broken over the stern and there is A LOT of green water on deck. This can be a very dangerous state as the vessel's buoyancy aft is significantly reduced and can lead to a broach where the vessel lies beam-on (across) to the sea and is in danger of being rolled.
– pHred
2 days ago
@pHred what did you mean by “green water”? Why is it green?
– Andrew Tobilko
2 days ago
4
"Green water" basically means a significant quantity of seawater, as opposed to just getting sprayed with foam from the tip of the wave (which would be white in appearance).
– dwizum
2 days ago
I've also heard the expression "solid green water", which I just take to mean "yup, definitely green".
– SamBC
2 days ago
|
show 5 more comments
There's a lot of specialist nautical terminology here. I'm not an expert on this, but I've done a bit of checking with people who know more, and I'm reasonably confident.
For a sailing ship to be carrying an environmental condition - sea state, weather, etc - is a term I'm not terribly familiar with, but I gather it just means to be experiencing that condition.
A high sea is referring to the sea state, how rough the sea is.
Being badly pooped is to have a lot of water breaking over the poop deck, or the rearmost, elevated deck on a sailing ship. Even relatively small sailing ships would have this, even if they have no real forecastle to speak of, because it shields the quarterdeck in front of it, where the helmsman (or coxswain) and captain (if they aren't the same person) are, directing the ship.
Now, I tried to find where the dictionaries online might have gotten this quote, and discovered that they missed out a bit of the middle of it that might make it slightly easier to understand, though it's still obscure to the layman:
"As it grew dark I drew away, and headed up for Plymouth. Off Rame Head, carrying a high sea on the quarter, we were badly pooped" (source: Lonely Road By Nevil Shute)
That makes it more clear what carrying a high sea is meant to mean; on the quarter refers to a direction, between abeam (to one side) and astern. Thus the sea state, the high sea, is being driven from a diagonal direction to one side of and behind the ship. Because of that, there was a lot of water breaking onto the poop deck.
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
2
In this context, I think carrying is roughly synonymous with weathering or surviving. I doubt you could carry a placid sea, for example.
– Kevin
2 days ago
9
@SamBC has it right. I am a master mariner & his interpretation is correct. Every profession has its specialist terminology. To Carry a Sea on the quarter means the sea is coming from either 4:30 or 7:30. To poop badly means that a wave has broken over the stern and there is A LOT of green water on deck. This can be a very dangerous state as the vessel's buoyancy aft is significantly reduced and can lead to a broach where the vessel lies beam-on (across) to the sea and is in danger of being rolled.
– pHred
2 days ago
@pHred what did you mean by “green water”? Why is it green?
– Andrew Tobilko
2 days ago
4
"Green water" basically means a significant quantity of seawater, as opposed to just getting sprayed with foam from the tip of the wave (which would be white in appearance).
– dwizum
2 days ago
I've also heard the expression "solid green water", which I just take to mean "yup, definitely green".
– SamBC
2 days ago
|
show 5 more comments
There's a lot of specialist nautical terminology here. I'm not an expert on this, but I've done a bit of checking with people who know more, and I'm reasonably confident.
For a sailing ship to be carrying an environmental condition - sea state, weather, etc - is a term I'm not terribly familiar with, but I gather it just means to be experiencing that condition.
A high sea is referring to the sea state, how rough the sea is.
Being badly pooped is to have a lot of water breaking over the poop deck, or the rearmost, elevated deck on a sailing ship. Even relatively small sailing ships would have this, even if they have no real forecastle to speak of, because it shields the quarterdeck in front of it, where the helmsman (or coxswain) and captain (if they aren't the same person) are, directing the ship.
Now, I tried to find where the dictionaries online might have gotten this quote, and discovered that they missed out a bit of the middle of it that might make it slightly easier to understand, though it's still obscure to the layman:
"As it grew dark I drew away, and headed up for Plymouth. Off Rame Head, carrying a high sea on the quarter, we were badly pooped" (source: Lonely Road By Nevil Shute)
That makes it more clear what carrying a high sea is meant to mean; on the quarter refers to a direction, between abeam (to one side) and astern. Thus the sea state, the high sea, is being driven from a diagonal direction to one side of and behind the ship. Because of that, there was a lot of water breaking onto the poop deck.
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
There's a lot of specialist nautical terminology here. I'm not an expert on this, but I've done a bit of checking with people who know more, and I'm reasonably confident.
For a sailing ship to be carrying an environmental condition - sea state, weather, etc - is a term I'm not terribly familiar with, but I gather it just means to be experiencing that condition.
A high sea is referring to the sea state, how rough the sea is.
Being badly pooped is to have a lot of water breaking over the poop deck, or the rearmost, elevated deck on a sailing ship. Even relatively small sailing ships would have this, even if they have no real forecastle to speak of, because it shields the quarterdeck in front of it, where the helmsman (or coxswain) and captain (if they aren't the same person) are, directing the ship.
Now, I tried to find where the dictionaries online might have gotten this quote, and discovered that they missed out a bit of the middle of it that might make it slightly easier to understand, though it's still obscure to the layman:
"As it grew dark I drew away, and headed up for Plymouth. Off Rame Head, carrying a high sea on the quarter, we were badly pooped" (source: Lonely Road By Nevil Shute)
That makes it more clear what carrying a high sea is meant to mean; on the quarter refers to a direction, between abeam (to one side) and astern. Thus the sea state, the high sea, is being driven from a diagonal direction to one side of and behind the ship. Because of that, there was a lot of water breaking onto the poop deck.
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
edited 2 days ago
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
answered Mar 28 at 22:57
SamBCSamBC
16k2163
16k2163
2
In this context, I think carrying is roughly synonymous with weathering or surviving. I doubt you could carry a placid sea, for example.
– Kevin
2 days ago
9
@SamBC has it right. I am a master mariner & his interpretation is correct. Every profession has its specialist terminology. To Carry a Sea on the quarter means the sea is coming from either 4:30 or 7:30. To poop badly means that a wave has broken over the stern and there is A LOT of green water on deck. This can be a very dangerous state as the vessel's buoyancy aft is significantly reduced and can lead to a broach where the vessel lies beam-on (across) to the sea and is in danger of being rolled.
– pHred
2 days ago
@pHred what did you mean by “green water”? Why is it green?
– Andrew Tobilko
2 days ago
4
"Green water" basically means a significant quantity of seawater, as opposed to just getting sprayed with foam from the tip of the wave (which would be white in appearance).
– dwizum
2 days ago
I've also heard the expression "solid green water", which I just take to mean "yup, definitely green".
– SamBC
2 days ago
|
show 5 more comments
2
In this context, I think carrying is roughly synonymous with weathering or surviving. I doubt you could carry a placid sea, for example.
– Kevin
2 days ago
9
@SamBC has it right. I am a master mariner & his interpretation is correct. Every profession has its specialist terminology. To Carry a Sea on the quarter means the sea is coming from either 4:30 or 7:30. To poop badly means that a wave has broken over the stern and there is A LOT of green water on deck. This can be a very dangerous state as the vessel's buoyancy aft is significantly reduced and can lead to a broach where the vessel lies beam-on (across) to the sea and is in danger of being rolled.
– pHred
2 days ago
@pHred what did you mean by “green water”? Why is it green?
– Andrew Tobilko
2 days ago
4
"Green water" basically means a significant quantity of seawater, as opposed to just getting sprayed with foam from the tip of the wave (which would be white in appearance).
– dwizum
2 days ago
I've also heard the expression "solid green water", which I just take to mean "yup, definitely green".
– SamBC
2 days ago
2
2
In this context, I think carrying is roughly synonymous with weathering or surviving. I doubt you could carry a placid sea, for example.
– Kevin
2 days ago
In this context, I think carrying is roughly synonymous with weathering or surviving. I doubt you could carry a placid sea, for example.
– Kevin
2 days ago
9
9
@SamBC has it right. I am a master mariner & his interpretation is correct. Every profession has its specialist terminology. To Carry a Sea on the quarter means the sea is coming from either 4:30 or 7:30. To poop badly means that a wave has broken over the stern and there is A LOT of green water on deck. This can be a very dangerous state as the vessel's buoyancy aft is significantly reduced and can lead to a broach where the vessel lies beam-on (across) to the sea and is in danger of being rolled.
– pHred
2 days ago
@SamBC has it right. I am a master mariner & his interpretation is correct. Every profession has its specialist terminology. To Carry a Sea on the quarter means the sea is coming from either 4:30 or 7:30. To poop badly means that a wave has broken over the stern and there is A LOT of green water on deck. This can be a very dangerous state as the vessel's buoyancy aft is significantly reduced and can lead to a broach where the vessel lies beam-on (across) to the sea and is in danger of being rolled.
– pHred
2 days ago
@pHred what did you mean by “green water”? Why is it green?
– Andrew Tobilko
2 days ago
@pHred what did you mean by “green water”? Why is it green?
– Andrew Tobilko
2 days ago
4
4
"Green water" basically means a significant quantity of seawater, as opposed to just getting sprayed with foam from the tip of the wave (which would be white in appearance).
– dwizum
2 days ago
"Green water" basically means a significant quantity of seawater, as opposed to just getting sprayed with foam from the tip of the wave (which would be white in appearance).
– dwizum
2 days ago
I've also heard the expression "solid green water", which I just take to mean "yup, definitely green".
– SamBC
2 days ago
I've also heard the expression "solid green water", which I just take to mean "yup, definitely green".
– SamBC
2 days ago
|
show 5 more comments
When we say a ship is 'carrying a high sea" we mean that the sea in which it is sailing is very rough, with waves that are large enough to poop the ship (verb, meaning to break over the stern of the ship causing it to capsize, or nearly do so).
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
add a comment |
When we say a ship is 'carrying a high sea" we mean that the sea in which it is sailing is very rough, with waves that are large enough to poop the ship (verb, meaning to break over the stern of the ship causing it to capsize, or nearly do so).
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
add a comment |
When we say a ship is 'carrying a high sea" we mean that the sea in which it is sailing is very rough, with waves that are large enough to poop the ship (verb, meaning to break over the stern of the ship causing it to capsize, or nearly do so).
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
When we say a ship is 'carrying a high sea" we mean that the sea in which it is sailing is very rough, with waves that are large enough to poop the ship (verb, meaning to break over the stern of the ship causing it to capsize, or nearly do so).
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
answered Mar 28 at 23:00
Michael HarveyMichael Harvey
18.3k12341
18.3k12341
add a comment |
add a comment |
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There are a lot of meanings of “poop”. This one seems to be a nautical term. Is this the meaning you were looking for? As someone who is not familiar with nautical terminology I am not sure what “carrying a high sea” means in this context, either.
– Mixolydian
Mar 28 at 22:22
@Mixolydian Good call pointing that out. I am adding the definition to the question.
– Eddie Kal
Mar 28 at 22:45