It’s World Maritime Day. Here are some nautical terms you might find interesting:

• Affreightment: a contract hiring a vessel to carry goods
• Bitts: a pair of posts mounted on a ship for fastening ropes or cables
• Bream: to clean a ship (or its bottom) of weeds and other matter by burning or scraping it
• Bumpkin (or bumkin or boomkin): a short boom projecting from the deck of a ship
• Cabotage: sailing between points in the same country
• Cocket: an official form issued by a customs officer or an official seal from a customs house
• Scuttlebutt: a water butt or cask containing drinking water on board a ship; rumour or idle gossip (because sailors would trade gossip when they gathered at the scuttlebutt for a drink)
• Walty: insecure or wobbly; inclined to tip over, lean or list

You can find more information on World Maritime Day here.