William Falconer Ships Quotations

Hence a ship is said to head the sea, when her course is opposed to the setting or direction of the surges.

The great weight of the ship may indeed prevent her from acquiring her greatest velocity; but when she has attained it, she will advance by her own intrinsic motion, without gaining any new degree of velocity, or lessening what she has acquired.

Hence a ship is said to be tight, when her planks are so compact and solid as to prevent the entrance of the water in which she is immersed: and a cask is called tight, when the staves are so close that none of the liquid contained therein can issue through or between them.

The head of a ship however has not always an immediate relation to her name, at least in the British navy.