May 15, 2018 14:23
6 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term
Brazil
Experienced Brazilian Legal Translator.
Native in: Portuguese (Variants: Brazilian, Mozambican, Cape Verdean, Angolan, European/Portugal, South African)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, Spanish to Portuguese, and 3 more.
Ship a sea
English
Tech/Engineering
Ships, Sailing, Maritime
Sailing
This is a text from a book about paddling canoes along a lake or something like that. The expression I am not entirely sure of the meaning is "ship a sea". When I try and google it, I get redirected to shipping pages and such. I believe that, in the context of the sentence, it means that something bad happens to the boat. I am not sure, however, whether it means capsizing, beaching it or if it's something else entirely. Below is the text.
"The frail little canoe, which before we had merely looked upon as a vehicle for carrying us along the river, was now our one hope of life.
If she SHIPPED A SEA, or if she touched a snag (and there were plenty of them about) we were done for."
Can anyone help?
Thanks!
"The frail little canoe, which before we had merely looked upon as a vehicle for carrying us along the river, was now our one hope of life.
If she SHIPPED A SEA, or if she touched a snag (and there were plenty of them about) we were done for."
Can anyone help?
Thanks!
Responses
| 3 +3 | Listing/taking in water |
Tina Vonhof (X)
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| 4 +5 | take on water, leak |
philgoddard
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Responses
+3
19 mins
Selected
Listing/taking in water
Listing and/or taking in water over the side, as a vessel does when waves break over it. At first this was only my guess based on the context but I found confirmation of it on the site below, which has a long list of definitions related to 'ship'. You'll also see it if you google 'images' for shipping a sea.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: take on water. Yes. a ship might list before or after shipping a sea (but it's not part of expression) and we wouldn't normally say this of a canoe anyway
1 hr
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No, you're right, not in this context.
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| agree |
Tony M
: Specifically 'take on water'.
1 hr
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Agree.
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| agree |
Charles Davis
: No suggestion of listing in this expression. // Yes, absolutely! But here it's a little canoe, and I doubt that would list (as Yvonne has said).
2 hrs
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It depends on the type of ship.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks a lot, Tina!"
+5
11 mins
philgoddard
United States
United States
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Six languages into flawless English
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Related KudoZ points
:
8
take on water, leak
I think this may be the oldest reference I've ever given. It dates from 1808.
"To ship.
To put any thing on board. - To "ship a Sea", when the Sea breaks into the Ship."
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Etymology/English/Lever(18...
"To ship.
To put any thing on board. - To "ship a Sea", when the Sea breaks into the Ship."
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Etymology/English/Lever(18...
Note from asker:
| Thanks a lot, Phil! |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
: You beat me to it Phil.
9 mins
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Thanks!
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| agree |
Jack Doughty
10 mins
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| agree |
Alison MacG
: (of a boat) be flooded by a wave https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ship
36 mins
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| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: yes to take on water but not leak. "Ship a sea" does NOT mean leak whereas "take on water" MAY be due to a leak
1 hr
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Yes, you're right.
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| agree |
Tony M
: Agree with Yvonne! 'take on water' (i.e. over the side), but NOT to 'leak'
1 hr
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| agree |
Charles Davis
: As has been said, "take on water" but not "leak". It means "be swamped or flooded by a wave or surge of water over the side". "Sea: 4. A wave; a billow; a surge. The vessel shipped a sea" (Webster 1828).
2 hrs
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