Ship Trivia Quiz

According to the Oxford English Dictionary - usually a reliable source - the first appearance in print of the word (or something like it) was in August 1866 in a yachting magazine:

" The Sphinx [set] a ‘spinniker’, a kind of large balloon jib extending from the topmast head to the deck, and before the wind a most powerful drawing sail."

This is followed by other refernces to its use. However, it stops short at giving a definite origin of the word. As does Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which give the origin as "unknown".

The only "Dictionary of Nautical Terms" I have (Thompson Lenfestey) repeats the 1866 Sphinx story - "Sphinx's Acre" (of sail) becoming "Spinnaker" through usage.

I have not read any of John Leather's books, so I can't comment on his scholarship, but I will be interested to see what he claims.

Rick

Well, you see, you are going to have to pull your nose out of the dictionary, and get a hold of one of the many books by John Leather, who is pretty much THE recognised expert on all things relating to gaff rig, and classic yacht racing.  I suggest 'The Northseaman,' or 'The Gaff Rig Handbook,' or perhaps 'A Panorama of Gaff Rig,' or one of his others.  He is also a primary reference for many other books by other authors, such as 'The Chatham Directory of Inshore Craft,' and many others.  'The Gaff Rig Handbook' is the Bible for all those interested in gaff-rigged boats...... You are close, but try again!

Nah, I'll stick with the dictionary - I'm nearly up to "V" and it's just starting to get exciting!

Rick

LOL!  Maybe there is someone out there with access to John Leather who will come up with the answer yet.....So I will wait a couple more days.....

Matbe John Leather hasn't read the dictionary and is just making stuff up.

Maybe you should find out who John Leather is (or rather WAS, as he died in 2006), and THEN make a statement like that!  He is something like Boudriot in his knowledge and credibility base.... He wrote 17 books in all, and was a contributing editor to 'Classic Boat Magazine' and others for many years as well...... His 'Gaff Rig Handbook' has been in continuous publication since 1970!

Right.  So perhaps if you simply answered the question, then perhaps we can all get on with this?  If you DON'T know the answer, and/or DON'T have any relevant references then perhaps it is best to not say anything.  Yes?  I just get SO tired of people with nothing relevant to say, but insist on saying it just the same..... 

searat12 wrote:

Right.  So perhaps if you simply answered the question, then perhaps we can all get on with this?  If you DON'T know the answer, and/or DON'T have any relevant references then perhaps it is best to not say anything.  Yes?  I just get SO tired of people with nothing relevant to say, but insist on saying it just the same.....

I'm sorry, Mr. rat. I didn't mean to be so irrelevant. But it just seems that nobody is able to answer your trivial question. I don't think there are many of us here with your vast reference library to fall on. But, if I have anything to say I will say it as long as it fits within the guidelines of this forum, relevant or not. I apologize in advance, but please, just deal with it.

Well, it looks like I will have to supply the answer..... From 'The Gaff Rig Handbook,' page 49, paragraph 2:

"In 1852 the small yacht Leo, owned byy McMullen, the noted Victorian amateur cruising yachtsman, set a triangular spinnaker from the topmast head, boomed out to weather in addition ro his ordinary canvas, and no doubt, similar sails were set by many other craft years before the supposed invention of the Spi9nnaker in 1866.  What is nearer the truth is that a triangular running sail set from the topmast head and boomed out was first set in yacht racing, in 1865, by the cutter Niobe, owned by William Gordon, and during that season it was called a 'Niobe.'  The following year, the yacht Sphinx came out with a slightly improved version of the sail which, as her South Coast crew called her the 'Spinks' (think Robert Newton as Long John Silver; my Italics), was referred to as the 'Spinker.'  From that the term was, apparently, gradually corrupted to 'Spinnaker' which is the term still in use."

 So now you know.......

Next question.... What is a 'Timminoggy?'

So, after all that, the origin of the word spinnaker, which was, I think your original question, comes from a corruption of the name of the yacht "Sphinx"????

Rick

RickF wrote:

So, after all that, the origin of the word spinnaker, which was, I think your original question, comes from a corruption of the name of the yacht "Sphinx"???? Rick

Gee, I think you might have touched on that earlier, Rick.

Yes, and apparently, you didn't know it. nor did you know the original use of the spinnaker, by the 'Niobe,' DESPITE the fact that I gave you a hint AND a reference!!! You have FAILED at this question Cadet, so suck it up and drive on!  Answer the next question!!!  WHAT is a Timminoggy???

Thank you for those words of encouragement! Since you seem determined to alienate all who try and answer your questions, I have no intention of humouring you further by continuing to do so.

Goodbye

Rick

RickF wrote:

Thank you for those words of encouragement! Since you seem determined to alienate all who try and answer your questions, I have no intention of humouring you further by continuing to do so. Goodbye Rick

 

I also agree with Rick. Since you continually put people down in such a fashion, I have gone to another more friendly forum. THANK YOU VERY MUCH SEARAT for turning another one away from what was a very good Thread and Forum.

Not to sound 'defensive,' but I believe the point of this sort of trivia quiz is to pose trivia questions, and once they are answered, the question changes hands, but the object is to 'stump' the audience.  I did tell RickF that he WAS quite close, and that just a bit more would have done the trick, and even supplied a reference and a very strong hint too to allow him to get that extra bit, and instead, I have received a bunch of pompous nonsense, my references questioned without anyone even bothering to check on them ('academics' indeed!), followed by whining and crying, rather than any real effort or asking any additional questions, or even asking for more hints, any one of which I assure you would have been most graciously produced.  Not everybody knows everything, Lord knows I certainly don't, and in those cases I stay well clear!  But I enjoy addressing a poser from time to time, and I enjoy giving one from time to time too.  Looking back on some of the other questions I have seen on this (some of which have been extraordinarily obscure!!), I cannot understand why you suddenly feel that questions should suddenly be easy, or that you necessarily should be able to just flip to something like Wikipedia or a standard dictionary for an answer!  If you feel that somehow I have personally abused you here, that was not my intent, and if that is the case, then I apologise. 

Timminoggy - when someone drops a fellow named Tim from the rigging onto your noggin.

Alternate usage - when someone a sailor named Tim is in imminent danger of tripping over your prize hog at the county fair.

 

* edited to clarify nauticality.

No, you will have to try again.  Here is a HINT!!!  A 'timminoggy' is found in boats from CORNWALL.....

That would be a tack line on a Cornish gaff topsail.

Excellent!  Short and sweet, and the next question is yours schoonerbumm!!

What was the first American aircraft carrier to be lost, and why/how did her air group survive?

langley, cv1, sunk feb 27 42. her airgroup were seaplanes.

Now that is nice little nugget of trivia. A conventional question at last!

Close, but not the answer that I am looking for. Langley was actually the third Navy vessel with an air group to be lost. This one was equipped with observation and fighter aircraft, not seaplanes. It was not lost as a result of enemy action. 

Ha ha!  That is EXACTLY the kind of question I like!!!  Apppears simple, but in fact, is NOT!!  Play on, and let's see what answers we find!

you're talking about the us navy rigid air ships that are derived from the zeppelins? the uss macon, lost feb 12 1935 in the pacific near point sur, california.

DDP59 has it!

Navy battleship strategy in the 1920s and 30s envisioned 10 large dirigibles stationed in Hawaii to provide strategic recon in advance of the fleet. Five dirigibles at a time, equipped with five F9C-2 Sparrowhawk "parasitic" fighters could form a moving recon line over 1000 miles wide, advancing at 80 knots...  five times the speed of a light cruiser screen. The dirigibles had a flight duration capability of over 9000 miles. By the mid 1930's,the Sparrowhawks were equipped with both keyed & voice radio communications as well as radio homing back to the carrier ship. With two .30 caliber machine guns firing through the propeller and a 50-75 knot speed advantage over float planes of the period, the F9C-2 was capable of taking care of itself.

USS Akron and USS Macon were the first two (and only) purpose built lighter than air aircraft carriers. Both were lost at sea, Akron crashed into the Atlantic on 04 April 1933, taking 72 crewman down with her, including RADM William Moffett, Chief of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. There were only three survivors. The general practice was for the airship to takeoff without her aircraft, and then embark them later on the "trapeze". Fog grounded the Akron's aircraft on the day of departure (April 3) and all aircraft and pilots survived.

As DDP59 mentions, USS Macon, crashed into the Pacific, two years later. Macon had just completed fleet excercises and was returning to Naval Air Station Sunnyvale, when high winds damaged her aft dorsal fin (due to a known design defect that was due for correction) and she was set down into the water off of Point Sur. 83 of 85 crewmembers, including all of her Heavier than Air group, survived. The four Sparrowhawks on board went down with her.

Interestingly, the Navy chose not to replace the Akron and Macon, or continue with the construction of the other eight dirigibles, not because of the perceived supremacy of CVs, but because of the rapid advancements in flying boat technologies. Two months after Macon's loss the Consolidated PBY-1 made its first flight. With a flight duration of over 4000 miles, a unit cost of $90,000, and the ability to carry offensive weapons, hundreds of Catalinas were a much better bargain than spending $40,000,000 on ten dirigibles.

ddp59, the floor is yours.

 

how many variations were there using the spruance hull not including the aegis cruisers?

Kind of a subjective question -

do you mean the significant variations?  There were two classes - the Spruance class destroyers and the Kidd class of DDGs that were built for mid-east operations for Iran.

 Or do you mean to include variations within the Spruance class?  The final ship, USS Hayler was built differently from the first group, and there were weapons changes throughout the life of the class - original ASROC mounts, Tomahawk ABL, VL, Harpoon & CIWS added in mid-career...