Forecastle

By Deane Barker • • tags: maritime •

This is the front of a ship’s deck, essentially. If you’re standing on the deck of a ship – meaning, the topmost floor surface not part of a superstructure – then walk towards the front of a ship, you’re on the forecastle. On a sailing ship, it’s considered the area of the desk forward of the forward-most mast.

It’s pronounced “folk-suhl,” and weirdly it’s often abbreviated “fo’c’sle”

Why I Looked It Up

In Ninety Percent of Everything, it’s often mentioned by the author (in abbreviated form. which is why I looked it up), in reference to the ship she was traveling on:

I often head for the fo’c’sle. It has become my terrace and my garden. Unescorted, I am free to lean over the bulbous bow and watch it move water.

Links from this – Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, The Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes On Your Back, Gas In Your Car, and Food On Your Plate November 6, 2022
I like the subjects of Rose George’s books. She writes about the background stuff that we don’t think about. This book is about the global shipping trade. She wrote another entire book about going to the bathroom . I think these subjects are interesting. But I don’t love how she writes about them....