![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.tradewindssailing.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/20160730_135952-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n There\nare really two phrases here. The first, \u201cship shape,\u201d has a relatively obvious\nmeaning and can be traced back in usage to Sir Henry Manwayring\u2019s Seaman\u2019s Dictionary<\/em> of 1644.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBristol fashion\u201d is perhaps more recent,\nfirst appearing in literature in Richard Henry Dana\u2019s Two Years Before the Mast<\/em>, 1840. But its origin must be traced at\nleast to before the beginning of the 19th<\/sup> century, when a dam and lock\nwere constructed at Bristol Harbor. Bristol, a city in southwest England on the\nriver Avon from which the nearby Bristol Channel and the eponymous cutter take\ntheir names, has been a port since the 13th<\/sup> century. But the tidal\nrange here is second only to Canada\u2019s Bay of Fundy, ranging up to 30 feet and\nmore. Therefore, at low tide a ship at anchor would settle into the mud,\nheeling over to port or starboard on her keel. A ship that could withstand this\nweight on her hull without leaking, and whose provisions and cargo were stowed carefully\nenough that they did not come adrift when at an angle, was said to be \u201cBristol\nfashion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nowadays, \u201cship shape and Bristol fashion,\u201d\noften shortened to \u201cBristol,\u201d refers to the condition of a boat maintained to a\nfare-thee-well, with all essential gear, and with everything in its proper\nplace. I\u2019ve never been quite able to achieve this admirable level of\nperfection, because every once in a while I like to actually go sailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nopposite of this is a boat where everything is \u201cahoo.\u201d This term has a murkier\nprovenance but is a salty term for \u201ctotally messed up.\u201d After a storm, the deck\nof any boat may be somewhat ahoo (although you may find the contrary result\nthat all unnecessary equipment has been scoured away). But if you find yourself\naboard a vessel where the lockers are a dirty, jumbled heap, tools are rusting\naway in a moldy bucket, and every line, rather than being properly coiled, is lazily sprawling on the\ndeck waiting for the moment it can jump overboard and into the prop, you have\nevery reason to doubt the condition of the keel bolts. See if you can arrange for shore leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cShe\u2019s ship shape and Bristol fashion,\u201d says the old salt. What does he mean? There are really two phrases here. The first, \u201cship shape,\u201d has a relatively obvious meaning and can be traced back in usage to Sir … Continue reading