dead-water

The Sailor's Word-Book

The eddy-water under the counter of a ship under way; so called because passing away slower than the water alongside. A ship is said to make much dead-water when she has a great eddy following her stern, often occasioned by her having a square tuck. A vessel with a round buttock at her line of floatation can have but little dead-water, the rounding abaft allowing the fluid soon to recover its state of rest.

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