NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Easter Island, and boxhauling
From: E.R.Kooi
Date: 2002 Oct 27, 17:11 +0100
From: E.R.Kooi
Date: 2002 Oct 27, 17:11 +0100
Dear navigators, a bit late but I, being a Dutchman, could not resist to react to the remarks made about "boxhauling" and "bak zeil". A rather common expression in the Dutch language is "bakzeilhalen", meaning in non-sailing terms "back out of it", "go back on it", "back down" etcetera. It is however an original sailing term meaning "to back the sails" in such a way that the wind stops the ship or even forces it backwards. I therefore think that it is quite probable that boxhauling is coming from bakzeilhalen. One of the meanings of "halen" is pull; thus "bakzeilhalen" means "pulling back the sails". Fr. gr. Eppo R. Kooi. > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > Van: Navigation Mailing List > > Hal Mueller's posting from Easter Island included: > .......... > Why is it called "boxhauling"? There's a Dutch expression "bak > zeil", back sail, which means to renege on a promise; it sounds like > it also has the connotation of reneging surreptitiously or > indirectly, equivocating. I'm no linguist, but I'm certain that > "boxhauling" is derived from that Dutch expression.
