What does boxhauling mean?
Boxhauling is a specialised term from the heyday of square-rigged sailing ships, describing a particular way of bringing a vessel onto the opposite tack. In ordinary tacking a square-rigger puts her helm down and passes her bow through the wind; when there is no room to do this safely, or the manoeuvre must be executed crisply, the crew may instead back the headsails against the mast and brace the yards hard round, so that the wind itself swings the bow across. This evolution — boxhauling — demands precise timing and well-drilled hands, since a mistimed brace can leave a ship 'in irons', unable to pay off either way. The word appears chiefly in nineteenth-century seamanship manuals, logbooks, and maritime fiction such as the novels of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester, and it survives today mainly among historians, traditional sailors, and enthusiasts of tall ships rather than in everyday English.
The manoeuvre of putting a square-rigged vessel about onto the opposite tack by backing the headsails and bracing the yards around sharply.
"A well-executed boxhauling saved the brig from running onto the shoal."
Almost entirely confined to historical and nautical contexts.
(transitive) To bring (a square-rigged vessel) about in this manner.
"They boxhauled the frigate at dawn to stand back out to sea."
Usually encountered as 'boxhaul' or 'to boxhaul'; rare outside seamanship literature.
Rarely pluralised; the term normally appears in the singular or as a gerund-like noun describing the manoeuvre.
"The logbook records several successful boxhaulings during that cruise."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of boxhauling
The word combines 'box' — here used in an older sense of a sharp, sudden turn or twist — with 'haul', from Middle English 'halen', ultimately of Dutch or Low German origin, meaning to pull or haul on ropes. It arose as working vocabulary aboard British and American square-rigged ships during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, alongside related evolutions like 'wearing' and 'boxing off' (using the rudder or backed sails to swing a ship's head away). Its use has declined with the disappearance of commercial sail.
Related word forms
How boxhauling is actually used
A technical term of the age of sail, now found almost exclusively in historical accounts, seamanship literature, and naval fiction; unfamiliar to most modern speakers.
Easily confused with boxhauling
Wearing turns a ship downwind through many points of sail to change tack, whereas boxhauling brings her head to wind and uses backed headsails to come about directly.