Amidships - near the middle of the ship.

Bow - the front of the ship.

Stern - the back of the ship.
Aft - in the direction of the stern.
Astern - behind the ship.
Starboard - the right side of the ship.
Port - the left side of the ship.
Bridge - the room in which the ship is controlled.
Cabin - a room where a crew member lives.
Decks - the floors.
Galley - the kitchen.
Hold - an area inside the ship used to carry goods.
Hull - the main body of the ship.
Keel - a beam running from stern to bow.
Main Engine: The engine which propels the ship. Most engines today are reciprocating diesel
engines operating on fuel oil.
Auxilary Engines or generators. These are the smaller engines which supply electrical power to
the ship. They may run on fuel oil or diesel oil.

Tonnage
Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation
paid on tuns of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in
modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume or cargo
volume of a ship. The term is still sometimes incorrectly used to refer to the weight of a loaded
or empty vessel.
Measurement of tonnage can be less than straightforward, not least because it is used to assess
fees on commercial shipping.

Tonnage measurements
Gross Register Tonnage (GRT) represents the total internal volume of a vessel, with some
exemptions for non-productive spaces such as crew quarters; 1 gross register ton is equal to a
volume of 100 cubic feet (2.83 m),.
This calculation is complex; a hold can, for instance, be assessed for grain (accounting for all the
air space in the hold) or for bales (exempting the spaces between structural frames).
Grain & bale space are required to calculate cargo to be carried but not for calculating port
charges.
Gross register tonnage was replaced by gross tonnage in 1994 under the Tonnage Measurement
convention of 1969, but is still a widely used term in the industry.[1][2]
Net Register Tonnage (NRT) is the volume of cargo the vessel can carry; ie. the Gross Register
Tonnage less the volume of spaces that will not hold cargo (e.g. engine compartment, helm
station, crew spaces, etc., again with differences depending on which port or country is doing the
calculations). It represents the volume of the ship available for transporting freight or passengers.
It was replaced by net tonnage in 1994, under the Tonnage Measurement convention of 1969.
A commonly defined measurement system is important; since a ships registration fee, harbour
dues, safety and manning rules etc, are based on its gross tonnage, GT, or net tonnage, NT.
The Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) is based on net tonnage,
modified for Panama Canal purposes. PC/UMS is based on a mathematical formula to calculate a
vessel's total volume; a PC/UMS net ton is equivalent to 100 cubic feet of capacity.[3]

Many people in many countries, including those professional people working in maritime
industries for many years or even in their lifetime, often confuse "Tonnage" and "Ton". Please
note that "Tonnage" refers to the unit of a ship's volume in measurement for registration and
"Ton" refers to the unit of weight. They are totally different in concept.

Weight measurements
While not "tonnage" in the proper sense, the following methods of ship measurement are often
incorrectly referred to as such:
Displacement is the actual total weight of the vessel. It is often expressed in long tons or in
metric tons, and is calculated simply by multiplying the volume of the hull below the waterline
(ie. the volume of water it is displacing) by the density of the water. (Note that the density will
depend on whether the vessel is in fresh or salt water, or is in the tropics, where water is warmer
and hence less dense.) For example, in sea water, first determine the volume of the submerged
portion of the hull as follows: Multiply its length by its breadth and the draft, all in feet. Then
multiply the product thereby obtained by the block coefficient of the hull to get the hull volume
in cubic feet. Then multiply this figure by 64 (the weight of one cubic foot of seawater) to get the
weight of the ship in pounds; or divide by 35 to calculate the weight in long tons. Using the SI or
metric system : displacement (in tonnes) is volume (in m) multiplied by the specific gravity of
sea water (1.025 nominally).
The word "displacement" arises from the basic physical law, discovered by Archimedes, that the
weight of a floating object equates exactly to that of the water which would otherwise occupy the
"hole in the water" displaced by the ship.

Lightship measures the actual weight of the ship with no fuel, passengers, cargo, water, etc. on
board.
Deadweight (often abbreviated as DWT for deadweight tonnes) is the displacement at any
loaded condition minus the lightship weight. It includes the crew, passengers, cargo, fuel, water,
and stores. Like Displacement, it is often expressed in long tons or in metric tons.

Reciprocating diesel engines

About 99% of modern ships use diesel reciprocating engines[citation needed]. The rotating
crankshaft can power the propeller directly (with slow speed engines), via a gearbox (with
medium and high speed engines) or via an alternator and electric motor (in diesel-electric
vessels).
The reciprocating marine diesel engine first came into use in 1903 when the diesel electric
rivertanker Vandal was put in service by Branobel. Diesel engines soon offered greater
efficiency than the steam turbine, but for many years had an inferior power-to-space ratio.
Diesel engines today are broadly classified according to
Their operating cycle: two-stroke or four-stroke.
Their construction: Crosshead, trunk, or opposed piston.
Their speed.
Slow speed: any engine with a maximum operating speed up to 300 revs/minute,
although most large 2-stroke slow speed diesel engines operate below 120
revs/minute. Some very long stroke engines have a maximum speed of around 80
revs/minute. The largest, most powerful engines in the world are slow speed, two
stroke, crosshead diesels.
Medium speed: any engine with a maximum operating speed in the range 300-900
revs/minute. Many modern 4-stroke medium speed diesel engines have a
maximum operating speed of around 500 rpm.
High speed: any engine with a maximum operating speed above 900 revs/minute.
Most modern larger merchant ships use either slow speed, two stroke, crosshead engines, or
medium speed, four stroke, trunk engines. Some smaller vessels may use high speed diesel
engines.
The size of the different types of engines is an important factor in selecting what will be installed
in a new ship. Slow speed two-stroke engines are much taller, but the area needed, length and
width, is smaller than that needed for four-stroke medium speed diesel engines. As space higher
up in passenger ships and ferries is at a premium, these ships tend to use multiple medium speed
engines resulting in a longer, lower engine room than that needed for two-stroke diesel engines.
Multiple engine installations also give more redundancy in the event of mechanical failure of one
or more engines and greater efficiency over a wider range of operating conditions.
As modern ships' propellers are at their most efficient at the operating speed of most slow speed
diesel engines, ships with these engines do not generally need gearboxes. Usually such
propulsion systems consist of either one or two propeller shafts each with its own direct drive
engine. Ships propelled by medium or high speed diesel engines may have one or two
(sometimes more) propellers, commonly with one or more engines driving each propeller shaft
through a gearbox. Where more than one engine is geared to a single shaft, each engine will most
likely drive through a clutch, allowing engines not being used to be disconnected from the
gearbox while others keep running. This arrangement lets maintenance be carried out while
under way, even far from port.