English French Nautical Terms

English speaking sailors cruising in New Caledonia may need to understand certain nautical terms that are not in your usual English-French phase books.

You might, for example, need to know the word to buy a turnbuckle or a shackle. One of the best sites to visit for these terms is Ken Turner's English-French Sailing Dictionary at:

https://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~kjt/sailing/eng-fr.html

Or the more extensive collection of French Nautical terms on the Mandragore II - L'encyclop?die de la mer:

http://www.mandragore2.net/dico/dicos.php

Most of the time, however, English speaking sailors are able to find someone to assist with the translation or will find someone in the store who understands English (combined with show and tell and hand gestures). If need to replace a part the best policy is to take the old part - or a photo of it on your smartphone - with you when you go to a store.

If you need to type a note or an html email with French accented characters use the following tool to highlight and copy the html and text accented letters. Just enter the letter into the following box - such as - A, a, C, c, E, e, I, i, N, n, O, o, U, u, Y, and y.

 

The Cruising Guide to New Caledonia has a store directory that will show you where you can find hardware and marine supply stores in and around Noumea. The store locations are overlaid on aerial images of Noumea.