Ab ticket: Able Bodied Seaman identification, issued, (in the U.S.) by the Coast Guard after working aboard a ship for a minimum period and passing several tests that indicate that one is actually an asset to the ship and not mere labor.
I was an Ordinary Seaman, but since I was going back to college at the end of each summer, I did not pursue an AB ticket. (I don’t think I had accumulated the minimum number of months to apply for one at the end of my second summer, anyway.)
Boxing the compass: In the days before everyone went to a 360° compass, the compass card, (the face on which one reads directions), was noted by simply putting a mark half-way between North and East–Northeast, East and South–Southeast, etc. Then marking halfway between North and Northeast and between Northeast and East, etc., then continuing to set marks halfway between those marks, etc. At the end, there were 32 Points on the compass, (since, without trisecting an angle, one is not going to get to the 360 degrees). Boxing the compass was the method of identifying each point on the compass:
North,
North by east,
North-northeast,
Northeast by north,
Northeast,
Northeast by east,
East-northeast,
East by north,
East,
East by south,
East-southeast,
Southeast by east,
Southeast,
Southeast by south,
South-southeast,
South by east,
South,
South by west,
South-southwest,
Southwest by south,
Southwest,
Southwest by west,
West-southwest,
West by south,
West,
West by north,
West-northwest,
Northwest by west,
Northwest,
Northwest by north,
North-northwest,
North by west.
Of course, 32 points, (at 11 1/4 degrees per point) still leaves a lot of play in setting direction, so one can further indicate direction by noting a half or a quarter point away from the point on the compass card (or compass rose).
Thus, one can indicate “North-Northwest a half North” to indicate the direction halfway between North-Northwest and North by West.
