Word of the Day:

: to move a ship by means of a line attached to a small anchor dropped at the distance and in the direction desired

To get closer to shore, they kedged the ship.

"Stranded in the calm, both the Congress and the Cumberland rushed to position their broadside guns by kedging themselves about with their anchors." - From an article by Mark St. John Erickson in the Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia), March 8, 2012

In 1627, A Sea Grammar was published. In that text, Captain John Smith sailed the word "kedge" into the sea of the English language, and etymologists are still trying to find the exact coordinates of its origin. Many believe "cadge," meaning a "carrier" or "huckster," is hitched to "kedge" and that "cadge" was originally towed in by the Middle English word "cagen" ("to tie"). "Cagen" is of equestrian origin: it is strapped to the act of hitching a horse used for transporting wares.