Waist clothes, also called armings or fights, were colored clothes or sheets, usually red, that were hung around the outside of a ship's upper works, fore and aft, and before the cubbridge heads. They were used as an adornment during ceremonious occasions, and served as a visual screen during times of action, to protect the men aboard. They were sometimes also hung around the tops, in which case they were called top armings. Italian Full rigged ship Amerigo Vespucci in New York Harbor, 1976 A ship is a large watercraft capable of deep water navigation. ...

References

• This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain. [1]
• Webster's 1828 Dictionary
• Mainwaring. The Seaman's Dictionary. (c. 1644)