The Sailor's Word-Book (part 5 of 5)

The Sailor's Word-Book (part 5 of 5)

RUN AWAY WITH HER ANCHOR. Said of a ship when she drags or "shoulders" her anchor; drifting away owing to the anchor not holding, for want, perhaps, of sufficient range of cable.

RUN AWAY WITH IT! The order to men on a tackle fall, when light goods are being hoisted in, or in hoisting top-sails, jib, or studding-sails.

RUNDLE. That part of a capstan round which the messenger is wound, including the drumhead. (See WHELPS.)

RUN DOWN A COAST, TO. To sail along it, keeping parallel to or skirting its dangers.

RUN DOWN A VESSEL, TO. To pass over, into, or foul her by running against her end-on, so as to jeopardize her.

RUNE [from the Teutonic rennen, to flow]. A water-course.

RUNGS. The same as the floor or ground timbers, and whose ends are the rung-heads. Also, a spoke, and the step or round of a ladder.

RUNLET. A measure of wine, oil, &c., containing eighteen gallons and a half.

RUN-MONEY. The money paid for apprehending a deserter, and charged against his wages. Also, the sum given to seamen for bringing a ship home from the West Indies, or other places, in time of war. Coasters are sometimes paid by the run instead of by the month.

RUNNER-PURCHASE. The addition of a tackle to a single rope, then termed a pendant, passing through a block applied to the object to be moved; as it might be the laniard of a shroud, the end of the runner pendant being fast to some secure fixed object; as in backstays, &c.

RUNNERS. Ships which risk every impediment as to privateers or blockade, to get a profitable market.

RUNNERS OF FOREIGN GOODS. Organized smugglers.

RUNNING AGREEMENT. In the case of foreign-going ships making voyages averaging less than six months in duration, running agreements can legally be made with the crew to extend over two or more voyages.

RUNNING-BLOCKS. Those which are made fast to the running rigging or tackles.

RUNNING BOWLINE-KNOT. Is made by taking the end round the standing part, and making a bowline upon its own part.

RUNNING BOWSPRIT. One which is used in revenue cutters and smacks; it can be reefed by sliding in, and has fid holes for that purpose. (See SLOOP.)

RUNNING-DOWN CLAUSE. A special admission into policies of marine insurance, to include the risk of loss or damage in consequence of the collision of the ship insured with other vessels.

RUNNING-DOWN THE PORT. A method practised in the ruder state of navigation, when the longitude was very doubtful, by sailing into its parallel of latitude, and then working for it on its parallel.

RUNNING FOUL. A vessel, by accident or bad steerage, falling in contact with another under sail. (See ATHWART HAWSE.) The law and custom of the sea requires that the ship on the port tack shall bear up and give way to that on the starboard tack. Foreigners observe this general custom. Steamers however are always bound to give way to vessels under canvas, having the power to alter course without altering sails, or endangering the vessel.

RUNNING GOODS. Landing a cargo of contraband articles.

RUNNING OUT, AND RUNNING IN, THE LOWER DECK GUNS. The old practice of morning and evening evolutions in a line-of-battle ship, wind and weather permitting.

RUNNING PART OF A TACKLE. Synonymous with the fall, or that part on which the man power is applied to produce the intended effect.

RUNNING THE GANTLET. See GANT-LOPE (pronounced gantlet).

RUN OUT A WARP, TO. To carry a hawser out from the ship by a boat, and fasten it to some distant place to remove the ship towards that place, or to keep her steady whilst her anchors are lifted, &c.

RUPEE. The well-known coin of the East Indies. There are gold rupees of nearly 30 shillings in value; but the current rupee is of silver, varying a little from 2 shillings, according to its being named Bombay, Arcot, or Sicca.

RUSPONE. A gold Tuscan coin of the value of L1, 8_s._ 7_d._ sterling.

RUT OF THE SEA. The point of impact where it dashes against anything.

RUT OF THE SHORE. The sea breaking along the coast.

RUTTER, OR ROUTIER. The old word for an outline chart for ships' tracks [from route]. It was also applied to a journal or log-book; or to a set of sailing instructions, as a directory.

RYDE. A small stream.

RYNE. An Anglo-Saxon word still in use for a water-course, or streamlet which rises high with floods.

S.

S. A bent iron, called a crooked catch, or pot-hook, in anchors, &c.

SABANDER. The familiar of shah-bander, an eastern title for captain or governor of a port.

SABATINES. Steel coverings for the feet; sometimes slippers or clogs.

SABRE. A sword with a broad and rather heavy blade, thick at the back, and curved towards the point, intended for cutting more than for thrusting.

SABRETACHE. A flat leathern case or pocket suspended at the left side of a cavalry officer's sword-belt.

SACCADE. The sudden jerk of the sails in light winds and a heavy swell.

SACCOLEVA, OR SACOLEGE. A Levantine small craft of great sheer, carrying a sail with an enormous sprit, so called.

SACK, TO [from the Anglo-Saxon saec]. To pillage a place which has been taken by storm.

SACKS OF COALS. The seaman's name for the black Magellanic clouds, or patches of deep blue sky in the milky-way near the south pole.

SADDLE HILL. A high land visible from the coast, having a centre less elevated than its ends, somewhat like a riding-saddle.

SADDLES. Chocks of notched wood embracing spars, to support others attached to them; thus we have a saddle-crutch for the main or driver boom on the taffarel; another on the bowsprit to support the heel of the jib-boom.

SAFE-CONDUCT. A security passport granted to an enemy for his safe entry and passage through the realm.

SAFEGUARD. Protection given to secure a people from oppression in time of trouble.

SAFETY-KEEL. A construction of keel for further security, by Oliver Lang.

SAFETY-PIN. To secure the head of the capstan-bar.

SAFETY-VALVE. A conical valve on the top of the steam-chest, communicating with the boiler of a steam-engine, and opening outwardly; it is so adapted and loaded, that when the steam in the boiler exceeds its proper pressure, it raises the valve, and escapes by a pipe called the waste steam-pipe.

SAGG, TO. To bend or give way from heavy weight; to press down towards the middle; the opposite of hogging. In Macbeth the word is figuratively applied--

"The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear, Shall never sagg with doubt, nor shake with fear."

SAGGING TO LEEWARD. To drift off bodily to leeward. The movement by which a ship makes a considerable lee-way.

SAGITTA. One of the ancient northern constellations.

SAGITTARII. The name in our records for some small vessels with oars and sails, used in the twelfth century.

SAGITTARIUS. The ninth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 21st of November.

SAGUM. An ancient military cloak.

SAIC. A sort of Greek ketch, which has no top-gallant nor mizen sails, but still spreads much canvas.

SAIL. The terms applicable to the parts of a sail comprise:--Seaming the cloths together; cutting the gores; tabling and sewing on the reef, belly, lining, and buntline bands, roping, and marling on the clues and foot-rope. The square sails comprise courses, top-sails, topgallant-sails, royals, skysails on each mast. The fore and aft, are jibs, staysails, trysails, boom main-sails and fore-sails, gaff top-sails, to which may be added the studding-sails and the flying kites. Also, a distant ship is called a sail.

SAIL BURTON. A purchase extending from topmast-head to deck, for sending sails aloft ready for bending; it usually consists of two single blocks, having thimbles and a hook; a leading block on the slings through which the fall leads to bear the top-sail clear of the top-rim.

SAIL HO! The exclamation used when a strange ship is first discerned at sea--either from the deck or from the mast-head.

SAIL-HOOK. A small hook used for holding the seams of a sail while in the act of sewing.

SAILING. The movement of a vessel by means of her sails along the surface of the water. Sailing, or the sailings, is a term applied to the different ways in which the path of a ship at sea, and the variations of its geographical position, are represented on paper, all which are explained under the various heads of great circle sailing, Mercator's sailing, middle latitude sailing, oblique sailing, parallel sailing, plane sailing.

SAILING, ORDER OF. The general disposition of a fleet of ships when proceeding on a voyage or an expedition. It is generally found most convenient for fleets of ships of war to be formed in three parallel lines or columns. But squadrons of less than ten sail of the line are placed in two lines.

SAILING CAPTAIN. An officer in some navies, whose duties are similar to those of our masters in the royal navy.

SAILING DIRECTIONS. Works supplied by the admiralty to Her Majesty's ships, which advise the navigator as to the pilotage of coasts and islands throughout the world.

SAILING ICE. A number of loose pieces floating at a sufficient distance from each other, for a ship to be able to pick her way among them. Otherwise termed open ice; when she forces her way, pushing the ice aside, it is termed boring.

SAILING LARGE. With a quartering wind. (See LARGE.)

SAILING ORDERS. Written instructions for the performance of any proposed duty.

SAIL-LOFT. A large apartment in dockyards where the sails are cut out and made.

SAIL-LOOSERS. Men specially appointed to loose the sails when getting under weigh, or loosing them to dry.

SAIL-MAKER. A qualified person who (with his mates) is employed on board ship in making, repairing, or altering the sails; whence he usually derives the familiar sobriquet of sails.

SAIL-NETTING. The fore-topmast staysail, main-topmast staysail, and main staysail are generally stowed in the nettings.

SAILOR. A man trained in managing a ship, either at sea or in harbour. A thorough sailor is the same with mariner and seaman, but as every one of the crew is dubbed a sailor, there is much difference in the absolute meaning of the term. (See MARINER and SEAMAN.)

SAILORS' HOME. A house built by subscription, for the accommodation of seamen on moderate terms, and to rescue them from swindlers, crimps, &c. Sailors' homes are a great boon also to shipwrecked mariners. Homes for married seamen and their families are now contemplated, and it is hoped that the admiralty will set the example, by building them for the royal navy, and letting them at moderate rents.

SAILOR'S PLEASURE. A rather hyperbolic phrase for a sailor's overhauling his ditty-bag at a leisure moment, and restowing his little hoard.

SAILS, TO LOOSE. To unfurl them, and let them hang loose to dry; or the movement preparatory to "making sail."--To make sail, to spread the sails to the wind in order to begin the action of sailing, or to increase a ship's speed.--To shorten sail, to take in part of or all the sails, either by reefing or furling, or both.--To strike sail, to lower the upper sails. A gracious mode of salute on passing a foreigner at sea, especially a superior.

SAINT CUTHBERT'S DUCK. The Anas mollissima; the eider, or great black and white duck of the Farne Islands.

SAINT ELMO'S LIGHT. See COMPASANT.

SAINT SWITHIN. The old notion is, that if it should rain on this bishop's day, the 15th of July, not one of forty days following will be without a shower.

SAKER. A very old gun, 8 or 9 feet long, and of about 5 lbs. calibre: immortalized in Hudibras:--

"The cannon, blunderbuss, and saker, He was th' inventer of, and maker."

The name is thought to have been derived from the French oath sacre.

SALADE. An Anglo-Norman term for a light helmet or head-piece.

SALADIN. The first coat-of-arms; so called because the crusaders assumed it in imitation of the Saracens, whose chief at that time was the redoubtable Saladin.

SALAM, TO. To salute a superior; a very common term, borrowed from India. Overdoing it does not please Jack, for he dislikes to see his commander "salamming like a captured Frenchman."

SALAMANDER. The heated iron formerly used for firing guns, especially in salutes, as it ensures regularity.

SALE OF COMMISSIONS. The regulated disposal of full-pay, unattached, retired, and half-pay commissions in the army.

SALE OF EFFECTS. See EFFECTS, of dead men sold by auction "at the mast."

SALIENT ANGLE. In fortification, one of which the point projects outwards.

SALINAS, OR SALINES. Salt-ponds, natural or artificial, near the sea-coast.

SALINOMETER. A brine-gauge for indicating the density of brine in the boilers of marine steam-engines, to show when it is necessary to blow off.

SALLY. A sudden expedition out of a besieged place against the besiegers or some part of their works; also called a sortie.--To sally. To move a body by jerks or rushes; a sudden heave or set. Thus, when a vessel grounds by the bow or stern, and the hawsers are severely taut, the sally is practised. This is done by collecting all hands at the point aground, and then by a simultaneous rush reaching the part afloat.

SALLY-PORT. An opening cut in the glacis of a place to afford free egress to the troops in case of a sortie. Also, a large port on each quarter of a fire-ship, out of which the officers and crew make their escape into the boats as soon as the train is fired. Also, a place at Portsmouth exclusively set apart for the use of men-of-war's boats. Also, the entering port of a three-decker.

SALMAGUNDI. A savoury sea dish, made of slices of cured fish and onions.

SALMON. The well-known fish, Salmo salar. It is partly oceanic and partly fluviatile, ascending rivers in the breeding season.

SALMON-LADDER. A short trough placed suitably in any fall where the water is tolerably deep, leaving a narrow trough at intervals for the fish to pass through, with barriers to break the force of the water.

SALOON. A name for the main cabin of a steamer or passenger ship.

SALT, OR OLD SALT. A weather-beaten sailor. One of the old seamen who not only have known but have felt what war was.

SALT-BOX. A case for keeping a temporary supply of cartridges for the immediate use of the great guns; it is under the charge of the cabin-door sentry.

SALT-EEL. A rope's-end cut from the piece for starting the homo delinquens.

SALT-JUNK. Navy salt beef. (See JUNK.)

SALTPETRE. The neutral salt; also called nitre (which see).

SALT-PITS. Reservoirs to contain sea-water for the purpose of making salt.

SALUTE. A discharge of cannon or small arms, display of flags, or cheering of men, in deference, by the ships of one nation to those of another, or by ships of the same nation to a superior or an equal. Also, the proper compliment paid by troops, on similar occasions, whether with the sword, musket, or hand.

SALVAGE. Originally meant the thing or goods saved from wreck, fire, or enemies. It now signifies an allowance made to those by whose means the ship or goods have been saved. These cases, when fairly made out, are received with the most liberal encouragement. Goods of British subjects, retaken from the enemy, are restored to the owners, paying for salvage one eighth of the value to ships-of-war; one-sixth to privateers. When a ship is in danger of being stranded, justices of the peace are to command the constables to assemble as many persons as are necessary to preserve it; and on its being thus preserved, the persons assisting therein shall, in thirty days after, be paid a reasonable reward for the salvage; otherwise the ship or goods shall remain in the custody of the officers of the customs as a security for the same.

SALVAGE LOSS. A term in marine insurance implying that the underwriters are liable to pay the amount insured on the property lost in the ship, but taking credit for what is saved.

SALVAGER. One employed on the sea-coast to look to the rights of salvage, wreck, or waif.

SALVO. A discharge from several pieces simultaneously, as a salute.

SALVOR. The person claiming and receiving salvage for having saved a ship and cargo, or any part thereof, from impending peril, or recovered after actual loss.

SAMAKEEN. A Turkish coasting trader.

SAMBUCCO. A pinnace common among the Arabs on the east coast of Africa, as at Mombaze, Melinda, &c. The name is remarkable, as Athenaeus describes the musical instrument sambuca as resembling a ship with a ladder placed over it.

SAMPAAN, OR SAMPAN. A neatly-adjusted kind of hatch-boat, used by the Chinese for passengers, and also as a dwelling for Tartar families, with a comfortable cabin.

SAMPHIRE. Crithmum maritimum, a plant found on sea-shores and salt marshes, which forms an excellent anti-scorbutic pickle.

SAMS-CHOO. A Chinese spirit distilled from rice; it is fiery, fetid, and very injurious to European health.

SAMSON'S POST. A movable pillar which rests on its upper shoulder against a beam, with the lower tenons into the deck, and standing at an angle of 15 deg. forward. To this post, at 4 feet above the deck, a leading or snatch-block is hooked, and any fore-and-aft purchase is led by it across the deck to one similar, so that, from the starboard bow to the starboard aft Samson-post, across to the port-post and forward, the whole crew can apply their force for catting and fishing the anchor, or hoisting in or out boats; top-tackle falls, &c., are usually so treated.

SANDAL. A long narrow Barbary boat, of from 15 to 50 tons; open, and fitted with two masts.

SAND-BAGS. Small square cushions made of canvas and painted, for boats' ballast. Also, bags containing about a cubical foot of earth or sand, used for raising a parapet in haste, and making temporary loop-holes for musketry; also, to repair any part beaten down or damaged by the enemy's fire.

SAND AND CORAL BANK. An accumulation of sand and fragments of coral above the surface of the sea, without any vegetation; when it becomes verdant it is called a key (which see).

SAND-DRIFTS. Hillocks of shifting sands, as on the deserts of Sahara, &c.

SANDERLING. A small wading bird, Calidris arenaria.

SAND-HILLS. Mounds of sand thrown up on the sea-shore by winds and eddies. They are mostly destitute of verdure.

SAND-HOPPER. A small creature (Talitra), resembling a shrimp, which abounds on some beaches.

SAND-LAUNCE. Ammodytes tobianus, a small eel-like fish, which buries itself in the sand.

SAND-PIPER. A name applied to many species of small wading birds found on the sea-shore and banks of lakes and rivers, feeding on insects, crustaceans, and worms.

SAND-SHOT. Those cast in moulds of sand, when economy is of more importance than form or hardness; the small balls used in case, grape, &c., are thus produced.

SAND-STRAKE. A name sometimes given to the garboard-strake.

SAND-WARPT. Left by the tide on a shoal. Also, striking on a shoal at half-flood.

SANGAREE. A well known beverage in both the Indies, composed of port or madeira, water, lime-juice, sugar, and nutmeg, with an occasional corrective of spirits. The name is derived from its being blood-red. Also, arrack-punch.

SANGIAC. A Turkish governor; the name is also applied to the banner which he is authorized to display, and has been mistaken for St. Jacques.

SAP. That peculiar method by which a besieger's zig-zag approaches are continuously advanced in spite of the musketry of the defenders; gabions are successively placed in position, filled, and covered with earth, by men working from behind the last completed portion of the trench, the head of which is protected by a moving defence called a sap-roller. Its progress is necessarily slow and arduous. There is also the flying sap, used at greater distances, and by night, when a line of gabions is planted and filled by a line of men working simultaneously; and the double sap, used when zig-zags are no longer efficient, consisting of two contiguous single saps, back to back, carried direct towards the place, with frequent returns, which form traverses against enfilade; the half-double sap has its reverse side less complete than the last.

SARABAND. A forecastle dance, borrowed from the Moors of Africa.

SARACEN. A term applied in the middle ages indiscriminately to all Pagans and Mahometans.

SARDINE. Engraulis meletta, a fish closely allied to the anchovy; found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

SARGASSO. Fucus natans, or gulf-weed, the sea-weed always to be found floating in large quantities in that part of the Atlantic south of the Azores, which is not subject to currents, and which is called the Sargasso Sea.

SARKELLUS. An unlawful net or engine for destroying fish. (Inquisit. Justic. anno 1254.)

SAROS. See CYCLE OF ECLIPSES.

SARRAZINE. A rough portcullis.

SARRE. An early name for a long gun, but of smaller dimensions than a bombard.

SASH. A useful mark of distinction worn by infantry and marine officers; it is made of crimson silk, and intended as a waist-band, but latterly thrown over the left shoulder and across the body. Also, now worn by the naval equerries to the queen. Serjeants of infantry wear it of the same colour in cotton.

SASSE. A kind of weir with flood-gate, or a navigable sluice.

SATELLITES. Secondary planets or moons, which revolve about some of the primary planets. The moon is a satellite to the earth.

SATURN. One of the ancient superior planets remarkable for the luminous rings with which his globe is surrounded, and for his being accompanied by no fewer than eight moons.

SAUCER, OR SPINDLE OF THE CAPSTAN. A socket of iron let into a wooden stock or standard, called the step, resting upon, and bolted to, the beams. Its use is to receive the spindle or foot on which the capstan rests and turns round.

SAUCER-HEADED BOLTS. Those with very flat heads.

SAUCISSON, OR SAUCISSE. A word formerly used for the powder-hose, a linen tube containing the train of powder to a mine or fire-ship, the slow match being attached to the extremity to afford time for the parties to reach positions of safety.

SAUCISSONS. Faggots, differing from fascines only in that they are longer, and made of stouter branches of trees or underwood.

SAUVE-TETE. See SPLINTER-NETTING.

SAVANNAH [Sp. Sabana]. A name given to the wonderfully fertile natural meadows of tropical America; the vast plains clear of wood, and covered in general with waving herbage, in the interior of North America, are called prairies (which see).

SAVE-ALL, OR WATER-SAIL. A small sail sometimes set under the foot of a lower studding-sail.

SAW-BILL. A name for the goosander, Mergus merganser.

SAW-BONES. A sobriquet for the surgeon and his assistants.

SAW-FISH. A species of shark (Pristis antiquorum) with the bones of the face produced into a long flat rostrum, with a row of pointed teeth placed along each edge.

SAY-NAY. A Lancashire name for a lamprey.

SAYTH. A coal-fish in its third year.

SCAFFLING. A northern term for an eel.

SCALA. Ports and landing-places in the Levant, so named from the old custom of placing a ladder to a boat to land from. Gang-boards are now used for that purpose.

SCALDINGS! Notice to get out of the way; it is used when a man with a load wishes to pass, and would lead those in his way to think that he was carrying hot water.

SCALE. An old word for commercial emporium, derived from scala. Also, the graduated divisions by which the proportions of a chart or plan are regulated. Also, the common measures of the sheer-draught, &c. (See GUNTER'S LINE.)

SCALENE TRIANGLE. That which has all three sides unequal.

SCALING. The act of cleaning the inside of a ship's cannon by the explosion of a reduced quantity of powder. Also, attacking a place by getting over its defences.

SCALING-LADDERS. Those made in lengths which may be carried easily, and quickly fitted together to any length required.

SCAMPAVIA. A fast rowing war boat of Naples and Sicily; in 1814-15 they ranged to 150 feet, pulled by forty sweeps or oars, each man having his bunk under his sweep. They were rigged with one huge lateen at one-third from the stem; no forward bulwark or stem above deck; a long brass 6-pounder gun worked before the mast, only two feet above water; the jib, set on a gaff-like boom, veered abeam when firing the gun. Abaft a lateen mizen with top-sail, &c.

SCANT. A term applied to the wind when it heads a ship off, so that she will barely lay her course when the yards are very sharp up.

SCANTLING. The dimensions of a timber when reduced to its standard size.

SCAR. In hydrography applies to a cliff; whence are derived the names Scarborough, Scarnose, &c. Also, to rocks bare only at low water, as on the coasts of Lancashire. Also, beds of gravel or stone in estuaries.

SCARBRO' WARNING. Letting anything go by the run, without due notice. Heywood in his account of Stafford's surprise of Scarborough castle, in 1557, says:--

"This term Scarborow warning grew (some say), By hasty hanging for rank robbery theare, Who that was met, but suspected in that way, Straight he was truss't, whatever he were."

SCARFED. An old word for "decorated with flags."

SCARP. A precipitous steep; as either the escarp or counterscarp of a fort: but a bank or the face of a hill may also be scarped.

SCARPH, OR SCARFING. Is the junction of wood or metal by sloping off the edges, and maintaining the same thickness throughout the joint. The stem and stern posts are scarfed to the keel.

SCARPHS OF THE KEEL. The joints, when a keel is made of several pieces. (See SCARPH.)

SCARRAG. Manx or Erse for a skate or ray-fish.

SCAT. A west of England term for a passing shower.

SCAUR. See SCAR.

SCAW. A promontory or isthmus.

SCAWBERK. An archaism for scabbard.

SCEITHMAN. An old statute term signifying pirate.

'SCENDING [from ascend]. The contrary motion to pitching. (See SEND.)

SCENOGRAPHY. Representation of ships or forts in some kind of perspective.

SCHEDAR. The lucida of the ancient constellation Cassiopeia, and one of the nautical stars.

SCHEMER. One who has charge of the hold of a North Sea ship.

SCHNAPS. An ardent spirit, like Schiedam hollands, impregnated with narcotic ingredients; a destructive drink in common use along the shores of the northern seas.

SCHOCK. A commercial measure of 60 cask staves. (See RING.)

SCHOOL. A term applied to a shoal of any of the cetacean animals.

SCHOONER. Strictly, a small craft with two masts and no tops, but the name is also applied to fore-and-aft vessels of various classes. There are two-topsail schooners both fore and aft, main-topsail schooners, with two square top-sails; fore-topsail schooners with one square top-sail. Ballahou schooners, whose fore-mast rakes forward; and we also have three-masted vessels called schooners.

SCHOUT. A water-bailiff in many northern European ports, who superintends the police for seamen.

SCHRIVAN. An old term for a ship's clerk.

SCHULL. See SCHOOL.

SCHUYT. A Dutch vessel, galliot rigged, used in the river trade of Holland.

SCIMETAR. An eastern sabre, with a broad, very re-curved blade.

SCOBS. The scoria made at the armourer's forge.

SCONCE. A petty fort. Also, the head; whence Shakspeare's pun in making Dromio talk of having his sconce ensconced. Also, the Anglo-Saxon for a dangerous candle-holder, made to let into the sides or posts in a ship's hold. Also, sconce of the magazine, a close safe lantern.

SCOODYN. An old word to express the burring which forms on vessels' bottoms, when foul.

SCOOP. A long spoon-shaped piece of wood to throw water, when washing a ship's sides in the morning. Scooping is the same as baling a boat.

SCOPE. The riding scope of a vessel's cable should be at least three times the depth of water under her, but it must vary with the amount of wind and nature of the bottom.

SCORE. Twenty; commercially, in the case of certain articles, six score went to the hundred--a usage thus regulated:

"Five score's a hundred of men, money, and pins: Six score's a hundred of all other things."

Also an angular piece cut out of a solid. Also, an account or reckoning.

SCORE OF A BLOCK, OR OF A DEAD EYE. The groove round which the rope passes.

SCORPIO. The eighth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 22d of October. {a} Scorpii, Antares; a nautical star.

SCOT, OR SHOT. Anglo-Saxon sceat. A share of anything; a contribution in fair proportion.

SCOTCHMAN. A piece of stiff hide, or batten of wood, placed over the backstays fore-swifter of the shrouds, &c., so as to secure the standing rigging from being chafed. Perhaps so called from the scotch or notch where the seizing is passed.

SCOTCH MIST. Mizzle, or small soaking rain.

SCOTCH PRIZE. A mistake; worse than no prize, or one liable to hamper the captors with heavy law expenses.

SCOTIA. Carved mouldings and grooves.

SCOUR A BEACH, TO. To pour a quick flanking fire along it, in order to dislodge an enemy.

SCOURER, OR SCOURING-STICK. Spring-searcher. An implement to clean the interior of musket barrels.

SCOURGE. A name of the boatswain's cat.

SCOUR THE SEAS, TO. To infest the ocean as a pirate.

SCOUSE. A dish made of pounded biscuit and salt beef cut into small pieces, boiled up with seasoning. (See LOBSCOUSE.)

SCOUTS. Small vessels of war for especial service. (See SKOUTS.) Also, intelligent men sent in advance to discover the enemy, and give an account of his force.

SCOW. A large flat-bottomed boat, used either as a lighter, or for ferrying.

SCOW-BANKER. A manager of a scow. Also, a contemptuous term for a lubberly fellow.

SCOWRING. The cleansing and clearing a harbour by back-water, or otherwise. Also an old term for tropical flux or dysentery.

SCRABBLE. A badly written log. This term is used by the translators of the Bible at David's feigned madness, when he "scrabbled on the doors of the gate."

SCRABER. The puffinet, Colymbus grille. (See GREENLAND DOVE.)

SCRAPER [from the Anglo-Saxon screope]. A small triangular iron instrument, having two or three sharp edges. It is used to scrape the ship's side or decks after caulking, or to clean the top-masts, &c. This is usually followed by a varnish of turpentine, or a mixture of tar and oil, to protect the wood from the weather. Also, metaphorically, a cocked hat, whether shipped fore-and-aft or worn athwart-ships.

SCRATCH-RACE. A boat-race where the crews are drawn by lot.

SCRAWL. The young of the dog-crab, or a poor sort of crab itself.

SCREEN-BERTH. Pieces of canvas temporarily hung round a berth, for warmth and privacy. (See BERTH.)

SCREW-DOCK. See GRIDIRON.

SCREW-GAMMONING FOR THE BOWSPRIT. A chain or plate fastened by a screw, to secure a vessel's bowsprit to the stem-head, allowing for the tricing up of the bowsprit when required.

SCREW-PROPELLER. A valuable substitute for the cumbersome paddle-wheels as a motive-power for steam-vessels: the Archimedean screw plying under water, and hidden by the counter, communicates motion in the direction of its axis to a vessel, by working against the resisting medium of water. (See TWIN-SCREW.)

SCREWS. Powerful machines for lifting large bodies. (See BED, BARREL, and JACK SCREWS.)

SCREW-WELL. A hollow trunk over the screw of a steamer, for allowing the propeller to be disconnected and lifted when required.

SCRIMP. Scant. A word used in the north; as, a scrimp wind, a very light breeze.

SCRIVANO. A clerk or writer; a name adopted in our early ships from the Portuguese or Spanish.

SCROLL-HEAD. A slightly curved piece of timber bolted to the knees of the head, in place of a figure: finished off by a volute turning outwards, contrary to the fiddle-head.

SCROVIES. An old name given to the worthless men picked up by crimps, and sent on board as A.B.'s.

SCRUFF. The matter adhering to the bottoms of foul vessels.

SCUD. The low misty cloud. It appears to fly faster than others because it is very near the earth's surface. When scud is abundant, showers may be expected.--To scud. To run before a gale under canvas enough to keep the vessel ahead of the sea: as, for instance, a close-reefed main top-sail and fore-sail; without canvas she is said to scud under bare poles, and is very likely to be pooped. When a vessel makes a sudden and precipitate flight, she is said to scud away.--Scud like a 'Mudian. Be off in a hurry.

SCUDO. A coin of Italy, varying in value in the different provinces.

SCUFFLE. A confused and disorderly contention--

"Then friends and foes to battle they goes; But what they all fights about--nobody knows."

SCULL. A short oar of such length that a pair of them, one on each side, are conveniently managed by a single rower sitting in the middle of the boat. Also, a light metal-helmet worn in our early fleet.--To scull. To row a boat with a pair of sculls. Also, to propel a boat by a particular method of managing a single oar over the boat's stern, and reversing the blade each time. It is in fact the half-stroke of the screw rapidly reversed, and closely resembles the propelling power of the horizontal tail of the whale.

SCULPTURES. The carved decorations of the head, stern, and quarter of an old ship-of-war. Also, the copper plates which "adorned" the former books of voyages and travels.

SCUM OF THE SEA. The refuse seen on the line of tidal change; the drift sent off by the ebbing tide. Or (in the neighbourhood of the rains), the fresh water running on the surface of the salt and carrying with it a line of foam bearing numerous sickly gelatinous marine animals, and physaliae, commonly called Portuguese men-of-war, affected by the fresh water and other small things often met with on the surface sea.

SCUM-O'-THE-SKY. Thin atmospheric vapours.

SCUPPER-HOSE. A canvas leathern pipe or tube nailed round the outside of the scuppers of the lower decks, which prevents the water from discolouring the ship's sides.

SCUPPER-LEATHER. A flap-valve nailed over a scupper-hole, serving to keep water from getting in, yet letting it out.

SCUPPER-NAILS. Short nails with very broad flat heads, used to nail the flaps of the scuppers, so as to retain the hose under them: they are also used for battening tarpaulins and other general purposes.

SCUPPER-PLUGS. Are used to close the scuppers in-board.

SCUPPERS. Round apertures cut through the water ways and sides of a ship at proper distances, and lined with metal, in order to carry the water off the deck into the sea.

SCUPPER-SHOOTS. Metal or wooden tubes which carry the water from the decks of frigates to the sea-level.

SCURRY. Perhaps from the Anglo-Saxon scur, a heavy shower, a sudden squall. It now means a hurried movement; it is more especially applied to seals or penguins taking to the water in fright.

SCUTTLE. A small hole or port cut either in the deck or side of a ship, generally for ventilation. That in the deck is a small hatchway.

SCUTTLE, TO. To cut or bore holes through part of a ship when she is stranded or over-set, and continues to float, in order to save any part of her contents. Also, a trick too often practised by boring holes below water, to sink a ship, where fictitious cargo is embarked and the vessel insured beyond her value. (See BARRATRY.)

SCUTTLE OR SCUTTLED BUTT. A cask having a square piece sawn out of its bilge and lashed in a convenient place to hold water for present use.

SCUTTLE-HATCH. A lid or hatch for covering and closing the scuttles when necessary.

SEA. Strictly speaking, sea is the next large division of water after ocean, but in its special sense signifies only any large portion of the great mass of waters almost surrounded by land, as the Black, the White, the Baltic, the China, and the Mediterranean seas, and in a general sense in contradistinction to land. By sailors the word is also variously applied. Thus they say--"We shipped a heavy sea." "There is a great sea on in the offing." "The sea sets to the southward," &c. Hence a ship is said to head the sea when her course is opposed to the direction of the waves.--A long sea implies a uniform motion of long waves, the result of a steady continuance of the wind from nearly the same quarter.--A short sea is a confused motion of the waves when they run irregularly so as frequently to break over a vessel, caused by sudden changes of wind. The law claims for the crown wherever the sea flows to, and there the admiralty has jurisdiction; accordingly, no act can be done, no bridge can span a river so circumstanced without the sanction of the admiralty. It claims the fore-shore unless specially granted by charter otherwise, and the court of vice-admiralty has jurisdiction as to flotsam and jetsam on the fore-shore. But all crimes are subject to the laws, and are tried by the ordinary courts as within the body of a county, comprehended by the chord between two headlands where the distance does not exceed three miles from the shore. Beyond that limit is "the sea, where high court of admiralty has jurisdiction, but where civil process cannot follow."

SEA-ADDER. The west-country term for the pipe-fish Syngnathus. The name is also given to the nest-making stickleback.

SEA-ANCHOR. That which lies towards the offing when a ship is moored.

SEA-ATTORNEY. The ordinary brown and rapacious shark.

SEA-BANK. A work so important that our statutes make it felony, without benefit of clergy, maliciously to cut down any sea-bank whereby lands may be overflowed.

SEA-BEANS. Pods of the acacia tribe shed into the rivers about the Gulf of Mexico, and borne by the stream to the coasts of Great Britain, and even further north.

SEA-BEAR. A name applied to several species of large seals of the genus Otaria, found both in the northern and southern hemispheres. They differ from the true seals, especially in the mode in which they use their hind limbs in walking on land.

SEA-BOARD. The line along which the land and water meet, indicating the limit common to both.

SEA-BOAT. A good sea-boat implies any vessel adapted to bear the sea firmly and lively without labouring heavily or straining her masts or rigging. The contrary is called a bad sea-boat.

SEA-BORNE. Arrived from a voyage: said of freighted ships also afloat.

SEA-BOTTLE. The pod or vesicle of some species of sea-wrack or Fucus gigantea of Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan.

SEA-BREEZE. A wind from the sea towards the land. In tropical climates (and sometimes during summer in the temperate zone) as the day advances the land becomes extremely heated by the sun, which causes an ascending current of air, and a wind from the sea rushes in to restore equilibrium. Above the sea-breeze is a counter current, which was clearly shown in Madras, where an aeronaut waited until the sea-breeze had set in to make his ascent, expecting to be blown inland, but after rising to a certain height found himself going out to sea, and in his haste to descend he disordered the machinery, and could not close the valve which allowed the gas to escape, so fell into the sea about three miles from the land, but clung to his balloon and was saved. Also, a cool sea drink.

SEA-BRIEF. A specification of the nature and quantity of the cargo of a ship, the place whence it comes, and its destination. (See PASSPORT.)

SEA-CALF. A seal, Phoca vitulina.

SEA-CAP. The white drift or breaks of a wave. White horses of trades.

SEA-CARDS. The old name for charts.

SEA-CAT. A name of the wolf-fish, Anarrhicas lupus.

SEA-CATGUT. The Fucus filum, or sea-thread.

SEA-COAST, OR SEA-BORD. The shore of any country, or that part which is washed by the sea.

SEA COCOA-NUT, OR DOUBLE COCOA-NUT. The fruit of the Lodoicea seychellarum, a handsome palm growing in the Seychelles Islands. It was once supposed to be produced by a sea-weed, because so often found floating on the sea around.

SEA-COULTER. The puffin or coulter-neb, Fratercula arctica.

SEA-COW. One of the names given to the manatee (which see).

SEA-CRAFTS. In ship-building, a term for the scarphed strakes otherwise called clamps. For boats, see THWART-CLAMPS.

SEA-CROW. A name on our southern coast for the cormorant.

SEA-CUCKOO. The Trigla cuculus, or red gurnard, so called from the unmusical grunt which it emits.

SEA-CUNNY. A steersman in vessels manned with lascars in the East India country trade.

SEA-DEVIL. A name for the Lophius piscatorius, or angler, a fish with a large head and thick short body.

SEA-DOG. A name of the common seal.

SEA-DOGG. The meteor called also stubb (which see).

SEA-DRAGON. An early designation of the stinging-weever.

SEA-EAGLE. A large ray-fish with a pair of enormous fins stretching out from either side of the body, and a long switch tail, armed with a barbed bone, which forms a dangerous weapon. Manta of the Spaniards.

SEA-EDGE. The boundary between the icy regions of the "north water" and the unfrozen portion of the Arctic Sea.

SEA-EEL. The conger (which see).

SEA-EGG. A general name for the echinus, better known to seamen as the sea-urchin (which see).

SEA-FARDINGER. An archaic expression for a seafaring man.

SEA-FISHER. An officer in the household of Edward III.

SEA-FRET. A word used on our northern coasts for the thick heavy mist generated on the ocean, and rolled by the wind upon the land.

SEA-FROG. A name for the Lophius piscatorius, or angler.

SEA GATE OR GAIT. A long rolling swell: when two ships are thrown aboard one another by its means, they are said to be in a sea-gate.

SEA-GAUGE. An instrument used by Drs. Hale and Desaguliers to investigate the depth of the sea, by the pressure of air into a tube prepared for the purpose, showing by a mark left by a thin surface of treacle carried on mercury forced up it during the descent into what space the whole air is compressed, and, consequently, the depth of water by which its weight produced that compression. It is, however, an uncertain and difficult instrument, and superseded by Ericson's patent, working on the same principle, but passing over into another tube the volume of water thus forced in. (See WATER-BOTTLE.)

SEA-GOING. Fit for sea-service abroad.

SEA-GREEN. The colour which in ancient chivalry denoted inconstancy.

SEA-GROCER. A sobriquet for the purser.

SEA-GULL. A well-known bird. When they come in numbers to shore, and make a noise about the coast, or when at sea they alight on ships, sailors consider it a prognostic of a storm. This is an old idea; see Virg. Georg. lib. i., and Plin. lib. xviii. c. 35.

SEA-HARE. Aplysia, a molluscous animal.

SEA-HEN. A name of the fish Trigla lyra, or crooner (which see).

SEA-HOG. A common name for the porpoise, Phoc[oe]na communis.

SEA-HORSE. A name for the walrus, Trichecus rosmarus. Also, the hippocampus (which see).

SEA-ICE. Ice within which there is a separation from the land.

SEAL [from the Anglo-Saxon seolh]. The well-known marine piscivorous animal.

SEA-LAKE. Synonymous with lagoon (which see).

SEA-LAWS. The codes relating to the sea; as, the laws of Rhodes, Oleron, Wisbuy, &c.

SEA-LAWYER. An idle litigious 'longshorer, more given to question orders than to obey them. One of the pests of the navy as well as of the mercantile marine. Also, a name given to the tiger-shark.

SEALED ORDERS. Secret and sealed until the circumstances arise which authorize their being opened and acted on. Often given to prevent officers from divulging the point to which they are ordered.

SEA-LEGS. Implies the power to walk steadily on a ship's decks, notwithstanding her pitching or rolling.

SEA-LETTER. See PASSPORT.

SEA-LION. A large seal of the genus Otaria, distinguished from the sea-bear, to which it otherwise has a great resemblance, by the shaggy mane on its neck and shoulders.

SEA-LOG. That part of the log-book relating to whatever happens while the ship is at sea.

SEA-LUMP. See LUMP.

SEAM. The sewing together of two edges of canvas, which should have about 110 stitches in every yard of length. Also, the identical Anglo-Saxon word for a horse-load of 8 bushels, and much looked to in carrying fresh fish from the coast. Also, the opening between the edges of the planks in the decks and sides of a ship; these are filled with a quantity of oakum and pitch, to prevent the entrance of water. (See CAULKING.)

SEA-MALL. A name for a sea-gull.

SEAMAN. This is a term seldom bestowed among seafaring men upon their associates, unless they are known to be pre-eminent in every duty of the thorough-paced tar; one who never issues a command which he is not competent to execute himself, and is deemed an authority on every matter relating to sea-craft.--The able seaman is the seafaring man who knows all the duties of common seamanship, as to rig, steer, reef, furl, take the lead, and implicitly carry out the orders given, in a seamanlike manner. His rating is A.B.; pay in the navy, 24_s._ to 27_s._ per month.--The ordinary seaman is less qualified; does not take the weather-helm, the earing, or lead; pay about 21_s._ to 23_s._ per month.--The landsman is still less qualified.

SEAMAN'S DISGRACE. A foul anchor.

SEAMANSHIP. The noble practical art of rigging and working a ship, and performing with effect all her various evolutions at sea.

SEAMAN'S WAGES. A proper object of the admiralty jurisdiction.

SEA-MARK. A point or object distinguishable at sea, as promontories, steeples, rivers, trees, &c., forming important beacons, and noted on charts. By keeping two in a line, channels can be entered with safety, and thus the errors of steerage, effect of tide, &c., obviated. These erections are a branch of the royal prerogative, and by statute 8 Eliz. cap. 13, the corporation of the Trinity House are empowered to set up any beacons or sea-marks wherever they shall think them necessary; and, if any person shall destroy them, he shall forfeit L100, or, in case of inability to pay, he shall be, ipso facto, outlawed.

SEAMEN-GUNNERS. Men who have been trained in a gunnery ship, and thereby become qualified to instruct others in that duty.

SEA-MEW. A sea-gull.

SEA-MOUSE. The Aphrodita aculeata, a marine annelid, remarkable for the brilliant iridescence of the long silky hairs with which its sides are covered.

SEA-NETTLE. An immemorial name of several zoophytes and marine creatures of the class Acalephae, which have the power of stinging, particularly the Medusae.

SEA-OWL. A name of the lump-fish, Cyclopterus lumpus.

SEA-PAY. That due for actual service in a duly-commissioned ship.

SEA-PERIL. Synonymous with sea-risk.

SEA-PIE. The pied oyster-catcher, Haematopus ostralegus. Also, a favourite sea-dish in rough weather, consisting of an olla of fish, meat, and vegetables, in layers between crusts, the number of which denominate it a two or three decker.

SEA-PINCUSHION. The name among northern fishermen for a kind of star-fish of the genus Goniaster.

SEA-POACHER. A name of the pogge, Cottus cataphractus.

SEA-PORCUPINE. Several fish of the genera Diodon and Tetraodon, beset with sharp spines, which they can erect by inflating themselves with air.

SEA-PORK. The flesh of young whales in the western isles of Scotland; the whale-beef of the Bermudas, &c. It is also called sea-beef.

SEA-PORT. A haven near the sea, not situated up a river.

SEA-PURSE. See MERMAID'S PURSE.

SEA-QUADRANT. The old name of Jacob's cross-staff.

SEA-QUAKE. The tremulous motion and shock of an earthquake felt through the waves.

SEA-RATE. The going of a chronometer as established on board, instead of that supplied from the shore. This may be done by lunars. From motion and other causes their rates after embarkation are frequently useless, and rates for their new ever-changing position are indispensable. This rate is sometimes loosely deduced between two ports; but as the meridian distances are never satisfactorily known, even as to the spots of observation, they cannot be relied on but as comparative.

SEARCH. If the act of submitting to search is to subject neutral vessels to confiscation by the enemy, the parties must look to that enemy whose the injustice is for redress, but they are not to shelter themselves by committing a fraud upon the undoubted rights of the other country.

SEARCH, RIGHT OF. See VISITATION.

SEARCHER. A custom-house officer employed in taking an account of goods to be exported. Also, see GUN-SEARCHER.

SEA-REACH. The straight course or reach of a winding river which stretches out to sea-ward.

SEA-RISK. Liability to losses by perils of the sea (which see).

SEA-ROKE. A cold fog or mist which suddenly approaches from the sea, and rapidly spreads over the vicinity of our eastern shores, to a distance of 8 or 10 miles inland.

SEA-ROOM. Implies a sufficient distance from land, rocks, or shoals wherein a ship may drive or scud without danger.

SEA-ROVERS. Pirates and robbers at sea.

SEA-SERGEANTS. A society of gentlemen, belonging to the four maritime counties of South Wales, holding their anniversaries at sea-port towns, or one within the reach of tidal influence. It was a secret association of early date, revived in 1726, and dissolved about 1765.

SEA-SLATER. The Ligia oceanica, a small crustacean.

SEA-SLEECH. See SLEECH.

SEA-SLEEVE. A name of the flosk or squid, Loligo vulgaris.

SEA-SLUG. The Holothuria. An animal of the class Echinodermata, with elongated body, and flexible outer covering.

SEASONED TIMBER. Such as has been cut down, squared, and stocked for one season at least.

SEASONING. The keeping a vessel standing a certain time after she is completely framed, and dubbed out for planking. A great prince of this maritime country in passing a dockyard, inquired what those basket-ships were for!

SEA-SPOUT. The jetting of sea-water over the adjacent lands, when forced through a perforation in a rocky shore; both its egress and ingress are attended with a rumbling noise, and the spray is often very injurious to the surrounding vegetation.

SEA-STAR. A common rayed or star-like animal, belonging to the class Echinodermata. Also called star-fish (Asteria).

SEA-STREAM. In polar parlance, is when a collection of bay-ice is exposed on one side to the ocean, and affords shelter from the sea to whatever is within it.

SEA-SWABBER. A reproachful term for an idle sailor.

SEA-SWALLOW. The tern, a bird resembling the gull, but more slender and swift.

SEA-SWINE. The porpoise.

SEAT. A term often applied to the peculiar summit of a mountain, as the Queen of Spain's Seat near Gibraltar, the Bibi of Mahratta's Seat near Bombay, Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh, &c.

SEA-TANG. Tangle, a sea-weed.

SEAT-LOCKERS. Accommodations fitted in the cabins of merchantmen for sitting upon, and stowing cabin-stores in.

SEAT OF WATER. Applies to the line on which a vessel sits.

SEA-TRANSOM. That which is bolted to the counter-timbers, above the upper, at the height of the port-sills.

SEA-TURN. A tack into the offing.

SEA-URCHIN. The Echinus, an animal of the class Echinodermata, of globular form, and a hard calcareous outer covering, beset with movable spines, on the ends of which it crawls about.

SEA-WALLS. Elevations of stones, stakes, and other material, to prevent inundations.

SEA-WARD. Towards the sea, or offing.

SEA-WARE. The sea-weed thrown up by surges on a beach.

SEA-WATER. "The quantity of solid matter varies considerably in different seas, but we may assume that the average quantity of saline matter is 3-1/2 per cent., and the density about 1.0274" (Pereira). The composition of the water of the English Channel according to Schweitzer is--

Grains. Water 964.74372 Chloride of Sodium 27.05948 " Potassium 0.76552 " Magnesium 3.66658 Bromide of Magnesium 0.02929 Sulphate of Magnesia 2.29578 " Lime 1.40662 Carbonate of Lime 0.03301 ---------- 1000.00000

SEA-WAY. The progress of a ship through the waves. Also, said when a vessel is in an open place where the sea is rolling heavily.

SEA-WAY MEASURER. A kind of self-registering log invented by Smeaton, the architect of the Eddystone lighthouse.

SEA-WEASEL. An old name of the lamprey.

SEA-WOLF. The wolf-fish, Anarrhicas lupus.

SEA-WOLVES. A name for privateers.

SEA-WORTHY. The state of a ship in everyway fitted for her voyage. It is the first stipulation in every policy of insurance, or other contract, connected with a vessel: "for she shall be tight, staunch, and strong, sufficiently manned, and her commander competent to his duty." (See OPINION.)

SEA-WRACK GRASS. Zostera marina; used in Sweden and Holland for manuring land. At Yarmouth it is thrown on shore in such abundance that mounds are made with it to arrest the encroachments of the sea. It is also used as thatch.

SECANT. A line drawn from the centre of a circle to the extremity of the tangent.

SECCA. A shoal on Italian shores and charts.

SECOND. The sixtieth part of a minute. A division of a degree of a circle. A term applied both to time and to space. Also, second in a duel; a very important part to play, since many a life may be saved without implicating honour.

SECONDARY PLANET. See SATELLITES.

SECOND-CAPTAIN. Commanders under captains in the navy, of late.

SECOND-COUNTER. See COUNTER.

SECOND-FUTTOCKS. The frame-timbers scarphed on the end of the futtock-timbers.

SECOND-HAND. A term in fishing-boats to distinguish the second in charge.

SECOND OFFICER. Second mate in merchantmen.

SECOND-RATE. Vessels of seventy-four guns (on the old scale).

SECTION. A draught or figure representing the internal parts of a ship cut by a plane at any particular place athwart ships or longitudinally.

SECTOR. See DIP-SECTOR.

SECULAR ACCELERATION. See ACCELERATION OF THE MOON.

SECULAR INEQUALITY. See INEQUALITY.

SECURE ARMS! Place them under the left arm, to guard the lock from the weather or rain.

SEDITION. Mutinous commotion against the constituted authorities, especially dangerous at sea.

SEDOW. The old English name for the fish called gilt-head; Sparus auratus.

SEDUCE, TO. To inveigle a man to desertion.

SEELING. A sudden heeling over, and quick return.

SEER. The tumbler of a gun-lock.

SEE-SAW. Reciprocating motion.

SEGE. An old law-term for the seat or berth in which a ship lies.

SEGMENT. In geometry, any part of a circle which is bounded by an arc and its chord, or so much of the circle as is cut off by that chord.

SEGMENTAL STERN. See ROUND STERN.

SEGMENT-SHELL. For use with rifled guns; an elongated iron shell having very thin sides, and built up internally with segment-shaped pieces of iron, which, offering the resistance of an arch against pressure from without, are easily separated by the very slight bursting charge within; thereby retaining most of their original direction and velocity after explosion.

SEIN, OR SEINE. The name of a large fishing-net. Also, a flat seam.

SEIN-FISH. By statute (3 Jac. I. c. 12) includes that sort taken with a sein.

SEIZING. Fastening any two ropes, or different parts of one rope together, with turns of small stuff.

SEIZINGS. The cords with which the act of seizing is performed; they vary in size in proportion to the rope on which they are used.

SEIZLING. A young carp.

SEIZURE. The right of naval officers to seize anywhere afloat, is legally established: a ship, therefore, although incapable of cruising, may still make a seizure in port.

SELCHIE. The northern name for the seal, Phoca vitulina.

SELENOCENTRIC. Having relation to the centre of the moon.

SELENOGRAPHY. The delineation of the moon's surface.

SELLING OUT. An officer in the army wishing to retire from the service, may do so by disposing of his commission.

SELLOCK. See SILLOCK.

SELVAGE. The woven edge of canvas formed by web and woof. See Boke of Curtasye (14th century):--

"The overnape shal doubulle be layde, To the utter side the selvage brade."

SELVAGEE. A strong and pliant hank, or untwisted skein of rope-yarn marled together, and used as a strap to fasten round a shroud or stay, or slings to which to hook a tackle to hoist in any heavy articles.

SEMAPHORE. An expeditious mode of communication by signal; it consists of upright posts and movable arms, now chiefly used for railway signals, electric telegraphs being found better for great distances.

SEMEBOLE. An old term for a pipe, or half a tun of wine.

SEMI-AXIS MAJOR. See MEAN DISTANCE.

SEMICIRCLE. A figure comprehended between the diameter of a circle and half the circumference.

SEMI-DIAMETER. The angle subtended by half the diameter of a heavenly body; in the cases of the sun and moon it is much used in navigation.

SEMI-DIURNAL ARC. Half the arc described by a heavenly body between its rising and setting.

SEMI-ISLET. An old term for bridge-islet (which see).

SEND, TO. To rise after pitching heavily and suddenly between two waves, or out of the trough of the sea.

SENDING, OR 'SCENDING. The act of being thrown about violently when adrift.

SENIORITY. The difference of rank, or standing in priority, according to dates of commissions; or if on the same day, the order in which they stand on the official printed lists.

SENIOR OFFICER. The commanding officer for the time being.

SENNIT. A flat cordage formed by plaiting five or seven rope-yarns together. Straw, plaited in the same way for hats, is called plat-sennit; it is made by sailors in India from the leaf of the palm, for that well-known straw-hat, adorned with flowing ribbons, which formerly distinguished the man-of-war's man.

SENSIBLE HORIZON. See HORIZON.

SENTINEL, OR SENTRY. A soldier, marine, or seaman placed upon any post, to watch and enforce any specific order with which he may be intrusted.

SENTRY GO! The order to the new sentry to proceed to the relief of the previous one.

SEQUIN. A Turkish and Venetian gold coin of the current value of 6_s._ 11_d._

SERANG. A boatswain of Lascars.

SERASKIER. A Turkish general.

SERGEANT. The senior non-commissioned rank in the army and marines.

SERGEANT-MAJOR. The senior sergeant in a regiment, or first non-commissioned officer; usually a zealous and thorough soldier.

SERON. A commercial package of Spanish America, made of green bullock's-hide with the hair on.

SERPENTARIUS. See OPHIUCHUS.

SERPENTIN. An ancient 24-pounder gun, the dolphins of which represented serpents; it was 13 feet long, and weighed 4360 lbs.

SERPENTINE POWDER. An old term for a peculiar granulated gunpowder.

SERRATED. Notched like the edge of a saw.

SERVE, TO. To supply the gun with powder and shot. Also, to handle it through all the changes of station.

SERVE THE VENT, TO. To stop it with the thumb.

SERVICE. The profession; as a general term, expresses every kind of duty which a naval or military man can be called upon to perform. Also, implying any bold exploit.--To see service, is a common expression, which implies actual contest with the enemy.--Service, of served rope, is the spun-yarn wound round a rope by means of a serving-board or mallet.

SERVICEABLE. Both as respects men and stores, capable of or fit for duty.

SERVING-BOARD. A flattened piece of hard wood with a handle, for passing service on the smaller ropes.

SERVING-MALLET. The mallet, grooved on the under side, with which spun-yarn, or other small stuff, is wrapped tightly round a rope.

SERVING OUT SLOPS. Distributing clothing, &c. Also, a cant term to denote punishment at the gangway.

SET. The direction in which a current flows, or of the wind. (See DIRECTION.)--To set, is to observe the bearings of any distant object by the compass. (See BEARING.) Also applied to the direction of the tide, as "the tide setting to the south," is opposed to a swelling sea setting to the north-west. Also, when applied to sails, implies the loosing and spreading them, so as to force the ship through the water on weighing. When in chase, or other emergency, the term is sometimes used as synonymous with make sail.

SET-BOLTS. Used in drifting out bolts from their position. Also employed for forcing the planks and other works, bringing them close to one another, as Blake's bringing-to bolts, with wood screws, eyes, and rings.

SET FLYING. Sails that do not remain aloft when taken in, but are hauled on deck or stowed in the tops, as skysails, studding-sails, &c.

SET IN. Said when the sea-breeze or weather appears to be steady.

SET ON! The order to set the engine going on board a steamer.

SETT. A kind of shipwright's power, composed of two ring-bolts and a wrain-staff, with cleats and lashings. Also, the particular spot in a river or frith, where stationary nets are fixed.

SETTEE. A single-decked Mediterranean vessel with a long and sharp prow, without top-masts, and carrying lateen sails. They were mostly used as transports to galleys.

SET THE CHASE, TO. To mark well the position of the vessel chased by bearing, so that by standing away from her on one tack, she may be cut off on the other.

SETTING. The operation of moving a boat or raft by means of poles. Also, arranging the sights of a gun, or pointing it.

SETTING POLE. A pole, generally pointed with iron, forced into the mud, by which boats and barges are moored in shallow water.

SETTING THE WATCH. The military night guard or watch at the evening gun-fire. Naval watches are not interfered with by time.

SETTING-UP. Raising a ship from her blocks, shores, &c., by wedges driven between the heels of the shore and the dock foundation.

SETTLE. Now termed the stern-sheets [derived from the Anglo-Saxon settl, a seat].--To settle. To lower; also to sink, as "the deck has settled;" "we settled the land." (See LAYING.) "Settle the main top-sail halliards," i.e. ease them off a little, so as to lower the yard, as on shaking out a reef.

SETTLING. Sinking in the water.

SET UP. Soldiers, mariners, and small-arm men, well drilled, and instructed to be upright and soldierlike in their carriage, are "well set up."

SET UP RIGGING, TO. To take in the slack of the shrouds, stays, and backstays, to bring the same strain as before, and thus secure the masts.

SEVERALTY. The denomination under which disagreements respecting accounts amongst the part-owners of a ship are referred, either to equity courts, or the common law.

SEVERE. Effectual; as, a severe turn in belaying a rope.

SEW, OR SUE. Pronounced sue. (See SEWED.)

SEWANT. A north-country name for the plaice.

SEWARD, OR SEA-WARD. An early name for the custos maris, or he who guards the sea-coast.

SEWED. A ship resting upon the ground, where the water has fallen, so as to afford no hope of floating until lightened, or the return tide floats her, is said to be sewed, by as much as the difference between the surface of the water, and the ship's floating-mark. If not left quite dry, she sews to such a point; if the water leaves her a couple of feet, she is sewed two feet.

SEWIN. A white kind of salmon taken on the coast of Wales. Sometimes this word is used for the dish called sowens.

SEXAGESIMAL DIVISIONS. The circumference of the circle is divided into 360 degrees, each degree into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds. The Americans afterwards used 60 thirds, but European astronomers prefer decimals.

SEXTANT. A mathematical instrument for taking altitudes of, and measuring the angular distances between, the heavenly bodies. It is constructed on a principle similar to Hadley's quadrant; but the arc contains a sixth part of a circle, and measures angles up to 120 deg.

SHACKLE [from the Anglo-Saxon sceacul]. A span with two eyes and a bolt, attached to open links in a chain-cable, at every 15 fathoms; they are fitted with a movable bolt, so that the chain can there be separated or coupled, as circumstances require. Also, an iron loop-hooked bolt moving on a pin, used for fastening the lower-deck port-bars.

SHACKLE-BREECHING. Two shackles are turned into the breeching, by which it is instantly disconnected from the port-ringbolts. Also, the lug of the cascable is cut open to admit of the bight of the breeching falling into it, thus obviating the loss of time by unreeving.

SHACKLE-CROW. A bar of iron slightly bent at one end like the common crow, but with a shackle instead of a claw at the bent end. It is used for drawing bolts or deck-nails. (See also SPAN-SHACKLE.)

SHACKLE-NET. The northern term for flue-net.

SHACKLES. Semicircular clumps of iron sliding upon a round bar, in which the legs of prisoners are occasionally confined to the deck. Manacles when applied to the wrists. (See BILBOES.)

SHAD. The Clupea alosa, a well-known fish, of very disputed culinary merit, owing perhaps to its own dietetic habits.

SHADES. Coloured glasses for quadrants, sextants, and circles. (See DARK GLASSES, or SCREENS.)

SHAFT OF A MINE. The narrow perpendicular pit by which the gallery is entered, and from which the branches of the mine diverge.

SHAG. A small species of cormorant, Phalacrocorax graculus.

SHAG-BUSH. An old term for a harquebus, or hand-gun.

SHAKE, TO. To cast off fastenings, as--To shake out a reef. To let out a reef, and enlarge the sail.--To shake off a bonnet of a fore-and-aft sail.--To shake a cask. To take it to pieces, and pack up the parts, then termed "shakes." Thus the term expressing little value, "No great shakes."

SHAKE IN THE WIND, TO. To bring a vessel's head so near the wind, when close-hauled, as to shiver the sails.

SHAKES. A name given by shipwrights to the cracks or rents in any piece of timber, occasioned by the sun or weather. The same as rends or shans (which see).

SHAKING A CLOTH IN THE WIND. In galley parlance, expresses the being slightly intoxicated.

SHAKINGS. Refuse of cordage, canvas, &c., used for making oakum, paper, &c.

SHALLOP, SHALLOOP, OR SLOOP. A small light fishing vessel, with only a small main-mast and fore-mast for lug-sails. They are commonly good sailers, and are therefore often used as tenders to men-of-war. Also, a large heavy undecked boat, with one mast, fore-and-aft main-sail, and jib-foresail. The gunboats on the French coasts were frequently termed chaloupes, and carried one heavy gun, with a crew of 40 men. Also, a small boat rowed by one or two men.

SHALLOWS. A continuation of shoal water.

SHALLOW-WAISTED. Flush-decked vessels are thus termed, in contradistinction to the deep-waisted.

SHAN. A defect in spars, most commonly from bad collared knots; an injurious compression of fibres in timber: the turning out of the cortical layers when the plank has been sawed obliquely to the central axis of the tree.

SHANK. An arrangement of deep-water fishing lines. Also, a handle or shaft. Also the bar or shaft of an anchor, constituting its main piece, at one end of which the stock is fixed, and at the other the arms.

SHANK-PAINTER. The stopper which confines the shank of the anchor to the ship's side, and prevents the flukes from flying off the bill-board. Where the bill-board is not used, it bears the weight of the fluke end of the anchor.

SHANTY. A small hut on or near a beach.

SHAPE. The lines and form of a vessel.--To shape a course. To assign the route to be steered in order to prosecute a voyage.

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE. The golden rule of all messes at sea.

SHARK. A name applied to many species of large cartilaginous fish of the family Squalidae. Their ferocity and voracity are proverbial. Also, applied to crimps, sharpers, and low attorneys.

SHARP. Prompt and attentive.--Be sharp! Make haste.--Look sharp! Lose no time. Also, an old term for a sword.

SHARP BOTTOM. Synonymous with a sharp floor; used in contradistinction to a flat floor: the epithet denotes vessels intended for quick sailing.

SHARP LOOK-OUT BEFORE! The hail for the forecastle look-out men to be extremely vigilant.

SHARP UP. Trimmed as near as possible to the wind, with the yards braced up nearly fore and aft.

SHAVE. A close run; a narrow escape from a collision.

SHEAF. A bundle of arrows, as formerly supplied to our royal ships.

SHEAL. A northern term for a fisherman's hut, whence several of them together became sheals or shields.

SHEAR. An iron spear, of three or more points, for catching eels.

SHEAR-HOOKS. A kind of sickle formerly applied to the yard-arms, for cutting the rigging of a vessel running on board.

SHEARS. See SHEERS.

SHEAR-WATER. A sea-fowl, Puffinus anglorum.

SHEATHING. Thin boards formerly placed between the ship's body and the sheets of copper, to protect the planks from the pernicious effects of the worm. Tar and hair, or brown paper dipped in tar and oil, is laid between the sheathing and the bottom. In 1613 a junk of 800 or 1000 tons was seen in Japan all sheeted with iron; and yet it was not attempted in Europe till more than a hundred years afterwards. But by 1783 ships of every class were coppered.

SHEATHING-NAILS. These are used to fasten wood-sheathing, and prevent the filling-nails from tearing it too much. Those used for copper-sheathing are of mixed metal, cast in moulds about one inch and a quarter long. The heads are flat on the upper side, and counter-sunk below, with the upper side polished to prevent the adhesion of weeds.

SHEAVE. The wheel on which the rope works in a block; it is generally formed of lignum vitae, sometimes of brass, and frequently of both; the interior part, or that which sustains the friction against the pin, being of brass, let into the exterior, which is of lignum vitae, and is then termed a sheave with a brass coak, bouche, or bush. The name also applies to a cylindrical wheel made of hard wood, movable round a stout pin as its axis; it is let through the side and chess-trees for leading the tacks and sheets. Also, the number of tiers in coiling cables and hawsers.

SHEAVE-HOLE. A channel cut in masts, yards, or timber, in which to fix a sheave, and answering the place of a block. It is also the groove cut in a block for the ropes to reeve through.

SHEBEEN. A low public-house, yet a sort of sailor trap.

SHED. A pent-house or cover for the ship's artificers to work under.

SHEDDE. An archaic term for the slope of a hill.

SHEDDERS. Female salmon. (See FOUL FISH.)

SHEDELE. A channel of water.

SHEEN-NET. A large drag-net.

SHEEPSHANK. A hitch or bend made on a rope to shorten it temporarily; and particularly used on runners, to prevent the tackle from coming block and block. It consists in making two long bights in a rope, which shall overlay one another; then taking a half hitch over the end of each bight, with the standing part, which is next to it.

SHEER. The longitudinal curve of a ship's decks or sides; the hanging of the vessel's side in a fore-and-aft direction. Also, a fishing-spear in use on the south coast. (See SHEAR.) Also, the position in which a ship is sometimes kept when at single anchor, in order to keep her clear of it [evidently from the Erse sheebh, to drift].

SHEER, TO BREAK. To deviate from that position, and thereby risk fouling the anchor. Thus a vessel riding with short scope of cable breaks her sheer, and bringing the force of the whole length of the ship at right angles, tears the anchor out of the ground, and drifts into deep water.

SHEER-BATTEN. A batten stretched horizontally along the shrouds, and seized firmly above each of their dead-eyes, serving to prevent the dead-eyes from turning at that part. This is also termed a stretcher.

SHEER-DRAUGHT. In ship-building, a section supposed to be cut by a plane passing through the middle line of the keel, the stem, and the stern-post: it is also called the plan of elevation, and it exhibits the out-board works, as the wales, sheer-rails, ports, drifts, height of water-line, &c.

SHEERED. Built with a curved sheer. (See MOON-SHEERED.)

SHEER-HULK. An old ship fitted with sheers, &c., and used for taking out and putting in the masts of other vessels.

SHEERING. The act of deviating from the line of the course, so as to form a crooked and irregular path through the water; this may be occasioned by the ship's being difficult to steer, but more frequently arises from the negligence or incapacity of the helmsman. For sheering or shearing in polar seas, see LAPPING.

SHEER-LASHING. Middle the rope, and pass a good turn round both legs at the cross. Then take one end up and the other down, around and over the cross, until half of the lashing is thus expended; then ride both ends back again on their own parts, and knot them in the middle. Frap the first and riding turns together on each side with sennit.

SHEER-MAST. The peculiar rig of the rafts on the Guayaquil river; also of the piratical prahus of the eastern seas, and which might be imitated in some of our small craft with advantage: having a pair of sheers (instead of a single mast) within which the fore-and-aft main-sail works, or is hoisted or slung.

SHEER-MOULD. Synonymous with ram-line (which see).

SHEER OFF, TO. To move to a greater distance, or to steer so as to keep clear of a vessel or other object.

SHEER-PLAN. The draught of the side of a proposed ship, showing the length, depth, rake, water-lines, &c.

SHEER-RAIL. The wrought-rail generally placed well with the sheer or top-timber line; the narrow ornamental moulding along the top-side, parallel to the sheer.

SHEERS. Two or more spars, raised at angles, lashed together near their upper ends, and supported by guys; used for raising or taking in heavy weights. Also, to hoist in or get out the lower masts of a ship; they are either placed on the side of a quay or wharf, on board of an old ship cut down (see SHEER-HULK), or erected in the vessel wherein the mast is to be planted or displaced, the lower ends of the props resting on the opposite sides of the deck, and the upper parts being fastened together across, from which a tackle depends; this sort of sheers is secured by stages extending to the stem and stern of the vessel.

SHEER-SAIL. A drift-sail.

SHEER TO THE ANCHOR, TO. To direct the ship's bows by the helm to the place where the anchor lies, while the cable is being hove in.

SHEER UP ALONGSIDE, TO. To approach a ship or other object in an oblique direction.

SHEER-WALES. Strakes of thick stuff in the top-sides of three-decked ships, between the middle and upper deck-ports. Synonymous with middle-wales.

SHEET. A rope or chain fastened to one or both the lower corners of a sail, to extend and retain the clue down to its place. When a ship sails with a side wind, the lower corners of the main and fore sails are fastened by a tack and a sheet, the former being to windward, and the latter to leeward; the tack is, however, only disused with a stern wind, whereas the sail is never spread without the assistance of one or both of the sheets; the staysails and studding-sails have only one tack and one sheet each; the staysail-tacks are fastened forward, and the sheets drawn aft; but the studding-sail tacks draw to the extremity of the boom, while the sheet is employed to extend the inner corner.

SHEET-ANCHOR. One of four bower anchors supplied, two at the bows, and one at either chest-tree abaft the fore-rigging; one is termed the sheet, the other the spare anchor; usually got ready in a gale to let go on the parting of a bower. To a sheet anchor a stout hempen cable is generally bent, as lightening the strain at the bow, and being more elastic.

SHEET-BEND. A sort of double hitch, made by passing the end of one rope through the bight of another, round both parts of the other, and under its own part.

SHEET-CABLE. A hempen cable used when riding in deep water, where the weight of a chain cable would oppress a ship.

SHEET-COPPER. Copper rolled out into sheets, for the sheathing of ships' bottoms, &c.

SHEET-FISH. The Silurus glanis, a large fish found in many European rivers and lakes.

SHEET HOME! The order, after the sails are loosed, to extend the sheets to the outer extremities of the yards, till the clue is close to the sheet-block. Also, when driving anything home, as a blow, &c.

SHEET IN THE WIND. Half intoxicated; as the sail trembles and is unsteady, so is a drunken man.

SHELDRAKE. The Anas tadorna, a large species of wild duck.

SHELF. A dangerous beach bounded by a ledge of flat rocks a-wash. In icy regions, (see TONGUE).

SHELF-PIECES. Strakes of plank running internally in a line with the decks, for the purpose of receiving the ends of the beams. They are also called stringers.

SHELKY. A name for the seal in the Shetland Isles.

SHELL. In artillery, a hollow iron shot containing explosive materials, whether spherical, elongated, eccentric, &c., and destined to burst at the required instant by the action of its fuse (which see).--Common shells are filled with powder only, those fired from mortars being spherical, and having a thickness of about one-sixth of their diameter. (See also SEGMENT-SHELL and SHRAPNEL SHELL.) Also, the hard calcareous external covering of the mollusca, crustacea, and echinoderms.

SHELL-FISH. A general term applied to aquatic animals having a hard external covering or shell, as whelks, oysters, lobsters, &c. These are not, however, properly speaking, fish.

SHELLING. The act of bombarding a fort, town, or position.

SHELL OF A BLOCK. The outer frame or case wherein the sheave or wheel is contained and traverses about its axis.

SHELL-ROOM. An important compartment in ships of war, fitted up with strong shelves to receive the shells when charged.

SHELL, SHRAPNEL. See SHRAPNEL SHELL.

SHELVES. A general name given to any dangerous shallows, sand-banks, or rocks, lying immediately under the surface of the water.

SHELVING. A term expressive of step-like rocks lying in nearly horizontal strata, or inclining very gradually; as a "shelving bottom," or a "shelving land." Applied to the shore, it means that it ascends from the sea, and passes under it at an extremely low angle, so that vessels of draught cannot approach.

SHERE. An archaic sea-term for running aground.

SHEVO. An entertainment, thought by some to be derived from the gaiety of the chevaux, or horse-guards; more probably from chez-vous.

SHIBAH. A small Indian vessel.

SHIELD-SHIP. A vessel fitted with one or more massive iron shields, each protecting a heavy gun or guns. The name was applied to an improvement on the "cupola-ship," before the latter was perfected into the "turret-ship."

SHIELD TOWER OR TURRET. A revolving armoured cover for guns.

SHIEVE, TO. To have head-way. To row the wrong way, in order to assist the steersman in a narrow channel.

SHIFT. In ship-building, when one butt of a piece of timber or plank overlaunches the butt of another, without either being reduced in length, for the purpose of strength and stability.--To shift [thought to be from the Anglo-Saxon scyftan, to divide]. To change or alter the position of; as, to shift a sail, top-mast, or spar; to shift the helm, &c. Also, to change one's clothes.

SHIFT A BERTH, TO. To move from one anchorage to another.

SHIFTED. The state of a ship's ballast or cargo when it is shaken from one side to the other, either by the violence of her rolling, or by her too great inclination to one side under a great press of sail; this accident, however, rarely happens, unless the cargo is stowed in bulk, as corn, salt, &c.

SHIFTER. A person formerly appointed to assist the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions; so called from having to change the water in the steep-tub.

SHIFTING A TACKLE. The act of removing the blocks of a tackle to a greater distance from each other, in order to extend their purchase; this operation is otherwise called fleeting (which see).

SHIFTING BACKSTAYS, ALSO PREVENTER. Those which can be changed from one side of a ship to the other, as the occasion demands.

SHIFTING BALLAST. Pigs of iron, bags of sand, &c., used for ballast, and capable of being moved to trim the vessel. Also, a term applied to messengers, soldiers, and live-stock.

SHIFTING-BOARDS. One or more wooden bulk-heads in a vessel's hold, put up fore-and-aft, and firmly supported, for preventing a cargo which is stowed in bulk from shifting.

SHIFTING-CENTRE. See META-CENTRE.

SHIFTING SAND. A bank, of which the sand, being incoherent, is subject to removal or being driven about by the violence of the sea or the power of under-currents. Very accurate experiments have proved that the sands at the mouths of rivers are differently acted on during every hour of tide (or wind together); hence sands shift, and even stop up or render some channels unsafe.

SHIFTING THE MESSENGER. Changing its position on the capstan from right to left, or vice versa.

SHIFTING WINDS. Variable breezes, mostly light.

SHIFT OF WIND. Implies that it varies, or has changed in its direction.

SHIFT THE HELM! The order for an alteration of its position, by moving it towards the opposite side of the ship; that is, from port to starboard, or vice versa.

SHIMAL. A severe gale of wind from the N.W. in the Gulf of Persia and its vicinity; it is accompanied by a cloudless sky, thus differing from the shurgee.

SHINDY. A kind of dance among seamen; but also a row. Apparently modernized from the old Erse sheean, clamour.

SHINE. To take the shine out of. To excel another vessel in a man[oe]uvre. To surpass in any way.

SHINER. The familiar name for a lighthouse. Also, a name for the dace (which see). Also, money; Jack's "shiners in my sack."

SHINGLE. Coarse gravel, or stones rounded by the action of water; it is used as ballast.

SHINGLES. Thin slips of wood, used principally in America, in lieu of slate or tiles in roofing. In very old times a planked vessel was termed a "shyngled or clap-boarded ship."

SHINGLE-TRAMPER. A coast-guard man.

SHIN UP, TO. To climb up a rope or spar without the aid of any kind of steps.

SHIP [from the Anglo-Saxon scip]. Any craft intended for the purposes of navigation; but in a nautical sense it is a general term for all large square-rigged vessels carrying three masts and a bowsprit--the masts being composed of a lower-mast, top-mast, and topgallant-mast, each of these being provided with tops and yards.--Flag-ship. The ship in which the admiral hoists his flag; whatever the rank of the commander be; all the lieutenants take rank before their class in other ships.--Line-of-battle ship. Carrying upwards of 74 guns.--Ship of war. One which, being duly commissioned under a commissioned officer by the admiralty, wears a pendant. The authority of a gunboat, no superior being present, is equal to that of an admiral.--Receiving ship. The port, guard, or admiral's flag-ship, stationed at any place to receive volunteers, and bear them pro. tem. in readiness to join any ship of war which may want hands.--Store-ship. A vessel employed to carry stores, artillery, and provisions, for the use of a fleet, fortress, or Garrison.--Troop-ship. One appointed to carry troops, formerly called a transport.--Hospital-ship. A vessel fitted up to attend a fleet, and receive the sick and wounded. Scuttles are cut in the sides for ventilation. The sick are under the charge of an experienced surgeon, aided by a staff of assistant-surgeons, a proportional number of assistants, cook, baker, and nurses.--Merchant ship.--A vessel employed in commerce to carry commodities of various sorts from one port to another. (See MERCHANTMAN.)--Private ship of war. (See PRIVATEERS, and LETTERS OF MARQUE.)--Slaver, or slave-ship. A vessel employed in carrying negro slaves.--To ship. To embark men or merchandise. It also implies to fix anything in its place, as "Ship the oars," i.e. place them in their rowlocks; "Ship capstan-bars." Also, to enter on board, or engage to join a ship.--To ship a sea. A wave breaking over all in a gale. Hence the old saying--

"Sometimes we ship a sea, Sometimes we see a ship."

To ship a swab. A colloquialism for mounting an epaulette, or receiving a commission.

SHIP-BOY. Boys apprenticed to learn their sea-duties, but generally appointed as servants.

SHIP-BREAKER. A person who purchases old vessels to break them to pieces for sale.

SHIP-BROKER. One who manages business matters between ship-owners and merchants, in procuring cargoes, &c., for vessels.

SHIP-BUILDER. Synonymous with naval constructor.

SHIP-BUILDING, OR NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. The art of constructing a ship so as to answer a particular purpose either for war or commerce. It is now expanding into a science.

SHIP-CHANDLER. A tradesman who supplies ships with their miscellaneous marine stores. (See MATERIAL MEN.)

SHIP-CONTRACTOR. The charterer or freighter of a vessel.

SHIP-CRAFT. Nearly the same as the Anglo-Saxon scyp-craeft, an early word for navigation.

SHIP CUT DOWN. One which has had a deck cut off from her, whereby a three-decker is converted into a two-decker, and a two-decker becomes a frigate. They are then termed razees.

SHIP-GUNS. Those cast expressly for sea-service.

SHIP-KEEPER. An officer not much given to going on shore. Also, the man who has charge of a ship whilst she is without any part of her crew.

SHIP-LANGUAGE. The shibboleth of nautic diction, as tau'sle, fok'sle, for top-sail, forecastle, and the like.

SHIP-LAST. See LAST.

SHIP-LAUNCH. See LAUNCH.

SHIP-LOAD. The estimated lading or cargo of a vessel.

SHIP-LOG. See LOG-BOOK.

SHIP-LORD. A once recognized term for the owner of a ship.

SHIPMAN [Anglo-Saxon scyp-mann]. The master of a barge, who in the days of Chaucer had but "litel Latin in his mawe," and who, though "of nice conscience toke he no kepe," was certainly a good fellow.

SHIPMAN'S CARD. A chart; thus Shakspeare's first witch in Macbeth had winds--

"And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I' the shipman's card."

SHIPMASTER. The captain, commander, or padrone of a vessel. (See MASTER.)

SHIPMATE. A term once dearer than brother, but the habit of short cruises is weakening it.

SHIPMENT. The act of shipping goods, or any other thing, on board a ship or vessel.

SHIP-MONEY. An imposition charged throughout this realm in the time of Charles I., but which was declared illegal.

SHIP-OWNER. A person who has a right of property in a ship. The interest of part-owners is quite distinct, so that one cannot dispose of the share of the other, or effect any insurance for him, without special authority.

SHIPPER. He who embarks goods; also mentioned in some of our statutes as the master of a ship. (See SKIPPER.)

SHIPPING AFFAIRS. All business of a maritime bearing.

SHIPPING GOODS. Receiving and stowing them on board.

SHIPPING GREEN SEAS. When heavy seas tumble over the gunwale either to windward or leeward; sometimes resulting from bad steerage and seamanship, or over-pressing the vessel.

SHIPPING MANIFEST. See MANIFEST.

SHIPPING MASTERS. Persons officially appointed and licensed to attend to the entering and discharging of merchant seamen.

SHIP-PROPELLER. See SCREW-PROPELLER.

SHIP RAISED UPON. One of which the upper works have been heightened by additional timbers. About the year 1816 several creditable corvettes of 600 tons were constructed; after three had been tried, the mistaken order was issued to make them into frigates. Hence the term donkey and jackass frigates, Athol and Niemen to wit.

SHIP'S BOOKS. The roll of the crew, containing every particular in relation to entry, former ships, &c.

SHIP-SHAPE. In colloquial phrase implies, in a seamanlike manner; as, "That mast is not rigged ship-shape;" "Put her about ship-shape," &c. (See BRISTOL FASHION.)

SHIP'S HUSBAND. The agent or broker who manages her accounts with regard to work performed, repairs, &c., under refit or loading.

SHIP-SLOOP. Commanders were appointed to 24-gun sloops, but when the same sloops were commanded by captains, they were rated ships.

SHIP'S LUNGS. Dr. Hall's name for the bellows with which he forced the foul air out of ships.

SHIP'S PAPERS. Documents descriptive of a vessel, her owners, cargo, destination, and other particulars necessary for the instance court. Also, those documents required for a neutral ship to prove her such.

SHIP'S REGISTRY AND CERTIFICATE. An official record of a ship's size, the bills of lading, ownership, &c.

SHIP'S STEWARD. The person who manages the victualling or mess departments. In the navy, paymaster's steward.

SHIP-STAR. The Anglo-Saxon scyp-steora, an early name for the pole-star, once of the utmost importance in navigation.

SHIP-TIMBER. Contraband in time of war.

SHIPWRECK. The destruction of a vessel by her beating against rocks, the shore, &c.--too often including loss of life. In early times the seizure of goods, and even the murder of the mariners, was apt to be the consequence.

SHIPWRIGHT. A builder of ships. The art of bending planks by fire is attributed to Pyrrhon, the Lydian, who made boats of several configurations.

SHIPYARD. Synonymous with dockyard.

SHIVER. Synonymous with sheave.

SHIVERING. To trim a ship's yards so that the wind strikes on the edges or leaches of the sails, making them flutter in the wind. The same effect may be intentionally produced by means of the helm.

SHOAL. A danger formed by sunken rocks, on which the sea does not break; but generally applied to every place where the water is shallow, whatever be the ground. (See FLAT SHOAL, SHOLE, or SCHOLE.) Also, denotes a great quantity of fishes swimming in company--squamosae cohortes. Also, a vessel is said to shoalen, or shoal her water, when she comes from a greater into a less depth.

SHOALED-HARBOUR. That which is secured from the violence of the sea, by banks, bars, or shoals to sea-ward.

SHOD, OR SHODE. An anchor is said to be shod when, in breaking it from its bed, a quantity of clayey or oozy soil adheres to the fluke and shank.

SHOE. The iron arming to a handspike, polar-pile, &c.

SHOE OF THE ANCHOR. A flat block of hard wood, convex on the back, and having a hole sufficiently large to contain the bill of the anchor-fluke on the fore-side; used to prevent the anchor from tearing the planks on the ship's bow when fishing it, for which purpose the shoe slides up and down along the bow. Where vessels ease the anchor down to "a cock-bill," it is also sometimes used.--To shoe or clamp an anchor. To cover the palms with broad triangular pieces of thick plank, secured by iron hoops and nails. Its use is to give the anchor a greater resisting surface when the mud is very soft. Also, for transporting on shore.

SHOE OF THE FORE-FOOT. See FORE-FOOT, GRIPE, HORSE.

SHOE-PIECE. A board placed under the heel of a spar, or other weighty mass, to save the deck. In some cases intended to slip with it.

SHOLES. See SOLE.

SHOOT, TO. To move suddenly; as "the ballast shoots on one side." Also, a ship shoots ahead in stays. Also, to push off in a boat from the shore into a current; to descend a rapid. The term is well used thus amongst the powerful rivers of N. America, of which perhaps the finest example is given by the St. Lawrence at La Chine, there reported to rush in spring-time at the rate of 40 miles an hour. Thus the shooting Old London Bridge was the cause of many deaths, and gave occasion to the admirable description in the Loves of the Triangles (anti-Jacobin), when all were agreed:

"'Shoot we the bridge,' the vent'rous boatmen cry; 'Shoot we the bridge,' th' exulting fare reply."

SHOOT-FINGER. This was a term in use with the Anglo-Saxons from its necessity in archery, and is now called the trigger-finger from its equal importance in modern fire-arms. The mutilation of this member was always a most punishable offence; for which the laws of King Alfred inflicted a penalty of fifteen shillings, which at that time probably was a sum beyond the bowman's means.

SHOOTING-GLOVES. These were furnished to the navy when cross-bows, long-bows, and slur-bows were used.

SHOOTING OF NETS. The running out of nets in the water, as seins, drift-nets, herring-nets, &c.; but it does not apply to trawls.

SHOOTS, OR SHUTS. A large pipe or channel to lead away water, dirt, ballast, shot, &c., is called a shoot. The overfalls of a river, where the stream is narrowed by its banks, whether naturally or artificially, especially the arches of a bridge, constitute a shoot.

SHOOT THE COMPASS, TO. To shoot wide of the mark.

SHOOT THE SUN, TO. To take its meridional altitude; literally aiming at the reflected sun through the telescope of the instrument. "Have you obtained a shot?" applied to altitudes of the meridian, as for time, lunar distances, &c.

SHORE. A prop fixed under a ship's sides or bottom, to support her when laid aground or on the stocks. Shores are also termed legs when used by a cutter or yacht, to keep the vessel upright when the water leaves her. (See LEGS.) Also, the general name for the littoral of any country against which the waves impinge, while the word coast is applied to that part of the land which only lies contiguous to the sea.--Bold shore. A coast which is steep-to, permitting the near approach of shipping without danger; it is used in contradistinction to a shelving-shore.

SHORE-ANCHOR. That which lies between the shore and the ship when moored.

SHORE-BOATS. Small boats or wherries plying for hire at sea-ports.

SHORE-CLEATS. Heavy cleats bolted on to the sides of vessels to support the shore-head, and sustain the ship upright.

SHORE-FAST. A hawser carried out to secure a vessel to a quay, mole, or anchor buried on shore.

SHORE REEF. The same as fringing reef.

SHORT, SHORT STAY, SHORT APEEK. "Heave short," means to heave in the cable till it is nearly up and down, and would hold the vessel securely until she had set all common sail, and would not drag or upset the anchor. If, however, the wind be free, and the making sail unimportant, short would probably be short apeek, or up and down, the last move of weighing awaiting perhaps signal or permission to part.

SHORT ALLOWANCE. When the provisions will not last the period expected, they may be reduced in part, as two-thirds, half-allowance, &c., and thus short-allowance money becomes due, which is the nominal value of the provisions stopped, and paid in compensation.

SHORT BOARDS. Frequent tacking, where there is not room for long boards, or from some other cause, as weather or tide, it is required to work to windward on short tacks in a narrow space.

SHORTEN, TO. Said of a ship's sails when requisite to reduce those that are set. And shorten in, when alluding to the anchor, by heaving in cable.

SHORT-HANDED. A deficient complement of men, or short-handed by many being on the sick-list.

SHORT-LINKED CHAIN. A cable without studs, and therefore with shorter links than those of stud-chains; such are slings and chains generally used in rigging bobstays, anchor-work, &c. Cables only have studs.

SHORT-SEA. A confused cross sea where the waves assume a jerking rippling action, and set home to the bows or sides; especially tiresome to boats, hampering the oars, and tumbling in-board. Also, a race.

SHORT-SERVICE. Chafing geer put on a hemp cable for a short range.

SHORT-SHEETS. Belong to shifting sails, such as studding-sails, &c.

SHORT-TACKS. See SHORT BOARDS.

SHORT-TIME OR SAND GLASS. One of 14 seconds, used in heaving the log when the ship is going fast.

SHOT. All sorts of missiles to be discharged from fire-arms, those for great guns being mainly of iron; for small-arms, of lead. When used without prefix, the term generally means the solid shot only, as fired for a heavy blow, or for penetration. Also, a synonym of scot, a reckoning at an inn, and has immemorially been thus understood. Ben Jonson's rules are

"As the fund of our pleasure, let each pay his shot."

Also, a lot or quantity. Also, the particular spot where fishermen take a draught with their nets, and also the draught of fishes made by a net. Also, the sternmost division of a fishing-boat. Also, arrows, darts, or anything that was shot. Also, a kind of trout. Also, a foot-soldier who carried a fire-lock.--To be shot of, signifies to get rid of, turned out.--To shot the guns. In active service the guns were generally loaded, but not shotted, as, from corrosion, it was found difficult to draw the shot; and the working and concussion not unfrequently started it, and consequently, if the gun was fired before re-driving it "home," it was in danger of bursting.

SHOT-LOCKER. A compartment built up in the hold to contain the shot.

SHOT-NET. A mackerel-net.

SHOT-PLUGS. Tapered cones to stop any sized shot-hole.

SHOT-RACKS. Wooden frames fixed at convenient distances to contain shot. There are also, of recent introduction, iron rods so fitted as to confine the shot.

SHOTTEN-HERRING. A gutted herring dried for keeping. Metaphorically, a term of contempt for a lean lazy fellow.

SHOULDER OF A BASTION. The part of it adjacent to the junction of a face with a flank. The angle of the shoulder is that formed by these two lines.

SHOULDER ARMS! The military word of command to carry the musket vertically at the side of the body, and resting against the hollow of the shoulder; on the left side with the long rifle, on the right with the short.

SHOULDER-OF-MUTTON SAIL. A kind of triangular sail of peculiar form, used mostly in boats. It is very handy and safe, particularly as a mizen. It is the Bermuda or 'Mugian rig.

SHOULDER THE ANCHOR. When a seaman forgets his craft, and gives his ship too little cable to ride by, she may be thrown across tide, lift or shoulder her anchor, and drift off.

SHOUT. A light and nearly flat-bottomed boat used in our eastern fens for shooting wild-duck. (See GUNNING-BOAT.)

SHOUTE-MEN. The old name for the lightermen of the Thames.

SHOVEL. A copper implement for removing a cartridge from a gun without injuring it. Formerly used, and as late as 1816 by the Turks, to convey the powder into the chamber without using cartridges: also used to withdraw shot where windage was large. (See LADLE.)

SHOVELL, OR SHOVELLER. Spatula clypeata, a species of duck with a broad bill. Formerly written schevelard. Also applied to a hoverer or smuggler.

SHOVE OFF! The order to the bowman to put the boat's head off with his boat-hook.

SHOW A LEG! An exclamation from the boatswain's mate, or master-at-arms, for people to show that they are awake on being called. Often "Show a leg, and turn out."

SHRAB. A vile drugged drink prepared for seamen who frequent the filthy purlieus of Calcutta. (See DOASTA.)

SHRAPNEL SHELL. Invented by General Shrapnel to produce, at a long range, the effect of common case; whence they have been also called spherical case. They have a thickness of only one-tenth of their diameter; so that, on the action of the fuse, they are opened by a very small bursting charge, and allow the bullets with which they are filled to proceed with much the same direction and velocity that the shell had at the moment of explosion. They require, however, extremely nice management.

SHRIMP. The small crustacean Crangon vulgaris, well known as an article of food.

SHROUD-KNOT. See KNOT.

SHROUD-LAID. The combination in the larger cordage, also known as hawser-laid.

SHROUD-ROPE. A finer quality of hawser-laid rope than is commonly used for other purposes. It is also termed purchase-rope; but four-stranded rope is frequently used for standing rigging. All the strands are finer, of better hemp, and pass the gauge. Thus the patent shroud-laid rope, made from clean Petersburgh hemp, was found to break at a strain between 6-3/4 and 7-1/4 cwt. per inch of girth in inches squared. Thus a patent rope of 5 inches would require 175 cwt. Common rope, 25 threads in each strand, broke with 5 cwt. per inch, and fell off at 130 threads to 4 cwt. per inch. Thus,

cwt. qrs. lbs. A common 10-inch cable weighed per 100 fathoms, 19 0 21 A superior " " 21 0 3

SHROUDS. The lower and upper standing-rigging. They are always divided into pairs or couples; that is to say, one piece of rope is doubled, and the parts fastened together at a small distance from the middle, so as to leave a sort of noose or collar to fix upon the mast-head; the ends have each a dead-eye turned in, by which they are set up by laniards to the channel. (See CHAINS and DEAD-EYE.)--Bentinck-shrouds. Strong ropes fixed on the futtock-staves of the lower rigging, and extending to the opposite channels, where they are set-up by means of dead-eyes and laniards, or gun-tackle runner purchases, in the same manner as the other shrouds. Their use is to support the masts when the ship rolls.--Bowsprit shrouds are now generally made of chain. They support the bowsprit in the same way that other shrouds support the masts.--Bumkin or boomkin shrouds. Strong chains fixed as stays to the bumkin ends, to support the strain exerted by the fore-tacks upon them.--Futtock or foot-hook shrouds. Portions of rigging (now sometimes chain) communicating with the futtock-plates above the top, and the cat-harpings below, and forming ladders, whereby the sailors climb over the top-brim. Top-gallant shrouds extend to the cross-trees, where, passing through holes in the ends, they continue over the futtock-staves of the top-mast rigging, and descending almost to the top, are set up by laniards passing through thimbles instead of dead-eyes.--Topmast-shrouds extend from the top-mast head to the edges of the tops, and are set up to the futtock dead-eyes.

SHROUD-STOPPER. A stout rope-stopper made fast above and below a part of the shroud which has been damaged by an enemy's shot, or otherwise.

SHROUD-TRUCKS. Small pieces of wood with holes in them, but no sheaves; they are seized on the standing-rigging as fair leaders for the running-rigging. (See BULL'S-EYE.)

SHUNT. A term recently introduced among engineers and gunners; but traceable back to the year 931, a "zunte-stone" being placed on a spot where the road deviated.

SHURGEE. A prevailing S.E. wind in the Gulf of Persia; it is usually preceded by a heavy dew, which is quite the reverse with the shimal.

SHUT IN, TO. Said of landmarks or points of land, when one is brought to transit and overlap the other, or intercept the view of it.

SHUTTING ON. Joining the arms of an anchor to its shank. Also, welding one piece of iron to another to lengthen it.

SICK-BAY. A portion of the fore-part of the main-deck, reserved for the accommodation of the sick and wounded; any other place set apart for invalids is called the sick-berth.

SICK-BERTH ATTENDANT. See LOBLOLLY-BOY.

SICK-BOOK. An account of such officers and men as are on the sick list on board, or are sent to an hospital, hospital-ship, or sick-quarters.

SICK-FLAG. The yellow quarantine flag, hoisted to prevent communication; whence the term of the yellow flag, and yellow admirals. There are two others--one with a black ball, the other with a square in the centre--denoting plague, or actual diseases.

SICK-MESS. A table for those on the doctor's list. When seamen are thus placed, their provisions are turned over to the surgeon, who accounts for their re-purchase by government, if not consumed, and the proceeds are applied to purchase comforts beyond those allowed by the service.

SICK-TICKET. A document given to an officer, seaman, or marine, when sent to an hospital, certified by the signing officer and the surgeon, stating the entry, rank, rating, &c., together with other particulars.

SIDE. All that part of a ship which extends from stem to stern in length, and from the upper edge of the gunwale above, to the lower edge of the main-wale, below which the bottom commences.

SIDE-BOYS, OR SIDE-MEN. Those appointed to attend the gangways when boats come alongside, and offer the man-ropes to the officer ascending.

SIDE COUNTER-TIMBER. The stern timber which partakes of the shape of the top-side, and heels upon the end of the wing-transom.

SIDE-KEELSONS. A name for sister-keelsons. First used in mortar-vessels to support the bomb-beds; later they have crept in to support the engines in steamers, and furnish a free flow beneath their flooring for the water, as well as for ventilation.

SIDE-LADDER, OR ACCOMMODATION-LADDER. A complete staircase structure used in harbour by most large ships.

SIDE-LEVER. A lever on each side of the cylinder of a marine steam-engine, resembling the beam of the ordinary land-engine. (See LEVER.)

SIDE OUT FOR A BEND, TO. The old well-known term to draw the bight of a hempen cable towards the opposite side, in order to make room for the bight being twined to coil it in the tier. The most expert and powerful seamen were selected for this duty, now rare.

SIDE-PIECES. Parts of a made mast.

SIDEREAL ASTRONOMY. That branch of the science which relates to the fixed stars.

SIDEREAL DAY. The interval between the departure and return of a star to the meridian; in other words, its two successive transits.

SIDEREAL PERIOD. See REVOLUTION.

SIDEREAL TIME. The time shown by a clock regulated by the fixed stars, and compensated to accelerate upon mean time by the daily amount of 3 minutes 56.56 seconds.

SIDE-RODS. Rods hanging from each of the cross-heads, one on each side of the cylinder of a steam-engine, and connected to the pins of the side-levers below; their duty is to cause a simultaneous movement.

SIDE-SCALE. A simple graduation, adopted by Sir Philip Broke in the Shannon, for the quick elevation or depression of the guns.

SIDE-STEPS. Pieces of wood bolted to the side of a ship for the convenience of ascending; in smaller vessels they have a ladder made of rope with wooden thwarts, which hooks to the gangway.

SIDING OR SIDED. The dimensions or size of timber, the contrary way to which the mould side is placed; one side sided smooth, to work from or to fit.

SIDING DIMENSION. The breadth of any piece of timber.

SIEGE. A continued endeavour, by systematic military means, such as batteries, trenches, mines, &c., to overpower the defences of a place and take possession of it.

SIEGE-ARTILLERY. The ordnance (guns, mortars, howitzers, &c.) used for overpowering the fire and destroying the defences of a fortified place; their weight and power, limited mainly by the kind of transport at hand, seldom exceed those of the light 100-pounder rifled gun, and are mostly above those of guns of position, such as the old 18-pounder, or the 40-pounder rifle.

SIEGE-TRAIN. Properly, the whole of the material, with its transport, required for carrying on a siege; but more frequently used for the necessary siege artillery, together with its ammunition, carriages, machines, and appliances of all kinds.

SIESTA. The hour of the afternoon in hot climates, when Spaniards, Italians, &c., retire to repose during the heat of the day.

SIGHTING THE LAND. Running in to catch a view.

SIGHTS. The fixed marks on fire-arms, by which their direction is regulated in aiming: generally, two small fittings of brass or iron, that near the breech having a notched head, and that towards the muzzle a pointed one. (See DISPART.)--Astronomical sights. Observations taken to determine the time or latitude, as well as for chronometer rates.

SIGHT THE ANCHOR, TO. To heave it up in sight, in order to prove that it is clear, when, from the ship having gone over it, there is suspicion that it may be fouled by the slack cable.

SIGHT-VANES. See VANES.

SIGNALIZE, TO. To distinguish one's self; a word also degraded to the meaning of communicating intelligence by means of signals or telegraph.

SIGNAL-MAN. The yeoman of the signals; a first-class petty officer in the navy.

SIGNAL OF DISTRESS. When a ship is in imminent danger, she hoists her national flag upside down, and, if she is armed, fires minute guns; also lets fly top-gallant sheets, &c.; indeed does anything to attract observation.

SIGNAL-OFFICER. In a repeating frigate, a signal-midshipman; in a flag-ship, a flag-lieutenant.

SIGNALS. Codes of signals have been used for centuries and changed frequently. Their use is too well known to need explanation. They are conveyed by flags, semaphores, balls, guns, lights, rockets, bells, horns, whistles, &c., and half a century since were carried on with incredible ability. It may be also observed that signal officers of those days became subsequently the elite of the navy; signal-officer being then a proud term of distinction.--Fog-signals, certain operations which emit sound.--Night-signals, either lanterns disposed in certain figures, flashes, or false fires, &c.

SIGNIFER. The zodiac.

SIGNING OFFICERS. The captain, senior lieutenant, master, and purser (now paymaster); but where the document relates to the stores in charge of any stated officer, that officer is to sign it instead of the purser.

SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC. The emblems of the twelve divisions, into which the ancients divided the zodiac.

SILL. A northern term for the young of a herring.

SILLOCK. The podling, or young of the coal-fish, affording food and oil on the Scottish coasts; they are grayish, and are taken when somewhat less than a herring.

SILL OF A DOCK. The timber at the base against which the gates shut; and the depth of water which will float a vessel in or out of it, is measured from it to the surface.

SILLON. An old word for envelope. In fortification, formerly, a counterguard.

SILLS. The upper and lower parts of the framing of the ports. The bottom pieces of any ports, docks, scuttles, or hatches.

SILT. Sediment; ooze in a harbour, or at a lock-gate.

SILT-GROUNDS. Deep-water banks off Jamaica, where silt-snappers are fished for.

SILT-UP, TO. To be choked with mud or sand, so as to obstruct vessels.

SILVER-CAEDUA. A statute term for wood under twenty years' growth.

SILVER-OAR. One of the badges of the civil court afloat, conferring the power to arrest for debt if not less than L20.

SILVER-THAW. The term for ice falling in large flakes from the sails and rigging, consequent on a frost followed suddenly by a thaw.

SIMOOM. The Arabian name for the sirocco (which see). The simoom, sirocco, samiel, and kamsin seem to be modifications of the same wind from the desert.

SIMULATION. The vice of counterfeiting illness or defect, for the purpose of being invalided.

SINE. A right sine in geometry, is a right line drawn from one end of an arc perpendicularly upon the radius from the centre to the other end of the arc; or it is half the chord of twice the arc.

SINET. An old Chaucerian term for zenith.

SINGING. The chaunt by which the leadsman in the chains proclaims his soundings at each cast:--

"To heave the lead the seaman sprung, And to the pilot cheerly sung, By the deep--nine."

SINGLE, TO. To unreeve the running part of top-sail sheets, &c., to let them run freely, or for harbour duty.

SINGLE-ACTION ENGINE. See ATMOSPHERIC STEAM-ENGINE.

SINGLE ANCHOR. A ship unmoored, having hove up one bower, rides by the other.

SING SMALL. To make a bullying boaster sing small, by lowering his arrogance.

SINICAL QUADRANT. See QUADRANT.

SINNET. See SENNIT.

SIR. Once a scholastic title applied to priests and curates; now to knights. "Aye, aye, sir," is the well-known answer from seamen, denoting 'cuteness, combined with good humour and obedience.

SIRIUS. The principal star, {a}, of the constellation Canis Major, and the brightest in the heavens; the dog-star.

SIROCCO. An oppressively hot parching wind from the deserts of Africa, which in the southern part of Italy and Sicily comes from the south-east; it sometimes commences faintly about the summer solstice.

SISERARA, OR SURSERARA. A tremendous blow; or a violent rebuke.

SISSOO. An Indian timber much used in the construction of country ships.

SISTER OR CISTERN BLOCK. A turned cylindrical block having two sheave-holes, one above the other. It fits in between the first pair of top-mast shrouds on each side, and is secured by seizings below the cat-harpings. The topsail-lift reeves through the lower, and the reef-tackle pendant through the upper.

SISTER-KEELSONS. Square timbers extending along the floors, by the main keelson, leaving sufficient space on each side for the limbers. (See SIDE-KEELSONS.)

SISTROID ANGLE. One like a sistrum, the Egyptian musical instrument.

SITCH. A little current of water, generally dry in summer.

SIX-UPON-FOUR. Reduced allowance; four rations allotted to six men.

SIX-WATER GROG. Given as a punishment for neglect or drunkenness, instead of the usual four-water, which is one part rum, and four parts water, lime-juice, and sugar.

SIZE, TO. To range soldiers, marines, and small-arm men, so that the tallest may be on the flanks of a party.

SIZE-FISH. A whale, of which the whalebone blades are six feet or upwards in length; the harpooner gets a bonus for striking a "size-fish."

SIZES. A corruption for six-upon-four (which see).

SKARKALLA. An old machine for catching fish.

SKART. A name of the cormorant in the Hebrides.

SKATE. A well-known cartilaginous fish of the ray family, Raia batis.

SKATE-LURKER. A cant word for a begging impostor dressed as a sailor.

SKEDADDLE, TO. To stray wilfully from a watering or a working party. An archaism retained by the Americans.

SKEDDAN. The Manx or Erse term for herrings.

SKEEL. A cylindrical wooden bucket. A large water-kid.

SKEER, OR SCAR. A place where cockles are gathered. (See SCAR.)

SKEET. A long scoop used to wet the sides of the ship, to prevent their splitting by the heat of the sun. It is also employed in small vessels for wetting the sails, to render them more efficacious in light breezes; this in large ships is done by the fire engine.

SKEE-TACK. A northern name for the cuttle-fish.

SKEGG. A small and slender part of the keel of a ship, cut slanting, and left a little without the stern-post; not much used now, owing to its catching hawsers, and occasioning dead water. The after-part of the keel itself is also called the skegg.

SKEGG-SHORES. Stout pieces of plank put up endways under the skegg of the ship, to steady the after-part when in the act of being launched.

SKELDRYKE. An old term for a small passage-boat in the north.

SKELETON OF A REGIMENT. Its principal officers and staff.

SKELLY. The Leuciscus cephalus, or chub. In the northern lakes it is often called the fresh-water herring.

SKELP, TO. To slap with the open hand: an old word, said to have been imported from Iceland:--

"I canno' tell a'; Some gat a skelp, and some gat a claw."

SKENE, OR SKAIN. A crooked sword formerly used by the Irish.

SKENY. A northern term to express an insulated rock.

SKER, OR SKERRY. A flat insulated rock, but not subject to the overflowing of the sea: thus we have "the Skerries" in Wales, the Channel Islands, &c.

SKEW. Awry, oblique; as a skew bridge, skew angle, &c. Also, in Cornwall, drizzling rain. Also, a rude-fashioned boat.

SKEWER-PIECES. When the salt meat is cut up on board ship by the petty officers, the captain and lieutenants are permitted to select whole pieces of 8 or 16 lbs., for which they are charged 2 or 4 lbs. extra. The meat being then divided into messes, the remnants are cut into small pieces termed skewer-pieces, and being free from bone, are charged ad lib. to those who take them.

SKID-BEAMS. Raised stanchions in men-of-war over the main-deck, parallel to the quarter-deck and forecastle beams, for stowing the boats and booms upon.

SKIDDY-COCK. A west-country term for the water-rail.

SKIDER. A northern term for the skate.

SKIDS. Massive fenders; they consist of long compassing pieces of timber, formed to answer the vertical curve of a ship's side, in order to preserve it when weighty bodies are hoisted in or lowered against it. They are mostly used in whalers. Boats are fitted with permanent fenders, to prevent chafing and fretting. Also, beams resting on blocks, on which small craft are built. Also, pieces of plank put under a vessel's bottom, for launching her off when she has been hauled up or driven ashore.

SKIFF. A familiar term for any small boat; but in particular, one resembling a yawl, which is usually employed for passing rivers. Also, a sailing vessel, with fore-and-aft main-sail, jib fore-sail, and jib: differing from a sloop in setting the jib on a stay, which is eased in by travellers. They have no top-mast, and the main-sail hauls out to the taffrail, and traverses on a traveller iron horse like a cutter's fore-sail.

SKILLET. A small pitch-pot or boiler with feet.

SKILLY. Poor broth, served to prisoners in hulks. Oatmeal and water in which meat has been boiled. Hence, skillygalee, or burgoo, the drink made with oatmeal and sugar, and served to seamen in lieu of cocoa as late as 1814.

SKIN. This term is frequently used for the inside planking of a vessel, the outside being the case.

SKIN OF A SAIL. The outside part when a sail is furled. To furl in a clean skin, is the habit of a good seaman.--To skin up a sail in the bunt. To make that part of the canvas which covers the sail, next the mast when furled, smooth and neat, by turning the sail well up on the yard.

SKIP-JACK. A dandified trifling officer; an upstart. Also, the merry-thought of a fowl. Also, a small fish of the bonito kind, which frequently jumps out of the water. A name applied also to small porpoises.

SKIPPAGE. An archaism for tackle or ship furniture.

SKIPPER. The master of a merchant vessel. Also, a man-of-war's man's constant appellation for his own captain. Also, the gandanock, or saury-pike, Esox saurus.

SKIRLING. A fish taken on the Welsh coasts, and supposed to be the fry of salmon.

SKIRMISH. An engagement of a light and irregular character, generally for the purpose of gaining information or time, or of clearing the way for more serious operations.

SKIRTS. The extreme edges of a plain, forest, shoal, &c.

SKIS-THURSDAY. "The Lady-day in Lent" of the Society of Shipwrights at Newcastle, instituted in 1630.

SKIT. An aspersive inuendo or for fun.

SKIVER. A dirk to stab with.

SKOODRA. A Shetland name for the ling.

SKOOL. The cry along the coast when the herrings appear first for the season: a corruption of school.

SKOORIE. A northern term for a full-grown coal-fish.

SKOTTEFER [Anglo-Sax. scot, an arrow or dart]. Formerly, an archer.

SKOUTHER. A northern name for the stinging jelly-fish.

SKOUTS. Guillemots or auks, so called in our northern islands from their wary habits.

SKOW. A flat-bottomed boat of the northern German rivers.

SKRAE-FISH. Fish dried in the sun without being salted.

SKUA. A kind of sea-gull.

SKUNK-HEAD. An American coast-name for the pied duck.

SKURRIE. The shag, Phalacrocorax graculus. Applied to frightened seals, &c.

SKY-GAZER. The ugly hare-lipped Uranoscopus, whose eyes are on the crown of its head; the Italians call him pesce-prete, or priest-fish. Also, a sail of very light duck, over which un-nameable sails have been set, which defy classification.

SKY-LARKING. In olden times meant mounting to the mast-heads, and sliding down the royal-stays or backstays for amusement; but of late the term has denoted frolicsome mischief, which is not confined to boys, unless three score and ten includes them.--Skying is an old word for shying or throwing.

SKYLIGHT. A framework in the deck to admit light vertically into the cabin and gun-room.

SKYSAIL. A small light sail above the royal.

SKYSAIL-MAST. The pole or upper portion of a royal mast, when long enough to serve for setting a skysail; otherwise a skysail-mast is a separate spar, as sliding gunter (which see).

SKY-SCRAPER. A triangular sail set above the skysail; if square it would be a moonsail, and if set above that, a star-gazer, &c.

SLAB. The outer cut of a tree when sawn up into planks. (Alburnum.)

SLAB-LINES. Small ropes passing up abaft a ship's main-sail or fore-sail, led through blocks attached to the trestle-trees, and thence transmitted, each in two branches, to the foot of the sail, where they are fastened. They are used to truss up the slack sail, after it has been "disarmed" by the leech and buntlines.

SLACK. The part of a rope or sail that hangs loose.--To slack, is to decrease in tension or velocity; as, "Slack the laniard of our main-stay;" or "The tide slackens."

SLACK HELM. If the ship is too much by the stern, she will carry her helm too much a-lee.

SLACK IN STAYS. Slow in going about. Also applied to a lazy man.

SLACK OFF, OR SLACKEN! The order to ease away the rope or tackle by which anything is held fast; as, "Slack up the hawser."

SLACK WATER. The interval between the flux and reflux of the tide, as between the last of the ebb and first of the flood, or vice versa, during which the water remains apparently quiescent.

SLADE [the Anglo-Saxon slaed]. A valley or open tract of country.

SLAKE. An accumulation of mud or ooze in the bed of a river.

SLANT OF WIND. An air of which advantage may be taken.

SLANT TACK. That which is most favourable to the course when working to windward.

SLAVER. A vessel employed in the odious slave-trade.

SLED. The rough kind of sleigh in North America, used for carrying produce, too heavy for amusement.

SLEE. A sort of cradle placed under a ship's bottom in Holland, for drawing her up for repairs.

SLEECH. A word on our southern coasts for mud or sea-sand used in agriculture.

SLEEP. A sail sleeps when, steadily filled with wind, it bellies to the breeze.

SLEEPERS. Timbers lying fore and aft in the bottom of the ship, now generally applied to the knees which connect the transoms to the after timbers on the ship's quarter. They are particularly used in Greenland ships, to strengthen the bows and stern-frame, to enable them to resist the shocks of the ice. Also, any wooden beams used as supports. Also, ground tier casks.

SLEEVE. The word formerly used to denote the narrows of a channel, and particularly applied to the Strait of Dover, still called La Manche by the French. When Napoleon was threatening to invade England, he was represented trying to get into a coat, but one of the sleeves utterly baffled him, whence the point: "Il ne peut pas passer La Manche."

SLEEVE-FISH. A name for the calamary, Loligo vulgaris, an animal allied to the cuttle-fish.

SLICE. A bar of iron with a flat, sharp, spear-shaped end, used in stripping off sheathing, ceiling, and the like. The whaler's slice is a slender chisel about four inches wide, used to cut into, and flinch the fish.

SLICES. Tapering wedges of plank used to drive under the false keel, and between the bilge-ways, preparatory to launching a vessel.

SLICK. Smooth. This is usually called an Americanism, but is a very old sea-term. In the Book for Boys and Girls, 1686, it is aptly illustrated:

"The mole's a creature very smooth and slick, She digs i' th' dirt, but 'twill not on her stick."

SLIDE-VALVE CASING. A casing on one side of the cylinder of an engine, which covers the nozzles or steam-ports, and confines the slide-valves.

SLIDE-VALVE ROD. A rod connecting the slide-valves of an engine, to both of which it is joined; it passes through the casing cover, the opening of which is kept steam-tight.

SLIDE-VALVES. The adaptations used in a marine-engine to change the admission of the steam into, and its eduction from, the cylinder, by the upper and lower steam-ports alternately.

SLIDING BAULKS, OR SLIDING-PLANKS. Those timbers fitted under the bottom of a ship, to descend with her upon the bilge-ways when launched.

SLIDING BILGE-BLOCKS. Those logs made to slide under the bilge of a ship in order to support her.

SLIDING GUNTERS. Masts fitted for getting up and down with facility abaft the mast; generally used for kites, as royals, skysails, and the like.

SLIDING-KEEL. A contrivance to prevent vessels from being driven to leeward by a side-wind; it is composed of planks of various breadths, erected vertically, so as to slide up and down, through the keel.

SLING, TO. To pass the top-chains round the yards when going into action. Also, to set any large article, in ropes, so as to put a tackle on, and hoist or lower it. When the clues are attached to a cot or hammock, it is said to be slung; also water-kegs, buoys, &c., are slung.

SLING-DOGS. In timber lifting, a dog is an iron implement with a fang at one end, and an eye at the other, in which a rope may be made fast for hauling anything along. Two of these fastened together by a shackle through the eyes are called sling-dogs. (See DOG.) Also, an ancient piece of ordnance. (See SLYNG.)

SLING-HOOP. That which suspends the yard from the mast, by which it is hoisted and lowered.

SLINGS. A rope fitted to encircle any large article, and suspend it while hoisting and lowering. Also, leather straps made fast to both ends of a musket, serving for the men to hang them by on their shoulders, that both hands may be free.--Boat-slings. Strong ropes, furnished with hooks and iron thimbles, whereby to hook the tackles to keel, stem, and stern bolts, in order to hoist the boats in or out of the ship.--Buoy-slings are special fittings adopted in order that a buoy may securely ride on the wave, and mark the position of the anchor, the buoy-rope being attached to an eye in the slings.--Butt-slings are those used in slinging casks; they may be described as a running eye over one end, and a similar one made with two half hitches over the standing part on the other; all of which jam close home when the strain is brought on the bight.--Yard-slings. The rope or chain used to support a yard which does not travel up and down a mast. The slings of a yard also imply that part on which the slings are placed.--Slings is also a term on the American coast for drams, or a drink of spirits and water; the custom of slinging prevails there extensively, even where intoxication is despised.

SLIP. An inclined plane by the water side, on which a ship may be built. There are also slips up which vessels may be drawn for receiving repairs. Also, a short memorandum of the proposed insurance of a ship, which is sometimes offered to the underwriters for subscription, previous to the effecting of a policy. Also, in steam navigation, the difference between the pitch of the propelling screw, and the space through which the screw actually progresses in the water, during one revolution.--To slip, is to let go the cable with a buoy on the end, and quit the position, from any sudden requirement, instead of weighing the anchor.--To slip by the board. To slip down by the ship's side.

SLIP-BEND. When a man makes a false step, and slips down a hatchway, or overboard.

SLIP-KNOT, OR SLIPPERY-HITCH. One which will not bear any strain, but will either become untied, or will traverse along the other part of the rope.

SLIP-ROPE. A rope passed through anything in such a manner that it will render or may be slipped instantaneously, as in canting to make sail, &c.

SLIP-SHACKLE. A shackle with a lever-bolt, for letting go suddenly; yet, when ringed, is sufficient to secure the ship.

SLIVE, OR SLIVER. An old term for a sluice. Also, any thin piece of split wood used as a filling. Also, a short slop wrapper, formerly called a sliving.

SLOOP. In general parlance is a vessel similar to a cutter; the bowsprit, however, is not running, and the jib is set on a standing stay with hanks. In North America the sloop proper sets only a main-sail and fore-sail, the latter jib-shaped, on a short standing bowsprit, and has no top-mast. The rig is greatly used for yachts there, and is most effective in moderate weather. Sloop in the royal navy is a term depending on the rank of the officer in command. Thus, the donkey frigate Blossom was one cruise rated a ship, when commanded by a captain--the next, a sloop, because only commanded by a commander.

SLOP-BOOK. A register of the slop clothing, soap, and tobacco, issued to the men; also of the religious books supplied.

SLOPE OF WIND. A breeze favouring a long tack near to the required course, and which may be expected to veer to fair.

SLOP-ROOM. The place appointed to keep the slops in, for the ship's company; generally well aft and dry.

SLOPS. A name given to ready-made clothes, and other furnishings, for seamen, by Maydman, in 1691. In Chaucer's time, sloppe meant a sort of breeches. In a MS. account of the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth, is an order to John Fortescue for the delivery of some Naples fustian for "Sloppe for Jack Greene, our Foole."

SLOP-SHOP. A place where ready-made clothing for seamen is sold, not at all advantageously to Jack.

SLOT. An archaic term for a castle or fort. Also, a groove or hole where a pin traverses.

SLOT-HOOP. The same as truss-hoops.

SLOW HER! In steam navigation, the same as "Ease her!"

SLOW MATCH. See MATCH.

SLOW TIME. In marching, means 75 paces to a minute.

SLUDGE. A wet deposit formed by streams. Also, a stratum of young ice in rough seas. Also, in polar parlance, comminuted fragments of brash ice.

SLUDGE-HOLES. Adaptations at the ends of the water-passages between the flues of a steamer's boilers, by which the deposits can be raked out.

SLUE, TO. To turn anything round or over in situ: especially expressing the movement of a gun, cask, or ship; or when a mast, boom, or spar is turned about in its cap or boom iron.

SLUED. When a man staggers under drink; unable to walk steadily.

SLUE-ROPE. A rope peculiarly applied for turning a spar or other object in a required direction.

SLUR-BOW. A species of cross-bow formerly used for discharging fire arrows.

SLUSH. The fat of the boiled meat in the coppers, formerly the perquisite of the ship's cook. Also applied to anything like plashy ground, but most commonly to snow in a thaw. Any wet dirt.

SLUSH-BUCKET. A bucket kept in the tops, to grease the masts, sheets, &c., to make all run smoothly.

SLUSH-ICE. The first layer which forms when the surface is freezing.

SLY-GOOSE. A northern term for the sheldrake, Tadorna vulpanser.

SLYNG. An ancient piece of sea-ordnance: there were also di-slyngs.

SMACK. A vessel, sometimes like a cutter, used for mercantile purposes, or for carrying passengers; the largest of which, the Leith smacks, attained the size of 200 tons.

SMACK-SMOOTH. Level with the surface; said of a mast which has gone by the board.

SMALL. The narrow part of the tail of a whale, in front of the flukes. Also, that part of the anchor-shank which is immediately under the stock.

SMALL-ARM MEN. Those of the crew selected and trained to the use of small-arms. When they have effected their boarding, they seldom retain more than their pistol and cutlass.

SMALL-ARMS. The muskets, pistols, cutlasses, tomahawks, and boarding-pikes, in charge of the gunner, on board ship.

SMALL-HELM. One of the principal results of sound seamanship is the proper trim of the vessel and the sail carried; by which means the action of the rudder is reduced to a minimum, not requiring the tiller to be moved either hard up or hard down. Also used to denote that a turbulent jaw-me-down bully has been brought to his senses by a more vigorous mind.

SMALL SAILS. Top-gallant-studding-sails and the kites.

SMALL STUFF. The term for spun-yarn, marline, and the smallest kinds of rope, even for yarns.

SMART. Ready, active, and intelligent.

SMART-MONEY. A pension given to a wounded man, according to the extent of the injury and his rank. Thus a lieutenant gets L91, 5_s._ for the loss of a leg, and a captain L300.

SMART-TICKET. The certificate from a captain and surgeon, by which only the smart-money is obtainable.

SMASHERS. Anything large or powerful. Also, pieces of ordnance of large calibre, in form between the gun and the carronade. Also, a very general epithet for north-country seamen.

SMELT [Anglo-Saxon, smylt]. The fry of salmon, samlet, or Salmo eperlanus.

SMEW. The white-headed goosander, Mergus albellus.

SMITER. An archaism for a scimitar. In the legend of Captain Jones, 1659, we are told:

"His fatal smiter thrice aloft he shakes, And frowns; the sea, and ship, and canvas quakes."

SMITING-LINE. A line by which a yarn-stoppered sail is loosed, without sending men aloft. If well executed, marks the seaman.

SMOKE-BALLS. A pyrotechnical preparation, thrown to short distances from mortars, to choke men out of mines, to conceal movements, &c. They continue to smoke densely from 25 to 30 minutes.

SMOKE-BOX. A part which crosses the whole front of a marine boiler, over the furnace doors; or that part between the end of tubes furthest from the fire-place and bottom of the funnel.

SMOKES. Dense exhalations, mixed with the finer particles of sand, on the Calabar shores and borders of the Great Zahara desert, which prevail in autumn. Also, the indications of inhabitants when coasting new lands. For its meaning in Arctic voyages, see VAPOUR.

SMOKE-SAIL. A small sail hoisted against the fore-mast when a ship rides head to wind, to give the smoke of the galley an opportunity of rising, and to prevent its being blown aft on to the quarter-deck.

SMOOTH. A Cornish term applied when the surf abates its fury for a short space. Also, the lee of a ship or of a rock.

SMUG-BOATS. Contraband traders on the coast of China; opium boats.

SMUGGLING. Defrauding the public revenue by importing or exporting goods without paying the customs dues chargeable upon them.

SMURLIN. A bivalve mollusc, Mya truncata, used as food in the Shetland Islands.

SNAGGLE, TO. To angle for geese with a hook and line properly baited.

SNAGS. The old word for lopped branches and sharp protuberances, but now chiefly applied to sunken obstructions in the American rivers.

SNAIL-CREEPING. Gouging out the surfaces of timbers in crooked channels, to promote a circulation of air.

SNAKE-PIECES. See POINTERS.

SNAKING. The passing of small stuff across a seizing, with marline hitches at the outer turns; or the winding small ropes spirally round a large one, the former lying in the intervals between the strands of the latter. (See WORM.) The stays and backstays, when the Shannon engaged the Chesapeake, were snaked with half-inch rope from fathom to fathom, to prevent their falling if shot away. Also, the finishing touch to neat seizings, to prevent the parts from separating when becoming slack by drying.

SNAPE, TO. In ship-carpentry, is to hance or bevel the end of anything, so as to fay upon an inclined plane: it is also designated flinch.

SNAP-HAUNCE. An old word for a fire-lock or musket; a spring-lock for fire-arms.

SNAPING-POLE. An old term for a fishing-rod.

SNAPPER. A well-known fish of the Mesoprion tribe, highly valued as food in the West Indies and tropics generally.

SNAPPING-TURTLE. A well-known fresh-water tortoise of the rivers in the United States; Chelydra serpentina.

SNARES. The cords which pass across the diameter of one hoop at the end of a drum.

SNARLEY-YOW. A discontented, litigious grumbler. An old guard-ship authority who knows when to play the courtier.

SNARL-KNOT. A northern expression for a knot that cannot be drawn loose.

SNATCH. Any open lead for a rope: if not furnished with a sheave, it is termed a dumb snatch, as on the bows and quarters for hawsers.

SNATCH-BLOCK. A single iron-bound block, with an opening in one side above the sheave, in which the bight of a rope may be laid, instead of reeving the end through, which in some circumstances would be very inconvenient, as when warps are led to the capstan, &c. The same as notch-block.

SNEER. To "make all sneer again" is to carry canvas to such an extent as to strain the ropes and spars to the utmost.

SNEEZER. A stiff gale of wind.

SNIFTING-VALVE. In the marine engine (see TAIL-VALVE).

SNIGGLING. A peculiar mode of catching eels in small streams and ponds, described by Izaak Walton.

SNIKKER-SNEE. A combat with knives; also, a large clasp-knife.

SNOGO. A cockpit game at cards, called also blind hookey, apparently affording equal chances, but easily managed to his own advantage by a knavish adept.

SNOOD [Anglo-Saxon, snod]. A short hair-line or wire to which hooks are fastened below the lead in angling. Or the link of hair uniting the hook and fishing-line.

SNOOK. A fish of the family Scombridae, Thyrsites atun, abundant in Table Bay, whence it is exported, when salted, to the Mauritius.

SNOTTER. The lower support of the sprit (which see).

SNOW. A vessel formerly much in use. It differs slightly from a brig. It has two masts similar to the main and fore masts of a ship, and close abaft the main-mast a trysail-mast. Snows differ only from brigs in that the boom-mainsail is hooped to the main-mast in the brig, and traverses on the trysail-mast in the snow.

SNUBBING HER. Bringing a ship up suddenly with an anchor, and short range of cable, yet without jerking. [Said to be from the Icelandic snubba.]

SNUG. Under proper sail to meet a gale.

SNY. A gentle bend in timber, curving upwards: when it curves downwards, it is said to hang.

SO! An order to desist temporarily from hauling upon a rope, when it has come to its right position.

SOAK AND SEND! The order to pass wet swabs along.

SOAM. The dried air-bladder of herrings.

SOCKETS. The holes in which swivel-pintles, or the capstan or windlass spindles move.

SOD-BANK. A peculiar effect of refraction sometimes seen in calm weather, showing all objects on the water multiplied or magnified. A poor name for a fine phenomenon.

SOFT-LAES. A term on our northern coast for the small coves and bays formed by the waves on the more friable parts of cliffs.

SOFT-PLANK. Picking a soft plank in the deck, is choosing an easy berth. (See PLANK IT.)

SOFT TOMMY, OR SOFT TACK. Loaves of bread served out instead of biscuit.

SOLAN-GOOSE. The gannet, Sula bassana, a well-known sea fowl, frequenting the coasts of many countries in the northern hemisphere in the summer to lay its eggs, and then migrating.

SOLANO. An oppressive wind, blowing from Africa into the Mediterranean; synonymous with sirocco.

SOLAR DAY. Is the interval which elapses between two successive meridian transits of the sun, and is the unit of time in common use.

SOLAR SPECTRUM. The coloured image of the sun produced by refraction through a prism.

SOLAR SPOTS. See MACULAE.

SOLAR SYSTEM. The sun, planets, and comets, which are assumed to form a system, independent of the surrounding fixed stars.

SOLDIER. One that has enlisted to serve his government in peace or war; receiving pay, and subject to the Mutiny Act and Articles of War.

SOLDIER-CRAB. A name for the hermit-crab (which see).

SOLDIER'S WIND. One which serves either way; allowing a passage to be made without much nautical ability.

SOLE. A common flat-fish, Solea vulgaris. Also, the decks of the cabin and forecastle in some ships, respectively called the cabin and forecastle soles. Also, the lining of the bilge-ways, rudder, and the like.

SOLENT SEA. The old name of the narrow strait between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

SOLE OF A GUN-PORT. The lower part of it, more properly called port-sill.

SOLE OF THE RUDDER. A piece of timber attached to its lower part to render it nearly level with the false keel.

SOLLERETS. Pieces of steel which formed part of the armour for the feet.

SOLSTICES. The epochs when the sun passes through the solstitial points.

SOLSTITIAL COLURE. A great circle passing through the poles and solstitial points.

SOLSTITIAL POINTS. The two points where the tropics meet the ecliptic, in longitude 90 deg. and 270 deg.

SOMA. A Japan junk of burden.

SONG. The call of soundings by the leadsman in the channels. Songs are also used to aid the men in keeping time when pulling on a rope, where a fife is not available. They are very common in merchant ships. The whalers have an improvised song when cutting docks in the ice in Arctic seas.

SON OF A GUN. An epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.

SOPS. A northern term for small detached clouds, hanging about the sides of a mountain.

SORT. "That's your sort," means approval of a deed.

SORTIE. See SALLY.

SOUGH. An old northern term for the distant surging of the sea; a hollow murmur or howling, or the moaning of the wind before a gale.

SOUND [Anglo-Saxon, sund]. An arm of the sea over the whole extent of which soundings may be obtained, as on the coasts of Norway and America. Also, any deep bay formed and connected by reefs and sand-banks. On the shores of Scotland it means a narrow channel or strait. Also, the air-bladder of the cod, and generally the swimming-bladder or "soundes of any fysshes." Also, a cuttle-fish.

SOUND, VELOCITY OF. May be freely assumed at nearly 1142 feet in a second of time, when not affected by the temperature or wind; subject to corrections when great accuracy is required.

SOUND DUES. A toll formerly levied by the Danes on all merchant vessels passing the sound or strait between the North Sea and the Baltic.

SOUNDING. The operation of ascertaining the depth of the sea, and the quality of the ground, by means of a lead and line, sunk from a ship to the bottom, where some of the ooze or sand adheres to the tallow in the hollow base of the lead. Also, the vertical diving of a whale when struck. It is supposed to strike the bottom, and will take 3 or 4 coils of whale-line, equal to 2000 feet.

SOUNDING-LEAD. See LEAD.

SOUNDING-LINE. This line, with a plummet, is mentioned by Lucilius; and was the sund-gyrd of the Anglo-Saxons.

SOUNDING-ROD. A slight rod of iron marked with feet and inches, which being let down by a line in a groove of the side of the pump, indicates what water there is in the well, and consequently whether the ship requires pumping out or not.

SOUNDINGS. To be in soundings implies being so near the land that a deep-sea lead will reach the bottom, which is seldom practicable in the ocean. As soundings may, however, be obtained at enormous depths, and at great distances from the land, the term is limited in common parlance to parts not far from the shore, and where the depth is about 80 or 100 fathoms. Also, a name given to the specimen of the ground brought up adhering to the tallow stuck upon the base of the deep-sea lead, and distinguishing the nature of the bottom, as sand, shells, ooze, &c.

SOUNDLESS. Places assumed formerly to be bottomless, but thousands of fathoms are now measured. Our elders little thought of a submarine telegraph across the Atlantic Ocean!

SOURCE. The spring or origin of a stream or river, or at least one of the tributaries of supply.

SOURS. An old word for a rise, or rapid ascent.

SOUSE. A method of pickling fish by immersing them in vinegar after being boiled. (See MARL.)

SOUSED GURNET. Best expressed by Falstaff's--"If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a soused gurnet."

SOUTHERN CROSS. The popular name of a group of stars near the South Pole, which are somewhat in the figure of a cross.

SOUTHERN-LIGHTS. See AURORA AUSTRALIS.

SOUTHING. In navigation, implies the distance made good towards the south: the opposite of northing.

SOUTHING OF THE MOON. The time at which the moon passes the meridian of any particular place. Popularly the term is used to denote the meridian transit of any heavenly body south of the observer.

SOUTH SEA. See PACIFIC OCEAN.

SOUTH-WESTER. A useful water-proof hat for bad weather.

SOUTH-WIND. A mild wind in the British seas with frequent fogs; it generally brings rain or damp weather.

SOW. The receptacle into which the molten iron is poured in a gun-foundry. The liquid iron poured from it is termed pig, whence the term pig-ballast.

SPADE. In open speaking, to call a spade a spade is to give a man his real character. The phrase is old and still in use.

SPADO, OR SPADROON. A cut-and-thrust sword [from the Spanish].

SPAKE-NET. A peculiar net for catching crabs.

SPALDING-KNIFE. A knife used for splitting fish in Newfoundland.

SPALDINGS. A north-country name for whitings and other small fish, split and dried.

SPALES. In naval architecture, internal strengthening by cross artificial beams. (See CROSS-SPALES.)

SPAN. A rope with both ends made fast, so that a purchase may be hooked to its bight. Also, a small line or cord, the middle of which is usually attached to a stay, whence the two ends branch outwards to the right and left, having either a block or thimble attached to their extremities. It is used to confine some ropes which pass through the corresponding blocks or thimbles as a fair leader.

SPAN-BLOCKS. Blocks seized into each bight of a strap, long enough to go across a cap, and allow the blocks to hang clear on each side, as main-lifts, top-mast studding-sail, halliards, blocks, &c.

SPAN IN THE RIGGING, TO. To draw the upper parts of the shrouds together by tackles, in order to seize on the cat-harping legs. The rigging is also "spanned in" when it has been found to stretch considerably on first putting to sea, but cannot be set up until it moderates.

SPANISH-BURN. A specious method of hiding defects in timber, by chopping it in pieces.

SPANISH-BURTON. The single is rove with three single blocks, or two single blocks and a hook in the bight of one of the running parts. The double Spanish-burton is furnished with one double and two single blocks.

SPANISH DISTURBANCE. An epithet given to the sudden armament on the Nootka Sound affair, in 1797, an epoch from which many of our seamen dated their service in the late wars.

SPANISH MACKEREL. An old Cornish name for the tunny, or a scomber, larger than the horse-mackerel.

SPANISH REEF. The yards lowered on the cap. Also, a knot tied in the head of the jib.

SPANISH WINDLASS. A wooden roller, or heaver, having a rope wound about it, through the bight of which an iron bolt is inserted as a lever for heaving it round. This is a handy tool for turning in rigging, heaving in seizings, &c.

SPANKER. A fore-and-aft sail, setting with a boom and gaff, frequently called the driver (which see). It is the aftermost sail of a ship or bark.

SPANKER-EEL. A northern term for the lamprey.

SPANKING. Going along with a fresh breeze when the spanker tells, as the aft well-boomed out-sail. The word is also used to denote strength, spruceness, and size, as a spanking breeze, a spanking frigate, &c.

SPANNER. An instrument by which the wheel-lock guns and pistols were wound up; also used to screw up the nuts of the plummer boxes. Also, an important balance in forming the radius of parallel motion in a steam-engine, since it reconciles the curved sweep which the side-levers describe with the perpendicular movement of the piston-rod, by means of which they are driven.

SPANNING A HARPOON. Fixing the line which connects the harpoon and its staff. The harpoon iron is a socketed tool, tapering 3 feet to the barb-heads; on that iron socket a becket is worked; the staff fits in loosely. The harpoon line reeves upwards from the socket through this becket, and through another on the staff, so that on striking the whale the staff leaps out of the socket and does not interfere with the iron, which otherwise might be wrenched out.

SPAN OF RIGGING. The length of shrouds from the dead-eyes on one side, over the mast-head, to the dead-eyes on the other side of the ship.

SPAN-SHACKLE. A large bolt running through the forecastle and spar-deck beams, and forelocked before each beam, with a large triangular shackle at the head, formerly used for the purpose of receiving the end of the davit. Also, a bolt similarly driven through the deck-beam, for securing the booms, boats, anchors, &c.

SPAR. The general term for any mast, yard, boom, gaff, &c. In ship-building, the name is applied to small firs used in making staging.

SPAR-DECK. This term is loosely applied, though properly it signifies a temporary deck laid in any part of a vessel, and the beams whereon it rests obtain the name of skid-beams in the navy. It also means the quarter-deck, gangways, and forecastle of a deep-waisted vessel; and, rather strangely, is applied to the upper entire deck of a double-banked vessel, without an open waist.

SPARE. An epithet applied to any part of a ship's equipage that lies in reserve, to supply the place of such as may be lost or rendered incapable of service; hence we say, spare tiller, spare top-masts, &c.

SPARE ANCHOR. An additional anchor the size of a bower.

SPARE SAILS. An obvious term. They should be pointed before stowing them away in the sail-room.

SPARLING. A name on the Lancashire coasts for the smelt (Osmerus eperlanus).

SPARTHE. An Anglo-Saxon term for a halbert or battle-axe.

SPAT. The spawn or ova of the oyster.

SPEAK A VESSEL, TO. To pass within hail of her for that purpose.

SPECIFIC GRAVITY. The comparative weights of equal bulks of different bodies, water being generally represented as unity.

SPECK-BLOCKS. See FLENSE.

SPECK-FALLS, OR PURCHASE. Ropes rove through two large purchase-blocks at the mast-head of a whaler, and made fast to the blubber-guy, for hoisting the blubber from a whale.

SPECKTIONEER. The chief harpooner in a Greenland ship. He also directs the cutting operations in clearing the whale of its blubber and bones.

SPECTRUM. The variously coloured image into which a ray of light is divided on being passed through a prism.

SPEED-INDICATOR. A modification of Massey's log.

SPELL. The period wherein one or more sailors are employed in particular duties demanding continuous exertion. Such are the spells to the hand-lead in sounding, to working the pumps, to look out on the mast-head, &c., and to steer the ship, which last is generally called the "trick at the wheel." Spel-ian, Anglo-Saxon, "to supply another's room." Thus, Spell ho! is the call for relief.

SPENCER. The fore-and-main trysails; fore-and-aft sails set with gaffs, introduced instead of main-topmast and mizen staysails.

SPENT. From expend: said of a mast broken by accident, in contradistinction to one shot away.

SPENT SHOT. A shot that has lost its penetrative velocity, yet capable of inflicting grave injury as long as it travels.

SPERM WHALE. Otherwise known as the cachalot, Physeter macrocephalus. A large cetacean, belonging to the division of delphinoid or toothed whales. It is found in nearly all tropical and temperate seas, and is much hunted for the valuable sperm-oil and spermaceti which it yields. When full grown, it may attain the length of 60 feet, of which the head occupies nearly one-third.

SPERONARA. A Mediterranean boat of stouter build than the scampavia, yet rowed with speed: in use in the south of Italy and Malta.

SPHERA NAUTICA. An old navigation instrument. In 1576 Martin Frobisher was supplied with a brass one, at the cost of L4, 6_s._ 8_d._

SPHERE. The figure formed by the rotation of a circle. A term singularly, but very often, misapplied in parlance for orbit.

SPHERICAL CASE-SHOT. See SHRAPNEL SHELL.

SPHERICAL TRIANGLE. That contained under three arcs of great circles of a sphere.

SPHEROID. The figure formed by the rotation of an ellipse, differing little from a circle.

SPICA, OR {a} VIRGINIS. The lucida of Virgo, a standard nautical star.

SPIDER. An iron out-rigger to keep a block clear of the ship's side.

SPIDER-HOOP. The hoop round a mast to secure the shackles to which the futtock-shrouds are attached. Also, an iron encircling hoop, fitted with belaying pins round the mast.

SPIDER-LINES. A most ingenious substitution of a spider's long threads for wires in micrometer scales, intended for delicate astronomical observations.

SPIKE-NAILS. See DECK-NAILS.

SPIKE-PLANK. (Speak-plank?) In Polar voyages, a platform projecting across the vessel before the mizen-mast, to enable the ice-master to cross over, and see ahead, and so pilot her clear of the ice. It corresponds with the bridge in steamers.

SPIKE-TACKLE AND CANT-FALLS. The ropes and blocks used in whalers to sling their prey to the side of the ship.

SPIKE-TUB. A vessel in which the fat of bears, seals, and minor quarry is set aside till a "making off" gives an opportunity for adding it to the blubber in the hold.

SPIKING A GUN. Driving a large nail or iron spike into the vent, which will render the cannon unserviceable until removed. (See CLOY.)

SPILE. A stake or piece of wood formed like the frustum of a cone. A vent-peg in a cask of liquor. Small wooden pins which are driven into nail-holes to prevent leaking.

SPILINGS. In carpentry and ship-building, the dimensions taken from a straight line, a mould's edge, or rule-staff, to any given sny or curve of a plank's edge.

SPILL, TO. Whether for safety or facility, it is advisable to shiver the wind out of a sail before furling or reefing it. This is done either by collecting the sail together, or by bracing it bye, so that the wind may strike its leech and shiver it. A very effeminate captain was accustomed to order, "Sheevar the meezen taus'le, and let the fore-topmast staysail lie dormant in the brails!"

SPILLING LINES. Ropes contrived to keep the sails from blowing away when they are clued up, being rove before the sails like the buntlines so as to disarm the gale, in contradistinction to clue-lines, &c., which cause the sails to belly full.

SPIN A TWIST OR A YARN, TO. To tell a long story; much prized in a dreary watch, if not tedious.

SPINDLE. The vertical iron pin upon which the capstan moves. (See CAPSTAN.) Also, a piece of timber forming the diameter of a made mast. Also, the long-pin on which anything revolves. A windlass turns on horizontal spindles at each extremity.

SPINGARD. A kind of small cannon.

SPIRE-VAPOUR. A name suggested to Captain Parry for certain little vertical streams of vapour rising from the sea or open water in the Arctic regions, resembling the barber in North America (which see).

SPIRIT-ROOM. A place or compartment abaft the after-hold, to contain the ship's company's spirits.

SPIRKITTING. That strake of planks which is wrought, anchor-stock-fashion, between the water-way and the lower sill of the gun-ports withinside of a ship of war.--Spirkitting is also used to denote the strake of ceiling between the upper-deck and the plank-sheer of a merchantman; otherwise known as quick-work.

SPIT. A bank, or small sandy projection, with shallow water on it, generally running out from a point of land. Also, meteorologically, very slight rain.

SPITFIRE-JIB. In cutters, a small storm-jib of very heavy canvas.

SPITHEAD NIGHTINGALES. Boatswains and boatswains' mates, when winding their calls, especially when piping to dinner.

SPLA-BOARDS. Planks fixed at an obtuse angle, to reflect light into a magazine.

SPLICE. The joining of two ropes together. Familiarly, two persons joined in wedlock.--To splice. To join the two untwisted ends of a rope together. There are several methods of making a splice, according to the services for which it is intended; as:--The long rolling splice is chiefly used in lead-lines, log-lines, and fishing-lines, where the short splice would be liable to separation, as being frequently loosened by the water.--The long splice occupies a great extent of rope, but by the three joinings being fixed at a distance from each other, the increase of bulk is divided; hence it resembles a continuous lay, and is adapted to run through the sheave-hole of a block, &c., for which use it is generally intended.--The short splice is used upon cables, slings, block-strops, and, in general, all ropes which are not intended to run through blocks.--Spliced eye forms a sort of eye or circle at the end of a rope, and is used for splicing in thimbles, bull's-eyes, &c., and generally on the end of lashing block-strops. (See EYE-SPLICE.)

SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE. In nautical parlance, to serve out an extra allowance of grog in bad weather or after severe exertion.

SPLICING FID. A tapered wooden pin for opening the strands when splicing large ropes; it is sometimes driven by a large wooden mallet called a commander.

SPLINTER-NETTING. A cross-barred net formed of half-inch rope lashed at every rectangular crossing, and spread from rigging to rigging between the main and mizen masts, to prevent wreck from aloft, in action, from wounding the men at the upper-deck guns. They are frequently used at the open hatchways to prevent accidents.

SPLITTER. A man engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries to receive the fish from the header, and, with a sharp knife, dexterously to lay it open.

SPLITTING OUT. To remove the blocks on which a vessel rests in a dock, or at launching, when the pressure is too great for them to be driven, but by splitting.

SPLITTING THE BOOKS. The making of a new complete-book after payment, in which the dead, run, or discharged men are omitted; but the numbers which stood against the men's names in the first list must be continued.

SPOKES. The handles of the wheel, not the radii.--To put a spoke in a man's wheel, is to say something of him to his advantage, or otherwise.

SPOKE-SHAVE. That useful instrument similar to the carpenter's drawing-knife, for smoothing rounds or hollows.

SPOLIATION OF A SHIP'S PAPERS. An act which, by the maritime law of every court in Europe, not only excludes further proof, but does, per se, infer condemnation. Our own code has so far relaxed that this circumstance shall not be damnatory. The suppression of ships' papers, however, is regarded in the admiralty courts with great suspicion.

SPONSON. The curve of the timbers and planking towards the outer part of the wing, before and abaft each of the paddle-boxes of a steamer.

SPONSON-RIM. The same as wing-wale (which see).

SPONTOON. A light halbert.

SPOOM, TO. An old word frequently found in Dryden, who thus uses it,

"When virtue spooms before a prosp'rous gale, My heaving wishes help to fill the sail."

SPOON-DRIFT. A showery sprinkling of the water swept from the tops of the waves in a brisk gale. Driving snow is also sometimes termed spoon-drift.

SPOONING, OR SPOOMING. Driving under a heavy gale, such as forces a ship to run before it without any canvas set.

SPOON-WAYS. In slave-ships, stowing the poor wretches so closely locked together, that it is difficult to move without treading upon them.

SPOTS ON THE SUN. See MACULAE.

SPOUT. A term applied to the blowing or breathing of whales and other cetaceans. The expired air, highly charged with moisture from the lungs, has frequently been mistaken for a stream of water. (See also WATER-SPOUT.)

SPOUTER. A whaling term for a South Sea whale.

SPRAT WEATHER. The dark days of November and December, so called from that being the most favourable season for catching sprats.

SPREAD A FLEET, TO. To keep more open order.

SPREAD EAGLE. A person seized in the rigging; generally a passenger thus made to pay his entrance forfeit.

SPREE. Uproarious jollity, sport, and merriment.

SPRING. A crack running obliquely through any part of a mast or yard, which renders it unsafe to carry the usual sail thereon, and the spar is then said to be sprung. Also, a hawser laid out to some fixed object to slue a vessel proceeding to sea. (See WARP.)--To spring. To split or break.--To spring a butt. To start the end of a plank on the outside of a ship's bottom. (See BUTT.)--To spring a leak, is when a vessel is suddenly discovered to leak.--To spring the luff, easing the helm down to receive a breeze; to bring a vessel's head closer to the wind in sailing. Thus a vessel coming up sharply to the wind under full way shoots, and may run much to windward of her course, until met by a contrary helm.--To spring a mine. To fire its charge.

SPRING-BEAM. In a steamer, a fore-and-aft beam for connecting the two paddle-beams, and supporting the outer end of the paddle-shaft.

SPRING-FORELOCK. One jagged or split at the point, thereby forming springs to prevent its drawing.

SPRING-SEARCHER. A steel-pronged tool to search for defects in the bore of a gun.

SPRING-STAYS. Are rather smaller than the stays, and are placed above them, being intended as substitutes should the main one be shot away.

SPRING-TIDE. The periodical excess of the elevation and depression of the tide, which occurs when both the sun and moon act in the same direction.

SPRIT [Anglo-Saxon, spreotas]. A small boom which crosses the sail of a boat diagonally from the mast to the upper aftmost corner: the lower end of the sprit rests in a sort of becket called the snotter, which encircles the mast at that place. These sails are accordingly called sprit-sails. Also, in a sheer-hulk, a spur or spar for keeping the sheers out to the required distance, so that their head should plumb with the centre of the ship when taking out or putting in masts.

SPRIT-SAIL. A sail formerly attached to a yard which hung under the bowsprit, and of importance in naval actions of old.

SPRIT-SAIL SHEET KNOT. May be crowned and walled, or double-walled, and is often used as a stopper-knot.

SPRIT-SAIL TOP-SAIL. A sail extended above the sprit-sail by a yard, which hung under the jib-boom.--Top-gallant sprit-sail was set upon the flying jib-boom in the same manner that the sprit-sail was set upon the inner jib-boom. The sprit-sail course, top-sail, and topgallant-sail were similar in effect to those on the fore-mast, and in former times, when the bowsprit stood more erect, it was indeed the bowsprit or mast.

SPRIT-SAIL YARD. A yard slung across the bowsprit, lashed to the knight-heads, and used to spread the guys of the jib and flying jib-boom. To this yard the sprit-sail was formerly bent.

SPRIT-SAIL YARDING. A cruelty in which some fishermen wreak vengeance on sharks, dog-fish, &c., that encroach on their baits, and foul their nets. They thrust a piece of wood through the gills of the unconscious offender, and in that condition turn it adrift upon the ocean.

SPROKET-WHEEL. That at the upper extremities of the chain-pump-tubes, worked by crank-handles.

SPRUNG. Damaged in various ways. Also, the ship slued round by means of guys. In ship-building, it indicates that a plank is strained so as to crack or fly open.

SPUEING THE OAKUM. When the ship's labouring forces the caulking out of her seams.

SPUN. The being turned back or rejected, on being examined touching qualifications.

SPUNGE. A cylindrical block of wood covered with sheepskin, used to clean the interior of a gun after firing, and to extinguish any sparks that may remain behind. The rope-sponge, fixed on a strong rope instead of a staff, has a rammer-head on its opposite end: it is used for service with lower-deck guns in bad weather when the ports cannot be opened except at moments for firing.

SPUNK. A fungus (Polyporus fomentarius and others) growing on the trunks of trees, from which tinder is made.

SPUN-YARN. A small line, formed of two, three, or more old rope-yarns not laid, but twisted together by hand or winch. Spun-yarn is used for various purposes, as seizing and serving ropes, weaving mats, &c.

SPUR. A projecting portion of a cliff. In fortification, spurs are walls that cross a part of the rampart and join to the town-wall. Also, in a sheer-hulk, the same as sprit (which see).

SPURKETS, OR SPIRKETS. The spaces between the timbers along a ship's side betwixt the upper and lower futtocks, or betwixt the rungs fore and aft.

SPURLING-LINE. The line which formed the communication between the wheel and the tell-tale: it went round a small barrel, abaft the barrel of the wheel, and made the pointer show the position of the tiller. Also, a line with thimbles as fair-leaders for running rigging. Now out of use.

SPURN-WATER. A channel left above the ends of a deck, to prevent water from coming any further. The water-ways.

SPURS, OR SPUR-SHORES. Large pieces of timber in launching, the lower ends of which are fixed to the bilge-ways, and the upper ends fayed and bolted to the ship's bottom for additional security.

SPURS OF THE BEAMS. Curved pieces of timber, serving as half-beams, to support the decks, where a whole one cannot be placed, on account of the hatchways.

SPURS OF THE BITTS. The same as standards (which see).

SQUAD. A diminutive of squadron. Also, a small party of soldiers assembled for drill or inspection.

SQUADRON. A division of a fleet, as van, centre, and rear squadrons. A flying squadron may be commanded by a rear-admiral, and consist of any class of vessels. Also, a body of cavalry consisting of two troops, or from 80 to 150 men. Squadron is the ordinary unit in reckoning the cavalry force of an army.

SQUALL. A sudden gust of wind, frequently occasioned by the interruption and reverberation of the wind from high mountains. These are very frequent in the Mediterranean, particularly in the Levant.--A black squall. One attended with a dark cloud and generally heavy rain.--A white squall. This furious and dangerous gust occurs in clear weather, without any other warning than the white foam it occasions on the surface of the sea, and a very thin haze. When this squall reaches a ship, copious rain attends it. It is very destructive to the flying-kite school, and many lives have been sacrificed by it.

SQUARE. An instrument formed by a stock and a tongue fixed at right angles. Also, in the army, a formation of infantry devised to resist cavalry. (See HOLLOW SQUARE and RALLYING SQUARE.) Also, a term peculiarly appropriated to the yards and their sails. Thus, when the yards hang at right angles with the mast they are said to be "square by the lifts;" when perpendicular to the ship's length, they are "square by the braces;" but when they lie in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the keel, they are "square by the lifts and braces." The yards are said to be very square when they are of extraordinary length, and the same epithet is applied to their sails with respect to their breadth. Also, a figure composed of four equal sides and four right angles, is the square of geometry.

SQUARE-BUTTED. The yard-arms of small shipping so made that a sheave-hole can be cut through without weakening the yard.

SQUARE-FRAMES. In marine architecture, implies those frames which are square with the line of the keel, having no bevelling upon them.

SQUARE IN THE HEAD. Very bluff and broad in the fore-body.

SQUARE-KNOT. The same as reef-knot.

SQUARE MAIN-SAIL. See MAIN-SAIL.

SQUARE OR SQUARING MARKS. Marks placed upon the lifts and braces.

SQUARE RIBBONS. A synonym of horizontal lines, or horizontal ribbons.

SQUARE-RIGGED. Ships having chiefly square sails; a term used in contradistinction to all vessels which do not use them. It is also applied to vessels with unusually long yards. The term is also familiarly used to denote a person's being full-dressed.

SQUARE-SAIL. The flying sail, set on the fore-yard of a schooner, or the spread-yard of a cutter or sloop.

SQUARE-SAIL BOOM. A boom hooked on to an eye-bolt in the fore-part of the fore-mast of a fore-and-aft vessel, to boom out the square-sail.

SQUARE-SAILS. Colloquially applied to the courses; but the term may be used for any four-cornered sail extended to a yard suspended by the middle.

SQUARE-STERNED. Implies a stern where the wing-transom is at right angles with the stern-post. (See PINK and ROUND STERN.)

SQUARE-STERNED AND BRITISH BUILT. A phrase to express the peculiar excellence of our first-class merchantmen.

SQUARE TIMBERS. Those timbers which stand square with, or perpendicular to, the keel.

SQUARE-TOPSAIL SLOOP. Sloops which carry standing yards.

SQUARE TUCK. The after-part of a ship's bottom, when terminated in the same direction up and down as the wing-transom.

SQUARE YARDS! The order to attend to the lifts and braces, for going before the wind.--To square a yard. In working ship, means to bring it in square by the marks on the braces. Figuratively, to settle accounts.

SQUARING THE DEAD-EYES. Bringing them to a line parallel to the sheer of the ship.

SQUARING THE RATLINES. Seeing that all are horizontal and ship-shape.

SQUATTER. The flutter of sea-birds along the water. Also, one who settles, without a title. The hybrid but expressive Americanism absquatulate, means to clear off; the reverse of to squat.

SQUAW. A woman of the North American Indians.

SQUEEGEE. An effective swabbing implement, having a plate of gutta-percha fitted at the end of a broom handle.

SQUETEE. The Yankee name of a labrus, very common in the waters of Long Island Sound and adjacent bays, but never found in rivers.

SQUID. An animal allied to the cuttle-fish, belonging to the class Cephalopoda; the calamary or Loligo of naturalists.

SQUILGEE, OR SQUILLAGEE. A small swab made of untwisted yarns. Figuratively, a lazy mean fellow.

SQUIRM. A wriggling motion like that of an eel. Also, a twist in a rope.

STABBER. A pegging awl; the same as pricker.

STABILITY. A quality implying a ship's capacity to bear every motion of the sea.

STACK. A precipitous rock rising out of the sea, in northern hydrography.

STACKEN CLOUD. The same as cumulus (which see).

STADE. The Anglo-Saxon staede, still in use. A station for ships. From stade is derived staith (which see).

STAFF. A light pole erected in different parts of a ship, whereon to hoist and display the colours; as, the ensign-staff, reared immediately over the stern; the jack-staff, fixed on the bowsprit-cap. In military affairs, the staff includes all officials not having direct and specific military command, as the adjutant-general, quartermaster-general, majors of brigade, aides-de-camp, &c. This term has been unaccountably pilfered by the admiralty lately from the army, as a prefix to a naval title.

STAFF-CAPTAIN. A designation conferred in 1863 upon masters of the fleet.

STAFF-COMMANDERS. A designation conferred in 1863 on masters of fifteen years' seniority.

STAFF-OFFICER. On the general staff of the army, or of a combined force. See STAFF.

STAG. A name given to a rock that should be watched for, as off the Lizard, Castlehaven, &c.

STAGE. Planks let over the ship's sides by ropes, whereon the people may stand when repairing, &c.--A floating stage is one which does not need the support of ropes.--Stage-gangway (see BROW).

STAGER. A resident or practised person. See OLD-STAGER.

STAGGERING UNDER IT. A ship's labouring under as much canvas as she can bear.

STAGNES. A statute term for pools of standing water.

STAITH [Anglo-Saxon staede]. An embankment on the river bank whence to load vessels. Also, a large wooden wharf, with a timber frame of either shoots or drops, according to circumstances.

STAKES. A weir (which see) for taking fish, as black-stakes, &c.

STAL-BOAT. A peculiar fishing-boat, mentioned in statute 27 Eliz. c. 21.

STALKERS. Certain fishing-nets mentioned in old statutes.

STAMMAREEN. The after or helmsman's seat in a Shetland fishing-boat.

STAMP AND GO! The order to step out at the capstan, or with hawsers, topsail-halliards, &c., generally to the fife or fiddle.

STANCH. See STAUNCH.

STANCHIONS. Any fixed upright support. Also, those posts of wood or iron which, being placed pillar-wise, support the waist-trees and guns.

STANCHIONS OF THE NETTINGS. Slender bars of iron or wood, the lower ends of which are fixed in iron sockets at proper distances.

STAND, TO. The movement by which a ship advances towards a certain object, or departs from it; as, "The enemy stands in shore;" "We saw three sail standing to the southward." "That ship has not a mast standing," implies that she has lost all her masts.

STANDARD. Formerly, in ship-building, was an inverted knee, placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, and having its vertical branch pointed upwards from that which lay horizontally.--Royal standard. A flag in which the imperial ensigns of England, Scotland, and Ireland are quartered. It is never hoisted on board a ship unless when visited by the royal family, and then it is displayed at the mast-head allotted to the rank; at the main only for the sovereign.

STANDARD-DEALS. Those planks of the pine or fir above 7 inches wide and 6 feet long: under that length they are known as deal-ends.

STANDARD-KNEES. See DECK STANDARD-KNEES.

STAND BY! The order to be prepared; to look out to fire when directed.--To stand by a rope, is to take hold of it; the anchor, prepare to let go.

STAND CLEAR OF THE CABLE! A precautionary order when about to let go the anchor, that nothing may obstruct it in running out of the hawse-holes. Also, a warning when idlers obstruct quarter-deck duty.

STANDEL. In our statutes, is a young store oak-tree.

STAND FROM UNDER! A notice given to those below to keep out of the way of anything being lowered down, or let fall from above.

STANDING BACKSTAYS. The rigging proper. (See BACKSTAYS.)

STANDING BEVELLING. The alteration made obtuse or outside a square, in hewing timber, as opposed to acute, or under-bevelling, which is within a square.

STANDING BOWSPRIT. One that is fixed permanently in its place, not the running-in bowsprit of a cutter.

STANDING-JIB. The jib, as distinguished from the other jibs.

STANDING-LIFTS. Ropes from the mast-heads to the ends of the upper yards, to keep them square and steady when the sail is not set.

STANDING ORDERS. Special regulations remaining constant for some particular branch of service.

STANDING PART OF A HOOK. That part which is attached to a block, chain, or anything which is to heave the hook up, with a weight hanging to it; the part opposite to the point.

STANDING PART OF A SHEET. That part which is secured to a ring at the ship's bow, quarter, side, &c.

STANDING PART OF A TACKLE OR ROPE. The part which is made fast to the mast, deck, or block, in contradistinction to that which is pulled upon, and is called the fall, or running part.

STANDING PULL. One with the face towards the tackle, being about 2 feet each pull.

STANDING RIGGING. That part which is made fast, and not hauled upon; being the shrouds, backstays, and stays for the support of the masts.

STANDING UP. A ship in good trim, and well attended to, is said to stand well up to her canvas.

STANDING WARRANTS. Those officers who remain with a ship in ordinary, or on the stocks, as the gunner, carpenter, boatswain, and cook, and till 1814 the purser.

STANDING WATER. Water where there is no current or tide.

STAND IN SHORE, TO. To sail directly for the land.

STAND OF ARMS. A complete set for one man; now-a-days, simply a musket and bayonet. Also, an arm-stand holding the muskets and cutlasses on the quarter-deck--ornamental, and ready for salute or service.

STAND RIGHT UNDER! Jocularly, "Get out of the way."

STAND SQUARE, TO. To stand or be at right angles relatively to some object.

STANGS. Poles put across a river. Also, eel-spears.

STANK. An old statute term for staunch (which see).

STAPLE. Merchants of the staple formerly meant those who exported the staple wares of the country.

STAPLE-KNEES, OR STAPLE-LODGING KNEES. The same as deck standard-knees (which see).

STAR, DOUBLE. See DOUBLE-STAR.

STAR, TEMPORARY. See TEMPORARY STARS.

STAR, VARIABLE. See VARIABLE STARS.

STARBOARD. The opposite of larboard or port; the distinguishing term for the right side of a ship when looking forward [from the Anglo-Saxon steora-bord].

STARBOARD THE HELM! So place the helm that the rudder is brought on the port side of the stern-post. (See HARD-A-STARBOARD.)

STARBOLINS. The old familiar term for the men of the starboard watch, as larbolin was for the larboard or port watch.

STAR-FISHES. See SEA-STAR.

STAR-FORTS. Those traced in the form of a star, with alternate salient and re-entering angles. They are not in much favour, being expensive in construction, of small interior space, and having much dead space in their ditches.

STAR-GLINT. A meteorite.

STAR-PAGODA. A gold coin of the East Indies. In Madras its value is 7_s._ 6_d._

STARS, FIXED. Those innumerable bodies bespangling the heavens from pole to pole, distinguishable from the planets by their apparent fixity; it is, however, certain that many of them move through space at a rate vastly greater than that of the earth in her orbit, though, from their enormous distance, we can with difficulty perceive it.

START. A long handle or tail; whence, by analogy, "start point." But sometimes applied by navigators to any point from which a departure is taken. Also, the expected place of a struck whale's rising, after having plunged or sounded.--To start, applied to liquids, is to empty; but if to any weight, as the anchor, &c., implies to move.--To start bread. To turn it out of bags or casks, and stow it in bulk.--To start a butt-end. When a plank has loosened or sprung at the butt-end, by the ship's labouring, or other cause.--To start a tack or sheet. To slack it off, as in tacking or man[oe]uvring, "raise tacks and sheets."

STARTING. An irregular and arbitrary mode of punishment with canes or ropes' ends, long since illegal in the British navy.

STARTING-BOLT, OR DRIFT-BOLT. A bolt used to drive out another; it is usually a trifle smaller.

STASH IT THERE! An old order to cease or be quiet.

STATE-ROOM. A sleeping cabin, or small berth, detached from the main cabin of merchantmen or saloon of passenger vessels.

STATION. The allotted places of the duties of each person on board. In most merchantmen the cry of "Every man to his station, and the cook to the fore-sheet," is calling the hands and the idlers.

STATIONARIAE. Those vessels of a Roman fleet ordered to remain at anchor.

STATIONARY POINTS. Those points in a planet's orbit in which, as viewed from the earth, it appears to have no motion amongst the stars.

STATION-BILL. A list containing the appointed posts of the crew when performing any evolution but action.

STATIONER. One who has had experience, or who has been some time on a particular station.

STATIONING A SHIP'S COMPANY. Arranging the crew for the ready execution of the evolutionary duties of a ship.

STATION-POINTER. A circular instrument furnished with one standard radius, and two movable. By laying off two observed angles right and left from a central object, and laying the instrument over the objects on a chart, the position of the observer is instantly fixed.

STATIONS FOR STAYS! Repair to your posts to tack ship.

STAUNCH. A flood-gate crossing a river to keep up a head of water, and, by producing a rush in dry weather, floating the lighters over the adjacent shallows.

STAVE, TO. To break a hole in any vessel. Also, to drive in the head of a cask, as of spirits, to prevent the crew from misusing it in case of wreck.--To stave off. To boom off; to push anything off with a pole.

STAVES. Wood prepared for the component parts of a cask. In 1781, staves were ruled not to be a naval store, unless it were shown that the French at Brest were in some peculiar want of casks. Also, the wood of lances, formerly an object of great care, insomuch that Shakspeare makes Richard III. say:--

"Look that my staves be sound, and not too heavy."

STAY. A large strong rope extending from the upper end of each mast towards the stem of the ship, as the shrouds are extended on each side. The object of both is to prevent the masts from springing, when the ship is pitching deep. Thus stays are fore and aft; those which are led down to the vessel's side are backstays.--The fore-stay is that which reaches from the foremast-head towards the bowsprit end.--The main-stay is that which extends to the ship's stem.--The mizen-stay is that which is stretched to a collar on the main-mast, immediately above the quarter-deck.--The fore-topmast stay is that which comes to the end of the bowsprit, a little beyond the fore-stay, on which the fore-topmast staysail runs on hanks.--The main-topmast stay is attached to the hounds of the fore-mast, or comes on deck.--The mizen-topmast stay is that which comes to the hounds of the main-mast. The top-gallant, royal, or any other masts, have each a stay, named after their respective masts.--Spring-stay is a kind of substitute nearly parallel to the principal stay, and intended to help the principal stay to support its mast.--Stay of a steamer. An iron bar between the two knees which secure the paddle-beams. (See FUNNEL-STAYS.)--To stay. To tack, to bring the ship's head up to the wind for going about; hence to miss stays, is to fail in the attempt to go about.--In stays, or hove in stays, is the situation of a vessel when she is staying, or in the act of going about; a vessel in bad trim, or lubberly handled, is sure to be slack in stays, and refuses stays, when she has to wear.

STAY APEEK. When the cable and fore-stay form a line. (See APEEK.)

STAY-BARS, OR STAY-RODS. Strong malleable iron bars for supporting the framings of the marine steam-engine.

STAYED FORWARD. This term is applied to masts when they incline forward out of the vertical line; the opposite of rake (which see.)

STAYSAIL. A triangular sail hoisted upon a stay.

STAYSAIL-NETTING. See BOWSPRIT-NETTING.

STAYSAIL-STAY. The stay on which a staysail is set.

STAY-TACKLES, FORE AND MAIN. Special movable purchases for hoisting in and out boats, anchors, &c. They plumb the fore and main hatchways, working in conjunction with fore and main yard tackles.

STEADY! The order given to the steersman, in a fair wind, to steer the ship on her course without deviating; to which he answers, Steady it is, sir.

STEADY-FAST. A hawser carried out to some fixed object to keep a vessel steady in a tide-way, or in preparation for making sail from a fast.

STEADY GALE. A fresh breeze pretty uniform in force and direction.

STEALING. The gaining of a rat-line or two in height while waiting on the lower part of the rigging for the order to go aloft. Also, a vessel is said to steal ahead when she moves with the lightest breath of air.

STEAM-CHEST. The reservoir for steam above the water of the boiler; sometimes termed steam-chamber.

STEAM-CRANE. A crane worked by means of a steam-engine.

STEAM-CYLINDER. See CYLINDER.

STEAM-FRIGATE. A large armed steamer commanded by a captain in the navy.

STEAM-HOIST. A machine in dockyards for driving piles, working pumps, &c.

STEAM NAVIGATION. The management of vessels propelled by steam-power.

STEAM-PACKET. A steamer employed in trading regularly between two places with goods and passengers.

STEAM-PIPE. See WASTE STEAM-PIPE.

STEAM-PORTS. Oblong passages leading from the nozzle-faces to the inside of the cylinder; by them the steam enters and returns, above and below the piston.

STEAM-RAM. A new order of war-vessel, fitted for running prow on against an enemy's ship, to stave her in by crushing.

STEAM SLOOP-OF-WAR. One commanded by a commander.

STEAM-TUG. A vessel fitted with a marine steam-engine, and expressly employed for towing ships.

STEAM-WINCH. A machine for hoisting out cargo or working a ship's pumps.

STEATAE. Broad low vessels used by the ancient pirates.

STEELER, OR STEALER. The foremost and aftermost plank in a strake, which drops short of the stem or stern-post.

STEEP-TO. [Anglo-Saxon steap.] Said of a bold shore, admitting of the largest vessels coming very close to the cliffs without touching the bottom. (See BOLD-SHORE.)

STEEP-TUB. A large tub in which salt provisions are soaked previous to being cooked.

STEERAGE. The act of steering. (See NICE STEERAGE.) Also, that part of the ship next below the quarter-deck, immediately before the bulk-head of the great cabin in most ships of war. The portion of the 'tween-decks just before the gun-room bulk-head. In some ships the second-class passengers are called steerage passengers. The admiral's cabin on the middle deck of three-deckers has been called the steerage.

STEERAGE-WAY. When a vessel has sufficient motion in the water to admit of the helm being effective.

STEER HER COURSE, TO. Going with the wind fair enough to lay her course.

STEERING [Anglo-Saxon steoran]. The perfection of steering consists in a vigilant attention to the motion of the ship's head, so as to check every deviation from the line of her course in the first instant of its commencement, and in applying as little of the power of the helm as possible, for the action of the rudder checks a ship's speed.

STEERING-SAIL. An incorrect name for a studding-sail.

STEER LARGE, TO. To go free, off the wind. Also, to steer loosely.

STEER SMALL, TO. To steer well and within small compass, not dragging the tiller over from side to side.

STEERSMAN. The helmsman or timoneer; the latter from the French timon, helm.

STEEVING. Implies the bowsprit's angle from the horizon: formerly it stood at an angle of 70 to 80 degrees, and was indeed almost a bow mast or sprit. Also, the stowing of cotton, wool, or other cargo, in a merchantman's hold with a jack-screw.

STEM. The foremost piece uniting the bows of a ship; its lower end scarphs into the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper end. The outside of the stem is usually marked with a scale of feet and inches, answering to a perpendicular from the keel, in order to ascertain the ship's draught of water forward.--False stem. When a ship's stem is too flat, so that she cannot keep a wind well, a false stem, or gripe, is fayed on before the right one, which enables her to hold a better wind.--From stem to stern, from one end of the ship to the other.--To stem, to make way against any obstacle. "She does not stem the tide," that is, she cannot make head against it for want of wind.

STEM-KNEE. In ship-building, the compass-timber which connects the keel with the stem. (See DEAD-WOOD KNEES.)

STEMSON. An arching piece of compass-timber, worked within the apron to reinforce the scarph thereof, in the same manner as the apron supports that of the stem. The upper end is carried as high as the upper deck, the lower being scarphed on to the kelson.

STEP. A large clamp of timber fixed on the kelson, and fitted to receive the tenoned heel of a mast. The steps of the main and fore masts of every ship rest upon the kelson; that of the mizen-mast sometimes rests upon the lower-deck beams.--To step a boat's mast. To erect and secure it in its step in readiness for setting sail.

STEP OF THE CAPSTAN. A solid block of wood fixed between two of the ship's beams to receive the iron spindle and heel of the capstan.

STEP OUT, TO. To move along simultaneously and cheerfully with a tackle-fall, &c.

STEPPES. The specific application is to the vast level plains of South-east and Asiatic Russia, resembling the Landes of France. (See LANDES.)

STEPPING. The sinking a rabbet in the dead-wood, wherein the heels of the timbers rest. (See BEARDING-LINE.)

STEPS OF THE SIDE. Pieces of quartering nailed to the sides amidships, from the wale upwards; for the people ascending or descending the ship.

STERE'S-MAN. A pilot or steerer, from the Anglo-Saxon steora.

STERE-TRE. An archaic word for rudder.

STERN. The after-part of a ship, ending in the taffarel above and the counters below.--By the stern. The condition of a vessel which draws more water abaft than forward.

STERNAGE. The after-part of a ship, and therefore Shakspeare's term is simple enough for any but commentators. Henry V.'s fleet is sailing away:--

"O, do but think, You stand upon the rivage, and behold A city on the inconstant billows dancing; For so appears this fleet majestical, Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow! Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy."

STERN-ALL. A term amongst whalers, meaning to pull the boat stern foremost, to back off after having entered an iron (harpoon).

STERN-BOARD. This term is familiarly known to seamen as tacking by misadventure in stays; or purposely, as a seamanlike measure, to effect the object. Thus a ship in a narrow channel is allowed to fly up head to wind until her stem nearly touches a weather danger; the head-yards are then quickly braced abox, and the helm shifted. Thus she makes stern-way until all the sails are full, when she is again skilfully brought to the wind before touching the danger under her lee. Generally speaking, however, it refers to bad seamanship.

STERN-CHASERS. The guns which fire directly aft.

STERN-DAVITS. Pieces of iron or timber projecting from the stern, with sheaves or blocks at their outer ends, for hoisting boats up to.

STERN-FAST. A rope used to confine the stern of a vessel to a wharf, &c.

STERN-FRAME. That strong and ornamental union based on the stern-post, transom, and fashion-pieces.

STERN-KNEE. Synonymous with stern-son (which see).

STERN-LADDER. Made of ropes with wooden steps, for getting in and out of the boats astern.

STERNMOST. Implies anything in the rear, or farthest astern, as opposed to headmost.

STERN-PORTS. The ports made between the stern-timbers.

STERN-POST. The opposite to the stem; scarphed into the keel, and suspending the rudder. In steam-ships, where a screw is fitted, it works between this and an after stern-post which carries the rudder.

STERN-SHEETS. That part of a boat between the stern and the aftmost thwart, furnished with seats for passengers.

STERN-SON. A knee-piece of oak-timber, worked on the after dead-wood; the fore-end is scarphed into the kelson, and the after-side fayed into the throats of the transoms.

STERN-WALK. The old galleries formerly used to line-of-battle ships.

STERN-WAY. The movement by which a ship goes stern foremost. The opposite of head-way.

STEVEDORE, OR STIVADORE. A stower; one employed in the hold in loading and unloading merchant vessels.

STEWARD. There are several persons under this appellation in most ships, according to their size, appointed to the charge of the sea-stores of the various grades. The paymaster's steward has most to do, having to serve the crew, and therefore has assistants, distinguished by the sobriquet of Jack-o'-the-dust, &c. In large passenger ships which do not carry a purser, part of his duties devolves upon the captain's steward. In smaller merchant ships the special duties of the steward are not heavy, so that he assists in the working of the ship, and in tacking; his station is, ex officio, the main-sheet.

STICHLING. A grown perch, thus described by old Palsgrave: "Styckelyng, a maner of fysshe."

STICKLEBACK. A very small fish, armed with sharp spines on its back.

STICKS. A familiar phrase for masts.

STIFF. Stable or steady; the opposite to crank; a quality by which a ship stands up to her canvas, and carries enough sail without heeling over too much.

STIFF BOTTOM. A clayey bottom.

STIFF BREEZE. One in which a ship may carry a press of sail, when a little more would endanger the spars.

STIFFENING ORDER. A custom-house warrant for making a provision in the shipping of goods, before the whole inward cargo is discharged, to prevent the vessel getting too light.

STILL WATER. Another name for slack-tide; it is also used for water under the lee of headlands, or where there is neither tide nor current.

STING-RAY. A fish, Trygon pastinaca, which wounds with a serrate bone, lying in a sheath on the upper side of its tail; the wound is painful, as all fish-wounds are, but not truly poisonous, and the smart is limited by superstition to the next tide.

STINK-BALLS. A pyrotechnical preparation of pitch, rosin, nitre, gunpowder, colophony, assaf[oe]tida, and other offensive and suffocating ingredients, formerly used for throwing on to an enemy's decks at close quarters, and still in use with Eastern pirates, in earthen jars or stink-pots.

STIPULATION. A process in the instance-court of the admiralty, which is conventional when it regards a vessel or cargo, but praetorian and judicial in proceedings against a person.

STIREMANNUS. The term in Domesday Book for the pilot of a ship or steersman.

STIRRUP. An iron or copper plate that turns upwards on each side of a ship's keel and dead-wood at the fore-foot, or at her skegg, and bolts through all: it is a strengthener, but not always necessary.

STIRRUPS. Ropes with eyes at their ends, through which the foot-ropes are rove, and by which they are supported; the ends are nailed to the yards, and steady the men when reefing or furling sails.

STIVER. A very small Dutch coin. "Not worth a stiver" is a colloquialism to express a person's poverty.

STOACH-WAY. The streamlet or channel which runs through the silt or sand at low-water in tidal ports; a term principally used on our southern shores.

STOAKED. The limber-holes impeded or choked, so that the water cannot come to the pump-well.

STOCADO. A neat thrust in fencing.

STOCCADE. A defensive work, constructed of stout timber or trunks of trees securely planted together. Originally written stockade.

STOCKADE. Now spelled stoccade.

STOCK AND FLUKE. The whole of anything.

STOCK-FISH. Ling and haddock when sun-dried, without salt, were called stock-fish, and used in the navy, but are now discontinued, from being thought to promote the scurvy.

STOCK OF AN ANCHOR. A cross-beam of wood, or bar of iron, secured to the upper end of the shank at right angles with the flukes; by its means the anchor is canted with one fluke down, and made to hook the ground.--Stock of a gun, musket, or pistol, is the wooden part to which the barrel is fitted, for the convenience of handling and firing it. Stock is also applied to stores laid in for a voyage, as sea-stock, live-stock, &c.--To stock to, in stowing an anchor, is, by means of a tackle upon the upper end of the stock, to bowse it into a perpendicular direction, which tackle is hence denominated the stock-tackle.

STOCKS. A frame of blocks and shores whereon to build shipping. It has a gradual declivity towards the water.

STOER-MACKEREL. A name for the young tunny-fish.

STOITING. An east-country term for the jumping of fishes above the surface of the water.

STOKE, TO. To frequent the galley in a man-of-war, or to trim fires.

STOKE-HOLE. A scuttle in the deck of a steamer to admit fuel for the engine. Also, the space for the men to stand in, to feed and trim the fires.

STOKER, OR FIREMAN. The man who attends to feed and trim the fires for the boilers in a steam-vessel.

STOMACH-PIECE. See APRON.

STONACRE. A sloop-rigged boat employed to carry stone on the Severn.

STONE. The old term for a gun-flint.

STONE-BOW. A cross-bow for shooting stones.

STOOL. A minor channel abaft the main channels, for the dead-eyes of the backstays. (See BACKSTAY-STOOLS.)

STOOLS. Chocks introduced under the lowest transoms of a ship's stern-frame, to which the lower ends of the fashion-pieces are fastened; they form the securities of the quarter-galleries. Also, the thick pieces of plank, fayed together edgeways, and bolted to the sides of the ship for backstays. Also, the ornamental block for the poop-lantern to stand upon.

STOP. A small projection on the outside of the cheeks of a lower mast, at the upper parts of the hounds. Also, the word given by him who holds the glass in heaving the log, to check the line and determine how fast she is going.--To stop. To tie up with small stuff; as a sail is stopped when sending it aloft to prevent the wind from blowing it away; a flag is stopped to make a wheft, &c.

STOP HER! An order to check the cable in being payed out. Also, a self-explanatory phrase to direct the engineer of a steamer to stop the action of the engines.

STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU. A valuable privilege under which an unpaid consigner or broker may stop or countermand his goods upon their passage to the consignee on the insolvency of the vendee.

STOPPER OF THE ANCHOR. A strong rope attached to the cat-head, which, passing through the anchor-ring, is afterwards fastened to a timber-head, thereby securing the anchor on the bow.

STOPPER OF THE CABLE. Commonly called a deck-stopper. A piece of rope having a large knot at one end, and hooked or lashed to a ring-bolt in the deck by the other; it is attached to the cable by a laniard, which is passed securely round both, by several turns passed behind the knot, or round the neck of the stopper, by which means the cable is restrained from running out of the ship when she rides, and is an additional security to the bitted cable.--Dog-stopper. A strong rope clenched round the main-mast, and used on particular occasions to relieve and assist the preceding when the ship rides in a heavy sea, or otherwise veering with a strain on the cable.--Wing-stoppers. Similar pieces of rope clenched round one of the beams near the ship's side, and serving the same purpose as the preceding.--Rigging-stoppers have a knot and a laniard at each end; they are used when the shrouds, stays, or backstays are stranded in action, or in a gale; they are then lashed above and below, in the same manner as those of the cables, to the wounded parts of the shroud, &c., which are thereby strengthened, so as to be fit for service. Other rigging-stoppers have dead-eyes and tails, so that by securing one dead-eye above and the other below the injury, they can be set up by their laniard, and brought to an even strain with the other shrouds. Stoppers are also pieces of rope used to prevent the running-rigging from coming up whilst being belayed. Sometimes they have a knot at one end, and a hook at the other, for various purposes about the decks.

STOPPERING. The act of checking or holding fast any rope or cable by means of a stopper.

STOPPER-KNOT. Single and double wall, without crowning, and the ends stopped together.

STOP THE VENT, TO. To close it hermetically by pressing the thumb to it.

STOP-WATER. Anything tending to impede the sailing of a ship, by towing overboard. Also, a name for particular tree-nails.

STORE-KEEPER. An officer in the royal dockyards, invested with the general charge of naval stores, as the sails, anchors, cordage, &c.

STORES. A general term for the arms, clothing, ropes, sails, provisions, and other outfit, with which a ship is supplied.

STORE-SHIP. A government vessel appropriated for carrying munitions and stores.

STORM, TO. To take by vigorous assault, in spite of the resistance of the defenders.

STORM-BREEDERS. Heavy cumulo-stratus clouds.

STORM-DRUM. A canvas cylinder 3 feet in length, expanded at each end by a strong wooden hoop 3 feet in diameter. Fitzroy's is painted black, and presents, when suspended, the appearance of a black square of 3 feet, from all points of view.

STORM-FINCH. The petrel, or Mother Cary's chicken.

STORM-JIB. In cutters, the fifth or sixth size: the inner jib of square-rigged ships.

STORM-KITE. A contrivance for sending a hawser from a stranded vessel to the shore.

STORMS [from the Anglo-Saxon steorm]. Tempests, or gales of wind in nautic language, are of various kinds, and will be found under their respective designations. But that is a storm which reduces a ship to her storm staysails, or to her bare poles.

STORM-SAIL. A sail made of stout No. 1 canvas, of reduced dimensions, for use in a gale.

STORM-SIGNAL. The hoisting of a danger-flag. Also, Fitzroy's drum and cone, which show the direction of the expected gale.

STORM-TRYSAIL. A fore-and-aft sail, hoisted by a gaff, but having no boom at its foot, and only used in foul weather.

STORM-WARNING. See FORECAST.

STORM-WAVE. A wave which tumbles home without being accompanied by wind. Sometimes the result of a gale elsewhere.

STORMY PETREL. A small dark coloured sea-bird, Procellaria pelagica.

STOVE. Broken in; thus, when violent damage is done to the upper part of a ship's hull, she is said to be stove; when on any portion of her bottom, she is bilged.--A stove, is a kind of kiln for warping timber in.--Hanging stoves are also used on board ship for airing the 'tween decks.

STOWAGE. An important art more practised than understood, for the stower seldom consults the specialities of the vessel's construction; it is the general disposition of the ballast, cargo, &c., contained in a ship's hold, with regard to their shape, size, or solidity, agreeably to the form of the vessel, and its probable centre of gravity. A badly stowed vessel cannot be properly handled, and is indeed dangerous to the lives of all on board. Owners and masters are legally liable to the losses by bad stowage or deficient dunnage. (See WET.)

STOWAGE GOODS. Those which usually pay freight according to bulk.

STOWED IN BULK. See BULK.

STOWING HAMMOCKS. Placing them in a neat and symmetrical order in the hammock-netting.

STOWING-STRAKE. See STEELER.

STRAGGLING-MONEY. If a man be absent from his duty without leave, but not absent long enough to be logged as run, and is brought on board, a deduction is to be made from his wages at the discretion of the captain; not, however, to exceed the sum of L1.

STRAIGHT OF BREADTH. The space before and abaft the dead-flat, in which the ship is of the same uniform breadth as at the dead-flat.

STRAIN-BANDS. Bands of canvas sustaining the strain on the belly of the sails, and reinforced by the linings, &c.

STRAIT, OR STRAIGHT. A passage connecting one part of a sea with another; as, the Straits of Gibraltar, of Sunda, of Dover, &c. This word is often written in the plural, but without competent reason.

STRAIT GULF. An arm of the sea running into the land through a narrow entrance channel, as the Gulf of Venice. The Mediterranean itself is but a vast strait gulf.

STRAKE. One breadth of plank in a ship, either within or without board, wrought from the stem to the stern-post.--Garboard-strake. The lowest range of planks, faying into the keel-rabbets.--Wash-strake guards spray.

STRAND. A number of rope-yarns twisted together; one of the twists or divisions of which a rope is composed. The part which passes through to form the eye of a splice. Also, a sea-margin; the portion alternately left and covered by tides. Synonymous with beach. It is not altered from the original Anglo-Saxon.

STRANDED. A rope is stranded when one of its strands is broken by chafing, or by a strain. A vessel is stranded when driven on shore, in which case the justices of the peace may call in assistance. The term "stranded on the beach," is not so incorrect as has been asserted; and comes under the usual exception in charter-parties and bills of lading, of "all and every dangers of the seas, rivers, and navigation of whatsoever nature or kind;" and in all policies of insurance it falls under the general words of "all other perils, losses, or misfortunes," against the risk of which the insurance is made.

STRANGE SAIL. A vessel heaving in sight, of which the particulars are unknown.

STRAPS OF THE RUDDER. See PINTLES.

STRATAGEM. A plan devised to throw dust into the eyes of an enemy, in order to deceive him.

STRATEGY. The science of the naval and military combinations which compel movements and battles, or the contrary, but not including the operations of actual battle, which belong to tactics.

STRATUS. A low cloud which forms a horizontal line. The higher cloud of the same shape is called cirro-stratus.

STRAW! A word of command, now obsolete, formerly given to dismiss soldiers who were to remain in readiness to fall in again at a moment's notice.

STRAY LINE OF THE LOG. About 10 or 12 fathoms of line left unmarked next the log-ship, in order that it may get out of the eddy of the ship's wake before the measuring begins, or the glass is turned.

STRAY-MARK. The mark at the junction of the stray and log lines.

STREAM. Anglo-Saxon for flowing water, meaning especially the middle or most rapid part of a tide or current.

STREAM-ANCHOR. A smaller one by two-thirds than the bowers, and larger than the kedges, used to ride steady, or moor with occasionally. In certain cases it is used for warping.

STREAM-CABLE. A hawser smaller than the lower cables, and used with the stream-anchor to moor the ship in a sheltered river or haven; it is now more generally a small chain.

STREAMER. Formerly described thus:--"A streamer shall stand in the toppe of a shippe, or in the forecastle, and therein be putt no armes, but a man's conceit or device, and may be of the length of 20, 30, 40, or 60 yardes."

STREAM-ICE. A collection of pieces of drift or bay ice, joining each other in a ridge following in the line of current. (See SEA-STREAM.)

STREAM-LAKE. One which communicates with, the sea by means of a river.

STREAM THE BUOY, TO. To let the buoy fall from the after-part of the ship's side into the water, preparatory to letting go the anchor, that it may not foul the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom.

STREMES. An old English word for "the rays of the sun."

STRENGTH. In naval architecture, means giving the various pieces of a ship their proper figures, so that by their combination and disposition they may be united into a firm and compact frame. In regimental affairs it implies merely the number of men actually serving.

STRENGTH OF THE TIDE. Where it runs strongest, which in serpentine courses will be found in the hollow curves.

STRESS. Hard pressure by weather or other causes. Stress of weather often compels a ship to put back to the port whence she sailed.

STRETCH. A word frequently used instead of tack; as, "We shall make a good stretch."--To stretch. To sail by the wind under a crowd of canvas.

STRETCH ALONG A BRACE, TO. To lay it along the decks in readiness for the men to lay hold of; called manning it.

STRETCHER. See SHEER-POLE.

STRETCHERS. Narrow pieces of wood placed athwart the bottom of a boat, for the rowers to place their feet against, that they may communicate greater effort to their oars. Also, cross-pieces placed between a boat's sides to keep them apart when hoisted up and griped. Colloquially, a stretcher means a lie exaggerated to absurdity.

STRETCH OUT! In rowing, is the order to pull strong; to bend forward to the utmost.

STRICTLAND. An archaic term for an isthmus.

STRIKE, TO. A ship strikes when she in any way touches the bottom. Also, to lower anything, as the ensign or top-sail in saluting, or as the yards, topgallant-masts, and top-masts in a gale. It is also particularly used to express the lowering of the colours in token of surrender to a victorious enemy.

STRIKE DOWN! The order to lower casks, &c., into the hold.

STRIKERS. Men furnished with harpoons or grains to attack fish; hence the term dolphin-striker (which see), where these men place themselves.

STRIKE SOUNDINGS, TO. To gain bottom, or the first soundings, by the deep-sea lead, on coming in from sea.

STRING [Anglo-Saxon straeng]. In ship-building, a strake within side, constituting the highest range of planks in a ship's ceiling, and it answers to the sheer-strake outside, to the scarphs of which it gives strength.

STRINGERS. A name sometimes applied to shelf-pieces (which see). Also, heavy timber similarly carried round a ship to fortify her for special heavy service, as whaling, &c.

STRIPPED TO THE GIRT-LINE. All the standing-rigging and furniture having been cleared off the masts in the course of dismantling.

STRIPPING. An inconvenient fault of many lead-coated projectiles--the throwing off portions of their coating on discharge from the gun.

STRIP THE MASTS, TO. To clear the masts of their rigging.

STROKE. A pull or single sweep of the oars in rowing; hence the order, "Row a long stroke," which is intended to move the boat forward more steadily.

STROKE-OAR. The aftermost oar in a boat, from which the others take their time.

STROKE OF THE SEA. The shock occasioned to a vessel by a heavy sea striking her.

STROKE-SIDE OF A BOAT. That in which the after starboard rowlock is placed, or where the after oar is rowed if single-banked.

STROKESMAN. The man who rows the aftmost oar in a boat.

STROM. An archaism of storm or tempest.

STROMBOLO. Bits of ampelite or cannel-coal found on our southern coasts, charged with bitumen, sulphur, and salt. The name is referred to the Island of Stromboli, but the Brighton people insist that it is from the Flemish strom-bollen, meaning stream or tide balls.

STRONG-BACK. The same with Samson's post (which see). Also, an adaptation of a strong piece of wood over the windlass, to lift the turns of a chain-cable clear of it.

STRONG BREEZE. That which reduces a ship to double-reefed top-sails, jib, and spanker.

STRONG GALE. That strength of wind under which close-reefed top-sails and storm-staysails are usually carried when close-hauled.

STROP, OR STRAP. A piece of rope, spliced generally into a circular wreath, and used to surround the body of a block, so that the latter may be hung to any particular situation about the masts, yards, or rigging. Strops are also used occasionally to fasten upon any large rope for the purpose of hooking a tackle to the eye or double part of the strop, in order to extend or pull with redoubled effort upon the same rope; as in setting up the rigging, where one hook of the tackle is fixed in a strop applied to the particular shroud, and the other to its laniard.

STROP-BOUND BLOCK. A single block used in the clue of square-sails for the clue-lines to lead through; it has a shoulder left on each side to prevent the strop from chafing.--Iron-strop, a hoop of iron, in lieu of rope, round the shell of a block.

STRUCK BY A SEA. Said of a ship when a high rolling wave breaks on board of her.

STRUT. A stanchion or sustaining prop to the lower beams.

STUBB, OR DOGG. The lower part of a rainbow visible towards the horizon, and betokening squally weather: it is fainter than the wind-gall. On the banks of Newfoundland they are considered precursors of clearer weather, and termed fog-dogs.

STUD, OR BAR. A small piece of cast-iron introduced across the middle of each link of the larger chain-cables, where, acting as a strengthener, it prevents collapse, and keeps the links endways to each other.

STUDDING-SAIL BOOM. A spar rigged out for the purpose of setting a studding-sail, and taking its name from the sail it belongs to.

STUDDING-SAILS. Fine-weather sails set outside the square-sails; the term "scudding-sails" was formerly used.--Top-mast and top-gallant studding-sails. Those which are set outside the top-sails and topgallant-sails. They have yards at the head, and are spread at the foot by booms, which slide out on the extremities of the lower and top-sail yards, and their heads or yards are hoisted up to the top-sail and top-gallant yard-arms.

STUDDING-SAIL YARD. The spar to which the head of the studding-sail is extended.

STUFF. A coat of stuff, a term used for any composition laid on to ships' spars, bottom, &c. Also, square timber of different thicknesses.

STUFFING-BOX. A contrivance on the top of a steam cylinder-cover, packed with hemp, and kept well soaked with tallow, to prevent steam from passing through while the piston-rod is working.

STUMP. A derogatory but well-known name in navigating our eastern coasts for the beautiful tower of Boston church. (See SNAGS.)

STUMP TOPGALLANT-MASTS. Those without a royal pole.

STUN-SAILS. A corruption of studding-sails (which see).

STURGEON. Acipenser sturio, a large fish; it has a cartilaginous skeleton, with a small circular and tubular mouth. It is found in the European seas and larger rivers. The roes are made into caviare, and the sounds and muscular parts into isinglass. It is a royal fish in England.

STURRE-MANNE. An old name for a sea-captain.

SUBALTERNS. All commissioned army officers ranking below captains.

SUB-LIEUTENANT. A rank lately reproduced, to which a midshipman is entitled on passing for lieutenant; formerly styled mate.

SUBMARINE BANK. An extensive sandy plateau with deep water over it.

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH. Consists of a steel wire-rope, containing a heart of gutta-percha and other soft materials, in which are inclosed the copper wires through which the communication by electricity is conveyed. Rapid progress has been made in the art of making and handling this rope, as is proved by the existence of two cables between Ireland and America, one of which was recovered from the deep sea by creeping.

SUBMARINE THERMOMETER. An instrument for trying the temperature of the sea at different depths. It consists of a hollow weighted cylinder in which a Six's thermometer is placed; the cylinder being provided with a valve at each end, opening upwards, so that as it sinks the valves open, allowing a free course of water through the cylinder: when it reaches the required depth the line is checked and the valves close; it is then hauled gently in, and the thermometer reaches the surface surrounded by water of the required depth, indicating its temperature.

SUBSIDY. A stipulated sum of money paid by one ruler to another, in pursuance of a treaty of alliance for offensive and defensive war. Also, a sum allowed for the conveyance of mails.

SUBSISTENCE. The amount to be issued to troops as daily pay, after making the regulated deductions for rations, necessaries, &c.

SUCCADES. Sweetmeats entered at the custom-house; formerly a large part of the cargo of Spanish West Indiamen.

SUCCOUR. An enterprise undertaken to relieve a place besieged or blockaded, by either forcing the enemy from before it, or throwing in supplies.

SUCKING. The action of the pump when the well is nearly dry, or at least so low at the pump-foot as to admit air.

SUCK-STONE. An archaic name for the remora.

SUCK THE MONKEY, TO. To rob the grog-can. (See MONKEY.)

SUCTION. The rising of a fluid by the pressure of the atmosphere into a space where a vacuum has been created.

SUFFERANCE. A permission on the custom-house transire (which see.)

SUFFERANCE WHARF. See WHARF.

SUFFOLK BANG. A very poor and hard kind of cheese, which was indignantly refused in our North Sea fleet. It was, as farmer's boy Bloomfield admitted, "too hard to bite."

SUGAR-LOAF. A term applied to conical hills along a sea-coast.

SUGAR-LOAF SEA. High turbulent waves with little wind.

SUGG, TO. To move or rock heavily on a bank or reef.

SUIT OF SAILS. The whole of the sails required to be bent for a vessel.

SULLAGE. The deposition of mud and silt by water.

SULLIT. A broad Dutch fishing-boat.

SULPHUR. A mineral which forms a principal ingredient in the manufacture of gunpowder, and greatly increases the rapidity of its combustion.

SUMMER-BLINK. A transient gleam of sunshine in bad weather.

SUMMER COUTS. A northern name for the aurora borealis.

SUMMER SOLSTICE. See CANCER.

SUMP. A bog or swamp. Also, a patent fuse used in mining.

SUMPIT. An arrow blown from the sumpitan, in Borneo. The sumpitan is about 7 feet long; the arrow has been driven with some force at 130 yards. Some suppose it to be poisoned.

SUN. The central body of our planetary system, and the source of light and heat; it is 850,000 miles in diameter.--With the sun, i.e. from left to right.--Against the sun, from right to left.

SUN AND MOON IN DISTANCE. When the angle between those bodies admits of measurement for lunars (about 130 deg.).

SUNDAY. Ought to be a day of rest at sea as well as on shore, when religious services might generally be performed. Though called the negro's holiday, it often brings but little cessation from work in some merchantmen; they sail on a Sunday, not because of exigency, but because it is otherwise a leisure day, and thereby gained to the owners.

SUN-FISH. The Orthagoriscus mola, a whimsical-looking creature, like the head of a large fish severed from its body. Also, a name in the south for the basking shark, from its habit of lying in the sunshine.

SUNKEN ROCK. That which lies beneath the surface of the sea, and is dangerous to navigation.

SUNK LAND. Shallows and swamps.

SUN-STAR. The Solaster papposus, one of the largest and handsomest of our radiated star-fishes.

SUPERANNUATED. Applied to such as have permission to retire from the service on a stated pension, on account of age or infirmity.

SUPER-CARGO. A person charged with the accounts and disposal of the cargo, and all other commercial affairs in the merchant-ship in which he sails.

SUPER-HEATED. Said of steam, the heat of which has been raised after being generated.

SUPER-HEATER. A contrivance for increasing the temperature of the steam to the extent that it would lose on its way from the boiler, until exhausted from the cylinder.

SUPERIOR CONJUNCTION. When an inferior planet is situated in the same longitude as the sun, and has that luminary between it and the earth, it is said to be in superior conjunction.

SUPERIOR PLANETS. Those which revolve about the sun as a centre, outside the earth's orbit; the opposite of inferior.

SUPERIOR SLOPE. The inclined upper surface of a parapet.

SUPERNATANT PART OF A SHIP. That part which, when afloat, is above the water. This was formerly expressed by the name dead-work.

SUPERNUMERARIES. Men over and above the established complement of a ship, who are entered on a separate list in the ship's books for victuals and wages.

SUPPLEMENT OF LONGITUDE. The term usually applied to its complement, or what it wants of 180 deg.

SUPPORT A FRIEND, TO. To make every exertion to assist a vessel in distress, from whatever cause. Neglect of this incurs punishment.

SUPPORTERS. Circular knee-timbers placed under the cat-heads for their support and security.

SURA. The drink otherwise called toddy (which see).

SURDINY. An old name for the fish sardine.

SURE, OR SHORE. See SHORE.

SURES. Peculiar southerly winds which blow on the coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, accompanied by a fog or vapour, called sures pardos.

SURF. The swell and foam of the sea, which breaks upon the shore, or any rock lying near the surface. The most violent surfs are those which break upon a flat shore, as on the Coromandel and African coasts.

SURFACE CURRENT. A current which does not extend more than 8 or 10 feet below the surface. Also, fresh water running over salt at the mouths of great rivers.

SURF-BOAT. A peculiar kind of flat-bottomed boat, varying according to local exigencies, for landing men, or goods, in surf. (See MASULAH BOATS.)

SURGE. A large swelling wave. Also, the tapered part of the whelps between the chocks of the capstan, upon which the messenger is readily surged.--To surge, is to slacken up suddenly a portion of a rope where it renders round a pin, windlass, or capstan; as, "Surge the messenger." A ship is said to surge on a reef when she rises and falls with the heave of the sea, so as to strike heavily.

SURGE HO! The notice given when a rope or cable is to be surged.

SURGEON. A competent medical officer, appointed to attend the sick and wounded on board a ship of war, for which purpose he has, according to the rate of the ship, from one to two assistants, once called surgeon's mates, but latterly assistant-surgeons (which see).

SURGE THE CAPSTAN, TO. To slacken the rope heaved round upon its barrel, to prevent its parts from riding or getting foul.

SURINGER. An archaism for surgeon.

SURMARKS. In ship-building, the points on the moulds where the bevellings are to be applied to the timbers.

SURROGATES. Those substituted or appointed in the room of others; as naval captains formerly acting for judges in Newfoundland.

SURVEY. An inspection or examination made by several practical officers into the condition of any stores belonging to a ship. Also, those important astronomical observations, soundings, and other data, collected by officers who are employed in constructing charts and plans of seas, shoals, rocks, harbours, &c.

SURVEYING VESSELS. Those equipped for examining coasts, dangers, &c.; their utility is unquestionable. Some of the smaller vessels of war on every station might be profitably employed in thus examining all reported dangers.

SURVEYORS AT LLOYD'S. See LLOYD'S SURVEYORS.

SURVEYORS OF THE NAVY. Two officers who formerly sat at the navy board, being invested with the charge of building and repairing the royal ships at the different dockyards of the kingdom; for which they were trained to the theory and practice of ship-building.

SUSPENSION OF ARMS. A short truce agreed upon by contending forces, for a special object of importance.

SUTILES. Ancient cobles made of strong staves sewed together, and covered with leather or skins.

SUTLER. A victualler who follows the camp to sell provisions to the troops. In garrisons and garrison-towns there are also sutlers who provide victuals of every kind; but Drayton's sutlers must have been very petty traders, as, when at Agincourt, Isambert's "rascals" were noted--

"For setting on those with the luggage left, A few poor sutlers with the campe that went, They basely fell to pillage and to theft."

SWAB. A sort of long mop, formed of rope-yarns of old junk, used for cleaning and drying the decks and cabins of a ship. Also, a sobriquet for a sot. Also, for an epaulette.--Hand-swab. A small swab for wiping dry the stern-sheets of a boat, washing plates and dishes, &c.

SWABBER. Formerly a petty officer on board ships of war, whose employment was to see that the decks were kept clean. Also, a man formerly appointed to use the swabs in drying up the decks. He was sometimes called ship's sweeper; more commonly captain of swabbers.

SWAB-ROPE. A line bent to the eye of a swab for dipping it overboard in washing it.

SWAB-WASHER. The principal swab-washer, or captain of the head, in large ships.

SWAB-WRINGERS. People appointed to wash the swabs and wring them out, ready for use.

SWAD, OR SWADKIN. A newly raised soldier. Also, a fish-basket.

SWADDIE. A discharged soldier.

SWAGG, TO. To sink down by its own weight; to move heavily or bend. Synonymous with sagg. Also, the bellying of a heavy rope.

SWAKE. A provincial term for a pump-handle.

SWALLOW. The score of a block.

SWALLOW'S TAIL. In fortification, an old form of outwork, having its front broken into a re-entering angle, and its two long flanks converging towards the rear.

SWALLOW-TAILS. The points of a burgee. Also, the tails of a coat.

SWAMP. A tract of land or bog on which, from its impermeable bottom, the collected fresh water remains stagnant.

SWAPE. A wooden support for a small light. Also, a pump-handle; a lever. Also, a long oar used in working a coal-keel in the north.

SWART-BACK. The Larus marinus, or great black and white gull.

SWARTS. A name formerly applied by voyagers to Indians and negroes.

SWASH. A sudden surge of the sea. Also, a shoal in a tide-way or mouth of a river, over which the water flows, and the tide ripples in ebbing or flowing.

SWASHWAY. A channel across a bank, or among shoals, as the noted instance between the Goodwin Sands.

SWATHE. The entire length of a sea-wave.

SWAY, TO, OR SWAY AWAY. To hoist simultaneously; particularly applied to the lower yards and top-masts, and topgallant-masts and yards.--To sway away on all top-ropes. To go great lengths (colloquially).

SWAY UP, TO. To apply a strain on a mast-rope in order to lift the spar upwards, so that the fid may be taken out, previous to lowering the mast. Or sway yards aloft ready for crossing.

SWEARING. A vulgar and most irrational vice, which happily is fast going out. Habitual swearing was usually typical of a bad officer. It may have originated in the custom too often demanded by law, of solemn asseverations on frivolous subjects.

SWEATING THE PURSER. Wasting his stores. Burning his candles, &c.

SWEEP. The trending or inclination of a coast to a crescent. Also, that part of the mould of a ship, where she begins to compass in the rung-heads. Also, a large kind of oar.--To sweep a coast. To sail along at a reasonable distance with a vigilant inspection.

SWEEPING. The act of dragging the bight or loose part of a small rope along the ground, in a harbour or roadstead, in order to recover a sunk anchor or wreck. The two ends of the rope are fastened to two boats, a weight being suspended to the middle, to sink it to the ground, so that, as the boats row ahead, it may drag along the bottom. Also, a term used for rapidly scrutinizing a certain portion of the heavens in quest of planets, comets, &c.

SWEEP OF THE TILLER. A semicircular frame on which the tiller traverses in large ships; it is fixed under the beams near the fore-end of the tiller, which it supports.

SWEEP-PIECE. A block at the bottom of the port-sill for receiving the chock of the gun-carriage, and to aid in training the gun.

SWEEPS. Large oars used on board ships of war in a calm, either to assist the rudder in turning them round, or to propel them ahead when chasing in light winds. Brigs of 386 tons have been swept at 3 knots or more.

SWEETENING COCK. A wholesome contrivance for preventing fetid effluvia in ships' holds, by inserting a pipe through the ship's side, with a cock at its inner end, for admitting water to neutralize the accumulated bilge-water, as also to supply the wash-deck pump.

SWELCHIE. A rapid current formed by the tide of the Pentland Firth against the Isle of Stroma. Also, a seal in those parts.

SWELL. A rolling wave which seldom breaks unless it meets resistance, generally denoting a continuous heaving, which remains for some time after the wind which caused it has subsided. Also, the gradual thickening of the muzzle of a gun, hounds of a mast, &c.

SWIFT. When the lower rigging becomes slack at sea, single blocks are placed on each shroud about 8 feet above the deck, a hawser rove through them, and the rigging swifted in, to bring a fair strain. The bars of the capstan are swifted, by passing a rope-swifter over all their ends, and bowsing it well taut. The rigging is also swifted down preparatory to replacing the ratlines truly horizontal after setting up.

SWIFTER. A strong rope, sometimes encircling a boat, about 9 inches below her gunwale, both to strengthen her and protect her in cases of collision. (See FENDERS.)

SWIFTERS. A pair of shrouds, fixed on the starboard and port sides of the lower mast, above the pendants, and before all the other shrouds: they are never confined to the cat-harpings.

SWIFTING A SHIP. Either bringing her aground or upon a careen; also passing cables round her bottom and upper-works, to help to keep her from straining--the "undergirding" mentioned by St. Paul in his shipwreck.

SWIG OFF, TO. To pull at the bight of a rope by jerks, having its lower end fast; or to gain on a rope by jumping a man's weight down, instead of hauling regularly.

SWILKER, TO. A provincialism for splashing about.

SWILL. A wicker fish-basket. The air-bladder of a fish.--To swill. To drink greedily.

SWIM, TO [from the Anglo-Saxon swymm]. To move along the surface of the water by means of the simultaneous movement of the hands and feet. With the Romans this useful art was an essential part of education.

SWIMS. The flat extremities of east-country barges.

SWINE-FISH. A northern name of the wolf-fish, Anarhichas lupus.

SWINE'S FEATHER. The spike or tuck on the top of a musket-rest [corrupted from sweyn, a boar's bristle].

SWING, TO. A ship is said to swing to the wind or tide, when they change their direction while she is lying at anchor.--To swing ship for local attraction and adjustment of compasses. This is done by taking the bearings of a very distant object at each point of the compass to which her head is brought; also, by using a theodolite on shore, and taking its bearing from the ship, and the observer's head from the theodolite.

SWINGING-BOOM. The spar which stretches the foot of a lower studding-sail; in large ships they have goose-necks in one end which hook to the foremost part of the fore-chains to iron strops fitted for the purpose. In port they are hooked to bolts at the bends, which, by bringing them lower down, enables the boats to ride easier by them as guest-warp booms.

SWIPES. The weak beer supplied to ships on the home station. A swipe is an implement for drawing water for a brewery, the name of which has thus been transferred to the beer.

SWIRL. An eddying blast of wind; a whirling wavy motion. Also, a knot in timber.

SWISH. An old term for the light driving spray of the sea.

SWIVEL. A pivot working freely round in a socket. They are fitted in boats' bows, ships' tops and bulwarks, &c., for bearing small cannon of 1/2 lb. or 1 lb. calibre, which are worked by hand, and called swivels. Also, a strong link of iron used in mooring chains, &c., which permits the bridles to be turned repeatedly round, as occasion requires. Also, a swivel-link in chain-cables, made so as to turn upon an axis, and keep the turns out of the chain.

SWONA WELLS. Whirlpools much dreaded by the sailors of the Pentland Firth. They seem to be caused by the rapidity of the tide and the position of Swona, which exactly crosses the stream.

SWORD-FISH. A large fish of the family Scombridae, remarkable for the prolongation of the nose into a straight, pointed, sword-like weapon. The European species, common in the Mediterranean, is the Xiphias gladius of naturalists.

SWORD-MAT. A mat made with shoulders to protect the laniards of the lower rigging, boats' gripes, &c., and worked by a piece of wood somewhat resembling a sword in shape, to drive home the roving threads.

SYKE [from the Anglo-Saxon sych]. A streamlet of water that flows in winter and dries up in summer.

SYMPIESOMETER, OR OIL-BAROMETER. A convenient portable instrument for measuring the weight of the atmosphere by the compression of a gaseous column; capital for small cabins.

SYNODICAL MONTH. The period in which the moon goes through every variety of phase, as from one conjunction to another.

SYNODICAL PERIOD OR REVOLUTION. If the interval of periodic time of a planet, or comet, be taken in reference to its passages through either of the nodes, its circuit is called synodical.

SYPHERED. One edge of a plank overlapping that of another, so that both planks shall make a plane surface with their bevelled edges, though not a flat or square joint.

SYSTEM. The method of disposing the correlative parts of a fortification, proposed variously by many eminent engineers.

SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE. See COPERNICAN SYSTEM.

SYZIGEE. Either conjunction or opposition, in reference to the orbit of the moon.

T.

TAB. The arming of an archer's gauntlet or glove.

TABERIN. A species of shark greatly dreaded by the pearl-fishers of Ceylon.

TABERNACLE. A strong trunk on the deck of river barges, forming a kind of hinge to enable them to lower the mast when going under bridges. Also, used to elongate the mast of any boat by stepping it in a tabernacle.

TABLE-CLOTH. A fleecy-looking cloud which sometimes covers the "table" or flat top of Table Mountain, at the Cape of Good Hope; it is the forerunner of a south-easter, being the condensation of moisture in the sea-air as it ascends the mountain side.

TABLE-LAND. Land which is flat-topped, however it may be raised more or less above the ordinary level of the vicinity.

TABLE-MONEY. An allowance to admirals and senior officers, in addition to their pay, to meet the expenses of their official guests.

TABLES. See ASTRONOMICAL TABLES, and NAUTICAL TABLES.

TABLE-SHORE. A low level shore.

TABLET. See TRAPEZOID. Also, a flat coping stone placed at the top of the revetement of the escarp, to protect the masonry from the weather.

TABLING. A broad hem on the edges of a ship's sails, to strengthen them in that part which is sewed to the bolt-rope. Also, letting one piece of timber into another, similar to the hooking of planks, so that they cannot be pulled asunder.

TACES. See TAISHES.

TACK. A rope to confine the weather lower corners of the courses and staysails when the wind crosses the ship's course obliquely. Also, the rope employed to haul out the lower outer clue of a studding-sail to the boom-end. With jibs and fore-and-aft sails, the tack confines them amidships. A ship is said to be on the tack of the side from which the wind comes: even if it be on the quarter.--To tack. To go about, to change the course from one board to another from the starboard to the port tack, or vice versa. It is done by turning the ship's head suddenly to the wind, whereby her head-sails are thrown aback, and cause her to fall off from the wind to the other tack. The opposite to wearing.

TACK AND HALF-TACK. Working to windward, or along shore, by long and short boards, or legs, alternately.

TACKLE. A purchase formed by the connection of a fall, or rope, with two or more blocks. When a power sustains a weight by a rope over a fixed sheave, the weight and power will be equal; but if one end of the rope be fixed, and the sheave be movable with the weight, then the power will be but half the weight; but in a combination of sheaves, or pulleys, the power will be to the weight as 1 to the numbers of parts of the fall.--Ground-tackle. Anchors, cables, &c.--Tack-tackle. A small tackle used to pull down the tacks of the principal sails to their respective stations, and particularly attached to the main-sails of brigs, sloops, cutters, and schooners.

TACKLE-FALL. The part hauled upon in any tackle, simple or compound.

TACK OR SHEET. A man's saying that he will not start tack or sheet implies resolution.

TACK-PINS. The belaying pins of the fife-rail; called also Jack-pins.

TACTICS. The art of disposing and applying naval or military forces in action with the enemy, in whose presence strategy gives place to tactics.

TAFFIA. A bad spirit, made and sold at Mauritius.

TAFFRAIL, OR TAFFAREL. The upper part of a ship's stern, a curved railing, the ends of which unite to the quarter-pieces.

TAIL. A rope spliced into the strop or round of any block, leaving a long end for making fast to rigging, spars, &c.--To tail on to a bank. To be aground abaft only.--To tail up or down a stream. When at anchor in a river, is as a ship's stern swings.

TAIL-BLOCK. A rope-stropped block, having an end of rope attached to it as a tail, by which it may be fastened to any object at pleasure.

TAIL OF A GALE. The latter part of a gale, when its violence is dying out.

TAIL ON, OR TALLY ON. The order to clap on to a rope.

TAIL-RACE. The water which leaves the paddles of a steam-boat. Also, the water-course of a mill beyond the water-wheel.

TAIL-TACKLE. A luff-tackle purchase, with a hook in the end of the single block, and a tail to the upper end of the double block. Synonymous with watch-tackle.

TAIL UP. When a whale dives perpendicularly. In this case whalers expect the fish to rise near the same spot. Also termed fluking.

TAIL-VALVE. A valve in the air-pump at the opposite side from the condenser, and connected with the latter by a pipe under the air-pump: it opens when pressed by steam entering the condenser by the blow-through valve, but the weight of the atmosphere is sufficient to keep it shut so long as there is a vacuum in the condenser.

TAINT. By admiralty law, the taint of contraband extends to all property on board belonging to the owners of detected contraband articles.

TAISHES. Armour for the thighs.

TAISTE. A northern name for the black guillemot.

TAJASO. The jerked beef supplied to ships on some parts of the coast of America.

TAKE. The draught of fishes in a single drag of the net. Also, to take, in a military sense, to take or adopt any particular formation, as to take open order, or to take ground to the right or the left.--To take an astronomical observation, so to ascertain the position of a celestial body as to learn from it the place of the ship.

TAKEL [Anglo-Saxon]. The arrows which used to be supplied to the fleet; the takill of Chaucer.

TAKEN AFT. Complained of on the quarter-deck.

TAKE-UP. The part between the smoke-box and the bottom of the funnel in a marine boiler. Also, a seaman takes up slops when he applies to the purser for articles of ready-made clothes, to be charged against his wages. Also, an officer takes up the gauntlet when he accepts a challenge, though no longer in the form of a glove.

TAKE WATER ON BOARD, TO. To ship a sea.

TAKING A DEPARTURE. Determining the place of a ship by means of the bearing and distance of a known object, and assuming it as the point to be calculated from.

TAKING IN. The act of brailing up and furling sails at sea; generally used in opposition to setting. (See FURL and SHORTEN.) Also said of a ship when loading.

TAKING OFF. Said of tides, when decreasing from the spring-tides.

TALARO. A silver coin of Ragusa, value 3_s._ sterling: also of Venice, value 4_s._ 2_d._

TALE [from Anglo-Saxon tael, number]. Taylor thus expressed it in 1630--

"Goods in and out, which daily ships doe fraight By guesse, by tale, by measure, and by weight."

TALLANT. The upper hance, or break of the rudder abaft.

TALL SHIP. A phrase among the early voyagers for square-rigged vessels having top-masts.

TALLY, TO. To haul the sheets aft; as used by Falconer--

"And while the lee clue-garnet's lower'd away, Taut aft the sheet they tally, and belay."

TALUS. The old word in fortification for slope.

TAMBOUR. A projecting kind of stockade, attached to ill-flanked walls, &c.

TAN AND TANNED SAILS. Those steeped in oak-bark.

TANG, OR TANGLE. Fucus digitatus, and other sea-weed, which are used as manure.

TANGENT. A right line raised perpendicularly on the extremity of a radius, touching the circle without cutting it.

TANGENT-SCALE. Fitted to the breech of a gun for admeasuring its elevation; it is a sliding pillar marked with degrees and their subdivisions (according to the distance between the sights on the gun), and bears a notch or other sight on its head. With rifled guns a vernier, reading the minutes, is generally added.

TANGENT-SCREW. A screw acting tangentially to a circle, by means of which a slow motion may be given to the vernier of any instrument.

TANG-FISH. A northern name for the seal.

TANK. A piece of deep water, natural as well as artificial. Also, an iron cistern for containing fresh water--a great improvement on wooden casks for keeping water sweet.

TANKA. A covered Chinese shore-boat for conveying passengers to ships; worked by women only.

TANTARA. An old word for the noise of a drum.

TAPERED. A term applied to ropes which decrease in size towards one end, as tacks and sheets. Also termed rat-tailed.

TAPERED CLEAT. A piece of wood bolted under the beams, to support them when pillars are not used.

TAPPING A BUOY. Clearing it of the water which has entered it by leakage, and would otherwise prevent its watching.

TAP THE ADMIRAL. Opprobriously applied to those who would "drink anything;" from the tale of the drunkard who stole spirits from the cask in which a dead admiral was being conveyed to England.

TAR [Anglo-Saxon tare]. A kind of turpentine which is drained from pines and fir-trees, and is used to preserve standing rigging, canvas, &c., from the effects of weather, by rendering them water-proof. Also, a perfect sailor; one who knows his duty thoroughly. (See JACK TAR.)--Coal or gas tar. A fluid extracted from coal during the operation of making gas, &c.; chiefly used on wood and iron, in the place of paint.

TARBET, OR TARBERT. Applied to low necks of land in Scotland that divide the lakes from the sea. It literally means boat-carrying, and is analogous to the Canadian "portage."

TAR-BRUSH, TOUCH OF THE. A nautical term applied to those who are slightly darkened by mixed blood.

TARGET [Anglo-Saxon targe]. A leathern shield. A mark to aim at.

TARGIA. An archaic term for a vessel, since called a tartan.

TARI. A coin of Italy, value 8_d._ sterling.

TARIFF. List of duties payable upon exported and imported goods.

TARITA. An ancient term for a ship of burden.

TARN. A small mountain lake [probably from the Icelandic tiaurn].

TARPAULIN. Canvas well covered with tar or paint to render it water-proof. Also, the foul-weather hats and jackets of seamen; often applied to the men themselves. Properly paulin when paint is used.

TARRED WITH THE SAME BRUSH. Equivalent to "birds of a feather."

TARRING AND FEATHERING. A punishment now obsolete,--inflicted by stripping the delinquent, then smearing him with tar, covering him with flocks and feathers, and towing him ashore. It was ordered in the naval enactments of Richard I. for theft.

TARROCK. The kittiwake, Larus tridactylus, a small species of gull.

TARRY-BREEKS. A north-country name for a sailor.

TARTAN. A small coasting vessel of the Mediterranean, with one mast and a bowsprit, lateen-rigged.

TARTAR. A domineering commanding officer.--To catch a Tartar. Said of a vessel which mistakes her enemy's force, and is obliged to yield.

TASKING. Examining a vessel to see whether her timbers are sound.

TASTING TIMBER. Chipping it with an adze, and boring it with an augur, to ascertain its quality.

TATOOING. The Burmese, South Sea Islanders, and others, puncture the skin until it bleeds, and then rub in fine soot and other colouring matter. The practice has become common amongst sailors.

TATTIES. Mats hung before doors and windows in India, on which water is thrown, to cool the air inside by evaporation.

TATTOO. The evening sound of drum or trumpet, after which the roll is called, and all soldiers not on leave of absence should be in their quarters.

TAUNT. High or tall, commonly applied to very long masts.--All a taunto is a ship having all her light and long spars aloft.

TAURUS. The second sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 20th of April.

TAUT [from the Anglo-Saxon tought]. Tight.

TAUT BOWLINE. A ship sailing close-hauled is "on a taut bowline."

TAUT HAND. A strict disciplinarian.

TAUT HELM, OR TAUT WEATHER-HELM. A ship with a side wind is said to carry a taut weather-helm, when the water presses heavily on the lee side of the rudder; often the result of her being too much by the head.

TAUT LEECH. A sail well set on a wind, and well filled.

TEACH, TO. In marine architecture, is applied to the direction which any line or curve seems to point out.

TEAGLE. A northern word for a crane for lifting goods.

TEAK. Tectona grandis, a stately tree, the pride of Indian and Burmese forests, used extensively in ship-building; having the valuable property of not shrinking, and, by means of its essential oil, preserving the iron bolts driven into it from rusting.

TEAL. A small species of wild duck, Querquedula crecca.

TEAM. Ships blockading a port, being generally formed in a line, are said to be "in the team."

TEAM-BOAT. A ferry-boat worked with horses by paddle-wheel propulsion.

TEA-WAGGON. A name given to the old East India Company's ships on account of their cargo.

TEAZED OAKUM. Oakum worked out for caulking. (Tow).

TE DEUM. A hymn sung in thanksgiving for victory obtained. In many cases the causes of war are such that chanting the Te Deum is rank blasphemy.

TEE-IRON. An instrument for drawing the lower box in the barrel of a pump. T-shaped clamp, knee, or other piece of iron-work.

TEETH. A name for the guns in a ship.

TEE-TOTALLER. A very old and general amplification of totally, recently borrowed from sea diction to mark a class who wholly abstain from alcoholic drinks.

TELEGRAPH, TO. To convey intelligence to a distance, through the medium of signals.

TELESCOPIC OBJECTS. All those which are not visible to the unassisted eye.

TELL OFF, TO. To divide a body of men into divisions and subdivisions, preparatory to a special service.

TELL-TALE. A compass hanging face downwards from the beams in the cabin, showing the position of the vessel's head. Also, an index in front of the wheel to show the position of the tiller.

TELL-TALE SHAKE. The shake of a rope from aloft to denote that it wants letting go.

TELL THAT TO THE MARINES! A sailor's exclamation when an improbable story is related to him.

TEMOINS. See WITNESSES.

TEMPEST. A word not much used by seamen. It is, however, synonymous with storm, gales, &c. (See STORMS.)

TEMPORARY RANK. That owing to an acting commission, or to local circumstances, ceasing with a particular service.

TEMPORARY STARS. Those which have suddenly become visible, and after attaining considerable brightness, have as suddenly vanished: that seen by Tycho in 1572 is a notable instance.

TENAILLE. In fortification, a long low outwork traced on the inward prolongation of the faces of the bastions. It covers the curtain, and conveniently defends the interior of the ravelin and its redoubt.

TENAILLON. In fortification, a low outwork of two faces meeting in a salient angle, sometimes attached to ravelins to afford nearer flanking fire.

TENCH. Tinca vulgaris, a well-known fresh-water fish.

TEND, TO. To watch a vessel at anchor on the turn of a tide, and cast her by the helm, and some sail if necessary, so as to keep the cable clear of the anchor or turns out of her cables when moored.

TENDER. A small vessel duly commanded, and employed to attend a larger one, to supply her with stores, to carry intelligence or volunteers and impressed men to receiving ships, &c. An enemy's ship captured by cutters or boats fitted out as tenders by men-of-war, but without any commission or authority from the admiralty, will not insure a prize to the benefit of the ship. The condemnation will be as a droit of admiralty, on the principle that an officer does not retain his commission for the purposes of prize on board another ship; but if captured by one of her boats, and brought to the ship, she is good prize, as with slaves. Tender is also a synonym of crank; thus, a spar may be tender.

TENDING. The movement by which a ship turns or swings round when at single anchor, or moored by the head, at every change of tide or wind.

TENON. The square heel of a mast, cut for fitting into the step. Also, the end of any piece of timber which is fashioned to enter into a mortise in another piece; they are then said to be tenoned together; as, for instance, the stern-post is tenoned into the keel.

TEN-POUNDER. A name given to a bony mullet-shaped fish of the West Indies.

TENSILE STRAIN. The greatest effort to extend, stretch, or draw asunder, as in proving bars of iron, chain-cables, &c.

TENT. A canvas shelter pitched upon a pole or poles, and stayed with cords and pegs. Also, a roll of lint, or other material, used in searching a wound. Also, a small piece of iron which kept up the cock of a gun-lock.

TEREDO NAVALIS. A worm which, furnished with a peculiar augur adaptation at its head, bores into timber, forming a shell as it progresses. They attain the length of three feet or more, with a diameter of one inch or less. Even if the ship be destroyed by them, the loss is not within the policy of insurance.

TERMINAL VELOCITY OF ANY GIVEN BODY. The greatest velocity it can acquire by falling freely through the air; the limit being arrived at when the increase of the atmospheric resistance becomes equal to the increase of the force of gravity.

TERMINATOR. The line separating the illuminated from the dark portion of the moon's disc.

TERM-PIECES, OR TERMS. Pieces of carved work on each side of the taffrail upon the side stern-timber, and extending down as low as the foot-rail of the balcony.

TERN, OR SEA-SWALLOW. A species of sea-bird, allied to the gulls, but of smaller and lighter make, and with longer and more pointed wings and tail; genus Sterna.

TERNARY SYSTEM. Three stars in close proximity, and found to be in physical connection, as, for instance, {z} Cancri.

TERRADA. An Indian boat, otherwise called tonee. A large 'longshore boat of the Gulf of Persia.

TERRAPIN (contracted by sailors into turpin and tenopen). A fresh-water tortoise, plentiful in America, and much esteemed for food.

TERREPLEIN. In fortification, the horizontal surface of the rampart in rear of the parapet.

TERRESTRIAL REFRACTION. The property of the atmosphere by which objects appear to be higher than they really are, and in certain cases producing the effect called deceptio visus, and fata morgana.

TERRITORY. The protection of neutral territory operates to the restitution of enemy's property captured within its limits. Since the introduction of fire-arms that distance has usually been recognized to be almost three English miles.

TERTIATE, TO. To examine whether a piece of ordnance is truly bored and has its due proportion of metal in every part, especially at the vent, the trunnions, and the muzzle.

TESTING A CHAIN-CABLE. Trying its strength by the hydraulic machine, which strains it beyond what it is likely to undergo when in use.

TESTONE. A silver Papal coin, value 1_s._ 3_d._ A testone is also a current coin in Portugal, consisting of 100 reis.

TETE DE PONT. A work covering the farther end of a bridge from assault from the country beyond.

TEW, TO. To beat hemp.

THAUGHTS (properly ATHWARTS). See THWARTS.

THEODOLITE. The theodolite, as used in land-surveying, levelling, &c., is well known. But the great theodolite, with its vertical circle and telescope adapted to the observation of the heavenly bodies, as used by nautical astronomers, commonly called an alt-azimuth instrument, is almost an observatory per se. By this alone, within three hours on each side of noon, the longitude, latitude, and magnetic variation of a position may be determined.

THERE! A word added in hailing any part of a ship; as, "Forecastle there!" "Mast-head there!"

THERE AWAY! A phrase accompanied by pointing on a bearing, or to an object in sight. Thereabout, in that quarter.

THERMOMETER. An instrument to measure the amount of heat by the expansion of a fluid (generally quicksilver) contained in a glass bulb, in connection with which is a hermetically closed tube, up which the fluid rises as the heat increases. This tube is graduated differently in different countries.

THERMOMETRIC SAILING. A scheme for detecting the approach to shoal water by the diminution of temperature, and found to be useful in some places, such as the Agulhas and Newfoundland Banks; in the latter a difference of 20 deg. has been observed, on quitting the Gulf Stream and gaining soundings in 100 fathoms.

THICK-AND-DRY FOR WEIGHING! To clap on nippers closely, just at starting the anchor from the ground.

THICK AND THIN BLOCK, OR FIDDLE-BLOCK. A block having one sheave larger than the other, sometimes used for quarter-blocks.

THICK STUFF. Sided timber, or naval planks, under one foot, and above 4 inches in thickness.

THIEVES' CAT. A cat o' nine tails having knots upon it, and only used for the punishment of theft.

THIMBLE. An iron ring with a concave outer surface to contain snugly in the cavity a rope, which is spliced about it. Its use is to defend the rope which surrounds it from being injured by another rope, or the hook or a tackle which passes through it.

THIMBLE-EYES. Are thimble-shaped apertures in iron-plates where sheaves are not required; frequently used instead of dead-eyes for the topmast-rigging, futtock-plates, and backstays in the channels.

THODS. An old northern term for sudden gusts of wind.

THOKES. Fish with broken bellies, which are prohibited to be mixed or packed with tale fish.

THOLE, THOLE-PIN, OR THOWEL [from the Anglo-Saxon thol]. Certain pins in the gunwale of a boat, instead of the rowlock-poppets, and serving to retain the oars in position when pulling; generally there is only one pin to each oar, which is retained upon the pin by a grommet, or a cleat with a hole through it, nailed on the side of the oar. The principal use is to allow the oar, in case of action, suddenly to lie fore-and-aft over the side, and take care of itself. This was superseded by the swinging thowel, or metal crutch, in 1819, and by admiralty order at Portsmouth Yard in 1830.

THORN-BACK. A well-known fish of the ray kind, Raia clavata.

THOROUGH-PUTS, OR THOROUGH-FOOTS, are kinks or tangles in a rope; or parts of a tackle not leading fair by reason of one of the blocks having been passed round part of the fall, and so getting a turn.

THOUGHT. An old spelling of thwart.

THRASHER, OR THRESHER. A species of shark with a long tail, Carcharias vulpes. Also applied to a kind of grampus, which was supposed to attack the whale by leaping out of the water and inflicting blows with its powerful tail.

THREAD [Ang.-Sax. thred]. The middle of a river or stream.--To thread. To run a ship through narrow and intricate channels among islands.

THREE-COCKED HAT. A silly article of sea-wear now happily passing away, retained only by coachmen, lord-mayor's men, and parish beadles.

THREE-DECKERS. Ships with three full batteries.

THREE HALF-HITCHES ARE MORE THAN A KING'S YACHT WANTS. An exclamatory remark to a green hand, meaning that two are enough.

THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND. Unsteady from drink.

THREE SISTERS. Formerly the badge of office of boatswains' mates and masters-at-arms, made of three rattans bound together with waxed twine.

THREE-SQUARE. An odd word applied to staysails, or anything triangular, as was the oblong square to a parallelogram.

THRIFT. Armeria, a genus of handsome plants growing on the sea-coast.

THROAT. The widened and hollowed end of a gaff next the mast; opposed to peak, the outer end. Also, the midship portion of the floor-timbers and transoms. The contrary of breech.

THROAT-BOLTS. Eye-bolts fixed in the lower part of tops, and the jaw-ends of gaffs, for hooking the throat-halliards to.

THROAT-BRAILS. Those which are attached to the gaff for trussing up the sail close to the gaff as well as the mast. (See BRAILS, and TOPMAST-STAYSAILS.) Falconer says:--

"For he who strives the tempest to disarm, Will never first embrail the lee yard-arm."

Brail thus applies to leech-lines, clue-lines, &c.

THROAT-HALLIARDS. Ropes or tackles applied to hoist the inner part of the gaff, and its portion of the sail, and hook on to the throat-bolts, as above.

THROAT-SEIZING. In blocks, confines the hook and thimble in the strop home to the scores. Also, in turning in rigging, the throat-seizing is passed with riding turns, through which the end is hove taut, and being turned up sharply, is well seized to the standing part of the rigging, making it a severe cross nip, which cannot render or slip.

THROT. That part of the mizen-yard close to the mast.

THROTTLE-VALVE. A valve in the steam-pipe of an engine for preventing the escape of steam, or regulating the velocity of its passage from the boiler to the cylinder.

THROUGH ALL. Carrying canvas in heavy squalls without starting a stitch. It demands not only courage, but seamanlike judgment. Also applied to the cable, or any purchase where, by reason of its slipperiness, the purchase does not nip; she is then said to be "heaving through all." "Fresh nippers, thick and dry, for weighing," are then called for, and sand applied to overcome the slipping.

THROUGH FASTENINGS. Applied to bolts and tree-nails driven through both the timber and plank of the sides.

THROUGH-PIECES. See GRAVING-PIECES.

THROUGH THE FLEET. A seaman's being sentenced by court-martial to be towed by a boat from every ship through the fleet, and receive alongside each a proportion of the lashes to be inflicted. But this was only awarded where the offence deserved a less punishment than death, and is now discontinued, solitary confinement or penal servitude being substituted.

THROW. A cast of the hand-lead.

THROWING A STEAM-ENGINE OUT OF GEAR. Disconnecting the eccentric rod from the gab-lever.

THRUM. Any coarse woollen or hempen yarn. It is used for mops, &c., in the cabins; also for mats, which are worked on canvas with a large bolt-rope needle.--To thrum. A vessel, when leaky, is thrummed by working some heavy spare sail, as the sprit-sail, into a thrummed mat, greasing and tarring it well, passing it under the bottom, and heaving all parts tight. The pressure forces the tarred oakum into the openings, and thus, in part, arrests the ingress of water.

THRUMMED MAT. A small mat faced with rope-yarn or spun yarn, which is used in a vessel's rigging to prevent chafing.

THRUST. The effort of a screw-propeller.

THUD. The sound of a bullet on hitting the intended object.

THULE [Gaelic thuath]. An extreme object to the north.

THUMB-CLEAT. In shape resembling a thumb. They arrest the topsail-reef-earings from slipping, and are also lashed to the rigging with a hollow, cut out to act as a hook, to suspend the bight of a rope, as the truss-pendants on the lower masts.

THUNDERING. A sailor's emphatic word for anything choice, large, fine, or powerful.

THUNDER SQUALL. This is similar to the black squall, only that it is always preceded and attended by lightning and thunder, and accompanied by extremely heavy rain.

THUNNY. See TUNNY.

THUS, VERY WELL THUS, OR DYCE. The order to the helmsman to keep the ship in her present direction, when sailing close-hauled. This truly sailor's motto was adopted by the Earl St. Vincent.

THWART CLAMPS OR KNEES. Those which secure the after, main, and fore thwarts to the rising and gunwales, and which support the masts.

THWART-MARKS, TO A HARBOUR. Two objects on the land, which, brought into line with each other, mark the safe course between shoals, as those on Southsea Common act for the Needles, Swashways, &c.

THWARTS (properly ATHWARTS). The seats or benches athwart a boat whereon the rowers sit to manage their oars.

THWART-SHIPS. Across the ship, or from one side to the other. (See ATHWART.)

TIBRIC. An old name for the coal-fish.

TIBURON [Sp.] The shark.

TICKET. An official warrant of discharge, so that a heavy penalty attaches to the loss of any of the blank ones in the captain's charge. It is always used in counterparts, which are ordered to be perfect duplicates of each other.

TICKET-BOOK. A register for accounting for all tickets and certificates received and used.

TICKLING OF FISH. The same as gennelin. (See GROPING.)

TIDAL WAVE. The wave caused by the combined action of the sun and moon: its greatest influence is felt some time after the moon has passed the meridian of any place.

TIDE. A regular periodical current of waters, setting alternately in a flux and reflux; it is owing to the attraction of the sun and moon, but chiefly to the latter. The highest as well as most rapid, perhaps, are in the Gulf of Fundy and the river Wye; and on the contrary the lowest, as well as feeblest, are in the Mediterranean generally.--To tide, is to work up or down a river or harbour, with a fair tide in a head wind or a calm; coming to anchor when the tide turns.

TIDE OR TIDAL HARBOUR. A port which can only be entered at a certain time of flood.

TIDE AND HALF-TIDE. Those roadsteads affected by several rivers or channels leading into them; as, for instance, Spithead.

TIDE-BALL. A ball hoisted to denote when the depth of water permits vessels to enter a bar-harbour, or to take the bar outside, from the known depth within.

TIDE-GATE. A place where the tide runs strong.

TIDE-GAUGE. An instrument contrived for measuring the height of the tides.

TIDE, EBB OF. The falling tide.

TIDE-POOL. A sort of basin worn in seaside rocks.

TIDE-RIP. Those short ripplings which result from eddies, or the passage of the tide over uneven bottom; also observed in the ocean where two currents meet, but not appearing to affect a ship's course.

TIDE-RODE. The situation of a vessel at anchor when she swings by the force of the tide. In opposition to wind-rode.

TIDE'S WORK. The amount of progress a ship has made during a favourable tide. Also, a period of necessary labour on a ship during the ebbing and slack water of a tide. That is when the sea has left the vessel aground between two tides, so as to enable workmen to repair defects down to a certain depth, laid bare by the receding tide.

TIDE-WAY. The mid-stream; or a passage or channel through which the tide sets, and runs strongly.

TIE-FOR-TYE. Mutual obligation and no favour; as in the case of the tie-mate, the comrade who, in the days of long hair, performed the tie for tie on the tails. (See TYE.)

TIER. A regular row of anything. Also, a range in the hold; hence the terms, ground tier, second and upper tier, &c., of casks or goods stowed there.--Cable-tier. The space in a ship where hempen cables were coiled.

TIERCE. Is specially applied to provision casks, and is the third of a pipe; but the beef-tierce contains 280 lbs., or 28 galls., whilst that of pork only contains 260 lbs., or 26 galls. Now the beef-tierce often contains 336 lbs., and the pork 300 lbs.

TIERERS. Men formerly stationed in the tiers for coiling away the cables, where strength, activity, and ability shone conspicuously.

TIER-SHOT. That kind of grapeshot which is secured in tiers by parallel iron discs.

TIES. An old name for mooring bridles. Also, stops to a sail. (See TYE.)

TIGHT. Close, free from leaks. Hence a ship is said to be tight when no water leaks in; and a cask is called tight when none of the liquid leaks out. Applied to ropes or chains this word becomes taut.

TILLER. A straight-grained timber beam, or iron bar, fitted into or round the head of the rudder, by means of which the latter is moved. (See HELM.)

TILLER-HEAD. The extremity of the tiller, to which the tiller-ropes are attached.

TILLER-ROPES. The ropes which form a communication between the end of the tiller and the barrel of the wheel; they are frequently made of untarred rope, though hide is much better; and iron chains are also used. By these the tiller is worked and the vessel steered.

TILLER-SWEEP. See SWEEP OF THE TILLER.

TILT. A small canopy extended over the stern-sheets of a boat, supported by iron or wood work, to keep off rain, as an awning is used to keep off the sun.--To tilt. To lift up a little on one side or end of anything.

TILT-BOAT. One expressly fitted like a tilt-waggon, to preserve powder or other fragile stores from the weather.

TIMBER [Anglo-Saxon]. All large pieces of wood used in ship-building, as floor-timbers, cross-pieces, futtocks, frames, and the like (all which see).

TIMBER AND ROOM, is the distance between two adjoining timbers, which always contain the breadth of two timbers, and two or three inches besides. The same as room and space, or berth and space.

TIMBER-CONVERTER. A dockyard official who has the charge of converting timber for its different purposes in ship-building.

TIMBER-HEADS. The heads of the timbers that rise above the decks, and are used for belaying hawsers, large ropes, &c. (See KEVEL-HEADS.) These being such important parts of a ship, men of acknowledged talent in the royal navy are styled "the timber-heads of the profession."

TIMBER-HITCH, is made by taking the end of a rope round a spar, and after leading it under and over the standing part, passing two or three turns round its own part, making in fact a running but self-jamming eye.

TIMBERS. The incurvated ribs of a ship which branch outwards from the keel in a vertical direction, so as to give strength, figure, and solidity to the whole fabric. One timber is composed of several pieces. (See FRAME.)--Cant or square timbers, are those which are placed obliquely on the keel towards the extremities of a ship, forming the dead solid wood of the gripe, and of the after heel.--Filling timbers. Those which are put up between the frames. One mould serves for two timbers, the fore-side of the one being supposed to unite with the after-side of the one before it, and so make only one line.--Knuckle-timbers are the foremost cant-timbers on a ship's bow: the hindmost on the quarter are termed fashion-pieces.

TIMBER-TASTER. One appointed to examine and pronounce upon the fitness of timber.

TIME, MEAN, OR MEAN SOLAR TIME. That shown by a clock or watch when compensated for the unequal progress of the sun in the ecliptic, and which thence forms an equable measure of time.--To take time is for an assistant to note the time by a chronometer at each instant that the observer calls "stop," on effecting his astronomical observation for altitude of a heavenly body, or for contact with the sun and moon, or moon and star.

TIME-KEEPER, TIME-PIECE, OR CHRONOMETER. An instrument adapted for measuring mean time. The result of many years of study and experiment by our best horologists. (See LONGITUDE.)

TIMENOGUY. Formerly a rope carried taut between different parts of a vessel, to prevent the sheet or tack of a course from getting foul in working ship; specially from the fore-rigging to the anchor-stock, to prevent the fouling of the fore-sheet.

TIMONEER [derived from the French]. The helmsman. Also, one on the look-out, who directs the helmsman.

TIMONOGY. This term properly belongs to steering, and is derived from timon, the tiller, and the twiddling-lines, which worked in olden times on a gauge in front of the poop, in ships of the line, by which the position of the helm was easily read even from the forecastle.

TINDAL. A Lascar boatswain's-mate.

TINKER. A small mortar formerly used on the end of a staff, now superseded by the Coehorn. Also, a small mackerel.

TINKERMEN. Fishermen who destroyed the fry of fish on the Thames by nets, and other unlawful contrivances, till suppressed by the mayor and corporation of London.

TIN-POTTER. A galley skulker, shamming Abraham.

TIPPET. A snood for a fishing-line.

TIPPING ALL NINES, OR TIPPED THE NINES. Foundering from press of sail.

TIPPING THE GRAMPUS. Ducking a skulker for being asleep on his watch. (See BLOWING THE GRAMPUS.)

TIRE. Synonymous with tier.

TITIVATE, TO; OR TITIVATE OFF TO THE NINES. To freshen the paint-work; to put into the highest kelter.

TOAD-FISH. The Lophius piscatorius, or fishing-frog.

TOBACCO. Has been supplied for the use of the ships' companies in the royal navy from the 1st January, 1799.

TOBACCO-CHARTS. The worthless charts formerly sold by ship-chandlers.

TOD-BOAT. A broad flat Dutch fishing-boat.

TODDY. The sura or juice extracted from various kinds of palm, and often called palm-wine. A mixture of spirits, water, and sugar is also called toddy. (See ARRACK.)

TOE A LINE! The order to stand in a row.

TOGGLE. A strong pin of wood, sometimes used instead of a hook in fixing a tackle, or it is put through the bight or eye of a rope, bolt, or block-strop, to keep it in its place. In ships of war it is usual to fix toggles upon the running parts of the topsail-sheets, the jears, &c., when preparing for action, so that if the rope is shot away below, the toggle may stop the yard from coming down. The toggle is used in masting operations, in securing the standing part of fore and main sheets, but especially in whaling operations, cutting in, flensing, &c., a hole is cut in the blubber, the eye of the purchase strop passed through and toggled. In cold weather especially it is preferred to the hook, which at low temperatures is apt to snap suddenly, and is, moreover, heavier to handle. The term is also used for putting the bights of the sheets in the beckets. (See BECKET.)

TOGGLE-BOLT. This bolt is used to confine the ensign-staff, and the like, into its place by means of a strap; it has a flat head, and a mortice through it, that receives a toggle or pin.

TOGS. A very old term for clothes.--Togged to the nines, in full dress.--Sunday togs, the best clothes.

TOISE. The French fathom, nearly approaching to ours: the proportion of the English yard to the French demi-toise being as 36 to 38.35. The toise is equal to 6.3946 English feet.

TOKE. A drink made from honey in Madagascar; very dangerous to Europeans.

TOKO FOR YAM. An expression peculiar to negroes for crying out before being hurt.

TOLEDO. An esteemed Spanish sword, so called from the place of manufacture.

TOLL. A demand, &c., at the Sound; hence the epithet of Sound dues.

TOM. A pet bow-chaser, a 9 or 12-pounder. (See LONG TOM.)

TOMAHAWK. A weapon somewhat resembling a hand poleaxe, much used in boarding an enemy, as it is not only effective in combat, but useful in holding on, and in cutting away fasts and rigging when required. The name is derived from the hatchet of the North American Indians.

TOM ASTONERS. Dashing fellows; from astound or "astony," to terrify.

TOM COX'S TRAVERSE. Up one hatchway and down another: others say three turns round the long boat, and a pull at the scuttle. It means the work of an artful dodger, all jaw, and no good in him.

TOMMY COD. A very small variety of the Gadus morrhua, which mostly appears in the winter months; whence it is also called frost-fish at Halifax and in Newfoundland.

TOM NORIE. A name of the puffin, Fratercula arctica.

TOM PEPPER. A term for a liar; he having, according to nautic tradition, been kicked out of the nether regions for indulging in falsehood.

TOMPION. A circular plug of wood, used to stop the muzzle of a gun, and thereby keep out the wet at sea. The tompions are carefully encircled with tallow or putty for the same purpose. Also, the stopper fitted to go between the powder and shell in a mortar. This name is often pronounced as well as written tompkin.

TOM-TOM. A small drum, made from the stem of a hollowed tree, generally of the palm-tribe, as the centre is pithy and the skin flinty. It is covered by the skin of a lizard or shark, and beaten with the fingers. It is used throughout the tropics, and produces a hollow monotonous sound. In the East Indies it is used to proclaim public notices, and to draw attention to conjurors, snake-charmers, &c.

TON, OR TUN [from the Anglo-Saxon tunne]. In commerce, 20 cwt., or 2240 lbs., but in the cubical contents of a ship it is the weight of water equal to 2000 lbs., by the general standard for liquids. A tun of wine or oil contains 4 hogsheads. A ton or load of timber is a measure of 40 cubic feet in the rough, and of 50 when sawn: 42 cubic feet of articles equal one ton in shipment.

TONEE. A canoe of some burden, made of the hollowed trunk of a tree in early use on the Malabar coast. (See TERRADA.)

TON FOR TON AND MAN FOR MAN. A phrase implying that ships sailing as consorts, ought fairly to divide whatever prize they take.

TONGUE [Anglo-Saxon tunga]. The long tapered end of one piece of timber made to fay into a scarph at the end of another piece, to gain length. Also, a low salient point of land. Also, a dangerous mass of ice projecting under water from an iceberg or floe, nearly horizontally; it was on one of these shelves that the Guardian frigate struck.

TONGUE OF A BEVEL. The movable part of the instrument by which the angles or bevellings are taken.

TONNAGE. A custom or impost formerly granted to the crown for merchandise imported or exported. Also, the admeasurement of a ship, and thence to ascertain her cubical contents converted into tons. (See BURDEN.)

TOP. A sort of platform placed over the head of the lower mast, from which it projects like a scaffold. The principal intention of the top is to extend the topmast-shrouds, so as to form a greater angle with the mast, and thereby give it additional support. It is sustained by certain timbers bolted fore-and-aft on the bibbs or shoulders of the mast, and called the trestle-trees; athwart these are the cross-trees. In ships of war it is used as a kind of redoubt, and is fortified accordingly. It is also very convenient for containing the materials for setting the small sails, fixing and repairing the rigging, &c. The tops are named after their respective masts. This top was formerly fenced on the after-side by a rail about three feet high, between the stanchions of which a netting was usually constructed, and stowed in action with hammocks. This was covered with red baize, or canvas painted red, and called the top-armour. Top-armours were in use with the Spaniards in 1810.

TOP-ARMINGS. Hammocks stowed inside the rigging for the protection of riflemen.

TOP A YARD OR BOOM, TO. To raise up one end of it by hoisting on the lift, as the spanker-boom is lifted before setting the sail.

TOP-BLOCK. A large single block with an iron strop and hook, by which it is hooked into an eye-bolt under the lower cap, and is used for the top-pendant to reeve through in swaying up or lowering down the top-masts.

TOP BURTON-TACKLE. See BURTON.

TOP-CASTLES. Castellated ledgings surrounding the mast-heads of our early ships, in which the pages to the officers were stationed to annoy the enemy with darts, &c.

TOP-CHAIN. A chain to sling the yards in time of battle, in case of the ropes by which they are hung being shot away.

TOPE. A small-sized Chinese junk. Also, the Galeus vulgaris, a kind of shark. Also, a small grove of trees in India.

TOP-GALLANT. In the Cotton MSS. this word appears as "top-garland."

TOPGALLANT-FORECASTLE. A short deck forward above the upper deck, mostly used as a galley, but in some merchantmen a berthing place for their crews, though generally very wet and uncomfortable for want of a few necessary fittings. Also, it facilitates working the head-sails.--In several of the iron-clad frigates, chase-guns are fitted there.

TOPGALLANT-MAST. The third mast above the deck; the uppermost before the days of royals and flying kites.

TOP-GALLANT QUARTER-BOARDS, OR TOP-GALLANT BULWARKS. See QUARTER-BOARDS.

TOPGALLANT-SAILS. The third sails above the decks: they are set above the topsail-yards, in the same manner as the top-sails above the lower yards.

TOP-HAMPER. Any unnecessary weight either on a ship's decks or about her tops and rigging. Also, applied to flying-kites and their gear. Also, to an officer overclothing himself.

TOP-LANTERN, OR TOP-LIGHT. A large signal-lantern placed in the after-part of a top, in ships where an admiral's flag or commodore's pendant flies.

TOP-LINING. A lining on the after-part of sails, to prevent their chafing against the top-rim. Also, a platform of thin board nailed upon the upper part of the cross-trees on a vessel's top.

TOP-MAST. The second division of a mast above the deck. (See MAST.)

TOP-MAUL. A large hammer used to start the top-mast fid, and to beat down the top, when setting up topmast-rigging.

TOP-MEN. Selected smart seamen stationed in the several tops, to attend the taking in or setting of the upper sails.

TOP-NETTINGS. See TOP.

TOPPING. Pretentious; as, topping the officer; also, fine, gallant, &c.

TOPPING-LIFTS. Those lifts which support a spar, davit, &c.

TOP-RAIL. A rail supported on stanchions across the after-part of each of a ship's tops.

TOP-RIDERS. See UPPER FUTTOCK-RIDERS.

TOP RIM OR BRIM. The circular sweep of the fore part of a vessel's top, and covering in the ends of the cross-trees and trestle-trees, to prevent their chafing the top-sail.

TOP-ROPE. The mast-rope employed to sway up a top-mast or topgallant-mast, in order to fix it in its place, or lower it. The top-rope is rove through a block which is hooked on one side of the cap, and passing through the sheave-hole of the mast, is brought upwards on the opposite side, and fastened to an eye-bolt in the foremost part of the cap. To the lower end of the top-mast top-rope a tackle is fixed. (See TOP-TACKLE.) "Swaying on all top-ropes;" figuratively, "going the whole hog" in joviality or any trickery.

TOP-SAIL HAUL! OR MAIN-TOPSAIL HAUL! When the main-sail is not set, this is the order given to haul the after-yards round when the ship is nearly head to wind in tacking.

TOP-SAILS. The second sails above the decks, extending across the top-masts, by the topsail-yards above, and by the lower yards beneath, being fastened to the former by earings and robands, and to the latter by the topsail-sheets, which, passing through two great blocks or cheeks fixed on its extremities, and thence to two other blocks fixed on the inner part of the yard close by the mast, lead downwards to the deck.--Paying debts with flying top-sails, or with a flying fore-topsail, is leaving them unpaid. Vessels not having topsail-yards rigged aloft, set top-sails flying, as cutters, yachts, schooners, &c.

TOPSAIL-SCHOONER. Is full schooner-rigged, but carries a square-topsail on the fore-mast; the fore-sail not bent, but set as a square-sail. She may also carry a main-topsail, and is then termed a two-topsail schooner.

TOPSAIL-SHEET BITTS. Standing bitt-heads through which the topsail-sheets lead, and to which they are belayed.

TOP-SAWYER. The leading man in any undertaking. One who excels; inasmuch as the man of most intellect guides the saw, and No. 2 gets the sawdust in his face.

TOP-SIDE. All that part of a ship's side which is above the main-wales: that is, those strakes between the sheer-strake and upper black-strake.

TOP-SWIVEL. Once a favourite arm for ships' tops, but from the confined space and elevation rather an encumbrance than a useful addition.

TOP-TACKLE. A large tackle, or properly pendant, hooked to the lower end of the top-mast top-rope, and to the deck, in order to increase the mechanical power in lifting the top-mast in order to fid it. It is composed of two strong iron-bound double or triple blocks, the hooks of which work on a swivel.

TOP-TACKLE PENDANT. The pendant used with the above. The top-mast is swayed up by a top-rope or hawser. The pendant, which is of better material, and hawser-laid, has an eye and thimble spliced in one end, and is pointed at the other. This pendant is barely long enough to lower the top-mast temporarily in bad weather, and when the top-mast is high enough for fidding, the purchase is block and block, and cannot lift it higher. (See TOP-ROPE.)

TOP THE GLIM, TO. To snuff the candle.

TOP THE OFFICER, TO. To arrogate superiority.

TOP-TIMBER BREADTH. The distance between the upper part of the same timber and the middle line.

TOP-TIMBER HOLLOW. A name sometimes given to the back sweep which forms the upper part of the top-timber.

TOP-TIMBERS. The first general tier which reach the top are called long top-timbers, and those below short top-timbers.

TOP YOUR BOOM. See BOOM.

TOR. A high rock or peak: also a tower, thus retaining the same meaning it had, as torr, with the Anglo-Saxons.

TORMENTER. The large two-pronged iron fork used by the ship's cook, to fish out the cooked meat from the copper.

TORMENTUM. A pistol; a gun; a piece of ordnance.

TORNADO. A peculiar squall, accompanied with rain and lightning, similar in suddenness to the white squall of the West Indies, and experienced off the equatorial region of the west coast of Africa between December and June. It appears first as a small black spot in the east, and barely affords time to put the ship before the wind and clue up all. The wind veers round the compass, and lasts a very short time.

TORPEDO. A cartilaginous fish allied to the rays, furnished with electrical organs, by means of which it is able to give powerful shocks. Also, a contrivance for blowing up ships of war by means of a submerged apparatus.

TORRENT. A land flood rushing from mountainous tracts, often with destructive effect. It is produced by an accumulation of water from rains or the melting of snows.

TORSE. A coarse kind of hemp, better known as cordilla in commerce.

TORSION OF CABLES. All ropes formed by twisting have a contrary turn, and a disposition to kink from torsion.

TORSK. See TUSK.

TORTS. Private wrongs either to persons or property afloat. They are cognizable by the admiralty court, according to locality.

TORTUE DE MER. A turtle. Also a French gabarre, troop, or store ship, with very high 'tween decks.

TOSHING. A cant word for stealing copper sheathing from vessels' bottoms, or from dockyard stores.

TOSS IN YOUR OARS! The order to desist rowing, and throw the oars in out of the rowlocks.

TOSS THE OARS UP! Throw them up out of the rowlocks, and raise them perpendicularly an-end; the act is intended as a compliment to a superior officer rowing by. Also, the order to a boat's crew to get the oars ready for rowing, and to salute the officer on his entering the boat.

TOSS UP THE BUNT, TO. In furling a sail, to make its final package at the centre of the yard when in its skin.

TOT, OR TOTT. A drinking-cup somewhat smaller than the regulation half-pint, by which a surplus is left in the distribution of the regular allowance of grog, and awarded to the cook of each mess, for the day, for his trouble.

TOTAL LOSS. A term in marine insurance, implying that the underwriters are to pay the amount insured without salvage.

TOTE. An abbreviation of total.--To tote. To watch, to spy, or to carry, whence the very singular fish on the southern coasts of America, which carries small pebbles on its little sharp horns for making a nest is called the stone-toter.

TOTTY-LAND. Certain heights on the side of a hill [probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon totian, to elevate].

TOUCH. In ship-building, the broadest part of a plank worked top-and-butt. Also, the angles of the stern-timbers at the counters. Also, keeping touch is fulfilling the terms of an agreement--speaking of the faith between seamen and their employers.

TOUCH-AND-GO. Said of anything within an ace of ruin; as in rounding a ship very narrowly to escape rocks, &c., or when, under sail, she rubs against the ground with her keel, without much diminution of her velocity.

TOUCH-AND-TAKE. An old proverb which Nelson applied to a ship about to encounter her opponent. A Nelsonian maxim.

TOUCH-BOX. The receptacle for lighted tinder when match-locks were used.

TOUCH-HOLE. The small aperture at the end of a musket or pistol, by which the fire of the priming was communicated to the charge. In guns, called the vent.

TOUCHING. The state of a ship's sails when they first begin to lift or shiver with their edges in the direction of the wind. It is occasioned either by a change in the wind or in the ship's course. (See FULL AND BY.)--Luff and touch her! is the order to the helmsman to bring the vessel up, and see how near she will come to the wind, or to give facility for taking in a reef when about to lower the top-sails, or for deadening the ship's way.

TOUCHING AT. Stopping or anchoring at some intermediate port in the course of a voyage.

TOUCH OF THE TAR-BRUSH. A nautical phrase expressive of those officers who are seamen as well as quarter-deckers. Also said of a white person in whose ancestry there has been some admixture of one of the dark races.

TOUCH UP IN THE BUNT, TO. To mend the sail on the yard; figuratively, to goad or remind forcibly.

TOUCH-WOOD. See PUNK.

TOURNIQUET. Screw-bandages used for stopping the flow of blood. They are distributed about the quarters before action, and a number of men are taught to apply them. A handkerchief and toggle, or stick of any kind, is sometimes substituted.

TOUT, TO. An old term for looking out, or keeping a prying watch; whence the revenue cruisers and the customs officers were called touters. The name is also given to crimps.

TOW, TO. To draw or drag a ship or boat by means of a rope attached to another vessel or boat, which advances by steam-power, rowing, or sailing. The Roman method, as appears by the triumphal arch at Orange, was by a rope fastened to a pulley at the top of the mast. They also fastened a rope to the head of a boat, and led it over men's shoulders, as practised on our canals at the present day.

TOWAGE. The towing of a vessel through the water. Also, the money given for being towed. Vessels thus relieved give claim for salvage service.

TOW-BLOWEN. A term on our eastern coasts for a blown herring.

TOWEL. A word very absurdly introduced into marine law. "If a mariner," says Molloy, "shall commit a fault, and the master shall lift up the towel three times before any mariner, and he shall not submit, the master at the next place of land may discharge him." Some think that this refers to an oaken stick, but it is no doubt corrupted from the oster la touaille, or turning a delinquent out of his mess, of the laws of Oleron.

TOWING-BRIDLE. A stout chain with a hook at each end for attaching a tow-rope to; also, a large towing-hook in the bight of the chain.

TOWING-HOOK. See TOWING-BRIDLE.

TOWING OVERBOARD. Drawing anything after a ship or boat when she is sailing or rowing. As a man[oe]uvre to deceive an enemy, and induce him to chase, it was common to tow a sail astern by a hawser, at the same time keeping the three masts in line, so as to deceive the chaser as to distance.

TOWING-PATH. The hauling-way along a canal or artificial harbour.

TOWING-POST. A substantial timber fixed through the deck of a steam-tug for making the tow-rope fast to. Also, a similar post in canal barges to keep the tow-line up clear of the path.

TOW-LINE [Anglo-Saxon toh-line]. A small hawser or warp used to move a ship from one part of a harbour or road to another by means of boats, steamers, kedges, &c.

TOWN-MAJOR. An officer in a garrison specially supervising the detail of the guards, and of other local current duties.

T-PLATES. Iron plates in the form of the letter T placed under the channels to add strength.

TRABACCOLO. An Adriatic trading craft.

TRABALEO. Ancient coasting vessels.

TRABARIAE. Ancient canoes, made of hollowed trees, capable of carrying two or three men.

TRACE. In fortification, the horizontal disposition of the works; also, a plan of the same.

TRACK-BOAT [from the Dutch treck-schuyt]. A vessel used on a canal or narrow stream.

TRACKING. Hauling any vessel or floating body along a canal or river by a rope dragged along the bank by men or horses.

TRACK OF A SHIP. The line of a ship's course through the water. (See WAKE.)

TRADE. Implies the constant destination of any particular merchant vessels, as the Lisbon trade, West India trade, &c.

TRADER. A vessel employed regularly in any particular branch of commerce, whether sea-borne or coasting, British or foreign.

TRADE-ROOM. A part of the steerage of a Yankee notion-trader where light goods and samples of the cargo are kept for general business.

TRADE-WINDS. Currents of air moving from about the 30th degree of latitude towards the equator. The diurnal motion of the earth makes them incline from the eastward, so that in the northern hemisphere they are from the N.E., and in the southern hemisphere from the S.E. Their geographical position in latitude varies with the declination of the sun. In some parts of the world, as the Bay of Bengal and China Sea, the action of the sun on the neighbouring land has the power of reversing the trades; the winds are there called monsoons.

TRADING-VESSEL. See TRADER.

TRAIL A PIKE, TO. To hold the spear end in the right hand, and the butt trailed behind the bearer.

TRAIL-BOARDS. A carved board on each side of the stem, reaching from it to the figure, or to the brackets. The carved work between the cheek-knees of the head at the heel of the figure.

TRAIN OR TRAIL OF ARTILLERY. A certain number of pieces of ordnance, completely mounted and fitted with appurtenances and retinue of attendants, ready to follow in rear of an army, &c. (See BATTERING GUNS.) Also, the hinder part of a gun-carriage.--Train also signifies a line of gunpowder or other combustible material forming a communication with any body intended to be set on fire or exploded.

TRAINING-LEVEL. A gravitating instrument for the same purpose as the training-pendulum.

TRAINING-PENDULUM. An improved pendulum to facilitate the accurate elevation and depression of guns on board ship, by means of coloured spirits or quicksilver confined in a tube.

TRAINING-SHIP FOR THE MERCHANT SERVICE. A vessel properly equipped with instructors and means to rear able-bodied lads for the merchant service.

TRAINING-SHIP FOR NAVAL CADETS. H.M.S. Britannia, commanded by a captain and complement of officers for the primary training of naval cadets. They are nominated by the first lord, examined as to ability and constitution, and entered on trial. If they pass a pretty rigid examination, they are nominated to ships; but if they fail, they are not admitted into the navy. Great interest is required for a nomination.

TRAIN-TACKLE. A tackle which is during action hooked to an eye-bolt in the train of a gun-carriage, and to a ring-bolt in the deck; its use is to prevent the gun from running out of the port whilst loading, and for running it in when fired.

TRAJECTORY. An astronomical term for the orbital curve described by a planet or comet, now seldom used in that science, but generally employed for the path described by a shot or shell.

TRAMMEL. A large drag-net for the cod fishery.

TRAMONTANA. The north wind in general in the Mediterranean, but also denoting a peculiar cold and blighting wind, very hurtful in the Archipelago.

TRAN. A Norwegian word for fish-oil, adopted in our northern fisheries.

TRANKEH, OR TRANKIES. A large boat of the Gulf of Persia.

TRANSFER. There can be no legal transfer of property captured at sea, without a legal condemnation in the admiralty court, and therefore the sale or occupancy of vessels and goods by pirates does not alter or extinguish the loser's right of property. Transfer is the legal state of a registered ship, or shares in her, to persons qualified to be owners of British ships. Also, the turning over men or companies from one ship to another.

TRANSHIPMENT OF TREASURE. Ships on a distant station receiving treasure for conveyance to some other man-of-war about to proceed to England, from another port on the same station. Both captains partake of the freight, relatively as to distance and deposit.

TRANSIRE. A custom-house document specifying the goods shipped by a coasting vessel, docketted with a sufferance for their discharge on arriving at the place of destination.

TRANSIT. The precise culmination of a heavenly body over the meridian of a place.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY OR VENUS. These planets being situated between the sun and the earth, occasionally appear to us to pass over his disc, from east to west.

TRANSIT INSTRUMENT. A telescope fitted with vertical wires, and revolving on an axis in the plane of the meridian, with which the time may be obtained by observing the passage of the stars and planets compared with their computed time.

TRANSITU. Goods of an enemy's colony surrendering between the time of sailing and capture do not change their hostile character in transitu; though the owners may have become British subjects by capitulation, upon the principle that the national character cannot be altered in transitu. (See STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU.)

TRANSMISSION. The property in a merchantman, or a share therein, transmitted in consequence of the authenticated death, bankruptcy, or insolvency of any registered owner.

TRANSOM. The vane of a cross-staff, made to slide along it by means of a square socket; it may be set to any of the graduations.

TRANSOM OF A GUN-CARRIAGE. A cross piece of timber uniting the cheeks; generally between the trunnion-holes and the fore axle-tree.

TRANSOM-KNEES. Curved timbers, or pieces of iron, which bind and connect the ship's quarter to the transoms, being bolted to the latter, and to the after timbers. Knees which have one arm applied to either end of a transom, and the other running diagonally along, and bolted to the ship's side.

TRANSOMS. 'Thwart-ship pieces forming the buttocks of a ship, extended across the stern-post, to which they are bolted, and give her after-part the figure most suitable to the service for which she is intended.--Deck-transom. That on which all the lower deck planks are rabbeted. The first, second, third transoms, &c., are respectively below the preceding.--Helm-post transom. That which is at the head of the stern-post, and forms the upper part of the gun-room ports.--Wing-transom. The next below, and forming the lower part.

TRANSPORT. A private ship hired by government for carrying troops, stores, and munitions of war. The proportion of tonnage for troops embarked in transports is two tons per man.

TRANSPORTING. Moving a ship by means of hawsers only, from one part of a harbour to another.

TRANSPORTING-BLOCKS. Two snatch-blocks, fitted one on each side above the taffrail, to admit a hawser, when transporting a ship.

TRANSPORT OFFICE. Formerly a department under government directed by commissioners, who chartered vessels and appointed officers for conveying troops to or from this country: they were also to provide accommodation and provision for all prisoners of war, as well as to regulate their exchange by cartel, &c. Now under a naval director of transport.

TRANS-SHIP, TO. To remove a cargo from one ship to another.

TRANSVERSE AXIS. The first or principal diameter of an ellipse; that which crosses it lengthwise. (See MAJOR AXIS.)

TRANSVERSE SECTION. A 'thwart-ship view of any part of a ship when cut by a plane at right angles to the keel.

TRANTER. One who carries fish for sale.

TRAP-CREEL. A basket for catching lobsters.

TRAPEZIUM. A quadrilateral figure that has only two of its four sides parallel.

TRAPEZOID, OR TABLET. Has all its four sides and angles unequal, and no sides parallel.

TRAVADO, OR TRAVAT [from tornado]. A heavy squall, with sudden gusts of wind, lightning, and rain, on the coast of North America; like the African tornado, it commences with a black cloud in calm weather and a clear sky.

TRAVEL, TO. For a thimble, block, &c., to run along on beams or ropes.

TRAVELLER. One or more iron thimbles with a rope spliced round them, sometimes forming a kind of tail, but more generally a species of grummet.--Traveller of boat's masts, jib-boom, &c. An iron ring fitted so as to slip up and down a spar, to run in and out on a boom or gaff, for the purpose of extending or drawing in the outer corner or tack of the sail.

TRAVELLER-IRON. To a cutter's fore-sail, boom-mainsail, or spanker-boom; generally termed traveller horse. (See HORSE.)

TRAVELLING-BACKSTAYS, are generally the breast-backstays, which set up with a runner purchase in the channels on the weather side; that to leeward is let go in stays. The traveller is a strong parrel-strop which passes round the mast, and through two thimbles of which the breast backstays reeve. As the yard is hoisted this slips up, but when a reef is taken in it is rode down by the feet of two men close to the tye-block, and thus supports the mast from the top-rim to the parrel.

TRAVELLING-GUYS. The jib traveller guys are seized on to the traveller, and are shortened in and set up when the jib is eased in.

TRAVELLING-MARTINGALE. A similar contrivance adapted to a martingale to support the jib-boom in that particular part where the jib-tack is fixed. (See MARTINGALE.)

TRAVERSE. Denotes the several courses a ship makes under the changes of wind or man[oe]uvres. It is self-evident that if she steered a course there would be no traverse. But her course being north, and the wind from the north, it is evident she could have but two courses open to her, E.N.E., or W.N.W. The reduction of the distances run on each course, corrected for variation and lee-way, constitutes the traverse table, from which the reckoning is deduced each day up to noon. From this zig-zag set of lines we have the term Tom Cox's traverse (which see). Also, in fortification, a mound, often of parapet form, raised to cover from enfilade or reverse fire. Also, to traverse a gun or mortar. To alter its direction from right to left, or vice versa, with handspikes, tackles, &c.

TRAVERSE A YARD, TO. To get it fore and aft.

TRAVERSE-BOARD. A thin circular piece of board, marked with all the points of the compass, and having eight holes bored in each, and eight small pegs hanging from the centre of the board. It is used to determine the different courses run by a ship during a watch, by sticking one peg into the point on which the ship has run each half hour. It is useful in light and variable winds.

TRAVERSE-HORSE. See JACK-STAYS.

TRAVERSE QUESTIONS. Cross examinations at a court-martial.

TRAVERSE SAILING. Resolving a traverse is merely a general term for the determination of a single course equivalent to a series of successive courses steered, whatever be the manner of finding the lengths of the lines forming the triangles.

TRAVERSE-TABLE. A table which gives the difference of latitude and departure corresponding to a certain course and distance, and vice versa. It is generally calculated to every quarter of a point or degree, and up to a distance of 300 miles.

TRAVERSE-WIND. A wind which sets right in to any harbour, and prevents the departure of vessels.

TRAVERSIER. A small fishing vessel on the coast of Rochelle.

TRAVERSUM. A archaic term for a ferry.

TRAWL. A strong net or bag dragged along the bottom of fishing-banks, by means of a rope, a beam, and a pair of iron trawl-heads.

TRAYERES. An archaic term for a sort of long-boat.

TREADING A SEAM, OR DANCING PEDRO-PEE. See PEDRO-A-PIED.

TREAD OF A SHIP OR KEEL. The length of her keel.

TREAD WATER, TO. The practice in swimming by which the body is sustained upright, and the head kept above the surface.

TREBLE-BLOCK. One fitted with three sheaves or rollers.

TREBLING. Planking thrice around a whaler's bows in order the more effectually to withstand the pressure of the ice.

TREBUCHET. An engine of old to cast stones and batter walls.

TRECK-SCHUYT. A canal boat in Holland for carrying goods and passengers.

TREEING. In the Arctic regions, refraction sometimes causes the ice to resemble a huge wall, which is considered an indication of open water in that quarter.

TREE-NAILS. Long cylindrical oak or other hard wood pins, driven through the planks and timbers of a vessel to connect her various parts.

TREE-NAIL WEDGE. A cross is cut in the tree-nail end, and wedges driven in, caulked; or sometimes a wedge is driven into its inner end, and the tree-nail is thus secured.

TREES OF A SHIP. The chess-trees, the cross-trees, the rough-trees, the trestle-trees, and the waste-trees.

TRELAWNEY. A poor mess composed of barley-meal, water, and salt.

TRENCHES. The earthworks by which a besieger approaches a fortified place; generally half sunk in the ground, the other half formed by the excavated earth thrown, as a parapet, to the front.

TRENCHMAN. See TRUGMAN.

TRENCH THE BALLAST, TO. To divide the ballast in a ship's hold to get at a leak, or to trim and stow it.

TREND, TO. To bend or incline, speaking of a coast; as, "The land trends to the south-west." Also, the course of a current or stream.

TREND OF AN ANCHOR. The lower end of the shank, where it thickens towards the arms, usually at one-third from the crown. In round terms, it is the same distance on the shank from the throat that the arm measures from the throat to the bill.

TRENNEL. See TREE-NAILS.

TREPANG. An eastern name for the Holothuria, or beche-de-mer, frequently called the sea-slug; used as an article of food by the Chinese.

TRESTLE-TREES. Two strong bars of timber fixed horizontally fore-and-aft on each side of the lower mast-head, to support the top-mast, the lower cross-trees, and top; smaller trestle-trees are fitted on a topmast-head to support the topgallant-mast and top-mast cross-trees.

TRIANGLE, OR TRIGON. A geometrical figure consisting of three sides and as many angles. Also, a machine formed by spars for lifting weights, water-casks, &c. Also, a stage hung round a mast, to scrape, paint, or grease it.

TRIANGULUM. One of the ancient northern constellations.

TRIATIC STAY. A rope secured at each end of the heads of the fore and main masts, with thimbles spliced in its bight to hook the stay-tackles to. This term applies also to the jumper-stay, extending in schooners from the mainmast-head to the foremast-head, clearing the end of the fore gaff.

TRIBUTARY. Any stream, large or small, which directly or indirectly joins another stream.

TRICE, TO. To haul or lift up by means of a lashing or line.

TRICE UP--LIE OUT! The order to lift the studding-sail boom-ends while the top-men move out on the yards, preparatory to reefing or furling.

TRICING BATTENS. Those used for the hammocks, or tricing up the bags between the beams on the lower-deck.

TRICING-LINE. A small cord, generally passing through a block or thimble, and used to hoist up any object to render it less inconvenient; such are the tricing-lines of the yard-tackle, &c.

TRICK. The time allotted to a man on duty at the helm. The same as spell.

TRICKER. An old spelling for the trigger of a gun.

TRIE. An old word for trim.--Out of trie, crank.

TRIGGER. In ship-building, is the letting fall the paul of the cradle by which the dog-shore falls flush, and offers no further obstruction to the ship gliding down the ways into her absurdly termed "native element." Also, a small catch under the lock of fire-arms, by drawing which back, when the piece is cocked, it is discharged.

TRIGGER-FINGER. See FORE-FINGER.

TRIGGER-LINE. A line by which the gun is fired.

TRIG-MEAT. A western term for any kind of shell-fish picked up at low water.

TRIGON. See TRIANGLE.

TRIGONOMETRY. The science which deals with measuring triangles, or determining their unknown sides and angles, plane or spherical.

TRIM. The set of a ship on the water, whether by the head or the stern, or on an even keel. It is by the disposition of the ballast, cargo, masts, and other weight which she carries, that a vessel is best adapted for navigation. Also, the working or finishing of any piece of timber or plank to its proper shape or form.--In trim, is neat and regular.--To trim, is to arrange the sails so that they may receive the full advantage of the wind.

TRIM OF THE HOLD. The arrangement of the cargo, &c., by which a vessel carries sail well, and becomes under control as well as sea-worthy.

TRIMMED. Sails properly set, and yards well braced after tacking.

TRIMMED SHARP. The arrangement of a ship's sails in a slant wind, so that she may keep as close as possible to the breeze.

TRIMMING A JACKET. Rope's-ending the wearer.

TRIMONIER. A corruption of timoneer, but formerly a rating on ships' books.

TRIM THE BOAT! The order to sit in the boat in such a manner as that she shall float upright. Also, to edge aft, so that her steerage becomes easier, and she does not ship heavy seas.

TRINK. An old contrivance for catching fish. (Statute 2 Hen. VI. c. 15.)

TRIP. An outward-bound passage or short voyage, particularly in the coasting trade. It also denotes a single board in plying to windward. Also, the movement by which an anchor is loosened from its bed and raised clear of the bottom, either by its cable or buoy-rope.--The anchor's a-trip, i.e. no longer holds.

TRIPLE STAR. Three stars situated in close proximity, but apparently only optically connected. (See TERNARY SYSTEM.)

TRIPPING. Giving a yard the necessary cant by a tripping-line. Also, the lifting an upper mast to withdraw its fid, in order that it may be lowered by means of the mast-rope.

TRIPPING-LINE. A small rope serving to unrig the lower top-gallant yard-arm of its lift and brace, when in the act of sending it down on deck. Also, the line used for tripping an upper mast.

TROACHER, OR TROAKER. A dealer in smuggled goods.

TROCHOID, OR CYCLOID. A geometrical curve, resulting from a circle being made to run along a right line, whence the French designate it roulette. But if a circle be made to roll along the circumference of another circle, it becomes an epicycloid (which see).

TROITE. An archaism for the cuttle-fish.

TROLLING. Drawing the bait along the water to imitate the swimming of a real fish; this is generally done by a long line attached to the stern of a sailing-boat. The word of old signified sauntering or idling about.

TROMBONE. A species of blunderbuss for boat service, taking its name from its unseemly trumpet mouth.

TRONA. An article of export from Tripoli and Egypt; the natron of commerce, and over munnoo of the East Indies. Sesqui-carb. of soda mixed with salt and sulphate of soda.

TROOP. A company of cavalry, commanded by a captain, generally from forty to sixty strong. Also, an assembling beat of the drum.--Trooping the guard, or the colours, are special military ceremonies connected with guard-mounting.--Troop the guard. A ceremony daily practised in large ships by the marines at morning muster.

TROOP-BOATS. Are built with great flatness of floor, with extreme breadth, carried well forward and aft, and possessing the utmost buoyancy, as well as capacity for stowage. They were carried as paddle-box boats (inverted), and thus protected the paddles as well as being ready for use.

TROOP-SHIPS. A class of vessel of excellent account, during war, in the hands of government; far preferable to hired transports for the purpose of conveying soldiers, especially cavalry and their horses. They were usually, in the last French war, 50's and 64's; and with the lower-deck guns taken out, were roomy and airy.

TROPHY. Anything captured from an enemy and shown or treasured as a token of victory.

TROPICAL MOTION. See MOTION.

TROPICAL REVOLUTION. If the periodic time of a circuit round the sun be taken in reference to the equinoxes or tropics, it is called a tropical revolution.

TROPIC-BIRD. Phaethon aethereus, a well-known sea-bird, distinguished by two very long feathers in its tail; also termed boatswain-bird, from the tail feathers resembling a marline-spike.

TROPICS. Two imaginary lines upon the globe, or lesser circles of the sphere, parallel to the equator, and at 23-1/2 deg. distance on each side of it; they touch the ecliptic at its greatest distances from the equator, and from the boundaries of the sun's declination, north and south.

TROUGH [from the Anglo-Saxon troh]. A small boat broad at both ends. Also, the hollow or interval between two waves, which resembles a broad and deep trench perpetually fluctuating. As the set of the sea is produced by the wind, the waves and the trough are at right angles with it; hence a ship rolls heaviest when she is in the trough of the sea.

TROUL. The action of silt being rolled along by a tide.

TROUNCE, TO. To beat or punish. An old word; in Mathew's translation of the Bible, 1537, we find, "The Lord trounced Sisera."

TROUNCER. An old word for a waister.

TROUS DE LOUP. Holes dug in the form of an inverted cone, with a sharp picket or stake in each, to break the march of an enemy's column when advancing to the attack.

TROW. A clinker-built, flat-floored barge used on the Severn, &c. Also, a sort of double boat with an interval between, and closed at the ends; it is used on the Tyne for salmon-fishing, the fisherman standing across the opening, leister in hand, ready to strike the quarry which passes.

TRUCE. The exhibition of a flag of truce has been religiously respected amongst civilized nations. It is a request by signal to desist from farther warfare, until the object of the truce requested has been acceded to or rejected.

TRUCHMAN. See TRUGMAN.

TRUCK. A Cornish word for the trough between two surfs. Also, exchange, as fish for grog, &c.

TRUCKLE. A Welsh coracle.

TRUCKS. Pieces of wood of various forms, though mostly round; they are for different purposes, as wheels on which the gun-carriages run.--Trucks of the flag-staves or at the mast-head. Circular caps on the upper mast-heads; they are generally furnished with two or more small sheaves, through which the signal halliards are rove.--Trucks of the parrels. Spherical pieces of wood, termed bull's-eyes, having a hole through them, in which is inserted the rope of the parrel. (See PARRALS.)--Trucks for fair leaders, are similar to bull's-eyes, but are scored to fit the shrouds to which they are seized. The ropes are thus kept from getting jammed between the yards and the rigging; they are also useful, especially at night, as guides to particular ropes.

TRUE ANOMALY. See ANOMALY.

TRUE-BLUE. A metaphorical term for an honest and hearty sailor: "true to his uniform, and uniformly true."

TRUE-HORIZON. See HORIZON.

TRUE TIDE. Opposed to cross-tide (which see).

TRUE WATER. The exact depth of soundings.

TRUFF. A west-country name for a trout.

TRUG. A rough basket for carrying chips of timber.

TRUGMAN. An early word for interpreter, being a corruption of dragoman; also called trench-man, but not trencher-man, as a worthy Mediterranean consul wrote it.

TRUMPETER. A petty officer and musician stationed on the poop, to sound salutes and various evolutionary orders.

TRUNCHEON. A field-marshal's baton; also a constable's.

TRUNDLE-HEAD. The lower drumhead of a capstern, when it is double, and worked on one shaft both on an upper and lower deck.

TRUNDLE-SHOT. An iron bolt 16 or 18 inches long, with sharp points, and a ball of lead just inside each head.

TRUNK. (See RUDDER-TRUNK.) Also, a large species of turtle. Also, a place for keeping fish in. Also, an iron hoop with a bag, used to catch crabs and lobsters.--Fire-trunks. Funnels fixed in fire-ships under the shrouds, to convey the flames to the masts, rigging, and sails.

TRUNK-ENGINE. A direct-acting steam-engine, in which the end of the connecting-rod is attached to the bottom of a hollow trunk, passing steam-tight through the cylinder cover.

TRUNK-FISH. A name of the Ostracion, a fish remarkable for having its body encased in an inflexible armour of hard octagonal plates, the fins, mouth, and gill-openings passing through holes in this casing.

TRUNNION-RING. The ring round a cannon next before the trunnions, now disused.

TRUNNIONS. The arms, or two pieces of metal projecting from the opposite sides of a gun, by which it rests and swings upon its carriage, acting as an axis of elevation or depression. Also, pieces of well-seasoned wood, used in securing the ship's timbers.

TRUSS. The trusses or parrels of the lower yards serve to bind them to their masts and are bowsed taut when the yards are trimmed, in order to arrest motion and friction. But the introduction of an iron goose-neck, centering and securing the yard well free of the mast, very much supersedes the use of trusses.

TRUSS-HOOPS. Synonymous with clasp-hoops for masts or spars; they are open iron hoops, so made that their ends, being let into each other, may be well fastened by means of iron wedges or forelock keys.

TRUSS-PARREL. That part of a rope-truss which goes round the yard.

TRUSS-PENDANT. That part of a rope-truss into which the truss-tackle blocks are seized.

TRUSS-PIECES. The fillings in between the frame compartments of the riders, in diagonal trussing.

TRUSS-TACKLE. A gun-tackle purchase applied to the ends of the truss-pendants, to bowse them taut home to the mast.

TRUSS UP, TO. To brail up a sail suddenly; to toss up a bunt.

TRY, TO, OR LIE-TO, IN A GALE, is, by a judicious balance of canvas, to keep a ship's bow to the sea, and, with as much as she can safely show, prevent her rolling to windward in the trough of a sea. Close-hauled under all sail, a vessel gains head-way within six points of the wind; but in trying she may come up to five and fall off to seven: so that a vessel does not hold her own. If the vessel be in proper trim, or properly stowed, she will naturally keep to the wind; but custom, and deficiency of seamanlike ability, have induced the lazy habit of lashing the helm a-lee.

TRY BACK FOR A BEND, TO. To pay back some of the bight of a cable, in order to have sufficient to form the bend.

TRY DOWN, TO. To boil out the oil from blubber at sea in whalers.

TRYING THE RANGE. A lubberly mode of estimating the distance of an enemy's ship or fort by firing a shot at it.

TRYSAIL. A reduced sail used by small craft in lieu of their main-sail during a storm. Also, a fore-and-aft sail, set with a boom and gaff, in ships, synonymous with the spencers of brigs and schooners, and the spanker or driver of ships. (See STORM-TRYSAIL.)

TRYSAIL-MAST. A spar abaft the fore and main mast, for hoisting the trysail.

TRY-WORKS. Large copper boilers, for boiling the blubber in whalers.

TUB, GROG. A half-cask, set apart for mixing the daily allowance of spirit with water, lime-juice, and sugar, prior to its being served out to the ship's company.

TUB, MATCH. A conical tub used to guard the slow match in action. They were formerly about five-gallon capacity, the head being sunk about two inches, and four holes bored to insert slow matches. They are now almost disused, except to keep a light ready for signal purposes, as rockets, blue lights, &c., by night.

TUBES. See CHAIN-PUMP.

TUBES, FOR GUNS. A kind of portable priming, for insertion into the vent,--of various patterns. (See FRICTION-TUBE, QUILL-TUBES, &c.)

TUBS, TOPSAIL-HALLIARD. Circular framed racks in which the topsail-halliards are coiled clear for running, and are prevented from fouling by being sent adrift in a gale.

TUBULAR BOILERS. Those in which the flame and hot gases, after leaving the furnaces, pass through a great number of small iron or brass tubes surrounded by water, by which means these gases are made to impart some of their heat to the water before they escape; thus fuel is economized.

TUCK. The after-part of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail. Thus the fir frigates of 1812-14 had flat, square transoms similar to boats, or heart-shaped. Hence our square-tucked frigates, brigs, &c.

TUG. A vessel for towing in and out of harbours and the like. (See STEAM-TUG.)

TUG, TO [from the Anglo-Saxon teogan, to pull]. It now signifies to hang on the oars, and get but little or nothing ahead.

TUGG. A heavy sort of wain or cart, on which the ship-timber for naval arsenals was formerly conveyed from Sussex.

TUMBLE IN. See TUMBLING HOME.

TUMBLER. One of the numerous names for the porpoise, Phoc[oe]na communis. Also, a contrivance to avoid the necessity of having copper nailed on the mast to prevent a gaff from chafing it.

TUMBLE UP! A requisition of the boatswain's mates, &c., to quicken the hands after being piped up. The cry is well understood, though so contrary to the known tendency of gravitation.

TUMBLING HOME. The opposite of wall-sided, or flaring out. That part of a ship's side which curves inwardly above the extreme breadth. In all old sea-books this narrowing of a ship from the extreme breadth upwards is called housing in. (See UPPER-WORKS.)

TUMBLING SEA. The increased rolling before a gale.

TUMBRIL. A covered cart for conveying ammunition and pioneers' tools.

TUM-TUM. A West India dish, consisting of boiled plantain beat into a paste and fried.

TUNGULA. A small boat in the Moluccas and Borneo.

TUNNY. A well-known large fish of the family Scombridae. It forms an important branch of Mediterranean commerce.

TURBONADA. A roaring squall, or short hurricane, of frequent occurrence in the Pacific Ocean [a mimo-phonetic term adopted from the Spaniards].

TURBOT. The Pleuronectes maximus, a flat fish in the highest esteem with all ichthyophagi.

TURKEY-GRAIN. A name for maize.

TURK'S HEAD. An ornamental knot, so called from resembling a turban, used on side-ropes, &c.; it is worked with a piece of small line by following the lead till it is formed with three parts to each cross.

TURN, TO TAKE OR CATCH A. To pass a rope once or twice round a cleat, pin, kevel, or any other thing, to keep it fast.

TURN AHEAD! A self-explanatory order to the engineer, in regulating the movement of a steamer.

TURN A TURTLE, TO. To take the animal by seizing a flipper, and throwing him on his back, which renders him quite helpless. Also applied to a vessel capsizing; or throwing a person suddenly out of his hammock.

TURN IN, TO. To go to bed.--To turn out. To get up.

TURN IN A DEAD-EYE OR HEART, TO. To seize the end of a shroud or stay, &c., securely round it.

TURNING IN RIGGING. The end of a vessel's shrouds carried round the dead-eyes, laid back and secured by seizings.

TURNING-ROOM. Space in a narrow channel for a ship to work in.

TURN IN THE HAWSE. Two crosses in a cable.

TURN OF THE TIDE. The change from ebb to flood, or the contrary.

TURN OUT THE GUARD! The order for the marines of the guard to fall in, on the quarter-deck, in order to receive a superior officer on board.

TURN OVER MEN, TO. To discharge them out of one ship into another.

TURN THE GLASS. The order in throwing the log when the stray line is payed out.

TURN THE HANDS UP, TO. To summon the entire crew on deck.

TURN TO WINDWARD, TO. To gain on the wind by alternate tacking. It is when a ship endeavours to make progress against the wind by a compound course inclined to the place of her destination; otherwise called plying or beating to windward.

TURNPIKE-SAILORS. Rascals who go about dressed as sailors pretending that they have been shipwrecked, and soliciting charity.

TURPIS CAUSA. An unsustainable suit for wages, on the part of a British pilot, for navigating a foreign ship to an enemy's port.

TURRET-SHIP. A vessel, more or less armoured, fitted with one or more heavily plated revolving turrets, each carrying one or more guns of the heaviest class, which look out above the deck; the whole worked by steam-power. It represents the present improvement on the inventions of the cupola-ship, shield-ship, and monitor.

TURTLE. The well-known marine reptile described by early navigators as "reasonable toothsom meate." The horny covering of the shell of some species furnishes the substance commonly known as tortoise-shell.

TURTLE-CRAWL. A shallow lagoon, wherein turtles are kept.

TURTLE-PEG. A socketed pointed iron on a staff; it is slightly barbed, and is a special tool for sticking turtle.

TUSK. The Brosmius vulgaris, a savoury fish taken in the northern seas, about the size of the ling, but with a broader tail.

'TWEEN OR 'TWIXT DECKS. The one under the gun deck, where sailors usually mess.

TWICE-LAID. Rope made from a selection of the best yarns of old rope. Also, a sea-dish made of the salt-fish left from yesterday's dinner, and beaten up with potatoes or yams.

TWIDDLING-LINE. A piece of small rope ornamentally fitted and used for steadying the steering-wheel when required: no longer used.

TWIG, TO. To pull upon a bowline. Also, in familiar phrase, to understand or observe.

TWIG-AIT. A river islet where osiers grow.

TWINE. A kind of strong thread used in sail-making; it is of two kinds: extra, for sewing the seams; and ordinary, for the bolt-ropes. (See WHIPPING-TWINE.) Irish twine or thumb-line, like nettles, is worked by the fingers from fine yarns drawn from bolt-rope.

TWIN-SCREW. A steamer fitted with two propellers and independent engines, to enable her to turn rapidly on her own axis. The twin-screw principle is not new, but latterly it has been so perfected that speed in turning is no longer a matter of doubt.

TWO-BLOCKS. The same as chock-a-block (which see).

TWO-HANDED FELLOWS. Those who are both seamen and soldiers, or artificers; as the marines and, specially, marine artillerymen.

TWO-HANDED SAW. A very useful instrument in ship-carpentry; it is much longer than the hand-saw, and requires two men to use it.

TWO-MONTHLY BOOK. A book kept by the captain's clerk, to be forwarded every two months, when possible, in order to prevent frauds; and in the event of a ship being lost, to have the accounts to the nearest period.

TWO MONTHS' ADVANCE. See ADVANCE MONEY.

TWO-PENCES. A deduction from each man, per mensem, formerly assigned to the surgeon for wages.

TWO-TOPSAIL-SCHOONER. See TOPSAIL-SCHOONER.

TWY. A meteor squall on the coasts of Wiltshire, Hampshire, &c.

TYE. A runner of thick rope or chain, which forms part of the purchase used for hoisting the top-sail and top-gallant yards.

TYE-BLOCK. The block on the yard through which the tye is rove, and passes on to be secured at the mast-head. The block secured to the lower end of the tye is the fly-block.

TYMOOM. A Chinese river craft.

TYNDARIDES. The ancient name of the meteor called corpo santo.

TYPHOON, TY-FONG, OR TAI-PHON. The Chinese word for a great wind, applied to hurricanes or cyclones. They are revolving storms of immense force, occurring most frequently in those parts of the world which are subject to monsoons, and take place at those seasons when the monsoons are changing. They seem to be eddies formed by the meeting of opposing currents of air--for instance, the westerly winds near the equator and the easterly winds of higher latitudes--which accounts for the important fact that these storms revolve in opposite directions in the two hemispheres--in the southern with, in the northern against, the hands of a watch; but the circular tendency in both supports the name of cyclone.

U.

UGLY. A term applied to a threatening heavy atmosphere, also to a head-sea. Also, to an ugly craft, as a mischievous foe, or a pirate.

ULCUS. An old term for the hulk of a ship of burden (leg. Ethelred).

ULIGINOUS CHANNELS. Those connecting the branches of rivers, by cuts through the soil.

ULLAGE. The remainder in a cask or package which has leaked or been partially used.--Ullaged is used for damaged, short of contents.

ULTIMATUM. The final conditions upon which any proposition or treaty with an enemy can be ratified.

ULTRA MARE. Beyond seas--a naval law term.

ULTRA VIRES. Beyond the power of might or right to interfere.

ULTRA-ZODIACAL. Beyond the limits of the zodiac; applied to those asteroids that revolve outside the ancient zodiac.

UMBRA. The dark shadow of the moon, earth, or any other planet.

UMBRELLA-WARPING. A contrivance similar to an umbrella, by which ships in a calm can be warped ahead.

UNATTACHED. In military phraseology, an officer not belonging to any one company or regiment, or on half-pay.

UNBEND, TO. To cast off or untie; to remove the sails from their yards and stays; to cast loose the cables from their anchors, or to untie one rope from another.

UNBITT, TO. To remove the turns of a cable from off the bitts. (See BITTS.)

UNCLAIMED, AS DERELICT. Vessels found at sea without a human being, or a domestic animal, on board are good prizes, if not claimed within 366 days. If so claimed, full salvage, or half her value, is assigned to the salvors.

UNDECAGON. A geometrical figure of eleven equal sides and angles.

UNDER BARE POLES. The condition of a ship under no canvas, or when the wind is too violent to allow of any sail being set on her.

UNDER-BEVELLING. The alteration made inside a square in hewing timber, as opposed to standing bevelling.

UNDER-BRIGHT. A meteorological term for the strong light which sometimes appears below clouds near the horizon.

UNDER CANVAS. Synonymous with under sail.

UNDER-CURRENT. A stream which sets beneath the surface-water of the sea whilst that is either in a quiescent state or moving in a contrary direction. Swift rivers may run out at top whilst the flood-tide runs in below.

UNDER DECK. The floor of a cabin, or 'tween decks.

UNDER FOOT. Under the ship's bottom; said of an anchor which is dropped while she has head-way. An anchor is often dropped under foot when calm prevails and the drift would be towards danger.--To drop an anchor under foot, is to let it go and veer a little of the riding cable when the coming home, or parting of the one by which she is riding, is feared.

UNDER LEVEL. See BEVELLING.

UNDER-MANNED. When a ship has an insufficient complement, or is short-handed.

UNDER-MASTED. When the masts are either too small or too short, so that a ship cannot spread the sail necessary to give her proper speed.

UNDER METAL. The condition of a gun when the muzzle is depressed, and the metal, i.e. the breech, raised; the proper position when not in use, to prevent moisture collecting in the chamber.

UNDER-RUN A HAWSER OR WARP, TO. To haul a boat along underneath it, in order to clear it, if any part happens to be foul. To under-run a tackle, is to separate the several parts of which it is composed, and range them in order, so that the general effort may not be interrupted when it is put in motion by the parts crossing, or by thorough-foots.

UNDER SAIL. The state of a ship when she is in motion from the action of wind on her sails.

UNDER-SET. Wherever the wind impels the surface-water directly upon the shore of a bay, the water below restores equilibrium by taking a direction contrary to the wind. The resaca, or under-set, is particularly dangerous on those beaches where heavy surf prevails.

UNDER-SHORE, TO. To support or raise a thing by putting a spar or prop under it, as a ship is shored up in dock.

UNDER-SKINKER. Assistant to the purser's steward.

UNDER THE LEE. Sheltered from the wind by some intervening object, as a ship under the lee of the land.

UNDER THE SEA. A ship lying-to in a heavy gale, and making bad weather of it.

UNDER THE WIND. So situated to leeward of something as not to feel the wind.

UNDER-TOW. An under current especially noticed at the mouths of great rivers, or where tide and half-tides prevail, completely hampering the sails even with a good breeze. (See UNDER-CURRENT.)

UNDER WAY. A ship beginning to move under her canvas after her anchor is started. Some have written this under weigh, but improperly. A ship is under weigh when she has weighed her anchor: she may be with or without canvas, or hove-to. As soon as she gathers way she is under way. This a moot point with old seamen.

UNDERWRITERS. The parties who take upon themselves the risk of insurance, and so called from subscribing their names at the foot of the policy. They are legally presumed to be acquainted with every custom of the trade whereon they enter a policy.

UNICORN. The old name for the howitzer, as improved from the licorn, borrowed from the Turks during the last century by the Russians, and from the latter by Europe generally.

UNICORN-FISH, OR SEA-UNICORN. A name for the narwhal (which see).

UNIFORM. The dress prescribed by regulation for officers and men of the army, navy, marines, &c.

UNION. The national flag of Great Britain, on shore or afloat. It is a composition of the crosses of St. George of England, St. Andrew of Scotland, and St. Patrick of Ireland, the last having been brought in in 1801. It was formerly inscribed, "For the Protestant Religion and for the Liberty of England." It is in the upper canton of all British ensigns. At the main it is the proper flag of an admiral of the fleet; and was thus flown by Lord Howe at the battle of June 1, 1794.

UNION DOWN. When a ship hoists her ensign upside down it is a signal of distress or of mourning.

UNION-JACK. The union flag used separately; in the merchant service it must have a broad white border.

UNLIMBER, TO. With a gun on a travelling-carriage, to release it from the limber, by lifting the trail off the pintle and placing it on the ground, thus bringing it to the position for action.

UNLIVERY. Expenses of unlivery and appraisement are a charge in the first instance against the captors of a prize, to be afterwards apportioned by them ratably against the cargo.

UNMANAGEABLE. When a vessel refuses to answer her helm, has lost her rudder, or is crippled in masts or sails.

UNMOORED. Having one anchor weighed; lying at single anchor.

UNREEVING. The act of withdrawing a rope from any block, thimble, dead-eye, &c., through which it had formerly passed. (See REEVE.)

UNRIG, TO. To dismantle a ship of her standing and running rigging.--To unrig the capstan is to take out the bars.

UNROOMAGED. An antiquated sea term, which, from its application by Sir W. Raleigh, in his account of Sir R. Granville's action, may mean "out of trim."

UNROVE HIS LIFE-LINE. Departed this life.

UNSERVICEABLE TICKET. This is made out in the same manner, and requires the same notations, as a sick-ticket (which see), only that no inventory of clothes and other effects is necessary.

UNSHIP, TO. The opposite of to ship. To remove any piece of timber from its situation in which it is generally used, as "unship the oars," lay them in the boat from the rowlocks; "unship the capstan bars," &c.

UNWHOLESOME SHIP. One that will neither hull, try, nor ride, without labouring heavily in a sea. Also applied to a sugar ship diverted from her former trade, and not properly cleansed, even before taking in a cargo of timber.

UP ALONG. Sailing from the mouth of the channel upwards.

UP ANCHOR. Pipe to weigh; every man to his station.

UP AND DOWN. The situation of the cable when it has been hove in sufficiently to bring the ship directly over the anchor. (See RIGHT UP AND DOWN.)

UP-AND-DOWN TACKLE. A purchase used in bowsing down the eyes of the lower rigging over the mast-heads; lifting objects from the hold; getting anchors over the side, &c.

UP BOATS! The order to hoist the boats to the stern and quarter davits.

UP COURSES! The order to haul them up by the clue-garnets, &c.

UPHAND-SLEDGE. A large sledge-hammer used in blacksmith's work, and lifted with both hands, in contradistinction to the short stroke by the master smith.

UPHROE. See UVROU.

UPMAKING. Pieces of plank or timber piled on each other as filling-up in building, more especially those placed between the bilge-ways and ship's bottom preparatory to launching.

UPPER COUNTER. The counter between the wing transom and the rail. (See COUNTER.)

UPPER DECK. The highest of those decks which are continued throughout the whole length of a ship without falls or interruptions, as the quarter-deck, waist, and forecastle of frigates, &c.

UPPER FINISHING. See FINISHINGS.

UPPER MASTS. The top-mast, topgallant-mast, and royal-mast; any spars above these are termed poles. (See POLE-MASTS.)

UPPER STRAKE OR WASH OF BOATS. A strake thicker than those of the bottom, wrought round the gunwales, and lined within the poppets.

UPPER OR TOP-RIDER FUTTOCKS. These timbers stand nearly the same as breadth-riders, and very much strengthen the top-side.

UPPER TRANSIT. The passage of a circumpolar star over the meridian above the pole; the opposite of the lower transit.

UPPER-WORKS. That part of a ship which rises from the water's surface when she is properly trimmed for a voyage.

UP SCREW! The order in steamers to lift the screw on making sail.

UP WITH THE HELM. Put it a-weather; that is, over to the windward side, or (whichever way the tiller is shipped) so as to carry the rudder to leeward of the stern-post.

URANOGRAPHY. The delineation of constellations, nebulae, &c., on celestial charts or globes.

URANOSCOPUS. See SKY-GAZER.

URANUS. A superior planet discovered by the elder Herschel in 1781; it has four known satellites, but possibly six, according to the impression of the discoverer.

URCA. An armed Spanish fly-boat.

URSA MAJOR. One of the ancient northern constellations.

URSA MINOR. An ancient northern constellation, in which the north polar star is situated.

USAGES. Besides the general laws of merchants, there are certain commercial and seafaring usages which prevail in particular countries with the force of law. Underwriters are bound by usages; and they are legal precedents, binding in courts-martial.

USHANT TEAM. The sobriquet given to that portion of the Channel fleet which blockaded Brest.

UTLAGHE. An outlaw; whence by corruption laggers, people transported by sentence of law.

UVROU. The circular piece of wood, with holes in it, by which the legs of a crow-foot are extended for suspending an awning.

V.

VACUUM. A space utterly empty, even of air or vapour.

VADMEL. Coarse woollen manufacture of the Orkneys. (See WADMAREL.)

VAIL, TO. An old word signifying to lower, to bend in token of submission; as, "Vail their top-gallants." Thus in the old play George a-Green, "Let me alone, my lord; I'll make them vail their plumes."

VAKKA. A large canoe of the Friendly Islands, with an out-rigger.

VALE, OR DALE (which see). Also, gunwale.--To vale, was an old term for "dropping down," as in a river.

VALUATION. In cases of restitution after property has been sold, and account of sales cannot be obtained, it may be taken at the invoice price, and 10 per cent profit; but this mode of estimating it does not include freight, even though the ship and cargo belong to the same person.

VALUED POLICY. Is where a value has been set upon the ships or goods insured, and this value inserted in the policy in nature of liquidated damages, to save the necessity of proving it, in case of a total loss.

VALVES. See under their respective particular names.

VAMBRACE. Armour for the front of the arm.

VAN [formerly vant, contracted from avant]. That part of a fleet, army, or body of men, which is advanced in the first line or front.--Vanguard. The advanced division.

VANE. A piece of buntin extended on a wooden stock, which turns upon a spindle at the mast-head; it shows the direction of the wind.--A distinguishing vane, denotes the division of a fleet to which a ship of the line belongs, according to the mast on which it is borne.--Dog-vane. A small light vane, formed of thin slips of cork, stuck round with feathers, and strung upon a piece of twine. It is usually fastened to the top of a half-pike, and placed on the weather side of the quarter-deck, in order to show the helmsman the direction of the wind.

VANES. The sights of cross-staffs, fore-staffs, quadrants, &c., are pieces of brass standing perpendicularly to the plane of the instrument; the one opposite to the fore horizon-glass is the foresight-vane, the other the backsight-vane.

VANE-SPINDLE. The pivot on which the mast-head-vane turns; it should never be made of metal, lest it attract lightning, unless the masts be fitted with Sir W. Snow Harris's conductors.

VANFOSSE. A wet ditch at the outer foot of the glacis.

VANG. A rope leading from the end of the gaff to the rail, one on each side, so that the two form guys attached to the outer ends of the gaffs to steady them, and when the sails are not set keep them amidships.

VANGEE. A contrivance for working the pumps of a vessel by means of a barrel and crank-breaks.

VAPOUR, OR SMOKE. In polar parlance, a peculiar but natural result of the conversion of water into ice, which is too often supposed to indicate open water.

VARIABLES. Those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected.

VARIABLE STARS. Those which are found to exhibit periodical fluctuations of brightness; of which Algol and Mira Ceti are notable examples.

VARIATION. A term applied to the deviation of the magnetic needle or compass, from the true north point towards either east or west; called also the declination. The variation of the needle is properly defined as the angle which a magnetic needle suspended at liberty makes with the meridian line on a horizontal plane; or an arc of the horizon, comprehended between the true and the magnetic meridian. (See ANNUAL VARIATION.)

VARIATION CHART. The well-known chart produced by Halley, whereon a number of curved lines show the variation of the compass in the places they pass through. The admiralty variation chart has been brought to great perfection.

VARIATION OF THE MOON. An inequality in the movement of our satellite, amounting at certain times to 37' in longitude: it was the first lunar inequality explained by Newton on the principles of gravitation.

VARIATION OF THE VARIATION. Is the change in the declination of the needle observed at different times in the same place.

VEDETTE. One or two cavalry soldiers stationed on the look-out.

VEER, TO. To let out, to pay out, to turn or change. Also, to veer or wear, in contradistinction from tacking. In tacking it is a necessary condition that the ship be brought up to the wind as close-hauled, and put round against the wind on the opposite tack. But in veering or wearing, especially when strong gales render it dangerous, unseamanlike, or impossible, the head of the vessel is put away from the wind, and turned round 20 points of the compass instead of 12, and, without strain or danger, is brought to the wind on the opposite tack. Many deep-thinking seamen, and Lords St. Vincent, Exmouth, and Sir E. Owen, issued orders to wear instead of tacking, when not inconvenient, deeming the accidents and wear and tear of tacking, detrimental to the sails, spars, and rigging.

VEER A BUOY IN A SHIP'S WAKE, TO. To slack out a rope to which a buoy has been attached, and let it go astern, for the purpose of bringing up a boat, or picking up a man who may have fallen overboard.

VEER AND HAUL, TO. To gently tauten and then slacken a rope three times before giving a heavy pull, the object being to concentrate the force of several men. The wind is said to veer and haul when it alters its direction; thus it is said, to veer aft, and haul forward.

VEER AWAY THE CABLE, TO. To slack and let it run out.

VEERING CABLE, THE. That cable which is veered out in unmooring, and not unspliced or unshackled in clearing hawse.

VEGA. {a} Lyrae. The bright lucida of the old northern constellation Lyra.

VEIN. The clear water between the openings of floes of ice. The same as ice-lane. Also, a very limited current of wind--a cat's-paw.

VELOCITY. In naval architecture, designing for velocity is giving that form to a ship's body by which she will pass through the water in the quickest space of time.

VELOCITY OF TIDE OR CURRENT, depends on several circumstances. First, the tide varies with the state of the moon, running strongest at the springs, and the force of the ebb is much increased by rains, land freshes, &c. The currents also vary, especially when wind and tide combine to accelerate their action.

VENDAVAL [Sp. south wind, tiempo di vendavales]. A stormy time on the coast of Mexico, in the autumn, with violent thunder, lightning, and rain.

VENDUE MASTER. A commercial and marine auctioneer.

VENE-SEANDES. The old commercial term for Venetian sequins.

VENT. In artillery, the small aperture near the breech by which the fire of the priming is communicated to the charge.

VENT-BIT. A peculiar augur or screw gimlet used for clearing the vent of a gun when obstructed.

VENT-FIELD OF A GUN. The raised tablet in the metal near the breech in which the vent is bored.

VENTILATOR. The name of various machines contrived to expel the foul air from the store-rooms and hold, and introduce fresh in its stead.

VENT-PIECE. The movable fitment which closes the breech and contains the vent in Armstrong breech-loading guns.

VENT-PLUG. A fid or stopple made of leather or oakum fitting in the vent of a piece to stop it against weather, &c.

VENTRAL FIN. The posterior pair of fins under the body of fishes, corresponding to the hind legs of terrestrial quadrupeds.

VENUS. One of the inferior planets, and the second in order of distance from the sun. (See TRANSIT OF VENUS.)

VERIFICATION OF SHIP'S PAPERS. In this necessary process it is declared that papers of themselves prove nothing, and require to be supported by the oaths of persons in a situation to give them validity.

VERITAS. A register of shipping established in Paris, on the principle of Lloyd's List.

VERNAL EQUINOX. The point where the sun crosses the equator, going north. It is opposite the place of the autumnal equinox. (See EQUINOXES.)

VERNIER, OR NONIUS. A graduated scale for the measurement of minute divisions, especially on the arcs of astronomical instruments, sextants, &c. The thousandth part of a degree can be taken by the naked eye; the ten thousandth by a microscope.

VERSED SINE. In geometry, is the part of the radius intercepted between the arc and its sine.

VERTEX. The zenith, the point overhead; the apex of a conical mountain.

VERTICAL ANGLES. Opposite angles made by two lines cutting or crossing each other, and are always equal. (See ANGLE OF THE VERTICAL.)

VERTICAL CIRCLES. Great circles of the sphere intercepting each other in the zenith and nadir, and cutting the horizon at right angles.

VERTICAL FIRE. In artillery, that directed upward at such an angle as that it will fall vertically, or nearly so, to its destination. It includes all elevations above 30 deg., though the most usual is 45 deg. It is very effective with shells; but with small balls, as proposed by Carnot and others, who have ill reckoned the retardation by the atmosphere, it is insignificant.

VERTICAL FORCE. The centre of displacement is also that of the centre of vertical force that the water exerts to support the immersed vessel. Also, the dip of the magnetic needle, measured by vibrations of the dipping needle over certain arcs, and referable to some fixed position, as Greenwich, where corresponding observations with the same needle have been previously, as well as subsequently, made.

VERTICAL PLAN. See ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION.

VERTICITY. The tendency of the loadstone to point towards the magnetic north and south.

VESSEL. A general name for all the different sorts of ships, boats, &c., navigated on the ocean or on rivers and canals.

VETAYLE. An archaism for victuals.

VIA LACTEA. That well-known irregular luminous band, stretching across the sky from horizon to horizon: it consists of myriads of small stars, and has passed under the names of Milky Way, Galaxy, Jacob's Ladder, Watling-strete, &c.

VICE-ADMIRAL. The rank in the fleet next to that of an admiral; he carries his flag at the fore.

VICE-ADMIRALTY COURTS. Branches of the High Court of Admiralty, instituted for carrying on the like duties in several of our colonies, prize-courts, &c. (See ADMIRALTY, HIGH COURT OF.)

VICE-CONSUL. An officer appointed in sea-ports to aid the consul in affairs relating to merchant vessels. If there be a resident consul, the vice-consul is appointed and paid by him. Vice-consuls wait on commanders, consuls on captains, captains on consuls-general--the naval authority providing boats.

VICE-NAIL. A screw.

VICTUALLER. A vessel which carries provisions. In the early age of the navy, each man-of-war had a victualler especially attached to her; as, in Henry VIII.'s reign, we find the Nicholas Draper, of 140 tons and 40 men, was victualler to the Trinity Sovereign; the Barbara of Greenwich to the Gabriel Royal, and so on.

VICTUALLING-BILL. A custom-house document, warranting the shipment of such bonded stores as the master of an outward-bound merchantman may require for his intended voyage.

VICTUALLING-BOOK. A counterpart of the ship's open list, which is kept by the purser, to enable him to make the necessary entries in it.

VICTUALLING-YARDS FOR THE ROYAL NAVY. Large magazines where provisions and similar stores are deposited, conveniently contiguous to the royal dockyards. The establishments in England and Ireland are at Deptford, Gosport, Plymouth, and Cork; and abroad at Malta, Gibraltar, Cape of Good Hope, Jamaica, Halifax, Trincomalee, and Hongkong.

VIDETTE. See VEDETTE.

VI ET ARMIS. With force of arms.

VIGIA [Sp. look-out]. A hydrographical warning on a chart to denote that the pinnacle of a rock, or a shoal, may exist thereabout.

VINTINER [from vigintinarius]. An officer in our early fleet who commanded a company of twenty men.

VIOL, OR VOYOL. A large messenger formerly used to assist in weighing an anchor by the capstan.

VIOL OR VOYOL BLOCK. A large single-sheaved block through which the messenger passed when the anchor was weighed by the fore or jeer capstan; its block was usually lashed to the main-mast. This voyol-purchase was afterwards improved thus: the voyol-block was securely lashed to the cable at the manger-board, the jeer-fall rove through it, and brought to the jeer-capstan, and the standing part belayed to the bitts; thus a direct runner purchase instead of a dead nip was obtained. It was only used when other means failed, and, after the introduction of Phillipps' patent capstan, was disused.

VIOLENCE. The question in tort, as to the amount of liability incurred by the owners for outrages and irregularities committed by the master.

VIRE. The arrow shot from a cross-bow; also called a quarril.

VIRGILIAE. A denomination of the Pleiades.

VIRGO. The sixth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 21st August. Spica, {a} Virginis, is a star of the first magnitude.

VIS INERTIAE. That physical property in all bodies by which they resist a power that endeavours to put them in motion, or to change any motion they are possessed of; it is in proportion to their weight.

VIS INSITA. The innate force of matter; another name for vis inertiae. It is that by which a vessel "keeps her way."

VISITATION AND SEARCH. The law of nations gives to every belligerent cruiser the right of visitation and search of all merchant ships; wherefore, resistance to such search amounts to a forfeiture of neutrality.

VISNE. A neighbouring place; a term often used in law in actions of marine replevin.

VIS VIVA. The whole effective force or power of acting which resides in a given moving body.

VITRY. A light and durable canvas.

VITTORY. A fine canvas, of which the waist-cloths were formerly made.

VIVANDIERE. A kind of female sutler. In the French army they are attached to regiments, which they accompany, sometimes even into the skirts of action.

VIVIER. A French fishing-boat, the same as the well-boats of the English coasts, in having a well amidships in which to keep the fish alive until arrival in port.

VIZY, OR VIZE. An old name for the muzzle-sight on a musket.

VOCABULARY. The system of naval signals based on Sir Home Popham's improvements.

VOES. Arms or inlets of the sea, or sounds, in the Shetland and Orkney Isles. Also applied to creeks and bays.

VOGOVANS. From voguer and avant, chief rowers in the galleys.

VOLANT. A piece of steel on a helmet, presenting an acute angle to the front.

VOLCANO. A burning mountain or vent for subterranean fire; also applied to one which vomits only mud and water.

VOLLEY. The simultaneous discharge of a number of fire-arms.

VOLLIGUE. A small boat used on the shores of Asia Minor.

VOLUME. The contents of the globe of a planet, usually given in its proportion to that of the earth; or any named mass, solid, fluid, or vaporous.

VOLUNTARY CHARGE. A document delivered with the purser's accounts respecting provisions.

VOLUNTARY STRANDING. The beaching or running a vessel purposely aground to escape greater danger; this act is treated as particular average loss, and not a damage to be made good by general contribution.

VOLUNTEER. One who freely offers himself for a particular service. Formerly, in the army, a gentleman who, without any certain post or employment, served in the hope of earning preferment, or from patriotism. Latterly, also a civilian who has enrolled himself in a corps of volunteers, for organization and training for the defence of the country.

VOLUNTEERING FROM A MERCHANTMAN INTO THE NAVY. Any seaman can leave his ship for the purpose of forthwith entering into the royal navy; and thus leaving his ship does not render him liable to any forfeiture whatever.

VOLUTE. See SCROLL-HEAD.

VOLVELLE. The contrivance of revolving graduated circles, for making calculations, in old scientific works.

VORTEX. A whirlwind, or sudden, rapid, or violent motion of air or water in gyres or circles.

VOUCHER. A written document or proof, upon which any account or public charge is established.

VOYAGE. A journey by sea. It usually includes the outward and homeward trips, which are called passages.

VOYOL. See VIOL.

VRACH. Sea-weed used as a manure in the Channel Islands. Also, a Manx term for the mackerel.

VULFE. A rapid whirlpool or race on the coast of Norway.

W.

WABBLE, TO [from the Teutonic wabelen]. To reel confusedly, as waves on a windy day in a tide-way. It is a well-known term among mechanics to express the irregular motion of engines or turning-lathes when loose in their bearings, or otherwise out of order. A badly stitched seam in a sail is wabbled. It is also applied to the undulation of the compass-card when the motion of the vessel is considerable and irregular.

WAD. A kind of plug, closely fitting the bore of a gun, which is rammed home over the shot to confine it to its place, and sometimes also between the shot and the cartridge: generally made of coiled junk, otherwise a rope grommet, &c.

WADE, TO. An Anglo-Saxon word, meaning to pass through water without swimming. In the north, the sun was said to wade when covered by a dense atmosphere.

WAD-HOOK. An iron tool shaped like a double cork-screw on the end of a long staff, for withdrawing wads or charges from guns; called also a worm.

WADMAREL. A hairy, coarse, dark-coloured stuff of the north, once in great demand for making pea-jackets, pilot-coats, and the like.

WAFT [said to be from the Anglo-Saxon weft], more correctly written wheft. It is any flag or ensign, stopped together at the head and middle portions, slightly rolled up lengthwise, and hoisted at different positions at the after-part of a ship. Thus, at the ensign-staff, it signifies that a man has fallen overboard; if no ensign-staff exists, then half-way up the peak. At the peak, it signifies a wish to speak; at the mast-head, recalls boats; or as the commander-in-chief or particular captain may direct.

WAFTORS. Certain officers formerly appointed to guard our coast fisheries. Also, swords blunted to exercise with.

WAGER POLICY. An engagement upon interest or no interest; the performance of the voyage in a reasonable time and manner, and not the bare existence of the ship or cargo, is the object of insurance.

WAGES OR PAY OF THE ROYAL NAVY is settled by act of parliament. In the merchant service seamen are paid by the month, and receive their wages at the end of the voyage.

WAGES REMITTED FROM ABROAD. When a ship on a foreign station has been commissioned twelve calendar months, every petty officer, seaman, and marine serving on board, may remit the half of the pay due to them to a wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, or sister.

WAGGON. A place amidships, on the upper deck of guard-ships, assigned for the supernumeraries' hammocks.

WAGGONER. A name applied to an atlas of charts, from a work of this nature published at Leyden in 1583, by Jans Waghenaer.

WAIF. Goods found and not claimed; derelict. Also used for waft.

WAIST. That portion of the main deck of a ship of war, contained between the fore and main hatchways, or between the half-deck and galley.

WAIST-ANCHOR. An additional or spare anchor stowed before the chess-tree. (See SPARE ANCHOR.)

WAIST-BOARDS. The berthing made to fit into a vessel's gangway on either side.

WAIST-CLOTHS. The painted canvas coverings of the hammocks which are stowed in the waist-nettings.

WAISTERS. Green hands, or worn seamen, in former times stationed in the waist in working the ship, as they had little else of duty but hoisting and swabbing the decks.

WAIST-NETTINGS. The hammock-nettings between the quarter-deck and forecastle.

WAIST-RAIL. The channel-rail or moulding of the ship's side.

WAIST-TREE. Another name for rough-tree (which see).

WAIVE, TO. To give up the right to demand a court-martial, or to enforce forfeitures, by allowing people who have deserted, &c., to return to their duties.

WAIVING. The action of dispensing with salutes--by signal, by motion of the hand to guards, &c., and to vessels, which may be, in accordance with old custom, passing under the lee to be hailed and examined.

WAIVING AMAIN. A salutation of defiance, as by brandishing weapons, &c.

WAKE. The transient, generally smooth, track impressed on the surface-water by a ship's progress. Its bearing is usually observed by the compass to discover the angle of lee-way. A ship is said to be in the wake of another, when she follows her upon the same track. Two distant objects observed at sea are termed in the wake of each other, when the view of the farthest off is intercepted by the one that is nearer. (See CROSSING A SHIP'S WAKE.)

WALE-REARED. Synonymous with wall-sided.

WALES. The thickest strakes of wrought stuff in a vessel. Strong planks extending all along the outward timbers on a ship's side, a little above her water-line; they are synonymous with bends (which see). The channel-wale is below the lower-deck ports, and the main-wale between the top of those ports and the sills of the upper-deck ports.

WALK AWAY! The order to step out briskly with a tackle fall, as in hoisting boats.

WALK BACK! A method in cases where a purchase must not be lowered by a round turn, as "Walk back the capstan;" the men controlling it by the bars and walking back as demanded.

WALKER'S KNOT. See MATTHEW WALKER.

WALKING A PLANK. An obsolete method of destroying people in mutiny and piracy, under a plea of avoiding the penalty of murder. The victim is compelled to walk, pinioned and blindfolded, along a plank projecting over the ship's side, which, canting when overbalanced, heaves him into the sea. Also, for detecting whether a man is drunk, he is made to walk along a quarter-deck plank.

WALKING AWAY WITH THE ANCHOR. Said of a ship which is dragging, or shouldering, her anchor; or when, from fouling the stock or upper fluke, she trips the anchor out of the ground.

WALKING SPEAKING-TRUMPET. A midshipman repeating quarter-deck orders.

WALK SPANISH, TO. To quit duty without leave; to desert.

WALK THE QUARTER-DECK, TO. A phrase signifying to take the rank of an officer.

WALK THE WEATHER GANGWAY NETTING. A night punishment in a man-of-war for those of the watch who have missed their muster.

WALL. A bank of earth to restrain the current and overflowing of water. (See SEA-BANK.)

WALL-KNOT, OR WALE-KNOT. A particular sort of large knot raised upon the end of a rope, by untwisting the strands, and passing them among each other.

WALL-PIECE. A very heavy powerful musket, for use in fortified places.

WALL-SIDED. The sides of a ship continuing nearly perpendicular down to the surface of the water, like a wall. It is the mean between tumbling home and flaring out.

WALRUS [Dan. hval-ros]. The Trichecus rosmarus, a large amphibious marine animal, allied to the seals, found in the Arctic regions. Its upper canines are developed into large descending tusks, of considerable value as ivory. It is also called morse, sea-horse, and sea-cow. This animal furnished Cook, as well as our latest Arctic voyagers, with Arctic beef. The skin is of the utmost importance to the Esquimaux, as well as to the Russians of Siberia, &c.

WALT. An old word, synonymous with crank; or tottering, like a sprung spar.

WANE. In timber, an imperfection implying a want of squareness at one or more of its corners; under this deficiency it is termed wane-wood.

WANE-CLOUD. See CIRRO-STRATUS.

WANGAN. A boat, in Maine, for carrying provisions.

WANY. Said of timber when spoiled by wet.

WAPP, OR WHAP. A name formerly given to any short pendant and thimble, through which running-rigging was led. Also, a rope wherewith rigging was set taut with wall-knots, one end being fast to the shroud, and the other brought to the laniard. But any shroud-stopper is a wapp.

WAR. A contest between princes or states, which, not being determinable otherwise, is referred to the decision of the sword. It may exist without a declaration on either side, and is either civil, defensive, or offensive.

WAR-CAPERER. A privateer.

WARDEN. See LORD WARDEN.

WARD-ROOM. The commissioned officers' mess-cabin, on the main-deck in ships of the line.

WARD-ROOM OFFICERS. Those who mess in the ward-room, namely: the commander, lieutenants, master, chaplain, surgeon, paymaster, marine-officers, and assistant-surgeons.

WARE, TO. See VEER.

WAREHOUSING SYSTEM. The use of bonding places under charge of officers of the customs, in which goods may be deposited, without any duty upon them being exacted, until they be cleared for home use, or for exportation.

WAR ESTABLISHMENT. Increased force of men and means.

WARM-SIDED. Mounting heavy metal, whether a ship or a fort.

WARNER. A sentinel formerly posted on the heights near sea-ports to give notice of the approach of vessels. Also, beacons, posts, buoys, lights, &c., warning vessels of danger by day as well as by night.

WARNING-SIGNAL. Hoisted to warn vessels not to pass a bar. Also, to warrant higher pay to watermen plying between Portsmouth and Spithead, &c., according to severity of weather.

WARP. A rope or light hawser, employed occasionally to transport a ship from one place to another in a port, road, or river. Also, an east-coast term for four herrings. Also, land between the sea-banks and the sea.--Warp of lower rigging. A term used in the rigging-loft, as, before cutting out a gang of rigging, it is warped. Also, to form the warp of spun-yarn in making sword-mats for the rigging-gripes, slings, &c.--To warp. To move a vessel from one place to another by warps, which are attached to buoys, to other ships, to anchors, or to certain fixed objects on shore. Also, to flood the lands near rivers in Yorkshire.

WARPING AND FRAMING THE TIMBERS. Putting in the beam-knees, coamings, &c., and dividing the spaces between the beams for fitting the carlines.

WARPING-BLOCK. A block made of ash or elm, used in rope-making for warping off yarn.

WARRANT. A writ of authority, inferior to a commission; in former days it was the name given to the deed conferring power on those officers appointed by the navy board, while those granted by the admiralty were styled commissions. Also, a document, under proper authority, for the assembling of a court-martial, punishment, execution, &c. Also, a tabulated regulation for cutting standing and running rigging, as well as for supply of general stores, as warranted by the admiralty.--Brown-paper warrants. Those given by a captain, and which he can cancel.

WARRANT-OFFICER. Generally one holding his situation from particular boards, or persons authorized by the sovereign to grant it. In the royal navy it was an officer holding a warrant from the navy board, as the master, surgeon, purser, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, &c. In the year 1831, when the commissioners of the navy, or navy board, were abolished, all these powers reverted to the admiralty, but the commissions and warrants remain in effect the same.

WARRANTY. The contract of marine insurance, expressing a certain condition on the part of the insured, upon which the contract is to take effect; it is always a part of the written policy, and must appear on the face of it. In this it differs from representation (which see).

WARREN-HEAD. A northern term for a dam across a river.

WAR-SCOT. A contribution for the supply of arms and armour, in the time of the Saxons.

WAR-SHIP. Any ship equipped for offence and defence; whereas man-of-war generally signifies a vessel belonging to the royal navy.

WARTAKE. An archaic term for a rope-fast, or spring. In that early sea-song (temp. Henry VI.) which is in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, the skipper of the ship carrying a cargo of "pylgryms" exclaims, "Hale in the wartake!"

WARTH. An old word signifying a ford. Also, a flat meadow close to a stream.

WASH. An accumulation of silt in estuaries. Also, a surface covered by floods. Also, a shallow inlet or gulf: the east-country term for the sea-shore. Also, the blade of an oar. Also, a wooden measure of two-thirds of a bushel, by which small shell-fish are sold at Billingsgate, equal to ten strikes of oysters.--Wash, or a-wash. Even with the water's edge.

WASH-BOARD, OR WASH-STRAKE. A movable upper strake which is attached by stud-pins on the gunwales of boats to keep out the spray. Wash-boards are also fitted on the sills of the lower-deck ports for the same purpose.

WASH-BOARDS. A term for the white facings of the old naval uniform.

WASHERMAN. A station formerly for an old or otherwise not very useful person on board a man-of-war.

WASHERS. Leather, copper, lead, or iron rings interposed at the end of spindles, before a forelock or linch-pin, to prevent friction, or galling the wood, as of a gun-truck. Also used in pump-gear.

WASHING-PLACE. In 1865, baths and suitable washing-places were fitted for personal use in the ships of the royal navy. Both hot and cold water are supplied. Shades of Drake, Frobisher, and Raleigh, think of that!

WASHING THE HAND. A common hint on leaving a ship disliked.

WASH-WATER. A ford.

WATCH. The division of the ship's company into two parties, one called the starboard, and the other the larboard or port watch, alluding to the situation of their hammocks when hung up; these two watches are, however, separated into two others, a first and second part of each, making four in all. The crew can also be divided into three watches. The officers are divided into three watches, in order to lighten their duty; but it is to be borne in mind that the watch may sleep when their services are not demanded, whereas it is a crime, liable to death, for an officer to sleep on his watch. In a ship of war the watch is generally commanded by a lieutenant, and in merchant ships by one of the mates. The word is also applied to the time during which the watch remains on deck, usually four hours, with the exception of the dog-watches.--Anchor-watch. A quarter watch kept on deck while the ship rides at single anchor, or remains temporarily in port.--Dog-watches. The two reliefs which take place between 4 and 8 o'clock P.M., each of which continues only two hours, the intention being to change the turn of the night-watch every twenty-four hours.--First watch. From 8 P.M. till midnight.--Middle-watch. From midnight till 4 A.M.--Morning-watch. From 4 to 8 A.M.--Watch is also a word used in throwing the deep-sea lead, when each man, on letting go the last turn of line in his hand, calls to the next abaft him, "Watch, there, watch!" A buoy is said to watch when it floats on the surface of the water.

WATCH AND WATCH. The arrangement of the crew in two watches.

WATCH-BILL. The pocket "watch and station bill," which each officer is expected to produce if required, and instantly muster the watch, or the men stationed to any specific duty.

WATCHET. A light blue, or sky-coloured cloth worn formerly by English sailors, especially by the boats' crews of men-of-war.

WATCH-GLASSES. The half-hour glasses employed to measure the periods of the watch, so that the several stations therein may be regularly kept and relieved, as at the helm, pump, look-out, &c. (See GLASS.)

WATCHING A SMOOTH. Looking for a temporary subsidence of the waves of a head-sea, previous to easing down the helm, in tacking ship.

WATCH-SETTING. In the army, retreat, or the time for mounting the night-guards.

WATCH-TACKLE. A small luff purchase with a short fall, the double block having a tail to it, and the single one a hook. Used for various purposes about the decks, by which the watch can perform a duty without demanding additional men.

WATER, TO. To fill the casks or tanks; to complete water.

WATERAGE. The charge for using shore-boats.

WATER-BAILIFF. An officer in sea-port towns for the searching of vessels.

WATER-BALLAST. Water when used to stiffen a ship, whether carried in casks, tanks, bags, or otherwise. The iron screw-colliers of the present day have immense tanks constructed in their floors, on the upper part of which the coals rest; when they are discharged, the tanks are allowed to fill with water, which acts as ballast for the return voyage, and is pumped out by the engine as the coals are taken in.

WATER-BARK. A small decked vessel or tank, used by the Dutch for carrying fresh water.

WATER-BATTERY. One nearly on a level with the water--a fleur d'eau; a position of much power when vessels cannot get close to it.

WATER-BEWITCHED. Bad tea, geo-graffy, 5-water grog, and the like greatly diluted drinks.

WATER-BORNE. When a ship just floats clear of the ground. Also, goods carried by sea, or on a river.

WATER-CROW. The lesser cormorant, or shag.

WATER-DOG. See WATER-GALL.

WATER-FLEAS. The groups of crustaceous organisms classed as Entomostraca.

WATER-GAGE. A sea wall or bank. Also, an instrument to measure the depth of inundations.

WATER-GALL. A name of the wind-gall (which see). Shakspeare, in the Rape of Lucrece, uses the term thus:--

"And round about her tear-distained eye Blue circles stream'd, like rainbows in the sky. These water-galls in her dim element Foretell new storms to those already spent."

WATER-GAVEL. A rent paid for fishing in some river, or other benefit derived therefrom.

WATER-GUARD. Custom-house officers employed to prevent fraud on the revenue in vessels arriving at, or departing from, a port.

WATER HIS HOLE. A saying used when the cable is up and down, to encourage the men to heave heartily, and raise the shank of the anchor so that the water may get down by the shank, and relieve the anchor of the superincumbent mud.

WATER-HORSE. Cod-fish stacked up in a pile to drain, under the process of cure.

WATER-LAID ROPE. The same as cablet; it coils against the sun, or to the left hand.

WATER-LINE. In former ships of war, a fine white painted line or bend, representing the deep line of flotation, on the coppered edge.--Load water-line. That which the surface of the water describes on a ship when she is loaded or ready for sea.

WATER-LINE MODEL. The same as key-model (which see).

WATER-LOGGED. The state of a ship full of water, having such a buoyant cargo that she does not sink. In this dangerous and unmanageable situation there is no resource for the crew except to free her by the pumps, or to abandon her by taking to the boats; for the centre of gravity being no longer fixed, the ship entirely loses her stability, and is almost totally deprived of the use of her sails, which may only operate to accelerate her destruction by over-setting her, or pressing her head under water. Timber-laden vessels, water-logged, frequently float for a very long period.

WATER-PADS. Fellows who rob ships and vessels in harbours and rivers.

WATER-PLOUGH. A machine formerly used for taking mud and silt out of docks and rivers.

WATER-SAIL. A save-all, or small sail, set occasionally under the lower studding-sail or driver-boom, in a fair wind and smooth sea.

WATER-SCAPE. A culvert, aqueduct, or passage for water.

WATER-SHED. A term introduced into geography to denote the dividing ridges in a hilly country. In geology, it implies that the water is shed thence naturally, by the inclination, to the valley base. As regards nautical men in search of water, it is therefore expedient to look for the depressed side of the strata.

WATER-SHOT, OR QUARTER-SHOT. When a ship is moored, neither across the tide, nor right up and down, but quartering between both.

WATER-SHUT. An old name for a flood-gate.

WATER-SKY. In Arctic seas, a dark and dull leaden appearance of the atmosphere, the reflected blue of the sea indicating clear water in that direction, and forming a strong contrast to the pale blink over land or ice.

WATER-SNAKES. A group of snakes (Hydrophis), whose habitat is the sea. Some of them are finely coloured, and generally very like land-snakes, except that their tails are broader, so as to scull or propel them through the water.

WATER-SPACE. The intervening part between the flues of a steamer's boiler.

WATER-SPOUT. A large mass of water collected in a vertical column, and moving rapidly along the surface of the sea. As contact with one has been supposed dangerous, it has been suggested to fire cannon at them, to break the continuity by aerial concussion. In this phenomenon, heat and electricity seem to take an active part, but their cause is not fully explained, and any facts respecting them by observers favourably placed will help towards further researches into their nature. (See WHIRLWIND.)

WATER-STANG. A spar or pole fixed across a stream.

WATER-STEAD. An old name for the bed of a river.

WATER-STOUP. A northern name for the common periwinkle.

WATER-TAKING. A pond, the water of which is potable.

WATER-TANKS. See TANK.

WATER-TIGHT. Well caulked, and so compact as to prevent the admission of water. The reverse of leaky.

WATER-WAYS. Certain deck-planks which are wrought next to the timbers; they serve to connect the sides of a ship to her decks, and form a channel to carry off any water by means of scuppers.

WATER-WAR. A name for the bore or hygre of the Severn.

WATER-WITCH. A name of the dipper.

WATER-WRAITH. Supposed water-spirits, prognosticating evil, in the Shetland Islands.

WATH. A passage or ford through a river.

WATTLES. A kind of hair or small bristles near the mouth and nostrils of certain fish. Also, hurdles made by weaving twigs together.

WAVE [from the Anglo-Saxon waeg]. A volume of water rising in surges above the general level, and elevated in proportion to the wind.

WAVESON. Such goods as after shipwreck appear floating on the waves. (See FLOTSAM.)

WAVING. Signals made by arm or otherwise to a vessel to come near or keep off.

WAY. Is sometimes the same as the ship's rake or run, forward or backward, but is most commonly understood of her sailing. Way is often used for wake. Thus when she begins her motion she is said to be under way; and when that motion increases, to have fresh-way through the water. Hence, also, she is said to have head-way or stern-way, to gather way or to lose way, &c. (See WIND'S-WAY.)--Gangway, means a clear space to pass. The gangway is the side space between the forecastle and quarter-deck.

'WAY ALOFT! OR 'WAY UP! The command when the crew are required aloft to loose, reef, furl sails, or man yards, &c.

WAY-GATE. The tail-race of a mill.

WAYS. Balks laid down for rolling weights along.--Launching-ways. Two parallel platforms of solid timber, one on each side of the keel of a vessel while building, and on which her cradle slides on launching.

WEAL. A wicker basket used for catching eels.

WEAR. See WEIR.--To wear. (See VEER.)

WEAR AND TEAR. The decay and deterioration of the hull, spars, sails, ropes, and other stores of a ship in the course of a voyage.

WEATHER [from the Anglo-Saxon waeder, the temperature of the air]. The state of the atmosphere with regard to the degree of wind, to heat and cold, or to dryness and moisture, but particularly to the first. It is a word also applied to everything lying to windward of a particular situation, hence a ship is said to have the weather-gage of another when further to windward. Thus also, when a ship under sail presents either of her sides to the wind, it is then called the weather-side, and all the rigging situated thereon is distinguished by the same epithet. It is the opposite of lee. To weather anything is to go to windward of it. The land to windward, is a weather shore.

WEATHER-ANCHOR. That lying to windward, by which a ship rides when moored.

WEATHER-BEAM. A direction at right angles with the keel, on the weather side of the ship.

WEATHER-BITT. Is that which holds the weather-cable when the ship is moored.

WEATHER-BOARD. That side of the ship which is to windward.

WEATHER-BOARDS. Pieces of plank placed in the ports of a ship when laid up in ordinary; they are in an inclined position, so as to turn off the rain without preventing the circulation of air.

WEATHER-BORNE. Pressed by wind and sea.

WEATHER-BOUND. Detained by foul winds; our forefathers used the term waeder faest.

WEATHER-BREEDERS. Certain appearances in the heavens which indicate a gale, as wind-galls, fog-dogs, &c.

WEATHER-CLOTHS. Coverings of painted canvas or tarpaulin, used to preserve the hammocks when stowed, from injury by weather.

WEATHER-COIL. When a ship has her head brought about, so as to lie that way which her stern did before, as by the veering of the wind; or the motion of the helm, the sails remaining trimmed.

WEATHER-COILING. A ship resuming her course after being taken aback; rounding off by a stern-board, and coming up to it again.

WEATHER-EYE. "Keep your weather-eye open," be on your guard; look out for squalls.

WEATHER-GAGE. A vessel has the weather-gage of another when she is to windward of her. Metaphorically, to get the weather-gage of a person, is to get the better of him.

WEATHER-GALL:--

"A weather-gall at morn, Fine weather all gone."

(See WIND-GALL.)

WEATHER-GLASS. A familiar term for the barometer.

WEATHER-GLEAM. A peculiar clear sky near the horizon, with great refraction.

WEATHER-GO. The end of a rainbow, as seen in the morning in showery weather.

WEATHER-HEAD. The secondary rainbow.

WEATHER-HELM. A ship is said to carry a weather-helm when she is inclined to gripe, or come too near the wind, and therefore requires the helm to be kept constantly a little to windward.

WEATHER-LURCH. A heavy roll to windward.

WEATHERLY. Said of a well-trimmed ship with a clean bottom, when she holds a good wind, and presents such lateral resistance to the water, that she makes but little lee-way while sailing close-hauled.

WEATHER ONE'S DIFFICULTIES, TO. A colloquial phrase meaning to contend with and surmount troubles.

WEATHER-ROLLS. Those inclinations, so inviting to coming waves, which a ship makes to windward in a heavy sea; the sudden rolls which she makes to leeward being termed lee-lurches.

WEATHER-ROPES. An early term for those which were tarred.

WEATHER-SHEETS. Those fast to the weather-clues of the sails.--"Haul over the weather-sheets forward," applies to the jib when a vessel has got too close to the wind and refuses to answer her helm.

WEATHER-SHORE. The shore which lies to windward of a ship.

WEATHER-SIDE. That side of a ship on which the wind blows; it is the promenade for superior officers. (See also its synonym WINDWARD.)

WEATHER THE CAPE, TO. To become experienced; as it implies sailing round Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope.

WEATHER-TIDE. The reverse of lee-tide. That which, running contrary to the direction of the wind, by setting against a ship's lee-side while under sail, forces her up to windward.

WEATHER-WARNING. The telegraphic cautionary warning given by hoisting the storm-drum on receiving the forecast.

WEATHER-WHEEL. The position of the man who steers a large ship, from his standing on the weather-side of the wheel.

WEAVER. One of the popular names of the fish Trachinus vipera.

WEDGE [from the Anglo-Saxon wege]. A simple but effective mechanical force; a triangular solid on which a ship rests previous to launching. Many of the wedges used in the building and repairing of vessels are called sett-wedges.

WEDGE-FIDS. For top and top-gallant masts; in two parts, lifting by shores and sett-wedges. (See SETTING-UP.)

WEDGE-SHAPED GULF. One which is wide at its entrance, and gradually narrows towards its termination, as that of California.

WEDGING UP. Gaining security by driving wedges.

WEED, TO. To clear the rigging of stops, rope-yarns, and pieces of oakum.

WEEKLY ACCOUNT. A correct return of the whole complement made every week when in harbour to the senior officer. Also, a sobriquet for the white patch on a midshipman's collar.

WEEL. A kind of trap-basket, or snare, to catch fish, made of twigs and baited; contrived similarly to a mouse-trap, so that fish have a ready admittance, but cannot get out again.

WEEPING. The oozing of water in small quantities through the seams of a ship.

WEEVIL [from the Anglo-Saxon wefl]. Curculio, a coleopterous insect which perforates and destroys biscuit, wood, &c.

WEFT. See WAFT.

WEIGH, TO [from the Anglo-Saxon woeg]. To move or carry. Applied to heaving up the anchor of a ship about to sail, but also to the raising any great weight, as a sunken ship, &c.

WEIGHAGE. The charge made for weighing goods at a dock.

WEIGH-SHAFT. In the marine-engine, the same as wiper-shaft.

WEIGHT-NAILS. Somewhat similar to deck-nails, but not so fine, and with square heads; for fastening cleats and the like.

WEIGHT OF METAL. The weight of iron which the whole of the guns are capable of projecting at one round from both sides when single-shotted. (See BROADSIDE WEIGHT.)

WEIR. An old word for sea-weed. Also, a fishing inclosure; and again, a dam, or strong erection across a river, to divert its course.

WELD, TO. To join pieces of iron or other metal by placing in contact the parts heated almost to fusion, and hammering them into one mass.

WELKIN [from, the Anglo-Saxon, weal can]. The visible firmament.

"One cheer more to make the welkin ring."

WELL [from the Anglo-Saxon wyll]. A bulk-headed inclosure in the middle of a ship's hold, defending the pumps from the bottom up to the lower deck from damage, by preventing the entrance of ballast or other obstructions, which would choke the boxes or valves in a short time, and render the pumps useless. By means of this inclosure the artificers may likewise more readily descend into the hold, to examine or repair the pumps, as occasion requires.

WELL, OR TRUNK OF A FISHING-VESSEL. A strong compartment in the middle of the hold, open to the deck, but lined with lead on every side, and having the bottom perforated with small holes through the floor, so that the water may pass in freely, and thus preserve the fish alive which are put into it. Lobster-boats are thus fitted.

WELL-CABINS. Those in brigs and small vessels, which have no after-windows or thorough draught.

WELL-END. See PUMP-FOOT.

WELL FARE YE, MY LADS! An exclamation of approbation to the men at a hard heave or haul.

WELL FOUND. Fully equipped.

WELL-GROWN. A term implying that the grain of the wood follows the shape required, as in knee-timber and the like.

WELL OFF, TO. A mode of shutting off a leak by surrounding it by timbers screwed home through the lining to the timbers, and carrying up this trunk, like a log-hut, above the water-line.

WELL-ROOM OF A BOAT. The place in the bottom where the water lies, between the ceiling and the platform of the stern-sheets, from whence it is baled into the sea.

WELL THERE, BELAY! Synonymous with that will do.

WELSHMAN'S BREECHES. See DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES.

WEND A COURSE, TO. To sail steadily on a given direction.

WENDING. Bringing the ship's head to an opposite course. Turning as a ship does to the tide.

WENTLE. An old term signifying to roll over.

WENTLE-TRAP. The Scalaria pretiosa, a very elegant univalve shell, much valued by collectors.

WEST-COUNTRY PARSON. A fish, the hake (Gadus merluccius), is so called, from a black streak on its back, and from its abundance along our western coast.

WESTER, OR WASTER. A kind of trident used for striking salmon in the north.

WESTING. This term in navigation means the distance made by course or traverses to the westward; or the sun after crossing the meridian.

WESTWARD [Anglo-Saxon weste-wearde].--Westward-hoe. To the west! It was one of the cries of the Thames watermen.

WEST WIND. This and its collateral, the S.W., prevail nearly three-fourths of the year in the British seas, and though boisterous at times, are very genial on the whole.

WET. The owners and master of a ship are liable for all damage by wet. (See STOWAGE.)

WET-BULB THERMOMETER. One of which the bulb is kept moist by the capillary attraction of cotton fibres from an attached reservoir.

WET-DOCK. A term used for float (which see), and also dock.

WETHERS. The flukes or hands of a harpoon.

WETTING A COMMISSION. Giving an entertainment to shipmates on receiving promotion.

WHALE. A general term for various marine animals of the order Cetacea, including the most colossal of all animated beings. From their general form and mode of life they are frequently confounded with fish, from which, however, they differ essentially in their organization, as they are warm-blooded, ascend to the surface to breathe air, produce their young alive, and suckle them, as do the land mammalia. The cetacea are divided into two sections:--1. Those having horny plates, called baleen, or "whalebone," growing from the palate instead of teeth, and including the right whales and rorquals, or finners and hump-backs (see these terms). 2. Those having true teeth and no whalebone. To this group belong the sperm-whale, and the various forms of bottle-noses, black-fish, grampuses, narwhals, dolphins, porpoises, &c. To the larger species of many of these the term "whale" is often applied.

WHALE-BIRD. A beautiful little bird seen hovering in flocks over the Southern Ocean, in search of the small crustaceans which constitute their food.

WHALE-BOAT. A boat varying from 26 to 56 feet in length, and from 4 to 10 feet beam, sharp at both ends, and admirably adapted to the intended purpose, combining swiftness of motion, buoyancy, and stability.

WHALE-CALF. The young whale.

WHALE-FISHERIES. The places at which the capture of whales, or "whale-fishery," is carried on. The principal are the coasts of Greenland and Davis Straits, for the northern right whale; Bermuda, for hump-backs; the Cape of Good Hope and the Australian seas, for the southern right whale; the North Pacific, for the Japanese right whale; and various places in the intertropical and southern seas, for the sperm-whale. But the constant persecution to which these animals are subjected causes a frequent change in their habitats. They have been nearly exterminated, or rendered so scarce as not to be worth following, in many districts where they formerly most abounded, and in order to make the trade remunerative, new grounds have to be continually sought. Maury's "whale charts" give much valuable information on this subject.

WHALER. A name for a vessel employed in the whale-fisheries.

WHALE'S FOOD. The name given in the North Sea to the Clio borealis, a well-known mollusk, on which whales feed.

WHANGERS, OR COD-WHANGERS. Fish-curers of Newfoundland. An old term for a large sword.

WHAPPER. The largest of the turtle kind, attaining 7 or 8 cwts., off Ascension. [The name is supposed to be derived from guapa, Sp., grand or fine.] (See LOGGERHEAD.)

WHARF, OR QUAY. An erection of wood or stone raised on the shore of a road or harbour for the convenience of loading or discharging vessels by cranes or other means. A wharf is of course built stronger or slighter in proportion to the effort of the tide or sea which it is intended to resist, and the size of vessels using it.--Wharf, in hydrography, is a scar, a rocky or gravelly concretion, or frequently a sand-bank, as Mad Wharf in Lancashire, where the tides throw up dangerous ripples and overfalls.

WHARFAGE DUES. The dues for landing or shipping goods at a wharf; customs charges in particular. Thus for goods not liable to duty, and forcibly taken for examination, wharfage charges are demanded even from a ship of war!

WHARFINGER. He who owns or keeps a wharf and takes account of all the articles landed thereon or removed from it, for which he receives a certain fee.

WHARF-STEAD. A ford in a river.

WHAT CHEER, HO? Equivalent among seamen to, How fare ye?

WHAT SHIP IS THAT? A question often put when a jaw-breaking word has been intrusively uttered by savants.

WHAT WATER HAVE YOU? The question to the man sounding, as to the depth of water which the lead-line gives.

WHAUP. The larger curlew, Numenius arquatus.

WHEAT. An excellent article for sea-diet; boiled with a proportion of molasses, it makes a most nutritious breakfast. As it stows well, and would even yield nearly the same weight in bread, it should be made an article of allowance.

WHEEL. A general name for the helm, by which the tiller and rudder are worked in steering the ship; it has a barrel, round which the tiller-ropes or chains wind, and a wheel with spokes to assist in moving it.

WHEEL AND AXLE. A well-known mechanical power, to which belong all turning or wheel machines, as cranes, capstans, windlasses, cranks, &c.

WHEEL-HOUSE. A small round-house erected in some ships over the steering-wheel for the shelter of the helmsman.

WHEEL-LOCK. A small machine attached to the old musket for producing sparks of fire.

WHEEL-ROPES. Ropes rove through a block on each side of the deck, and led round the barrel of the steering-wheel. Chains are also used for this purpose.

WHEELS. See TRUCKS.

WHEFT. More commonly written waft (which see). Although wheft is given in the official signal-book, bibliophilists ignore the term.

WHELK. A well-known shell-fish, Buccinum undatum.

WHELPS. The brackets or projecting parts which rise out of the barrel or main body of the capstan, like buttresses, to enlarge the sweep, so that a greater portion of the cable, or whatever rope encircles the barrel, may be wound about it at one turn without adding much to the weight of the capstan. The whelps reach downwards from the lower part of the drumhead to the deck. The pieces of wood bolted on the main-piece of a windlass, or on a winch, for firm holding, and to prevent chafing, are also called whelps.

WHERE AWAY? In what bearing? a question to the man at the mast-head to designate in what direction a strange sail lies.

WHERRY. A name descended from the Roman horia, the oare of our early writers. It is now given to a sharp, light, and shallow boat used in rivers and harbours for passengers. The wherries allowed to ply about London are either scullers worked by one man with two sculls, or by two men, each pulling an oar. Also, a decked vessel used in fishing in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland: numbers of them were notorious smugglers.

WHETHER OR NO, TOM COLLINS. A phrase equivalent to, "Whether you will or not, such is my determination, not to be gainsaid."

WHICH WAY DOES THE WIND LIE? What is the matter?

WHIFF. The Rhombus cardina, a passable fish of the pleuronect genus. Also, a slight fitful breeze or transient puff of wind.

WHIFFING. Catching mackerel with a hook and line from a boat going pretty fast through the water.

WHIFFLERS. The old term for fifers, preceding the body of archers who cleared the way, but more recently applied to very trifling fellows. Smollett named Captain Whiffle in contempt.

WHIMBREL. The smaller species of curlew, Numenius phaeopus.

WHIMSEY. A small crane for hoisting goods to the upper stories of warehouses.

WHINYARD. A sort of hanger, serving both as a weapon and a knife. An archaism for a cutlass. See the Gentleman in the Cobler of Canterburie, 1590:--

"His cloake grew large and sid, And a faire winniard by his side."

WHIP. A single rope rove through a single block to hoist in light articles. Where greater and steadier power is demanded, a block is added, and the standing part is made fast near the upper block. Thus it becomes a double whip.--To whip. To hoist by a whip. Also, to tie twine, whipping fashion, round the end of a rope to prevent its untwisting.

WHIP, OR WHIP-STAFF. A strong staff fastened into the helm for the steersman to move the rudder thereby.

WHIP-JACK. An old term, equivalent to fresh-water sailor, or a sham-shipwrecked tar. (See TURNPIKE-SAILORS.)

WHIPPERS. Men who deliver the cargoes of colliers in the river Thames into lighters.

WHIPPING-TWINE. Used to whip the ends of ropes.

WHIP-RAY. A ray with a long tail ending in a very fine point. It is armed with a dangerous serrated spine, jagged like a harpoon. Called also sting-ray and stingaree.

WHIP-SAW. The largest of that class of useful instruments, being that generally used at the saw-pit.

WHIP UPON WHIP. A sort of easy purchase, much used in colliers. It consists of one whip applied to the falls of another.

WHIRL, OR ROPE-WINCH. Small hooks fastened into cylindrical pieces of wood which communicate by a leather strap with a spoke-wheel, whereby three of them are set in motion at once. Used for spinning yarn for ropes. Now more commonly made of iron.

WHIRLER, OR TROUGHTON'S TOP. An ingenious instrument invented by Troughton, and intended to serve as an artificial horizon at sea; but it was found that its centrifugal force was incapable of counteracting the ordinary motion of a ship.

WHIRLPOOL. An eddy or vortex where the waters are continually rushing round. In rivers they are very common, from various accidents, and are usually of little consequence. In the sea they are more dangerous, as the classical Charybdis, and the celebrated Maelstrom and Saltenstrom, both on the coast of Norway.

WHIRLWIND. A revolving current of wind of small diameter that rises suddenly, but is soon spent.

WHISKERS. Two booms, half-yards, or iron spars projecting on each side before the cat-heads; they are for spreading the guys of the jib-boom, instead of having a spritsail-yard across. In many vessels the sprit-sail (then termed spread-yard) is lashed across the forecastle so as to rest before the cat-heads on the gunwale, and the guys rove through holes bored in it, and set up in the fore-channels.

WHISTLE. From the Ang.-Sax. wistl. (See CALL.)

WHISTLE FOR THE WIND, TO. A superstitious practice among old seamen, who are equally scrupulous to avoid whistling during a heavy gale.--To wet one's whistle. To take a drink. Thus Chaucer tells us that the miller of Trumpington's lady had

"Hir joly whistle wel ywette."

WHISTLING PSALMS TO THE TAFFRAIL. Expending advice to no purpose.

WHITE BAIT OR BITE. The Clupea alba, a well-known fish caught in the Thames, but strictly a sea-fish, erroneously held to be mere fry till 1828, when Yarrell raised it to the rank of a perfect fish.

WHITE BOOT-TOP. A painted white line carried fore and aft on the hammock-netting base. It gives a longer appearance to a ship.

WHITE CAPS. Waves with breaking crests, specially between the east end of Jamaica and Kingston; but obtaining generally when the sea-breeze, coming fresh over the waves, and travelling faster, turns their tops: termed also white-horses.

WHITE FEATHER. The figurative symbol of cowardice: a white feather in a cock's tail being considered a proof of cross-breeding.

WHITE-FISH. A fish of the salmon family, found in the lakes of North America; also a name of the hard-head (which see). It is a general name for ling, cod, tusk, haddock, halibut, and the like, and for roach, dace, &c., from the use of their scales to form artificial pearls. Also applied to the beluga or white whale (Beluga leucas), a cetacean found in the Arctic seas and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is from 12 to 15 feet long.

WHITE-HERRING. A pickled herring in the north, but in other parts a fresh herring is so called.

WHITE-HORSE. A name of the Raia fullonica. (See also WHITE CAPS.)

WHITE-LAPPELLE. A sobriquet for a lieutenant, in allusion to his former uniform. (See LAPPELLE.)

WHITE-ROPE. Rope which has not been tarred. Manilla, coir, and some other ropes, do not require tarring.

WHITE SQUALL. A tropical wind said to give no warning; it sweeps the surface with spoon-drift.

WHITE-TAPE. A term amongst smugglers for hollands or gin.

WHITE-WATER. That which is seen over extensive sandy patches, where, owing to the limpidity and shallowness of the sea, the light of the sky is reflected.

WHITING. The name given in Cumberland to the Salmo albus, or white salmon. Also the Gadus merlangus, both split or dried.

WHITTLE [from the Anglo-Saxon hwytel]. A knife; also used for a sword, but contemptuously.--To whittle. To cut sticks.

WHITWORTH GUN. A piece rifled by having a twisted hexagonal bore, and throwing a more elongated shot with a sharper twist than the Armstrong gun, with results experimentally more beautiful, but not yet so practically useful.

WHO COMES THERE? The night challenge of a sentry on his post.

WHOLE-MOULDING. The old method of forming the principal part of a vessel. Boats are now the only vessels in which this method is practised.

WHOLESOME SHIP. One that will try, hull, and ride well, without heavy labouring in the sea.

WHOODINGS. Those ends of planks which are let into the rabbets of the stem, the stern-posts, &c. (See RABBET and HOOD-ENDS.)

WHO SAYS AMEN? Who will clap on with a will?

WHO SHALL HAVE THIS? An impartial sea method of distributing the shares of short commons. One person turns his back on the portions, and names some one, when he is asked, "Who shall have this?"

WICH. A port, as Harwich, Greenwich, &c.

WICK [Anglo-Saxon wyc]. A creek, bay, or village, by the side of a river.

WICKET. A small door in the gate of a fortress, for use by foot-passengers when the gate is closed.

WIDDERSHINS. A northern term signifying a motion contrary to the course of the sun. The Orkney fishermen consider themselves in imminent danger at sea, if, by accident, their vessel is turned against the sun.

WIDE-GAB. A name of the Lophius piscatorius, toad-fish, or fishing-frog.

WIDOWS' MEN. Imaginary sailors, formerly borne on the books as A.B.'s for wages in every ship in commission; they ceased with the consolidated pay at the close of the war. The institution was dated 24 Geo. II. to meet widows' pensions; the amount of pay and provisions for two men in each hundred was paid over by the paymaster-general of the navy to the widows' fund.

WILD. A ship's motion when she steers badly, or is badly steered. A wild roadstead implies one that is exposed to the wind and sea.

WILDFIRE. A pyrotechnical preparation burning with great fierceness, whether under water or not; it is analogous to the ancient Greek fire, and is composed mainly of sulphur, naphtha, and pitch.

WILD-WIND. An old term for whirlwind.

WILL, WITH A. With all zeal and energy.

WILL. A term on our northern shores for a sea-gull.

WILLICK. A northern name for the Fratercula arctica, or puffin.

WILLIE-POURIT. A northern name for the seal.

WILLIWAW. A sort of whirlwind, occurring in Tierra del Fuego.

WILLOCK. A name for the guillemot, Uria troile.

WIMBLE. The borer of a carpenter's centre-bit.

WINCH [from the Anglo-Saxon wince]. A purchase formed by a shaft whose extremities rest in two channels placed horizontally or perpendicularly, and furnished with cranks, or clicks, and pauls. It is employed as a purchase by which a rope or tackle-fall may be more powerfully applied than when used singly. A small one with a fly-wheel is used for making ropes and spun-yarn. Also, a support to the windlass ends. Also, the name of long iron handles by which the chain-pumps are worked. Also, a small cylindrical machine attached to masts or bitts in vessels, for the purpose of hoisting anything out of the hold, warping, &c.

WINCH-BITTS. The supports near their ends.

WIND [precisely the Anglo-Saxon word]. A stream or current of air which may be felt. The horizon being divided into 32 points (see COMPASS), the wind which blows from any of them has an assignable name.

WINDAGE. The vacant space left between a shot and the bore of the piece to which it belongs, generally expressed by the difference of their diameters; it is for facility of loading, but the smaller it is the better will be the performance of the gun.

WIND AND WATER LINE. That part of a ship lying at the surface of the water which is alternately wet and dry by the motion of the waves.

WIND A SHIP OR BOAT, TO. To change her position by bringing her stern round to the place where the head was. (See WENDING.)

WIND AWAY, TO. To steer through narrow channels.

WIND-BANDS. Long clouds supposed to indicate bad weather.

WIND-BOUND. Detained at an anchorage by contrary winds.

WIND-FALL. A violent gust of wind rushing from coast-ranges and mountains to the sea. Also, some piece of good luck, a turtle, fish, vegetables, or a prize.

WIND-GAGE. See ANEMOMETER.

WIND-GALL. A luminous halo on the edge of a distant cloud, where there is rain, usually seen in the wind's eye, and looked upon as a sure precursor of stormy weather. Also, an atmospheric effect of prismatic colours, said likewise to indicate bad weather if seen to leeward.

WINDING A CALL. The act of blowing or piping on a boatswain's whistle, to communicate the necessary orders. (See CALL.)

WINDING-TACKLE. A tackle formed of one fixed triple three-sheaved block, and one double or triple movable block. It is principally used to hoist any weighty materials, as the cannon, into or out of a ship.

WINDING-TACKLE PENDANT. A strong rope made fast to the lower mast-head, and forming the support of the winding-tackle.

WIND IN THE TEETH. Dead against a ship.

WINDLASS [from the Ang.-Sax. windles]. A machine erected in the fore-part of a ship which serves to ride by, as well as heave in the cable. It is composed of the carrick-heads or windlass-heads, which are secured to all the deck-beams beneath, and backed by long sleeper knees on deck. The main-piece is whelped like the capstan, and suspended at its ends by powerful spindles falling into metal bearings in the carrick or windlass heads. Amidships it is supported by chocks, where it is also furnished with a course of windlass-pawls, four taking at separate angles on a main ratchet, and bearing on one quadrant of the circumference. The cables have three turns round this main-piece (one cable on each side): holes are cut for the windlass-bars in each eighth of the squared sides. The windlass may be said also to be supported or reinforced by the pawl-bitts, two powerful bitt-heads at the centre.--Spanish windlass. A machine formed of a handspike and a small lever, usually a tree-nail, or a tree-nail and a marline-spike, to set up the top-gallant rigging, heave in seizings, or for any other short steady purchase.

WINDLASS-BITTS. See CARRICK-BITTS.

WINDLASS-CHOCKS. Those pieces of oak or elm fastened inside the bows of small craft, to support the ends of the windlass.

WINDLASS-ENDS. Two pieces which continue the windlass outside the bitt-heads.

WINDLASS-LINING. Pieces of hard wood fitted round the main-piece of a windlass to prevent chafing, and also to enable the cable to hold on more firmly.

WINDLESTRAY. A sort of bent or seaside grass.

WINDLIPPER. The first effects of a breeze of wind on smooth water, before waves are raised.

WIND-RODE. A ship is wind-rode when the wind overcomes an opposite tidal force, and she rides head to wind.

WINDS. Local or peculiar.--Trade-winds occur within and beyond the tropical parallels. They are pretty regular in the North Atlantic, as far as 5 deg. N., where calms may be expected, or the south-east trade may reach across, depending on the season; but when near land they yield to the land and sea breezes. Thus at 10 deg. N. the land-breeze will be at E. from 11 P.M. until 6 A.M., then calm intervenes up to 10 A.M., when the sea-breeze sets in, probably W., and blows home fresh. Yet at 20 miles off shore the trade-wind may blow pretty strong from N.E. or E.N.E.--The harmattan is a sudden dry wind blowing off the coast of Africa, so charged with almost impalpable dust that the sun is obscured. It sucks up all moisture, cracks furniture and earthenware, and prostrates animal nature. The rigging of vessels becomes a dirty brown, and the dust adhering to the blacking cannot be removed.--The tornado lasts for a short time, but is of great force during its continuance.--The northers in the Gulf of Mexico, or off the Heads of Virginia, are not only very heavy gales, but are attended with severe cold. On a December day, off Galveston, the temperature in a calm was at sunset 86 deg. The norther came on about midnight, and at 8 A.M. the temperature had fallen to 12 deg., and icicles were hanging from the eaves of the houses. The Tiempo di Vendavales, or southers of Western America, is an opposite, blowing heavily home to the coast. The taifung of China, or typhoon of the Indian seas, is indeed precisely similar to the hurricane of the West Indies.

WIND-SAIL. A funnel of canvas employed to ventilate a ship by conveying a stream of fresh air down to the lower decks. It is suspended by a whip through the hatchways, and kept open by means of hoops; the upper part is also open on one side, and guyed to the wind. Ships of war in hot climates have generally three or four of these wind-sails.

WIND-TAUT. A vessel at anchor, heeling over to the force of the wind.

WIND-TIGHT. A cask or vessel to contain water is said to be wind-tight and water-tight.

WINDWARD. The weather-side; that on which the wind blows; the opposite of leeward (which see). Old sailors exhort their neophytes to throw nothing over the weather-side except ashes or hot water: a hint not mistakable.

WINDWARD SAILING, OR TURNING TO WINDWARD. That mode of navigating a ship in which she endeavours to gain a position situated in the direction whence the wind is blowing. In this case progress is made by frequent tacking, and trimming sail as near as possible to the wind.

WINDWARD SET. The reverse of leeward set.

WINDWARD TIDE. See WEATHER-TIDE.

WINE OF HEIGHT. A former perquisite of seamen on getting safely through a particular navigation.

WING. The projecting part of a steamer's deck before and abaft each of the paddle-boxes, bounded by the wing-wale.

WING-AND-WING. A ship coming before the wind with studding-sails on both sides; also said of fore-and-aft vessels, when they are going with the wind right aft, the fore-sail boomed out on one side, and the main-sail on the other.

WINGERS. Small casks stowed close to the side in a ship's hold, where the large casks would cause too great a rising in that part of the tier.

WINGS. Those parts of the hold and orlop-deck which are nearest to the sides. This term is particularly used in the stowage of the several materials contained in the hold, and between the cable-tiers and the ship's sides. In ships of war they are usually kept clear, that the carpenter and his crew may have access round the ship to stop shot-holes in time of action. Also, the skirts or extremities of a fleet, when ranged in a line abreast, or when forming two sides of a triangle. It is usual to extend the wings of a fleet in the daytime, in order to discover any enemy that may fall in their track; they are, however, generally summoned by signal to form close order before night. In military parlance, the right and left divisions of a force, whether these leave a centre division between them or not.--Wing-transom. The uppermost transom in the stern-frame, to which the heels of the counter-timbers are let on and bolted.

WING UP BALLAST, TO. To carry the dead weight from the bottom as high as consistent with the stability of a ship, in order to ease her quick motion in rolling.

WING-WALE. A thick plank extending from the extremity of a steamer's paddle-beam to her side; it is also designated the sponson-rim.

WINNOLD-WEATHER. An eastern-county term for stormy March weather.

WINTER-FISH. This term generally alludes to cured cod and ling.

WINTER-QUARTERS. The towns or posts occupied during the winter by troops who quit the campaign for the season. Also, the harbour to which a blockading fleet retires in wintry gales. In Arctic parlance, the spot where ships are to remain housed during the winter months--from the 1st October to the 1st July or August.

WINTER-SOLSTICE. See CAPRICORNUS.

WIPER. A cogged contrivance in machinery by which a rotatory motion is converted into a reciprocating motion.

WIPER-SHAFT. An application to the valve equipoise of a marine-engine: their journals or bearings lie in bushes, which are fixed upon the frame of the engine.

WIRE-MICROMETER. An instrument necessary for delicate astronomical measurements. It contains vertical and horizontal wires, or spider-lines, acting in front of a comb or scale for distances, and on a graduated circle on the screw-head for positions.

WIRE-ROPE. Rigging made of iron wire galvanized, and laid up like common cordage.

WISBUY LAWS. A maritime code which, though framed at a town in the now obscure island of Gothland, in the Baltic, was submissively adopted by Europe.

WISHES [from the British usk, water]. Low lands liable to be overflowed.

WISHY-WASHY. Any beverage too weak. Over-watered spirits.

"His food the land-crab, lizard, or the frog; His drink a wish-wash of six-water grog."

WITH. An iron instrument fitted to the end of a boom or mast, with a ring to it, through which another boom or mast is rigged out and secured. Also, in mechanics, the elastic withe handles of cold chisels, set-tools, &c., which prevent a jar to the assistant's wrist.

WITH A WILL. Pull all together.

WITHERSHINS. See WIDDERSHINS.

WITHEYS. Any low places near rivers where willows grow.

WITHIN-BOARD. Inside a ship.

WITHOUT. Outside, as, studding-sail without studding-sail; or, without board, outside a ship.

WITH THE SUN. Ropes coiled from the left hand towards the right; but where the sun passes the meridian north of the observer, it is of course the reverse.

WITNESSES, OR TEMOINS, are certain piles of earth left in digging docks, or other foundations, to judge how many cubic feet of earth have been removed.

WITTEE-WITTEE. The ingeniously-constructed fish-hook of the Pacific islanders, made of mother-of-pearl, with hair tufts, serving at once both as hook and bait.

WOARE. An old term for sea-weed. Also, the shore margin or beach.

WOBBLE, TO. In mechanics, to sway or roll from side to side. (See WABBLE.)

WOLD. An extensive plain, covered with grass and herbs, but bare of trees.

WOLF. A kind of fishing-net.

WOLF-FISH. Anarhichas lupus, also called cat-fish. A fish of the northern seas, from 2 to 3 feet long, with formidable teeth, with which it crushes the shells of the crustaceans and mollusks on which it feeds.

WOLYING. The old way of spelling woolding.

WONDER-CHONE. An old term, mentioned by Blount as a contrivance for catching fish.

WONGS. A term on our east coast, synonymous with low lands or wishes (which see).

WOOD, TO. A gun is said to wood when it takes the port-sills or port-sides, or the trucks the water-ways.--To wood. When wooding-parties are sent out to cut or procure wood for a ship.

WOOD AND WOOD. When two pieces of timber are so let into each other as to join close. Also, when a tree-nail is driven through, its point being even with the inside surface.

WOODEN BUOYS. Buoyant constructions of wood of various shapes, with a ring-bolt at each end, to which vessels can make fast for a time. (See DOLPHIN.)

WOOD-ENDS. See HOOD-ENDS.

WOODEN WALLS. A term signifying the fleet, and though thought to be peculiarly English, was used by the Delphic oracle, when applied to by the Athenians on the Persian invasion: "Defend yourselves by wooden walls."

WOODEN-WINGS. The lee-boards, for keeping barges to windward.

WOOD-LOCKS OF THE RUDDER. Pieces of timber sheathed with copper, in coppered ships, placed in the throating or scores of the stern-post, to prevent the rudder from rising or unshipping.

WOOD-MULLS. Large thick hose worn by the men in coasters and fishing-boats.

WOOD-SHEATHING. All plank applied to strengthen a vessel. (See DOUBLE.)

WOOF. A northern name of the gray gurnard.

WOOLDERS. Bandages. The bolt of a Spanish windlass is called a woolder.

WOOLDING. The act of winding a piece of rope about a mast or yard, to support it where it is fished, or when it is composed of several pieces. Also, the rope employed in this service.

WOOL-PACKS. In meteorology, light clouds in a blue sky.

WORD. The watch-word; the parole and countersign, which, being issued to the authorized persons at guard-mounting, become a test whereby spies or strangers are detected.

WORK, TO. Said of a ship when she strains in a tempestuous sea, so as to loosen her joints.

WORK ABACK. This is said of a steam-engine if reversed, to propel the vessel astern.

WORK A SHIP, TO. To adapt the sails to the force and direction of the wind.

WORK DOUBLE-TIDES, TO. Implying that the work of three days is done in two, or at least two tides' work in twenty-four hours.

WORKING A DAY'S WORK. Reducing the dead-reckoning and meridian altitudes to noon of each day.

WORKING A LUNAR. Reducing the observations of the sun and moon, or moon and stars, in order to find the longitude. Also, a phrase used when a man sleeps during a conversation.

WORKING AN OBSERVATION. Reducing the altitudes or distances of heavenly bodies by calculation.

WORKING PARTIES. Gangs of hands employed on special duties out of the ship or dockyard.

WORKING TO WINDWARD. Sailing against the wind by alternate tacks. (See BEATING.)

WORKING UP. The keeping men at work on needless matters, beyond the usual hours, for punishment.

WORKS. All fortificational constructions, whether permanent, field, or makeshifts of the moment; from the most solid bastion to the rudest rifle-pit.

WORK UP JUNK, TO. To draw yarns from old cables, &c., and therewith to make foxes, points, gaskets, sinnet, or spun-yarn.

WORM. An iron tool shaped like a double cork-screw on the end of a long staff, for withdrawing charges, ignited remains of cartridges, &c., from fire-arms. Called also a wad-hook in artillery. (See also TEREDO NAVALIS.)--To worm. The act of passing a rope spirally between the lays of a cable; a smaller rope is wormed with spun-yarn. Worming is generally resorted to as a preparative for serving. (See LINK WORMING.)

WORM-EATEN, OR WORMED. The state of a plank or of a ship's bottom when perforated by a particular kind of boring mollusk, Teredo navalis, which abounds in the tropics.

WORMS. Timber is preserved against worms by several coats of common whale-oil, or by the patents of Payne, Sir W. Burnett, Kyan, and others.

WRACK. The English name for the fucus; the sea-weed used for the manufacture of kelp, and in some places artificially grown for that purpose.

WRACK-RIDER. A species of brandling faintly barred on both sides.

WRAIN-BOLT. A ring-bolt with two or more forelock-holes in it, occasionally to belay or make fast towards the middle. It is used, with the wrain-staff in the ring, for setting-to the planks.

WRAIN-STAFF. A stout billet of tough wood, tapered at its ends, so as to go into the ring of the wrain-bolt, to make the necessary setts for bringing-to the planks or thick stuff to the timber.

WRASSE. The Crenilabrus tinca, a sea-fish, sometimes called old-wife.

WRECK. The destruction of a ship by stress of weather, rocks, &c.; also the ruins of the ship after such accidents; also the goods and fragments which drive on shore after a ship is stranded. It is said that the term is derived from the sea-weed called wrack, denoting all that the sea washes on shore as it does this weed. A ship cast on shore is no wreck, in law, when any domestic animal has escaped with life in her. The custody of the cargo or goods belongs to the deputy of the vice-admiral, and they are restored to the proprietors without any fees or salvage, but what the labour of those who saved them may reasonably deserve.

WRECKAGE. Spars, rigging, or goods floating about after a wreck.

WRECKERS. A name which includes both meritorious salvors of ships in distress, and the felonious brutes who merely hasten to wrecks for plunder. One of our British colonies deemed it so entirely a legal procedure to make a wreck of or cripple a vessel on the reef, that a naval officer was threatened with legal proceedings by a lawyer whom he prevented from carrying out his practice afloat.

WRECK-FREE. Is to be exempt from the forfeiture of shipwrecked goods and vessels: a privilege which Edward I. granted by charter to the barons of the Cinque Ports.

WRIGHT'S SAILING. Synonymous with Mercator's sailing.

WRING A MAST, TO. To bend, cripple, or strain it out of its natural position by setting the shrouds up too taut. The phrase, to wring, is also applied to a capstan when by an undue strain the component parts of the wood become deranged, and are thereby disunited. The head of a mast is frequently wrung by bracing up the lower yards beyond the dictates of sound judgment.

WRONG, TO. To out-sail a vessel by becalming her sails is said to wrong her.

WRONG WAY. When the ship casts in the opposite direction to that desired. Also, a ship swinging in a tide's way, out of the direction which would keep her hawse clear.

WRUNG-HEADS. An old term for that part of a ship near the floor-heads and second futtock-heels, which, when she lies aground, bears the greatest strain.

X.

XEBEC, OR ZEBEC. A small three-masted vessel of the Mediterranean, distinguished from all other European vessels by the great projection of her bow and overhanging of her stern. Being generally equipped as a corsair, the xebec was constructed with a narrow floor, for speed, and of great breadth, to enable her to carry a great press of sail. On the Barbary coast the xebec rig was deemed to vary from the felucca, which in hull is the same, by having the fore-mast square-rigged.

XERAFEEM. A Malabar coin of the value of 1_s._ 4_d._ sterling.

XEROONITZ. A Russian coin of two roubles, or 9_s._ sterling.

XERO-POTAMO. A term common on the coasts of Greece for fiumare, or torrents, which are dry at certain seasons.

XUGIA. The second bank of rowers in an ancient trireme.

XYLOSTROMA. Oak-leather, a peculiar fungus found within growing oaks.

Y.

YACHT. A vessel of state or pleasure: the former is usually employed to convey great personages. One of the designs of a yacht being accommodation, they are usually fitted up with great comfort; their propulsion is by sails or steam. Small yachts, rigged as sloops, were formerly used by the commissioners of the navy; they were originally royal yachts, and one at Chatham was renowned as the yacht of Queen Elizabeth, the same plate being in use in her up to a very late date. Private pleasure-boats, when sufficiently large for a sea voyage, are also termed yachts. (See ROYAL YACHT.)

YACHT CLUB, ROYAL. An institution embodied by a number of noblemen and gentlemen about the year 1820, to which certain privileges are attached. It was originally established at Cowes, but several ports, as well as the Thames, have their special clubs, and similar privileges.

YAM. The tubers of the Dioscorea sativa, and others; a valuable vegetable on long voyages. D. aculeata frequently produces tubers 3 feet long, and weighing 30 lbs. Also, the West India word for food; "Toko for yam," the negro's punishment--blows but no food.

YANKEE. An appellation often erroneously given to North Americans in general, whereas it is strictly applicable to those of the New England states only; it is not used complimentarily in the back settlements.

YARD. A measure of length, consisting of 3 feet.

YARD [Anglo-Saxon gyrde]. A long cylindrical timber suspended upon the mast of a vessel to spread a sail. They are termed square, lateen, or lug: the first are suspended across the masts at right angles, and the two latter obliquely. The square yards taper from the middle, which is called the slings, towards the extremities, which are termed the yard-arms; and the distance between is divided by the artificers into quarters, called the first, second, third quarters, and yard-arms. The middle quarters are formed into eight sides, and each of the end parts is figured like the frustum of a cone: on the alternate sides of the octagon, in large spars, oak battens are brought on and hooped, so as to strengthen, and yet not greatly increase, the weight.--To brace the yards. To traverse them about the masts, so as to form greater or lesser angles with the ship's length. (See BRACE.)--To square the yards. (See SQUARE.)

YARD-ARM. That part of a yard outside the quarter, which is on either side of the mast beyond the battens, when it lies athwart the ship. It generally means the extremity of the yard, and it is fitted with sheave-holes for reeving sheets through.

YARD-ARM AND YARD-ARM. The situation of two ships lying alongside one another, so near that their yard-arms nearly touch each other, or even cross. The term implies close action and no mistake.

YARD-ARM CLEATS. Wooden wedges fixed on the yards at those points where they support the lifts and braces, and where the head-earings are secured. The reef-cleats on the topsail-yards are beyond the lifts and braces.

YARD-ARM PIECE. An octagonal piece of timber supplied to replace a yard-arm if shot away. It is one-third the length of the main-yard.

YARD-ROPE. Is only used for temporary purposes; the most usual application of the term is that by which a yard is hoisted for crossing, or sent down. Also, rove for execution. The yard-rope of the lighter yards is the halliards, which, when the yard is crossed, is made into tie and halliards by a peculiar mode of toggling on the halliard purchase, as in the order, "Toggle the halliards!"

YARDS. See DOCKYARDS.

YARDS APEEK. When they are topped, so as to resemble St. Andrew's cross; it is done as a token of mourning, or for convenience when vessels lie alongside of each other, as in the docks.

YARD-TACKLES. Tackles attached to the fore and main yards of a ship, whereby, with the assistance of the stay-tackles, the boats and other weights are hoisted in and out. Yard-tackles are sometimes hooked to a pendant, which is secured to the top-mast head, and hauled out to the yard-arm by means of a small tackle, until the yard-tackle plumbs the spot where it is wished to work.

YARE [Ang.-Sax. for dexterous or quick]. It was formerly a favourite nautical phrase, as "Be yare at the helm;" and is used by Shakspeare's boatswain in the Tempest.

YAREMLEK. A silver Turkish coin of 20 paras, or 9_d._ sterling.

YARMOUTH CAPON. A red herring; a bloater.

YARMOUTH HERRING-BOAT. A clincher-built vessel with lug-sails, similar to the drift or mackerel boats.

YARN. One of the threads of which ropes are composed. A number of these are twisted together to form a strand, in proportion to the size of the proposed rope. Three strands are then twisted into one another, which completes the process of ordinary rope-making; but cables, hawsers, and other ground tackling, are composed of three strands, each of which is formed of three lesser ones. (See CABLE, HAWSER, &c.)--A tough yarn. A long story, or tale, hard to be believed.

YARN-SPINNING. A figurative expression for telling a story.

YATAGHAN. A crooked sabre used in the Levant. Also, the knife-swords of India.

YAUGH. An archaic term for a little bark, pinnace, or yacht.

YAW. The quick movement by which a ship deviates from the direct line of her course towards the right or left, from unsteady steering.

YAWL. A man-of-war's boat, resembling the pinnace, but rather smaller; it is carvel-built, and generally rowed with twelve oars. The yawl in the Customs Act is a carvel-built vessel of the cutter class, but having a jigger or mizen lug, the boom-mainsail being curtailed, so that its boom traverses clear of the mizen-mast: used also by yachts. Also, a small fishing-vessel.

YAW-SIGHTED. A nautical term for those who squint.

YAW-YAW. A nickname for the seamen of the shores of the Baltic.

YEAR. The duration of the earth's revolution round the sun, or of the apparent revolution of the sun in the ecliptic.

YELL. An old sea-term to express a rolling motion.

YELLOW ADMIRAL. A retired post-captain, who, not having served his time in that rank, is not entitled to his promotion to the active flag.

YELLOW-BELLY. A name given to a person born in the fens along our eastern shores: also occasionally to half-castes, &c.

YELLOW FEVER. A cant term for drunkenness at Greenwich Hospital; the sailors when punished wearing a parti-coloured coat, in which yellow predominates.

YELLOW-FLAG. The signal of quarantine.

YELLOWING. The passing over of captains at a flag promotion.

YELLOW-TAIL. A well-known tropical fish, often in company with whip-rays; it is about 4 feet long, with a great head, large eyes, and many fins. Leiostomas.

YEO-HEAVE-YEOING. The chant or noise made at the windlass and purchase-falls in a merchantman, to cheer and lighten labour, but not permitted in a man-of-war.

YEOMAN. An experienced hand placed in charge of a store-room, who should be able to keep the accounts of supply and expenditure.

YESTY [from the Anglo-Saxon gist]. A foaming breaking sea. Shakspeare in Macbeth gives great power to this state of the waters:--

"Though the yesty waves Confound, and swallow navigation up."

YOKE. A transverse board or metal bar, a substitute for the tiller, which crosses the head of a boat's rudder, and having two lines extending from its opposite extremities to the stern-sheets of the boat, whereby she is steered.

YOKE-LINES. The ropes by which the boat's steerage is managed.

YOUNG. A word often used for uninitiated.--Young gentlemen, a general designation for midshipmen, whatever their age.

YOUNG FLOOD. See FLOOD.

YOUNG ICE. Nearly the same as bay-ice, except that it is only applied to ice very recently formed, or of the present season.

YOUNGSTER, OR YOUNKER [an old term; from the Anglo-Saxon junker]. A volunteer of the first-class, and a general epithet for a stripling in the service.

YOUNG WIND. The commencement of the land or sea breeze.

YOU, SIR! The irritating mode in which some officers address the seamen. The late Lord Collingwood never permitted it.

YOW-YOW. A smaller kind of Chinese sampan.

Y'S OF AN INSTRUMENT. The Y-shaped bearings for the telescope axis, on the precision of which the value of an astronomical observation much depends: similar to the bearings of steam-engines, &c.

Z.

ZAFAR. A coil of Spanish rope.

ZAMBO. A term on the Spanish Main for a race produced by the union of the negro and the Indian; it literally means bow-legged.

ZEAL. A quality essentially requisite in forming the character of an efficient officer, since it comprehends ardour for the service, prompt obedience to orders, cheerful disposition, and a studious application to professional science.

ZECCHINO [from zecca, a mint]. A gold coin of Italy; average value, 9_s._ 6_d._

ZECHIN. A Turkish coin. (See SEQUIN.)

ZENITH. The pole of the horizon, or that point in the heavens directly overhead, as nadir is that which is directly under our feet.

ZENITH-DISTANCE. The angular distance of any celestial object from the zenith at the time of observation. In navigation the meridional zenith-distance of a heavenly body is much used for finding the latitude.

ZEPHYR. The west wind, but generally considered to apply to any light pleasant breeze.

ZERO. The cypher or nought at the beginning of a graduated arc.

ZETETIC. The analytic method of investigating a mathematical problem.

ZIG-ZAG. The winding trench of approach of a besieger, directed by short turns alternately right and left of the defences of the place, to avoid being enfiladed by them. Called also a boyau.

ZIG-ZAG COURSE. Working to windward by very short tacks or angular turning boards.

ZODIAC. A broad zone or belt of the heavens, the middle of which is the ecliptic, extending 9 deg. on either side of it. It is divided into twelve signs, each measuring 30 deg. along the ecliptic.

ZODIACAL LIGHT. A pyramidal cone of light, apparently emanating from the rising and setting sun, commonly seen in the tropics; in higher latitudes most visible about the time of the equinoxes.

ZOLL, OR SAUL. An Indian timber, much used in the construction of country vessels.

ZONE. See BELT.

ZONE OF DECLINATION. A belt of the heavens included between certain parallels of declination.

ZONES, IN GEOGRAPHY, are longitudinal belts into which the surface of the earth is divided, according to their various relation to the sun's apparent motion. They are--the torrid or equatorial zone, bounded by the two tropics (which see), to every part of which, at some time or other, the sun is vertical; the frigid zones, from the poles to the polar circles, to every part of which in succession, periodically, the sun is at mid-day below the horizon; and the temperate zones, intermediate between the two former, to all of which the sun rises every day in the year.

ZOOPHYTE. A term compounded of two Greek words, signifying animal-plant, vaguely applied to various low forms of animal organizations, as the sea-anemones and coral animals, which present a certain superficial resemblance to plants.

ZOPISSA. Tar or pitch scraped off the bottoms of old ships, and thought to be astringent and good for ulcers. Also, a highly preservative varnish in use by the ancients for ships' bottoms, sarcophagi, &c.

ZUHN. A species of Indian rush, from which an inferior kind of cordage and canvas is made.

ZUMBRA. A Spanish skiff or yawl.

GLASGOW: W. G. BLACKIE AND CO., PRINTERS, VILLAFIELD.

Transcriber's Notes and Amendments:

In keeping with the original publication, whether due to typographical limitations or for ease of reference, accented capital letters do not appear in the text.

Hyphenation has been standardised. Compound words heading a definition in the text have been taken to be the preferred form in most cases. Additionally, where one form of a compound word has been used in a clear majority of instances, the least common form has been amended. Hyphenation remains as printed when used for emphasis or humourous effect, within quotations, or when no clear preference exists.

Several invalid links between definitions existed in the original text. Such errors caused by confusion between singular and plural forms, or word order, have been corrected without note.

Significant amendments, unresolved invalid links and further notes have been listed below.

P. 14, ABOX, 'BRACE-ABOX' amended to BRACE ABACK.

P. 15, ACATER, 'Devil of an Ass' amended to The Devil is an Ass.

P. 16, ACKER, 'EAGOR' amended to AIGRE.

P. 23, AFFECTIONATE FRIENDS, 'Phil..more' amended to Phillimore.

P. 24, AFTER, 'mizzen' amended to mizen; AFTER-FACE, 'BACK OF THE STERN-POST' amended to BACK OF THE POST.

P. 29, ALBACORE, 'Scomberidae' amended to Scombridae.

P. 32, ALMURY, duplicate, out-of-sequence entry removed.

P. 35, AMAIN, 'STRIKING' amended to STRIKE; 'WAVE' amended to WAVING.

P. 37, AMPHOTEROPLON, 'HETOROPLON' amended to HETEROPLON.

P. 38, ANCHOR, 'grappling' amended to grapling.

P. 41, ANEMONE, 'SEA-ANEMONE' amended to ANIMAL FLOWERS; ANGLE, invalid links: 'curvilinear' and 'rectilinear'.

P. 42, ANGULAR CRAB, 'Gonophlex angulatus' amended to Goneplax angulata.

P. 45, ANTICHTHONES, originally 'ANTICTHONES'.

P. 46, APAGOGE, originally 'APAGOG'.

P. 52, ARM, 'tressel-trees' amended to trestle-trees.

P. 54, ARREST, 'her Majesty service' amended to Her Majesty's service.

P. 59, ATAGHAN, originally 'ATAGAN'; 'YATAGAN' amended to YATAGHAN.

P. 62, AUTOMATIC BLOW-OFF APPARATUS, originally 'AUTOMIC ...'; 'BLOWING-OFF' amended to BLOW-OFF-PIPE.

P. 64, AWNING, 'EUPHRAE' amended to EUPHROE.

P. 67, BACKSTAYS, 'salvigee' amended to selvagee.

P. 68, BAD-RELIEF, invalid link: 'ONE-BELL'.

P. 69, BAIDAR, 'KAIACK' amended to KAYAK.

P. 70, BALANCE, 'COMPENSATION' amended to CHRONOMETER.

P. 74, BANANA, 'Musa paradisaica' amended to Musa paradisiaca; BANG, 'amuk' amended to amok.

P. 76, BANK OF OARS, 'DOUBLE-BANK' amended to DOUBLE-BANKED.

P. 80, BAROMETER, 'foretel' amended to foretell.

P. 84, BASTARD-MACKEREL, 'Scomberidae' amended to Scombridae.

P. 85, BATTENING THE HATCHES, 'BATTENS' amended to BATTENS OF THE HATCHES.

P. 86, BATTERING GUNS, 'GARRISON ARTILLERY' amended to GARRISON GUNS.

P. 90, BEAR, 'rowsed' amended to roused.

P. 97, BERMUDA SAILS, ''MUGIAN' amended to 'MUDIAN.

P. 98, BIBBS, 'tressel-trees' amended to trestle-trees.

P. 99, BILBO, 'Bilboa' amended to Bilbao.

P. 102, BIRD'S-FOOT SEA-STAR, 'Arteriadae' amended to Asterinidae; BIRD'S NEST, invalid link: 'EDIBLE BIRD'S NEST', see AGAL-AGAL.

P. 105, BLADDER-FISH, 'tetrodon' amended to tetraodon.

P. 110, BLUBBER, invalid link: 'SEA-BLUBBER', see JELLY-FISH.

P. 113, BOATSWAIN-BIRD, 'Phaeton [oe]thereus' amended to Phaethon aethereus.

P. 116, BOLSTERS, 'tressel-trees' amended to trestle-trees.

P. 118, BOOK, 'muslins, bastas' amended to muslin, bast.

P. 120, BORE, 'Hoogley' amended to Hooghly.

P. 123, BOUND, 'NEAP' amended to NEAPED.

P. 125, BOWSE, 'pullies' amended to pulleys.

P. 126, BOXING, invalid link: 'BOXING OF RUDDER'.

P. 127, BRAB, 'sinnot' amended to sinnet; BRACE ABACK, 'COUNTER-BRACING' amended to COUNTER-BRACE.

P. 130, BREADTH, 'TOP BREADTH' amended to TOP-TIMBER BREADTH; BREAKERS, 'BARECA' amended to BAREKA.

P. 136, BRISMAK, 'Brosmus vulgaris' amended to Brosmius vulgaris.

P. 137, BROCAGE, invalid link: 'brokerage'; BROCLES, invalid link: 'STRAKE-NAILS'.

P. 141, BUILDING, 'rabetting' amended to rabbeting.

P. 142, BULK-HEADS, 'rabetted' amended to rabbeted.

P. 147, BURGOO, 'SKILLAGALEE' amended to SKILLY; BURNETTIZE, originally 'BURNETIZE'; BURTON, 'pullies' amended to pulleys.

P. 148, BUSY AS THE DEVIL IN A GALE OF WIND, 'Fidgetty' amended to Fidgety; BUTESCARLI, 'the EQUIPMENT OF' amended to EQUIPMENT.

P. 149, BYRTH, 'BIRTH or BERTH' amended to BURDEN or BURTHEN.

P. 151, CABLE, TO COIL A, 'CACKLING, KECKLING' amended to KECKLING; CABONS, 'KABURUS' amended to KABURNS.

P. 155, CAMP, 'LEAVING THE CAMP' amended to DECAMP.

P. 156, CANNON, 'pomelion' amended to pommelion.

P. 157, CANTEEN, 'suttling-house' amended to sutling-house.

P. 159, CAPE-HEN, 'MOLLY-MOK' amended to MOLLY-MAWK.

P. 160, CAP-SHORE, 'tressle-tree' amended to trestle-tree.

P. 161, CAPSTAN-BARS, 'hiccory' amended to hickory.

P. 162, CAPTAIN OF THE PORT, invalid link: 'PORT-CAPTAIN'.

P. 164, CARL, 'FEMBLE' amended to FEMALE.

P. 165, CARR, 'KARR' amended to CAR.

P. 169, CASTLE, 'AFTER-CASTLE' amended to AFT-CASTLE.

P. 170, CAST OF THE LEAD, 'HEAVE and SOUND' amended to HEAVE THE LEAD and SOUNDING; CASTOR AND POLLUX, 'COMPOSANT and CORPO SANTO' amended to COMPASANT and CORPOSANT.

P. 174, CENTINEL, 'SENTRY' amended to SENTINEL.

P. 175, CETINE, 'Heyschius' amended to Hesychius.

P. 177, CHALDRICK, 'Haemantopus ostralegus' amended to _Haematopus ostralegus_; CHAMBER, 'MURTHERER' amended to MURDERER.

P. 178, CHAMFER, originally 'CHAMPFER'.

P. 179, CHART, invalid link: 'globular charts'.

P. 182, CHEEKS OF THE MAST, 'TRESTLE-TREE BIBS' amended to BIBBS.

P. 183, CHEST-ROPE, 'GUEST-ROPE' amended to GUESS-WARP; CHEWING OF OAKUM, 'SPACE' amended to SEAM.

P. 187, CIPHERING, 'SYPHERING' amended to SYPHERED; CIRCLES, 'LESS' amended to LESSER.

P. 188, CLAMS, 'DEEP-SEA CLAM' amended to CLAM.

P. 189, CLASP-HOOK, invalid link: 'SPAR-HOOK'; CLEAN DONE, invalid link: 'WEATHERED'.

P. 190, CLEAR THE PENDANT, invalid link: 'UP AND CLEAR THE PENDANT'.

P. 192, CLOSE-BUTT, 'rabbetted' amended to rabbeted; CLOSE PACK, 'PACK' amended to PACK-ICE.

P. 194, CLOY, 'NAIL and SPIKE' amended to NAILING and SPIKING; CLUBBOCK, 'Gunellus vulgaris' amended to Gunnellus vulgaris.

P. 195, CLUMP-BLOCKS, invalid link: 'TACK-AND-SHEET'.

P. 196, COAST-BLOCKADE, 'SEA FENCIBLES' amended to FENCIBLES.

P. 198, COCOA-NUT TREE, 'PALMA' amended to PALMETTO.

P. 199, COD-FISHER'S CREW, invalid link: 'FISHERIES'.

P. 202, COMBUSTION, invalid link: 'SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION'.

P. 204, COMMUNICATION, invalid link: 'LINE OF COMMUNICATION'.

P. 210, CONTACT, 'MEASUREMENT BY SEXTANT' amended to SEXTANT.

P. 212, COOP, invalid link: 'HEN-COOP'.

P. 213, CORACORA, 'KORACORA' amended to KOROCORA.

P. 215, COSTS AND DAMAGE, invalid link: 'EXPENSES'.

P. 222, CREPUSCULUM, invalid link: 'TWILIGHT'.

P. 225, CROW-FOOT, 'uvrow' amended to uvrou; CROWNING, 'WALL' amended to WALL-KNOT.

P. 227, CUDBERDUCE, 'Farn Isles' amended to Farne Isles; CUMULO-CIRRO-STRATUS, originally 'CUMULO-CIRRUS-STRATUS'.

P. 232, CYPHERING, 'SYPHERING' amended to SYPHERED.

P. 235, DEAD-EYE, 'uvrows' amended to uvrous.

P. 236, DEAD-RISING, invalid link: 'RISING-LINE'.

P. 239, DECKS, assuming the accuracy of the rest of the table, the final figures in the lbs. column, originally '3960' and '1980', have been corrected to 3920 and 1960; DECK-STOPPER, 'STOPPER' amended to STOPPER OF THE CABLE.

P. 246, DIAGONAL BRACES, 'TRUSSING' amended to DIAGONAL TRUSSING.

P. 248, DILLOSK, 'DULSE' amended to DULCE.

P. 252, DISTINGUISHING PENDANT, 'SIGNALLING' amended to SIGNALS.

P. 258, DORNICLE, 'vivaparous' amended to viviparous.

P. 262, DRAGOON, 'TROOPER' amended to TROOP.

P. 263, DREW, 'Fucus lorcus' amended to Fucus loreus; DRIFT-ICE, 'ICE' amended to OPEN ICE.

P. 265, DROPS, 'munions' amended to munnions; DRUMHEAD COURT-MARTIAL, 'PROVOST MARTIAL' amended to PROVOST-MARSHAL.

P. 273, EEKING, 'EIKING' amended to EKEING.

P. 274, EJECTAMENTA MARIS, 'JETSOM' amended to JETSAM.

P. 277, ENGINE, MARINE, 'STEAM-ENGINE' amended to MARINE ENGINES.

P. 280, ERRATIC WINDS, 'VARIABLE WINDS' amended to VARIABLES.

P. 284, EYELET-HOLES, 'robans' amended to robands; EYE OF THE WIND, invalid link: 'WIND'S-EYE'; EYE-SPLICE, 'SPLICED-EYE' amended to SPLICE; EYGHT, 'alluvian' amended to alluvial.

P. 287, FALLING OUT, 'flairing' amended to flaring.

P. 290, FAUSSEBRAYE, 'counter-gard' amended to counterguard.

P. 293, FIDDLE-BLOCK, 'LONG-TACKLE BLOCKS' amended to LONG-TACKLES.

P. 296, FINE, invalid link: 'FYEN'.

P. 298, FIRE-BUCKETS, 'sinnett' amended to sinnet.

P. 299, FIRST QUARTER OF THE MOON, 'QUARTER' amended to QUARTER, FIRST; FISHERMAN'S BEND, invalid link: 'STUDDING-SAIL BEND'.

P. 308, FLOW, 'tideology' amended to tidology.

P. 309, FLUE, 'FLUKE OF ANCHOR' amended to FLUKES.

P. 312, FOLLOWING, 'QUADRANT OF DOUBLE-STARS' amended to QUADRANT.

P. 316, FORERUNNERS, 'LOG' amended to LOG-LINE.

P. 318, FORMING THE ORDER OF SAILING, 'SAILING' amended to SAILING, ORDER OF.

P. 320, FOUL HAWSE, 'ELBOW AND HAWSE' amended to ELBOW IN THE HAWSE; FOX, invalid link: 'SPANISH FOX'.

P. 323, FRESH, 'WIND, FORCE OF' amended to FORCE; FRESHEN HAWSE, 'CACKLING' amended to KECKLING.

P. 324, FRESH WATER, 'ICE' amended to ICEBERG.

P. 325, FRIGATE, 'Physalis pelagica' amended to Physalia pelagica.

P. 326, F.R.S., 'siglae' amended to sigla.

P. 332, GALLEY-FOIST, 'FUSTE' amended to FUST.

P. 333, GALLIGASKINS, 'Sap to the Divell' amended to Supplication to the Divell.

P. 335, GARNET, 'CLUE GARNET-BLOCK' amended to CLUE-GARNETS.

P. 338, GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, 'POSITION' amended to POSITION, GEOGRAPHICAL.

P. 340, GIRT, 'RIDING' amended to RIDE; GIVE A SPELL, 'SPELL-O!' amended to SPELL.

P. 343, GONDOLA, 'rostrique tridentibus' amended to rostrisque tridentibus.

P. 346, GRAIN UPSET, 'buccles' amended to buckles.

P. 347, GRAPPLE, 'Duillius' amended to Duilius; GRASS, 'FEED' amended to FEED OF GRASS; GRATINGS OF THE HEAD, invalid link: 'HEAD-GRATINGS'.

P. 348, GRAYLING, 'UMBER' amended to OMBRE; GREAT-LINE FISHING, invalid link: 'LINE-FISHING'; GREEN, 'Pandulp' amended to Pandulph;

P. 352, GAUGE, originally 'GUAGE'; 'guage' amended to gauge; re-indexed (p. 337); GAUGE-ROD, originally 'GUAGE-ROD'; re-indexed as above.

P. 354, GUIDOR, 'condor' amended to conder.

P. 355, GULF-WEED, 'crustaceae' amended to crustacea.

P. 358, GUN-PORTS, 'PORT-HOLES' amended to PORTS.

P. 361, HADDOCK, 'Gadus aegilfinus' amended to Gadus aeglefinus; HAKE, 'Gadus merlucius' amended to Gadus merluccius.

P. 363, HAMACS, 'HAMMOCKS AND HAMMACS' amended to HAMMOCK.

P. 364, HAMMOCK, 'Caribbs' amended to Caribs.

P. 366, HANGING-KNEES, 'loding-knees' amended to lodging-knees.

P. 369, HARPER-CRAB, invalid link: 'TOMMY HARPER'.

P. 370, HATCH, invalid link: 'HECK'.

P. 371, HAUL, 'ROWSE' amended to ROUSE.

P. 384, HOIST, 'SWAYING' and 'WHIPPING' amended to SWAY and WHIP; invalid link: 'TRACING-UP'.

P. 385, HOLD, 'TRIM' amended to TRIM OF THE HOLD; HOLDING ON THE SLACK, invalid link: 'EYELIDS'; HOLDING WATER, 'ROWING' amended to ROW.

P. 392, HORSE-MUSSEL, invalid link: 'DUCK-MUSSEL'.

P. 393, HOUNDS, 'tressel-trees' amended to trestle-trees; HOUSING, 'THUMB-LINE, IRISH TWINE' amended to TWINE.

P. 394, HOWE, originally 'HOW'.

P. 398, ICE-TONGUE, 'TONGUE OF ICE' amended to TONGUE.

P. 399, ILET, 'EYELET' amended to EYELET-HOLES.

P. 407, JACK-PINS, 'Tackspins' amended to Tack-pins.

P. 408, JACK-STAYS, 'staystails' amended to staysails.

P. 409, JAVA POT, 'Alcyonum' amended to Alcyonium.

P. 410, JERME, originally 'JEROME'.

P. 411, JIB, 'GYBE' amended to GYBING.

P. 413, JOHN DORY, 'Scomberidae' amended to Scombridae; JOHNNY RAW, invalid link: 'RAW'.

P. 414, JUFFER, 'UPHER' amended to UPHROE.

P. 415, JUNCO, 'PURR' amended to PURRE; JUNK, 'sinnot' amended to sinnet.

P. 417, KAYU-PUTIH, 'putih' usually translates as 'white', however the translation of 'oil' has been retained; K.C.B., 'siglae' amended to sigla.

P. 424, KNAGGY, 'Crochetty' amended to Crotchety.

P. 426, KNUCKLE-TIMBERS, 'flair' amended to flare.

P. 432, LAP'S COURSE, 'LOBS-SCOUSE' amended to LOBSCOUSE.

P. 436, LEAD, SOUNDING, 'HAND LEAD-LINE' amended to HAND-LINE; 'DEEP-SEA LEAD-LINE' amended to DEEP-SEA LINE.

P. 438, 'LEE-GUAGE' amended to LEE-GAUGE.

P. 440, LET GO UNDER FOOT, 'ANCHOR UNDER FOOT' amended to UNDER FOOT.

P. 441, LICENSE, invalid link: 'RUNNER, LICENSED'.

P. 444, LIFTS, 'TOPPING' amended to TOPPING-LIFTS; LIGHT-HORSEMAN, invalid link: 'WALLMIA'.

P. 451, LOBSTER-TOAD, invalid link: 'DEEP-SEA CRAB'.

P. 455, LONG STERN-TIMBERS, invalid link: 'STERN-TIMBERS'.

P. 458, LUFF AND TOUCH HER!, 'TOUCH' amended to TOUCHING.

P. 462, MADE, 'MASTS' amended to MADE MASTS; MAGELLANIC CLOUDS, 'Nebiculae' amended to Nubeculae.

P. 465, MAKE WATER, invalid link: 'FOUL WATER'.

P. 466, MANCHE OF MANGALORE, 'patamirs' amended to patamars; MANGONEL, 'balista' amended to ballista.

P. 467, MAN-OF-WAR BIRD, 'Frigata aquila' amended to Fregata aquila; 'Pelicanidae' amended to Pelecanidae; MANSIONS OF THE MOON, invalid link: 'LUNAR MANSIONS'; MAON, 'MAHONE, PORT OF' amended to MAHONE.

P. 471, MAST, 'JURY' amended to JURY-MAST.

P. 474, MAUL, 'trenails' amended to tree-nails; MAY, 'VENDABALES' amended to VENDAVAL.

P. 480, MISCHIEF, 'MASTER OF MISCHIEF' amended to MASTER OF MISRULE.

P. 481, MOCCASIN, originally 'MOCCASSIN'.

P. 486, MOTHER CARY'S GOOSE, 'Quebranta-huessos' amended to Quebranta huesos.

P. 487, MUCK, 'AMOCK' amended to AMOK.

P. 488, MUD-SHORES, 'Guiyana' amended to Guiana.

P. 491, NAILING A GUN, 'SPIKE' amended to SPIKING; NARROWING, 'RISING HALF-BREADTH' amended to _HALF-BREADTH OF THE RISING_.

P. 496, NEGRO-BOAT, 'ALMODIE' amended to ALMADIA; NET AND COBLE, 'sassine' amended to sasses.

P. 503, OAR-PROPULSION, invalid link: 'STERN-OAR'; OAZE, invalid link: 'OOZE'.

P. 504, OE, 'Ferroe Islands' amended to Faeroe Islands.

P. 506, OLICK, 'Gadus callaris' amended to Gadus callarias; OLPIS, 'CONDOR' amended to CONDER.

P. 508, ORDER OF SAILING, 'SAILING' amended to SAILING, ORDER OF.

P. 510, OTSEGO BASS, 'Corregonus otsego' amended to Coregonus otsego.

P. 513, OVER-SETTING, invalid link: 'UPSET'; OVERSLAUGH, 'roaster' amended to roster; OXYRINCHUS, originally 'OXYRHINCUS'.

P. 524, PEON-WOOD, invalid link: 'POON-WOOD'.

P. 525, PERIWINKLE, originally 'PERRIWINKLE'; re-indexed (p. 524).

P. 527, PICKLING, 'BURNETIZE' amended to BURNETTIZE; PILCHARD, 'Clupea pilcardus' amended to Clupea pilchardus.

P. 530, PIT, invalid link: 'SAW-PIT'.

P. 536, POLES, 'SCUDDING' amended to SCUD; 'TRYING' amended to TRY.

P. 537, POOR JOHN, 'baccalao' amended to bacalao.

P. 539, PORTE, invalid link: 'SUBLIME PORTE'.

P. 540, PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR, 'Physalis pelagica' amended to Physalia pelagica.

P. 546, PROFILE OF A FORT, 'ORTHOGRAPHY' amended to ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION.

P. 547, PROSPECTIVE, invalid link: 'SPY-GLASS'.

P. 550, PURSER'S STOCKING, 'SHEW A LEG' amended to SHOW A LEG.

P. 557, RACKING A TACKLE, 'LANNIARD' amended to LANIARD.

P. 558, RAILS OF THE STERN, invalid link: 'STERN-RAILS'.

P. 563, REBATE, invalid link: 'DISCOUNT'.

P. 570, RETURNS, invalid link: 'SUPPLIES AND RETURNS'.

P. 573, RIGGING-STOPPER, 'STOPPERS' amended to STOPPER OF THE CABLE.

P. 574, RIMER, 'REEMER' amended to REEMING.

P. 575, RIPPING-IRON, 'REEMER' amended to REEMING; RIPPS, 'TIDE-RIPPS' amended to TIDE-RIP.

P. 576, RITTOCH, 'Sterna hirnudo' amended to Sterna hirundo.

P. 581, ROUND SEIZING, originally split into two entries when carried over to the next page.

P. 583, ROVE, 'sheeve-hole' amended to sheave-hole.

P. 590, SAINT CUTHBERT'S DUCK, 'Feroe Islands' amended to Farne Islands; SAINT SWITHIN, '6th of July' amended to 15th of July.

P. 593, SARDINE, 'Engraulus maletta' amended to Engraulis meletta, although this applies to the anchovy.

P. 594, SAW-FISH, 'Pritis antiquorum' amended to Pristis antiquorum; SCALE, 'GUNTER'S SCALE' amended to GUNTER'S LINE.

P. 595, SCENOGRAPHY, originally 'SCHENOGRAPHY'; re-indexed; SCHEDAR, 'Cassiopaea' amended to Cassiopeia.

P. 596, SCOTCHMAN, 'skotch' amended to scotch.

P. 599, SEA, 'flotsom and jetsom' amended to flotsam and jetsam.

P. 601, SEA-GAUGE, invalid link: 'WATER-BOTTLE'.

P. 602, SEA-LAWS, 'Wisboy' amended to Wisbuy.

P. 603, SEA-POACHER, 'Cataphractus schonveldii' amended to Cottus cataphractus.

P. 604, SEA-SLEECH, originally 'SEA-SLETCH'; re-indexed; link likewise amended.

P. 606, SECTION, 'logitudinally' amended to longitudinally.

P. 607, SELLOCK, 'SILLUK' amended to SILLOCK.

P. 616, SHINER, invalid link: 'dace'.

P. 617, SHIP, 'MERCHANT' amended to MERCHANTMAN; SHIP-LOG, 'LOG' amended to LOG-BOOK.

P. 618, SHIPPER, 'SCHIPPER' amended to SKIPPER.

P. 622, SHOVELL, 'Spathulea clypeata' amended to Spatula clypeata.

P. 623, SHROUDS, 'CHANNEL' amended to CHAINS.

P. 624, SHURGEE, originally 'SHURQEE'.

P. 627, SIMOOM, 'klamsin' amended to kamsin; SISTER-KEELSONS, 'SIDE KEELS' amended to SIDE-KEELSONS.

P. 629, SKIP-JACK, 'boneta' amended to bonito.

P. 632, SLING-DOGS, 'SPAN-DOGS' amended to DOG.

P. 636, SNAKING, 'WORMING' amended to WORM; SNOOK, 'Scomberidae' amended to Scombridae.

P. 641, SPECK-BLOCKS, 'FLENSING' amended to FLENSE.

P. 649, STAMP AND GO!, 'topsail-haliards' amended to topsail-halliards.

P. 654, STEAM-PIPE, invalid link: 'WASTE STEAM-PIPE', see SAFETY-VALVE.

P. 662, STRETCHER, invalid link: 'SHEER-POLE', see SHEER-BATTEN.

P. 663, STUBB, 'wearer' amended to weather.

P. 666, SUN-STAR, 'Solaster paposa' amended to Solaster papposus.

P. 667, SURF-BOAT, 'MASSOOLAH-BOAT' amended to MASULAH BOATS.

P. 670, SWORD-FISH, 'Scomberidae' amended to Scombridae.

P. 674, TANG, 'Fucus digitata' amended to Fucus digitatus.

P. 680, THROAT-BRAILS, invalid link: 'TOPMAST-STAYSAILS'; THROUGH-PIECES, invalid link: 'GRAVING-PIECES'.

P. 686, TOP, 'bibs' amended to bibbs.

P. 687, TOP-GALLANT QUARTER-BOARDS, invalid link: 'QUARTER-BOARDS'.

P. 689, TORTUE DE MER, 'gabare' amended to gabarre.

P. 699, TROPIC-BIRD, 'Phaeton aetherius' amended to Phaethon aethereus.

P. 700, TRUCKS, 'PARREL' amended to PARRALS.

P. 702, TUNNY, 'Scomberidae' amended to Scombridae; TURBOT, 'icthyophagi' amended to ichthyophagi.

P. 703, TUSK, 'Brosmus vulgaris' amended to Brosmius vulgaris.

P. 707, UNLIMBER, 'pintail' amended to pintle.

P. 712, VERTICAL PLAN, 'ORTHOGRAPHY' amended to ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION.

P. 715, WAFT, 'recals' amended to recalls.

P. 717, WALL-SIDED, 'flairing' amended to flaring.

P. 723, WAY, invalid link: 'WIND'S-WAY'.

P. 727, WEST-COUNTRY PARSON, 'Gadus marlucius' amended to Gadus merluccius.

P. 728, WHAUP, 'Numenius arcuatus' amended to Numenius arquatus.

P. 729, WHIMBREL, 'Numenius phaepus' amended to Numenius phaeopus.

P. 730, WHISTLE, 'BOATSWAIN'S CALL' amended to CALL.

P. 736, WOLF-FISH, 'Anarrichas lupus' amended to Anarhichas lupus.

P. 738, WORK UP JUNK, 'sinnit' amended to sinnet.