CASEMATE. In fortification, a chamber having a vaulted roof capable of resisting vertical fire, and affording embrasures or loop-holes to contribute to the defence of the place: without these it would be merely a bomb-proof.
CASERNES. Often considered as synonymous with barracks; but more correctly small lodgments erected between the ramparts and houses of a fortified town, to ease the inhabitants by quartering soldiers there, who are also in better condition for duty than if living in various parts.
CASE-SHOT, Common. Called also canister-shot. Adapted for close quarters if the enemy be uncovered. It consists of a number of small iron balls, varying in weight and number, packed in a cylindrical tin case fitting the bore of the gun from which it is to be fired. Burrel, langrage, and other irregular substitutes, may be included under the term. Spherical case-shot are officially called shrapnel shell (which see).
CASHIERED. Sentenced by a court-martial to be dismissed the service. By such sentence an officer is rendered ever after incapable of serving the sovereign in any position, naval or military.
CASING. The lining, veneering, or planking over a ship's timbers, especially for the cabin-beams; the sheathing of her. Also a bulk-head round a mast to prevent the interference of cargo, or shifting materials.
CASING-COVER. In the marine steam-engine is a steam-tight opening for the slide-valve rod to pass through.
CASK. A barrel for fluid or solid provisions. (See Stowage.)
CASKETS (properly Gaskets). Small ropes made of sinnet, and fastened to grummets or little rings upon the yards. Their use is to make the sail fast to the yard when it is to be furled.
CASSAVA, or Cassada. A species of the genus Jatropha janipha, well known to seamen as the cassava bread of the West Indies. Tapioca is produced from the Jatropha manihot. Caution is necessary in the use of these roots, as the juice is poisonous. The root used as chewsticks, to cleanse the teeth and gums, by the negroes, produces a copious flow of frothy saliva.
CAST. A coast term meaning four, as applied to haddocks, herrings, &c. Also, the appearance of the sky when day begins to break. A cast of pots, &c.—A'cast, when a ship's yards are braced a'cast preparatory to weighing. Also condemned, cast by survey, &c.
CAST, To. To fall off, so as to bring the direction of the wind on one side of the ship, which before was right ahead. This term is particularly applied to a ship riding head to wind, when her anchor first loosens from the ground. To pay a vessel's head off, or turn it, is getting under weigh on the tack she is to sail upon, and it is casting to starboard, or port, according to the intention.—To cast anchor. To drop or let go the anchor for riding by—synonymous with to anchor.—To cast a traverse. To calculate and lay off the courses and distances run over upon a chart.—To cast off. To let go at once. To loosen from.
CAST. A short boat passage.
CAST-AWAY. Shipwrecked.
CAST-AWAYS. People belonging to vessels stranded by stress of weather. Men who have hidden themselves, or are purposely left behind, when their vessel quits port.
CASTING ACCOUNTS. Sea-sickness.
CAST-KNEES. Those hanging knees which compass or arch over the angle of a man-of-war's ports, rider, &c.
CASTLE. A place strong by art or nature, or by both. A sort of little citadel. (See Forecastle, Aft-castle, &c.)
CASTLE-WRIGHTS. Particular artificers employed in the erection of the early ship's castles.
CAST-OFFS. Landsmen's clothes.
CAST OF THE LEAD. The act of heaving the lead into the sea to ascertain what depth of water there is. (See also Heave the Lead and Sounding.) The result is a cast—"Get a cast of the lead."
CASTOR. α Gemini, a well-known nautical star in the zodiac, which has proved to be a double star.
CASTOR AND POLLUX. Fiery balls which appear at the mast-heads, yard-arms, or sticking to the rigging of vessels in a gale at sea. (See Compasant and Corposant.)
CASTRAMETATION. The art of planning camps, and selecting an appropriate position, in which the main requirement is that the troops of all arms should be so planted in camp as immediately to cover their proper positions in the line of battle.
CAST THE WRONG WAY. See Wrong Way.
CASUALTIES. In a military sense, comprehends all men who die, are wounded, desert, or are discharged as unfit for service.
CAT. A ship formed on the Norwegian model, and usually employed in the coal and timber trade. These vessels are generally built remarkably strong, and may carry six hundred tons; or in the language of their own mariners, from 20 to 30 keels of coals. A cat is distinguished by a narrow stern, projecting quarters, a deep waist, and no ornamental figure on the prow.
CATALAN. A small Spanish fishing-boat.
CATAMARAN. A sort of raft used in the East Indies, Brazils, and elsewhere: those of the island of Ceylon, like those of Madras and other parts of that coast, are formed of three logs; the timber preferred for their construction is the Dúp wood, or Cherne-Maram, the pine varnish-tree. Their length is from 20 to 25 feet, and breadth 21⁄2 to 31⁄2 feet, secured together by means of three spreaders and cross lashings, through small holes; the centre log is much the largest, with a curved surface at the fore-end, which tends and finishes upwards to a point. The side logs are very similar in form, and fitted to the centre log. These floats are navigated with great skill by one or two men, in a kneeling position; they think nothing of passing through the surf which lashes the beach at Madras and at other parts of these coasts, when even the boats of the country could not live upon the waves; they are also propelled out to the shipping at anchor when boats of the best construction and form would be swamped. In the monsoons, when a sail can be got on them, a small out-rigger is placed at the end of two poles, as a balance, with a bamboo mast and yard, and a mat or cotton-cloth sail, all three parts of which are connected; and when the tack and sheet of the sail are let go, it all falls fore and aft alongside, and being light, is easily managed. In carrying a press of sail, they are trimmed by the balance-lever, by going out on the poles so as to keep the log on the surface of the water, and not impede its velocity, which, in a strong wind, is very great.
CATANADROMI. Migratory fishes, which have their stated times of going from fresh-water to salt and returning, as the salmon, &c.
CATAPULT. A military engine used by the ancients for throwing stones, spears, &c.
CATARACT. The sudden fall of a large body of water from a higher to a lower level, and rather in a single sheet than by successive leaps, as in a cascade.
CATASCOPIA. Small vessels anciently used for reconnoitring and carrying despatches.
CAT-BEAM. This, called also the beak-head beam, is the broadest beam in the ship, and is generally made of two beams tabled and bolted together.
CAT-BLOCK. A two or three fold block, with an iron strop and large hook to it, which is employed to cat or draw the anchor up to the cat-head, which is also fitted with three great sheaves to correspond.
CATCH. A term used among fishermen to denote a quantity of fish taken at one time.
CATCH A CRAB. In rowing, when an oar gets so far beneath the surface of the water, that the rower cannot recover it in time to prevent his being knocked backwards.
CATCH A TURN THERE. Belay quickly.
CATCH-FAKE. An unseemly doubling in a badly coiled rope.
CATERER. A purveyor and provider of provisions: now used for the person who takes charge of and regulates the economy of a mess. (See Acater.)
CAT-FALL. The rope rove for the cat-purchase, by which the anchor is raised to the cat-head or catted.
CAT-FISH. A name for the sea-wolf (Anarrhicas lupus).
CAT-GUT. A term applied to the sea-laces or Fucus filum. (See Sea-catgut.)
CAT-HARPINGS, or Catharpin Legs. Ropes under the tops at the lower end of the futtock-shrouds, serving to brace in the shrouds tighter, and affording room to brace the yards more obliquely when the ship is close-hauled. They keep the shrouds taut for the better ease and safety of the mast.
CAT-HEAD. The cat-head passes through the bow-bulwark obliquely forward on a radial line from the fore-mast, rests on the timbers even with the water-way, passes through the deck, and is secured to the side-timbers. It is selected from curved timber. Its upper head is on a level with the upper rail; it is furnished with three great sheaves, and externally strengthened by a cat-head knee. It not only is used to lift the anchor from the surface of the water, but as it "looks forward," the cat-block is frequently lashed to the cable to aid by its powerful purchase when the capstan fails to make an impression. The cat-fall rove through the sheaves, and the cat-block furnish the cat-purchase. The cat-head thus serves to suspend the anchor clear of the bow, when it is necessary to let it go: the knee by which it is supported is generally ornamented with carving. Termed also cat-head bracket.
CAT-HOLES. Places or spaces made in the quarter, for carrying out fasts or springs for steadying or heaving astern.
CAT-HOOK. A strong hook which is a continuation of the iron strop of the cat-block, used to hook the ring of the anchor when it is to be drawn up or catted.
CAT-LAP. A common phrase for tea or weak drink.
CAT O' NINE TAILS. An instrument of punishment used on board ships in the navy; it is commonly of nine pieces of line or cord, about half a yard long, fixed upon a piece of thick rope for a handle, and having three knots on each, at small intervals, nearest one end; with this the seamen who transgress are flogged upon the bare back.
CATRAIA. The catraia of Lisbon and Oporto, or pilot surf-boats, are about 56 feet long, by 15 feet beam, impelled by sixteen oars.
CAT-RIG. A rig which in smooth water surpasses every other, but, being utterly unsuited for sea or heavy weather, is only applicable to pleasure-boats who can choose their weather. It allows one sail only—an enormous fore-and-aft main-sail, spread by a gaff at the head and a boom at the foot, hoisted on a stout mast, which is stepped close to the stem.
CAT-ROPE. A line for hauling the cat-hook about: also cat-back-rope, which hauls the block to the ring of the anchor in order to hook it.
CAT'S-PAW. A light air perceived at a distance in a calm, by the impressions made on the surface of the sea, which it sweeps very gently, and then passes away, being equally partial and transitory. Old superstitious seamen are seen to scratch the backstays with their nails, and whistle to invoke even these cat's-paws, the general forerunner of the steadier breeze. Cat's-paw is also a name given to a particular twisting hitch, made in the bight of a rope, so as to induce two small bights, in order to hook a tackle on them both. Also, good-looking seamen employed to entice volunteers.
CAT'S-SKIN. A light partial current of air, as with the cat's-paw.
CAT'S-TAIL. The inner part of the cat-head, that fays down upon the cat-beam.
CAT-STOPPER, or Cathead-stopper. A piece of rope or chain rove through the ring of an anchor, to secure it for sea, or singled before letting it go.
CAT-TACKLE. A strong tackle, used to draw the anchor perpendicularly up to the cat-head, which latter is sometimes called cat.
CATTAN. See Katan.
CAT THE ANCHOR. When the cat is hooked and "cable enough" veered and stoppered, the anchor hangs below the cat-head, swings beneath it; it is then hauled close up to the cat-head by the purchase called the cat-fall. The cat-stopper is then passed, and the cat-block unhooked.
CATTING. The act of heaving the anchor by the cat-tackle. Also, sea-sickness.
CATTY. A Chinese commercial weight of 18 ozs. English. Tea is packed in one or two or more catty boxes, hence most likely our word tea-caddy.
CAUDAL FIN. The vertical median fin terminating the tail of fishes.
CAUDICARIÆ. A kind of lighter used by the Romans on the Tiber.
CAUL. The membrane encompassing the head of some infants when born, and from early antiquity esteemed an omen of good fortune, and a preservative against drowning; it was sought by the Roman lawyers with as much avidity as by modern voyagers. Also, a northern name for a dam-dike. Also, an oriental license. (See Kaule.)
CAULK, To. (See Caulking.) To lie down on deck and sleep, with clothes on.
CAULKER. He who caulks and pays the seams. This word is mistaken by many for cawker (which see).
CAULKER'S SEAT. A box slung to a ship's side whereon a caulker can sit and use his irons; it contains his tools and oakum.
CAULKING of a Ship. Forcing a quantity of oakum, or old ropes untwisted and drawn asunder, into the seams of the planks, or into the intervals where the planks are joined together in the ship's decks or sides, or rends in the planks, in order to prevent the entrance of water. After the oakum is driven in very hard, hot melted pitch or rosin is poured into the groove, to keep the water from rotting it. Among the ancients the first who made use of pitch in caulking were the inhabitants of Phæacia, afterwards called Corfu. Wax and rosin appear to have been commonly used before that period; and the Poles still substitute an unctuous clay for the same purpose for the vessels on their navigable rivers.
CAULKING-BUTT. The opening between ends or joints of the planks when worked for caulking.
CAULKING-IRONS. The peculiar chisels used for the purpose of caulking: they are the caulking-iron, the making-iron, the reeming-iron, and the rasing-iron.
CAULKING-MALLET. The wooden beetle or instrument with which the caulking-irons are driven.
CAURY. Worm-eaten.
CAVALIER. In fortification, a work raised considerably higher than its neighbours, but generally of similar plan. Its object is to afford a plunging fire, especially into the near approaches of a besieger, and to shelter adjacent faces from enfilade. Its most frequent position in fortresses is at the salient of the ravelin, or within the bastion; and in siege-works in the advanced trenches, for the purpose of enabling the musketry of the attack to drive the defenders out of the covered way.
CAVALLO, by some Carvalhas. An oceanic fish, well-known as the bonito or horse-mackerel.
CAVALOT. A gun carrying a ball of one pound.
CAVALRY. That body of soldiers which serves and fights on horseback.
CAVER. See Kaver.
CAVIARE. A preparation of the roe of sturgeons and other fish salted. It forms a lucrative branch of commerce in Italy and Russia.
CAVIL. A large cleat for belaying the fore and main tacks, sheets, and braces to. (See Kevels.)
CAVITY. In naval architecture signifies the displacement formed in the water by the immersed bottom and sides of the vessel.
CAWE, or Cawfe. An east-country eel-box, or a floating perforated cage in which lobsters are kept.
CAWKER. An old term signifying a glass of strong spirits taken in the morning.
CAY, or Cayos. Little insulated sandy spots and rocks. The Spaniards in the West Indies called the Bahamas Los Cayos, which we wrote Lucayos. (See Key.)
CAZE-MATTE. See Casemate.
CAZERNS. See Casernes.
C.B. The uncials of Companion of the most honourable Order of the Bath. This grade was recently distributed so profusely that an undecorated veteran testily remarked that if government went on thus there would soon be more C.B.'s than A.B.'s in the navy.
CEASE FIRING. The order to leave off.
CEILING. The lining or planks on the inside of a ship's frame: these are placed on the flat of the floor, and carried up to the hold-beams. The term is a synonym of foot-waling (which see).
CELLS. See Sills.
CELOCES, or Celetes. Light row-boats, formerly used in piracy, and also for conveying advice.
CEMENT, Roman. For docks, piers, &c. See Pozzolana.
CENTIME. See Franc.
CENTINEL. See Sentinel.
CENTRAL ECLIPSE. See Eclipse.
CENTRE (usually Center). The division of a fleet between the van and the rear of the line of battle, and between the weather and lee divisions in the order of sailing.
CENTRE of Cavity, of Displacement, of Immersion, and of Buoyancy, are synonymous terms in naval architecture for the mean centre of that part of a vessel which is immersed in the water.
CENTRE OF GRAVITY, or Balancing Point. See Gravity.
CENTRE OF MOTION. See Motion (Centre of).
CENTURION. A military officer who commanded one hundred men, in the Roman armies.
CEOLA. A very old term for a large ship.
CERADENE. A large fresh-water mussel.
CERCURI. Ancient ships of burden fitted with both sails and oars.
CERTIFICATE. A voucher or written testimony to the truth of any statement. An attestation of servitude, signed by the captain, is given with all discharges of men in the navy.
CERTIFY, To. To bear official testimony.
CESSATION OF ARMS. A discontinuation or suspension of hostilities.
CETINE. An ancient large float, says Hesychius, "in bulk like a whale;" derived from cetus, which applied both to whale and ship.
C.G. Coast-guard (which see).
CHAD. A fish like a small bream, abundant on the south-west coasts of England.
CHAFE, To. To rub or fret the surface of a cable, mast, or yard, by the motion of the ship or otherwise, against anything that is too hard for it.—Chafing-gear, is the stuff put upon the rigging and spars to prevent their being chafed.
CHAFFER. A name for a whale or grampus of the northern seas.
CHAFING-CHEEKS. A name given by old sailors to the sheaves instead of blocks on the yards in light-rigged vessels.
CHAFING-GEAR. Mats, sinnet, spun-yarn, strands, battens, scotchmen, and the like.
CHAIN. When mountains, hills, lakes, and islands are linked together, or follow each other in succession, so that their whole length greatly exceeds their breadth, they form what is termed a chain. A measuring chain is divided into links, &c., made of stout wire, because line is apt to shrink on wet ground and give way. The chain measure is 66 feet.
CHAINAGE OF SHIP. An old right of the admiral.
CHAIN-BOLT. A large bolt to secure the chains of the dead-eyes through the toe-link, for the purpose of securing the masts by the shrouds. Also, the bolts which fasten the channel-plates to the ship's side.
CHAIN-CABLE COMPRESSOR. A curved arm of iron which revolves on a bolt through an eye at one end, at the other is a larger eye in which a tackle is hooked; it is used to bind the cable against the pipe through which it is passing, and check it from running out too quickly.
CHAIN-CABLE CONTROLLER. A contrivance for the prevention of one part of the chain riding on another while heaving in.
CHAIN-CABLES. Are not new; Cæsar found them on the shores of the British Channel. In 1818 I saw upwards of eighty sail of vessels with them at Desenzano, on the Lago di Garda. They have all but superseded hemp cables in recent times; they are divided into parts 15 fathoms in length, which are connected by shackles, any one of which may be slipped in emergency; at each 71⁄2 fathoms a swivel used to be inserted, but in many cases they are now dispensed with.
CHAIN-CABLE SHACKLES. Used for coupling the parts of a chain-cable at various lengths, so that they may be disconnected when circumstance demands it.
CHAIN-HOOK. An iron rod with a handling-eye at one end, and a hook at the other, for hauling the chain-cables about.
CHAIN-PIPE. An aperture through which a chain-cable passes from the chain-well to the deck above.
CHAIN-PLATES. Plates of iron with their lower ends bolted to the ship's sides under the channels, and to these plates the dead-eyes are fastened; other plates lap over and secure them below. Formerly, and still in great ships, the dead-eyes were linked to chain-pieces, and from their being occasionally made in one plate they have obtained this appellation.
CHAIN-PUMP. This is composed of two long metal tubes let down through the decks somewhat apart from each other, but joined at their lower ends, which are pierced with holes for the admission of water. Above the upper part of the tubes is a sprocket-wheel worked by crank handles; over this wheel, and passing through both tubes, is an endless chain, furnished at certain distances with bucket valves or pistons, turning round a friction-roller. The whole, when set in motion by means of the crank handles, passing down one tube and up the other, raises the water very rapidly.
CHAINS, properly Chain-wales, or Channels. Broad and thick planks projecting horizontally from the ship's outside, to which they are fayed and bolted, abreast of and somewhat behind the masts. They are formed to project the chain-plate, and give the lower rigging greater out-rig or spread, free from the top-sides of the ship, thus affording greater security and support to the masts, as well as to prevent the shrouds from damaging the gunwale, or being hurt by rubbing against it. Of course they are respectively designated fore, main, and mizen. They are now discontinued in many ships, the eyes being secured to the timber-heads, and frequently within the gunwale to the stringers or lower shelf-pieces above the water-way.—In the chains, applies to the leadsman who stands on the channels between two shrouds to heave the hand-lead.
CHAIN-SHOT. Two balls connected either by a bar or chain, for cutting and destroying the spars and rigging of an enemy's ship.
CHAIN-SLINGS. Chains attached to the sling-hoop and mast-head, by which a lower yard is hung. Used for boat or any other slings demanded.
CHAIN-STOPPER. There are various kinds of stoppers for chain-cables, mostly acting by clamping or compression.
CHAIN, Top. A chain to sling the lower yards in time of battle, to prevent them from falling down when the ropes by which they are hung are shot away.
CHAIN-WELL, or Locker. A receptacle below deck for containing the chain-cable, which is passed thither through the deck-pipe.
CHALAND. A large flat-bottomed boat of the Loire.
CHALDERS. Synonymous with gudgeons of the rudder.
CHALDRICK. An Orkney name for the sea-pie (Hæmatopus ostralegus).
CHALDRON. A measure of coals, consisting of 36 bushels; a cubic yard = 19 cwts. 19 lbs.
CHALINK. A kind of Massoolah boat.
CHALK, To. To cut.—To walk one's chalks, to run off; also, an ordeal for drunkenness, to see whether the suspected person can move along the line. "Walking a deck-seam" is to the same purpose, as the man is to proceed without overstepping it on either side.
CHALKS. Marks. "Better by chalks:" wagers were sometimes determined by he who could reach furthest or highest, and there make a chalk-mark.—Long chalks, great odds.
CHALLENGE. The demand of a sentinel to any one who approaches his post. Also, the defiance to fight.
CHAMADE. To challenge attention. A signal made by beat of drum when a conference is desired by the enemy on having matter to propose. It is also termed beating a parley.
CHAMBER, or Chamber-piece. A charge piece in old ordnance, like a paterero, to put into the breech of a gun prepared for it. (See Murderer.) Used by the Chinese, as in gingals (which see).
CHAMBER OF A MINE. The seat or receptacle prepared for the powder-charge, usually at the end of the gallery, and out of the direct line of it; and, if possible, tamped or buried with tight packing of earth, &c., to increase the force of explosion.
CHAMBER OF A PIECE OF ORDNANCE. The end of the bore modified to receive the charge of powder. In mortars, howitzers, and shell-guns, they are of smaller diameter than the bore, for the charges being comparatively small, more effect is thus expected. The gomer chamber (which see) is generally adopted in our service. In rifled guns the powder-chamber is not rifled; it and the bullet-chamber differ in other minute respects from the rest of the bore. Patereroes for festive occasions are sometimes called chambers; as the small mortars, formerly used for firing salutes in the parks, termed also pint-pots from their shape and handles.
CHAMBERS. Clear spaces between the riders, in those vessels which have floor and futtock riders.
CHAMFER. The cutting or taking off a sharp edge or angle from a plank or timber. It is also called camfering.
CHAMPION. The great champion of England, who at the coronation of the sovereign throws down his gauntlet, and defies all comers. Held at the coronations of George IV., William IV., and Victoria, by a naval officer, a middy in 1821.
CHANCERY, In. When a ship gets into irons. (See Irons.)
CHANCY. Dangerous.
CHANDLER, Ship. Dealer in general stores for ships.
CHANGE. In warrantry, is the voluntary substitution of a different voyage for a merchant ship than the one originally specified or agreed upon, an act which discharges the insurers. (See Deviation.)
CHANGEY-FOR-CHANGEY. A rude barter among men-of-war's men, as bread for vegetables, or any "swap."
CHANNEL. In hydrography, the fair-way, or deepest part of a river, harbour, or strait, which is most convenient for the track of shipping. Also, an arm of the sea, or water communication running between an island or islands and the main or continent, as the British Channel. In an extended sense it implies any passage which separates lands, and leads from one ocean into another, without distinction as to shape.
CHANNEL-BOLTS. The long bolts which pass through all the planks, and connect the channel to the side.
CHANNEL-GROPERS. The home-station ships cruising in the Channel; usually small vessels to watch the coast in former times, and to arrest smugglers.
CHANNEL-GROPING. The carrying despatches, and cruising from port to port in soundings.
CHANNEL-PLATES. See Chain-plates.
CHANNEL-WALES. Strakes worked between the gun-deck and the upper deck ports of large ships. Also, the outside plank which receives the bolts of the chain-plates. The wale-plank extends fore and aft to support the channels.
CHANTICLEER. A name in the Frith of Forth for the dragonet or gowdie (Callionymus lyra). The early or vigilant cock, from which several English vessels of war have derived their names.
CHAP. A general term for a man of any age after boyhood; but it is not generally meant as a compliment.
CHAPE. The top locket of a sword scabbard.
CHAPELLING A SHIP. The act of turning her round in a light breeze, when she is close hauled, without bracing the head-yards, so that she will lie the same way that she did before. This is commonly occasioned by the negligence of the steersman, or by a sudden change of the wind.
CHAPLAIN. The priest appointed to perform divine service on board ships in the royal navy.
CHAPMAN. A small merchant or trader; a ship's super-cargo.
CHAR. A fine species of trout taken in our northern lakes.
CHARACTERS. Certain marks invented for shortening the expression of mathematical calculations, as +, -, ×, ÷, =, : :: :, √, &c.
CHARGE. The proportional quantity of powder and ball wherewith a gun is loaded for execution. The rules for loading large ordnance are: that the piece be first cleaned or scoured inside; that the proper quantity of powder be next driven in and rammed down, care however being taken that the powder in ramming be not bruised, because that weakens its effect; that a little quantity of paper, lint, or the like, be rammed over it, and then the ball be intruded. If the ball be red hot, a tompion, or trencher of green wood, is to be driven in before it. Also, in martial law, an indictment or specification of the crime of which a prisoner stands accused. Also, in evolutions, the brisk advance of a body to attack an enemy, with bayonets fixed at the charge, or firmly held at the hip. Also, the command on duty, every man's office.—A ship of charge, is one so deeply immersed as to steer badly.—To charge a piece, is to put in the proper quantity of ammunition.
CHARGER. The horse ridden by an officer in action; a term loosely applied to any war-horse.
CHARITY-SLOOPS. Certain 10-gun brigs built towards the end of Napoleon's war, something smaller than the 18-gun brigs; these were rated sloops, and scandal whispers "in order that so many commanders might charitably be employed."
CHARLES'S WAIN. The seven conspicuous stars in Ursa Major, of which two are called the pointers, from showing a line to the pole-star.
CHART, or Sea-chart. A hydrographical map, or a projection of some part of the earth's superficies in plano, for the use of navigators, further distinguished as plane-charts, Mercator's charts, globular charts, and the bottle or current chart, to aid in the investigation of surface currents (all which see). A selenographic chart represents the moon, especially as seen by the aid of photography and Mr. De la Rue's arrangement.
CHARTER. To charter a vessel is to take her to freight, under a charter-party. The charter or written instrument by which she is hired to carry freight.
CHARTERED SHIP. One let to hire to one or more, or to a company. A general ship is where persons, unconnected, load goods.
CHARTERER. The person hiring or chartering a ship, or the government or a company by their agents.
CHARTER-PARTY. The deed or written contract between the owners and the merchants for the hire of a ship, and safe delivery of the cargo; thus differing from a bill of lading, which relates only to a portion of the cargo. It is the same in civil law with an indenture at the common law. It ought to contain the name and burden of the vessel, the names of the master and freighters, the place and time of lading and unlading, and stipulations as to demurrage. The charter-party is dissolved by a complete embargo, though not by the temporary stopping of a port. It is thus colloquially termed a pair of indentures.
CHASE, To. To pursue a ship, which is also called giving chase.—A stern chase is when the chaser follows the chased astern, directly upon the same point of the compass.—To lie with a ship's fore-foot in a chase, is to sail and meet with her by the nearest distance, and so to cross her in her way, as to come across her fore-foot. A ship is said to have a good chase when she is so built forward or astern that she can carry many guns to shoot forwards or backwards; according to which she is said to have a good forward or good stern chase. Chasing to windward, is often termed chasing in the wind's eye.
CHASE. The vessel pursued by some other, that pursuing being the chaser. This word is also applied to a receptacle for deer and game, between a forest and a park in size, and stored with a larger stock of timber than the latter.
CHASE, Bow. Cannon situated in the fore part of the ship to fire upon any object ahead of her. Chasing ahead, or varying on either bow.
CHASE of a Gun. That part of the conical external surface extending from the moulding in front of the trunnions to that which marks the commencement of the muzzle; that is, in old pattern guns, from the ogee of the second reinforce, to the neck or muzzle astragal.
CHASE-GUNS. Such guns as are removed to the chase-ports ahead or astern, if not pivot-guns.
CHASE-PORTS. The gun-ports at the bows and through the stern of a war-ship.
CHASER. The ship which is pursuing another.
CHASE-SIGHT. Where the sight is usually placed.
CHASE-STERN. The cannon which are placed in the after-part of a ship, pointing astern.
CHASSE MAREES. The coasting vessels of the French shores of the Channel; generally lugger-rigged; either with two or three masts, and sometimes a top-sail; the hull being bluffer when used for burden only, are thus distinguished from luggers. They seldom venture off shore, but coast it.
CHATHAM. See Chest of Chatham.
CHATS. Lice. Also lazy fellows.
CHATTA, or Chatty. An Indian term for an earthen vessel sometimes used for cooking.
CHAW. See Quid.
CHEATING THE DEVIL. Softenings of very profane phrases, the mere euphemisms of hard swearing, as od rot it, od's blood, dash it, dang you, see you blowed first, deuce take it, by gosh, be darned, and the like profane preludes, such as boatswains and their mates are wont to use.
CHEAT THE GLASS. See Flogging the Glass.
CHEBACCO BOAT. A description of fishing-vessel employed in the Newfoundland fisheries. It is probably named from Chebucto Bay.
CHECK. (See Bowline.) To slack off a little upon it, and belay it again. Usually done when the wind is by, or as long as she can lay her course without the aid of the bowline.—To check is to slacken or ease off a brace, which is found to be too stiffly extended, or when the wind is drawing aft. It is also used in a contrary sense when applied to the cable running out, and then implies to stopper the cable.—Check her, stop her way.
CHECKERS. A game much used by seamen, especially in the tops, where usually a checker-board will be found carved.
CHECKING-LINES. These are rove through thimbles at the eyes of the top-mast and top-gallant rigging, one end bent to the lift and brace, the other into the top. They are used to haul them in to the mast-head, instead of sending men aloft.
CHEEK. Insolent language.—Own cheek, one's self.—Cheeky, flippant.
CHEEK-BLOCKS. Usually fitted to the fore-topmast head, for the purpose of leading the jib-stay, halliards, &c.
CHEEKS. A general term among mechanics for those pieces of timber in any machine which are double, and perfectly corresponding to each other. The projections at the throat-end of a gaff which embrace the mast are termed jaws. Also, the sides of a gun-carriage. (See Brackets.) Also, the sides of a block. Also, an old soubriquet for a marine, derived from a rough pun on his uniform in olden days.
CHEEKS, or Cheek-knees. Pieces of compass-timber on the ship's bows, for the security of the beak-head, or knee of the head, whence the term head-knee. Two pieces of timber fitted on each side of a mast, from beneath the hounds and its uppermost end. Also, the circular pieces on the aft-side of the carrick-bitts.
CHEEKS OF AN EMBRASURE. The interior faces or sides of an embrasure.
CHEEKS OF THE MAST. The faces or projecting parts on each side of the masts, formed to sustain the trestle-trees upon which the frame of the top, together with the top-mast, immediately rest. (See Hounds and Bibbs.)
CHEER, To. To salute a ship en passant, by the people all coming on deck and huzzahing three times; it also implies to encourage or animate. (See also Hearty and Man Ship!)
CHEERING. The result of an animated excitement in action, which often incites to valour. Also, practised on ships parting at sea, on joining an admiral, &c. In piratical vessels, to frighten their prey with a semblance of valour.
CHEERLY. Quickly; with a hearty will. "Cheerly, boys, cheerly," when the rope comes in slowly, or hoisting a sail with a few hands.
CHEESE. A circle of wads covered with painted canvas.
CHELYNGE. An early name of the cod-fish.
CHEQUE, or Check. An office in dockyards. Cheque for muster, pay, provision, desertion, discharged, or dead—under DDD. or DSqd.
CHEQUE, Clerk of the. An officer in the royal dockyards, who goes on board to muster the ship's company, of whom he keeps a register, thereby to check false musters, the penalty of which is cashiering.
CHEQUERED SIDES. Those painted so as to show all the ports; more particularly applicable to two or more rows.
CHERIMERI. In the East, a bribe in making a contract or bargain.
CHERRY. A species of smelt or spurling, taken in the Frith of Tay.
CHESIL. From the Anglo-Saxon word ceosl, still used for a bank or shingle, as that remarkable one connecting the Isle of Portland with the mainland, called the Chesil Beach.
CHESS-TREE. A piece of oak fastened with iron bolts on each top-side of the ship. Used for boarding the main-tack to, or hauling home the clues of the main-sail, for which purpose there is a hole in the upper part, through which the tack passes, that extends the clue of the sail to windward. Where chain has been substituted of late for rope, iron plates with thimble-eyes are used for chess-trees.
CHEST OF CHATHAM. An ancient institution, restored and established by an order in council of Queen Elizabeth, in 1590, supported by a contribution from each seaman and apprentice, according to the amount of his wages, for the wounded and hurt seamen of the royal navy, under the name of smart-money.
CHEST-ROPE. The same with the guest or gift rope, and is added to the boat-rope when the boat is towed astern of the ship, to keep her from sheering, i.e. from swinging to and fro. (See Guess-warp.)
CHEVAUX DE FRISE. An adopted term for pickets pointed with iron, and standing through beams, to stop an enemy: this defence is also called a turn-pike or pike-turn.
CHEVENDER. An old name for the chevin or chub.
CHEVILS. See Kevels.
CHEVIN. An old name for the chub.
CHEVRON. The distinguishing mark on the sleeves of sergeants' and corporals' coats, the insignia of a non-commissioned officer. Also, a mark recently instituted as a testimony of good conduct in a private. Further, now worn by seamen getting good-service pay.
CHEWING OF OAKUM or Pitch. When a ship suffers leakage from inefficient caulking. (See Seam.)
CHEZ-VOUS. A kind of "All Souls" night in Bengal, when meats and fruits are placed in every corner of a native's house. Hence shevoe, for a ship-gala.
CHICO [Sp. for small].—Boca-chica, small mouth of a river.
CHIEF. See Commander-in-chief. A common abbreviation.
CHIEF MATE, or Chief Officer. The next to a commander in a merchantman, and who, in the absence of the latter, acts as his deputy.
CHIGRE, Chagoe, Chiggre, or Jigger. A very minute insect of tropical countries, which pierces the thick skin of the foot, and breeds there, producing great pain. It is neatly extricated with its sac entire by clever negroes.
CHILLED SHOT. Shot of very rapidly cooled cast-iron, i.e. cast in iron moulds, and thus found to acquire a hardness which renders them of nearly equal efficiency with steel shot for penetrating iron plates, yet produced at about one-quarter the price. They invariably break up on passing through the plates, and their fragments are very destructive on crowded decks; though in the attack of iron war vessels, where the demolishment of guns, carriages, machinery, turrets, &c., is required, the palm must still be awarded to steel shot and shell.
CHIMBE [Anglo-Saxon]. The prominent part or end of the staves, where they project beyond the head of a cask.
CHIME. See Chine.
CHIME IN, To. To join a mess meal or treat. To chime in to a chorus or song.
CHINCKLE. A small bight in a line.
CHINE. The backbone of a cliff, from the backbones of animals; a name given in the Isle of Wight, as Black Gang Chine, and along the coasts of Hampshire. Also, that part of the water-way which is left the thickest, so as to project above the deck-plank; and it is notched or gouged hollow in front, to let the water run free.
CHINE AND CHINE. Casks stowed end to end.
CHINED. Timber or plank slightly hollowed out.
CHINGLE. Gravel. (See Shingle.)
CHINGUERITO. A hot and dangerous sort of white corn brandy, made in Spanish America.
CHINSE, To. To stop small seams, by working in oakum with a knife or chisel—a temporary expedient. To caulk slightly those openings that will not bear the force required for caulking.
CHINSING-IRON. A caulker's tool for chinsing seams with.
CHIP, To. To trim a gun when first taken from the mould or castings.
CHIPS. The familiar soubriquet of the carpenter on board ship. The fragments of timber and the planings of plank are included among chips.—Chip of the old block, a son like his father.
CHIRURGEON. The old name for surgeon.
CHISEL. A well-known edged tool for cutting away wood, iron, &c.
CHIT. A note. Formerly the note for slops given by the officer of a division to be presented to the purser.
CHIULES. The Saxon ships so called.
CHIVEY. A knife.
CHLET. An old Manx term for a rock in the sea.
CHOCK. A sort of wedge used to rest or confine any weighty body, and prevent it from fetching way when the ship is in motion. Also, pieces fitted to supply a deficiency or defect after the manner of filling. Also, blocks of timber latterly substituted beneath the beams for knees, and wedged by iron keys. (See Boat-chocks.)—Chock of the bowsprit. See Bend.—Chocks of the rudder, large accurately adapted pieces of timber kept in readiness to choak the rudder, by filling up the excavation on the side of the rudder hole, in case of any accident. It is also choaked or chocked, when a ship is likely to get strong stern-way, when tiller-ropes break, &c.—To chock, is to put a wedge under anything to prevent its rolling. (See Chuck.)
CHOCK-A-BLOCK, or Chock and Block. Is the same with block-a-block and two-blocks (which see). When the lower block of a tackle is run close up to the upper one, so that you can hoist no higher, the blocks being together.
CHOCK-AFT, Chock-full, Chock-home, Chock-up, &c. Denote as far aft, full, home, up, &c., as possible, or that which fits closely to one another.
CHOCK-CHANNELS. Those filled in with wood between the chain-plates, according to a plan introduced by Captain Couch, R.N.
CHOCOLATE-GALE. A brisk N.W. wind of the West Indies and Spanish main.
CHOGSET. See Burgall.
CHOKE. The nip of a rocket.
CHOKED. When a running rope sticks in a block, either by slipping between the cheeks and the shiver, or any other accident, so that it cannot run.
CHOKE-FULL. Entirely full; top full.
CHOKE THE LUFF. To place suddenly the fall of a tackle close to the block across the jaw of the next turn of the rope in the block, so as to prevent the leading part from rendering. Familiarly said of having a meal to assuage hunger; to be silenced.
CHOKEY. An East Indian guard-house and prison.
CHOMMERY. See Chasse Marées, for which this is the men's term.
CHOP. A permit or license of departure for merchant ships in the China trade. A Chinese word signifying quality. Also, an imperial chop or mandate; a proclamation.
CHOP, or Chapp. The entrance of a channel, as the Chops of the English Channel.
CHOP-ABOUT, To. Is applied to the wind when it varies and changes suddenly, and at short intervals of time.
CHOPPING-SEA. A synonym of cockling sea (which see).
CHOPT. Done suddenly in exigence; as, chopt to an anchor.
CHORD. In geometry, is a line which joins the extremities of any arc of a circle.
CHOW-CHOW. Eatables; a word borrowed from the Chinese. It is supposed to be derived from chou-chou, the tender parts of cabbage-tree, bamboo, &c., preserved.
CHOWDER. The principal food in the Newfoundland bankers, or stationary fishing vessels; it consists of a stew of fresh cod-fish, rashers of salt pork or bacon, biscuit, and lots of pepper. Also, a buccaneer's savoury dish, and a favourite dish in North America. (See Cod-fisher's Crew.) Chowder is a fish-seller in the western counties.
CHOWDER-HEADED. Stupid, or batter-brained.
CHRISTIAN. A gold Danish coin, value in England from 16s. to 16s. 4d.
CHRISTIAN'S GALES. The tremendous storms in 1795-6, which desolated the fleet proceeding to attack the French West India Islands, under Admiral Christian.
CHROCKLE. A tangle or thoro'put (which see).
CHRODANE. The Manx and Gaelic term for gurnet.
CHRONOMETER. A valuable time-piece fitted with a compensation-balance, adjusted for the accurate measurement of time in all climates, and used by navigators for the determination of the longitude.
CHRONOMETER RATE. The number of seconds or parts of seconds which it loses or gains per diem. (See Rating.)
CHRUIN. A Gaelic term for masts.—Chruin-spreie, the bowsprit.
CHUB. The Leuciscus cephalus, a fresh-water fish.
CHUCK. A sea-shell. Nickname for a boatswain, "Old chucks." Also, an old word signifying large chips of wood.
CHUCKLE-HEADED. Clownishly stupid; lubberly.
CHULLERS. A northern name for the gills of a fish.
CHUNAM. Lime made of burned shells, and much used in India for the naval store-houses. That made at Madras is of peculiarly fine quality, and easily takes a polish like white marble.
CHUNK. A coarse slice of meat or bread; more properly junk. Also, the negro term for lumps of firewood.
CHUNTOCK. A powerful dignitary among the Chinese. (See Jantook.)
CHURCH. The part of the ship arranged on Sunday for divine service.
CHURCH-WARDEN. A name given on the coast of Sussex to the shag or cormorant. Why, deponent sayeth not.
CHUTE. A fall of water or rapid; the word is much used in North America, wherever the nomenclature of the country retains traces of the early French settlers. (See Shoot.)
CILLS. Horizontal pieces of timber to ports or scuttles; mostly spelled sills (which see). Generally pronounced by sailors sell, as the port-sell.
CINGLE [from cir-cingle, a horse's belt]. A belt worn by seamen.
CINQUE-PORT. A kind of fishing-net, having five entrances.
CINQUE PORTS, The. These are five highly privileged stations, the once great emporiums of British commerce and maritime greatness; they are Dover, Hastings, Sandwich, Romney, and Hythe, which, lying opposite to France, were considered of the utmost importance. To these were afterwards added Winchelsea, Rye, and Seaford. These places were honoured with peculiar immunities and privileges, on condition of their providing a certain number of ships at their own charge for forty days. Being exempted from the jurisdiction of the Admiralty court, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is authorized to make rules for the government of pilots within his jurisdiction, and in many other general acts exceptions are provided to save the franchises of the Cinque Ports unimpeached. It is a singular fact that it has never been legally determined whether the Downs and adjacent roadsteads are included in the limits of the Cinque Ports. All derelicts found without the limits by Cinque Port vessels are droits of admiralty. This organization was nearly broken up in the late state reforms, but the Lord Warden still possesses some power and jurisdiction.
CIPHERING. A term in carpentry. (See Syphered.)
CIRCLE. A plane figure bounded by a line called the circumference, everywhere equally distant from a point within it, called the centre.
CIRCLE OF PERPETUAL APPARITION. A circle of the heavens parallel to the equator, and at a distance from the pole of any place equal to the latitude: within this circle the stars never set.
CIRCLES, Great, Lesser, Azimuth, Vertical (which see).
CIRCLES OF LONGITUDE. These are great circles passing through the poles of the ecliptic, and so cutting it at right angles.
CIRCULARS. Certain official letters which are sent to several persons, and convey the same information.
CIRCUMNAVIGATION. The term for making a voyage round the world.
CIRCUMPOLAR. A region which includes that portion of the starry sphere which remains constantly above the horizon of any place.
CIRCUMVALLATION, Lines of. Intrenchments thrown up by a besieging army, outside itself, and round the besieged place, but fronting towards the country, to prevent interference from outside. This continuous method has gone out of favour, though some covering works of concentrated strength are still considered essential.
CIRRIPEDIA. A group of marine animals, allied to the crustacea. They are free and natatory when young, but in the adult state attached to rocks or some floating substance. They are protected by a multivalve shell, and have long ciliated curled tentacles, whence their name (curl-footed). The barnacles (Lepas) and the acorn-shells (Balanus) are familiar examples.
CIRRO-CUMULUS. This, the sonder-cloud, or system of small roundish clouds in the upper regions of the atmosphere, commonly moves in a different current of air from that which is blowing at the earth's surface. It forms the mackerel sky alluded to in the following distich:—
"A mack'rel sky and mares'-tails
Make lofty ships carry low sails."
CIRRO-STRATUS. Is the stratus of the upper regions of the atmosphere, heavier looking than the cirrus, but not so heavy as the stratus.
CIRRUS. The elegant modification of elevated clouds, usually termed mares'-tails (see the distich given at Cirro-cumulus); otherwise the curl-cloud.
CISCO. A fish of the herring kind, of which thousands of barrels are annually taken and salted in Lake Ontario.
CISTERN. A reservoir for water placed in different parts of a ship, where a constant supply may be required. Also furnished with a leaden pipe, which goes through the ship's side, whereby it is occasionally filled with sea-water, and which is thence pumped up to wash the decks, &c.
CITADEL. A fortified work of superior strength, and dominating everything else, generally separated therefrom by an open space of glacis or esplanade; often useful against domestic as well as foreign enemies.
CIVIL BRANCH. That department executed by civilians, as contradistinguished from the army or navy branch.
CIVILIANS. The surgeon, chaplain, purser or paymaster, assistant surgeons, secretary, and ship clerks, on board men-of-war.
CIVIL LORD. The lay or junior member of the admiralty board.
CIVIL WAR. That between subjects of the same realm, or between factions of the same state.
CLAIMANTS. Persons appealing to the jurisdiction of the admiralty court. They are denominated colourable, or fair, according to the informality, or justice, of their claims.
CLAKE. A name for the barnacle-goose (Anser bernicla). Also, for the Lepas anatifera, a cirriped often found attached to vessels or timber by a long fleshy peduncle, sometimes 4 or 5 feet in length.
CLAM. A well-known bivalve shell-fish. "As happy as a clam at high-water," a figurative expression for otiose comfort.
CLAMBER. To climb; to ascend quickly.
CLAMPING. Applying a cross-head, or stirrup-piece, in a socket.
CLAMP-NAILS. Such nails as are used to fasten clamps; they are short and stout, with large heads.
CLAMPS. Pieces of timber applied to a mast or yard, to prevent the wood from bursting. Also, thick planks lying fore and aft under the beams of the first orlop or second deck, the same as the rising-timbers are to the deck. They are securely fayed to all the timbers, to which they are fastened by nails through the clamp, and penetrating two-thirds of the thickness of the timbers. Also, substantial strakes, worked inside, on which the ends of the beams rest. Also, smooth crooked plates of iron forelocked upon the trunnions of cannon; these, however, are more properly termed cap-squares. (See Carriage.) Also, any plate of iron made to open and shut, so as to confine a spar. A one-cheeked block; the spar to which it is fastened being the other cheek.—To clamp, is to unite two bodies by surfaces or circular plates.—Clamped, is when a piece of board is fitted with the grain to the end of another piece of board across the grain.
CLAMS. Strong pieces used by shipwrights for drawing bolts, &c. Also, a kind of forceps used for bringing up specimens of the bottom in sounding; a drag. (See Clam.)
CLANG. The rattling or clashing of arms.
CLAP-BOARD [German, klapp-bord]. An east-country commercial plank, which ought to be upwards of 13 feet in length; cask-staves are also clap-boards. Clap-board, in the colonies, is the covering the side of a house with narrow boards, "lapping fashion," in contradistinction to shingling, or tiling, or clench-built.
CLAP-MATCH. A sort of seal, distinct from the fur-seal.
CLAP ON! The order to lay hold of any rope, in order to haul upon it. Also, to "Clap on the stoppers before the bitts," i.e. fasten the stoppers; or, "Clap on the cat-fall," i.e. lay hold of the cat-fall.—To clap a stopper over all, to stop a thing effectually; to clap on the stopper before the bitts next to the manger or hawse-hole; to order silence.—To clap in irons, to order an offender into the bilboes.—To clap on canvas, to make more sail.
CLAPPER. A name for the valve of a pump-box. Also, a plank or foot-bridge across a running stream; also, the clapper of a bell.
CLAP-SILL. The lockage of a flood-gate.
CLARTY. In north-country whalers, used for wet, slippery.
CLASHY. Showery weather.
CLASP-HOOK. An iron clasp, in two parts, moving upon the same pivot, and overlapping one another. Used for bending chain-sheets to the clues of sails, jib-halliards, &c. (See Spar-hook.)
CLASS. Order or rank; specially relating to dockyard men.
CLASSIFICATION OF SHIPS. A register made of vessels according to the report rendered in by special surveyors. (See Navy and Lloyd's Register.)
CLAW, or Claw off, To. To beat, or turn to windward from a lee-shore, so as to be at sufficient distance from it to avoid shipwreck. It is generally used when getting to windward is difficult.
CLAYMORE. Anciently a two-handed sword of the Highlanders, but latterly applied to their basket-hilted sword.
CLEACHING NET. A hand-net with a hoop and bar, used by fishermen on the banks of the Severn.
CLEAN. Free from danger, as clean coast, clean harbour; in general parlance means quite, entirely. So Shakspeare represents Ægeon
"Roaming clean through the bounds of Asia."
Also, applied to a ship's hull with a fine run fore and aft.—Clean entrance, clean run.—To clean a ship's bottom. (See Breaming and Hog.)
CLEAN BILL. (See Bill of Health.) When all are in health.
CLEAN DONE. Quite. In a seamanlike manner; purpose well effected; adroitly tricked. (See Weathered.)
CLEAN-FISH. On the northern coasts, a salmon perfectly in season.
CLEAN-FULL. Keeping the sail full, bellying, off the wind.
CLEAN OFF THE REEL. When the ship by her rapidity pulls the line off the log-reel, without its being assisted. Also, upright conduct. Also, any performance without stop or hindrance, off-hand.
CLEAN SHIP. A whale-ship unfortunate in her trip, having no fish or oil.
CLEAR. Is variously applied, to weather, sea-coasts, cordage, navigation, &c., as opposed to foggy, to dangerous, to entangled. It is usually opposed to foul in all these senses.
CLEAR, To. Has several significations, particularly to escape from, to unload, to empty, to prepare, &c., as:—To clear for action. To prepare for action.—To clear away for this or that, is to get obstructions out of the way.—To clear the decks. To remove lumber, put things in their places, and coil down the ropes. Also, to take the things off a table after a meal.—To clear goods. To pay the custom-house dues and duties.—To clear the land. To escape from the land.—To clear a lighter, or the hold. To empty either.
CLEARANCE. The document from the customs, by which a vessel and her cargo, by entering all particulars at the custom-house, and paying the dues, is permitted to clear out or sail.
CLEAR FOR GOING ABOUT. Every man to his station, and every rope an-end.
CLEARING LIGHTERS. All vessels pertaining to public departments should be cleared with the utmost despatch.
CLEAR THE PENDANT. See Up and Clear the Pendant.
CLEAR WATER. A term in Polar seas implying no ice to obstruct navigation, well off the land, having sea-room.
CLEAT A GUN, To. To nail large cleats under the trucks of the lower-deckers in bad weather, to insure their not fetching way.
CLEATS, or Cleets. Pieces of wood of different shapes used to fasten ropes upon: some have one and some two arms. They are called belaying cleat, deck-cleat, and a thumb-cleat. Also, small wedges of wood fastened on the yards, to keep ropes or the earing of the sail from slipping off the yard. Mostly made of elm or oak.
CLEAVAGE. The splitting of any body having a structure or line of cleavage: as fir cleaves longitudinally, slates horizontally, stones roughly, smoothly, conchoidal, or stratified, &c.
CLEFTS. Wood sawn lengthways into pieces less in thickness than in breadth. (See Plank.)
CLENCH, To. To secure the end of a bolt by burring the point with a hammer. Also, a mode of securing the end of one rope to another. (See Clinch.)
CLENCHED BOLTS. Those fastened by means of a ring, or an iron plate, with a rivetting hammer at the end where they protrude through the wood, to prevent their drawing.
CLENCH-NAILS. They are much used in boat-building, being such as can be driven without splitting the boards, and drawn without breaking. (See Rove and Clench.)
CLEP. A north-country name for a small grapnel.
CLERK. Any naval officer doing the duty of a clerk.
CLETT. A northern or Erse word to express a rock broken from a cliff, as the holm in Orkney and Shetland.
CLEUGH. A precipice, a cliff. Also, a ravine or cleft.
CLEW. Of a hammock or cot. (See Clue.)
CLICKS. Small pieces of iron falling into a notched wheel attached to the winches in cutters, &c., and thereby serving the office of pauls. (See Ratchet, or Ratchet-paul, in machinery.) It more peculiarly belongs to inferior clock-work, hence click.
CLIFF [from the Anglo-Saxon cleof]. A precipitous termination of the land, whatever be the soil. (See Crag.)
CLIMATE. Formerly meant a zone of the earth parallel to the equator, in which the days are of a certain length at the summer solstice. The term has now passed to the physical branch of geography, and means the general character of the weather.
CLINCH. A particular method of fastening large ropes by a half hitch, with the end stopped back to its own part by seizings; it is chiefly to fasten the hawsers suddenly to the rings of the kedges or small anchors; and the breechings of guns to the ring-bolts in the ship's side. Those parts of a rope or cable which are clinched. Thus the outer end is "bent" by the clinch to the ring of the anchor. The inner or tier-clinch in the good old times was clinched to the main-mast, passing under the tier beams (where it was unlawfully, as regards the custom of the navy, clinched). Thus "the cable runs out to the clinch," means, there is no more to veer.—To clinch is to batter or rivet a bolt's end upon a ring or piece of plate iron; or to turn back the point of a nail that it may hold fast. (See Clench.)
CLINCH A BUSINESS, To. To finish it; to settle it beyond further dispute, as the recruit taking the shilling.
CLINCH-BUILT. Clinker, or overlapping edges.
CLINCHER. An incontrovertible and smart reply; but sometimes the confirmation of a story by a lie, or by some still more improbable yarn: synonymous with capping.
CLINCHER or Clinker Built. Made of clincher-work, by the planks lapping one over the other. The contrary of carvel-work. Iron ships after this fashion are distinguished as being lap-jointed.
CLINCHER-NAILS. Those which are of malleable metal, as copper, wrought iron, &c., which clinch by turning back the points in rough-built fir boats where roofs and clinching are thus avoided.
CLINCHER-WORK. The disposition of the planks in the side of any boat or vessel, when the lower edge of every plank overlaps that next below it. This is sometimes written as pronounced, clinker-work.
CLIPHOOK. A hook employed for some of the ends of the running rigging.
CLIPPER. A fast sailer, formerly chiefly applied to the sharp-built raking schooners of America, and latterly to Australian passenger-ships. Larger vessels now built after their model are termed clipper-built: sharp and fast; low in the water; rakish.
CLIVE. An old spelling of cliff.
CLOCK-CALM. When not a breath of wind ruffles the water.
CLOCK-STARS. A name for the nautical stars, which, from their positions having been very exactly ascertained, are used for determining time.
CLOD-HOPPER. A clownish lubberly landsman.
CLOKIE-DOO. A west of Scotland name for the horse-mackerel.
CLOSE-ABOARD. Near or alongside; too close to be safe. "The boat is close aboard," a caution to the officer in command to receive his visitor. "The land is close aboard," danger inferred.
CLOSE-BUTT. Where caulking is not used, the butts or joints of the planks are sometimes rabbeted, and fayed close, whence they are thus denominated.
CLOSE CONTRACT. One not advertised.
CLOSED PORT. One interdicted.
CLOSE-FIST. One who drives a hard bargain in petty traffic.
CLOSE HARBOUR. That is one gained by labour from the element, formed by encircling a portion of water with walls and quays, except at the entrance, or by excavating the land adjacent to the sea or river, and then letting in the water.
CLOSE-HAULED. The general arrangement or trim of a ship's sails when she endeavours to progress in the nearest direction possible contrary to the wind; in this manner of sailing the keel of square-rigged vessels commonly makes an angle of six points with the line of the wind, but cutters, luggers, and other fore-and-aft rigged vessels will sail even nearer. This point of sailing is synonymous with on a taut bowline and on a wind.
CLOSE PACK. The ice floes so jammed together that boring is impossible, and present efforts useless. (See Pack-ice.)
CLOSE-PORTS. Those which lie up rivers; a term in contradistinction to out-ports.
CLOSE-QUARTERS, or Close-fights. Certain strong bulk-heads or barriers of wood, formerly stretching across a merchant ship in several places; they were used for retreat and shelter when a ship was boarded by an adversary, and were therefore fitted with loop-holes. Powder-chests were also fixed upon the deck, containing missiles which might be fired from the close quarters upon the boarders. The old slave-ships were thus fitted in case of the negroes rising, and flat-headed nails were cast along the deck to prevent their walking with naked feet. In the navy, yard-arm and yard-arm, sides touching.
CLOSE-REEFED. The last reefs of the top-sails, or other sails set, being taken in.
CLOSE-SIGHT. The notch in the base-ring of a cannon, to place the eye in a line with the top-sight.
CLOSE THE WIND, To. To haul to it.—Close upon a tack or bowline, or close by a wind, is when the wind is on either bow, and the tacks or bowlines are hauled forwards that they may take the wind to make the best of their way.—Close to the wind, when her head is just so near the wind as to fill the sails without shaking them.
CLOSE WITH THE LAND, To. To approach near to it.
CLOSH [from the Danish klos]. A sobriquet for east-country seamen.
CLOTHED. A mast is said to be clothed when the sail is so long as to reach the deck-gratings. Also, well clothed with canvas; sails well cut, well set, and plenty of them.
CLOTHES-LINES. A complete system of parallel lines, hoisted between the main and mizen masts twice a week to dry the washed clothes of the seamen.
CLOTHING. The rigging of the bowsprit.—Clothing the bowsprit is rigging it. Also, the purser's slops for the men.
CLOTH IN THE WIND. Too near to the wind, and sails shivering. Also, groggy.
CLOTHS. In a sail, are the breadths of canvas in its whole width. When a ship has broad sails they say she spreads much cloth.
CLOTTING. A west-country method of catching eels with worsted thread.
CLOUD. A collection of vapours suspended in the atmosphere. Also, under a cloud of canvas.
CLOUGH. A word derived from the verb to cleave, and signifying a narrow valley between two hills. (See Cleugh.) Also, in commerce, an allowance on the turn of the beam in weighing.
CLOUT. From the Teutonic kotzen, a blow. Also, a gore of blood.
CLOUT-NAILS [Fr. clouter]. To stud with nails, as ships' bottoms and piles were before the introduction of sheet copper.
CLOUTS. Thin plates of iron nailed on that part of the axle-tree of a gun-carriage that comes through the nave, and through which the linch-pin goes.
CLOVE-HITCH. A knot or noose by which one rope is fastened to another. (See Hitch.) Two half hitches round a spar or rope.
CLOVE-HOOK. Synonymous with clasp-hook.
CLOVES. Planks made by cleaving. Certain weights for wool, butter, &c. Also, long spike-nails [derived from clou, Fr.]
CLOW. A kind of sluice in which the aperture is regulated by a board sliding in a frame and groove.
CLOY, To. To drive an iron spike by main force into the vent or touch-hole of a gun, which renders it unserviceable till the spike be either worked out, or a new vent drilled. (See Nailing and Spiking.)
CLUBBED. A fashion which obtained in the time of pig-tails of doubling them up while at sea.
CLUBBING. Drifting down a current with an anchor out.
CLUBBING A FLEET. Manœuvring so as to place the first division on the windward side.
CLUBBOCK. The spotted blenny or gunnel (Gunnellus vulgaris).
CLUB-HAUL, To. A method of tacking a ship by letting go the lee-anchor as soon as the wind is out of the sails, which brings her head to wind, and as soon as she pays off, the cable is cut and the sails trimmed; this is never had recourse to but in perilous situations, and when it is expected that the ship would otherwise miss stays. The most gallant example was performed by Captain Hayes in H.M.S. Magnificent, 74, in Basque Roads, in 1814, when with lower-yards and top-masts struck, he escaped between two reefs from the enemy at Oleron. He bore the name of Magnificent Hayes to the day of his death, for the style in which he executed it.
CLUB-LAW. The rule of violence and strength.
CLUE. Of a square sail, either of the lower corners reaching down to where the tacks and sheets are made fast to it; and is that part which comes goring out from the square of the sail.
CLUE-GARNETS. A sort of tackle rove through a garnet block, attached to the clues of the main and fore sails to haul up and truss them to the yard; which is termed clueing up those sails as for goose-wings, or for furling. (See Block.)
CLUE-LINES. Are for the same purpose as clue-garnets, only that the latter term is solely appropriated to the courses, while the word clue-line is applied to those ropes on all the other square sails; they come down from the quarters of the yards to the clues, or lower corners of the sails, and by which the sails are hauled or clued up for furling.
CLUE OF A HAMMOCK. The combination of small lines by which it is suspended, being formed of knittles, grommets, and laniards; they are termed double or single clues, according as there are one or two at each end. Latterly iron grommets or rings were introduced, but did not afford the required spread, and in some cases triangular irons, or span-shackles were substituted, called Spanish clues, formed by fixing the knittles at equal distances upon a piece of rope instead of a grommet, which having an eye spliced, and a laniard placed at each end, extends the hammock in the same way as a double clue.—From clue to earing. A phrase implying from the bottom to the top, or synonymous with "from top to toe." Or literally the diagonal of a square sail. Also, every portion, as in shifting dress; removing every article. Also, cleaning a ship from clue to earing; every crevice.—A clue up. A case of despair. In readiness for death.
CLUE-ROPE. In large sails, the eye or loop at the clues is made of a rope larger than the bolt-rope into which it is spliced.
CLUE UP! The order to clue up the square sails.
CLUMP. A circular plantation of trees.
CLUMP-BLOCKS. Those that are made thicker or stronger than ordinary blocks. (See Block, Tack-and-Sheet.)
CLUSTER. See Group.
CLUTCH. The oyster spawn adhering to stones, oyster shells, &c.
CLUTCH. Forked stanchions of iron or wood. The same as crutch, clutch, or clamp block. (See Snatch-block.)
CLUTTERY. Weather inclining to stormy.
COACH, or Couch. A sort of chamber or apartment in a large ship of war, just before the great cabin. The floor of it is formed by the aftmost part of the quarter-deck, and the roof of it by the poop: it is generally the habitation of the flag-captain.
COACH-HORSES. The crew of the state barge; usually fifteen selected men, to support the captain in any daring exploits.
COACH-WHIP. The pendant.
COAD. In ship-building, the fayed piece called bilge-keel.
COAK. A small perforated triangular bit of brass inserted into the middle of the shiver (now called sheave) of a block, to keep it from splitting and galling by the pin, whereon it turns. Called also bush, cock or cogg, and dowel.
COAKING. Uniting pieces of spar by means of tabular projections formed by cutting away the solid of one piece into a hollow, so as to make a projection in the other fit in correctly, the butts preventing the pieces from drawing asunder. Coaks, or dowels, are fitted into the beams and knees of vessels, to prevent their slipping.
COAL-FISH. The Gadus carbonarius. Called gerrack in its first year, cuth or queth in its second, sayth in its third, lythe in its fourth, and colmie in its fifth, when it is full grown.
COALING. Taking in a supply of coals for a cruise or voyage.
COALS. To be hauled over the coals, is to be brought to strict account.
COAL-SACKS. An early name of some dark patches of sky in the Milky Way, nearly void of stars visible to the naked eye. The largest patch is near the Southern Cross, and called the Black Magellanic Cloud.
COAL-SAY. The coal-fish.
COAL-TAR. Tar extracted from bituminous coal.
COAL-TRIMMER. One employed in a steamer to stow and trim the fuel. This duty and that of the stoker are generally combined.
COAMING-CARLINGS. Those timbers that inclose the mortar-beds of bomb-vessels, and which are called carlings, because they are shifted occasionally. Short beams where a hatchway is cut.
COAMINGS of the Hatches or Gratings. Certain raised work rather higher than the decks, about the edges of the hatch-openings of a ship, to prevent the water on deck from running down. Loop-holes were made in the coamings for firing muskets from below, in order to clear the deck of an enemy when a ship is boarded. There is a rabbet in their inside upper edge, to receive the hatches or gratings.
COAST. The sea-shore and the adjoining country; in fact, the sea-front of the land. (See Shore.)
COAST-BLOCKADE. A body of men formerly under the jurisdiction of the Customs, termed Preventive Service, offering a disposable force in emergency; but which has been turned over to the control of the Admiralty, and now become the Coast-guard, over which a commodore, as controller-general, presides. (See Fencibles.)
COASTER. See Coasting.
COASTING, or To Coast along. The act of making a progress along the sea-coast of any country, for which purpose it is necessary to observe the time and direction of the tide, to know the reigning winds, the roads and havens, the different depths of water, and the qualities of the ground. As these vessels are not fitted for distant sea voyages, they are termed coasters.
COASTING PILOT. A pilot who has become sufficiently acquainted with the nature of any particular coast, to conduct a ship or fleet from one part of it to another; but only within his limits. He may be superseded by the first branch-pilot he meets after passing his bounds.
COASTING TRADE. The commerce of one port of the United Kingdom with another port thereof. A trade confined by law to British ships and vessels.
COAST-WAITER. Custom-house superintendents of the landing and shipping of goods coastways.
COAST-WARNING. Synonymous with storm-signal; formerly fire-beacons were used to give warning of the approach of an enemy.
COAT. A piece of tarred canvas nailed round above the partners, or that part where the mast or bowsprit enters the deck. Its use is to prevent the water from running down between decks. There is sometimes a coat for the rudder, nailed round the hole where the rudder traverses in the ship's counter. It also implies the stuff with which the ship's sides or masts are varnished, to defend them from the sun and weather, as turpentine, pitch, varnish, or paint; in this sense we say, "Give her a coat of tar or paint." By neglecting the scraper this may become a crust of coatings.
COAT OF MAIL. The chiton shell.
COAT-TACKS. The peculiar nails with which the mast coats are fastened.
COB. A young herring. Also, a sea-gull. Also, a sort of short break-water—so called in our early statutes: such was that which forms the harbour of Lyme Regis, originally composed of piles and timber, lined with heaps of rock; but now constructed of stone compacted with cement.
COBB. A Gibraltar term for a Spanish dollar.
COBBING. An old punishment sometimes inflicted at sea for breach of certain regulations—chiefly for those quitting their station during the night. The offender was struck a certain number of times on the breech with a flat piece of wood called the cobbing-board. Also, when watch was cried, all persons were expected to take off their hats on pain of being cobbed.
COBBLE, To. To mend or repair hastily. Also, the coggle or cog (which see).—Cobble or coggle stones, pebbly shingle, ballast-stones rounded by attrition, boulders, &c.
COBBLER. An armourer's rasp.
COBBO. The small fish known as the miller's thumb.
COBLE. A low flat-floored boat with a square stern, used in the cod and turbot fishery, 20 feet long and 5 feet broad; of about one ton burden, rowed with three pairs of oars, and furnished with a lug-sail; it is admirably constructed for encountering a heavy swell. Its stability is secured by the rudder extending 4 or 5 feet under her bottom. It belonged originally to the stormy coast of Yorkshire. There is also a small boat under the same name used by salmon fishers.