"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.SeeAtmospheric Steam-engine.
SINGLE ANCHOR. A ship unmoored, having hove up one bower, rides by the other.
SING SMALL. To make a bullying boastersing small, by lowering his arrogance.
SINICAL QUADRANT.SeeQuadrant.
SINNET.SeeSennit.
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, α, 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.
SISTERORCISTERN 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. (SeeSide-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 usualfour-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 forsix-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. (SeeScar.)
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. TheLeuciscus 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 selectwholepieces 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 chargedad 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 thecase.
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 ofschool.
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-lippedUranoscopus, whose eyes are on the crown of its head; the Italians call himpesce-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.—Skyingis 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, assliding 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 mucha-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, orvice versâ, during which the water remains apparently quiescent.
SLADE [the Anglo-Saxonslæd]. 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 calledLa Mancheby 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. Thewhaler's sliceis 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 theBook 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 forkites, 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. (SeeDog.) Also, an ancient piece of ordnance. (SeeSlyng.)
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-slingsare 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-slingsare 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.—Slingsis also a term on the American coast for drams, or a drink of spirits and water; the custom ofslingingprevails 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 asliving.
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 frigateBlossomwas one cruise rated aship, when commanded by a captain—the next, asloop, 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,sloppemeant 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 astruss-hoops.
SLOW HER! In steam navigation, the same as "Ease her!"
SLOW MATCH.SeeMatch.
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 overin 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 alsodi-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 thekites.
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 £91, 5s.for the loss of a leg, and a captain £300.
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, orSalmo 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 fatalsmiterthrice 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,seeVapour.
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.SeePointers.
SNAKING. The passing of small stuff across a seizing, with marline hitches at the outer turns; or the winding small ropes spirally round alarge one, the former lying in the intervals between the strands of the latter. (SeeWorm.) The stays and backstays, when theShannonengaged theChesapeake, 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 designatedflinch.
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 adumb 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 asnotch-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 (seeTail-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 alsoblind 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 familyScombridæ,Thyrsites atun, abundant in Table Bay, whence it is exported, when salted, to the Mauritius.
SNOTTER. The lower support of thesprit(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 closeabaft 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 Icelandicsnubba.]
SNUG. Under proper sail to meet a gale.
SNY. A gentle bend in timber, curving upwards: when it curves downwards, it is said tohang.
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. (SeePlank 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 withsirocco.
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.SeeMaculæ.
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 thehermit-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 thecabinandforecastle 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 calledport-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° and 270°.
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.SeeSally.
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.SeeLead.
SOUNDING-LINE. This line, with a plummet, is mentioned by Lucilius; and was thesund-gyrdof 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. (SeeMarl.)
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.SeeAurora Australis.
SOUTHING. In navigation, implies the distance made good towards the south: the opposite ofnorthing.
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.SeePacific 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 termedpig, 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. (SeeCross-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. Thesingleis rove with three single blocks, or two single blocks and a hook in the bight of one of the running parts. ThedoubleSpanish-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 thedriver(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 aspanking breeze, aspanking 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.SeeFlense.
SPECK-FALLS,or Purchase. Ropes rove through two large purchase-blocks at the mast-head of a whaler, and made fast to theblubber-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. Fromexpend: 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 thescampavia, 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 £4, 6s.8d.
SPHERE. The figure formed by the rotation of a circle. A term singularly, but very often, misapplied in parlance for orbit.
SPHERICAL CASE-SHOT.SeeShrapnel 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,ORαVirginis. 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.SeeDeck-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-TACKLEANDCANT-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. (SeeCloy.)
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 TWISTORA 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. (SeeCapstan.) 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 thebarberin 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.—Spirkittingis also used to denote the strake of ceiling between the upper-deck and the plank-sheer of a merchantman; otherwise known asquick-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 spliceis 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 spliceoccupies a great extent of rope, but by the three joinings being fixed at a distance from each other, the increase of bulk is divided; henceit 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 spliceis used upon cables, slings, block-strops, and, in general, all ropes which are not intended to run through blocks.—Spliced eyeforms 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. (SeeEye-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 acommander.
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 theheader, 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.
SPOLIATIONof 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 thewing, before and abaft each of the paddle-boxes of a steamer.
SPONSON-RIM. The same aswing-wale(which see).
SPONTOON. A light halbert.
SPOOM,To. An old word frequently found in Dryden, who thus uses it,