FRESHEN THE BALLAST. Divide or separate it, so as to alter its position.
FRESHEN THE NIP,To. To veer a small portion of cable through the hawse-hole, or heave a little in, in order to let another part of it bear the stress and friction. A common term with tipplers, especially after taking the meridian observation.
FRESHEN WAY. When the ship feels the increasing influence of a breeze. Also, when a man quickens his pace.
FRESHES. Imply the impetuosity of an ebb tide, increased by heavy rains, and flowing out into the sea, which it often discolours to a considerable distance from the shore, as with the Nile, the Congo, the Mississippi, the Indus, the Ganges, the Rhone, Surinam,&c.
FRESHET. A word long used for pools or ponds, when swollen after rain or temporary inundations. It is also applied to a pond supplied by a spring.
FRESH GALE. A more powerful wind than afresh breeze(which see).
FRESH GRUB. The refreshments obtained in harbour.
FRESH HAND AT THE BELLOWS. Said when a gale freshens suddenly.
FRESH SHOT. A river swollen by rain or tributaries; it also signifies the falling down of any great river into the sea, by which fresh water is often to be found on the surface a good way from the mouth of the river.
FRESH SPELL. Men coming to relieve a gang at work.
FRESH WATER. Water fit to drink, in opposition to sea or salt water; now frequently obtained at sea by distillation. (SeeIceberg.)
FRESH-WATER JACK. The same asfresh-water sailor.
FRESH-WATER SAILOR. An epithet for a green hand, of whom an old saying has it, "whose shippe was drowned in the playne of Salsbury."
FRESH-WATER SEAS. A name given to the extensive inland bodies of fresh water in the Canadas. Of these, Lake Superior is upwards of 1500 miles in circuit, with a depth of 70 fathoms near the shores, while Michigan and Huron are almost as prodigious; even Erie is 600 miles round, and Ontario near 500, and Nepigon, the head of the system geographically, though the least important at present commercially, but just now partially explored, is fully 400. Their magnitude, however, appears likely to be rivalled geographically by the lakes lately discovered in Central Africa, the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza.
FRESH WAY. Increased speed through the water; a ship is said to "gather fresh way" when she has tacked, or hove-to, and then fills her sails.
FRET. A narrow strait of the sea, fromfretum.
FRET,To. To chafe.
FRETof Wind. A squally flaw.
FRETTUM,or Frectum. The freight of a ship, or freight-money.
FRETUM BRITANNICUM. A term used in our ancient writings for the Straits of Dover.
FRIAR-SKATE. TheRaia oxyrinchus, or sharp-nosed ray.
FRICTION-ROLLER. A cylinder of hard wood, or metal, with a concave surface, revolving on an axis, used to lessen the friction of a rope which is passed over it. Friction-rollers are a late improvement in the sheaves of blocks, &c., by which the pin is relieved of friction by three rollers in the coak, placed equilaterally.
FRICTION-TUBE. The means of firing a gun most in favour at present in the British service; ignition is caused by the friction on sudden withdrawal of a small horizontal metal bar from the detonating priming in the head of the tube.
FRIDAY. Thedies infaustus, on which old seamen were desirous of not getting under weigh, as ill-omened.
FRIEZE-PANEL. The lower part of a gun-port.
FRIEZING. The ornamental carving or painting above the drift-rails, and likewise round the stern or the bow.
FRIGATE. In the Royal Navy, the next class vessel to a ship of the line; formerly a light nimble ship built for the purpose of sailing swiftly. The name was early known in the Mediterranean, and applied to a long kind of vessel, navigated in that sea, with sails and oars. The English were the first who appeared on the ocean with these ships, and equipped them for war as well as for commerce. These vessels mounted from 28 to 60 guns, and made excellent cruisers. Frigate is now apocryphal, being carried up to 7000 tons. Thedonkey-frigatewas a late invention to serve patronage, and sprigs of certain houses were educated in them. They carried 28 guns, carronades, and were about 600 tons burden, commanded by captains who sometimes found a commander in a sloop which could blow him out of water.—Frigateis also the familiar name of the membranous zoophyte,Physalia pelagica, or Portuguese man-of-war.
FRIGATE-BIRD.Tachypetes aquila, a sea-bird generally seen in the tropics. It seems to live on the wing, is partially web-footed, and only visits the land at breeding time.
FRIGATE-BUILT. The disposition of the decks of such merchant ships as have a descent of some steps from the quarter-deck and forecastle into the waist, in contradistinction to those whose decks are on a continued line for the whole length of the ship, which are called galley-built. (SeeDecks.)
FRIGATOON. A Venetian vessel, commonly used in the Adriatic, built with a square stern, and with only a main-mast, jigger mizen-mast, and bowsprit. Also applied to a ship sloop-of-war.
FRINGING REEFS. Narrow fringes of coral formation, at a greater or less distance from the shore, according to the slopes of the land.
FRISKING. The wind freshening.
FRITH. Derived fromfretum maris, a narrow strait: an arm of the sea into which a river flows. Synonymous withfirth(which see).
FRITTERS. Tendinous fibres of the whale's blubber, running in various directions, and connecting the cellular substance which contains the oil. They are what remains after the oil has beentriedout, and are used as fuel totryout the next whale.
FROG. An old term for a seaman's coat or frock.
FROG-BELT. Abaldrick(which see).
FROG-FISH.SeeFishing-frog.
FROG-LANDERS. Dutchmen in colloquial language.
FROG-PIKE. A female pike, so called from its period of spawning being late, contemporary with the frogs.
FRONT. The foremost rank of a battalion, squadron, file, or other body of men.—To front, to face.
FRONTAGE. The length or face of a wharf.
FRONTIER. The limits or borders of a country.
FRONT OF FORTIFICATION. The whole system of works included between the salient angles, or the capitals prolonged, of any two neighbouring bastions.
FROSTED STEEL. The damasked sword-blades.
FROST-FISH. A small fish, called alsotommy-cod; in North America they are taken in large quantities in the depth of winter by fishing through holes cut in the ice.
FROST-RIME.SeeFrost-smoke.
FROST-SMOKE. A thick mist in high latitudes, arising from the surface of the sea when exposed to a temperature much below freezing; when the vapours as they rise are condensed either into a thick fog, or, with the thermometer about zero, hug the water in eddying white wreaths. The latter beautiful form is called in North America a "barber," probably from its resemblance to soap-suds.
FROTH.SeeFoam.
F.R.S. The sigla denoting a Fellow of the Royal Society.
FRUMENTARIÆ. The ancient vessels which supplied the Roman markets with corn.
FRUSH. A northern term for wood that is apt to splinter and break.
FRY. Young fishes.
FUCUS MAXIMUS. An enormous sea-weed, growing abundantly round the coasts of Tristan d'Acunha, and perhaps the most exuberant of the vegetable tribe. Said to rise from a depth of many fathoms, and to spread over a surface of several hundred feet, it being very tenacious.
FUDDLED. Not quite drunk, but unfit for duty.
FUELL. An old nautical word signifying an opening between two headlands, having no bottom in sight.
FU-FU. A well-known sea-dish of barley and treacle, in merchant ships.
FUGITIVESover the Sea. By old statutes, now obsolete, to depart this realm without the king's license incurred forfeiture of goods; and masters of ships carrying such persons beyond seas, forfeited their vessels.
FUGLEMAN, or more properlyFlugelman. A corporal, or active adept, who exhibits the time for each motion at the word of command, to enable soldiers, marines, and small-arm men to act simultaneously.
FULCRUM. The prop or support of a lever in lifting or removing a heavy body.
FULL. The state of the sails when the wind fills them so as to carry the vessel ahead.
FULL AND BY. Sailing close-hauled on a wind; when a ship is as close as she will lie to the wind, without suffering the sails to shiver; hencekeep her fullis the order to the helmsman not to incline too much to windward, and thereby shake the sails, which would retard the ship's velocity.
FULL BASTION. In fortification, is a bastion whereof the terreplein, or terrace in rear of the parapet, is extended at nearly the same level over the whole of its interior space.
FULL-BOTTOMED. An epithet to signify such vessels as are designed to carry large cargoes.
FULL DRIVE. Fully direct; impetuous violence.
FULL DUE. For good; for ever; complete; belay.
FULLER. The fluting groove of a bayonet.
FULL FEATHER. Attired in best dress or full uniform.
FULL FOR STAYS! The order to keep the sails full to preserve the velocity, assisting the action of the rudder in tacking ship.
FULL MAN. A rating in coasters for one receiving whole pay, as being competent to all his duties; able seaman.
FULL MOON. When her whole illuminated surface is turned towards us; she is then in opposition, or diametrically opposite, to the sun.
FULL PAY. The stipend allowed when on actual service.
FULL RETREAT. When an army, or any body of men, retire with all expedition before a conquering enemy.
FULL REVETMENT. In fortification, that form of retaining wall which is carried right up to the top of the mass retained, leaving no exterior slope above it; the term is principally used with reference to the faces of ramparts.
FULL SAILS. The sails well set, and filled by the wind.
FULL SEA. High water.
FULL SPEED! A self-explanatory order to the engineer of a steamer to get his engine into full play.
FULL SPREAD. All sail set.
FULL SWING. Having full power delegated; complete control.
FULMAR. A web-footed sea-bird,Procellaria glacialis, of the petrel kind, larger than the common gull; its eggs are taken in great quantity at St. Kilda and in the Shetlands.
FUMADO. A commercial name of the pilchard, when garbaged, salted, smoked, pressed, and packed.
FUMBLE-FISTED. Awkward in catching a turn, or otherwise handling a rope.
FUMIGATE,To. To purify confined or infectious air by means of smoke, sulphuric acid, vinegar, and other correctives.
FUMIGATION-LAMP. An invention for purifying the air in hospital-ships and close places.
FUNERAL HONOURS. Obsequies with naval or military ceremonies.
FUNGI. An almost incalculably numerous order of plants growing on dead vegetable matter, and often produced on a ship's lining by long-continued damp.
FUNK. Touch-wood. Also nervousness, cowardice, or being frightened.—To funk.To blow the smoke of tobacco.
FUNNEL. An iron tube used where necessary for carrying off smoke. The cylindrical appendages to the furnaces of a steam-ship: the funnel is fastened on the top of the steam-chest, where the flues for both boilers meet. Also, the excavation formed by the explosion of a mine. Also,in artillery, a cup-shaped funnel of leather, with a copper spout, for filling powder into shells.
FUNNEL-STAYS. The ropes or chains by which the smoke-funnel is secured in a steam-ship.
FUNNY. A light, clinker-built, very narrow pleasure-boat for sculling,i.e.rowing a pair of sculls. The stem and stern are much alike, both curved. The dimensions are variable, from 20 to 30 feet in length, according to the boat being intended for racing purposes (for which they are mostly superseded by wager-boats), or for carrying one or more sitters.
FUR. The indurated sediment sometimes found in neglected ships' boilers. (SeeFurring.)
FURL,To. To roll up and bind a sail neatly upon its respective yard or boom.
FURLING. Wrapping or rolling a sail close up to the yard, stay, or mast, to which it belongs, by hauling on the clue-lines and buntlines, and winding a gasket or cord about it, to fasten it thereto and secure it snugly.
FURLING IN A BODY. A method of rolling up a top-sail only practised in harbour, by gathering all the loose part of the sail into the top, about the heel of the top-mast, whereby the yard appears much thinner and lighter than when the sail is furled in the usual manner, which is sometimes termed, for distinction sake, furling in thebunt. It is often practised to point the yards, the earings and robins let go, and the whole sail bunted in the top, and covered with tarpaulins.
FURLING-LINE. Denotes a generally flat cord called agasket. In bad weather, with a weak crew, the top-sail is brought under control by passing the top-mast studding-sail halliards round and round all, from the yard-arm to the bunt; then furling is less dangerous.
FURLOUGH. A granted leave of absence.
FURNACE. The fire-place of a marine boiler.
FURNITURE. The rigging, sails, spars, anchors, cables, boats, tackle, provisions, and every article with which a ship is fitted out. The insurance risk may continue on them when put on shore, during a repair.
FUROLE. The luminous appearance called thecorpo santo(which see).
FURRENS. Fillings: those pieces supplying the deficiency of the timber in the moulding-way.
FURRING. Doubling planks on a ship. Also, a furring in the ship's frame.—Furring the boilers, in a steamer, cleaning off the incrustation or sediment which forms on their inner surfaces.
FURROW. The groove or rabbet of a screw; the breech-sight or notch cut on the base-ring of a gun, and also on the swell of the muzzle, by which the piece is laid.
FURTHER ORDERS. These are oftenimpedimentato active service.
FURTHER PROOF. In prize matters, a privilege, where the court is not satisfied with that originally produced, by which it is allowed to state circumstances affecting it.
FURUBE. A fish taken in the Japanese seas, and considered to be dangerously poisonous.
FURZE. Brushwood, prepared for breaming.
FUSIL. Formerly a light musket with which sergeants of infantry and some particular regiments were armed.
FUSILIERS. Originally those regiments armed with fusils, by whom, though the weapon is obsolete, the title is retained as a distinction.
FUST. A low but capacious armed vessel, propelled with sails and oars, which formerly attended upon galleys; ascampavia, barge, or pinnace.
FUSTICK. In commerce, a dyewood brought principally from the West Indies and Spanish Main.
FUTTLING. A word meaningfoot-waling(which see).
FUTTOCK-HEAD. In ship-building, is a name for the 5th, the 7th, and the 9thdiagonals, the intervening bevellings being known assirmarks.
FUTTOCK-HOLES. Places through the top-rim for the futtock-plates.
FUTTOCK-PLANK. The first plank of the ceiling next the kelson; the limber-strake.
FUTTOCK-PLATES. Iron plates with dead-eyes, crossing the sides of the top-rim perpendicularly. The dead-eyes of the top-mast rigging are set up to their upper ends or dead-eyes, and the futtock-shrouds hook to their lower ends.
FUTTOCK-RIDERS. When a rider is lengthened by means of pieces batted or scarphed to it and each other, the first piece is termed the first futtock-rider, the next the second futtock-rider, and so on.
FUTTOCKS,or Foot-hooks. The separate pieces of timber which compose the frame. There are four futtocks (component parts of the rib), and occasionally five, to a ship. The timbers that constitute her breadth—the middle division of a ship's timbers, or those parts which are situated between the floor and the top timbers—separate timbers which compose the frame. Those next the keel are called ground-futtocks or navel-timbers, and the rest upper futtocks.
FUTTOCK-SHROUDS,or Foot-hook Shrouds. Are short pieces of rope or chain which secure the lower dead-eyes and futtock-plates of top-mast rigging to a band round a lower mast.
FUTTOCK-STAFF. A short piece of wood or iron, seized across the upper part of the shrouds at equal distances, to which the cat-harping legs are secured.
FUTTOCK-TIMBERS.SeeFuttocks.
FUZE. Formerly called alsofuzee. The adjunct employed with shells for igniting the bursting charge at the required moment. Time-fuzes, prepared with some composition burning at a known rate, are cut or set to a length proportionate to the time which the shell is destined to occupy in its flight; concussion and percussion fuzes ignite the charge on impact on the object: the former by the dislocation of some of its parts throwing open new passages for its flame, and the latter by the action of various mechanism on its inner priming of detonating composition. They aremade either of wood or of metal, and of various form and size according to the kind of ordnance they are intended for. Time-fuzes of special manufacture are also applied to igniting the charges of mines, subaqueous blasts, &c.
FUZZY. Not firm or sound in substance.
FYKE. A large bow-net used on the American coasts for taking the shad; hence calledshad-fykes. Also, theMedusa cruciata, or Medusa's head.
FYRDUNG [the Anglo-Saxonfyrd ung, military service]. This appears on our statutes for inflicting a penalty on those who evaded going to war at the king's command.
GAB. A notch on the eccentric rod of a steam-engine for fitting a pin in the gab-lever to break the connection with the slide-valves. (SeeGabbe.)
GABARRE. Originally a river lighter; now a French store-ship.
GABART,or Gabbert. A flat vessel with a long hatchway, used in canals and rivers.
GABBE. An old but vulgar term for the mouth.—Gift of the gab, orglib-gabbet, facility and recklessness of assertion.
GABBOK. A voracious dog-fish which infests the herring fisheries in St. George's Channel.
GABELLE [Fr.] An excise tribute.
GABERDINE. An old name for a loose felt cloak or mantle.
GABERT. A Scotch lighter. (SeeGabart.)
GABIONADE. A parapet of gabions hastily thrown up.
GABIONS. Cylindrical baskets open at both ends, about 3 feet high and 2 feet in diameter, which, being placed on end and filled with earth, greatly facilitate the speedy formation of cover against an enemy's fire. They are much used for revetments in field-works generally.
GABLE,or Gabulle. A term in early voyagers forcable. Thus,
"Softe, ser, seyd the gabulle-rope,Methinke gode ale is in your tope."
GABLICK,or Gafflock. An old term for a crow-bar.
GABY. A conceited simpleton.
GACHUPINS. The name given in South America to European Spaniards.
GAD. A goad; the point of a spear or pike.
GAD-YANG. A coasting vessel of Cochin-China.
GAFF. A spar used in ships to extend the heads of fore-and-aft sails which are not set on stays. The foremost end of the gaff is termed the jaw, theouter part is called the peak. The jaw forms a semicircle, and is secured in its position by a jaw-rope passing round the mast; on it are strung several small wooden balls calledtrucks, to lessen the friction on the mast when the sail is hoisting or lowering.—To blow the gaff, said of the revealing a plot or giving convicting evidence.
GAFF-HALLIARDS.SeeHalliards.
GAFF-HOOK. In fishing, a strong iron hook set on a handle, supplementing the powers of the line and fish-hook with heavy fish, in the same way that the landing-net does with those of moderate size.
GAFFLE. A lever or stirrup for bending a cross-bow.
GAFF-NET. A peculiar net for fishing.
GAFF-TOPSAIL. A light triangular or quadrilateral sail, the head being extended on a small gaff which hoists on the top-mast, and the foot on the lower gaff.
GAGE. The quantity of water a ship draws, or the depth she is immersed.
GAGE,Weather. When one ship is to windward of another she is said to have the weather-gage of her; or if in the opposite position, the lee-gage.
GAGE-COCKS. These are for ascertaining the height of the water in the boiler, by means of three or more pipes, having a cock to each.
GAINED DAY. The twenty-four hours, or day and night, gained by circumnavigating the globe to the eastward. It is the result of sailing in the same direction as the earth revolves, which shortens each day by four minutes for every degree sailed. In the Royal Navy this run gives an additional day's pay to a ship's crew.
GAIN THE WIND,To. To arrive on the weather-side of some other vessel in sight, when both are plying to windward.
GAIR-FISH. A name on our northern coasts for the porpoise.
GAIR-FOWL. A name of the great auk,Alca impennis. (SeeAuk.)
GAIRG. A Gaelic name for the cormorant.
GALAXY. A name of the Milky Way. (SeeVia Lactea.)
GALEAS.SeeGallias.
GALE OF WIND. Implies what on shore is called a storm, more particularly termed ahard galeorstrong gale; number of force, 10.—A stiff galeis the diminutive of the preceding, but stronger than a breeze.—A fresh galeis a still further diminutive, and not too strong for a ship to carry single-reefed top-sails when close-hauled.—A top-gallant gale, if a ship can carry her top-gallant sails.—To gale away, to go free.
GALEOPIS. An ancient war-ship with a prow resembling the beak of a sword-fish.
GALITA.SeeGuerite.
GALL.SeeWind-gall.
GALLANTS. All flags borne on the mizen-mast were so designated.
GALLAN WHALE. The largest whale which visits the Hebrides.
GALLED. The result of friction, to prevent which it is usual to cover, with skins, mats, or canvas, the places most exposed to it. (SeeService.)
GALLEON,or Galion. A name formerly given to ships of war furnished with three or four batteries of cannon. It is now retained only by the Spaniards, and applied to the largest size of their merchant ships employed in West India and Vera Cruz voyages. The Portuguese also have ships trading to India and the Brazils nearly resembling the galleons, and called caragues. (SeeCarack.)
GALLEOT,or Galliot. A small galley designed only for chase, generally carrying but one mast, with sixteen or twenty oars. All the seamen on board act as soldiers, and each has a musket by him ready for use on quitting his oar. Also, a Dutch or Flemish vessel for cargoes, with very rounded ribs and flattish bottom, with a mizen-mast stept far aft, carrying a square-mainsail and main-topsail, a fore-stay to the main-mast (there being no fore-mast), with fore-staysail and jibs. Some also call the bomb-ketches galliots. (SeeScampavia.)
GALLERY. A balcony projecting from the admiral's or captain's cabin; it is usually decorated with a balustrade, and extends from one side of the ship to the other; the roof is formed by a sort of vault termed a cove, which is frequently ornamented with carving. (SeeStern; alsoQuarter-gallery.)
GALLERYof a Mine. The passage of horizontal communication, as distinguished from the shaft or vertical descent, made underground by military miners to reach the required position, for lodging the charge, &c.; it averages 41⁄2feet high by 3 feet wide.
GALLERY-LADDER. Synonymous withstern-ladder.
GALLEY. A low, flat-built vessel with one deck, and propelled by sails and oars, particularly in the Mediterranean. The largest sort, called galleasses, were formerly employed by the Venetians. They were about 160 feet long above, and 130 by the keel, 30 wide, and 20 length of stern-post. They were furnished with three masts and thirty banks of oars, each bank containing two oars, and every oar managed by half-a-dozen slaves, chained to them. There are alsohalf-galleysandquarter-galleys, but found by experience to be of little utility except in fine weather. They generally hug the shore, only sometimes venturing out to sea for a summer cruise. Also, an open boat rowing six or eight oars, and used on the river Thames by custom-house officers, and formerly by press-gangs; hence the names "custom-house galley," "press-galley," &c. Also, a clincher-built fast rowing-boat, rather larger than a gig, appropriated in a man-of-war for the use of the captain. Thegalleyorgallyis also the name of the ship's hearth or kitchen, being the place where the grates are put up and the victuals cooked. In small merchantmen it is called the caboose; and is generally abaft the forecastle or fore-part of the ship.
GALLEY-ARCHES. Spacious and well-built structures in many of the Mediterranean ports for the reception and security of galleys.
GALLEY-FOISTor Fust. The lord-mayor's barge, and other vessels for holidays. (SeeFust.)
GALLEY-GROWLERS. Idle grumblers and skulkers, from whom discontent and mutiny generally derive their origin. Hence, "galley-packets," news before the mail arrives.
GALLEY-NOSE. The figure-head.
GALLEY-PACKET. An unfounded rumour. (SeeGalley-growlers.)
GALLEY-PEPPER. The soot or ashes which accidentally drop into victuals in cooking.
GALLEY-SLANG. The neological barbarisms foisted into sea-language.
GALLEY-SLAVE. A person condemned to work at the oar on board a galley, and chained to the deck.
GALLEY-STOKER. A lazy skulker.
GALLEY-TROUGH.SeeGerletroch.
GALLIAS. A heavy, low-built vessel of burden. Not to be confounded with galley, for even Shakspeare, in theTaming of the Shrew, makes Tranio say:—
"My father hath no lessThan three great argosies; besides two galeasses,And twelve tight galleys."
GALLIED. The state of a whale when he is seriously alarmed.
GALLIGASKINS. Wide hose or breeches formerly worn by seamen also calledpetticoat-trousers. P. Penilesse, in hisSupplication to the Divell, says: "Some gally gascoynes or shipman's hose, like the Anabaptists," &c.
GALLING-FIRE. A sustained discharge of cannon, or small arms, which by its execution greatly annoys the enemy.
GALLIVATS. Armed row-boats of India, smaller than a grab; generally 50 to 70 tons.
GALLOON. Gold lace. [Fr.galon; Sp.galon.]
GALLOPER. A small gun used by the Indians, easily drawn by one horse.
GALLOW-GLASSES. Formerly a heavy-armed body of foot; more recently applied to Irish infantry soldiers.
GALLOWS. The cross-pieces on the small bitts at the main and fore hatchways in flush-decked vessels, for stowing away the booms and spars over the boats; also termedgallowses,gallows-tops,gallows-bitts, andgallows-stanchions. The word is used colloquially for archness, as well as for notoriously bad characters.
GALLS. Veins of land through which the water oozes.
GALL-WIND.SeeWind-gall.
GALLY-GUN. A kind of culverin.
GALOOT. An awkward soldier, from the Russiangolut, or slave. A soubriquet for the young or "green" marine.
GALORE. Plenty, abundance.
GAMBISON. A quilted doublet formerly worn under armour, to prevent its chafing.
GAME-LEG. A lame limb, but not so bad as to unfit for duty.
GAMMON,To. To pass the lashings of the bowsprit.
GAMMONING. Seven or eight turns of a rope-lashing passed alternatelyover the bowsprit and through a large hole in the cut-water, the better to support the stays of the fore-mast; after all the turns are drawn as firm as possible, the two opposite are braced together under the bowsprit by a frapping. Gammoning lashing, fashion, &c., has a peculiar seamanlike meaning. The gammoning turns are passed from the standing part or bolt forward, over the bowsprit, aft through the knee forward, making a cross lashing. It was the essence of a seaman's ability, and only forecastle men, under the boatswain, executed it. Now galvanized chain is more commonly used than rope for gammoning.
GAMMONING-HOLE. A mortise-opening cut through the knee of the head, between the cheeks, through which the gammoning is passed.
GAMMON-KNEE. A knee-timber fayed and bolted to the stem, a little below the bowsprit.
GAMMON-PLATE. An iron plate bolted to the stem of some vessels for the purpose of supporting the gammoning of the bowsprit.
GAMMON-SHACKLE. A sort of triangular ring formed on the end of a gammon-plate, for the gammoning lashing or chain to be made fast to.
GAND-FLOOK. A name of the saury-pike,Scomberesox saurus.
GANG. A detachment; being a selected number of a ship's crew appointed on any particular service, and commanded by an officer suitable to the occasion.
GANG-BOARD. The narrow platform within the side next the gunwale, connecting the quarter-deck to the forecastle. Also, a plank with several cleats or steps nailed to it to prevent slipping, for the convenience of walking into or out of a boat upon the shore, where the water is shallow.
GANG-CASKS. Small barrels used for bringing water on board in boats; somewhat larger thanbreakers, and usually containing 32 gallons.
GANGWAY. The platform on each side of the skid-beams leading from the quarter-deck to the forecastle, and peculiar to deep-waisted ships, for the convenience of walking expeditiously fore and aft; it is fenced on the outside by iron stanchions and ropes, or rails, and in vessels of war with a netting, in which part of the hammocks are stowed. In merchant ships it is frequently called the gang-board. Also, that part of a ship's side, and opening in her bulwarks, by which persons enter and depart, provided with a sufficient number of steps or cleats, nailed upon the ship's side, nearly as low as the surface of the water, and sometimes furnished with a railed accommodation-ladder projecting from the ship's side, and secured by iron braces. Also, narrow passages left in the hold, when a ship is laden, in order to enter any particular place as occasion may require, or stop a leak. Also, it implies a thoroughfare of any kind.—To bring to the gangway, to punish a seaman by seizing him up to a grating, there to undergo flogging.
GANNERET. A sort of gull.
GANNET. TheSula bassana, or solan goose: a large sea bird of the familyPelecanidæ, common on the Scottish coasts.
GANNY-WEDGE. A thick wooden wedge, used in splitting timber.
GANTAN. An Indian commercial measure, of which 17 make a baruth.
GANT-LINE. Synonymous withgirt-line(which see).
GANT-LOPE,or Gauntlope(commonly pronouncedgantlet). Aracewhich a criminal was sentenced torun, in the navy or army, for any heinous offence. The ship's crew, or a certain division of soldiers, were disposed in two rows face to face, each provided with a knotted cord, orknittle, with which they severely struck the delinquent as he ran between them, stripped down to the waist. This was repeated according to the sentence, but seldom beyond three times, and constituted "running the gauntlet."
GANTREE,or Gantril. A wooden stand for a barrel.
GANZEE. Corrupted from Guernsey. (SeeJersey.)
GAP. A chasm in the land, which, when near, is useful as a landmark.
GAPE. The principal crevice or crack in shaken timber.—The seams gape, or let in water.
GARAVANCES. The old term forcalavances(which see).
GARBEL. A word synonymous withgarboard(which see).
GARBLING. The mixing of rubbish with a cargo stowed in bulk.
GARBOARD-STRAKE,or Sand-streak. The first range of planks laid upon a ship's bottom, next the keel, into which it is rabbeted, and into the stem and stern-post at the ends.
GARDE-BRACE. Anglo-Norman for armour for the arm.
GARE.SeeGair-fowl. Also, the Anglo-Saxon forready. (SeeYare.)
GARETTE. A watch-tower.
GARFANGLE. An archaic term for an eel-spear.
GAR-FISH. TheBelone vulgaris, or bill-fish, the bones of which are green. Also called the guard-fish, but it is from the Anglo-Saxongar, a weapon.
GARGANEY. TheQuerquedula circia, a small species of duck, allied to the teal.
GARLAND. A collar of ropes formerly wound round the head of the mast, to keep the shrouds from chafing. Also, a strap lashed to a spar when hoisting it in. Also, a large rope grommet, to place shot in on deck. Also, in shore-batteries, a band, whether of iron or stone, to retain shot together in their appointed place. Also, the ring in a target, in which the mark is set. Also, a wreath made by crossing three small hoops, and covering them with silk and ribbons, hoisted to the main-topgallant-stay of a ship on the day of the captain's wedding; but on a seaman's wedding, to the appropriate mast to which he is stationed. Also, a sort of cabbage-net, whose opening is extended by a hoop, and used by sailors to contain their day's provisions, being hung up to the beams within their berth, safe from cats, rats, ants, and cockroaches.
GARNET. A sort of purchase fixed to the main-stay of a merchant-ship, and used for hoisting the cargo in and out at the time of loading or delivering her. A whip.—Clue-garnet.(SeeClueandClue-garnets.)
GARNEY. A term in the fisheries for the fins, sounds, and tongues of the cod-fish.
GARNISH. Profuse decoration of a ship's head, stern, and quarters. Also money which pressed men in tenders and receiving ships exacted from each other, according to priority.
GARR. An oozy vegetable substance which grows on ships' bottoms.
GARRET,or Garita. A watch-tower in a fortification; an old term.
GARRISON. A military force guarding a town or fortress; a term for the place itself; also for the state of guard there maintained.
GARRISON GUNS. These are more powerful than those intended for the field; and formerly nearly coincided with naval guns; but now, the introduction of armour-plating afloat leads to furnishing coast-batteries with the heaviest guns of all.
GARRISON ORDERS. Those given out by the commandant of a garrison.
GARROOKA. A fishing-craft of the Gulf of Persia.
GARTERS. A slang term for the ship's irons or bilboes.
GARTHMAN. One who plies at afish-garth, but is prohibited by statute from destroying the fry of fish.
GARVIE. A name on our northern shores for the sprat.
GASKET. A cord, or piece of plaited stuff, to secure furled sails to the yard, by wrapping it three or four times round both, the turns being at a competent distance from each other.—Bunt-gasketties up the bunt of the sail, and should consequently be the strongest; it is sometimes made in a peculiar net form. In some ships they have given place to beckets.—Double gaskets.Passing additional frapping-lines round the yards in very stormy weather.—Quarter-gasket.Used only for large sails, and is fastened about half-way out upon the yard, which part is called the quarter.—Yard-arm gasket.Used for smaller sails; the end is made fast to the yard-arm, and serves to bind the sail as far as the quarter-gasket on large yards, but extends quite into the bunt of small sails.
GAS-PIPE. A term jocularly applied to the newly-introduced breech-loading rifle.
GAT. A swashway, or channel amongst shoals.
GATE. The old name for landing-places, as Dowgate and Billingsgate; also in cliffs, as Kingsgate, Margate, and Ramsgate; those in Greece and in Italy are calledscala. Also, a flood, sluice, or water gate.
GATE,or Sea-gate. When two ships are thrown on board one another by a wave, they are said to be in a sea-gate.
GATHER AFT A SHEET,To. To pull it in, by hauling in slack.
GATHER WAY,To. To begin to feel the impulse of the wind on the sails, so as to obey the helm.
GATH-LINN. A name of the north polar star; two Gaelic words, signifying ray and moisture, in allusion to its subdued brightness.
GATT. A gate or channel, a term used on the Flemish coast and in the Baltic. The Hellegat of New York has become Hell Gate.
GAUB-LINE. A rope leading from the martingale in-board. The same asback-rope.
GAUGE.SeeGage.
GAUGE. An instrument for measuring shot, wads, &c. For round shot there are two kinds, viz. the high gauge, a cylinder through which the shot must pass; and the low gauge, a ring through which it must not pass.
GAUGE-COCKS. A neat apparatus for ascertaining the height of the water in a steamer's boiler.
GAUGE-ROD. A graduated iron for sounding the pump-well.
GAUGNET. TheSygnathus acus, sea-needle, or pipe-fish.
GAUNTLET. (SeeGirt-line.) Also, a rope round the ship to the lower yard-arms, for drying scrubbed hammocks. Of old the term denoted the armed knight's iron glove. (SeeGant-lope, forrunning the gauntlet.)
GAUNTREE. The stand for a water or beer cask.
GAUNTS. The great crested grebe in Lincolnshire.
GAUT,or Ghaut. In the East Indies, a landing-place; and also a chain of hills, as the Western Gauts, on the Mysore coast.
GAVELOCK. An iron crow. Of old, a pike; thus in Arthur and Merlin—