HORIZONTAL PARALLAX.SeeParallax.
HORIZONTAL PLAN. In ship-building, the draught of a proposed ship, showing the whole as if seen from above.
HORIZONTAL RIBBAND LINES. A term given by shipwrights to those lines, or occult ribbands, by which the cant-timbers are laid off, and truly bevelled.
HORN. The arm of a cleat or kevel.
HORN-CARD. Transparent graduated horn-plates to use on charts, either as protractors or for meteorological purposes, to represent the direction of the wind in a cyclone.
HORNED ANGLE. That which is made by a right line, whether tangent or secant, with the circumference of a circle.
HORNEL. A northern term for the largest species of sand-launce or sand-eel.
HORN-FISC. Anglo-Saxon for the sword-fish.
HORN-FISTED. Having hands inured to hauling ropes.
HORNING. In naval architecture, is the placing or proving anything to stand square from the middle line of the ship, by setting an equal distance thereon.
HORN-KECK. An old term for thegreen-backfish.
HORNOTINÆ. Ancient vessels which were built in a year.
HORNS. The points of the jaws of the booms. Also, the outer ends of the cross-trees. Also, two extreme points of land inclosing a bay.
HORNS OF THE MOON. The extremities of the lunar crescent, in which form she is said to be horned.
HORNS OF THE RUDDER.SeeRudder-horn.
HORNS OF THE TILLER. The pins at the extremity.
HORN-WORK. In fortification, a form of outwork having for its head a bastioned front, and for its sides two long straight faces, which are flanked by the guns of the body of the place. Sometimes it is a detached outwork.
HOROLOGIUM UNIVERSALE. An old brass nautical instrument, one of which was supplied to Martin Frobisher, at an expense of £2, 6s.8d., when fitting out on his first voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage.
HORS DE COMBAT. A term adopted from the French, signifying so far disabled as to be incapable of taking farther share in the action.
HORSE. A foot-rope reaching from the opposite quarter of a yard to its arms or shoulders, and depending about two or three feet under the yard, for the sailors to tread on while they are loosing, reefing, or furling the sails, rigging out the studding-sail booms, &c. In order to keep thehorse more parallel to the yard, it is usually attached thereto at proper distances, by certain ropes called stirrups, which have an eye spliced into their lower ends, through which the horse passes. (SeeStirrupsandFoot-ropes.) Also, a rope formerly fast to the fore-mast fore-shrouds, with a dead-eye to receive the spritsail-sheet-pendant, and keep the spritsail-sheets clear of the flukes of the anchor. Also, the breast-rope which is made fast to the shrouds to protect the leadsman. Also, applied to any pendant and thimble through which running-rigging was led, now commonly called a lizard. Also, a thick rope, extending in a perpendicular direction near the fore or after side of a mast, for the purpose of hoisting some yard, or extending a sail thereon; when before the mast, it is used for the square-sail, whose yard is attached to the horse by means of a traveller or bull's-eye, which slides up and down. When it is abaft the mast, it is intended for the trysail of a snow; but is seldom used in this position, except in those sloops of war which occasionally assume the appearance of snows to deceive the enemy. Also, the name of the sawyer's frame or trestle. Also, the round iron bar formerly fixed to the main-rail at the head with stanchions; a fir rail is now used, and the head berthed up. Also, in cutters or schooners, one horse is a stout iron bar, with a large thimble, which spans the vessel from side to side close to the deck before the fore-mast. To this the forestaysail-sheet is hauled, and traverses. The other horse is a similar bar abaft, on which the main-boom sheet traverses. Also, cross-pieces on the tops of standards, on which the booms or spare-spars or boats are lashed between the fore and main masts. Horses are also termed jack-stays, on which sails are hauled out, as gaff-sails. Horse is a term of derision where an officer assumes the grandioso, demanding honour where honour is not his due. Also, a strict disciplinarian, in nautical parlance. Also, tough salt beef—salt horse.—Flemish horseis the horse which has an iron thimble in one end, which goes over the iron point of the yard-arm before the studding-sail boom-iron is put on; in the other, a lashing eye, which is secured near the head earing of the top-sail. It is intended for the men at the earing in reefing, or when setting the top-gallant-studding-sails.
HORSE-ARTILLERY. A branch of field artillery specially equipped to manœuvre with cavalry, having lighter guns, and all its gunners mounted on horseback. Its service demands a rare combination of soldierly qualities.
HORSE-BUCKETS. Covered buckets for carrying spirits or water in.
HORSE-BUCKLE. The great whelk.
HOUSE-COCKLE.SeeGawky.
HORSE-FOOT. A name of theLimulus polyphemusof the shores of America, where from its shape it is called the horse-shoe or lantern crab.
HORSE-LATITUDES. A space between the westerly winds of higher latitudes and the trade-winds, notorious for tedious calms. The name arose from our old navigators often throwing the horses overboard which they were transporting to America and the West Indies.
HORSE-MACKEREL. A large and coarse member of the Scomber family, remarkably greedy, and therefore easily taken, but unwholesome.
HORSE-MARINE. An awkward lubberly person. One out of place.
HORSE-MUSSEL.SeeDuck-mussel.
HORSE-POTATOES. The old word for yams.
HORSE-POWER. A comparative estimate of the capacity of steam-engines, by assuming a certain average effective pressure of steam, and a certain average linear velocity of the piston. The pressure multiplied by the velocity gives the effective force of the engine exerted through a given number of feet per minute; and since the force called a horse-power means 33,000 lbs. acting thus one foot per minute, it follows that the nominal power of the engine will be found by dividing the effective force exerted by the piston, multiplied by the number of feet per minute through which it acts by 33,000.
HORSES. Blocks in whalers for cutting blubber on. (SeeWhite-horse.)
HORSE-SHOE. In old fortification, a low work of this plan sometimes thrown up in ditches.
HORSE-SHOE CLAMP. The iron or copper straps so shaped, used as the fastenings which connect the gripe with the fore-foot at the scarph of the keel and stem.
HORSE-SHOE HINGES. Those by which side-scuttles or ventilators to the cabins are hung.
HORSE-SHOE RACK. A sweep curving from the bitt-heads abaft the main-mast carrying a set of nine-pin swivel-blocks as the fair leaders of the light running gear, staysail, halliards, &c.
HORSE-TONGUE. A name applied to a kind of sole.
HORSE-UP.SeeHorsing-iron.
HORSING-IRON. An iron fixed in a withy handle, sometimes only lashed to a stick or tree-nail, and used with a beetle by caulkers.—To horse-up, or harden in the oakum of a vessel's seams.
HOSE (for watering, &c.) An elastic pipe.
HOSE-FISH. A name for a kind of cuttle-fish.
HOSPITAL. A place appointed for the reception of sick and wounded men, with a regular medical establishment. (SeeNaval Hospitals.)
HOSPITAL-SHIP. A vessel fitted to receive the sick, either remaining in port, or accompanying a fleet, as circumstance demands. She carries the chief surgeons, &c. TheDreadnought, off Greenwich, is a free hospital-ship for seamen of all nations.
HOSTAGE. A person given up to an enemy as a pledge or security for the performance of the articles of a treaty.
HOSTILE CHARACTER is legally constituted by having landed in an enemy's territory, and by residing there, temporary absence being immaterial; by permanent trade with an enemy; and by sailing under an enemy's flag.
HOST-MEN. An ancient guild or fraternity at Newcastle, to whom we are indebted for the valuable sea-coal trade. (SeeHoastmen.)
HOT COPPERS. Dry fauces; morning thirst, but generally applied to those who were drinking hard over-night.
HOT-PRESS. When the press-gangs were instructed, on imminent emergency, to impress seamen, regardless of the protections.
HOT-SHOT. Balls made red-hot in a furnace. Amongst the savages in Bergou, the women are in the rear of the combatants, and they heat the heads of the spears, exchanging them for such as are cooled in the fight.
HOT-WELL. In a steamer, a reservoir from whence to feed the boiler with the warm water received out of the condenser; it also forms part of the discharge passage from the air-pump into the sea.
HOUND-FISH. The old Anglo-Saxon term for dog-fish—húnd-fisc.
HOUNDS. Those projections at the mast-head serving as supports for the trestle-trees of large and rigging of smaller masts to rest upon. With lower masts they are termedcheeks.
HOUNSID. A rope bound round with service.
HOUR-ANGLE. The angular distance of a heavenly body east or west of the meridian.
HOUR-GLASS. The sand-glass: a measure of the hour.
HOUSE,To. To enter within board. To house a topgallant-mast, is to lower it so as to prevent the rigging resting or chafing on the cap, and securing its heel to the mast below it. This admits of double-reefed top-sails being set beneath.
HOUSE-BOAT. One with a cabin; acoche d'eau.
HOUSED. The situation of the great guns upon the lower gun-decks when they are run in clear of the port, and secured. The breech being let down, the muzzle rests against the side above the port; they are then secured by their tackles, muzzle-lashings, and breechings. Over the muzzle of every gun are two strong eye-bolts for the muzzle-lashings, which are 31⁄2-inch rope. When this operation is well performed, no accident is feared, as every act is one of mechanical skill. A gun is sometimes housed fore and aft to make room, as in the cabin, &c. Ships in ordinary, not in commission, are housed over by a substantial roofing.
HOUSEHOLD TROOPS. A designation of the horse and foot guards, who enjoy many immunities and privileges for attending the sovereign.
HOUSEWIFE.SeeHuz-zif.
HOUSING,or House-line. A small line formed of three fine strands, smaller than rope yarn; principally used for seizings of the block-strops, fastening the clues of sails to their bolt-ropes, and other purposes. (SeeMarline,Twine.)
HOUSING-IN. After a ship in building is past the breadth of her bearing, and that she is brought in too narrow to her upper works, she is said to behoused in, or pinched. (SeeTumbling Home.)
HOUSING OF A LOWER MAST. That part of a mast which is below deck to the step in the kelson; of a bowsprit, the portion within theknight-heads.
HOUSING-RINGS. Ring-bolts over the lower deck-ports, through thebeam-clamps, to which the muzzle-lashings of the guns are passed when housed.
HOUVARI. A strong land wind of the West Indies, accompanied with rain, thunder, and lightning.
HOUZING. A northern term for lading water.
HOVE DOWN, properlyhove outorcareened. The situation of a ship when heeled or placed thus for repairs.—Hove off, when removed from the ground.—Hove up, when brought into the slips or docks by cradles on the gridiron, &c.
HOVE-IN-SIGHT. The anchor in view. Also, a sail just discovered.
HOVE-IN-STAYS. The position of a ship in the act of going about.
HOVE KEEL OUT. Hove so completely over the beam-ends that the keel is above the water.
HOVELLERS. A Cinque-Port term for pilots and their boatmen; but colloquially, it is also applied to sturdy vagrants who infest the sea-coast in bad weather, in expectation of wreck and plunder.
HOVERING,and Hovering Acts. Said of smugglers of old.
HOVE-SHORT. The ship with her cable hove taut towards her anchor, when the sails are usually loosed and braced for canting; sheeted home.—Hove well short, the position of the ship when she is drawn by the capstan nearly over her anchor.
HOVE-TO. From the act of heaving-to; the motion of the ship stopped. It is curious to observe that seamen have retained an old word which has otherwise been long disused. It occurs in Grafton'sChronicle, where the mayor and aldermen of London, in 1256, understanding that Henry III. was coming to Westminster from Windsor, went to Knightsbridge, "andhovedthere to salute the king."
HOW. An ancient term for the carina or hold of a ship.
HOWE,Hoe, or Hoo. A knoll, mound, or elevated hillock.
HOW FARE YE? Are you all hearty? are you working together? a good old sea phrase not yet lost.
HOWITZER. A piece of ordnance specially designed for the horizontal firing of shells, being shorter and much lighter than any gun of the same calibre. The rifled gun, however, throwing a shell of the same capacity from a smaller bore, and with much greater power, is superseding it for general purposes.
HOWKER.SeeHooker.
HOWLE. An old English word for the hold of a ship. When the foot-hooks or futtocks of a ship are scarphed into the ground-timbers and bolted, and the plank laid up to the orlop-deck, then they say, "the ship begins to howle."
HOY. A call to a man. Also, a small vessel, usually rigged as a sloop, and employed in carrying passengers and goods, particularly in short distances on the sea-coast; it acquired its name from stopping when called to from the shore, to take up goods or passengers. In Holland the hoy has two masts, in England but one, where the main-sail is sometimes extendedby a boom, and sometimes without it. In the naval service there aregun-hoy,powder-hoy,provision-hoy,anchor-hoy, all rigged sloop-fashion.
HOYSE. The old word for hoist.
HUBBLE-BUBBLE. An eastern pipe for smoking tobacco through water, which makes a bubbling noise.
HUDDOCK. The cabin of a keel or coal-barge.
"'Twas between Ebbron and Yarrow,There cam on a varry strong gale;The skipper luicked out o' th' huddock,Crying, 'Smash, man, lower the sail!'"
HUDDUM. The old northern term for a kind of whale.
HUER. A man posted on an elevation near the sea, who, by concerted signals, directs the fishermen when a shoal of fish is in sight. Synonymous withconder(which see). Also, the hot fountains in the sea near Iceland, where many of them issue from the land.
HUFFED. Chagrined, offended, often needlessly.
HUFFLER. One who carries off fresh provisions to a ship; a Kentish term.
HUG,To.—To hug the land, to sail as near it as possible, the land however being to windward.—To hug the wind, to keep the ship as close-hauled to the wind as possible.
HUGGER-MUGGER. In its Shakspearian bearing may have meant secretly, or in a clandestine manner, but its nautical application is to express anything out of order or done in a slovenly way.
HUISSIERS. The flat-bottomed transports in which horses were embarked in the Crusades.
HULCOCK. A northern name for theSqualus galeus, or smooth hound-fish.
HULK. Is generally applied to a vessel condemned as unfit for the risks of the sea, and used as a store-vessel and housing for crews while refitting the vessels they belong to. There are also hulks for convicts, and for masting, assheer-hulk. (SeeSheers.)
HULL. The Gothichulgameant a husk or external covering, and hence the body of a ship, independent of masts, yards, sails, rigging, and other furniture, is so called.—To hull, signifies to hit with shot; to drive to and fro without rudder, sail, or oar; as Milton—
"He looked and saw the ark hull on the flood."
—To strike hullin a storm, is to take in her sails and lash the helm on the lee side of the ship, which is termedto lie a-hull.
HULL-DOWN. Is said of a ship when at such a distance that, from the convexity of the globe, only her masts and sails are to be seen.
HULLING. Lying in wait at sea without any sails set. Also, to hit with shot.
HULLOCKof a Sail. A small part lowered in a gale.
HULL-TO. The situation of a ship when she is lying a-hull, or with all her sails furled.
HULLY. A long wicker-trap used for catching eels.
HUMBER-KEEL. A particular clincher-built craft used on the Humber.
HUMLA-BAND. A northern term for the grommet to an oar-pin or thole.
HUMMOCK. A hill with a rounded summit or conical eminence on the sea-coast. When in pairs they are termedpapsby navigators (which see).
HUMMOCKS OF ICE. Protuberant lumps of ice thrown up by some pressure upon afieldorfloe, or any other frozen plane. The pieces which rise when large fragments come in contact, and bits of pack are frozen together and covered with snow.
HUMMUMS. From the Arabic wordhammam, a bagnio or bath.
HUMP-BACKED WHALE. A species of whalebone whale, theMegaptera longimana, which attains to 45 or 50 feet in length, and is distinguished by its low rounded dorsal fin.
HURD. The strand of a rope.
HURDICES. Ramparts, scaffolds, fortifications, &c.
HURDIGERS. Particular artificers employed in constructing the castles in our early ships.
HURLEBLAST. An archaic term forhurricane.
HURRICANE.SeeTyphoon.
HURRICANE-DECK. A light deck over the saloon of some steamers.
HURRICANE-HOUSE. Any building run up for temporary purposes; the name is occasionally given to the round-house on a vessel's deck.
HURRICANO. Shakspeare evidently makes King Lear use this word as a water-spout.
HURRY. A staith or wharf where coals are shipped in the north.
HURST. Anglo-Saxon to express a wood.
HURT. A wound or injury for which a compensation can be claimed.
HURTLE,To. To send bodily on by a swell or wind.
HUSBAND,or Ship's Husband. An agent appointed by deed, executed by all the owners, with power to advance and lend, to make all payments, to receive the prices of freights, and to retain all claims. But this office gives him no authority to insure or to borrow money; and he is to render a full account to his employers.
HUSH. A name of the lump-fish, denoting the female.
HUSSAR,or Huzzar. A Hungarian term signifying "twentieth," as the first hussars were formed by selecting from various regiments the ablest man in every twenty; now generally a light-cavalry soldier equipped somewhat after the original Hungarian fashion.
HUT. The same asbarrack(which see).
HUTT. The breech-pin of a gun.
HUZZA! This was originally thehudsa, or cry, of the Hungarian light horse, but is now also the national shout of the English in joy and triumph.
HUZ-ZIF. A general corruption ofhousewife. A very useful contrivance for holding needles and thread, and the like.
HYDRAULIC DOCK.SeeCaisson.
HYDRAULIC PRESS. The simple yet powerful water-press invented by Bramah, without which it would have been a puzzle to float the enormousGreat Eastern.
HYDRAULIC PURCHASE. A machine for drawing up vessels on a slip, in which the pumping of water is used to multiply the force applied.
HYDRAULICS.SeeHydrology.
HYDROGRAPHER. One who surveys coasts, &c., and constructs true maps and charts founded on astronomical observations. The hydrographer to the admiralty presides over the hydrographical office.
HYDROGRAPHICAL CHARTSor Maps. Usually calledsea-charts, are projections of some part of the sea and its neighbouring coast for the use of navigation, and therefore the depth of water and nature of the bottom are minutely noted.
HYDROGRAPHICAL OFFICE. A department of the admiralty where the labours of the marine surveyors of the Royal Navy are collected and published.
HYDROGRAPHY. The science of marine surveying, requiring the principal points to be astronomically fixed.
HYDROLOGY. That part of physics which explains the properties of water, and is usually divided into hydrostatics and hydraulics. The former treats of weighing water and fluids in general, and of ascertaining their specific gravities; the latter shows the manner of conveying water from one place to another.
HYDROMETER. An instrument constructed to measure the specific gravities of fluids. That used at sea for testing the amount of salt in the water is a glass tube containing a scale, the bottom of the tube swelling out into two bulbs, of which the lower is laden with shot, which causes the instrument to float perpendicularly, and as it displaces its own weight of water, of course it sinks deeper as the water is lighter, which is recorded by the scale.
HYGRE. (SeeBoreandEagre.) An effect of counter-currents.
HYGROMETER. An instrument for ascertaining the quantity of moisture in the atmosphere.
HYPERBOLA. One of the conic sections formed by cutting a cone by a plane which is so inclined to the axis, that when produced it cuts also the opposite cone, or the cone which is the continuation of the former, on the opposite side of the vertex.
HYPOTHECA. A mortgage. In the civil law, was where the thing pledged remained with the debtor.
HYPOTHECATION. An authority to the master, amounting almost to a power of the absolute disposal of the ship in a foreign country; he may hypothecate not only the hull, but his freight and cargo, for necessary and urgent repairs.
HYTHE. A pier or wharf to lade or unlade wares at [from the Anglo-Saxonhyd, coast or haven].
I. The third class of rating on Lloyd's books, for the comparative excellence of merchant ships. (SeeA.)
ICE-ANCHOR. A bar of round iron tapered to a point, and bent as a pot-hook; a hole is cut in the ice, the point entered, and the hawser bent to the shorter hook; by this vessels ride safely till any motion of the ice capsizes it, and then it is hauled in. The ice is usually entered by a lance, which cuts its hole easily.
ICE-BEAMS. Strengtheners for whalers. (SeeFortifying.)
ICEBERG. An insulated mountain of ice, whether on Arctic lands or floating in the sea. Some have been known to be aground in 120 fathoms water, and rise to the height of 150 feet above it. Cook's obtaining fresh water from floating icebergs was not a new discovery. The Hudson's Bay ships had long made use of it; and in July, 1585, Captain Davis met with ice "which melted into very good fresh water."
ICE-BIRDS. Small sea-fowl in the polar regions.
ICE-BLINK. A streak or stratum of lucid whiteness which appears over the ice in that part of the atmosphere adjoining the horizon, and proceeds from an extensive aggregation of ice reflecting the rays of light into the circumambient air.
ICE-BOAT. A peculiar track-schuyt for the Dutch canals in winter.
ICE-BOUND. A vessel so surrounded by ice as to be prevented from proceeding on her voyage.
ICE-CHISEL. A large socket-chisel into which a pole is inserted, used to cut holes in the ice.
ICE-CLAWS. A flat claw with two prongs spread like a can-hook; the same as a single span or claw-dog.
ICE-FENDERS. Fenders of any kind, used to protect a vessel from injury by ice; usually broken spars hanging vertically where the strain is expected.
ICE LANEor Vein. A narrow temporary channel of water in the packs or other large collections of ice.
ICE-MASTER. A pilot, or man of experience, for the Arctic Sea.
ICE-PLANK.SeeSpike-plank.
ICE-QUAKE. The rending crash which accompanies the breaking of floes of ice.
ICE-SAW. A huge saw for cutting through ice; it is made of2⁄8to3⁄8inch plates of iron, and varies in length from 10 to 24 feet.
ICE-SLUDGE. Small comminuted ice, or bay-ice broken up by the wind.
ICE-TONGUE.SeeTongue.
ICHNOGRAPHY. A ground plot or plan of a fortification, showing the details of the construction as if cut horizontally through.
ICK. An Erse or Manx term for a creek or gullet.
IDLER. A general designation for all those on board a ship-of-war, who,from being liable to constant day duty, are not subjected to keep the night-watch, but must go on deck if all hands are called during the night. Surgeons, marine-officers, paymasters, and the civil department, are also thus denominated.
IDOLEERS. The name by which the Dutch authorities are known in their oriental colonies, the designation being a corruption ofedle herren.
IGNORANCE. If a loss happen through the ignorance of the master of a ship, it is not considered as a peril of the sea; consequently the assurers are not liable. Nor is his ignorance of admiralty-law admissible as an excuse.
IGUANA. A large lizard used for food in tropical climates.
ILAND. The Saxonealand(SeeIsland.)
ILDE,and Ile. Archaic terms forisland.
ILET. Lacing holes. (SeeEyelet-holes.)
ILLEGAL VOYAGE. (SeeVoyage.)
IMMER. A water-fowl (SeeEmber-goose). TheColymbus immerof Linn., the great plunger of Buffon.
IMMERSION. The prismatic solid carried under water on the lee-side of a ship by its inclination.—Centre of immersion, the mean centre of the part immersed. (SeeCentre of Cavity.) Astronomically, immersion means the disappearance of a heavenly body when undergoing eclipse.
IMP. One length of twisted hair in a fishing-line.
IMPEDIMENTA. The ancient term for the baggage of an army.
IMPORT,Importation, and Importer, being exactly the reverse ofexport,exportation, andexporter, refer to those terms, and take the opposite meaning. To import is therefore to bring commodities into a country for the purpose of traffic.
IMPOSSIBLE. A hateful word, generally supplanted among good seamen by "we'll try." A thing which is impossible in law, is pronounced to be all one with a thing impossible in nature.
IMPOST. The tax received for such foreign merchandises as are brought into any haven within a prince's dominions.
IMPREGNABLE. Said of a fortress or position supposed to be proof against any attack.
IMPRESS,To. To compel to serve.
IMPRESSION. The effect produced upon any ship, place, or body of troops, by a hostile attack.
IMPRESSMENT. The system and act of pressing seamen, and compelling them—under plea of state necessity—to serve in our men-of-war.
IMPREST. Charge on the pay of an officer.
IMPREST-MONEY. That paid on the enlistment of soldiers.
IN. The state of any sails in a ship when they are furled or stowed, in opposition toout, which implies that they are set, or extended to assist the ship's course. Hence,inis also used as an order to shorten sail, as "In topgallant-sails." It was moreover an old word for embanking and inclosing; thus Sir Nicholas L'Estrange (HarleianMS. 6395) speaks of him who had "the patent forinningthe salt marshes."
IN AND OUT. A term sometimes used for the scantling of timbers, the moulding way, and particularly for those bolts that are driven into the hanging and lodging knees, drawn through the ship's sides, and termedin-and-out bolts.
IN-BOARD. Within the ship; the opposite ofout-board.
IN-BOATS! The order to hoist the boats in-board.
IN-BOW! The order to the bowman to throw in his oar, and prepare his boat-hook, previous to getting alongside.
INCH. The smallest lineal measure to which a name is given; but it has many subdivisions. Also, a general name for a small coast islet on the northern shores, from the old Gaelic word.
INCIDENCE,Angle of. That which the direction of a ray of light, &c., makes at the point where it strikes with a line drawn perpendicularly to the surface of that body.
INCLINATION. In geometry, is the mutual tendency of two lines or planes towards each other, so as to form an angle.
INCLINATION OF AN ORBIT. The angle which the path of a comet or planet makes with the plane of the ecliptic.
INCLINATORY NEEDLE. An old term for thedipping-needle(which see).
INCLINOMETER. An invention by Wales in Cook's second voyage, where particulars are given.
INCOMPETENCY,or Insufficiency, of a Merchantman's Crew. A bar to any claim on warrantry; as it is an implied condition in the sea-worthiness of a ship, that at sailing she must have a master of competent skill, and a crew sufficient to navigate her on the voyage.
INDEMNIFICATION. A stipulated compensation for damage done.
INDEMNITY. Amnesty; security against punishment.
INDENTED LINE. In fortification, a connected line of works composed of faces which offer a continued series of alternate salient and re-entering angles. It is conveniently applied on the banks of a river entering a town, and was to be seen on the James river in Virginia, near Richmond, in 1864.
INDENTED PARAPET. One of which the interior slope is indented with a series of vertical cavities, enabling the men stationed within them to fire across the proper front.
INDENTING FOR STORES. An indispensable duty to show that every article has been actually received.
INDENTURES,Pair of. A term forcharter-party.
INDEX. The flat bar which carries the nonius scale and index-glass of a quadrant, octant, quintant, or sextant.
INDEX-ERROR. The reading of the verniers of the above-named instruments. It is the correction to be applied to the + or - reading of a vernier when the horizon and index-glasses are parallel.
INDEX-GLASS. A plane speculum, or mirror of quick-silvered glass, which moves with the index, and is designed to reflect the image of the sun or other object upon the horizon glass, whence it is again reflected to the eye of the observer.
INDEX-ROD. A graduated indicator.
INDIAMAN. A term occasionally applied to any ship in the East India trade, but in strict parlance the large ships formerly officered by the East India Company for that trade, and generally armed.
INDIAN INK. Properly Chinese; compounded of a peculiar lamp-black and gum.
INDIAN OCEAN. The great Oriental Ocean.
INDRAUGHT. A particular flowing of the ocean towards any contracting part of a coast or coasts, as that which sets from the Atlantic into the Straits of Gibraltar, and on other coasts of Europe and Africa. It usually applies to a strong current, apt to engender a sort of vortex.
INDUCED MAGNETISM. The magnetic action of the earth, whereby every particle of soft iron in certain positions is converted into a magnet.
INDULTO. The duty formerly exacted by the crown of Spain upon colonial commodities.
INEQUALITY,Secular. A small irregularity in the motions of planets, which becomes important only after a long lapse of years. Thegreat inequalityof Jupiter and Saturn is a variation of their orbital positions, caused by the disturbing action of one planet on the other.
INERTIA. The passive principle by which bodies persist in a state of motion or rest, and resist as much as they are resisted. (SeeVis Inertiæ.)
INFANTRY. Foot soldiers of the regular army; so called throughout Europe after the original Spanish "infanteria," or troops of the infanta or queen of Spain, who first developed on a large scale the importance of the arm.
INFERIOR CONJUNCTION. Mercury or Venus is said to be in inferior conjunction, when it is situated in the same longitude as the sun, and between that luminary and the earth.
INFERIOR PLANETS. This name, the opposite of superior, is applied to Mercury and Venus, because they revolve in orbits interior to the earth's path.
INFORMATION. In admiralty courts, implies a clause introduced into a citation, intimating that in the event of a party cited not appearing, the court will proceed in his absence.
INGS. An old word said to be left here by the Danes; it signifies low grounds or springy meadows near a river, or creek, liable to occasional overflowings.
IN-HAULER. The rope used for hauling in the clue of a boom-sail, or jib-traveller: it is the reverse ofout-hauler.
INITIAL VELOCITY. The velocity of a projectile at the moment of discharge from a gun.
INJECTION-PIPE. This is fixed in the interior of a marine steam-engine,is fitted with a cock, and communicates with the water outside: it is for the purpose of playing into the condenser while the engine is working, and creating a vacuum.
INLAND SEA. Mediterranean. Implies a very large gulf surrounded by land, except at the communication with the ocean, as the Baltic, Red, and Mediterranean Seas.
INLAND TRADE. That which is wholly managed at home, and the term is in contradistinction to commerce. In China it is applied to canal-trade.
INLET. A term in some cases synonymous withcoveandcreek(which see), in contradistinction to outlet, when speaking of the supply and discharge of lakes and broad waters, or an opening in the land, forming a passage to any inclosed water.
INNER AND OUTER TURNS. Terms applied to the passing of the reef-earings, besides its over and under turns.
INNER JIB-STAY. A temporary stay lashed half-way in, on the jib-boom; it sets up with lashing-eyes at the fore top-mast head.
INNER POST,or Inner Stern-post. The post on which the transoms are seated. An oak timber brought on and fayed at the fore-edge of the main-post, and generally continued as high as the wing-transom, to seat the other transoms upon, and strengthen the whole. (SeeStern-post.) It applies to the main stern-post in steamers, the screw acting between it and the outer, on which the rudder is hung.
INNINGS. Coast lands recovered from the sea by draining.
INNIS. An old Gaelic term for an island, still in use.
INQUIRY,Court of, is assembled by order of a commanding officer to inquire into matters of an intricate nature, for his information; but has no power of adjudication whatever: but too like the Star Chamber.
INSHORE. The opposite ofoffing.—Inshore tack.Standing in from sea-ward when working to windward on a coast.
INSHORED. Come to shore.
INSIDE MUSTER-PAPER. A description of paper supplied from the dockyards, ruled and headed, for making ships' books.
INSPECTION. The mode of working up the dead-reckoning by computed nautical tables. Also, a general examination or survey of all parts of a sea or land force by an officer of competent authority.
INSTALMENT. A partial payment.
INSTANCE COURT. A department of the admiralty court, governed by the civil law, the laws of Oleron, and the customs of the admiralty, modified by statute law.
INSTITUTION. An establishment founded partly with a view to instruction; as the Royal United Service Institution in London.
INSTRUCTIONS.SeePrinted Instructions.
INSTRUMENT. A term of extensive application among tools and weapons; but it is here introduced as an official conveyance of some right, or the record of some fact.
INSUFFICIENCYof a Merchantman's Crew. This bars the owner's claim on the sea-worthy warrant. (SeeIncompetency.)
INSURANCE.SeeMarine Insurance.
INSURED. The party who obtains the policy and pays the premium.
INSURER. The party taking the risk of a policy. (SeeUnderwriters.)
INTACT. Unhurt; undamaged.
INTENSITY OF LIGHT. The degree of brightness of a planet or comet, expressed as a number varying with the distance of the body from the sun and earth.
INTERCALARY. Any period of time interpolated in the calendar for the purpose of accommodating the mode of reckoning with the course of the sun.
INTEREST POLICY.SeePolicy.
INTERLOPER. A smuggling or forced trade vessel. As a nautical phrase it was generally applied to the "letters of marque" on the coasts of South America, or a cruiser off her admiral's limits (poaching).
INTERMEDIATE SHAFT. In a steamer, is the iron crank common to both engines.
INTERNAL CONTACT. This, in a transit of Mercury or Venus across the solar disc, occurs when the planet is just within the sun's margin.
INTERNAL PLANKING. This is termedceilingof the ship.
INTERNAL SAFETY-VALVE. A valve opening from the outside of a steamer's boiler, in order to allow air to enter the boiler when the pressure becomes too weak within.
INTERROGATORIES. The practice in the prize court is, on the breaking out of a war, to prepare standing commissions for the examination of witnesses, to which certain interrogatories are annexed; to these the examination is confined. Private interrogatories are inadmissible as evidence.
INTERSECTION. The point in which one line crosses another.
INTERTROPICAL. The space included between the tropics on each side of the equator, making a zone of nearly 47°.
INTERVAL. In military affairs, the lateral space between works or bodies of troops, as distinguished from distance, which is the depth or measurement in a direction from front to rear.
IN THE WIND. The state of a vessel when thrown with her head into the wind, but not quiteall in the wind(seeAll). It is figuratively used for being nearly intoxicated.
INTRENCHMENT. Any work made to fortify a post against an enemy, but usually implying a ditch or trench, with a parapet.
INUNDATIONS. In ancient Egypt officers estimated the case of sufferers from the inundations of the Nile. The changes of property in Bengal, by alluvion, are equally attended to.Inundationis also a method of impeding the approach of an enemy, by damming up the course of a brook or river, so as to intercept the water, and set the neighbourhood afloat. In Egypt the plan was diametrically opposite; for by flooding Lake Mareotis,our gunboats were enabled greatly to annoy the French garrison at Alexandria.
INVALID. A maimed or sick soldier or sailor.—To invalidis to cause to retire from active service from inability.
INVER. A Gaelic name, still retained in Scotland, for the month of a river.
INVESTMENT. The first process of a siege, in taking measures to seize all the avenues, blocking up the garrison, and preventing relief getting into the place before the arrival of the main army with the siege-train.
INVINCIBLE. A name boastfully applied both to naval and military forces, which have nevertheless been utterly vanquished.
INVOICE. An account from a merchant to his factor, containing the particulars and prices of each parcel of goods in the cargo, with the amount of the freight, duties, and other charges thereon.
INWARD. The opposite ofoutward(which see).
INWARD CHARGES. Pilotage and other expenses incurred in entering any port.
IODINE. A substance chiefly obtained from kelp or sea-weed, extensively employed in medicine and the arts. Its vapour has a beautiful violet colour.
IRIS EARS. A name applied to the shells of the Haliotis—a univalve mollusc found clinging like limpets to rocks; very abundant in Guernsey.
IRISH HORSE. Old salt beef: hence the sailor's address to his salt beef—