Chapter C: CAAG. See KAAG (4)

CORNISH RING. The astragal of the muzzle or neck of a gun; it is the next ring from the mouth backwards. (Now disused.)

CORN-SALAD. A species of Valerianella. The top-leaves are used for salad, a good anti-scorbutic with vinegar.

CORNS OF POWDER. The small grains that gunpowder consists of. The powder reduced for fire-works, quill-tubes, &c.; sometimes by alcohol.

COROMONTINES. A peculiar race of negroes, brought from the interior of Africa, and sold; but so ferocious as to be greatly dreaded in the West Indies.

CORONA. In timber, consists of rows of microscopic cylinders, situated between the wood and the pith; it is that part from which all the branches take their rise, and from it all the wood-threads grow.--_Corona_ astronomically means the luminous ring or glory which surrounds the sun or moon during an eclipse, or the intervention of a thin cloud. They are generally faintly coloured at their edges. Frequently when there is a halo encircling the moon, there is a small corona more immediately around it. Coronae, as well as halos, have been observed to prognosticate rain, hail, or snow, being the result of snow or dense vapours nearer the earth, through which the object becomes hazy.

CORONER. An important officer. Seamen should understand that his duties embrace all acts within a line drawn from one headland to another; or within the body of the county. His duty is to investigate, on the part of the crown, all accidents, deaths, wrecks, &c.; and his warrant is not to be contemned or avoided.

COROUSE. The ancient weapon invented by Duilius for boarding. An attempt was made in 1798 to re-introduce it in French privateers.

COROWNEL. The old word for colonel.

CORPHOUN. An out-of-the-way name for a herring.

CORPORAL, SHIP'S. In a ship of war was, under the master-at-arms, employed to teach the sailors the use of small arms; to attend at the gangways when entering ports, and see that no spirituous liquors were brought on board without leave. Also, to extinguish the fire and candles at eight o'clock in winter, and nine o'clock in summer, when the evening gun was fired; and to see that there were no lights below, but such as were under the charge of the proper sentinels. In the marines or army in general the corporal is a non-commissioned officer next below the sergeant in the scale of authority. The ship's corporal of the present day is the superior of the first-class working petty officers, and solely attends to police matters under the master-at-arms or superintendent-in-chief.

CORPORAL OATH. So called because the witness when he swears lays his right hand on the holy evangelists, or New Testament.

CORPOSANT. [_Corpo santo_, Ital.] _See_ COMPASANT.

CORPS. Any body of troops acting under one commander.

CORPSE. Jack's term for the party of marines embarked; the corps.

CORRECTIONS. Reductions of observations of the sun, moon, or stars.

CORRIDOR. _See_ COVERT-WAY.

CORRYNE POWDER. Corn-powder, a fine kind of gunpowder.

CORSAIR. A name commonly given to the piratical cruisers of Barbary, who frequently plundered the merchant ships indiscriminately.

CORSELET. The old name for a piece of armour used to cover the body of a fighting-man.

CORTEGE. The official staff, civil or military.

CORUSCATIONS. Atmospheric flashes of light, as in auroras.

CORVETTES. Flush-decked ships, equipped with one tier of guns: fine vessels for warm climates, from admitting a free circulation of air. The Bermuda-built corvettes were deemed superior vessels, swift, weatherly, "lie to" well, and carry sail in a stiff breeze. The cedar of which they are chiefly built is very buoyant, but also brittle.

CORVORANT. An old mode of spelling _cormorant_.

COSIER. A lubber, a botcher, a tailoring fellow [_coser_, Sp. to sew?]

COSMICAL RISING AND SETTING OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. Their rising and setting with the sun.

COSMOGRAPHER. Formerly applied to "too clever by half." Now, one who describes the world or universe in all its parts.

COSS. A measure of distance in India, varying in different districts from one mile and a half to two miles.

COSTAL. Relating to the coast.

COSTEIE. An old English word for going by the coast.

COSTERA. A law archaism for the sea-coast.

COSTS AND DAMAGE. Demurrage is generally given against a captor for unjustifiable detention. Where English merchants provoke expense by using false papers, the court decrees the captors their expenses on restitution. (_See_ EXPENSES.)

COT. A wooden bed-frame suspended from the beams of a ship for the officers, between decks. It is inclosed in canvas, sewed in the form of a chest, about 6 feet long, 1 foot deep, and 2 or 3 feet wide, in which the mattress is laid.

COTT. An old term for a little boat.

COTTON, GUN. _See_ GUN-COTTON.

COTTONINA. The thick sail-cloth of the Levant.

COUBAIS. An ornamented Japanese barge of forty oars.

COUD. An old term used for _conn_ or _cunn_.

COULTER-NEB. A name of the puffin (_Fratercula arctica_).

COUNCIL-OF-WAR. The assemblage of officers for concerting measures of moment, too often deemed the symbol of irresolution in the commander-in-chief.

COUNTER. A term which enters into the composition of divers words of our language, and generally implies opposition, as _counter-brace_, _counter-current_, &c.--_Counter of a ship_, refers to her after-seat on the water: the counter above extends from the gun-deck line, or lower ribbon moulding of the cabin windows, to the water-line (or seat of water); the lower counter is arched below that line, and constitutes the hollow run. It is formed on the transom-buttocks.

COUNTER-APPROACHES. Works effected outside the place by the garrison during a siege, to enfilade, command, or otherwise check the approaches of the besieger.

COUNTER-BALANCE WEIGHT, in the marine engine. (_See_ LEVER.) Also in many marine barometers, where it slides and is fixed by adjusting screws, so as to produce an even-balanced swing, free from jerk.

COUNTER-BRACE, TO. Is bracing the head-yards one way, and the after-yards another. The counter-brace is the lee-brace of the fore-topsail-yard, but is only distinguished by this name at the time of the ship's going about (called tacking), when the sail begins to shiver in the wind, this brace is hauled in to flatten the sail against the lee-side of the top-mast, and increase the effect of the wind in forcing her round. Counter-bracing becomes necessary to render the vessel stationary when sounding, lowering a boat, or speaking a stranger. It is now an obsolete term, and the man[oe]uvre is called _heaving-to_.

COUNTER-CURRENT. That portion of water diverted from the main stream of a current by the particular formation of the coast or other obstruction, and which therefore runs in a contrary direction. There is also a current formed under the lee-counter of a ship when going through the water, which retains floating objects there, and is fatal to a man, by sucking him under.

COUNTERFORTS. Masonry adjuncts, advantageous to all retaining walls, but especially to those which, like the escarps of fortresses, are liable to be battered. They are attached at regular intervals to the hinder face of the wall, and perpendicular to it; having various proportions, but generally the same height as the wall; they hold it from being thrust forward from behind, and, even when it is battered away, retain the earth at the back at such a steep slope that the formation of a practicable breach remains very difficult. When arches are turned between the counterforts, the strength of the whole structure is much increased: it is then called a _counter-arched revetement_.

COUNTERGUARD. In fortification, a smaller rampart raised in front of a larger one, principally with the intention of delaying for a period the besieger's attack. Other means, however, are generally preferred in modern times, except when a rapid fall in the ground renders it difficult to cover the main escarp by ordinary resources.

COUNTER-LINE. A word often used for _contravallation_.

COUNTERMARCH. To change the direction of a march to its exact opposite. In some military movements this involves the changing of front and wings.

COUNTERMINES. Military defensive mines: they may be arranged on a system for the protection of the whole of a front of fortification by the discovering and blowing up not only the subterranean approaches of the besieger, but also his more important lodgments above.

COUNTER-MOULD. The converse of _mould_ (which see).

COUNTER-RAILS. The balustrade work, or ornamental moulding across a square stern, where the counter terminates.

COUNTERSCARP. In fortification, the outer side of the ditch next the country; it is usually of less height, and less strongly revetted than the escarp, the side which forms the face of the rampart.

COUNTER-SEA. The disturbed state of the sea after a gale, when, the wind having changed, the sea still runs in its old direction.

COUNTERSIGN. A particular word or number which is exchanged between sentinels, and intrusted to those on duty. (_See_ PAROLE.)

COUNTER-SUNK. Those holes which are made for the heads of bolts or nails to be sunk in, so as to be even with the general surface.

COUNTER-TIMBERS. Short right-aft timbers for the purpose of strengthening the counter, and forming the stern.

COUNTER-TRENCHES. _See_ COUNTER-APPROACHES.

COUNTRY. A term synonymous with _station_. The place whither a ship happens to be ordered.

COUP DE GRACE. The finishing shot which brings an enemy to surrender; or the wound which deprives an adversary of life or resistance.

COUP DE MAIN. A sudden and vigorous attack.

COUP D'[OE]IL. The skill of distinguishing, at first sight, the weakness of an enemy's position, as Nelson did at the Nile.

COUPLE, TO. To bend two hawsers together; coupling links of a cable; coupling shackles.

COUREAU. A small yawl of the Garonne. Also, a narrow strait or channel.

COURSE. The direction taken by anything in motion, shown by the point of the compass _towards_ which they run, as water in a river, tides, and currents; but of the wind, as similarly indicated by the compass-point _from_ which it blows. Course is also the ship's way. In common parlance, it is the point of the compass upon which the ship sails, the direction in which she proceeds, or is intended to go. When the wind is foul, she cannot "lie her course;" if free, she "steers her course."

COURSES. A name by which the sails hanging from the lower yards of a ship are usually distinguished, viz. the main-sail, fore-sail, and mizen: the staysails upon the lower masts are sometimes also comprehended in this denomination, as are the main staysails of all brigs and schooners. A ship is under her courses when she has no sail set but the fore-sail, main-sail, and mizen. _Trysails_ are courses (which see), sometimes termed _bentincks_.

COURSET. The paper on which the night's course is set for the officer in charge of the watch.

COURT-MARTIAL. A tribunal held under an act of parliament, of the year 1749, and not, like the mutiny act, requiring yearly re-enactment. It has lately, 6th August, 1861, been changed to the "Naval Discipline Act." At present a court may be composed of five, but must not exceed nine, members. No officer shall sit who is under twenty-one years of age. No flag-officer can be tried unless the president also be a flag-officer, and the others flag, or captains. No captain shall be tried unless the president be of higher rank, and the others captains and commanders. No court for the trial of any officer, or person below the rank of captain, shall be legal, unless the president is a captain, or of higher rank, nor unless, in addition, there be two other officers of the rank of commander, or of higher rank. Any witness summoned--civil, naval, or military--by the judge-advocate, refusing to attend or give evidence, to be punished as for same in civil courts. The admiralty can issue commissions to officers to hold courts-martial on foreign stations, without which they cannot be convened. A commander-in-chief on a foreign station, holding such a commission, may under his hand authorize an officer in command of a detached portion to hold courts-martial. Formerly all officers composing the court, attendants, witnesses, &c., were compelled to appear in their full-dress uniforms; but by recent orders, the undress uniform, with cocked hat and sword, is to be worn.

COUTEL. A military implement which served both for a knife and a dagger.

COUTERE. A piece of armour which covered the elbow.

COVE. An inlet in a coast, sometimes extensive, as the Cove of Cork. In naval architecture, the arched moulding sunk in at the foot or lower part of the taffrail.--_My cove_, a familiar friendly term.

COVER. Security from attack or interruption, as under cover of the ship's guns, under cover of the parapet. In the field exercise and drill of troops, one body is said to cover another exactly in rear of it. Covers for sails when furled (to protect them from the weather when loosing and airing them is precluded), are made of strong canvas painted.

COVERED WAY. In fortification, a space running along the outside of the ditch for the convenient passage of troops and guns, covered from the country by a palisading and the parapet of the glacis. It is of importance to an active defence, as besides enabling a powerful musketry fire to be poured on the near approaches of the besieger, it affords to the garrison a secure base from which to sally in force at any hour of the day or night.

COVERING-BOARD. _See_ PLANK-SHEER.

COVERING-PARTY. A force detached to protect a party sent on especial duty.

COVERT-WAY. _See_ COVERED WAY.

COW. Applied by whalers to the female whale.--_To cow._ To depress with fear.

COWARDICE, AND DESERTION OF DUTY IN FIGHT. Are criminal by law, even in the crew of a merchant-ship. Such poltroonery is very rare.

COWD. To float slowly. A Scotch term, as "the boat cowds braely awa."

COW-HITCH. A slippery or lubberly hitch.

COWHORN. The seaman's appellation of the coehorn.

COWIE. A name among Scotch fishermen for the porpoise.

COWL. The cover of a funnel.

COWRIE. Small shells, _Cypraea moneta_, used for money or barter in Africa and the East Indies.

COXSON, OR COXON. _See_ COCKSWAIN.

COX'S TRAVERSE. Up one hatchway and down another, to elude duty. (_See_ TOM COX.)

C.P. Mark for men sent by civil power.

CRAB. A wooden pillar, the lower end of which being let down through a ship's decks, rests upon a socket like the capstan, and having in its upper end three or four holes at different heights, long oars are thrust through them, each acting like two levers. It is employed to wind in the cable, or any other weighty matter. Also, a portable wooden or cast-iron machine, fitted with wheels and pinions similar to those of a winch, of use in loading and discharging timber-vessels, &c.--_The crab with three claws_, is used to launch ships, and to heave them into the dock, or off the key.--_To catch a crab._ To pull an oar too light or too deep in the water; to miss time in rowing. This derisive phrase for a false stroke may have been derived from the Italian _chiappar un gragno_, to express the same action.

CRABBING TO IT. Carrying an over-press of sail in a fresh gale, by which a ship crabs or drifts sideways to leeward.

CRABBLER. _See_ KRABLA.

CRAB-BOAT. Resembles a large jolly-boat.

CRAB-CAPSTAN. _See_ CRAB.

CRAB-WINDLASS. A light windlass for barges.

CRAB-YAWS. _See_ YAW.

CRACK. "In a crack," immediately.

CRACKER. So named from the noise it makes in exploding; it is applied to a small pistol. Also, to a little hard cabin biscuit, so called from its noise in breaking.

CRACKNEL. A small bark. Also, biscuits (see 1 Ki. xiv. 3).

CRACK OFFICER. One of the best class.

CRACK ON, TO. To carry all sail.

CRACK-ORDER. High regularity.

CRACK-SHIP. One uncommonly smart in her evolutions and discipline, perhaps from the old English word for a fine boy. Crack is generally used for first-rate or excellent.

CRADLE. A frame consisting of bilge-ways, poppets, &c., on the principle of the wedge, placed under the bottom of a ship, and resting on the ways on which it slips, thus launching her steadily into the water, at which time it supports her weight while she slides down the greased ways. The cradle being the support of the ship, she carries it with her into the water, when, becoming buoyant, the frame separates from the hull, floats on the surface, and is again collected for similar purposes.

CRADLES. Standing bedsteads made up for wounded seamen, that they may be more comfortable than is possible in a hammock. Boats' chocks are sometimes called cradles.

CRAFT [from the Anglo-Saxon word _craeft_, a trading vessel]. It is now a general name for lighters, hoys, barges, &c., employed to load or land any goods or stores.--_Small craft._ The small vessels of war attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, gunboats, &c., generally commanded by lieutenants. Craft is also a term in sea-phraseology for every kind of vessel, especially for a favourite ship. Also, all manner of nets, lines, hooks, &c., used in fishing.

CRAG. A precipitous cliff whose strata if vertical, or nearly so, subdivide into points.

CRAGER. A small river lighter, mentioned in our early statutes.

CRAGSMAN. One who climbs cliffs overhanging the sea to procure sea-fowls, or their eggs.

CRAIG-FLOOK. The smear-dab, or rock-flounder.

CRAIK, OR CRAKE. A ship; a diminutive corrupted from _carrack_.

CRAIL. _See_ KREEL.

CRAIL-CAPON. A haddock dried without being split.

CRAKERS. Choice soldiers (_temp._ Henry VIII.) Perhaps managers of the crakys, and therefore early artillery.

CRAKYS. An old term for great guns.

CRAMP. A machine to facilitate the screwing of two pieces of timber together.

CRAMPER. A yarn or twine worn round the leg as a remedy against cramp.

CRAMPETS. The cramp rings of a sword scabbard. Ferrule to a staff.

CRAMPINGS. A nautical phrase to express the fetters and bolts for offenders.

CRAMPOON. _See_ CREEPER.

CRANAGE. The money paid for the use of a wharf crane. Also, the permission to use a crane at any wharf or pier.

CRANCE. A sort of iron cap on the outer end of the bowsprit, through which the jib-boom traverses. The name is not unfrequently applied to any boom-iron.

CRANE. A machine for raising and lowering great weights, by which timber and stores are hoisted upon wharfs, &c. Also, a kind of catapult for casting stones in ancient warfare. Also, pieces of iron, or timber at a vessel's sides, used to stow boats or spars upon. Also, as many fresh or green unsalted herrings as would fill a barrel.

CRANE-BARGE. A low flat-floored lump, fitted for the purpose of carrying a crane, in aid of marine works.

CRANE-LINES. Those which formerly went from the spritsail-topmast to the middle of the fore-stay, serving to steady the former. Also, small lines for keeping the lee backstays from chafing against the yards.

CRANG. The carcass of a whale after being flinched or the blubber stripped off.

CRANK, OR CRANK-SIDED. A vessel, by her construction or her stowage, inclined to lean over a great deal, or from insufficient ballast or cargo incapable of carrying sail, without danger of overturning. The opposite term is _stiff_, or the quality of standing well up to her canvas.--_Cranky_ expresses a foolish capriciousness. Ships built too deep in proportion to their breadth are notoriously crank.--_Crank by the ground_, is a ship whose floor is so narrow that she cannot be brought on the ground without danger.

CRANK-HATCHES. Are raised coamings on a steamer's deck, to form coverings for the cranks of the engines below.

CRANK-PIN. In steam machinery, it goes through both arms of the crank at their extremities; to this pin the connecting-rod is attached.

CRANKS OF A MARINE ENGINE; eccentric, as in a turning-lathe. The bend or knee pinned on the shafts, by which they are moved round with a circular motion. Also, iron handles for working pumps, windlasses, &c. Also, erect iron forks on the quarter-deck for the capstan-bars, or other things, to be stowed thereon. Also, the axis and handle of a grindstone. Also, an old term for the sudden or frequent involutions of the planets in their orbits.

CRANK-SHAFT. In a steamer. (_See_ INTERMEDIATE SHAFT.)

CRAPPO, OR GENERAL CRAPAUD. Jack's name for a Frenchman, one whom he thinks would be a better sailor if he would but talk English instead of French.

CRARE, OR CRAYER. A slow unwieldy trading vessel of olden times. Thus Shakspeare, in _Cymbeline_, with hydrographic parlance:--

"Who ever yet could sound thy bottom? Find
The ooze, to show what coast thy sluggish crare
Might easiliest harbour in?"

CRATER OF A MINE. Synonymous with _funnel_ (which see).

CRAVAISE. An Anglo-Norman word for cray-fish.

CRAVEN. An old term synonymous with _recreant_ (which see).

CRAWL. A sort of pen, formed by a barrier of stakes and hurdles on the sea-coast, to contain fish or turtle. On the coast of Africa, a pen for slaves awaiting shipment.

CRAWLING OFF. Working off a lee-shore by slow degrees.

CRAY-FISH. A lobster-like crustacean (_Astacus fluviatilis_) found in fresh-water.

CRAZY. Said of a ship in a bad state.

CREAK. The straining noise made by timbers, cabin bulk-heads, and spars in rolling.

CREAR. A kind of Scotch lighter. (_See_ CRARE.)

CREEK. A narrow inlet of the sea shoaling suddenly. Also, the channels connecting the several branches of a river and lake islands, and one lake or lagoon with another. It differs from a cove, in being proportionately deeper and narrower. In law, it is part of a haven where anything is landed from the sea.

CREEL, OR CRUE, for fishing. _See_ KREEL.

CREENGAL. _See_ CRINGLE.

CREEPER. A small grapnel (iron instrument with four claws) for dragging for articles dropped overboard in harbour. When anything falls, a dish or other white object thrown immediately after it will greatly guide the creeping.

CREES. _See_ KRIS.

CREMAILLEE. More commonly called _indented_ (which see), with regard to lines or parapets.

CRENELLE. A loop-hole in a fortress.

CRENG. _See_ KRANG.

CREOLE. This term applies in the West Indies and Spanish America, &c., to a person of European and unmixed origin, but colonial born.

CREPUSCULUM. _See_ TWILIGHT.

CRESPIE. A northern term for a small whale or a grampus.

CRESSET. A beacon light set on a watch-tower.

CRESSIT. A small crease or dagger.

CREST. The highest part of a mountain, or range of mountains, and the summit of a sea-wave.

CREW. Comprehends every officer and man on board ship, borne as complement on the books. There are in ships of war several particular crews or gangs, as the gunner's, carpenter's, sail-maker's, blacksmith's, armourer's, and cooper's crews.

CRIB. A small berth in a packet.

CRICK. A small jack-screw.

CRIMPS. Detested agents who trepan seamen, by treating, advancing money, &c., by which the dupes become indebted, and when well plied with liquor are induced to sign articles, and are shipped off, only discovering their mistake on finding themselves at sea robbed of all they possessed.

CRINGLE. A short piece of rope worked grommet fashion into the bolt-rope of a sail, and containing a metal ring or thimble. The use of the cringle is generally to hold the end of some rope, which is fastened thereto for the purpose of drawing up the sail to its yard, or extending the skirts or leech by means of bowline _bridles_, to stand upon a side-wind. The word seems to be derived from the old English _crencled_, or circularly formed. Cringles should be made of the strands of new bolt-rope. Those for the reef and reef-tackle pendant are stuck through holes made in the tablings.

CRINKYL. The cringle or loop in the leech of a sail.

CRIPPLE, TO. To disable an enemy's ship by wounding his masts, yards, and steerage gear, thereby placing him _hors de combat_.

CRISS-CROSS. The mark of a man who cannot write his name.

CROAKER. A tropical fish which makes a _cris-cris_ noise.

CROAKY. A term applied to plank when it curves much in short lengths.

CROCHERT. A hagbut or hand cannon, anciently in use.

CROCK [Anglo-Saxon, _croca_]. An earthen mess-vessel, and the usual vegetables were called crock-herbs. In the _Faerie Queene_ Spenser cites the utensil:--

"Therefore the vulgar did aboute him flocke,
Like foolish flies about an honey-crocke."

CROCODILES. A designation for those who served in Egypt under Lord Keith.

CROJEK. The mode of pronouncing _cross-jack_ (which see).

CRONNAG. In the Manx and Erse, signifies a rock that can be seen before low-water.

CROOKED-CATCH. An iron implement bent in the form of the letter S.

CROOKS. _Crooked timbers._ Short arms or branches of trees.

CROONER. The gray gurnard (_Trigla gurnardus_), so called on account of the creaking noise it makes after being taken.

CROSS-BARS. Round bars of iron, bent at each end, used as levers to turn the shank of an anchor.

CROSS-BAR-SHOT. The famed cross-bar-shot, or properly _bar-shot_, used by the Americans: when folded it presented a bar or complete shot, and could thus be placed in the gun. But as it left the muzzle it expanded to a cross, with four quarters of a shot at its radial points. It was used to destroy the rigging as well as do execution amongst men.

CROSS-BITT. The same as _cross-piece_ (which see).

CROSS-BORED. Bored with holes alternately on the edges of planks, to separate the fastenings, so as to avoid splitting the timbers or beams.

CROSS-BOW. An ancient weapon of our fleet, when also in use on shore.

CROSS-CHOCKS. Large pieces of timber fayed across the dead-wood amidships, to make good the deficiency of the heels of the lower futtocks.

CROSS-FISH. A northern name for the _asterias_ or star-fish; so called from the Norwegian _kors-fisk_. Also, the _Uraster rubens_.

CROSS-GRAINED. Not straight-grained as in good wood; hence the perverse and vexatious disposition of the ne'er-do-wells. As Cotton's _Juno_--

"That cross-grained, peevish, scolding queen."

CROSS-HEAD. In a steamer's engine, is on the top of the piston-rod athwart the cylinder; and there is another fitted to the air-pump, both having side-rods. (_See_ CYLINDER CROSS-HEAD.)

CROSSING A SHIP'S WAKE. When a ship sails over the transient track which another has just passed, _i.e._ passes close astern of her.

CROSSING THE CABLES IN THE HATCHWAY. A method by which the operation of coiling is facilitated; it alludes to hempen cables, which are now seldom used.

CROSS IN THE HAWSE. Is when a ship moored with two anchors from the bows has swung the wrong way once, whereby the two cables lie across each other.--_To cross a vessel's hawse_ is to sail across the line of her course, a little ahead of her.

CROSSJACK-YARD [pronounced _crojeck-yard_]. The lower yard on the mizen-mast, to the arms of which the clues of the mizen top-sail are extended. The term is applied to any fore-and-aft vessels setting a square-sail, flying, below the lower cross-trees. It is now very common in merchant ships to set a sail called a cross-jack upon this yard.

CROSS-PAWLS. _See_ CROSS-SPALES.

CROSS-PIECE. The transverse timber of the bitts. Also, a rail of timber extending over the windlass of some merchant-ships from the knight-heads to the belfry. It is furnished with wooden pins to fasten the running-rigging to, as occasion requires.--_Cross-pieces._ Short pieces laid across the keel of a line-of-battle ship, and scarphed to the lower ends of the first futtocks, as strengtheners.

CROSS-SEA. A sea not caused by the wind then blowing. During a heavy gale which changes quickly (a cyclone, for instance), each change of wind produces a direction of the sea, which lasts for some hours after the wind which caused it has changed, so that in a part of the sea which has experienced all the changes of one of these gales, the sea runs up in pyramids, sending the tops of the waves perpendicularly into the air, which are then spread by the prevailing wind; the effect is awfully grand and dangerous, for it generally renders a ship ungovernable until it abates.

CROSS-SOMER. A beam of timber.

CROSS-SPALES OR SPALLS. Temporary beams nailed across a vessel to keep the sides together, and support the ship in frame, until the deck-knees are fastened.

CROSS-STAFF. _See_ FORE-STAFF.

CROSS-SWELL. This is similar to a cross-sea, except that it undulates without breaking violently.

CROSS-TAIL. In a steam-engine, is of the same form as the cylinder cross-head: it has iron straps catching the pins in the ends of the side-levers.

CROSS-TIDE. The varying directions of the flow amongst shoals that are under water. (_See_ CURRENT.)

CROSS-TIMBERS. _See_ CROSS-PIECE.

CROSS-TREES. Certain timbers supported by the cheeks and trestle-trees at the upper ends of the lower and top masts, athwart which they are laid to sustain the frame of the tops on the one, and to extend the top-gallant shrouds on the other.

CROTCHED-YARD. The old orthography for _crossjack-yard_ (which see).

CROTCHES. _See_ CRUTCH.

CROW, OR CROW-BAR. An iron lever furnished with a sharp point at one end, and two claws on a slight bevel bend at the other, to prize or remove weighty bodies, like pieces of timber, to draw spike-nails, &c. Also, to direct and manage the great guns.

CROWDIE. Meal and milk mixed in a cold state; but sometimes a mere composition of oatmeal and boiled water, eaten with treacle, or butter and sugar, as condiment.

CROWD SAIL, TO. To carry an extraordinary press of canvas on a ship, as in pursuit of, or flight from, an enemy, &c.

CROW-FOOT. A number of small lines spreading out from an uvrou or long block, used to suspend the awnings by, or to keep the top-sails from striking violently, and fretting against the top-rims. (_See_ EUPHROE.) Also, a kind of stand, attached to the end of mess-tables, and hooked to a beam above.--_Crow-foot_ or _beam-arm_ is also a crooked timber, extended from the side of a beam to the ship's side, in the wake of the hatchway, supplying the place of a beam.--_Crow's-foot_ is the name of the four-pointed irons thrown in front of a position, to hamper the advance of cavalry, and other assailants, for in whatsoever way they fall one point is upwards. The phrase of _crow's-feet_ is also jocularly applied to the wrinkles spreading from the outer corner of the eyes--a joke used both by Chaucer and Spenser.

CROWN. A common denomination in most parts of Europe for a silver coin, varying in local value from 2_s._ 6_d._ sterling to 8_s._ (_See also_ PREROGATIVE.)--_Crown of an anchor._ The place where the arms are joined to the shank, and unite at the throat.--_Crown of a gale._ Its extreme violence.--In fortification, to crown is to effect a lodgment on the top of; thus, the besieger _crowns_ the covered way when he occupies with his trenches the crest of the glacis.

CROWN, OR DOUBLE CROWN. A knot; is to pass the strands of a rope over and under each other above the knot by way of finish. (_See_ KNOT.)

CROWNING. The finishing part of some knots on the end of a rope, to prevent the ends of the strands becoming loose. They are more particularly useful in all kinds of stoppers. (_See_ WALL-KNOT and CROWN.)

CROWN-WORK. In fortification, the largest definite form of outwork, having for its head two contiguous bastioned fronts, and for its sides two long strait faces, flanked by the artillery fire of the place. Or a detached work, according to the circumstances of the ground, requiring such advanced occupation.

CROW-PURSE. The egg-capsule of a skate.

CROW-SHELL. A fresh-water mussel.

CROW'S NEST. A small shelter for the look-out man: sometimes made with a cask, at the top-gallant mast-head of whalers, whence fish are espied. Also, for the ice-master to note the lanes or open spaces in the ice.

CROY. An inclosure on the sea-beach in the north for catching fish. When the tide flows the fishes swim over the wattles, but are left by the ebbing of the water.

CRUE. _See_ KREEL.

CRUE-HERRING. The shad (_Clupea alosa_).

CRUER. _See_ CRARE.

CRUISE, OR CRUIZE. A voyage in quest of an enemy expected to sail through any particular tract of the sea at a certain season,--the seeker traversing the cruising latitude under easy sail, backward and forward. The parts of seas frequented by whales are called the cruising grounds of whalers.

CRUISERS. Small men-of-war, made use of in the Channel and elsewhere to secure our merchant ships from the enemy's small frigates and privateers. They were generally such as sailed well, and were well manned.

CRUIVES. Inclosed spaces in a dam or weir for taking salmon.

CRUMMY. Fleshy or corpulent.

CRUPPER. The train tackle ring-bolt in a gun-carriage.

CRUSADO. _See_ CRUZADO.

CRUTCH, OR CROTCH. A support fixed upon the taffrail for the main boom of a sloop, brig, cutter, &c., and a chock for the driver-boom of a ship when their respective sails are furled. Also, crooked timber inside the after-peak of a vessel, for securing the heels of the cant or half-timbers: they are fayed and bolted on the foot-waling. Also, stanchions of wood or iron whose upper parts are forked to receive masts, yards, and other spars, and which are fixed along the sides and gangways. Crutches are used instead of rowlocks, and also on the sides of large boats to support the oars and spars.

CRUZADO. A Portuguese coin of 480 reis, value 2_s._ 7-1/4_d._ sterling in Portugal; in England, 2_s._ to 2_s._ 2_d._

CUBBRIDGE HEADS. The old bulk-heads of the forecastle and half-decks, wherein were placed the "murderers," or guns for clearing the decks in emergency.

CUBE. A solid body inclosed by six square sides or faces. A cubical foot is 12 inches square every way, of any solid substance.

CUB-HOUSE, OR CUBBOOS. _See_ CABOOSE.

CUBICULATAE. Roman ships furnished with cabins.

CUCKOLD'S-KNOT OR NECK. A knot by which a rope is secured to a spar--the two parts of the rope crossing each other, and seized together.

CUDBEAR. (_See_ CORKIR.) A violet dye--archil, a test.

CUDBERDUCE. The cuthbert-duck, a bird of the Farne Isles, off Northumberland.

CUDDIC, CUDDY, OR CUDLE. All derived from cuttle-fish varieties of sepia used for baits.

CUDDIE, OR CUDDIN. One of the many names for the coal-fish, a staple article of the coast of Scotland. The _Gadus carbonarius_ is taken nearly all the year round by fishing from the rocks, and by means of landing nets. If this fish be not delicate, it is at least nutritious, and as it contains much oil, it furnishes light as well as food.

CUDDING. A northern name for the char.

CUDDY. A sort of cabin or cook-room, generally in the fore-part, but sometimes near the stern of lighters and barges of burden. In the oceanic traders it is a cabin abaft, under the round-house or poop-deck, for the commander and his passengers. Also, the little cabin of a boat.

CUDDY-LEGS. A name in the north for large herrings.

CUIRASS. Armour or covering for the breast, anciently made of hide.

CUIRASSIERS. Horse soldiers who wear the cuirass, a piece of defensive armour, covering the body from the neck to the waist.

CUISSES. Armour to protect the thighs.

CULAGIUM. An archaic law-term for the laying up of a ship in the dock to be repaired.

CULCH. _See_ OYSTER-BED.

CULLOCK. A species of bivalved mollusc on our northern shores, the _Tellina rhomboides_.

CULMINATION, in nautical astronomy, is the transit or passage of any celestial body over the meridian of a place.

CULRING. An old corruption of _culverin_.

CULTELLUS. _See_ COUTEL.

CULVER. A Saxon word for pigeon, whence Culver-cliff, Reculvers, &c., from being resorted to by those birds. [Latin, _columba_; _b_ and _v_ are often interchanged.]

CULVERIN. An ancient cannon of about 5-1/4 inches bore, and from 9 to 12 feet long, carrying a ball of 18 pounds, with a first graze at 180 paces. Formerly a favourite sea-gun, its random range being 2500 paces. The name is derived from a snake (_coluber_), or a dragon, being sculptured upon it, thus forming handles.

CULVER-TAIL. The fastenings of a ship's carlings into the beams.

CULVER-TAILED. Fastened by dove-tailing--a way of letting one timber into another, so that they cannot slip asunder.

CULWARD. The archaic term for a coward.

CUMULO-CIRRO-STRATUS. A horizontal sheet of cloud, with cirrus above and cumulus beneath; it is better known as the _nimbus_ or _rain-cloud_.

CUMULO-STRATUS. This is the twain-cloud, so called because the stratus blends with the cumulus; it is most frequent during a changeable state of the barometer.

CUMULUS. A cloud indicative of fair weather, when it is small: it is sometimes seen in dense heaps, whence it obtained the name of _stacken cloud_. It is then a forerunner of change.

CUND, TO. To give notice which way a shoal of fish is gone.

CUNETTE. _See_ CUVETTE.

CUNN, OR CON. _See_ CONN.

CUNNENG. A northern name for the lamprey.

CUP. A solid piece of cast-iron let into the step of the capstan, and in which the iron spindle at the heel of the capstan works. Also, colloquially used for come, as, "Cup, let me alone."

CUPOLA-SHIP. Captain Coles's; the cupola being discontinued, now called _turret-ship_ (which see).

CUR. An east-country term for the bull-head.

CURE, TO. To salt meat or fish.

CUR-FISH. A small kind of dog-fish.

CURIET. A breast-plate made of leather.

CURL. The bending over or disruption of the ice, causing it to pile. Also, the curl of the surf on the shore.

CURL-CLOUD. The same as _cirrus_ (which see).

CURLEW. A well-known coast bird, with a long curved bill, the _Numenius arquatus_.

CURRACH. A skiff, formerly used on the Scottish coasts.

CURRA-CURRA. A peculiarly fast boat among the Malay Islands.

CURRENT. A certain progressive flowing of the sea in one direction, by which all bodies floating therein are compelled more or less to submit to the stream. The _setting_ of the current, is that point of the compass towards which the waters run; and the _drift_ of the current is the rate it runs at in an hour. Currents are general and particular, the former depending on causes in constant action, the latter on occasional circumstances. (_See_ DIRECTION.)

CURRENT SAILING. The method of determining the true motion of a ship, when, besides being acted upon by the wind, she is drifting by the effect of a current. A due allowance must therefore be made by the navigator.

CURRIER. A small musketoon with a swivel mounting.

CURSOR. The moving wire in a reading microscope.

CURTAIN. In fortification, that part of the rampart which is between the flanks of two opposite bastions, which are thereby connected.

CURTALL, OR CURTALD. An ancient piece of ordnance used in our early fleets, apparently a short one.

CURTATE DISTANCE. An astronomical term, denoting the distance of a body from the sun or earth projected upon the ecliptic.

CURTLE-AXE. The old term for cutlass or cutlace.

CURVED FIRE. A name coming into use with the increasing application of the fire of heavy and elongated shells to long-range bombardment and cannonade. It is intermediate between horizontal and vertical fire, possessing much of the accuracy and direct force of the former, as well as of the searching properties of the latter.

CURVE OF THE COAST. When the shore alternately recedes and projects gradually, so as to trend towards a curve shape.

CUSEFORNE. A long open whale-boat of Japan.

CUSHIES. Armour for the thighs. The same as _cuisses_.

CUSK. A fine table-fish taken in cod-schools. _See_ TUSK or TORSK.

CUSPS. The extremities of a crescent moon, or inferior planet.

CUSSELS. The green-bone, or viviparous blenny.

CUSTOM. The toll paid by merchants to the crown for goods exported or imported; otherwise called duty.--_Custom of the country_, a small present to certain authorities in the less frequented ports, being equally gift and bribe.

CUSTOM-HOUSE. An office established on the frontiers of a state, or in some chief city or port, for the receipt of customs and duties imposed by authority of the sovereign, and regulated by writs or books of rates.

CUSTOM-HOUSE AGENT. He who transacts the relative business of passing goods, as to the entries required for the ship's clearance.

CUSTOM-HOUSE OFFICERS. A term comprehending all the officials employed in enforcing the customs.

CUT. A narrow boat channel; a canal.--_To cut_, to renounce acquaintance with any one.

CUT AND RUN, TO. To cut the cable for an escape. Also, to move off quickly; to quit occupation; to be gone.

CUT AND THRUST. To give point with a sword after striking a slash.

CUT A STICK, TO. To make off clandestinely.--_Cut your stick_, be off, or go away.

CUTE. Sharp, crafty, apparently from _acute_; but some insist that it is the Anglo-Saxon word _cuth_, rather meaning certain, known, or familiar.

CUTH. A name given in Orkney and Shetland to the coal-fish, before it is fully grown; perhaps the same as _piltock_ (which see).

CUTLAS, OR COUTELAS. A sabre which was slightly curved, but recently applied to the small-handled swords supplied to the navy--the _cutlash_ of Jack. By Shakspeare called a curtle-axe; thus Rosalind, preparing to disguise herself as a man, is made to say,

"A gallant curtle-ax upon my thigh."

CUT-LINE. The space between the bilges of two casks stowed end to end.

CUT OFF. A term used to denote a vessel's being seized by stratagem by the natives, and the crew being murdered. Also, to intercept a retreat.

CUT OF THE JIB. A phrase for the aspect of a vessel, or person.

CUT OUT, TO. To attack and carry a vessel by a boat force; one of the most dashing and desperate services practised by Nelson and Cochrane, of which latter that of cutting out the _Esmeralda_ at Callao stands unequalled.

CUTTER. A small single-masted, sharp-built broad vessel, commonly navigated in the English Channel, furnished with a straight running bowsprit, occasionally run in horizontally on the deck; except for which, and the largeness of the sails, they are rigged much like sloops. Either clincher or carvel-built, no jib-stay, the jib hoisting and hanging by the halliards alone. She carries a fore-and-aft main-sail, gaff-topsail, stay-foresail, and jib. The name is derived from their fast sailing. The cutter (as H.M.S. _Dwarf_) has been made to set every sail, even royal studding-sails, sky-scrapers, moon-rakers, star-gazers, water and below-water sails, that could be set by any vessel on one mast. One of the largest which has answered effectually, was the _Viper_, of 460 tons and 28 guns; this vessel was very useful during the American war, particularly by getting into Gibraltar at a critical period of the siege.

CUTTER-BRIG. A vessel with square sails, a fore-and-aft main-sail, and a jigger-mast with a smaller one. (_See_ KETCH.)

CUTTERS of a ship are broader for their length, deeper and shorter in proportion than the barge or pinnace; are fitter for sailing, and commonly employed in carrying light stores, passengers, &c., to and from the ships; some are clench-built. They generally row ten oars; others of similar build only four, which last are termed jolly-boats. The cutters for ships of the line are carvel-built of 25 feet, and fit for anchor work.

CUTTER-STAY FASHION. The turning-in of a dead-eye with the end of the shroud down.

CUT THE CABLE, TO. A man[oe]uvre sometimes necessary for making a ship cast the right way, or when the anchor cannot be weighed.

CUTTIE. A name on our northern coasts for the black guillemot (_Uria grille_).

CUTTING. The adjusting of a cask or spar, or turning it round.

CUTTING A FEATHER. It is common when a ship has too broad a bow to say, "She will not cut a feather," meaning that she will not pass through the water so swift as to make less foam or froth.

CUTTING DOWN. Taking a deck off a ship; as ships of the line are converted into frigates, the _Royal Sovereign_ into a turret ship, &c.--_Cutting down_ is also a dangerous midshipman's trick, and sometimes practised by the men: it consists in cutting the laniard of a cot or hammock in which a person is then asleep, and letting him fall--_lumpus_--either by the head or the feet.

CUTTING-DOWN LINE. An elliptical curve line used by shipwrights in the delineation of ships; it determines the depth of all the floor timbers, and likewise the height of the dead-wood fore and aft. It is limited in the middle of the ship by the thickness of the floor timbers, and abaft by the breadth of the keelson, and must be carried up so high upon the stern as to leave sufficient substance for the breeches of the rising timbers.

CUTTING HIS PAINTER. Making off suddenly or clandestinely, or "departed this life."

CUTTING IN. Making the special directions for taking the blubber off a whale, which is flinched by taking off circularly ribbons of the skin with blubber attached; the animal being made to turn in the water as the purchases at the mast-heads heave it upwards.

CUTTING-OUT. A night-meal or forage in the officer's pantry.

CUTTING OUT OR IN. In polar phraseology, is performed by sawing canals in a floe of ice, to enable a ship to regain open water.

CUTTING RIGGING. This includes the act of measuring it.

CUTTLE-FISH. A common marine animal of the genus _Sepia_, and class _Cephalopoda_. It has ten tentacles or arms ranged around the mouth, two being of much greater length than the others. When in danger it ejects a black inky substance, darkening the water for some distance around. The oval internal calcareous shell, "cuttle-bone," often found lying on the beach, was formerly much used in pharmacy.

CUTTS. Flat-bottomed horse-ferry boats of a former day.

CUTTY-GUN. A northern term for a short pipe.

CUT-WATER. The foremost part of a vessel's prow, or the sharp part of the knee of a ship's head below the beak. It cuts or divides the water before reaching the bow, which would retard progress. It is fayed to the fore-part of the main stem. (_See_ KNEE OF THE HEAD.)

CUVETTE, called also CUNETTE. A deeper trench cut along the middle of a dry moat; a ditch within a ditch, generally carried down till there be water to fill it.

CWM, OR COMB. A British word signifying an inlet, valley, or low place, where the hilly sides round together in a concave form; the sides of a _glyn_ being, on the contrary, convex.

CYCLE. A term generally applied to an interval of time in which the same phenomena recur.

CYCLE OF ECLIPSES. A period of about 6586 days, which is the time of a revolution of the moon's node; after the lapse of this period the eclipses recur in the same order as before, with few exceptions. This cycle was known to the ancients under the name of Saros.

CYCLOID. A geometrical curve of the higher kind.

CYCLONE. _See_ TYPHOON.

CYLINDER. The body of a pump; any tubular part of an engine.--_Charge cylinder_ of a gun, is the part which receives the powder and ball, the remaining portion being styled the _vacant cylinder_. Especially in marine steam-engines, the cylindrical metal tube, with a diameter proportionate to the power of the engine, of which it may be termed the chief part, since it contains the active steam. Also, a cartridge box for the service of artillery. (_See_ CARTRIDGE-BOX.)

CYLINDER-COVER. In the steam-engine, is a metal lid with a hole in the centre for the piston-rod to work through.

CYLINDER CROSS-HEAD. An adaptation on the top of the piston-rod, stretching out athwart the cylinder, from the ends of which the side-rods hang.

CYLINDER ESCAPE-VALVES. Small conical valves at each end of the cylinder, for the purpose of letting off any water that may collect above or below the piston.

CYLINDER POWDER. That made upon the improved method of charring the wood to be used as charcoal in iron cylinders. All British government gunpowder is now made thus.

CYPHERING. A term in carpentry. (_See_ SYPHERED.)