Chapter D (3)

EAST-COUNTRY. A term applied to the regions bordering on the Baltic.

EAST-COUNTRY SHIPS. The same as _easterlings_.

EASTERLINGS. Traders of the Baltic Sea. Also, natives of the Hanse Towns, or of the east country.

EASTERN AMPLITUDE. An arc of the horizon, intercepted between the point of the sun's rising and the east point of the magnetic compass.

EAST INDIA HOY. A sloop formerly expressly licensed for carrying stores to the E. I. Company's ships.

EASTING. The course made good, or gained, to the eastward.

EASTINTUS. From the Saxon, _east-tyn_, an easterly coast or country. _Leg. Edward I._

EAST WIND. This, in the British seas, is generally attended with a hazy atmosphere, and is so ungenial as to countenance the couplet--

"When the wind is in the east,
'Tis good for neither man nor beast."

EASY. Lower gently. A ship not labouring in a sea.--_Taking it easy._ Neglecting the duty. "Not so violent."

EASY DRAUGHT. The same as _light draught of water_ (which see).

EASY ROLL. A vessel is said to "roll deep but easy" when she moves slowly, and not with quick jerks.

EATING THE WIND OUT OF A VESSEL. Applies to very keen seamanship, by which the vessel, from a close study of her capabilities, steals to windward of her opponent. This to be done effectually demands very peculiar trim to carry weather helm to a nicety.

EAVER. A provincial term for the direction of the wind. A quarter of the heavens.

EBB. The lineal descendant of the Anglo-Saxon _ep-flod_, meaning the falling reflux of the tide, or its return back from the highest of the flood, full sea, or high water. Also termed _sae-aebbung_, sea-ebbing, by our progenitors.

EBB, LINE OF. The sea-line of beach left dry by the tide.

EBBER, OR EBBER-SHORE. From the Anglo-Saxon signifying shallow.

EBB-TIDE. The receding or running out of the sea, in contradistinction to flood.

EBONY. A sobriquet for a negro.

ECHELON. [Fr.] Expressing the field-exercise of soldiers, when the divisions are placed in a situation resembling the steps of a ladder, whence the name.

ECHINUS. A word lugged in to signify the sweep of the tiller. (_See_ SEA-EGG.)

ECLIPSE. An obscuration of a heavenly body by the interposition of another, or during its passage through the shadow of a larger body. An _eclipse of the sun_ is caused by the dark body of the moon passing between it and the earth. When the moon's diameter exceeds the sun's, and their centres nearly coincide, a _total eclipse_ of the sun takes place; but if the moon's diameter be less, then the eclipse is _annular_.

ECLIPTIC. The great circle of the heavens which the sun appears to us to describe in the course of a year, in consequence of the earth's motion round that luminary. It is inclined to the equinoctial at an angle of nearly 23 deg. 28', called the obliquity of the ecliptic, and cuts it in two points diametrically opposite to each other, called the equinoctial points. The time when the sun enters each of these points (which occurs about the 20th of March and 23d of September, respectively) is termed the equinox, day and night being then equal; at these periods, especially about the time of the vernal equinox, storms, called the equinoctial gales, are prevalent in many parts of the globe. The two points of the ecliptic, which are each 90 deg. distant from the equinoctial points, are called the solstitial points. That great circle which passes through the equinoctial points and the poles of the earth, is called the equinoctial colure; and that which passes through the solstitial points and the poles of the earth, the solstitial colure.

ECLIPTIC CONJUNCTION. Is the moon in conjunction with the sun at the time of new moon, both luminaries having then the same longitude, or right ascension.

ECLIPTIC LIMITS. Certain limits of latitude within which eclipses take place, and beyond which they cannot occur.

ECONOMY. A term expressive of the system and internal arrangement pursued in a ship.

EDDY. Sometimes used for the dead-water under a ship's counter. Also, the water that by some interruption in its course, runs contrary to the direction of the tide or current, and appears like the motion of a whirlpool. Eddies in the sea not unfrequently extend their influence to a great distance, and are then merely regarded as contrary or revolving currents. It is the back-curl of the water to fill a space or vacuum formed sometimes by the faulty build of a vessel, having the after-body fuller than the fore, which therefore impedes her motion. It also occurs immediately after a tide passes a strait, where the volume of water spreads suddenly out, and curves back to the edges. The Chinese pilots call eddies, chow-chow water.

EDDY-TIDE. When the water runs back from some obstacle to the free passage of the stream.

EDDY-WIND. That which is beat back, or returns, from a sail, bluff hill, or anything which impedes its passage; in other words, whenever the edges or veins of two currents of air, coming from opposite directions, meet, they form an eddy, or _whirlwind_ (which see). They are felt generally near high coasts intersected by ravines. The eddy-wind of a sail escaping, in a curve, makes the sail abaft shiver.

EDGE AWAY, TO. To decline gradually from the course which the ship formerly steered, by sailing larger, or more off, or more away from before the wind than she had done before.

EDGE DOWN, TO. To approach any object in an oblique direction.

EDGING OF PLANK. Sawing or hewing it narrower.

EDUCTION PIPE. A pipe leading from the bottom of a steam-cylinder to the upper part of the condenser in a steam-engine.

EEAST. The Erse term for a fish, still used in the Isle of Man.

EEKING. _See_ EKEING.

EEL. A well-known fish (_Anguilla vulgaris_), of elongated form, common in rivers and estuaries, and esteemed for food.

EELER. An adept at knowing the haunts and habits of eels, and the methods of taking them.

EEL-FARES. A fry or brood of eels.

EEL-GRASS. A name for the sea-wrack (_Zostera marina_); it is thrown ashore by the sea in large quantities.

EEL-POUT. A name for the burbot (_Molva lota_), a fresh-water fish.

EEL-SKUYT. _See_ DUTCH EEL-SKUYT.

EEL-SPEAR. A sort of trident with ten points for catching eels, called in Lincolnshire an _eel-stang_.

EFFECTIVE. Efficient, fit for service; it also means the being present and at duty.

EFFECTS. Personal property; sale of effects; or the auction of the property of deceased officers and seamen:

"The _effects_ of that sail
Will be a sale of _effects_."

EFFLUENT, OR DIVERGENT, applied to any stream which runs out of a lake, or out of another river. All tributaries are affluents.

EGG, TO. To instigate, incite, provoke, to urge on: from the Anglo-Saxon _eggion_.

EGGS. These nutritious articles of food might be used longer at sea than is usual. The shell of the egg abounds with small pores, through which the aqueous part of the albumen constantly exhales, and the egg in consequence daily becomes lighter, and approaches its decomposition. Reaumur varnished them all over, and thus preserved eggs fresh for two years; then carefully removing the varnish, he found that such eggs were still capable of producing chickens. Some employ, with the same intention, lard or other fatty substance for closing the pores, and others simply immerse the egg for an instant in boiling water, by which its albumen is in part coagulated, and the power of exhalation thereby checked. Eggs packed in lime-water suffered to drain, have after three years' absence in the West Indies been found good; this does not destroy vitality.

EGMONT, OR PORT EGMONT FOWLS. The large Antarctic gulls with dark-brown plumage, called _shoemakers_.

EGRESS. At a transit of an inferior planet over the sun, this term means the passing off of the planet from his disc.

EGYPTIAN HERRING. A northern coast name for the gowdanook, saury-pike, or _Scomberesox saurus_.

EIDER DUCK. The _Somateria mollissima_. A large species of duck, inhabiting the coasts of the northern seas. The down of the breast, with which it lines its nest, is particularly valuable on account of its softness and lightness.

EIGHEN. The index of the early quadrant.

EILET-HOLE [Fr. _[oe]illet_]. _Refer to_ EYELET-HOLES.

EJECTAMENTA MARIS. Sea products thrown on the beach, whence they become droits of admiralty. (_See_ JETSAM.)

EKE, TO. [Anglo-Saxon _eacan_, to prolong.] To make anything go far by reduction and moderation, as in shortening the allowance of provisions on a voyage unexpectedly tedious.

EKEING. A piece of wood fitted, by scarphing or butting, to make good a deficiency in length, as the end of a knee and the like. The _ekeing_ is also the carved work under the lower part of the quarter-piece, at the aft part of the quarter-gallery.

ELBOW. That part of a river where it suddenly changes its direction, forming a reach to the next angle or turn. Also, a promontory. Also, a communication in a steam-pipe.

ELBOW-GREASE. Hard labour with the arms.

ELBOW IN THE HAWSE. Two crosses in a hawse. When a ship, being moored in a tide-way, swings twice the wrong way, thereby causing the cables to take half a round turn on each other. (_See_ HAWSE.)

ELDEST. The old navy term for _first_, as applied to the senior lieutenant.

ELEMENTS. The first principles of any art or science.--The _elements of an orbit_ are certain proportions which define the path of a heavenly body in space, and enable the astronomer to calculate its position for past or future times.

ELEPHANTER. A heavy periodical rain of Bombay.

ELEPHANT-FISH. The _Chimaera callorynchus_, named from the proboscis-like process on its nose. Though inferior to many other fish, it is yet palatable food.

ELEVATE! In great-gun exercise, the order which prepares for adjusting the quoin.

ELEVATED POLE. That terrestrial pole which is above the horizon of a spectator.

ELEVATION, IN SHIP-BUILDING. A vertical and longitudinal view of a vessel, synonymous with _sheer-draught_ and _sheer-plan_. In other words, it is the orthographic design whereon the heights and lengths are expressed.

ELEVATION, ANGLE OF. In gunnery, that which the axis of the bore makes with the plane of the horizon. It is attained by sinking the breech of the gun until its axis points above the object to be fired at, so that the shot may describe a curve somewhat similar to a parabola, counteracting the action of gravity during its flight, and alighting upon the mark.

ELGER. An eel-spear, _Promptorium Parvulorum_, yielding many together.

ELIGUGS. Aquatic birds of passage of the auk kind on our western coasts; called also razor-bills.

ELITE. The elite of naval or military forces is the choicest selection from them.

ELLECK. The trivial name of the _Trigla cuculus_.

ELLIOT-EYE. The Elliot-eye, introduced by the Hon. Admiral Elliot, secretary of the Admiralty, is an eye worked over an iron thimble in the end of a hempen bower-cable, to facilitate its being shackled to the chain for riding in very deep water.

ELLIPSE. In geometry, an oval figure, formed of the section of a cone by a plane cutting through both its sides obliquely.

ELMO'S FIRE, ST. _See_ COMPASANT.

ELONGATION. The angular distance of a heavenly body from the sun eastward or westward.

ELVERS. The name of eels on the western coasts of England.

EMBARGO. A temporary injunction or arrest laid on ships or merchandise by public authority, sometimes general, to prevent all ships departing, and sometimes partial, as upon foreign ships only, or to prevent their coming in. A breach of embargo, under the knowledge of the insured, discharges the underwriters from liability.

EMBARK, TO. To go on board, or to put on board a vessel.

EMBARKATION. Applies to the shipping of goods, troops, and stores. Also, the peculiar boats of a country. [Sp. _embarcation_.]

EMBARMENT. An old term, meaning an embargo.

EMBARRAS. An American term for places where the navigation of rivers or creeks is rendered difficult by the accumulation of driftwood, trees, &c.

EMBATTLE. To arrange forces for conflict.

EMBATTLED. In buildings, crenellated or pierced with loop-holes.

EMBEDDED. Firmly fixed in the mud or sand.

EMBER-GOOSE (OR IMBER?). A name for the great northern diver or loon (_Colymbus glacialis_).

EMBEZZLEMENT, or simple theft, by persons belonging to a merchant ship, is not deemed a peril of the sea. But robbery violently committed by persons not belonging to the ship, is a peril for which the insurer is answerable.--_To embezzle_ is to misappropriate by a breach of trust.

EMBOUCHURE. A French word adopted as signifying the mouth of a river, by which its waters are discharged, or by which it is entered. The term is now in general use.

EMBRASURES. The cut or opening made through the parapet of a battery for the muzzle of the gun and the passage of the shot.

EMERALDERS. A term for the natives of Ireland, from its evergreen verdure.

EMERGENCY. Imminent want in difficult circumstances.

EMERSION. The prismatic space or solid raised out on the weather side by the inclination of the ship. In astronomy it signifies the re-appearance of a celestial object after undergoing occultation or eclipse.

EMINENCE. A high or rising ground overlooking the country around.

EMISSARY. A culvert or drain.

EMPRISE. A hazardous attempt upon the enemy.

EMPTIONS. Stores purchased.

EMPTY. Cargo discharged.

EMPTY BASTION. In fortification is a bastion whereof the terreplein, or terrace in rear of the parapet, not having been carried farther to the rear than its regular distance, leaves a large space within it of a lower level.

EMPTY BOTTLE. _See_ MARINE OFFICER.

ENCAMPMENT. _See_ CAMP.

ENCEINTE. [Fr.] A slightly bastioned wall or rampart line of defence, which sometimes surrounds the body of a place; when only flanked by turrets it is called a Roman wall.

ENCIRCLING REEFS. A name given to a form of coral reef, the architecture of myriads of zoophytes in tropical seas.

ENCOUNTER. The hostile meeting of two ships or squadrons; also, a conflict between troops.

ENDANGER, TO. To expose to peril.

ENDECAGON. In geometry, a plane figure of eleven sides and angles.

ENDELONG. The old English word for lengthways.

END FOR END. Reversing cordage, casks, logs, spars, &c.--To shift a rope _end for end_, as in a tackle, the fall is made the standing part, and the standing part becomes the fall; or when a rope runs out all a block, and is unreeved; or in coming to an anchor, if the stoppers are not well put on, and the cable runs all out end for end. (_See_ AN-END.)

END OF A TRENCH. The place where the trenches are opened.

END-ON. Said particularly of a ship when only her bows and head-sails are to be seen, but generally used in opposition to _broadside-on_.

ENEMY. The power or people against whom war is waged.

ENFIELD RIFLE. The name of the present regulation musket for infantry, as made at the government works at Enfield, on an improvement of the Minie principle; whether the breach-loading rifle, which it is intended to substitute for this arm, will acquire the same title, remains to be determined.

ENFILADE FIRE. Is that which sweeps a line of works or men from one end to the other; it is on land nearly the equivalent to "raking fire" at sea.

ENGAGEMENT. In a naval sense, implies a battle at sea, or an action of hostility between single ships, squadrons, or fleets of men-of-war. Also, a conflict between two contending armies.

ENGINE, MARINE. (_See_ MARINE ENGINES.) Engine was of old a military machine for warfare.

ENGINE-BEARERS. Sleepers, or pieces of timber placed between the keelson, in a steamer, and the boilers of the steam-engine, to form a proper seat for the boilers and machinery.

ENGINEER. A duly qualified officer appointed to plan and direct the attack or defence of a fortification, as well as the construction of fortified works. Engineers are also persons in charge of the machinery of steam-vessels. In government steamers they are in three classes, under warrant from the admiralty.

ENGINE-ROOM TELEGRAPH. A dial-contrivance by which the officer on deck can communicate with the engineer below.

ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY. This is introduced into a naval vocabulary, not as wanting explanation, but that in recording the most remarkable signal ever made to a fleet, we may remind the tyro, that these words of Nelson are admirably adapted for all the varying changes of sea-life, whether in times of war or peace.

ENGLISH. A term applied to the vessels and men of the whole empire, and its maritime population. "Indeed," says Burke in a letter to Admiral Keppel, "I am perfectly convinced that _Englishman_ and _seaman_ are names that must live and die together."

ENLARGE. The wind is said to enlarge when it veers from the side towards the stern.

ENLISTMENT. The engaging recruits for the army or marines.

ENNEAGON. A figure that has nine sides and as many angles.

ENNIS, OR INNIS. A term for island on the west coast of Ireland and in some parts of Scotland.

ENROL, TO. To enter the name on the roll of a corps.

ENSCONCE, TO. To intrench; to protect by a slight fortification.

ENSENADA [Sp. bay]. This term is frequently used on the coasts of Chili and Peru.

ENSIGN. [From the Anglo-Saxon _segn_.] A large flag or banner, hoisted on a long pole erected over the stern, and called the ensign-staff. It is used to distinguish the ships of different nations from each other, as also to characterize the different squadrons of the navy; it was formerly written _ancient_. Ensign is in the army the title of the junior rank of subaltern officers of infantry; from amongst them are detailed the officers who carry the colours.

ENTERING AT CUSTOM-HOUSE. The forms required of the master of a merchant ship before her cargo can be discharged.

ENTERING-LADDERS. Are of two sorts; one of them being used by the vessel's side in harbour or in fair weather, the other is made of ropes, with small staves for steps, and is hung out of the gallery to come aboard by, when the sea runs so high as to risk staving the boat if brought alongside; the latter are termed stern-ladders.

ENTERING-PORTS. Ports cut down on the middle gun-deck of three-deckers, to serve as door-ways for persons going in and out of the ship.

ENTERING-ROPES, OR SIDE-ROPES. Three are sometimes used to aid in climbing the ship's side. They hang from the upper part on the right, left, and middle of the steps. (_See_ GANGWAY.) The upper end of an entering-rope is rove through an eye in the iron stanchion at the gangway; it is walled, crowned, and otherwise ornamentally fitted.

ENTERPRISE. An undertaking of difficulty and danger.

ENTRANCE. A term for the bow of a vessel, or form of the _fore-body_ under the load water-line; it expresses the figure of that which encounters the sea, and is the opposite of _run_. Also, the first appearance of a person on board after entry on the ship's books. Also, the fore-foot of a ship. Also, the mouth of a harbour.

ENTRANCE MONEY. Payment on entering a mess.

ENTRY. In the ship's books; first putting down the appearance or day on which a man joins. Also, the forcing into an enemy's ship.

ENVELOPE. In astronomy, a band of light encircling the head of a comet on the side near the sun, and passing round it, so as to form the commencement of the tail.--In fortification, a work of single lines thrown up to inclose a weak ground; usually a mere earth-work.

EPAULE, OR SHOULDER. In fortification, that part of a bastion adjacent to the junction of a face with a flank. The actual meeting of these two lines forms the "angle of the shoulder."

EPAULEMENT. In fortification, a covering mass raised to protect from the fire of the enemy, but differing from a parapet in having no arrangement made for the convenient firing over it by defenders. It is usually adopted for side-passages to batteries and the like.

EPAULET. The bullion or mark of distinction worn on the shoulders by officers, now common to many grades, but till recently worn only by captains and commanders, whence the brackish poet--

"Hail, magic power that fills an _epaulet_,
No wonder hundreds for thee daily fret!"

the meaning of which is now pointless.

EPHEMERIS, OR NAUTICAL ALMANAC. This in its wide sense, and recognizing its value to navigators and astronomers, must be pronounced one of the most useful of publications. How Drake and Magellan got on is matter of marvel, for sailors were not especially administered to till 1675, when the _Kalendarium Nauticum_, by Henry Seaman, Mariner, appeared; it comprised the usual matter of annual almanacs, and was enriched with such precepts and rules in the practice of navigation and traffic as are in daily use. But in 1767 our nautical almanac, a tabular statement of the geocentric planetary positions, which may be said to have created a new era in voyaging, was published; and this book, with certain alterations, was in force up to 1830, when a commission of the Royal Society and astronomers established the present _Ephemeris_, now so much valued. It is published annually, but computed to four years in advance, to accommodate those proceeding on long voyages. Attempts have been made in other countries to publish _The Nautical Almanac_, improved and corrected, but they are mere copies, corrected by the errata furnished annually in advance.

EPICYCLOID. A geometrical curve generated by making a circle roll upon the circumference of another circle; it is found useful in determining the figure of the teeth of wheel-work, and other purposes in mechanics. If the generating circle proceeds along the convexity of the periphery, it is called an upper or exterior epicycloid; if along the concavity, a lower or interior epicycloid.

EPOCH. The time to which certain given numbers or quantities apply.

EPROUVETTE. A small piece of ordnance specially fitted for testing the projectile force of samples of gunpowder.

EQUATED ANOMALY. This is also called the true anomaly, and is the distance of the sun from the apogee, or a planet from its aphelion, seen from the sun.

EQUATION, ANNUAL. _See_ ANNUAL EQUATION.

EQUATION OF EQUINOXES. The difference between the mean and apparent places of the equinox.

EQUATION OF THE CENTRE. The difference between the true and mean anomalies of a planet.

EQUATION OF TIME. The difference between mean and apparent time, or the acceleration or retardation of the sun's return to the meridian.

EQUATOR. Called also the equinoctial line, or simply the line, being an imaginary circle round the earth, dividing the globe into two equal parts, and equally distant from both poles. Extended to the heavens, it forms a circle called the celestial equator, which in like manner divides the heavens into two equal parts, the northern and southern hemispheres.

EQUATORIAL CURRENT. The set, chiefly westerly, so frequently met with near the equator, especially in the Atlantic Oceans.

EQUATORIAL DOLDRUMS. _See_ DOLDRUMS.

EQUATORIAL SECTOR. An instrument of large radius for finding the difference in the right ascension and declination of two heavenly bodies.

EQUATORIAL TELESCOPE. A glass so mounted that it enables the observer to follow the stars as they move equatorially.

EQUES AURATUS. An heraldic term for a knight.

EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE. A figure of three equal straight sides, and therefore of three equal angles.

EQUINOCTIAL. Synonymous with _equator_ (which see).

EQUINOCTIAL GALES. Storms which are observed to prevail about the time of the sun's crossing the equator, at which time there is equal day and night throughout the world.

EQUINOCTIAL POINTS. _See_ ECLIPTIC.

EQUINOXES. The two points of intersection of the ecliptic and the equator; so called, because on the sun's arrival at either of them, the night is everywhere equal in length to the day.

EQUIP, TO. A term frequently applied to the business of fitting a ship for a trading voyage, or arming her for war. (_See_ FITTING.)

EQUIPAGE. An admiral's retinue. Camp equipage consists of tents, furniture, cooking utensils, &c.

EQUIPMENT. The complete outfit of an officer.

EQUITABLE TITLE. Either this, or a legal claim, are absolutely necessary to establish an insurable interest in a ship or cargo. (_See_ QUALIFIED PROPERTY.)

ERIGONE. A name sometimes applied to the constellation Virgo.

ERNE. From the Anglo-Saxon _earne_, a vulture, a bird of the eagle kind. Now used to denote the sea-eagle.

ERRATIC WINDS. _See_ VARIABLES.

ESCALADE. The forcing a way over a rampart or other defence, properly by means of ladders or other contrivances for climbing.

ESCAPE-VALVES. In marine engines. (_See_ CYLINDER ESCAPE-VALVES.)

ESCARP. In fortification, that steep bank or wall immediately in front of and below the rampart, which is thus secured against being directly stormed by a superior force; it is generally the inner side of the ditch.

ESCHEATOR, THE KING'S. An officer at the exchequer of very ancient establishment, under the lord-treasurer, whose business it is to inform of escheats and casual profits of the crown, and to seize them into the king's hands.

ESCORT. A guard of troops attending an individual by way of distinction. Also, a guard placed over prisoners on a march.

ESCUTCHEON. The compartment in the middle of the ship's stern, where her name is written. [Derived from _ex-scutum_.]

ESKIPPAMENTUM. An archaism for tackle or ship-furniture.

ESKIPPER. Anglo-Norman to ship, and _eskipped_ was used for shipped.

ESKIPPESON. An old law term for a shipping or passage by sea.

ESNECCA. In the twelfth century, a royal yacht, though some deem it to have been a kind of transport.

ESPIALS. Night watches afloat, in dockyards and harbours; generally a boat named by the ordinary.

ESPLANADE. Generally that space of level ground kept vacant between the works of a fortress and neighbouring houses or other obstructions; though originally applied to the actual surface of the glacis.

ESQUIMAUX. A name derived from _esquimantsic_, in the Albinaquis language, _eaters of raw flesh_. Many tribes in the Arctic regions are still ignorant of the art of cookery.

ESSARA. The prickly heat.

ESTABLISHMENT. The regulated complement or quota of officers and men to a ship, either in time of war or peace. The equipment. The regulated dimensions of spars, cabin, rigging, &c.--_Establishment of a port._ An awkward phrase lately lugged in to denote the tide-hour of a port.

ESTIVAL. _See_ AESTIVAL.

ESTOC. A small stabbing sword.

ESTUARY. An inlet or shoaly arm of the sea into which a river or rivers empty, and subject to tidal influence.

ESTURE. An old word for the rise and fall of water.

ETESIAN WINDS. The _Etesiae_ of the ancients; winds which blow constantly every year during the time of the dog-days in the Levant.

ETIQUETTE. Naval or military observances, deemed to be law.

EUPHROE. _See_ UVROU.

EVACUATE. To withdraw from a town or fortress, in virtue of a treaty or capitulation; or in compliance with superior orders.

EVECTION. A term for the libration of the moon, or that apparent oscillatory inequality in her motion, caused by a change in the excentricity of her orbit, whereby her mean longitude is sometimes increased or diminished to the amount of 1 deg. 20', whereby we sometimes see a little further round one side than at others.

EVE-EEL. A northern name for the conger; from the Danish _hav-aal_, or sea-eel.

EVENING GUN. The warning-piece, after the firing of which the sentries challenge.

EVEN KEEL. When a ship is so trimmed as to sit evenly upon the water, drawing the same depth forward as aft. Some vessels sail best when brought by the head, others by the stern.

EVERY INCH OF THAT! An exclamation to belay a rope without rendering it.

EVERY MAN TO HIS STATION. _See_ STATION.

EVERY ROPE AN-END. The order to coil down the running rigging, or braces and bowlines, after tacking, or other evolution. Also, the order, when about to perform an evolution, to see that every rope is clear for running.

EVERY STITCH SET. All possible canvas spread.

EVOLUTION. The change of form and disposition during man[oe]uvres, whether of men or ships; movements which should combine celerity with precision and regularity.

EWAGE. An old law term meaning the toll paid for water-passage.

EXALTATION. A planet being in that sign in which it is supposed to exert its utmost influence.

EXAMINATION. A searching by, or cognizance of, a magistrate, or other authorized officer. Now strict in navy and army.

EXCENTRIC. In a steam-engine, a wheel placed on the crank-shaft, having its centre on one side of the axis of the shaft, with a notch for the _gab-lever_.

EXCENTRIC ANOMALY. An auxiliary angle employed to abridge the calculations connected with the motion of a planet or comet in an elliptic orbit.

EXCENTRICITY. In astronomical parlance, implies the deviation of an elliptic orbit from a circle.

EXCENTRIC ROD, by its action on the gab-lever, which it catches either way, puts the engine into gear.

EXCHANGE. A term in the mercantile world, to denote the bills by which remittances are made from one country to another, without the transmission of money. The removal of officers from one ship to another. Also, a mutual agreement between contending powers for exchange of prisoners.

EXCHEQUERED. Seized by government officers as contraband. Marked with the broad arrow. It also refers to proceedings on the part of the crown against an individual in the Exchequer Court, where suits for debts or duties due to the crown are brought.

EXECUTION. The Lords of the Admiralty have a right to issue their warrant, and direct the time and manner, without any special warrant from the crown for that purpose.--_Military execution_ is the ravaging and destroying of a country that refuses to pay contribution.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH. The commissioned and working officers of the ship, as distinguished from the civilian branch.

EXERCISE. The practice of all those motions, actions, and management of arms, whereby men are duly trained for service. Also, the practice of loosing, reefing, and furling sails.--_Exercise_, in naval tactics, may be applied to the forming a fleet into order of sailing, line of battle, &c. The French term is _evolutions_ or _tactiques_, and may be defined as the execution of the movements which the different orders and disposition of fleets occasionally require, and which the several ships are directed to perform by means of signals. (_See_ SIGNALS.)

EX LEX. An outlaw (a term of law).

EXPANSION-VALVE. In the marine engine, a valve which shuts off the steam in its passage to the slide-valves, when the piston has travelled a certain distance in the cylinder, leaving the remaining part of the stroke to be performed by the expansion of the steam.

EXPEDIENT. A stratagem in warfare.

EXPEDITION. An enterprise undertaken either by sea or land, or both, against an enemy; it should be conducted with secrecy and rapidity of movement.

EXPENDED. Used up, consumed, or asserted to be so.

EXPENSE BOOKS. Accounts of the expenditure of the warrant officer's stores, attested by the signing officers.

EXPLOITING. Transporting trees or timber by a river. Exploit was an old verb meaning to perform.

EXPLORATOR. An examiner of a country. A scout.

EXPORT, TO. To send goods or commodities out of a country, for the purposes of traffic, under the general name of exports.

EXPORTATION. The act of sending exports to foreign parts.

EXPORTER. The person who sends the exports abroad.

EXPOSED ANCHORAGE. An open and dangerous place, by reason of the elements or the enemy.

EXTERIOR SIDE. The side of an imaginary polygon, upon which the plan of a fortification is constructed.

EXTERIOR SLOPE. In fortification, that slope of a work towards the country which is next outward beyond its superior slope.

EXTERNAL CONTACT. In a transit of Mercury or Venus over the sun's disc, this expression means the first touch of the planet's and sun's edges, before any part of the former is projected on the disc of the luminary.

EXTRAORDINARIES. Contingent expenses.

EXTREME BREADTH. The extent of the midships, or dead flat, with the thickness of the bottom plank included.

EXTREMITIES. The stem and stern posts of a ship.

EY. _See_ EYGHT.

EYE. The circular loop of a shroud or stay where it goes over the mast.--_To eye_, to observe minutely.--_Flemish eye_, a phrase particularly applied to the eye of a stay, which is either formed at the making of the rope; or by dividing the yarns into two equal parts, knotting each pair separately, and pointing the whole over after parcelling. This eye stopped by the mouse forms the collar. It is not strong, soon rots, and seldom, if ever, used now where strength is of more importance than neatness.

EYE-BOLTS. Those which have an eye or opening in one end, for hooking tackles to, or fastening ropes.

EYELET-HOLES, are necessary in order to bend a sail to its yard or boom, or to reef it; they consist of round holes worked in a sail to admit a cringle or small rope through, chiefly the robands (or rope-bands), and the points of the reef-line. (_See_ SAIL.)

EYE OF A BLOCK-STROP. That part by which it is fastened or suspended to any particular place upon the sails, masts, or rigging; the eye is sometimes formed by making two eye-splices, termed lashing eyes, on the ends of the strop, and then seizing them together with a small line, so as to bind both round a mast, yard, or boom, as is deemed necessary.

EYE OF AN ANCHOR. The hole in the shank wherein the ring is fixed.

EYE OF A STAY. That part of a stay which is formed into a sort of collar to go round the mast-head; the eye and mouse form the collar.

EYE OF THE WIND. The direction to windward from whence it blows. (_See_ WIND'S-EYE.)

EYE-SHOT. Within sight.

EYES OF A MESSENGER. Eyes spliced in its ends to lash together.

EYES OF A SHIP. (_See_ EYES OF HER.)

EYES OF HER. The foremost part of the bay, or in the bows of a ship. In olden times, and now in Spanish and Italian boats, as well as Chinese junks, an eye is painted on each bow. The hawse-holes also are deemed the "eyes of her."

EYE-SORE. Any disagreeable object.

EYE-SPLICE. (_See_ SPLICE.) A kind of splice made by turning the end of a rope back, and the strands passed through the standing part.--_Eye of a splice_, the strand turned up, by the fid or marline-spike, to receive the opposite strand.

EYGHT. An alluvial river-island, where osiers usually grow, called also _ait_, _ayt_, _ey_, _eyet_, or _eyot_. Also, the thickest part of a scule of herrings; when this is scattered by the fishermen, it is termed "breaking the ey."

F.

FACE. The edge of a sharp instrument. Also, the word of command to soldiers, marines, and small-arm men, to turn upon the heel a quarter or half a circle round in the direction ordered.

FACED. Turned up with facings on the cuffs and collars of uniforms and regimentals.

FACE OF A GUN. The surface of the metal at the extremity of the muzzle.

FACE-PIECE. A piece of elm tabled on to the knee of the head, in the fore-part, to assist the conversion of the main piece; and likewise to shorten the upper bolts, and prevent the cables from rubbing against them as the knee gets worn.

FACES OF A WORK. In fortification, are the two lines forming its most prominent salient angle.

FACHON. An Anglo-Norman term for a sword or falchion.

FACING. Letting one piece of timber into another with a rabbet to give additional strength or finish. Also, a movement for forming soldiers and small-arm men.--_Facings._ The front of regimentals and uniforms.

FACK. _See_ FAKE.

FACTOR. A commercial superintendent, or agent residing beyond sea, commissioned by merchants to buy or sell goods on their account by a letter of attorney.

FACTORAGE. A certain percentage paid to the factor by the merchant on all he buys or sells.

FACTORY. A place where a considerable number of factors reside; as Lisbon, Leghorn, Calcutta, &c. Factory comprehends the business of a firm or company, as that of the India Company at Canton, or the Hudson's Bay Fur Company in North America.

FACULAE. Luminous streaks upon the disc of the sun, among which the maculae, or dark spots, usually appear.

FADOME. The old form used for _fathom_ (which see).

FAFF, TO. To blow in flaws.

FAG, TO. To tire.--_A fag._ A deputy labouring-man, or one who works hard for another.

FAG-END. Is the end of any rope. This term is also applied to the end of a rope when it has become untwisted.

FAGGOTS. Men who used to be hired to answer to names on the books, when the crew were mustered by the clerk of the cheque. Such cheating was once still more prevalent in the army.

FAGOT. A billet for stowing casks. A _fascine_ (which see).

FAG-OUT, TO. To wear out the end of a rope or end of canvas.

FAIK, OR FALK. A name in the Hebrides for the sea-fowl razor-bill (_Alca torda_).

FAIR. A general term for the wind when favourable to a ship's course, in opposition to contrary or foul; _fair_ is more comprehensive than _large_, since it includes about 16 points, whereas large is confined to the beam or quarter, that is, to a wind which crosses the keel at right angles, or obliquely from the stern, but never to one right astern. (_See_ LARGE and SCANT.)--_Fair_, in ship-building, denotes the evenness or regularity of a curve or line.--_To fair_, means to clip the timbers fair.

FAIR-CURVE. In delineating ships, is a winding line whose shape is varied according to the part of the ship it is intended to describe. This curve is not answerable to any of the figures of conic sections, although it occasionally partakes of them all.

FAIRING. Sheering a ship in construction. Also, the draught of a ship. To run off a great number of different lines or curves, in order to ascertain the fairness in point of curvature of every part, and the beauty of the whole.

FAIR-LEAD. Is applied to ropes as suffering the least friction in a block, when they are said to lead fair.

FAIR-LEADER. A thimble or cringle to guide a rope. A strip of board with holes in it, for running-rigging to lead through, and be kept clear, so as to be easily distinguished at night.

FAIR-MAID. A west-country term for a dried pilchard.

FAIR-WAY. The navigable channel of a harbour for ships passing up or down; so that if any vessels are anchored therein, they are said to lie in the fair-way. (_See_ PILOT'S FAIR-WAY.) Also, when the proper course is gained out of a channel.

FAIR-WEATHER. That to which a ship may carry the small sails.

FAKE. One of the circles or windings of a cable or hawser, as it lies disposed in a coil. (_See_ COILING.) The fakes are greater or smaller in proportion to the space which a cable is allowed to occupy.

FALCON. In early times a small cannon, having a length of about 7 feet, a diameter of bore of 3 inches, and throwing a ball of nearly 3 lbs. weight, with a point-blank range of 130 paces, and a random one of 1500.

FALCONET. A primitive cannon smaller than the falcon; it threw a ball of 1-1/2 lb.

FALK. _See_ FAKE.

FALL. A vertical descent of a river through a narrow rocky pass, or over a ledge, to the impediment of navigation. Also, the loose end of a tackle, or that part to which the power is applied in hoisting, and on which the people pull. Also, in ship-building, the descent of a deck from a fair-curve lengthwise, as frequently seen in merchantmen and yachts, to give height to the commander's cabin, and sometimes forward at the hawse-holes. Also, a large cutting down of timber. Also, North American English for autumn, when the navigation of northern inland waters is about to close till the succeeding spring.

FALL, TO. A town or fortress is said to fall when it is compelled to surrender to besiegers.

FALL ABOARD OF, TO. To strike another vessel, or have a collision with it. Usually applied to the motion of a disabled ship coming in contact with another.

FALL! A FALL! The cry to denote that the harpoon has been effectively delivered into the body of a whale.

FALL ASTERN, TO. To lessen a ship's way so as to allow another to get ahead of her. To be driven backwards.

FALL BACK, TO. To recede from any position previously occupied.

FALL CALM, TO. Speaking of the weather, implies a total cessation of the wind.

FALL CLOUD. _See_ STRATUS.

FALL DOWN, TO. To sail, drift, or be towed to some lower part nearer a river's mouth or opening.

FALLEN-STAR. A name for the jelly-fish or _medusa_, frequently thrown ashore in summer and autumn.

FALL FOUL OF, TO. To reprimand severely. (_See_ FALL ABOARD OF.)

FALL IN, TO. The order to form, or take assigned places in ranks. (_See_ ASSEMBLY.)

FALLING GLASS. When the mercury of the barometer is sinking in the tube.

FALLING HOME. When the top-sides are inclined within the perpendicular; opposite of _wall-sided_. (_See_ TUMBLING HOME.)

FALLING OFF. The opposite of _griping_, or _coming up to the wind_; it is the movement or direction of the ship's head to leeward of the point whither it was lately directed, particularly when she sails near the wind, or lies by. Also, the angle contained between her nearest approach to the direction of the wind, and her furthest declination from it when _trying_.

FALLING OUT. When the top-sides project beyond a perpendicular, as in flaring.

FALLING STARS. Meteors which have very much the appearance of real stars. They were falsely regarded as foreboders of wind, as Seneca in _Hippolytus_, "Ocior cursum rapiente flamma stella cum ventis agitata longos porrigit ignes." Some are earthy, others metallic.

FALLING TIDE, OR EBB OF TIDE. This phrase, implying a previous flow of tide towards high-water, requires here only a partial explanation: the sea, after swelling for about six hours, and thus entering the mouths of rivers, and rising along the sea-shore more or less, according to the moon's age and other circumstances, rests for a quarter of an hour, and then retreats or ebbs during the next six hours. After a similar pause the phenomenon recommences,--occupying altogether about twelve hours and fifty minutes. A table of the daily time of high-water at each port is requisite for the shipping. There are curious variations to this law, as when strong rivers rise and fall, and yet do not admit salt water. Their currents, indeed, of fresh water, are found far off the land, as in the Tiber, and off several in the West Indies, South America, &c. (_See_ TIDE.)

FALL IN WITH, TO. To meet, when speaking of a ship; to discover, when speaking of the land.

FALL OF TIDE. An ebb.

FALL OUT, TO. To increase in breadth. Among soldiers and small-arm men, to quit the ranks of a company.

FALLS. When a ship is not flush, this is the term given to those risings of some parts of her decks (which she may have) more than others.

FALL-WIND. A sudden gust.

FALMADAIR. An old word signifying rudder, or a pilot.

FALSE ALARM. _See_ ALARM.

FALSE ATTACK. A feigned assault, made to induce a diversion or distraction of the enemy's forces, in order that the true object elsewhere may be carried.

FALSE COLOURS. To sail under false colours and chase is an allowable stratagem of war, but firing under them is not permitted by the maritime law of England.

FALSE FIRE, BLUE FLAMES. A composition of combustibles filled into a wooden tube, which, upon being set fire to, burns with a light blue flame from a half to several minutes. They are principally used as night-signals, but often to deceive an enemy.

FALSE KEEL. A kind of supplemental or additional keel secured under the main one, to protect it should the ship happen to strike the ground.

FALSE KELSON, OR KELSON RIDER. A piece of timber wrought longitudinally above the main kelson.

FALSE MUSTER. An incorrect statement of the crew on the ship's books, which if proved subjects the captain to cashiering.

FALSE PAPERS. Frequently carried by slavers and smugglers.

FALSE POST. _See_ FALSE STERN-POST.

FALSE RAIL. A thin plank fayed at the head-rails as a strengthener.

FALSE STEM. A hard timber fayed to the fore-part of the main stem, its tail covering the fore-end of the keel. (_See_ CUT-WATER.)

FALSE STERN. An additional stern fixed on the main one, to increase the length and improve the appearance of a vessel.

FALSE STERN-POST. A piece bolted to the after-edge of the main stern-post to improve steerage, and protect it should the ship tail aground.

FAMILY-HEAD. When the stem was surmounted with several full-length figures, as was the custom many years ago.

FAMLAGH. The Erse or Manx term for oar or ore weed, wrack, or manure of sea-weed.

FANAL [Fr.] A lighthouse.

FANCY-LINE. A line rove through a block at the jaws of a gaff, used as a down-haul. Also, a line used for cross-hauling the lee topping-lift. Also, a cord laid up neatly for sashed cabin-windows. Sometimes used for _tracing-line_.

FANE. An old term for weather-cock: "a fayne of a schipe." (_See_ VANE.)

FANG, TO. To pour water into a pump in order to fetch it, when otherwise the boxes do not hold the water left on them.

FANGS. The valves of the pump-boxes.

FANIONS. Small flags used in surveying stations, named after the bannerets carried by horse brigades, and corrupted from the Italian word _gonfalone_, a standard.

FANNAG-VARRY. The Erse term for a shag or cormorant, still in use on our north-western shores, and in the Isle of Man.

FANNING. The technical phrase for breadthening the after-part of the tops. Also, widening in general.

FANNING-BREEZE. One so gentle that the sail alternately swells and collapses.

FANTODS. A name given to the fidgets of officers, who are styled jib-and-staysail Jacks.

FARDAGE. Dunnage; when a ship is laden in bulk.

FARE [Anglo-Saxon, _fara_]. A voyage or passage by water, or the money paid for such passage. Also, a fishing season for cod; and likewise the cargo of the fishing vessel. (_See_ HOW FARE YE?)

FARE-CROFTS. The vessels that formerly plied between England and France.

FARRANE. The Erse term for a gentle breeze, still used on our north-western shores.

FARTHEL. An old word for furling sails. Also, a burden, according to Shakspeare in _Hamlet_; and a weight, agreeably to the depositions of the "Portingalls" before Sir Francis Drake, _in re_ the great carrack's cargo in 1592; there were "ij^_c_ fardells of synamon:" of this famous prize the queen reserved to herself the lion's share.

FASCINES. Faggots of brush or other small wood, varying according to the object in view and the material available, from about 6 to 9 inches in diameter, and from 6 to 18 feet in length, firmly bound with withes at about every 18 inches. They are of vast use in military field-engineering.

FASH. An irregular seam. The mark left by the moulds upon cast bullets. (Short for _fashion_--ship-fashion, soldier-fashion.)

FASHION-PIECES. The fashion of the after-part of a ship, in the plane of projection. They are the hindmost timbers in the run of a ship, which terminate the breadth, and form the shape of the stern; they are united to the stern-post, and to the end of the wing-transom by a rabbet.

FASKIDAR. A name of the _Cataractes parasiticus_, or Arctic gull.

FAST. A rope, cablet, or chain by which a vessel is secured to a wharf; and termed bow, head, breast, quarter, or stern fasts, as the case may be.

FAST AGROUND. Immovable, or high and dry.

FAST AND LOOSE. An uncertain and shuffling conduct.

FASTENINGS. "Let go the fasts!" throw off the ropes from the bollards or cleats. Also used for the bolts, &c., which hold together the different parts of a ship.

FASTNESS. A strong post, fortified by nature and art.

FAST SAILER. A ship which, in nautical parlance, "has legs."

FAST STAYING. Quick in going about.

FAT, OR BROAD. If the tressing in or tuck of a ship's quarter under water hangs deep, or is overfull, they say she has a _fat_ quarter.

FATHER. The dockyard name given to the person who constructs a ship of the navy.

FATHER-LASHER. A name of the scorpius or scorpion, _Cottus scorpius_, a fish about 9 inches long, common near rocky coasts.

FATHOM [Anglo-Saxon, _faedm_]. The space of both arms extended. A measure of 6 feet, used in the length of cables, rigging, &c., and to divide the lead (or sounding) lines, for showing the depth of water.--_To fathom_, is to ascertain the depth of water by sounding. To conjecture an intention.

FATHOM-WOOD. Slab and other offal of timber, sold at the yards, by fathom lots: cubic measurement.

FATIGUE-PARTY. A party of soldiers told off to any labour-duty not strictly professional.

FAULCON. A small cannon. (_See_ FALCON.)

FAUN. Anglo-Norman for a flood-gate or water-gate.

FAUSSEBRAYE. In fortification, a kind of counterguard or low rampart, intended to protect the lower part of the main escarp behind it from being breached, but considered in modern times to do more harm than good to the defence.

FAVOUR, TO. To be careful of; also to be fair for.--"_Favour her_" is purely a seaman's term; as when it blows in squalls, and the vessel is going rap-full, with a stiff weather-helm and bow-seas, "favour her boy" is "ease the helm, let the sails lift, and head the sea." So, in hauling in a rope, _favour_ means to trust to the men's force and elasticity, and not part the rope by taking a turn on a cleat, making a dead nip. A thorough seaman "favours" his spars and rigging, and sails his ship economically as well as expeditiously.

FAY, TO. To fit any two pieces of wood, so as to join close and fair together; the plank is said to fay to the timbers, when it lies so close to them that there shall be no perceptible space between them.

FAY FENA. A kind of Japanese galley, of 30 oars.

FEALTY. Loyalty and due devotion to the queen's service.

FEARN. A small windlass for a lighter.

FEAR-NOUGHT. Stout felt woollen cloth, used for port-linings, hatchway fire-screens, &c. The same as _dread-nought_.

FEATHER. (_See_ SWINE'S or SWEDISH FEATHER.) It is used variously. (_See also_ FULL FEATHER and WHITE FEATHER.)

FEATHER, TO CUT A. When a ship has so sharp a bow that she makes the spray feather in cleaving it.

FEATHER AN OAR, TO. In rowing, is to turn the blade horizontally, with the top aft, as it comes out of the water. This lessens the resistance of the air upon it.

FEATHER-EDGED. A term used by shipwrights for such planks as are thicker on one edge than the other.

FEATHERING-PADDLES. (Morgan's patent.)

FEATHER-SPRAY. Such as is observed at the cut-water of fast steamers, forming a pair of wing feathers.

FEATHER-STAR. The _Comatula rosacea_, one of the most beautiful of British star-fishes.

FEAZE, TO. To untwist, to unlay ropes; to teaze, to convert it into oakum.

FEAZINGS. The fagging out or unravelling of an unwhipped rope.

FECKET. A Guernsey frock.

FECKLESS. Weak and silly.

FEEDER. A small river falling into a large one, or into a dock or float. _Feeders_, in pilot slang, are the passing spurts of rain which feed a gale.

FEEDING-GALE. A storm which is on the increase, sometimes getting worse at each succeeding squall. When a gale freshens after rain, it is said to have fed the gale.

FEEDING-PART OF A TACKLE. That running through the sheaves, in opposition to the standing part.

FEED OF GRASS. A supply of any kind of vegetables.

FEED-PUMP. The contrivance by which the boilers of a steamer are supplied with water from the hot-well, while the engines are at work.

FEED-WATER. In steamers, the water which supplies the boiler.

FEEL THE HELM, TO. To have good steerage way, carrying taut weather-helm, which gives command of steerage. Also said of a ship when she has gained head-way after standing still, and begins to obey the helm.

FEINT. A mock assault, generally made to conceal a true one.

FELL, TO. To cut down timber. To knock down by a heavy blow. _Fell_ is the Anglo-Saxon for a skin or hide.

FELL-HEAD. The top of a mountain not distinguished by a peak.

FELL IN WITH. Met by chance.

FELLOES [from _felly_]. The arch-pieces which form the rim or circumference of the wheel, into which the spokes and handles are fitted.

FELLOW. A sailor's soubriquet for himself; he will ask if you "have anything for a fellow to do?"

FELLS. Upland levels and mountainous tracts.

FELT. Stuff made of wool and hair. Patent felt is saturated with tar, and used to place inside the doubling or sheathing of a vessel's bottom. Employed also in covering the boilers and cylinders of steam-engines.

FELUCCA. (_See_ LUNTRA.) A little vessel with six or eight oars, frequent in the Mediterranean; its helm may be applied in the head or stern, as occasion requires. Also, a narrow decked galley-built vessel in great use there, of one or two masts, and some have a small mizen; they carry lateen sails.

FEN. Low tracts inundated by the tides, capable, when in a dry state, of bearing the weight of cattle grazing upon them; differing therein from bog or quagmire. When well drained, they form some of the best land in the country.

FENCE. A palisade. Also, the arm of the hammer-spring of a gun-lock.

FENCIBLES. Bodies of men raised for limited service, and for a definite period. In rank they are junior to the line and royal marines, but senior to yeomanry or volunteers.

FENCING. The art of using the small-sword with skill and address.

FEND. An aphaeresis from defend; to ward off.