Chapter L (2)

LINE. The general appellation of a number of small ropes in a ship, as buntlines, clue-lines, bowlines, &c. Also, the term in common parlance for the equator. Also, in the army, distinguishes the regular numbered regiments of cavalry and infantry from the artillery and guards, to whom exceptional functions are assigned. In fortification, it means a trench, approaches, &c. In a geometrical sense, it signifies length without breadth; and in military parlance, it is drawing up a front of soldiers.--_Concluding line._ A small rope, which is hitched to the middle of every step of a stern-ladder.--_Deep-sea line._ A long line, marked at every five fathoms with small strands of line, knotted, and used with the deep-sea lead. The first 20 fathoms are marked as follows: 2 and 3 fathoms with black leather; 5 with white bunting; 7 with red; 10 with leather and a hole in it. Then 13, 15, and 17 repeat the previous marks of 3, 5, and 7. Two knots indicate 20, three knots 30, four knots 40 fathoms, and so on, with an additional knot for every ten. Meanwhile a single knot indicates the intermediate fives. Besides this system some pilots prefer their own marks, as in the Hooghly, where they always measure the line for themselves. The term "deep-sea line" must not now be confined to the use of the lead for the ordinary purposes of safe navigation; deep-sea soundings for scientific purposes are recorded in thousands of fathoms, in which case the line is sometimes made of silk, the object being to obtain the largest amount of strength with a small weight.--_Fishing-lines._ Particular kinds of lines, generally used for fishing snood, mackerel, whiting, cod, albacore, &c.--_Hand-line._ A line about 20 fathoms long, marked like the first 20 fathoms of the deep-sea line. It is made fast to a hand-lead of from 7 to 14 lbs., and used to determine the depth of water in going in or out of a harbour, river, channel, &c.--_Hauling-line._ Any rope let down out of a top, &c., to haul up some light body by hand.--_Knave-line._ A rope fastened to the cross-trees, under the main or fore top, whence it comes down by the ties to the ram-head, and there it is rove through a piece of wood about 2 feet long, and so is brought to the ship's side, and there hauled up taut to the rails.--_Life-line._ A rope occasionally extended in several situations for persons to lay hold of, to prevent their falling.--_Mar-line._ A particular kind of small line, composed of two strands very little twisted; there is both tarred and white mar-line. That supplied for the gunner and for bending light sails is untarred.--_Navel-line._ A rope depending from the heads of the main and fore masts, and passed round to the bight of the truss to keep it up, whilst the yard is being swayed up, or when the truss, in bracing sharp up, is overhauled to the full.--_Spilling-lines._ Ropes fixed occasionally to the square sails, particularly the main and fore courses in bad weather, for reefing or furling them more conveniently; they are rove through blocks upon the yard, whence leading round the sail they are fastened abaft the yard, so that the sail is very closely confined.--_White-line._ That which has not been tarred, in contradistinction to _tarred line_.

LINE-BREADTH. _See_ BREADTH LINE.

LINE OF BATTLE. A disposition of the fleet at the moment of engagement, by signal or previous order, on which occasion the vessels are usually drawn up as much as possible in a specified bearing, as well to gain and keep the advantage of the wind, as to run the same board, about 1 cable, or 100 fathoms distant from each other. The line-of-battle in sea-fights occurs both in Plutarch (_Themistocles_) and Froissart.

LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIPS. Formerly those of 74 guns and upwards; or in these iron days, any vessel capable of giving and taking the tremendous blows of the larger ordnance.

LINE OF BEARING. A previously determined bearing given out by a commander-in-chief, as well as line-of-battle. "From line of battle form line of bearing," or reverse. The line of bearing must be that point of the compass on which the ships bear from each other, and from which the line of battle can readily be formed without losing speed or ground.

LINE OF COLLIMATION. _See_ COLLIMATION, LINE OF.

LINE OF DEFENCE. In fortification, the face of a work receiving flank defence, together with its prolongation to the flanking work.

LINE OF DEMARCATION. A line which is drawn by consent, to ascertain the limits of territories belonging to different powers.

LINE OF LINE. _See_ GUNTER'S LINE.

LINE-OF-METAL ELEVATION. That which the axis of a gun has above the object when its line of metal is pointed on the latter; it averages 1-1/2 deg. in guns of the old construction.

LINE OF NODES. The imaginary line joining the ascending and descending nodes of the orbit of a planet or comet.

LINE OF OPERATIONS. In strategy, the line an army follows to attain its objective point.

LINE OUT STUFF. To mark timber for dressing to shape.

LINERS. Line-of-battle ships. Also, a designation of such packet or passenger ships as trade periodically and regularly to and from ports beyond sea, in contradistinction to chance vessels. Also, a term applied by seamen to men-of-war and to their crews.

LINES. With shipwrights, are the various plans for determining the shape and form of the ship's body on the mould-loft floor. Also, a species of field-works, consisting of a series of fronts, constructed in order to cover the front and form the immediate defence of an army or the frontiers of a state.

LINES OF FLOTATION. Those horizontal marks supposed to be described by the surface of the water on the bottom of a ship, and which are exhibited at certain depths upon the sheer-draught. (_See_ LIGHT WATER-LINE, and LOAD WATER-LINE.)

LING. A brushwood useful in breaming. Also, a fish, the _Lota molva_; it invariably inhabits the deep valleys of the sea, while the cod is always found on the banks. When sun-dried it is called stock-fish.

LINGET. Small langridge; slugs.

LINGO. A very old word for tongue or dialect, rather than language or speech.

LININGS. The reef-bands, leech and top linings, buntline cloths, and other applied pieces, to prevent the chafing of the sails. In ship-building, the term means thin dressed board nailed over any rough surface to give it a finish.

LINKISTER. An interpreter; linguist.

LINKS. A northern phrase for the windings of a river; also for flat sands on the sea-shore, and low lands overflowed at spring tides.

LINK WORMING. Guarding a cable from friction, by worming it with chains.

LINNE. A Gaelic term for pool, pond, lake, or sea.

LINSEY-WOLSEY. A stuff in extensive use commercially; it is a mixture of flax and wool.

LINSTOCK. In olden times it was a staff about 3 feet long, having a sharp point at the foot to stick in the deck, and a forked head to hold a lighted match. It gave way to the less dangerous match-tub, and since that to gun-locks, friction-tubes, &c. Shakspeare in _Henry V._ says:

"And the nimble gunner
With _linstock_ now the devilish cannon touches,
And down goes all before them."

LINTRES. Ancient canoes capable of carrying three lintrarii.

LIP. Insolence and bounce.

LIPPER. A sea which washes over the weather chess-tree, perhaps _leaper_. Also, the spray from small waves breaking against a ship's bows.

LIPPING. Making notches on the edge of a cutlass or sword.

LIPS OF SCARPHS. The substance left at the ends, which would otherwise become sharp, and be liable to split.

LIQUORS. A term applicable to all fluids, but at sea it is expressly applied to alcoholic spirits.

LIRA. An Italian coin. A silver coin of about tenpence sterling.

LISBONINE. A national denomination for the moidore.

LISSOM. Active, supple.

LIST, TO. To incline to one side; as "the ship has a list to port," _i.e._ leans over to that side.

LIST. A roll of names, as the army and navy lists; but usually at sea it means the doctor's list. Also, the abbreviation for _enlist_. "Why did you list?" said when a man is grumbling who has entered a service voluntarily.

LIST AND RECEIPT. The official document sent with officers or men of any description, discharged from one ship to another; it merely states the names and qualities, with the date of discharge.

LISTER. A sort of three-pronged harpoon used in the salmon fisheries; also, a light spear for killing fish in general.

LISTING. A narrow strip cut off the edge of a plank, in order to expose for examination, and get at, a vessel's timbers.

LITTER. A sort of hurdle bed, on which to carry wounded men from the field to the boats.

LITTORAL. Relating to a coast; often used as synonymous with sea-board.

LITTORARIAE. Ancient coasting vessels.

LIVE, TO. To be able to withstand the fury of the elements; said of a boat or ship, &c.

LIVE-LUMBER. Passengers, _ladies_, landsmen, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry.

LIVELY. To lift lightly to the sea; as a boat, &c.

LIVER-FACED. Mean and cowardly, independent of complexion.

LIVERY-ARROW. A missile formerly supplied to our ships of war.

LIVE-SHELL. One filled with its charge of powder or other combustible. It is also called a _loaded shell_.

LIVID SKY. That blackish red and blue which pervade the sky, previous to an easterly gale, at sea:--

"Deep midnight now involves the livid skies
Where eastern breezes, yet enervate, rise."--_Falconer._

LIZARD. A piece of rope, sometimes with two legs, and one or more iron thimbles spliced into it. It is used for various purposes; one is often made fast to the topsail-tye, for the buntlines to reeve through, to confine them to the centre of the yard. A lizard with a tail and thimble is used as a fair lead, to lead out where the lift runs in a line with the object. The lower boom topping-lift is thus helped by carrying the lizard out to the fore-brace block. In yards sent aloft ready for crossing, the lizard confines the yard rope until the order is given, "Sway across," when, letting the lizard run, all cross simultaneously.

LIZIERE. In fortification, a word sometimes used for _berm_ (which see). A narrow bank of earth supporting the parapet when deformed by fire.

LLANOS [Sp. _plains_]. Immense plains in S. America, with alternate arid patches and verdure.

LLOYD'S. An establishment which, from a subscription coffee-house, has grown to a society which has transacted the bulk of the British insurance business regularly since 1601; and even before that period assurers had met there "time out of mind." A register is kept of every ship, whether foreign or English, with the place where it was built, the materials used in its construction, its age, state of repair, and general character.

LLOYD'S AGENTS. Persons appointed in all parts of the commercial world, to forward accounts of the arrivals and departures of vessels, or any information interesting to the underwriters.

LLOYD'S LIST. A gazette, published formerly twice a week, but latterly daily, under the superintendence of a committee chosen by the subscribers, and transmitted over the whole world.

LLOYD'S REGISTER. An annual list of British and foreign shipping, ranked by letter and number in different classes.

LLOYD'S SURVEYORS. Practical persons specially appointed in London, and most of the out-ports of the United Kingdom, to investigate the state and condition of merchant-ships for the underwriters.

LOADED-SHELL. A shell filled with lead, to be thrown from a mortar. The term is also used for _live-shells_.

LOADING-CHAMBER. The paterero, or inserting piece in breech-loading.

LOADING OF A SHIP. _See_ CARGO and LADING.

LOADSMAN. A pilot, or person who conducts into or out of harbours.

LOADSTONE. _See_ MAGNET and DIPPING-NEEDLE.

LOAD WATER-LINE. The draught of water exhibited when the ship is properly loaded; in a word, her proper displacement, not always sufficiently considered.

LOAD WATER-SECTION. A horizontal section at the load water-line in the ship-builder's draught.

LOAFER. One who hangs about a dock, ready for every job except a hard one.

LOATH TO DEPART. Probably the first line of some favourite song; formerly the air was sounded in men-of-war, when going foreign, for the women and children to quit the ship.

LOB. A sluggish booby; whence _lubber_. Also, that part of a tree where it first divides into branches.

LOBBY. A name sometimes given to an apartment close before the great cabin bulk-head.

LOB-COCK. A lubber; an old term of utter contempt.

LOBLOLLY. A name formerly applied to pottage, burgoo, or gruel.

LOBLOLLY-BOY. A man who attended the surgeon and his assistants, to summon the sick, and attend on them. A man is now stationed in the bay, under the designation of _sick-berth attendant_.

LOBSCOUSE. An olla-podrida of salt-meat, biscuit, potatoes, onions, spices, &c., minced small and stewed together. (_See_ LAP'S COURSE.)

LOBSTER. A well-known marine crustacean, _Astacus marinus_. Also, red-coats of old; whence _lobster-box_, a colloquialism for barracks.

LOBSTER-BOAT. A bluff, clincher-built vessel, fitted with a well, to preserve the lobsters alive.

LOBSTER-TOAD. _See_ DEEP-SEA CRAB.

LOB-TAILING. The act of the sperm whale in violently beating the water with its tail.

LOB-WORM. A worm found at low-water in sand, esteemed for bait.

LOCAL ATTRACTION. The effect of the iron in a ship on her compasses; it varies with the position of a compass in a ship, also with that of a ship on the earth's surface, and with the direction of the ship's head. In iron ships it is affected by the line of direction in which they are built. Its detection and remedies are amongst the most important studies of navigators of iron ships and steamers.

LOCAL MARINE-BOARD. _See_ MARINE BOARDS.

LOCH. Gaelic for lake, in Scotland and Ireland. In Scotland also an arm of the sea, where the tides ebb and flow; on the east coast called a _firth_, though on the west mostly termed a _loch_.

LOCHABER AXE. A formidable weapon once used by the Highlanders.

LOCK. The striking instrument by which fire is produced for the discharge of a gun, containing the cock, the hammer, the pan, &c. It was first introduced in naval ordnance by Sir Charles Douglas, and has now given way to the _detonating hammer_ and friction-tube, as the old match and the salamander did to the lock.

LOCK. A spelling of _loch_ (which see). Also, the general name for any works made to confine or raise the water of a river; a canal inclosed between the sluice-gate above and the flood-gate below.

LOCK, TO. To entangle the lower yards when tacking.

LOCKAGE. The cost of passing vessels through canal-locks.

LOCKER. Divisions in cabins and store-rooms.--_Boatswain's locker._ A chest in small craft wherein material for working upon rigging is kept.--_Chain-locker_ or _chain-well_, where the chain-cables are kept; best abreast the main-mast, as central weight, but often before the fore-mast.--_Davy Jones' locker._ The bottom of the sea, where nothing is lost, because you know where it is.--_Shot-lockers_, near the pump-well in the hold. Also, the receptacle round the coamings of hatchways.

LOCKET. The chape of a sword-scabbard.

LOCK-FAST. A modified principle in the breech-loading of fire-arms.

LOCKING-IN. The alternate clues and bodies of the hammocks when hung up.

LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL. An expression derived from fire-arms, and meaning the whole.

LOC-MEN, OR LOCO-MEN. An old term for pilots.

LOCOMOTIVE-POWER. The force of sails and wind, or steam.

LODE-MANAGE, OR LODEMANSHIP. The hire of a pilot. It also meant both pilotage and seamanship; whence Chaucer--

"His herborough, his moone, and his lodemanage,
There was none such from Hull to Cartage."

LODE-MEREGE. In the laws of Oleron, seems identical with _lode-manage_.

LODE-SHIP. A pilot boat, which was also employed in fishing; it is mentioned in statute 31 Edward III. c. 2.

LODESMEN. An Anglo-Saxon word for pilots.

LODE-STAR. The north star. But Spenser alludes to any star as a guide to mariners:--

"Like as a ship, whose lode-star, suddenly
Cover'd with clouds, her pilot hath dismay'd."

Shakspeare coincides with this, in comparing Hermia's eyes to lode-stars.

LODGE ARMS. The word of command to an armed party preparatory to their breaking off.

LODGEMENT. In fortification, an established footing, such as a besieger makes by throwing up hasty cover, against the fire of the defenders, on any freshly gained post.

LODGING-KNEES, OR DECK-BEAM KNEES. Those riding on the hanging or dagger-knees, and fixed horizontally in the ship's frame.

LODIA. A large trading boat of the White Sea.

LOE, OR LAWE. An eminence, whether natural or artificial.

LOFTY SHIPS. Once a general name for square-rigged vessels:--

"A mackerel sky and mares' tails
Make lofty ships carry low sails."

LOG-BOARD. Two boards shutting together like a book, and divided into several columns, in which to record, through the hours of the day and night, the direction of the wind and the course of the ship, with all the material occurrences, together with the latitude by observation. From this table the officers work the ship's way, and compile their journals. The whole being written by the mate of the watch with chalk, is rubbed out every day at noon. Now a slate is more generally used.

LOG-BOOK. Mostly called the log, is a journal into which the log-board is daily transcribed, together with any other circumstance deserving notice. The intermediate divisions or watches are usually signed by the commanding officer. It is also divided into _harbour-log_ and _sea-log_.

LOG-CANOE. One hollowed out of a single log. (_See_ CANOE.)

LOGGED. Entered in the log. A very serious punishment, not long disused, as a mark of disgrace, by recording the omissions of an officer. It may yet be demanded if arrest ensues.

LOGGED. When a ship is on her beam ends, or in that state in which she is unmanageable at sea. (_See_ WATER-LOGGED.)

LOGGERHEAD, OR LOGGER-HEAT. A round ball of iron attached to a long handle with a hook at the end of it. It heats tar by being made hot in the fire, and then plunged into the tar-bucket. It was also used to pound cocoa before chocolate was supplied. Also, an upright rounded piece of wood, near the stern of a whale-boat, for catching a turn of the line to. Also, a name given to a well-known turtle, _Chelonia caouana_, from its having a great head; it is sometimes called the _whooper_ or _whapper_. (_See_ TURTLE.)

LOG-GLASS. The sand-glass used at heaving the log to obtain the rate of sailing. It is a 28 seconds glass for slow sailing, and 14 seconds for fast sailing.

LOG-LINE AND LOG-SHIP. A small line about 100 fathoms long, fastened to the log-ship by means of two legs, one of which passes through a hole at the corner, and is knotted on the opposite side, while the other leg is attached by a pin fixed into another hole so as to draw out when _stop_ is called, _i.e._ when the glass has run out. This line, from the distance of 10, 12, or 15 fathoms of the log-ship, has certain knots or divisions, which ought to be 47 feet 4 inches from each other, though it was the common practice at sea not to have them above 42 feet. The estimate of the ship's way or distance run is done by observing the length of the line unwound whilst the glass is running; for so many knots as run out in that time, so many miles the ship sails in an hour.--_To heave the log_ is to throw it into the water on the lee-side, well out of the wake, letting it run until it gets beyond the eddies, then a person holding the glass turns it up just as the first mark, or stray-line, goes out, from which the knots begin to be reckoned. The log is, however, at best, a precarious way of computing, and must be corrected by experience. The inventor of it is not known, and no mention is made of it till the year 1607, in an East India voyage, published by Purchas. The mode before, and even now in some colliers, and in native craft in the East Indies, is to throw a _log_ or chip overboard at the foremost channel-plate, and to walk aft, keeping up with it until it passes the stern, thus estimating (and closely too by practice) the rate of motion. Other methods have been invented by various people, but _Massey's Patent Log_ gives the most accurate measurement. The same principle is also applied to the deep-sea sounding-lead.

LOGWOOD. Dyewood, _Haematoxylon campechianum_. It occurs on both sides of the American coasts near the Isthmus of Darien, and is a great article of trade, varying from L5 to L10 per ton. Recent discoveries of the products of coal have reduced the price.

LOICH. A statute term, comprehending the fishes lobbe, ling, and cod.

LONDAGE. An old term for landing from a boat.

LONDON WAGGON. The tender which carried the impressed men from off the tower to the receiving-ship at the Nore.

LONGAE. Roman row-boats built to carry a large number of men.

LONG AND SHORT BOARDS. _See_ TACK AND HALF-TACK.

LONG BALLS. Engaging beyond the reach of carronades.

LONG BOAT. Is carvel-built, full, flat, and high, and is usually the largest boat belonging to a ship, furnished with spars and sails, and may be armed and equipped for cruizing short distances; her principal employ, however, is to bring heavy stores on board, and also to go up small rivers to fetch water, wood, &c. At sea it is stowed between the fore and main masts. Not used in the navy. (_See_ LAUNCH.)

LONG-BOW. A noted weapon formerly supplied to our men-of-war.

LONG CHALKS. Great strides. (_See_ CHALKS.)

LONGER. Each row of casks in the hold, athwart. Also, the fore and aft space allotted to a hammock; the longers reckoned similarly to last.

LONG-GASKETS. Those used for sea service; the opposite of _harbour-gaskets_ (which see).

LONGIE. A name of the foolish guillemot, _Uria troile_, in the north.

LONGITUDE. Is an arc of the equator, or any parallel of latitude, contained between the meridian of a place and that of Greenwich, or any other first meridian. These arcs being similar, are expressed by the same number of degrees and miles, though the absolute distance on the earth's surface decreases as the latitude increases, for which see DEPARTURE. East longitude extends 180 degrees to the right, when looking north, and west longitude as many to the left of the first meridian.

LONGITUDE, GEOCENTRIC. The angular distance of a heavenly body from the first point of Aries, measured upon the ecliptic, as viewed from the earth.

LONGITUDE, HELIOCENTRIC. The angular distance of a body from the first point of Aries, measured upon the ecliptic, as viewed from the sun.

LONGITUDE BY ACCOUNT. The distance east and west, as computed from the ship's course and distance run, carried forward from the last astronomical determination.

LONGITUDE BY CHRONOMETER. Is estimated by the difference between the time at the place, and the time indicated by chronometer.

LONGITUDE BY LUNAR OBSERVATION. The longitude calculated by observing the moon's angular distance from the sun or a fixed star. It is the only check on chronometers, and very valuable in long voyages, though now much neglected, since the establishment of compulsory examination in the merchant service, which does not require lunars.

LONGITUDE OF A CELESTIAL BODY. An arc of the ecliptic, contained between the first point of Aries and a circle of longitude passing through the centre of the body.

LONGITUDINAL SECTION. In ship-building, a line which cuts the draught of a vessel lengthwise.

LONG-JAWED. The state of rope when its strands are straightened by being much strained and untwisted, and from its pliability will coil both ways.

LONG-LEAVE. Permission to visit friends at a distance.

LONG-LEGGED. Said of a vessel drawing much water.--_Long leggers_, lean schooners. Longer than ordinary proportion to breadth. Swift.

LONG OYSTER. A name of the sea cray-fish.

LONG-SERVICE. A cable properly served to prevent chafing under particular use.

'LONGSHORE. A word used rather contemptuously for _alongshore_; land usage.--_'Longshore fellows_, landsmen pretenders.--_'Longshore owners_, those merchants who become notorious for sending their ships to sea scantily provided with stores and provisions.

LONG-SHOT. A distant range. It is also used to express a long way; a far-fetched explanation; something incredible.

LONG STERN-TIMBERS. _See_ STERN-TIMBERS.

LONG STROKE. The order to a boat's crew to stretch out and hang on her.

LONG-TACKLES. Those overhauled down for hoisting up top-sails to be bent. Long-tackle blocks have two sheaves of different sizes placed one above the other, as in fiddle-blocks.

LONG-TAILS. A sobriquet for the Chinese.

LONG TIMBERS, OR LONG TOP-TIMBERS. Synonymous with _double futtocks_. Timbers in the cant-bodies, reaching from the dead-wood to the head of the second futtock, and forming a floor.

LONG TOGS. Landsman's clothes.

LONG TOM, OR LONG TOM TURKS. Pieces of lengthy ordnance for chasers, &c.

LONG VOYAGE. One in which the Atlantic Ocean is crossed.

LONG-WINDED WHISTLERS. Chase-guns.

LOO, OR LOE. A little round hill or heap of stones.--_Under the loo_, is shelter from the wind; to leeward.

LOOF. The after part of a ship's bow, before the chess-tree, or that where the planks begin to be incurvated as they approach the stem. Hence, the guns which lie here are called _loof-pieces_.

LOOF. Usually pronounced and spelled _luff_ (which see).

LOOK, TO. The bearing or direction, as, _she looks up_, is approaching her course.--_A plank looks fore and aft_, means, is placed in that direction.

LOOK-OUT. Watchful attention; there is always a look-out kept from the forecastle, foretopsail-yard, or above, to watch for any dangerous object lying near a ship's track, for any strange sail heaving in sight, &c.; the officer of the watch accordingly calls frequently from the quarter-deck to the mast-head-man appointed for this service, "Look out afore there."

LOOK OUT FOR SQUALLS. Beware; cautionary.

LOOM. The handle of an oar. Also, the track of a fish.

LOOM, TO. An indistinct enlarged appearance of any distant object in light fogs, as the coast, ships, &c.; "that land looms high," "that ship looms large." The effect of refraction.

LOOM-GALE. An easy gale of wind, in which a ship can carry her whole top-sails a-trip.

LOON, OR LUNDE. The great northern diver, _Colymbus glacialis_. A bird about the size of a goose, which frequents the northern seas, where "as straight as a loon's leg," is a common comparison.

LOOP. A bight or bend. The winding of a river.

LOOP-HOLES. Small openings made in the walls of a castle, or a fortification, for musketry to fire through. Also, certain apertures formed in the bulk-heads, hatches, and other parts of a merchant-ship, through which small arms might be fired on an enemy who boarded her, and for close fight. They were formerly called _meurtrieres_, and were introduced in British slave-vessels.

LOOPS OF A GUN-CARRIAGE. The iron eye-bolts to which the tackles are hooked.

LOOSE, TO. To unfurl or cast loose any sail, in order to its being set, or dried after rain.

LOOSE A ROPE, TO. To cast it off, or let it go.

LOOSE FALL. The losing of a whale after an apparently good opportunity for striking it.

LOOSE ICE. A number of pieces near each other, but through which the ship can make her way.

LOOSERS. Men appointed to loose the sails.

LOOSING FOR SEA. Weighing the anchor.

LOOT. Plunder, or pillage; a term adopted from China.

LOOVERED BATTENS. The battens that inclose the upper part of the well. (_See_ LOOVER-WAYS.)

LOOVER-WAYS. Battens or boards placed at a certain angle, so as to admit air, but not wet; a kind of Venetian-blind.

LOP AND TOP. The top and branches of a felled tree.

LOP-SIDED. Uneven; one side larger than the other.

LORCHA. A swift Chinese sailing vessel carrying guns.

LORD OF MISRULE. _See_ MASTER OF MISRULE.

LORDS COMMISSIONERS. _See_ COMMISSIONERS.

LORD WARDEN OF THE CINQUE PORTS. A magistrate who has the jurisdiction of the ports or havens so called. Generally held by one high in office, or an old minister.

LORICA. A defensive coat-armour made of leather; when iron plates were applied, it became a _jack_.

LORN. A northern name for the crested cormorant, _Phalacrocorax cristatus_.

LORRELL. An old term for a lubberly fellow.

LOSE WAY, TO. When a ship slackens her progress in the water.

LOSING THE NUMBER OF THE MESS. Dead, drowned, or killed. (_See_ NUMBER.)

LOSING GROUND. Dropping to leeward while working; the driftage.

LOSS. Total loss is the insurance recovered under peril, according to the invoice price of the goods when embarked, together with the premium of insurance. Partial loss upon either ship or goods, is that proportion of the prime cost which is equal to the diminution in value occasioned by the damage. (_See_ INSURANCE.)

LOSSAN. A Manx or Erse term for the luminosity of the sea.

LOST. The state of being foundered or cast away; said of a ship when she has either sunk, or been beat to pieces by the violence of the sea.

LOST DAY. The day which is lost in circumnavigating the globe to the westward, by making each day a little more than twenty-four hours long. (_See_ GAINED DAY.)

LOST HER WAY. When the buoy is streamed, and all is ready for dropping the anchor.

LOST! LOST! When a whale _flukes_, _dives_, or takes tail up to "_running_," and the boats have no chance in chasing.

LOST OR NOT LOST. A phrase originally inserted in English policies of insurance, in cases where a loss was already apprehended. It is now continued by usage, and is held not to make the contract a wager, nor more hazardous.

LOT. The abbreviation of allotment, or allowance to wife or mother. (_See_ ALLOTMENT.)

LOTMAN. An old term for pirate.

LOUGH. _See_ LOCH.

LOUND. Calm, out of wind.

LOW. An old term for a small hill or eminence.

LOW AND ALOFT. Sail from deck to truck: "every stitch on her."

LOWE. A flame, blaze. The torch used in the north by fish-poachers.

LOWER, TO. The atmosphere to become cloudy. Also, to ease down gradually, expressed of some weighty body suspended by tackles or ropes, which, being slackened, suffer the said body to descend as slowly, or expeditiously, as occasion requires.

LOWER-BREADTH-SWEEP. The second on the builder's draught, representing the lower height of breadth, on which line is set off the main half-breadth of the ship at its corresponding timber.

LOWER COUNTER. The counter between the upper counter and the rail under the lights.

LOWER-DECKERS. The heaviest armament, usually on the lower deck.

LOWER-FINISHING. _See_ FINISHINGS.

LOWER HANDSOMELY, LOWER CHEERLY. Are opposed to each other; the former being the order to lower gradually, and the latter to lower expeditiously.

LOWER-HEIGHT. _See_ MAIN-BREADTH.

LOWER-HOLD. The space for cargo in a merchant-vessel, fitted with 'tween-decks.

LOWER-HOLD-BEAMS. The lowest range of beams in a merchantman.

LOWER-HOPE. A well-known reach in the Thames where ships wait for the turn of the tide.

LOWER-LIFTS. The lifts of the fore, main, and crossjack-yards.

LOWER MASTS. _See_ MAST.

LOWER TRANSIT. The opposite to the upper transit of a circumpolar star: the passage _sub polo_.

LOW LATITUDES. Those regions far removed from the poles of the earth towards the equator, 10 deg. south or north of it.

LOW SAILS. The courses and close-reefed top-sails.

LOW WATER. The lowest point to which the tide ebbs. (_See_ TIDE.) Also, used figuratively for being in distress, without money.

LOXODROMIC. The line of a ship's way when sailing oblique to the meridian.

LOXODRONIUS. The _traverse table_.

LOZENGE. The diamond-cut figure. (_See_ RHOMBUS.)

LUBBER, OR LUBBART. An awkward unseamanlike fellow; from a northern word implying a clownish dolt. A boatswain defined them as "fellows fitted with teeth longer than their hair," alluding to their appetites.

LUBBER-LAND. A kind of El Dorado in sea-story, or country of pleasure without work, all sharing alike.

LUBBER'S HOLE. The vacant space between the head of a lower-mast and the edge of the top, so termed from timid climbers preferring that as an easier way for getting into the top than trusting themselves to the futtock-shrouds. The term has been used for any cowardly evasion of duty.

LUBBER'S POINT. A black vertical line or mark in the compass-bowl in the direction of the ship's head, by which the angle between the magnetic meridian and the ship's line of course is shown.

LUBRICATOR. The oil or similar material applied to the bearings of machinery to obviate friction. Also, special preparations of the same included in cartridges for rifled fire-arms, to prevent the fouling from the burnt powder adhering to the interior of the bore.

LUCE. The old word for a full-grown pike or jack, immortalized by Shakspeare.

LUCIDA. The bright star or {a} of each constellation.

LUCKEN. An unsplit haddock half-dry.

LUCKY MINIE'S LINES. The long stems of the sea-plant _Chorda filum_.

LUCKY-PROACH. A northern term for father-lasher, _Cottus scorpius_.

LUFF, OR LOOFE. The order to the helmsman, so as to bring the ship's head up more to windward. Sometimes called springing a luff. Also, the air or wind. Also, an old familiar term for lieutenant. Also, the fullest or roundest part of a ship's bows. Also, the weather-leech of a sail.

LUFF AND LIE. A very old sea-term for hugging the wind closely.

LUFF AND TOUCH HER! Try how near the wind she will come. (_See_ TOUCHING.)

LUFF INTO A HARBOUR, TO. To sail into it, shooting head to wind, gradually. A ship is accordingly said to spring her luff when she yields to the effort of the helm, by sailing nearer to the wind, or coming to, and does not shake the wind out of her sails until, by shortening all, she reaches her anchorage.

LUFF ROUND, OR LUFF A-LEE. The extreme of the movement, by which it is intended to throw the ship's head up suddenly into the wind, in order to go about, or to lessen her way to avoid danger.

LUFF-TACKLE. A purchase composed of a double and single block, the standing end of the rope being fast to the single block, and the fall coming from the double. This name is given to any large tackle not destined for any particular place, but to be variously used as occasion may require. It is larger than the jigger-tackle, but smaller than the fore and main yard-tackles or the stay-tackles. (_See_ LUFF UPON LUFF.)

LUFF UPON LUFF. One luff-tackle applied to the fall of another, to afford an increase of purchase.

LUG. The _Arenicola piscatorum_, a sand-worm much used for bait. Also, of old, the term for a perch or rod used in land-measuring, containing 16-1/2 feet, and which may have originated the word _log_.

LUGAR [Sp.] A name for watering-places on the Spanish coast.

LUG-BOAT. The fine Deal boats which brave the severest weather; they are rigged as luggers, and dip the yards in tacking. They really constitute a large description of life-boat.

LUGGER. A small vessel with quadrilateral or four-cornered cut sails, set fore-and-aft, and may have two or three masts. French coasters usually rig thus, and are called _chasse marees_; but with us it is confined to fishing craft and ships' boats; some carry top-sails. During the war of 1810 to 1814 French luggers, as well as Guernsey privateers, were as large as 300 tons, and carried 18 guns. One captured inside the Needles in 1814, carried a mizen-topsail. The _Long Bet_ of Plymouth, a well-known smuggler, long defied the Channel gropers, but was taken in 1816.

LUGS. The ears of a bomb-shell, to which the hooks are applied in lifting it.

LUG-SAIL. A sail used in boats and small vessels. It is in form like a gaff-sail, but depends entirely on the rope of the luff for its stability. The yard is two-thirds of the breadth at foot, and is slung at one-fourth from the luff. On the mast is an iron hoop or traveller, to which it is hoisted. The tack may be to windward, or at the heel of the mast amidships. It is powerful, but has the inconvenience of requiring to be lowered and shifted on the mast at every tack, unless the tack be secured amidships. Much used in the barca-longa, navigated by the Spaniards.

LULL. The brief interval of moderate weather between the gusts of wind in a gale. Also, an abatement in the violence of surf.

LULL-BAG. A wide canvas hose in whalers for conducting blubber into the casks, as it is "made off."

LUMBER. Logs as they arrive at the mills. Also, timber of any size, sawed or split for use. Also, things stowed without order.

LUMBERER. One who cuts timber (generally in gangs) in the forests of North America during the winter, and, on the melting of the snow, navigates it, first by stream-driving the separate logs down the spring torrents, then in bays or small rafts down the wider streams, and finally in rafts of thousands of square yards of surface down the navigable rivers, to the mills or to the port of shipment.

LUMIERE CENDREE. A term adopted from the French to signify the ash-coloured faint illumination of the dark part of the moon's surface about the time of new moon, caused by sunlight reflected from the earth.

LUMP. A stout heavy lighter used in our dockyards for carrying anchors, chains, or heavy stores to or from vessels. Also, the trivial name of the baggety, an ugly fish, likewise called the sea-owl, _Cyclopterus lumpus_. Also, undertaking any work by the lump or whole.--_By the lump_, a sudden fall out of the slings or out of a top; altogether.

LUMPERS. So named from labouring at lump or task work. Labourers employed to load and unload a merchant ship when in harbour. In the north the term is applied to those who furnish ballast to ships.

LUMP SUM. A full payment of arrears, and not by periodical instalments of money.

LUNAR. The brief epithet for the method of finding the longitude by the moon and sun or moon and stars. (_See_ WORKING A LUNAR.)

LUNAR DAY. The interval between a departure and return of the moon to the meridian.

LUNAR DISTANCES. An important element in finding the longitude at sea, by what is termed nautical astronomy. It is effected by measuring the apparent distance of the moon from the sun, planet, or certain bright stars, and comparing it with that given in the nautical almanac, for every third hour of Greenwich time.

LUNAR INEQUALITY. _See_ VARIATION OF THE MOON.

LUNAR OBSERVATIONS. The method of observing the apparent distances between given celestial objects, and then clearing the angles from the effects of parallax and refraction.

LUNAR TABLES. The tabulated logarithmic aid for correcting the apparent distance, and facilitating the reduction of the observations.

LUNATION. The period in which the moon goes through every variety of phase; that is, one synodical revolution.

LUNETTE. In fortification, a work composed of two faces meeting in a salient angle, from the inner extremities of which two short flanks run towards the rear, leaving an open gorge; it is generally applied only in connection with other works. Prize-masters will recollect that _lunette_ is also the French name for a spy-glass or telescope.

LUNGE [a corruption of _allonge_]. A pass or thrust with a sword; a shove with a boarding-pike.

LUNI-SOLAR. A chronological term; it is the moon's cycle multiplied into that of the sun.

LUNI-SOLAR PRECESSION. _See_ PRECESSION.

LUNT. A match-cord to fire great guns--a match for a linstock.

LUNTRA. _See_ FELUCCA.

LURCA. An old term for a small Mediterranean coaster.

LURCH. A heavy roll, weather or lee, as occasioned by a sea suddenly striking or receding from the weather-bilge of the vessel.--_To be left in the lurch_ is to be left behind in a case where others make their escape.

LUSH. Intoxicating fluids of any kind. Also, a northern term for splashing in water.

LUSORIAE. Ancient vessels of observation or pleasure.

LUST. An archaism of _list_. (_See_ LIST.)

LUTE-STERN. Synonymous with _pink-stern_.

LUTINGS. The dough stoppages to the seams of the coppers, &c., when distilling sea water.

LYING. The situation of a whale when favourable for sticking--the "lie" usually occurs after feeding.

LYING ALONG. _See_ LAYING ALONG.

LYING ON HIS OARS. Taking a rest; at ease.

LYING-TO. _See_ LIE-TO.

LYM. From the Celtic _leim_, a port; as Lyme and Lymington.

LYMPHAD. The heraldic term for an old-fashioned ship or galley.

LYNCH-LAW. A word recently imported into our parlance from America, signifying illegal and revengeful execution at the wish of a tumultuous mob.

LYRA. One of the ancient northern constellations. Also, a name of the gray gurnard, or _crooner_ (which see).

LYRIE. The name in the Firth of Forth for the _Cottus cataphractus_, or armed bull-head.

LYTER. The old orthography for _lighter_ (which see).

LYTHE. A name for the pollack, _Gadus pollachius_. Also, the coal-fish in its fourth year.