Chapter M (13)

TUBES. _See_ CHAIN-PUMP.

TUBES, FOR GUNS. A kind of portable priming, for insertion into the vent,--of various patterns. (_See_ FRICTION-TUBE, QUILL-TUBES, &c.)

TUBS, TOPSAIL-HALLIARD. Circular framed racks in which the topsail-halliards are coiled clear for running, and are prevented from fouling by being sent adrift in a gale.

TUBULAR BOILERS. Those in which the flame and hot gases, after leaving the furnaces, pass through a great number of small iron or brass tubes surrounded by water, by which means these gases are made to impart some of their heat to the water before they escape; thus fuel is economized.

TUCK. The after-part of a ship, immediately under the stern or counter, where the ends of the bottom planks are collected and terminate by the tuck-rail. Thus the fir frigates of 1812-14 had flat, square transoms similar to boats, or heart-shaped. Hence our square-tucked frigates, brigs, &c.

TUG. A vessel for towing in and out of harbours and the like. (_See_ STEAM-TUG.)

TUG, TO [from the Anglo-Saxon _teogan_, to pull]. It now signifies to hang on the oars, and get but little or nothing ahead.

TUGG. A heavy sort of wain or cart, on which the ship-timber for naval arsenals was formerly conveyed from Sussex.

TUMBLE IN. _See_ TUMBLING HOME.

TUMBLER. One of the numerous names for the porpoise, _Phoc[oe]na communis_. Also, a contrivance to avoid the necessity of having copper nailed on the mast to prevent a gaff from chafing it.

TUMBLE UP! A requisition of the boatswain's mates, &c., to quicken the hands after being piped up. The cry is well understood, though so contrary to the known tendency of gravitation.

TUMBLING HOME. The opposite of wall-sided, or flaring out. That part of a ship's side which curves inwardly above the extreme breadth. In all old sea-books this narrowing of a ship from the extreme breadth upwards is called housing in. (_See_ UPPER-WORKS.)

TUMBLING SEA. The increased rolling before a gale.

TUMBRIL. A covered cart for conveying ammunition and pioneers' tools.

TUM-TUM. A West India dish, consisting of boiled plantain beat into a paste and fried.

TUNGULA. A small boat in the Moluccas and Borneo.

TUNNY. A well-known large fish of the family _Scombridae_. It forms an important branch of Mediterranean commerce.

TURBONADA. A roaring squall, or short hurricane, of frequent occurrence in the Pacific Ocean [a mimo-phonetic term adopted from the Spaniards].

TURBOT. The _Pleuronectes maximus_, a flat fish in the highest esteem with all ichthyophagi.

TURKEY-GRAIN. A name for maize.

TURK'S HEAD. An ornamental knot, so called from resembling a turban, used on side-ropes, &c.; it is worked with a piece of small line by following the lead till it is formed with three parts to each cross.

TURN, TO TAKE OR CATCH A. To pass a rope once or twice round a cleat, pin, kevel, or any other thing, to keep it fast.

TURN AHEAD! A self-explanatory order to the engineer, in regulating the movement of a steamer.

TURN A TURTLE, TO. To take the animal by seizing a flipper, and throwing him on his back, which renders him quite helpless. Also applied to a vessel capsizing; or throwing a person suddenly out of his hammock.

TURN IN, TO. To go to bed.--_To turn out._ To get up.

TURN IN A DEAD-EYE OR HEART, TO. To seize the end of a shroud or stay, &c., securely round it.

TURNING IN RIGGING. The end of a vessel's shrouds carried round the dead-eyes, laid back and secured by seizings.

TURNING-ROOM. Space in a narrow channel for a ship to work in.

TURN IN THE HAWSE. Two crosses in a cable.

TURN OF THE TIDE. The change from ebb to flood, or the contrary.

TURN OUT THE GUARD! The order for the marines of the guard to fall in, on the quarter-deck, in order to receive a superior officer on board.

TURN OVER MEN, TO. To discharge them out of one ship into another.

TURN THE GLASS. The order in throwing the log when the stray line is payed out.

TURN THE HANDS UP, TO. To summon the entire crew on deck.

TURN TO WINDWARD, TO. To gain on the wind by alternate tacking. It is when a ship endeavours to make progress against the wind by a compound course inclined to the place of her destination; otherwise called plying or beating to windward.

TURNPIKE-SAILORS. Rascals who go about dressed as sailors pretending that they have been shipwrecked, and soliciting charity.

TURPIS CAUSA. An unsustainable suit for wages, on the part of a British pilot, for navigating a foreign ship to an enemy's port.

TURRET-SHIP. A vessel, more or less armoured, fitted with one or more heavily plated revolving turrets, each carrying one or more guns of the heaviest class, which look out above the deck; the whole worked by steam-power. It represents the present improvement on the inventions of the cupola-ship, shield-ship, and monitor.

TURTLE. The well-known marine reptile described by early navigators as "reasonable toothsom meate." The horny covering of the shell of some species furnishes the substance commonly known as _tortoise-shell_.

TURTLE-CRAWL. A shallow lagoon, wherein turtles are kept.

TURTLE-PEG. A socketed pointed iron on a staff; it is slightly barbed, and is a special tool for sticking turtle.

TUSK. The _Brosmius vulgaris_, a savoury fish taken in the northern seas, about the size of the ling, but with a broader tail.

'TWEEN OR 'TWIXT DECKS. The one under the gun deck, where sailors usually mess.

TWICE-LAID. Rope made from a selection of the best yarns of old rope. Also, a sea-dish made of the salt-fish left from yesterday's dinner, and beaten up with potatoes or yams.

TWIDDLING-LINE. A piece of small rope ornamentally fitted and used for steadying the steering-wheel when required: no longer used.

TWIG, TO. To pull upon a bowline. Also, in familiar phrase, to understand or observe.

TWIG-AIT. A river islet where osiers grow.

TWINE. A kind of strong thread used in sail-making; it is of two kinds: extra, for sewing the seams; and ordinary, for the bolt-ropes. (_See_ WHIPPING-TWINE.) Irish twine or thumb-line, like nettles, is worked by the fingers from fine yarns drawn from bolt-rope.

TWIN-SCREW. A steamer fitted with two propellers and independent engines, to enable her to turn rapidly on her own axis. The twin-screw principle is not new, but latterly it has been so perfected that speed in turning is no longer a matter of doubt.

TWO-BLOCKS. The same as _chock-a-block_ (which see).

TWO-HANDED FELLOWS. Those who are both seamen and soldiers, or artificers; as the marines and, specially, marine artillerymen.

TWO-HANDED SAW. A very useful instrument in ship-carpentry; it is much longer than the hand-saw, and requires two men to use it.

TWO-MONTHLY BOOK. A book kept by the captain's clerk, to be forwarded every two months, when possible, in order to prevent frauds; and in the event of a ship being lost, to have the accounts to the nearest period.

TWO MONTHS' ADVANCE. _See_ ADVANCE MONEY.

TWO-PENCES. A deduction from each man, per mensem, formerly assigned to the surgeon for wages.

TWO-TOPSAIL-SCHOONER. _See_ TOPSAIL-SCHOONER.

TWY. A meteor squall on the coasts of Wiltshire, Hampshire, &c.

TYE. A runner of thick rope or chain, which forms part of the purchase used for hoisting the top-sail and top-gallant yards.

TYE-BLOCK. The block on the yard through which the tye is rove, and passes on to be secured at the mast-head. The block secured to the lower end of the tye is the fly-block.

TYMOOM. A Chinese river craft.

TYNDARIDES. The ancient name of the meteor called _corpo santo_.

TYPHOON, TY-FONG, OR TAI-PHON. The Chinese word for a _great wind_, applied to hurricanes or cyclones. They are revolving storms of immense force, occurring most frequently in those parts of the world which are subject to monsoons, and take place at those seasons when the monsoons are changing. They seem to be eddies formed by the meeting of opposing currents of air--for instance, the westerly winds near the equator and the easterly winds of higher latitudes--which accounts for the important fact that these storms revolve in opposite directions in the two hemispheres--in the southern with, in the northern against, the hands of a watch; but the circular tendency in both supports the name of cyclone.

U.

UGLY. A term applied to a threatening heavy atmosphere, also to a head-sea. Also, to an ugly craft, as a mischievous foe, or a pirate.

ULCUS. An old term for the hulk of a ship of burden (_leg._ Ethelred).

ULIGINOUS CHANNELS. Those connecting the branches of rivers, by cuts through the soil.

ULLAGE. The remainder in a cask or package which has leaked or been partially used.--_Ullaged_ is used for damaged, short of contents.

ULTIMATUM. The final conditions upon which any proposition or treaty with an enemy can be ratified.

ULTRA MARE. Beyond seas--a naval law term.

ULTRA VIRES. Beyond the power of might or right to interfere.

ULTRA-ZODIACAL. Beyond the limits of the zodiac; applied to those asteroids that revolve outside the ancient zodiac.

UMBRA. The dark shadow of the moon, earth, or any other planet.

UMBRELLA-WARPING. A contrivance similar to an umbrella, by which ships in a calm can be warped ahead.

UNATTACHED. In military phraseology, an officer not belonging to any one company or regiment, or on half-pay.

UNBEND, TO. To cast off or untie; to remove the sails from their yards and stays; to cast loose the cables from their anchors, or to untie one rope from another.

UNBITT, TO. To remove the turns of a cable from off the bitts. (_See_ BITTS.)

UNCLAIMED, AS DERELICT. Vessels found at sea without a human being, or a domestic animal, on board are good prizes, if not claimed within 366 days. If so claimed, full salvage, or half her value, is assigned to the salvors.

UNDECAGON. A geometrical figure of eleven equal sides and angles.

UNDER BARE POLES. The condition of a ship under no canvas, or when the wind is too violent to allow of any sail being set on her.

UNDER-BEVELLING. The alteration made inside a square in hewing timber, as opposed to standing bevelling.

UNDER-BRIGHT. A meteorological term for the strong light which sometimes appears below clouds near the horizon.

UNDER CANVAS. Synonymous with _under sail_.

UNDER-CURRENT. A stream which sets beneath the surface-water of the sea whilst that is either in a quiescent state or moving in a contrary direction. Swift rivers may run out at top whilst the flood-tide runs in below.

UNDER DECK. The floor of a cabin, or 'tween decks.

UNDER FOOT. Under the ship's bottom; said of an anchor which is dropped while she has head-way. An anchor is often dropped under foot when calm prevails and the drift would be towards danger.--_To drop an anchor under foot_, is to let it go and veer a little of the riding cable when the coming home, or parting of the one by which she is riding, is feared.

UNDER LEVEL. _See_ BEVELLING.

UNDER-MANNED. When a ship has an insufficient complement, or is short-handed.

UNDER-MASTED. When the masts are either too small or too short, so that a ship cannot spread the sail necessary to give her proper speed.

UNDER METAL. The condition of a gun when the muzzle is depressed, and the metal, _i.e._ the breech, raised; the proper position when not in use, to prevent moisture collecting in the chamber.

UNDER-RUN A HAWSER OR WARP, TO. To haul a boat along underneath it, in order to clear it, if any part happens to be foul. _To under-run a tackle_, is to separate the several parts of which it is composed, and range them in order, so that the general effort may not be interrupted when it is put in motion by the parts crossing, or by thorough-foots.

UNDER SAIL. The state of a ship when she is in motion from the action of wind on her sails.

UNDER-SET. Wherever the wind impels the surface-water directly upon the shore of a bay, the water below restores equilibrium by taking a direction contrary to the wind. The _resaca_, or under-set, is particularly dangerous on those beaches where heavy surf prevails.

UNDER-SHORE, TO. To support or raise a thing by putting a spar or prop under it, as a ship is shored up in dock.

UNDER-SKINKER. Assistant to the purser's steward.

UNDER THE LEE. Sheltered from the wind by some intervening object, as a ship under the lee of the land.

UNDER THE SEA. A ship lying-to in a heavy gale, and making bad weather of it.

UNDER THE WIND. So situated to leeward of something as not to feel the wind.

UNDER-TOW. An under current especially noticed at the mouths of great rivers, or where tide and half-tides prevail, completely hampering the sails even with a good breeze. (_See_ UNDER-CURRENT.)

UNDER WAY. A ship beginning to move under her canvas after her anchor is started. Some have written this _under weigh_, but improperly. A ship is _under weigh_ when she has _weighed_ her anchor: she may be with or without canvas, or hove-to. As soon as she gathers way she is _under way_. This a moot point with old seamen.

UNDERWRITERS. The parties who take upon themselves the risk of insurance, and so called from subscribing their names at the foot of the policy. They are legally presumed to be acquainted with every custom of the trade whereon they enter a policy.

UNICORN. The old name for the howitzer, as improved from the licorn, borrowed from the Turks during the last century by the Russians, and from the latter by Europe generally.

UNICORN-FISH, OR SEA-UNICORN. A name for the _narwhal_ (which see).

UNIFORM. The dress prescribed by regulation for officers and men of the army, navy, marines, &c.

UNION. The national flag of Great Britain, on shore or afloat. It is a composition of the crosses of St. George of England, St. Andrew of Scotland, and St. Patrick of Ireland, the last having been brought in in 1801. It was formerly inscribed, "For the Protestant Religion and for the Liberty of England." It is in the upper canton of all British ensigns. At the main it is the proper flag of an admiral of the fleet; and was thus flown by Lord Howe at the battle of June 1, 1794.

UNION DOWN. When a ship hoists her ensign upside down it is a signal of distress or of mourning.

UNION-JACK. The union flag used separately; in the merchant service it must have a broad white border.

UNLIMBER, TO. With a gun on a travelling-carriage, to release it from the limber, by lifting the trail off the pintle and placing it on the ground, thus bringing it to the position for action.

UNLIVERY. Expenses of unlivery and appraisement are a charge in the first instance against the captors of a prize, to be afterwards apportioned by them ratably against the cargo.

UNMANAGEABLE. When a vessel refuses to answer her helm, has lost her rudder, or is crippled in masts or sails.

UNMOORED. Having one anchor weighed; lying at single anchor.

UNREEVING. The act of withdrawing a rope from any block, thimble, dead-eye, &c., through which it had formerly passed. (_See_ REEVE.)

UNRIG, TO. To dismantle a ship of her standing and running rigging.--_To unrig the capstan_ is to take out the bars.

UNROOMAGED. An antiquated sea term, which, from its application by Sir W. Raleigh, in his account of Sir R. Granville's action, may mean "out of trim."

UNROVE HIS LIFE-LINE. Departed this life.

UNSERVICEABLE TICKET. This is made out in the same manner, and requires the same notations, as a _sick-ticket_ (which see), only that no inventory of clothes and other effects is necessary.

UNSHIP, TO. The opposite of _to ship_. To remove any piece of timber from its situation in which it is generally used, as "unship the oars," lay them in the boat from the rowlocks; "unship the capstan bars," &c.

UNWHOLESOME SHIP. One that will neither hull, try, nor ride, without labouring heavily in a sea. Also applied to a sugar ship diverted from her former trade, and not properly cleansed, even before taking in a cargo of timber.

UP ALONG. Sailing from the mouth of the channel upwards.

UP ANCHOR. Pipe to weigh; every man to his station.

UP AND DOWN. The situation of the cable when it has been hove in sufficiently to bring the ship directly over the anchor. (_See_ RIGHT UP AND DOWN.)

UP-AND-DOWN TACKLE. A purchase used in bowsing down the eyes of the lower rigging over the mast-heads; lifting objects from the hold; getting anchors over the side, &c.

UP BOATS! The order to hoist the boats to the stern and quarter davits.

UP COURSES! The order to haul them up by the clue-garnets, &c.

UPHAND-SLEDGE. A large sledge-hammer used in blacksmith's work, and lifted with both hands, in contradistinction to the short stroke by the master smith.

UPHROE. _See_ UVROU.

UPMAKING. Pieces of plank or timber piled on each other as filling-up in building, more especially those placed between the bilge-ways and ship's bottom preparatory to launching.

UPPER COUNTER. The counter between the wing transom and the rail. (_See_ COUNTER.)

UPPER DECK. The highest of those decks which are continued throughout the whole length of a ship without falls or interruptions, as the quarter-deck, waist, and forecastle of frigates, &c.

UPPER FINISHING. _See_ FINISHINGS.

UPPER MASTS. The top-mast, topgallant-mast, and royal-mast; any spars above these are termed poles. (_See_ POLE-MASTS.)

UPPER STRAKE OR WASH OF BOATS. A strake thicker than those of the bottom, wrought round the gunwales, and lined within the poppets.

UPPER OR TOP-RIDER FUTTOCKS. These timbers stand nearly the same as _breadth-riders_, and very much strengthen the top-side.

UPPER TRANSIT. The passage of a circumpolar star over the meridian above the pole; the opposite of the _lower transit_.

UPPER-WORKS. That part of a ship which rises from the water's surface when she is properly trimmed for a voyage.

UP SCREW! The order in steamers to lift the screw on making sail.

UP WITH THE HELM. Put it a-weather; that is, over to the windward side, or (whichever way the tiller is shipped) so as to carry the rudder to leeward of the stern-post.

URANOGRAPHY. The delineation of constellations, nebulae, &c., on celestial charts or globes.

URANOSCOPUS. _See_ SKY-GAZER.

URANUS. A superior planet discovered by the elder Herschel in 1781; it has four known satellites, but possibly six, according to the impression of the discoverer.

URCA. An armed Spanish fly-boat.

URSA MAJOR. One of the ancient northern constellations.

URSA MINOR. An ancient northern constellation, in which the north polar star is situated.

USAGES. Besides the general laws of merchants, there are certain commercial and seafaring usages which prevail in particular countries with the force of law. Underwriters are bound by usages; and they are legal precedents, binding in courts-martial.

USHANT TEAM. The sobriquet given to that portion of the Channel fleet which blockaded Brest.

UTLAGHE. An outlaw; whence by corruption _laggers_, people transported by sentence of law.

UVROU. The circular piece of wood, with holes in it, by which the legs of a crow-foot are extended for suspending an awning.