Chapter XVI: Getting Under Way (1)

To unmoor. Getting under way from a single anchor. To cat and fish. To get under way with a wind blowing directly out, and riding head to it;--with a rock or shoal close astern;--when riding head to wind and tide, and to stand out close-hauled;--wind-rode, with a weather tide;--tide-rode, casting to windward;--tide-rode, wearing round.

UNMOOR.--Pay out on your riding cable, heaving in the slack of the other. When the other is short, trip it, cat and fish, and heave in on your riding cable. Instead of this method, the anchor which you are not riding by may be weighed, if it is a small one, by the long boat. Send the long boat out over the anchor, take aboard the buoy-rope, carrying it over the roller in the boat's stern, or through the end of a davit, clap the watch-tackle to it, and weigh it out of the ground. This done, and the buoy-rope and tackle secured to the boat, heave in on the chain on board, which will bring the anchor alongside, the boat approaching at the same time. When under the bow, cast off the fasts to the boat, heave up the anchor, cat and fish.

GETTING UNDER WAY FROM A SINGLE ANCHOR.--It is the duty of the chief mate to see all ready forward for getting under way; the rigging fair for making sail, the cat and fish-tackles rove, and the fish-davit at hand. Heave short on your chain and pawl the windlass. Loose all the sails, if the wind is light, and sheet home and hoist up topsails, topgallant sails, and royals. If there is a stiff breeze, set topsails alone, whole or reefed. You should always, if it will answer, cast on the opposite side from your anchor; that is, if you are riding by your starboard anchor, cast to port. Brace your head yards aback and your after yards full, for the tack you mean to cast upon. The sails being set, man the windlass again, give her a sheer with the helm, and trip your anchor. The mate reports when it is away. As soon as it is away, hoist the jib. The fore topsail aback will pay her head off. Put the helm for stern-board. When her head is off enough, fill away the head yards and haul out the spanker, shifting the helm for headway. Trim the yards for your course, and make sail on her. If the wind is light and the sea smooth, you may cat and fish your anchor after you get under way; but it is best in a rough sea to keep the vessel hove-to until the anchor is catted and fished.

TO CAT AND FISH AN ANCHOR.--When the anchor is lifted and brought under foot, pawl the windlass, keeping a good hold on the chain. Overhaul down the cat-block and hook it to the ring of the anchor. Stretch along the cat-fall and let all hands tally on. Set taut on the cat-tackle and pay out a little chain. Hoist away the anchor to the cat-head, and belay the fall. Pass the cat-stopper through the ring of the anchor, through the chock, belay it to the cat-tail, and seize it to its own part. Overhaul down the fish-tackle, hook the lower block to the pennant, and hook the fish-hook to the inner fluke of the anchor. Rig out your fish-davit across the forecastle, and put the bight of the pennant into the sheave-hole. Get a guy over it, near the outer end, to keep it down, and another at the inner end, to keep it out. Get the shoe over the side, to fend off the bill of the anchor. Hoist the fluke well up, pass the shank-painter under the inner arm and shank, bring it inboard, and belay and stop it to the timber-heads. Rig in the davit, unreeve the cat-fall and fish-tackle.

A vessel may sometimes be got under way to advantage with the jib and spanker; particularly if the wind is blowing directly out of the harbor. Heave the anchor up at once. When it has broken ground, hoist the jib, and, as she pays off, haul out the spanker. Keep her under this sail until the anchor is catted and fished, then make sail and stand out.

TO GET UNDER WAY, WITH A WIND BLOWING DIRECTLY OUT, AND RIDING HEAD TO IT.--Suppose the ship to have her starboard anchor down. Heave short and clear away the jib, and put the helm to port. Heave again until the anchor is up to the bows. Cat and fish. When the anchor is a-weigh, hoist the jib. Let her pay off under the jib. When she gathers headway, shift the helm, and let fall the sails. When she gets before it, sheet home and hoist the topsails, set the foresail, and haul down the jib. Make sail aloft.

TO GET UNDER WAY, RIDING HEAD TO THE WIND, WITH A ROCK OR SHOAL CLOSE ASTERN.--Suppose you wish to cast the ship on the starboard tack. Heave in a safe scope on the chain, and run out a kedge with a hawser from the starboard bow. Cast off the yard-arm gaskets and mast-head the topsails, keeping the bunts fast. Heave taut on the hawser, and brace the yards up for the starboard tack fore and aft, hauling the jib sheet to windward. Heave up the anchor, taking in the slack of the hawser, cat it, pass the stopper, and have all ready for letting go. Haul ahead on the hawser, and as soon as the kedge is short a-peak or comes home, sheet home the topsails, run up the jib, and put the helm a-starboard. As soon as the jib fills, run the kedge up and take it in. When the topsails take and she gathers headway, draw the jib, set the spanker, board fore and main tacks, haul aft sheets, and right the helm. If she falls off too rapidly when the topsails take, give her the spanker and mainsail, easing off the jib sheet. When she comes to, haul aft the jib sheet and board the fore tack. If, when the kedge is a-weigh, she falls off on the wrong side, let go the anchor.

TO GET UNDER WAY, RIDING HEAD TO WIND AND TIDE, AND TO STAND OUT CLOSE-HAULED.--Suppose you wish to cast to port. Heave short, keeping the helm a-starboard. Set the topsails. Brace up the after yards for the starboard tack, and back the head yards. Man the windlass and heave up the anchor. When the anchor is a-weigh, hoist the jib. When she has payed off sufficiently, fill away the head yards, shift the helm for headway, set the spanker, and make sail. Cat and fish, either before or after filling away.

If you have no room to cast on either side, but have a vessel on each quarter, heave short, set the topsails, jib, and spanker, brace all the yards half up for the starboard tack, weigh the anchor, and put the helm to port. The tide acting on the rudder will sheer her head to starboard. When the sails take aback and give her sternway, the rudder and after sails will act against the head sails, and she will drift fairly down between the two vessels. Keep her off or to, by the spanker and jib. When you are clear, cast to port; or, haul up the spanker, shiver the after yards, and let her go off before it.

TO GET UNDER WAY WIND-RODE, WITH A WEATHER TIDE; that is, a tide setting to windward.--Suppose you wish to cast to port. Heave short, loose the sails, and set the topsails. Square the after yards, and haul in the starboard head-braces. Heave again, and, when you are a-weigh, put the helm to port and hoist the jib. When she has payed off enough, fill away the head yards and shift the helm for headway.

TO GET UNDER WAY, TIDE-RODE, CASTING TO WINDWARD.--Suppose the wind to be a little on the starboard bow, and you wish to cast to starboard, standing out on the larboard tack. Having hove short and set the topsails, brace up the after yards for the larboard tack, and brace the head yards aback. Weigh the anchor, keeping your helm to port, and hauling the spanker boom well over to starboard. When she comes head to the wind, hoist the jib, with the sheet to port. Shift the helm for sternway. As she falls off, draw the jib, fill the head yards, and shift the helm for headway.

TO GET UNDER WAY, TIDE-RODE, WEARING ROUND.--Suppose you have the wind on your starboard quarter, and are obliged to wear her round and stand out on the larboard tack. Set the topsails, square the head yards, and shiver the after yards. When the anchor is a-weigh, put the helm hard a-starboard, and give her the foresail, if necessary. Having headway, she will go round on her keel, and you may proceed as in wearing.

If a vessel is in a confined situation, without room to cast by her sails or by the tide, she may be cast by a spring upon her cable, leading in at that which will be the weather quarter. The spring may be bent to the ring of the anchor before it is let go, or it may be seized to the cable just outside the hawse-hole.

It will be remembered that when a vessel is riding head to the tide, the helm is to be put as though she had headway; and when the tide sets from astern, as though she had sternway. But you should be reminded that when you have the wind and tide both ahead, if the vessel, after you weigh your anchor, goes astern faster than the current, the helm must be used as for stern-board.

DICTIONARY OF SEA TERMS.

ABACK. The situation of the sails when the wind presses their surfaces against the mast, and tends to force the vessel astern.

ABAFT. Toward the stern of a vessel.

ABOARD. Within a vessel.

ABOUT. On the other tack.

ABREAST. Alongside of. Side by side.

ACCOMMODATION. (See LADDER.)

A-COCK-BILL. The situation of the yards when they are topped up at an angle with the deck. The situation of an anchor when it hangs to the cathead by the ring only.

ADRIFT. Broken from moorings or fasts. Without fasts.

AFLOAT. Resting on the surface of the water.

AFORE. Forward. The opposite of abaft.

AFT--AFTER. Near the stern.

AGROUND. Touching the bottom.

AHEAD. In the direction of the vessel's head. _Wind ahead_ is from the direction toward which the vessel's head points.

A-HULL. The situation of a vessel when she lies with all her sails furled and her helm lashed a-lee.

A-LEE. The situation of the helm when it is put in the opposite direction from that in which the wind blows.

ALL-ABACK. When all the sails are aback.

ALL HANDS. The whole crew.

ALL IN THE WIND. When all the sails are shaking.

ALOFT. Above the deck.

ALOOF. At a distance.

AMAIN. Suddenly. At once.

AMIDSHIPS. In the centre of the vessel; either with reference to her length or to her breadth.

ANCHOR. The machine by which, when dropped to the bottom, the vessel is held fast.

ANCHOR-WATCH. (See WATCH.)

AN-END. When a mast is perpendicular to the deck.

A-PEEK. When the cable is hove taut so as to bring the vessel nearly over her anchor. The _yards_ are _a-peek_ when they are topped up by contrary lifts.

APRON. A piece of timber fixed behind the lower part of the stem, just above the fore end of the keel. A covering to the vent or lock of a cannon.

ARM. YARD-ARM. The extremity of a yard. Also, the lower part of an anchor, crossing the shank and terminating in the flukes.

ARMING. A piece of tallow put in the cavity and over the bottom of a lead-line.

A-STERN. In the direction of the stern. The opposite of ahead.

A-TAUNT. (See TAUNT.)

ATHWART. Across.

_Athwart-ships._ Across the line of the vessel's keel.

_Athwart-hawse._ Across the direction of a vessel's head. Across her cable.

ATHWART-SHIPS. Across the length of a vessel. In opposition to fore-and-aft.

A-TRIP. The situation of the anchor when it is raised clear of the ground. The same as a-weigh.

AVAST, or 'VAST. An order to stop; as, "Avast heaving!"

A-WEATHER. The situation of the helm when it is put in the direction from which the wind blows.

A-WEIGH. The same as a-trip.

AWNING. A covering of canvass over a vessel's deck, or over a boat, to keep off sun or rain.

BACK. _To back an anchor_, is to carry out a smaller one ahead of the one by which the vessel rides, to take off some of the strain.

_To back a sail_, is to throw it aback.

_To back and fill_, is alternately to back and fill the sails.

BACKSTAYS. Stays running from a masthead to the vessel's side, slanting a little aft. (See STAYS.)

BAGPIPE. _To bagpipe the mizzen_, is to lay it aback by bringing the sheet to the weather mizzen rigging.

BALANCE-REEF. A reef in a spanker or fore-and-aft mainsail, which runs from the outer head-earing, diagonally, to the tack. It is the closest reef, and makes the sail triangular, or nearly so.

BALE. _To bale a boat_, is to throw water out of her.

BALLAST. Heavy material, as iron, lead, or stone, placed in the bottom of the hold, to keep a vessel from upsetting.

_To freshen ballast_, is to shift it. Coarse gravel is called _shingle ballast_.

BANK. A boat is _double banked_ when two oars, one opposite the other, are pulled by men seated on the same thwart.

BAR. A bank or shoal at the entrance of a harbor.

_Capstan-bars_ are heavy pieces of wood by which the capstan is hove round.

BARE-POLES. The condition of a ship when she has no sail set.

BARGE. A large double-banked boat, used by the commander of a vessel, in the navy.

BARK, OR BARQUE. (See PLATE 4.) A three-masted vessel, having her fore and main masts rigged like a ship's, and her mizzen mast like the main mast of a schooner, with no sail upon it but a spanker, and gaff topsail.

BARNACLE. A shell-fish often found on a vessel's bottom.

BATTENS. Thin strips of wood put around the hatches, to keep the tarpaulin down. Also, put upon rigging to keep it from chafing. A large batten widened at the end, and put upon rigging, is called a _scotchman_.

BEACON. A post or buoy placed over a shoal or bank to warn vessels off. Also as a signal-mark on land.

BEAMS. Strong pieces of timber stretching across the vessel, to support the decks.

_On the weather or lee beam_, is in a direction to windward or leeward, at right angles with the keel.

_On beam-ends._ The situation of a vessel when turned over so that her beams are inclined toward the vertical.

BEAR. An object _bears_ so and so, when it is in such a direction from the person looking.

_To bear down_ upon a vessel, is to approach her from the windward.

_To bear up_, is to put the helm up and keep a vessel off from her course, and move her to leeward.

_To bear away_, is the same as to _bear up_; being applied to the vessel instead of to the tiller.

_To bear-a-hand._ To make haste.

BEARING. The direction of an object from the person looking. The _bearings_ of a vessel, are the widest part of her below the plank-shear. That part of her hull which is on the water-line when she is at anchor and in her proper trim.

BEATING. Going toward the direction of the wind, by alternate tacks.

BECALM. To intercept the wind. A vessel or highland to windward is said to _becalm_ another. So one sail _becalms_ another.

BECKET. A piece of rope placed so as to confine a spar or another rope. A handle made of rope, in the form of a circle, (as the handle of a chest,) is called a _becket_.

BEES. Pieces of plank bolted to the outer end of the bowsprit, to reeve the foretopmast stays through.

BELAY. To make a rope fast by turns round a pin or coil, without hitching or seizing it.

BEND. To make fast.

_To bend a sail_, is to make it fast to the yard.

_To bend a cable_, is to make it fast to the anchor.

_A bend_, is a knot by which one rope is made fast to another.

BENDS. (See PLATE 3.) The strongest part of a vessel's side, to which the beams, knees, and foot-hooks are bolted. The part between the water's edge and the bulwarks.

BENEAPED. (See NEAPED.)

BENTICK SHROUDS. Formerly used, and extending from the futtock-staves to the opposite channels.

BERTH. The place where a vessel lies. The place in which a man sleeps.

BETWEEN-DECKS. The space between any two decks of a ship.

BIBBS. Pieces of timber bolted to the hounds of a mast, to support the trestle-trees.

BIGHT. The double part of a rope when it is folded; in contradistinction from the ends. Any part of a rope may be called the bight, except the ends. Also, a bend in the shore, making a small bay or inlet.

BILGE. That part of the floor of a ship upon which she would rest if aground; being the part near the keel which is more in a horizontal than a perpendicular line.

_Bilge-ways._ Pieces of timber bolted together and placed under the bilge, in launching.

_Bilged._ When the bilge is broken in.

_Bilge Water._ Water which settles in the bilge.

_Bilge._ The largest circumference of a cask.

BILL. The point at the extremity of the fluke of an anchor.

BILLET-HEAD. (See HEAD.)

BINNACLE. A box near the helm, containing the compass.

BITTS. Perpendicular pieces of timber going through the deck, placed to secure anything to. The cables are fastened to them, if there is no windlass. There are also _bitts_ to secure the windlass, and on each side of the heel of the bowsprit.

BITTER, or BITTER-END. That part of the cable which is abaft the bitts.

BLACKWALL HITCH. (See PLATE 5 and page 49.)

BLADE. The flat part of an oar, which goes into the water.

BLOCK. A piece of wood with sheaves, or wheels, in it, through which the running rigging passes, to add to the purchase. (See page 53.)

BLUFF. A _bluff-bowed_ or _bluff-headed_ vessel is one which is full and square forward.

BOARD. The stretch a vessel makes upon one tack, when she is beating.

_Stern-board._ When a vessel goes stern foremost.

_By the board._ Said of masts, when they fall over the side.

BOAT-HOOK. An iron hook with a long staff, held in the hand, by which a boat is kept fast to a wharf, or vessel.

BOATSWAIN. (Pronounced _bo-s'n_.) A warrant officer in the navy, who has charge of the rigging, and calls the crew to duty.

BOBSTAYS. Used to confine the bowsprit down to the stem or cutwater.

BOLSTERS. Pieces of soft wood, covered with canvass, placed on the trestle-trees, for the eyes of the rigging to rest upon.

BOLTS. Long cylindrical bars of iron or copper, used to secure or unite the different parts of a vessel.

BOLT-ROPE. The rope which goes round a sail, and to which the canvass is sewed.

BONNET. An additional piece of canvass attached to the foot of a jib, or a schooner's foresail, by lacings. Taken off in bad weather.

BOOM. A spar used to extend the foot of a fore-and-aft sail or studdingsail.

_Boom-irons._ Iron rings on the yards, through which the studdingsail booms traverse.

BOOT-TOPPING. Scraping off the grass, or other matter, which may be on a vessel's bottom, and daubing it over with tallow, or some mixture.

BOUND. _Wind-bound._ When a vessel is kept in port by a head wind.

BOW. The rounded part of a vessel, forward.

BOWER. A working anchor, the cable of which is bent and reeved through the hawse-hole.

_Best bower_ is the larger of the two bowers. (See page 16.)

BOW-GRACE. A frame of old rope or junk, placed round the bows and sides of a vessel, to prevent the ice from injuring her.

BOWLINE. (Pronounced _bo-lin_.) A rope leading forward from the leech of a square sail, to keep the leech well out when sailing close-hauled. A vessel is said to be _on a bowline_, or _on a taut bowline_, when she is close-hauled.

_Bowline-bridle._ The span on the leech of the sail to which the bowline is toggled.

_Bowline-knot._ (See PLATE 5 and page 49.)

BOWSE. To pull upon a tackle.

BOWSPRIT. (Pronounced _bo-sprit_.) A large and strong spar, standing from the bows of a vessel. (See PLATE 1.)

BOX-HAULING. Wearing a vessel by backing the head sails. (See page 75.)

BOX. _To box the compass_, is to repeat the thirty-two points of the compass in order.

BRACE. A rope by which a yard is turned about.

_To brace a yard_, is to turn it about horizontally.

_To brace up_, is to lay the yard more fore-and-aft.

_To brace in_, is to lay it nearer square.

_To brace aback._ (See ABACK.)

_To brace to_, is to brace the head yards a little aback, in tacking or wearing.

BRAILS. Ropes by which the foot or lower corners of fore-and-aft sails are hauled up.

BRAKE. The handle of a ship's pump.

BREAK. _To break bulk_, is to begin to unload.

_To break ground_, is to lift the anchor from the bottom.

_To break shear_, is when a vessel, at anchor, in tending, is forced the wrong way by the wind or current, so that she does not lie so well for keeping herself clear of her anchor.

BREAKER. A small cask containing water.

BREAMING. Cleaning a ship's bottom by burning.

BREAST-FAST. A rope used to confine a vessel sideways to a wharf, or to some other vessel.

BREAST-HOOKS. Knees placed in the forward part of a vessel, across the stem, to unite the bows on each side. (See PLATE 3.)

BREAST-ROPE. A rope passed round a man in the chains, while sounding.

BREECH. The outside angle of a knee-timber. The after end of a gun.

BREECHING. A strong rope used to secure the breech of a gun to the ship's side.

BRIDLE. Spans of rope attached to the leeches of square sails, to which the bowlines are made fast.

_Bridle-port._ The foremost port, used for stowing the anchors.

BRIG. A square-rigged vessel, with two masts. An _hermaphrodite brig_ has a brig's foremast and a schooner's mainmast. (See PLATE 4.)

BROACH-TO. To fall off so much, when going free, as to bring the wind round on the other quarter and take the sails aback.

BROADSIDE. The whole side of a vessel.

BROKEN-BACKED. The state of a vessel when she is so loosened as to droop at each end.

BUCKLERS. Blocks of wood made to fit in the hawse-holes, or holes in the half-ports, when at sea. Those in the hawse-holes are sometimes called _hawse-blocks_.

BULGE. (See BILGE.)

BULK. The whole cargo when stowed.

_Stowed in bulk_, is when goods are stowed loose, instead of being stowed in casks or bags. (See BREAK BULK.)

BULK HEAD. Temporary partitions of boards to separate different parts of a vessel.

BULL. A sailor's term for a small keg, holding a gallon or two.

BULL'S EYE. (See page 53.) A small piece of stout wood with a hole in the centre for a stay or rope to reeve through, without any sheave, and with a groove round it for the strap, which is usually of iron. Also, a piece of thick glass inserted in the deck to let light below.

BULWARKS. The wood work round a vessel, above her deck, consisting of boards fastened to stanchions and timber-heads.

BUM-BOATS. Boats which lie alongside a vessel in port with provisions and fruit to sell.

BUMPKIN. Pieces of timber projecting from the vessel, to board the fore tack to; and from each quarter, for the main brace-blocks.

BUNT. The middle of a sail.

BUNTINE. (Pronounced _buntin_.) Thin woollen stuff of which a ship's colors are made.

BUNTLINES. Ropes used for hauling up the body of a sail.

BUOY. A floating cask, or piece of wood, attached by a rope to an anchor, to show its position. Also, floated over a shoal, or other dangerous place as a beacon.

_To stream a buoy_, is to drop it into the water before letting go the anchor.

A buoy is said to _watch_, when it floats upon the surface of the water.

BURTON. A tackle, rove in a particular manner.

_A single Spanish burton_ has three single blocks, or two single blocks and a hook in the bight of one of the running parts.

_A double Spanish burton_ has three double blocks. (See page 54.)

BUTT. The end of a plank where it unites with the end of another.

_Scuttle-butt._ A cask with a hole cut in its bilge, and kept on deck to hold water for daily use.

BUTTOCK. That part of the convexity of a vessel abaft, under the stern, contained between the counter above and the after part of the bilge below, and between the quarter on the side and the stern-post. (See PLATE 3.)

BY. _By the head._ Said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is _by the stern_.

_By the lee._ (See LEE. See RUN.)

CABIN. The after part of a vessel, in which the officers live.

CABLE. A large, strong rope, made fast to the anchor, by which the vessel is secured. It is usually 120 fathoms in length.

CABLE-TIER. (See TIER.)

CABOOSE. A house on deck, where the cooking is done. Commonly called the _Galley_.

CALK. (See CAULK.)

CAMBERED. When the floor of a vessel is higher at the middle than towards the stem and stern.

CAMEL. A machine used for lifting vessels over a shoal or bar.

CAMFERING. Taking off an angle or edge of a timber.

CAN-HOOKS. Slings with flat hooks at each end, used for hoisting barrels or light casks, the hooks being placed round the chimes, and the purchase hooked to the centre of the slings. Small ones are usually wholly of iron.

CANT-PIECES. Pieces of timber fastened to the angles of fishes and side-trees, to supply any part that may prove rotten.

CANT-TIMBERS. Timbers at the two ends of a vessel, raised obliquely from the keel.

_Lower Half Cants._ Those parts of frames situated forward and abaft the square frames, or the floor timbers which cross the keel.

CANVASS. The cloth of which sails are made. No. 1 is the coarsest and strongest.

CAP. A thick, strong block of wood with two holes through it, one square and the other round, used to confine together the head of one mast and the lower part of the mast next above it. (See PLATE 1.)

CAPSIZE. To overturn.

CAPSTAN. A machine placed perpendicularly in the deck, and used for a strong purchase in heaving or hoisting. Men-of-war weigh their anchors by capstans. Merchant vessels use a windlass. (See BAR.)

CAREEN. To heave a vessel down upon her side by purchases upon the masts. To lie over, when sailing on the wind.

CARLINGS. Short and small pieces of timber running between the beams.

CARRICK-BEND. A kind of knot. (See PLATE 5 and page 50.)

_Carrick-bitts_ are the windlass bitts.

CARRY-AWAY. To break a spar, or part a rope.

CAST. To pay a vessel's head off, in getting under way, on the tack she is to sail upon.

CAT. The tackle used to hoist the anchor up to the cat-head.

_Cat-block_, the block of this tackle.

CAT-HARPIN. An iron leg used to confine the upper part of the rigging to the mast.

CAT-HEAD. Large timbers projecting from the vessel's side, to which the anchor is raised and secured.

CAT'S-PAW. A kind of hitch made in a rope. (See PLATE 5 and page 50.) A light current of air seen on the surface of the water during a calm.

CAULK. To fill the seams of a vessel with oakum.

CAVIL. (See KEVEL.)

CEILING. The inside planking of a vessel.

CHAFE. To rub the surface of a rope or spar.

_Chafing-gear_ is the stuff put upon the rigging and spars to prevent their chafing.

CHAINS. (See PLATE 1.) Strong links or plates of iron, the lower ends of which are bolted through the ship's side to the timbers. Their upper ends are secured to the bottom of the dead-eyes in the channels. Also, used familiarly for the CHANNELS, which see. The chain cable of a vessel is called familiarly her _chain_.

_Rudder-chains_ lead from the outer and upper end of the rudder to the quarters. They are hung slack.

CHAIN-PLATES. Plates of iron bolted to the side of a ship, to which the chains and dead-eyes of the lower rigging are connected.

CHANNELS. Broad pieces of plank bolted edgewise to the outside of a vessel. Used for spreading the lower rigging. (See CHAINS.)

CHAPELLING. Wearing a ship round, when taken aback, without bracing the head yards. (See page 80.)

CHECK. A term sometimes used for slacking off a little on a brace, and then belaying it.

CHEEKS. The projections on each side of a mast, upon which the trestle-trees rest. The sides of the shell of a block.

CHEERLY! Quickly, with a will.

CHESS-TREES. Pieces of oak, fitted to the sides of a vessel, abaft the fore chains, with a sheave in them, to board the main tack to. Now out of use.

CHIMES. The ends of the staves of a cask, where they come out beyond the head of the cask.

CHINSE. To thrust oakum into seams with a small iron.

CHOCK. A wedge used to secure anything with, or for anything to rest upon. The long boat rests upon two large _chocks_, when it is stowed.

_Chock-a-block._ When the lower block of a tackle is run close up to the upper one, so that you can hoist no higher. This is also called hoisting up _two-blocks_.

CISTERN. An apartment in the hold of a vessel, having a pipe leading out through the side, with a cock, by which water may be let into her.

CLAMPS. Thick planks on the inside of vessels, to support the ends of beams. Also, crooked plates of iron fore-locked upon the trunnions of cannon. Any plate of iron made to turn, open, and shut so as to confine a spar or boom, as, a studdingsail boom, or a boat's mast.

CLASP-HOOK. (See CLOVE-HOOK.)

CLEAT. A piece of wood used in different parts of a vessel to belay ropes to.

CLEW. The lower corner of square sails, and the after corner of a fore-and-aft sail.

_To clew up_, is to haul up the clew of a sail.

CLEW-GARNET. A rope that hauls up the clew of a foresail or mainsail in a square-rigged vessel.

CLEWLINE. A rope that hauls up the clew of a square sail. The clew-garnet is the clewline of a course.

CLINCH. A half-hitch, stopped to its own part.

CLOSE-HAULED. Applied to a vessel which is sailing with her yards braced up so as to get as much as possible to windward. The same as _on a taut bowline_, _full and by_, _on the wind_, &c.

CLOVE-HITCH. Two half-hitches round a spar or other rope. (See PLATE 5 and page 48.)

CLOVE-HOOK. An iron clasp, in two parts, moving upon the same pivot, and overlapping one another. Used for bending chain sheets to the clews of sails.

CLUB-HAUL. To bring a vessel's head round on the other tack, by letting go the lee anchor and cutting or slipping the cable. (See page 76.)

CLUBBING. Drifting down a current with an anchor out. (See page 77.)

COAKING. Uniting pieces of spar by means of tabular projections, formed by cutting away the solid of one piece into a hollow, so as to make a projection in the other, in such a manner that they may correctly fit, the butts preventing the pieces from drawing asunder.

_Coaks_ are fitted into the beams and knees of vessels to prevent their drawing.

COAL TAR. Tar made from bituminous coal.

COAMINGS. Raised work round the hatches, to prevent water going down into the hold.

COAT. _Mast-Coat_ is a piece of canvass, tarred or painted, placed round a mast or bowsprit, where it enters the deck.

COCK-BILL. To cock-bill a yard or anchor. (See A-COCK-BILL.)

COCK-PIT. An apartment in a vessel of war, used by the surgeon during an action.

CODLINE. An eighteen thread line.

COXSWAIN. (Pronounced _cox'n_.) The person who steers a boat and has charge of her.

COIL. To lay a rope up in a ring, with one turn or fake over another.

_A coil_ is a quantity of rope laid up in that manner.

COLLAR. An eye in the end or bight of a shroud or stay, to go over the mast-head.

COME. _Come home_, said of an anchor when it is broken from the ground and drags.

_To come up_ a rope or tackle, is to slack it off.

COMPANION. A wooden covering over the staircase to a cabin.

_Companion-way_, the staircase to the cabin.

_Companion-ladder._ The ladder leading from the poop to the main deck.

COMPASS. The instrument which tells the course of a vessel.

_Compass-timbers_ are such as are curved or arched.

CONCLUDING-LINE. A small line leading through the centre of the steps of a rope or Jacob's ladder.

CONNING, or CUNNING. Directing the helmsman in steering a vessel.

COUNTER. (See PLATE 3.) That part of a vessel between the bottom of the stern and the wing-transom and buttock.

_Counter-timbers_ are short timbers put in to strengthen the counter.

_To counter-brace_ yards, is to brace the head-yards one way and the after-yards another.

COURSES. The common term for the sails that hang from a ship's lower yards. The foresail is called the _fore course_ and the mainsail the _main course_.

CRANES. Pieces of iron or timber at the vessel's sides, used to stow boats or spars upon. A machine used at a wharf for hoisting.

CRANK. The condition of a vessel when she is inclined to lean over a great deal and cannot bear much sail. This may be owing to her construction or to her stowage.

CREEPER. An iron instrument, like a grapnell, with four claws, used for dragging the bottom of a harbor or river, to find anything lost.

CRINGLE. A short piece of rope with each end spliced into the bolt-rope of a sail, confining an iron ring or thimble.

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

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

CROSS-JACK. (Pronounced _croj-jack_.) The cross-jack yard is the lower yard on the mizzen mast. (See PLATE 1.)

CROSS-PAWLS. Pieces of timber that keep a vessel together while in her frames.

CROSS-PIECE. A piece of timber connecting two bitts.

CROSS-SPALES. Pieces of timber placed across a vessel, and nailed to the frames, to keep the sides together until the knees are bolted.

CROSS-TREES. (See PLATE 1.) Pieces of oak supported by the cheeks and trestle-trees, at the mast-heads, to sustain the tops on the lower mast, and to spread the topgallant rigging at the topmast-head.

CROW-FOOT. A number of small lines rove through the uvrou to suspend an awning by.

CROWN of an anchor, is the place where the arms are joined to the shank.

_To crown a knot_, is to pass the strands over and under each other above the knot. (See PLATE 5, page 46.)

CRUTCH. A knee or piece of knee-timber, placed inside of a vessel, to secure the heels of the cant-timbers abaft. Also, the chock upon which the spanker-boom rests when the sail is not set.

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

CUDDY. A cabin in the fore part of a boat.

CUNTLINE. The space between the bilges of two casks, stowed side by side. Where one cask is set upon the cuntline between two others, they are stowed _bilge and cuntline_.

CUT-WATER. The foremost part of a vessel's prow, which projects forward of the bows.

CUTTER. A small boat. Also, a kind of sloop.

DAGGER. A piece of timber crossing all the puppets of the bilge-ways to keep them together.

_Dagger-knees._ Knees placed obliquely, to avoid a port.

DAVITS. Pieces of timber or iron, with sheaves or blocks at their ends, projecting over a vessel's sides or stern, to hoist boats up to. Also, a spar with a roller or sheave at its end, used for fishing the anchor, called a _fish-davit_.

DEAD-EYE. A circular block of wood, with three holes through it, for the lanyards of rigging to reeve through, without sheaves, and with a groove round it for an iron strap. (See page 59.)

DEAD-FLAT. One of the bends, amidships.

DEAD-LIGHTS. Ports placed in the cabin windows in bad weather.

DEAD RECKONING. A reckoning kept by observing a vessel's courses and distances by the log, to ascertain her position.

DEAD-RISING, OR RISING-LINE. Those parts of a vessel's floor, throughout her whole length, where the floor-timber is terminated upon the lower futtock.

DEAD-WATER. The eddy under a vessel's counter.

DEAD-WOOD. Blocks of timber, laid upon each end of the keel, where the vessel narrows.

DECK. The planked floor of a vessel, resting upon her beams.

DECK-STOPPER. A stopper used for securing the cable forward of the windlass or capstan, while it is overhauled. (See STOPPER.)

DEEP-SEA-LEAD. (Pronounced _dipsey_.) (See page 17.) The lead used in sounding at great depths.

DEPARTURE. The easting or westing made by a vessel. The bearing of an object on the coast from which a vessel commences her dead reckoning.

DERRICK. A single spar, supported by stays and guys, to which a purchase is attached, used to unload vessels, and for hoisting.

DOG. A short iron bar, with a fang or teeth at one end, and a ring at the other. Used for a purchase, the fang being placed against a beam or knee, and the block of a tackle hooked to the ring.

DOG-VANE. A small vane, made of feathers or buntin, to show the direction of the wind.

DOG-WATCHES. Half watches of two hours each, from 4 to 6, and from 6 to 8, P.M. (See WATCH.)

DOLPHIN. A rope or strap round a mast to support the puddening, where the lower yards rest in the slings. Also, a spar or buoy with a large ring in it, secured to an anchor, to which vessels may bend their cables.

DOLPHIN-STRIKER. The martingale. (See PLATE I.)

DOUSE. To lower suddenly.

DOWELLING. A method of coaking, by letting pieces into the solid, or uniting two pieces together by tenons.

DOWNHAUL. A rope used to haul down jibs, staysails, and studdingsails.

DRABLER. A piece of canvass laced to the bonnet of a sail, to give it more drop.

DRAG. A machine with a bag net, used for dragging on the bottom for anything lost.

DRAUGHT. The depth of water which a vessel requires to float her.

DRAW. A sail _draws_ when it is filled by the wind.

_To draw a jib_, is to shift it over the stay to leeward, when it is aback.

DRIFTS. Those pieces in the sheer-draught where the rails are cut off.

DRIVE. To scud before a gale, or to drift in a current.

DRIVER. A spanker.

DROP. The depth of a sail, from head to foot, amidships.

DRUM-HEAD. The top of the capstan.

DUB. To reduce the end of a timber.

DUCK. A kind of cloth, lighter and finer than canvass; used for small sails.

DUNNAGE. Loose wood or other matters, placed on the bottom of the hold, above the ballast, to stow cargo upon.

EARING. A rope attached to the cringle of a sail, by which it is bent or reefed.

EIKING. A piece of wood fitted to make good a deficiency in length.

ELBOW. Two crosses in a hawse. (See page 89.)

ESCUTCHEON. The part of a vessel's stern where her name is written.

EVEN-KEEL. The situation of a vessel when she is so trimmed that she sits evenly upon the water, neither end being down more than the other.

EUVROU. A piece of wood, by which the legs of the crow-foot to an awning are extended. (See UVROU.)

EYE. The circular part of a shroud or stay, where it goes over a mast.

_Eye-bolt._ A long iron bar, having an eye at one end, driven through a vessel's deck or side into a timber or beam, with the eye remaining out, to hook a tackle to. If there is a ring through this eye, it is called a _ring-bolt_.

_An Eye-splice_ is a certain kind of splice made with the end of a rope. (See PLATE 5 and page 45.)

_Eyelet-hole._ A hole made in a sail for a cringle or roband to go through.

_The Eyes of a vessel._ A familiar phrase for the forward part.

FACE-PIECES. Pieces of wood wrought on the fore part of the knee of the head.

FACING. Letting one piece of timber into another with a rabbet.

FAG. A rope is _fagged_ when the end is untwisted.

FAIR-LEADER. A strip of board or plank, with holes in it, for running rigging to lead through. Also, a block or thimble used for the same purpose.

FAKE. One of the circles or rings made in coiling a rope.

FALL. That part of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting.

FALSE KEEL. Pieces of timber secured under the main keel of vessels.

FANCY-LINE. A line rove through a block at the jaws of a gaff, used as a downhaul. Also, a line used for cross-hauling the lee topping-lift.

FASHION-PIECES. The aftermost timbers, terminating the breadth and forming the shape of the stern.

FAST. A rope by which a vessel is secured to a wharf. There are _bow_ or _head_, _breast_, _quarter_, and _stern_ fasts.

FATHOM. Six feet.

FEATHER. _To feather an oar_ in rowing, is to turn the blade horizontally with the top aft as it comes out of the water.

FEATHER-EDGED. Planks which have one side thicker than another.

FENDERS. Pieces of rope or wood hung over the side of a vessel or boat, to protect it from chafing. The fenders of a neat boat are usually made of canvass and stuffed.

FID. A block of wood or iron, placed through the hole in the heel of a mast, and resting on the trestle-trees of the mast below. This supports the mast. Also, a wooden pin, tapered, used in splicing large ropes, in opening eyes, &c.

FIDDLE-BLOCK. A long shell, having one sheave over the other, and the lower smaller than the upper.

FIDDLE-HEAD. (See HEAD.)

FIFE-RAIL. The rail going round a mast.

FIGURE-HEAD. A carved head or full-length figure, over the cut-water.

FILLINGS. Pieces of timber used to make the curve fair for the mouldings, between the edges of the fish-front and the sides of the mast.

FILLER. (See MADE MAST.)

FINISHING. Carved ornaments of the quarter-galley, below the second counter, and above the upper lights.

FISH. To raise the flukes of an anchor upon the gunwale. Also, to strengthen a spar when sprung or weakened, by putting in or fastening on another piece.

_Fish-front_, _Fishes-sides_. (See MADE MAST.)

FISH-DAVIT. The davit used for fishing an anchor.

FISH-HOOK. A hook with a pennant, to the end of which the fish-tackle is hooked.

FISH-TACKLE. The tackle used for fishing an anchor.

FLARE. When the vessel's sides go out from the perpendicular. In opposition to _falling-home_ or _tumbling-in_.

FLAT. A sheet is said to be hauled _flat_, when it is hauled down close.

_Flat-aback_, when a sail is blown with its after surface against the mast.

FLEET. To come up a tackle and draw the blocks apart, for another pull, after they have been hauled _two-blocks_.

_Fleet ho!_ The order given at such times. Also, to shift the position of a block or fall, so as to haul to more advantage.

FLEMISH COIL. (See FRENCH-FAKE.)

FLEMISH-EYE. A kind of eye-splice. (See PLATE 5 and page 45.)

FLEMISH-HORSE. An additional foot-rope at the ends of topsail yards.

FLOOR. The bottom of a vessel, on each side of the keelson.

FLOOR TIMBERS. Those timbers of a vessel which are placed across the keel. (See PLATE 3.)

FLOWING SHEET. When a vessel has the wind free, and the lee clews eased off.

FLUKES. The broad triangular plates at the extremity of the arms of an anchor, terminating in a point called the _bill_.

FLY. That part of a flag which extends from the Union to the extreme end. (See UNION.)

FOOT. The lower end of a mast or sail. (See FORE-FOOT.)

FOOT-ROPE. The rope stretching along a yard, upon which men stand when reefing or furling, formerly called _horses_.

FOOT-WALING. The inside planks or lining of a vessel, over the floor-timbers.

FORE. Used to distinguish the forward part of a vessel, or things in that direction; as, _fore mast_, _fore hatch_, in opposition to _aft_ or _after_.

FORE-AND-AFT. Lengthwise with the vessel. In opposition to _athwart-ships_. (See SAILS.)

FORECASTLE. That part of the upper deck forward of the fore mast; or, as some say, forward of the after part of the fore channels. (See PLATE 1.) Also, the forward part of the vessel, under the deck, where the sailors live, in merchant vessels.

FORE-FOOT. A piece of timber at the forward extremity of the keel, upon which the lower end of the stem rests. (See PLATE 3.)

FORE-GANGER. A short piece of rope grafted on a harpoon, to which the line is bent.

FORE-LOCK. A flat piece of iron, driven through the end of a bolt, to prevent its drawing.

FORE MAST. The forward mast of all vessels. (See PLATE 1.)

FOREREACH. To shoot ahead, especially when going in stays.

FORE-RUNNER. A piece of rag, terminating the stray-line of the log-line.

FORGE. _To forge ahead_, to shoot ahead; as, in coming to anchor, after the sails are furled. (See FOREREACH.)

FORMERS. Pieces of wood used for shaping cartridges or wads.

FOTHER, or FODDER. To draw a sail, filled with oakum, under a vessel's bottom, in order to stop a leak.

FOUL. The term for the opposite of clear.

FOUL ANCHOR. When the cable has a turn round the anchor.

FOUL HAWSE. When the two cables are crossed or twisted, outside the stem.

FOUNDER. A vessel _founders_, when she fills with water and sinks.

FOX. (See page 52.) Made by twisting together two or more rope-yarns.

_A Spanish fox_ is made by untwisting a single yarn and laying it up the contrary way.

FRAP. To pass ropes round a sail to keep it from blowing loose. Also, to draw ropes round a vessel which is weakened, to keep her together.

FREE. A vessel is going _free_, when she has a fair wind and her yards braced in. A vessel is said to be _free_, when the water has been pumped out of her.

FRESHEN. To relieve a rope, by moving its place; as, to _freshen the nip_ of a stay, is to shift it, so as to prevent its chafing through.

_To freshen ballast_, is to alter its position.

FRENCH-FAKE. To coil a rope with each fake outside of the other, beginning in the middle. If there are to be riding fakes, they begin outside and go in; and so on. This is called a _Flemish coil_.

FULL-AND-BY. Sailing close-hauled on a wind.

_Full-and-by!_ The order given to the man at the helm to keep the sails full and at the same time close to the wind.

FURL. To roll a sail up snugly on a yard or boom, and secure it.

FUTTOCK-PLATES. Iron plates crossing the sides of the top-rim perpendicularly. The dead-eyes of the topmast rigging are fitted to their upper ends, and the futtock-shrouds to their lower ends.

FUTTOCK-SHROUDS. Short shrouds, leading from the lower ends of the futtock-plates to a bend round the lower mast, just below the top.

FUTTOCK-STAFF. A short piece of wood or iron, seized across the upper part of the rigging, to which the catharpin legs are secured.

FUTTOCK-TIMBERS. (See PLATE 3.) Those timbers between the floor and naval timbers, and the top-timbers. There are two--the _lower_, which is over the floor, and the _middle_, which is over the naval timber. The naval timber is sometimes called the _ground futtock_.

GAFF. A spar, to which the head of a fore-and-aft sail is bent. (See PLATE 1.)

GAFF-TOPSAIL. A light sail set over a gaff, the foot being spread by it.

GAGE. The depth of water of a vessel. Also, her position as to another vessel, as having the _weather_ or _lee gage_.

GALLEY. The place where the cooking is done.

GALLOWS-BITTS. A strong frame raised amidships, to support spare spars, &c., in port.

GAMMONING. (See PLATE 1.) The lashing by which the bowsprit is secured to the cut-water.

GANG-CASKS. Small casks, used for bringing water on board in boats.

GANGWAY. (See PLATE 1.) That part of a vessel's side, amidships, where people pass in and out of the vessel.

GANTLINE. (See GIRTLINE.)

GARBOARD-STREAK. (See PLATE 3.) The range of planks next to the keel, on each side.

GARLAND. A large rope, strap or grommet, lashed to a spar when hoisting it inboard.

GARNET. A purchase on the main stay, for hoisting cargo.

GASKETS. Ropes or pieces of plated stuff, used to secure a sail to the yard or boom when it is furled. They are called a _bunt_, _quarter_, or _yard-arm gasket_, according to their position on the yard.

GIMBLET. To turn an anchor round by its stock. To turn anything round on its end.

GIRT. The situation of a vessel when her cables are too taut.

GIRTLINE. A rope rove through a single block aloft, making a whip purchase. Commonly used to hoist rigging by, in fitting it.

GIVE WAY! An order to men in a boat to pull with more force, or to begin pulling. The same as, _Lay out on your oars!_ or, _Lay out!_

GLUT. A piece of canvass sewed into the centre of a sail near the head. It has an eyelet-hole in the middle for the bunt-jigger or becket to go through.

GOB-LINE, or GAUB-LINE. A rope leading from the martingale inboard. The same as _back-rope_.

GOODGEON. (See GUDGEON.)

GOOSE-NECK. An iron ring fitted to the end of a yard or boom, for various purposes.

GOOSE-WINGED. The situation of a course when the buntlines and lee clew are hauled up, and the weather clew down.

GORES. The angles at one or both ends of such cloths as increase the breadth or depth of a sail.

GORING-CLOTHS. Pieces cut obliquely and put in to add to the breadth of a sail.

GRAFTING. (See page 52.) A manner of covering a rope by weaving together yarns.

GRAINS. An iron with four or more barbed points to it, used for striking small fish.

GRAPNEL. A small anchor with several claws, used to secure boats.

GRAPPLING IRONS. Crooked irons, used to seize and hold fast another vessel.

GRATING. Open lattice work of wood. Used principally to cover hatches in good weather.

GREAVE. To clean a ship's bottom by burning.

GRIPE. The outside timber of the fore-foot, under water, fastened to the lower stem-piece. (See PLATE 3.) A vessel _gripes_ when she tends to come up into the wind.

GRIPES. Bars of iron, with lanyards, rings and clews, by which a large boat is lashed to the ring-bolts of the deck. Those for a quarter-boat are made of long strips of matting, going round her and set taut by a lanyard.

GROMMET. (See PLATE 5 and page 46.) A ring formed of rope, by laying round a single strand.

GROUND TACKLE. General term for anchors, cables, warps, springs, &c.; everything used in securing a vessel at anchor.

GROUND-TIER. The lowest tier of casks in a vessel's hold.

GUESS-WARP, or GUESS-ROPE. A rope fastened to a vessel or wharf, and used to tow a boat by; or to haul it out to the swinging-boom-end, when in port.

GUN-TACKLE PURCHASE. A purchase made by two single blocks. (See page 54.)

GUNWALE. (Pronounced _gun-nel_.) The upper rail of a boat or vessel.

GUY. A rope attaching to anything to steady it, and bear it one way and another in hoisting.

GYBE. (Pronounced _jibe_.) To shift over the boom of a fore-and-aft sail.

HAIL. To speak or call to another vessel, or to men in a different part of a ship.

HALYARDS. Ropes or tackles used for hoisting and lowering yards, gaffs, and sails.

HALF-HITCH. (See PLATE 5 and page 48.)

HAMMOCK. A piece of canvass, hung at each end, in which seamen sleep.

HAND. To _hand_ a sail is to _furl_ it.

_Bear-a-hand_; make haste.

_Lend-a-hand_; assist.

_Hand-over-hand_; hauling rapidly on a rope, by putting one hand before the other alternately.

HAND-LEAD. (See page 17.) A small lead, used for sounding in rivers and harbors.

HANDSOMELY. Slowly, carefully. Used for an order, as, "Lower handsomely!"

HANDSPIKE. A long wooden bar, used for heaving at the windlass.

HANDY BILLY. A watch-tackle.

HANKS. Rings or hoops of wood, rope, or iron, round a stay, and seized to the luff of a fore-and-aft sail.

HARPINGS. The fore part of the wales, which encompass the bows of a vessel, and are fastened to the stem. (See PLATE 3.)

HARPOON. A spear used for striking whales and other fish.