Chapter XVI: Getting Under Way (3)

TOP-BLOCK. A large iron-bound block, hooked into a bolt under the lower cap, and used for the top-rope to reeve through in sending up and down topmasts.

TOP-LIGHT. A signal lantern carried in the top.

TOP-LINING. A lining on the after part of sails, to prevent them from chafing against the top-rim.

TOPMAST. (See PLATE 1.) The second mast above the deck. Next above the lower mast.

TOPGALLANT MAST. (See PLATE 1.) The third mast above the deck.

TOP-ROPE. The rope used for sending topmasts up and down.

TOPSAIL. (See PLATE 2.) The second sail above the deck.

TOPGALLANT SAIL. (See PLATE 2.) The third sail above the deck.

TOPPING-LIFT. (See PLATE 1.) A lift used for topping up the end of a boom.

TOP TIMBERS. The highest timbers on a vessel's side, being above the futtocks. (See PLATE 3.)

TOSS. To throw an oar out of the rowlock, and raise it perpendicularly on its end, and lay it down in the boat, with its blade forward.

TOUCH. A sail is said to _touch_, when the wind strikes the leech so as to shake it a little.

_Luff and touch her!_ The order to bring the vessel up and see how near she will go to the wind.

TOW. To draw a vessel along by means of a rope.

TRAIN-TACKLE. The tackle used for running guns in and out.

TRANSOMS. (See PLATE 3.) Pieces of timber going across the stern-post, to which they are bolted.

TRANSOM-KNEES. Knees bolted to the transoms and after timbers.

TRAVELLER. An iron ring, fitted so as to slip up and down a rope.

TREENAILS, or TRUNNELS. Long wooden pins, used for nailing a plank to a timber.

TREND. The lower end of the shank of an anchor, being the same distance on the shank from the throat that the arm measures from the throat to the bill.

TRESTLE-TREES. Two strong pieces of timber, placed horizontally and fore-and-aft on opposite sides of a mast-head, to support the cross-trees and top, and for the fid of the mast above to rest upon.

TRIATIC STAY. A rope secured at each end to the heads of the fore and main masts, with thimbles spliced into its bight, to hook the stay tackles to.

TRICE. To haul up by means of a rope.

TRICK. The time allotted to a man to stand at the helm.

TRIM. The condition of a vessel, with reference to her cargo and ballast. A vessel is _trimmed_ by the head or by the stern.

_In ballast trim_, is when she has only ballast on board.

Also, to arrange the sails by the braces with reference to the wind.

TRIP. To raise an anchor clear of the bottom.

TRIPPING LINE. A line used for tripping a topgallant or royal yard in sending it down.

TRUCK. A circular piece of wood, placed at the head of the highest mast on a ship. It has small holes or sheaves in it for signal halyards to be rove through. Also, the wheel of a gun-carriage.

TRUNNIONS. The arms on each side of a cannon by which it rests upon the carriage, and on which, as an axis, it is elevated or depressed.

TRUSS. The rope by which the centre of a lower yard is kept in toward the mast.

TRYSAIL. A fore-and-aft sail, set with a boom and gaff, and hoisting on a small mast abaft the lower mast, called a _trysail-mast_. This name is generally confined to the sail so carried at the mainmast of a full-rigged brig; those carried at the foremast and at the mainmast of a ship or bark being called _spencers_, and those that are at the mizzenmast of a ship or bark, _spankers_.

TUMBLING HOME. Said of a ship's sides when they fall in above the bends. The opposite of _wall-sided_.

TURN. Passing a rope once or twice round a pin or kevel, to keep it fast. Also, two crosses in a cable.

_To turn in_ or _turn out_, nautical terms for going to rest in a berth or hammock, and getting up from them.

_Turn up!_ The order given to send the men up from between decks.

TYE. A rope connected with a yard, to the other end of which a tackle is attached for hoisting.

UNBEND. To cast off or untie. (See BEND.)

UNION. The upper inner corner of an ensign. The rest of the flag is called the _fly_. The _union_ of the U.S. ensign is a blue field with white stars, and the _fly_ is composed of alternate white and red stripes.

_Union-down._ The situation of a flag when it is hoisted upside down, bringing the union down instead of up. Used as a signal of distress.

_Union-jack._ A small flag, containing only the union, without the fly, usually hoisted at the bowsprit-cap.

UNMOOR. To heave up one anchor so that the vessel may ride at a single anchor. (See _Moor_.)

UNSHIP. (See SHIP.)

UVROU. (See EUVROU.)

VANE. A fly worn at the mast-head, made of feathers or buntine, traversing on a spindle, to show the direction of the wind. (See DOG VANE.)

VANG. (See PLATE 1.) A rope leading from the peak of the gaff of a fore-and-aft sail to the rail on each side, and used for steadying the gaff.

'VAST. (See AVAST.)

VEER. Said of the wind when it changes. Also, to slack a cable and let it run out. (See PAY.)

_To veer and haul_, is to haul and slack alternately on a rope, as in warping, until the vessel or boat gets headway.

VIOL, or VOYAL. A larger messenger sometimes used in weighing an anchor by a capstan. Also, the block through which the messenger passes.

WAIST. That part of the upper deck between the quarter-deck and forecastle.

_Waisters._ Green hands, or broken-down seamen, placed in the waist of a man-of-war.

WAKE. The track or path a ship leaves behind her in the water.

WALES. Strong planks in a vessel's sides, running her whole length fore and aft.

WALL. A knot put on the end of a rope. (See PLATE 5 and page 46.)

WALL-SIDED. A vessel is _wall-sided_ when her sides run up perpendicularly from the bends. In opposition to _tumbling-home_ or _flaring out_.

WARD-ROOM. The room in a vessel of war in which the commissioned officers live.

WARE, or WEAR. To turn a vessel round, so that, from having the wind on one side, you bring it upon the other, carrying her stern round by the wind. In _tacking_, the same result is produced by carrying a vessel's head round by the wind.

WARP. To move a vessel from one place to another by means of a rope made fast to some fixed object, or to a kedge.

A _warp_ is a rope used for warping. If the warp is bent to a kedge which is let go, and the vessel is hove ahead by the capstan or windlass, it would be called _kedging_.

WASH-BOARDS. Light pieces of board placed above the gunwale of a boat.

WATCH. (See page 167.) A division of time on board ship. There are seven watches in a day, reckoning from 12 M. round through the 24 hours, five of them being of four hours each, and the two others, called _dog watches_, of two hours each, viz., from 4 to 6, and from 6 to 8, P.M. (See DOG WATCH.) Also, a certain portion of a ship's company, appointed to stand a given length of time. In the merchant service all hands are divided into two watches, larboard and starboard, with a mate to command each.

A _buoy_ is said to _watch_ when it floats on the surface.

WATCH-AND-WATCH. The arrangement by which the watches are alternated every other four hours. In distinction from keeping all hands during one or more watches. (See page 167.)

_Anchor watch_, a small watch of one or two men, kept while in port.

WATCH HO! WATCH! The cry of the man that heaves the deep-sea-lead.

WATCH-TACKLE. (See page 54.) A small luff purchase with a short fall, the double block having a tail to it, and the single one a hook. Used for various purposes about decks.

WATER SAIL. A _save-all_, set under the swinging-boom.

WATER-WAYS. Long pieces of timber, running fore and aft on both sides, connecting the deck with the vessel's sides. The _scuppers_ are made through them to let the water off. (See PLATE 3.)

WEAR. (See WARE.)

WEATHER. In the direction from which the wind blows. (See WINDWARD, LEE.)

A ship carries a _weather helm_ when she tends to come up into the wind, requiring you to put the helm up.

_Weather gage._ A vessel has the _weather gage_ of another when she is to windward of her.

A _weatherly ship_, is one that works well to windward, making but little leeway.

WEATHER-BITT. To take an additional turn with a cable round the windlass-end.

WEATHER ROLL. The roll which a ship makes to windward.

WEIGH. To lift up; as, to weigh an anchor or a mast.

WHEEL. The instrument by which a ship is steered; being a barrel, (round which the tiller-ropes go,) and a wheel with spokes.

WHIP. (See page 54.) A purchase formed by a rope rove through a single block.

_To whip_, is to hoist by a whip. Also, to secure the end of a rope from fagging by a seizing of twine.

_Whip-upon-whip._ One whip applied to the fall of another.

WINCH. A purchase formed by a horizontal spindle or shaft with a wheel or crank at the end. A small one with a wheel is used for making ropes or spunyarn.

WINDLASS. The machine used in merchant vessels to weigh the anchor by.

WIND-RODE. The situation of a vessel at anchor when she swings and rides by the force of the wind, instead of the tide or current. (See TIDE-RODE.)

WING. That part of the hold or between-decks which is next the side.

WINGERS. Casks stowed in the wings of a vessel.

WING-AND-WING. The situation of a fore-and-aft vessel when she is going dead before the wind, with her foresail hauled over on one side and her mainsail on the other.

WITHE, or WYTHE. An iron instrument fitted on the end of a boom or mast, with a ring to it, through which another boom or mast is rigged out and secured.

WOOLD. To wind a piece of rope round a spar, or other thing.

WORK UP. To draw the yarns from old rigging and make them into spunyarn, foxes, sennit, &c. Also, a phrase for keeping a crew constantly at work upon needless matters, and in all weathers, and beyond their usual hours, for punishment.

WORM. (See page 44.) To fill up between the lays of a rope with small stuff wound round spirally. Stuff so wound round is called _worming_.

WRING. To bend or strain a mast by setting the rigging up too taut.

WRING-BOLTS. Bolts that secure the planks to the timbers.

WRING-STAVES. Strong pieces of plank used with the wring-bolts.

YACHT. (Pronounced _yot_.) A vessel of pleasure or state.

YARD. (See PLATE 1.) A long piece of timber, tapering slightly toward the ends, and hung by the centre to a mast, to spread the square sails upon.

YARD-ARM. The extremities of a yard.

YARD-ARM AND YARD-ARM. The situation of two vessels, lying alongside one another, so near that their yard-arms cross or touch.

YARN. (See ROPE-YARN.)

YAW. The motion of a vessel when she goes off from her course.

YEOMAN. A man employed in a vessel of war to take charge of a storeroom; as, boatswain's yeoman, the man that has charge of the stores, of rigging, &c.

YOKE. A piece of wood placed across the head of a boat's rudder, with a rope attached to each end, by which the boat is steered.