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.
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 III.)
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 I.) 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 III.)
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 I.)
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. 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 III.) 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 I.)
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 I.) 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 I.) That part of a vessel’s side, amidships, where people pass in and out of the vessel.
GANTLINE. (See GIRTLINE.)
GARBOARD-STRAKE. (See PLATE III.) The range of planks next 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 fore 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 buntjigger 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. 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 III.) 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. 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.
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 swing-boom-end, when in port.
GUN-TACKLE PURCHASE. A purchase made by two single blocks.
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.
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. 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 III.)
HARPOON. A spear used for striking whales and other fish.
HATCH, or HATCHWAY. An opening in the deck to afford a passage up and down. The coverings over these openings are also called hatches. Hatch-bar is an iron bar going across the hatches to keep them down.
HAUL. Haul her wind, said of a vessel when she comes up close upon the wind.
HAWSE. The situation of the cables before a vessel’s stem, when moored. Also the distance upon the water a little in advance of the stem; as, a vessel sails athwart the hawse, or anchors in the hawse of another. Open hawse. When a vessel rides by two anchors, without any cross in her cables.
HAWSE-HOLE. The hole in the bows through which the cable runs.
HAWSE-PIECES. Timbers through which the hawse-holes are cut.
HAWSE-BLOCK. A block of wood fitted into a hawse-hole at sea.
HAWSER. A large rope used for various purposes, as warping, for a spring, &c.
HAWSER-LAID, or CABLE-LAID rope, is rope laid with nine strands against the sun.
HAZE. A term for punishing a man by keeping him unnecessarily at work upon disagreeable or difficult duty.
HEAD. The work at the prow of a vessel. If it is a carved figure, it is called a figure-head; if simple carved work, bending over and out, a billet-head; and if bending in, like the head of a violin, a fiddle-head. Also, the upper end of a mast, called a mast-head. (See BY-THE-HEAD. See FAST.)
HEAD-LEDGES. Thwartship pieces that frame the hatchways.
HEAD-SAILS. A general name given to all sails that set forward of the fore-mast.
HEART. A block of wood in the shape of a heart, for stays to reeve through.
HEART-YARNS. The centre yarns of a strand.
HEAVE.To draw, pull, or haul on, as one might do with a rope. To cause a ship or a sail to move or to come into a position.
HEAVE SHORT. To heave in on the cable until the vessel is nearly over her anchor.
HEAVE-TO. To put a vessel in the position of lying-to. (See LIE-TO FAST.)
HEAVE IN STAYS. To go about in tacking.
HEAVER. A short wooden bar, tapering at each end. Used as a purchase.
HEEL. The after part of the keel. Also, the lower end of a mast or boom. Also, the lower end of the stern-post. To heel, is to lie over on one side.
HEELING. The square part of the lower end of a mast, through which the fid-hole is made.
HELM. The machinery by which a vessel is steered, including the rudder, tiller, wheel, &c. Applied more particularly, perhaps, to the tiller.
HELM-PORT. The hole in the counter through which the rudder-head passes.
HELM-PORT-TRANSOM. A piece of timber placed across the lower counter, inside, at the height of the helm-port, and bolted through every timber, for the security of that port. (See PLATE III.)
HIGH AND DRY. The situation of a vessel when she is aground, above water mark.
HITCH. A peculiar manner of fastening ropes.
HOG. A flat rough broom, used for scrubbing the bottom of a vessel.
HOGGED. The state of a vessel when, by any strain, she is made to droop at each end, bringing her centre up.
HOLD. The interior of a vessel, where the cargo is stowed.
HOLD WATER. To stop the progress of a boat by keeping the oar-blades in the water.
HOLY-STONE. A large stone, used for cleaning a ship’s decks.
HOME. The sheets of a sail are said to be home, when the clews are hauled chock out to the sheave-holes. An anchor comes home when it is loosened from the ground and is hove in toward the vessel.
HOOD. A covering for a companion hatch, skylight, &c.
HOOD-ENDS, or HOODING-ENDS, or WHOODEN-ENDS. Those ends of the planks which fit into the rabbets of the stem or stern-post.
HOOK-AND-BUTT. The scarfing, or laying the ends of timbers over each other.
HORNS. The jaws of booms. Also, the ends of cross-trees.
HORSE. (See FOOT-ROPE.)
HOUNDS. Those projections at the masthead serving as shoulders for the top or trestle-trees to rest upon.
HOUSE. To house a mast, is to lower it almost half its length, and secure it by lashing its heel to the mast below.
HOUSING, or HOUSE-LINE. (Pronounced houze-lin.) A small cord made of three small yarns, and used for seizings.
HOVE.* Past tense of Heave.
HULL. The body of a vessel. (See A-HULL.)
IN-AND-OUT. A term sometimes used for the scantline of the timbers, the moulding way, and particularly for those bolts that are driven into the hanging and lodging knees, through the sides, which are called in-and-out bolts.
INNER-POST. A piece brought on at the fore side of the main-post, and generally continued as high as the wing-transom, to seat the other transoms upon.
IRONS. A ship is said to be in irons, when, in working, she will not cast one way or the other.
JACK. A common term for the jack-cross-trees. (See UNION.)
JACK-BLOCK. A block used in sending topgallant masts up and down.
JACK-CROSS-TREES. (See PLATE I.) Iron cross-trees at the head of long topgallant masts.
JACK-STAFF. A short staff, raised at the bowsprit cap, upon which the Union Jack is hoisted.
JACK-STAYS. Ropes stretched taut along a yard to bend the head of the s
ail to. Also, long strips of wood or iron, used now for the same purpose.
JACK-SCREW. A purchase, used for stowing cotton.
JACOB’S LADDER. A ladder made of rope, with wooden steps.
JAWS. The inner ends of booms or gaffs, hollowed in.
JEERS. Tackles for hoisting the lower yards.
JEWEL-BLOCKS. Single blocks at the yardarms, through which the studdingsail halyards lead.
JIB. (See PLATE II.) A triangular sail set on a stay, forward. Flying jib sets outside of the jib; and the jib-o’-jib outside of that.
JIB-BOOM. (See PLATE I.) The boom, rigged out beyond the bowsprit, to which the tack of the jib is lashed.
JIGGER. A small tackle, used about decks or aloft.
JOLLY-BOAT. A small boat, usually hoisted at the stern.
JUNK. Condemned rope, cut up and used for making mats, swabs, oakum, &c.
JURY-MAST. A temporary mast, rigged at sea, in place of one lost.
KECKLING. Old rope wound round cables, to keep them from chafing. (See ROUNDING.)
KEDGE. A small anchor, with an iron stock, used for warping. To kedge, is to warp a vessel ahead by a kedge and hawser.
KEEL. (See PLATE III.) The lowest and principal timber of a vessel, running fore-and-aft its whole length, and supporting the whole frame. It is composed of several pieces, placed lengthwise, and scarfed and bolted together. (See FALSE KEEL.)
KEEL-HAUL. To haul a man under a vessel’s bottom, by ropes at the yard-arms on each side. Formerly practised as a punishment in ships of war.
KEELSON. (See PLATE III.) A timber placed over the keel on the floor-timbers, and running parallel with it.
KENTLEDGE. Pig-iron ballast, laid each side of the keelson.
KEVEL or CAVIL. A strong piece of wood, bolted to some timber or stanchion, used for belaying large ropes to.
KEVEL-HEADS. Timber-heads, used as kevels.
KID.Sailors’ term for the wooden tub from which their meals were dispensed.
KINK. A twist in a rope.
KNEES. (See PLATE III.) Crooked pieces of timber, having two arms, used to connect the beams of a vessel with her timbers. (See DAGGER.) Lodging-knees, are placed horizontally, having one arm bolted to a beam, and the other across two of the timbers. Knee of the head, is placed forward of the stem, and supports the figure-head.
KNIGHT-HEADS, or BOLLARD-TIMBERS. The timbers next the stem on each side, and continued high enough to form a support for the bowsprit. (See PLATE III.)
Two Years Before the Mast (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 55