Hull. The body of a vessel.
Irons. A ship is said to be in irons, when, in working, she will not cast one way or the other.
Jack-stays. Ropes stretched taut along a yard to bend the head of the sail to. Also, long strips of wood or iron, used now for the same purpose.
Jacob’s ladder. A ladder made of rope, with wooden steps.
Jaws. The inner ends of booms or gaffs, hollowed in.
Jewel-blocks. Single blocks at the yard-arms, through which the studdingsail halyards lead.
Jib. 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. 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.
Jury-mast. A temporary mast, rigged at sea, in place of one lost.
Keckling. Old rope wound round cables, to keep them from chafing.
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. 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.
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. 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.
Kink. A twist in a rope.
Knight-heads, or Bollard-timbers. The timbers next the stem on each side, and continued high enough to form a support for the bowsprit.
Knock-off! An order to leave off work.
Knot. A division on the log-line, answering to a mile of distance.
Labor. A vessel is said to labor when she rolls or pitches heavily.
Lacing. Rope used to lash a sail to a gaff, or a bonnet to a sail. Also, a piece of compass or knee timber, fayed to the back of the figure-head and the knee of the head, and bolted to each.
Land-fall. The making land after being at sea. A good land-fall, is when a vessel makes the land as intended.
Land ho! The cry used when land is first seen.
Lanyards. Ropes rove through dead-eyes for setting up rigging.Also, a rope made fast to anything to secure it, or as a handle, is called a lanyard.
Larboard. The left side of a vessel, looking forward.
Large. A vessel is said to be going large, when she has the wind free.
Lay. To come or to go; as, Lay aloft! Lay forward! Lay aft! Also, the direction in which the strands of a rope are twisted; as, from left to right, or from right to left.
Leachline. A rope used for hauling up the leach of a sail.
Lead. A piece of lead, in the shape of a cone or pyramid, with a small hole at the base, and a line attached to the upper end, used for sounding. (See Hand-lead, Deep-sea-lead.)
Leading-wind. A fair wind. More particularly applied to a wind abeam or quartering.
Ledges. Small pieces of timber placed athwart-ships under the decks of a vessel, between the beams.
Lee. The side opposite to that from which the wind blows; as, if a vessel has the wind on her starboard side, that will be the weather, and the larboard will be the lee side.A lee shore is the shore upon which the wind is blowing.
Under the lee of anything, is when you have that between you and the wind.
By the lee. The situation of a vessel, going free, when she has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.
Lee-board. A board fitted to the lee side of flat-bottomed boats, to prevent their drifting to leeward.
Leeway. What a vessel loses by drifting to leeward. When sailing close-hauled with all sails set, a vessel should make no leeway. If the topgallant sails are furled, it is customary to allow one point; under close-reefed topsails, two points; when under one close-reefed sail, four or five points.
Leech, or Leach. The border or edge of a sail, at the sides.
Leeward. (Pronounced lu-ard.) The lee side. In a direction opposite to that from which the wind blows, which is called windward. The opposite of lee is weather, and of leeward is windward; the two first being adjectives.
Lie-to, is to stop the progress of a vessel at sea, either by counter-bracing the yards, or by reducing sail so that she will make little or no headway, but will merely come to and fall off by the counteraction of the sails and helm.
Life-lines. Ropes carried along yards, booms, &c., or at any part of the vessel, for men to hold on by.
Lift. A rope or tackle, going from the yard-arms to the mast-head, to support and move the yard. Also, a term applied to the sails when the wind strikes them on the leeches and raises them slightly.
Lighter. A large boat, used in loading and unloading vessels.
Limbers, or Limber-holes. Holes cut in the lower part of the floor-timbers, next the keelson, forming a passage for the water fore-and-aft.
List. The inclination of a vessel to one side; as, a list to port, or a list to starboard.
Lizard. A piece of rope, sometimes with two legs, and one or more iron thimbles spliced into it. It is used for various purposes. One with two legs, and a thimble to each, is often made fast to the topsail tye, for the buntlines to reeve through. A single one is sometimes used on the swinging-boom topping-lift.
Locker. A chest or box, to stow anything away in.Chain locker. Where the chain cables are kept. Boatswain’s locker. Where tools and small stuff for working upon rigging are kept.
Log, or Log-book. A journal kept by the chief officer, in which the situation of the vessel, winds, weather, courses, distances, and everything of importance that occurs, is noted down.Log. A line with a piece of board, called the log-chip, attached to it, wound upon a reel, and used for ascertaining the ship’s rate of sailing.
Long-boat. The largest boat in a merchant vessel. When at sea, it is carried between the fore and main masts.
Long-timbers. Timbers in the cant-bodies, reaching from the dead-wood to the head of the second futtock.
Lubber’s hole. A hole in the top, next the mast.
Luff. To put the helm so as to bring the ship up nearer to the wind.Spring-a-luff! Keep your luff! &c. Orders to luff. Also, the roundest part of a vessel’s bow. Also, the forward leech of fore-and-aft sails.
Made. A made mast or block is one composed of different pieces. A ship’s lower mast is a made spar, her topmast is a whole spar.
Marl. To wind or twist a small line or rope round another.
Marlingspike. An iron pin, sharpened at one end, and having a hole in the other for a lanyard. Used both as a fid and a heaver.
Martingale. A short, perpendicular spar, under the bowsprit-end, used for guying down the head-stays.
Mast. A spar set upright from the deck, to support rigging, yards, and sails. Masts are whole or made.
Mate. An officer under the master.
Mess. Any number of men who eat or lodge together.
Midships. The timbers at the broadest part of the vessel.
Mizzen-mast. The aftermost mast of a ship. The spanker is sometimes called the mizzen.
Moor. To secure by two anchors.
Mortice. A morticed block is one made out of a whole block of wood with a hole cut in it for the sheave; in distinction from a made block.
Neap tides. Low tides, coming at the middle of the moon’s second and fourth quarters.
Near. Close to wind. “Near!” the order to the helmsman when he is too near the wind.
Nip. A short turn in a rope.
&nb
sp; Oakum. Stuff made by picking rope-yarns to pieces used for caulking, and other purposes.
Oar. A long wooden instrument with a flat blade at one end, used for propelling boats.
Offing. Distance from the shore.
Orlop. The lower deck of a ship of the line; or that on which the cables are stowed.
Out-haul. A rope used for hauling out the clew of a boom sail.
Out-rigger. A spar rigged out to windward from the tops or crosstrees, to spread the breast-backstays.
Painter. A rope attached to the bows of a boat, used for making her fast.
Palm. A piece of leather fitted over the hand, with an iron for the head of a needle to press against in sewing upon canvass. Also, the fluke of an anchor.
Parral. The rope by which a yard is confined to a mast at its centre.
Partners. A frame-work of short timber fitted to the hole in a deck, to receive the heel of a mast or pump, &c.
Pawl. A short bar of iron, which prevents the capstan or windlass from turning back.
Peak. The upper outer corner of a gaff-sail.
Pendant, or Pennant. A long narrow piece of bunting, carried at the mast-head. Broad pennant, is a square piece, carried in the same way, in a commodore’s vessel.
Pillow. A block which supports the inner end of the bowsprit.
Pin. The axis on which a sheave turns. Also, a short piece of wood or iron to belay ropes to.
Pinnace. A boat, in size between the launch and a cutter.
Pintle. A metal bolt, used for hanging a rudder.
Pitch. A resin taken from pine, and used for filling up the seams of a vessel.
Poop. A deck raised over the after part of the spar deck. A vessel is pooped when the sea breaks over her stern.
Port. Used instead of larboard. To port the helm, is to put it to the larboard.
Port, or Port-hole. Holes in the side of a vessel, to point cannon out of. (See Bridle.)
Portoise. The gunwale. The yards are a-portoise when they rest on the gunwale.
Preventer. An additional rope or spar, used as a support.
Quarter. The part of a vessel’s side between the after part of the main chains and the stern. The quarter of a yard is between the slings and the yard-arm.The wind is said to be quartering when it blows in a line between that of the keel and the beam and abaft the latter.
Quarter-deck. That part of the upper deck abaft the main-mast.
Quarter-master. A petty officer in a man-of-war, who attends the helm and binnacle at sea, and watches for signals, &c., when in port.
Race. A strong, rippling tide.
Rake. The inclination of a mast from the perpendicular.
Ramline. A line used in mast-making to get a straight middle line on a spar.
Ratlines. (Pronounced rat-lins.) Lines running across the shrouds, horizontally, like the rounds of a ladder, and used to step upon in going aloft.
Rattle down rigging. To put ratlines upon rigging. It is still called rattling down, though they are now rattled up; beginning at the lowest.
Razee. A vessel of war which has had one deck cut down.
Reef. To reduce a sail by taking in upon its head, if a square sail, and its foot, if a fore-and-aft sail.
Reef-band. A band of stout canvass sewed on the sail across, with points in it, and earings at each end for reefing.A reef is all of the sail that is comprehended between the head of the sail and the first reef-band, or between two reef-bands.
Reef-tackle. A tackle used to haul the middle of each leech up toward the yard, so that the sail may be easily reefed.
Ribs. A figurative term for a vessel’s timbers.
Ride at anchor. To lie at anchor. Also, to bend or bear down by main strength and weight; as, to ride down the main tack.
Rigging. The general term for all the ropes of a vessel. (SeeRunning, Standing.) Also, the common term for the shrouds with their ratlines; as, the main rigging, mizzen rigging, &c.
Right. To right the helm, is to put it amidships.
Ring. The iron ring at the upper end of an anchor, to which the cable is bent.
Ring-bolt. An eye-bolt with a ring through the eye.
Roach. A curve in the foot of a square sail, by which the clews are brought below the middle of the foot. The roach of a fore-and-aft sail is in its forward leech.
Rombowline. Condemned canvass, rope, &c.
Round in. To haul in on a rope, especially a weather-brace.
Round up. To haul up on a tackle.
Rowlocks, or Rollocks. Places cut in the gunwale of a boat for the oar to rest in while pulling.
Royal. A light sail next above a topgallant sail.
Royal yard. The yard from which the royal is set. The fourth from the deck.
Rudder. The machine by which a vessel or boat is steered.
Run. The after part of a vessel’s bottom, which rises and narrows in approaching the stern post.By the run. To let go by the run, is to let go altogether, instead of slacking off.
Runner. A rope used to increase the power of a tackle. It is rove through a single block which you wish to bring down, and a tackle is hooked to each end, or to one end, the other being made fast.
Running rigging. The ropes that reeve through blocks, and are pulled and hauled, such as braces, halyards, &c.; in opposition to the standing rigging, the ends of which are securely seized, such as stays, shrouds, &c.
Saddles. Pieces of wood hollowed out to fit on the yards to which they are nailed, having a hollow in the upper part for the boom to rest in.
Sails are of two kinds: square sails which hang from yards, their foot lying across the line of the keel, as the courses, topsails, &c.; and fore-and-aft sails, which set upon gaffs, or on stays, their foot running with the line of the keel, as jib, spanker, &c.
Sail ho! The cry used when a sail is first discovered at sea.
Scantling. A term applied to any piece of timber, with regard to its breadth and thickness, when reduced to the standard size.
Scarf. To join two pieces of timber at their ends by shaving them down and placing them over-lapping.
Schooner. A small vessel with two masts and no tops.A fore-and-aft schooner has only fore-and-aft sails.
A topsail schooner carries a square fore topsail, and frequently, also, topgallant sail and royal. There are some schooners with three masts. They also have no tops.
A main topsail schooner is one that carries square topsails, fore and aft.
Score. A groove in a block or dead-eye.
Scud. To drive before a gale, with no sail, or only enough to keep the vessel ahead of the sea. Also, low, thin clouds that fly swiftly before the wind.
Scull. A short oar.To scull, is to impel a boat by one oar at the stern.
Scuppers. Holes cut in the water-ways for the water to run from the decks.
Scuttle. A hole cut in a vessel’s deck, as, a hatchway. Also, a hole cut in any part of a vessel.To scuttle, is to cut or bore holes in a vessel to make her sink.
Seams. The intervals between planks in a vessel’s deck or side.
Seize. To fasten ropes together by turns of small stuff.
Seizings. The fastenings of ropes that are seized together.
Set. To set up rigging, is to tauten it by tackles. The seizings are then put on afresh.
Shackles. Links in a chain cable which are fitted with a movable bolt so that the chain can be separated.
Shakes. The staves of hogsheads taken apart.
Shank. The main piece in an anchor, at one end of which the stock is made fast, and at the other the arms.
Shank-painter. A strong rope by which the lower part of the shank of an anchor is secured to the ship’s side.
Sheathing. A casing or covering on a vessel’s bottom.
Sheave. The wheel in a block upon which the rope works.Sheave-hole, the place cut in a block for the ropes to reeve through.
Sheep-shank. A kind of hitch or bend, used to shorten a rope temporarily.
Sheet. A rope
used in setting a sail, to keep the clew down to its place. With square sails, the sheets run through each yard-arm. With boom sails, they haul the boom over one way and another. They keep down the inner clew of a studdingsail and the after clew of a jib. (See Home.)
Sheet anchor. A vessel’s largest anchor: not carried at the bow.
Shell. The case of a block.
Ship. A vessel with three masts, with tops and yards to each. To enter on board a vessel. To fix anything in its place.
Shiver. To shake the wind out of a sail by bracing it so that the wind strikes upon the leech.
Shoe. A piece of wood used for the bill of an anchor to rest upon, to save the vessel’s side. Also, for the heels of shears, &c.
Shore. A prop or stanchion, placed under a beam. To shore, to prop up.
Shrouds. A set of ropes reaching from the mast-heads to the vessel’s sides, to support the masts.
Sills. Pieces of timber put in horizontally between the frames to form and secure any opening; as, for ports.
Skin. The part of a sail which is outside and covers the rest when it is furled. Also, familiarly, the sides of the hold; as, an article is said to be stowed next the skin.
Skysail. A light sail next above the royal.
Sky-scraper. A name given to a skysail when it is triangular.
Slabline. A small line used to haul up the foot of a course.
Slack. The part of a rope or sail that hangs down loose.Slack in stays, said of a vessel when she works slowly in tacking.
Sleepers. The knees that connect the transoms to the after timbers on the ship’s quarter.
Slings. The ropes used for securing the centre of a yard to the mast.Yard-slings are now made of iron. Also, a large rope fitted so as to go round any article which is to be hoisted or lowered.
Sloop. A small vessel with one mast.
Moby-Dick (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Page 71