GYBING. Another form for jibing (which see).

GYE. A west-country term for a salt-water ditch.

GYMMYRT. The Erse or Manx for rowing with oars.

GYMNOTUS ELECTRICUS. An eel from the Surinam river, several feet in length, which inflicts electrical shocks.

GYN. A three-legged machine fitted with a windlass, heaving in the fall from a purchase-block at the summit, much used on shore for mounting and dismounting guns, driving piles, &c. (See GIBRALTAR GYN.)

GYP. A strong gasp for breath, like a fish just taken out of the water.

GYVER. An old term for blocks or pulleys.

GYVES. Fetters; the old word for handcuffs.



H.

HAAF. Cod, ling, or tusk deep-sea fisheries of the Shetland and Orkney islanders.

HAAF-BOAT. One fitted for deep-water fishing.

HAAFURES. A northern term for fishermen's lines.

HAAK. See HAKE.

HAAR. A chill easterly wind on our northern coasts. (See HARR.)

HABERDDEN. Cod or stock-fish dried and cured on board; that cured at Aberdeen was the best.

HABERGEON. A coat of mail for the head and shoulders.

HABILIMENTS OF WAR. A statute term, for arms and all provisions for maintaining war.

HABLE. An Anglo-Norman term for a sea-port or haven; it is used in statute 27 Henry VII. cap. 3.

HACKATEE. A fresh-water tortoise in the West Indies; it has a long neck and flat feet, and weighs 10 to 15 lbs.

HACKBUSH. A heavy hand-gun. (See HAGBUT.)

HACKLE, HECKLE, OR HETCHEL. A machine for teazing flax. Also, a west-country name for the stickleback.

HACK-SAW. Used for cutting off the heads of bolts; made of a scythe fresh serrated.

HACK-WATCH, OR JOB-WATCH (which see).

HACOT. From the Anglo-Saxon hacod, a large sort of pike.

HADDIE. A north-coast diminutive of haddock.

HADDO-BREEKS. A northern term for the roe of the haddock.

HADDOCK. The Gadus aeglefinus, a species of cod fabled to bear the thumb-mark of St. Peter.

HAEVER. See EAVER.

HAFNE. An old word for haven, from the Danish.

HAFT. (See HEFT.) The handle of a knife or tool.

HAG-BOAT. See HECK-BOAT.

HAGBUT. A wall-piece placed upon a tripod; the arquebuse.

HAGBUTAR. The bearer of a fire-arm formerly used; it was somewhat larger than a musket.

HAGG. An arquebuse with a bent butt. Also, a swampy moss.

HAG'S TEETH. (See HAKE'S TEETH.) Those parts of a matting or pointing interwoven with the rest in an irregular manner, so as to spoil the uniformity. (See POINTING.) In soundings, see HAKE'S TEETH.

HAIK. See HIKE UP.

HAIL, TO. To hail "from a country," or claim it as a birthplace. A ship is said to hail from the port where she is registered, and therefore properly belongs to. When hailed at sea it is, "From whence do you come?" and "where bound?"—"Pass within hail," a special signal to approach and receive orders or intelligence, when boats cannot be lowered or time is precious. One vessel, the senior, lies to; the other passes the stern under the lee.—Hail-fellows, messmates well matched.

HAILING. To call to another vessel; the salutation or accosting of a ship at a distance.

HAILING-ALOFT. To call to men in the tops and at the mast-head to "look out," too often an inconsistent bluster from the deck.

HAIL-SHOT. Small shot for cannon.

HAILSHOT-PIECE. A sort of gun supplied of old to our ships, with dice of iron as the missile.

HAIR. The cold nipping wind called haar in the north: as in Beaumont and Fletcher,

"Here all is cold as the hairs in winter."

HAIR-BRACKET. The moulding at the back of the figure-head.

HAIR-TRIGGER. A trigger to a gun-lock, so delicately adjusted that the slightest touch will discharge the piece.

HAKE. An old term for a hand-gun. Also, the fish Gadus merluccius, a well-known gregarious and voracious fish of the cod family, often termed sea-pike.

HAKE'S TEETH. A phrase applied to some part of the deep soundings in the British Channel; but it is a distinct shell-fish, being the Dentalium, the presence of which is a valuable guide to the Channel pilot in foggy weather.

HALBAZ. See KALBAZ.

HALBERT. A sort of spear formerly carried by sergeants of infantry, that they, standing in the ranks behind the officers or the colours, should afford additional defence at those important points.

HALCYON PISCATOR, OR KING-FISHER. This beautiful bird's floating nest was fabled to calm the winds and seas while the bird sat. This occurring in winter gave rise to the expression "halcyon days."

HALE. An old word for haul (which see).

HALF AN EYE, SEEING WITH. Discerning instantly and clearly.

HALF-BEAMS. Short timbers, from the side to the hatchways, to support the deck where there is no framing. (See FORK-BEAMS.)

HALF-BREADTH OF THE RISING. A ship-builder's term for a curve in the floor-plan, which limits the distances of the centres of the floor-sweeps from the middle line of the body-plan.

HALF-BREADTH PLAN. In ship-building, the same as floor-plan.

HALF-COCK. To go off at half-cock is an unexpected discharge of a fire-arm; hurried conduct without due preparation, and consequently failure.

HALF-DAVIT. Otherwise fish-davit (which see).

HALF-DECK. A space between the foremost bulk-head of the steerage and the fore-part of the quarter-deck. In the Northumberland colliers the steerage itself is called the half-deck, and is usually the habitation of the crew.

HALF-DROWNED LAND. Shores which are rather more elevated and bear more verdure than drowned land (which see).

HALF-FLOOD. See FLOOD.

HALF-GALLEY. See GALLEY.

HALF-HITCH. Pass the end of a rope round its standing part, and bring it up through the bight. (See THREE HALF-HITCHES.)

HALF-LAUGHS AND PURSER'S GRINS. Hypocritical and satirical sneers.

HALF-MAN. A landsman or boy in a coaster, undeserving the pay of a full-man.

HALF-MAST. The lowering a flag in respect for the death of an officer.

HALF-MINUTE GLASS. See GLASS.

HALF-MOON. An old form of outwork somewhat similar to the ravelin, originally placed before the salients of bastions.

HALF-PIKE. An iron spike fixed on a short ashen staff, used to repel the assault of boarders, and hence frequently termed a boarding-pike.

HALF-POINT. A subdivision of the compass card, equal to 5 deg. 37' of the circle.

HALF-PORTS. A sort of one-inch deal shutter for the upper half of those ports which have no hanging lids; the lower half-port is solid and hinged, having a semicircle cut out for the gun when level, and falling down outwards when ready for action; the upper half-port fits loosely into rabbets, and is secured only by laniards.

HALF-SEA. The old term for mid-channel.

HALF SEAS OVER. Nearly intoxicated. This term was used by Swift.

HALF-SPEED! An order in steam navigation to reduce the speed. (See FULL SPEED!)

HALF-TIDE ROCKS. Those showing their heads at half-ebb. (See TIDE.)

HALF-TIMBERS. The short timbers or futtocks in the cant-bodies, answering to the lower futtocks in the square-body; they are placed so as to give good shiftings.

HALF-TOP. The mode of making ships' tops in two pieces, which are afterwards secured as a whole by what are termed sleepers.

HALF-TOPSAILS, UNDER. Said of a chase about 12 miles distant, the rest being below the horizon.

HALF-TURN AHEAD! An order in steam navigation. (See TURN AHEAD!)

HALF-WATCH TACKLE. A luff purchase. (See WATCH-TACKLE.)

HALIBUT. A large oceanic bank fish, Hippoglossus vulgaris, weighing from 300 to 500 lbs. particularly off Newfoundland; it resembles plaice, and is excellent food, nor does it easily putrefy.

HALLEY'S CHART. The name given to the protracted curves of the variation of the compass, known as the variation chart.

HALLIARDS, HALYARDS, OR HAULYARDS. The ropes or tackles usually employed to hoist or lower any sail upon its respective yards, gaffs, or stay, except the cross-jack and spritsail-yard, which are always slung; but in small craft the spritsail-yard also has halliards. (See JEERS.)

HALO. An extensive luminous ring including, the sun or moon, whose light, passing through the intervening vapour, gives rise to the phenomenon. Halos are called lunar or solar, according as they appear round the moon or sun. Prismatically coloured halos indicate the presence of watery vapour, whereas white ones show that the vapour is frozen.

HALSE, OR HALSER. Archaic spelling for hawser.

HALSTER. A west-country term for a man who draws a barge along by a rope.

HALT! The military word of command to stop marching, or any other evolution. A halt includes the period of such discontinuance.

HALVE-NET. A standing net used in the north to prevent fishes from returning with the falling tide.

HALYARDS. See HALLIARDS.

HAMACS. Columbus found that the inhabitants of the Bahama Islands had for beds nets of cotton suspended at each end, which they called hamacs, a name since adopted universally amongst seamen. (See HAMMOCK.)

HAMBER, OR HAMBRO'-LINE. Small line used for seizings, lashings, &c.

HAMMACOE. Beam battens. (See HAMMOCK-BATTENS.)

HAMMER. The shipwright's hammer is a well-known tool for driving nails and clenching bolts, differing from hammers in general.

HAMMER, OF A GUN-LOCK. Formerly the steel covering of the pan from which the flint of the cock struck sparks on to the priming; but now the cock itself, by its hammer action on the cap or other percussion priming, discharges the piece. Whether the hammer will be superseded by the needle remains to be determined.

HAMMER-HEADED SHARK. The Zygaena malleus, a strange, ugly shark. The eyes are situated at the extremities of the hammer-shaped head. They seldom take bait or annoy human beings. They are for the most part inert, live near the surf edge, and are frequently found washed up on sandy beaches. Chiefly found on the coasts of Barbary.

HAMMERING. A heavy cannonade at close quarters.

HAMMOCK. A swinging sea-bed, the undisputed invention of Alcibiades; but the modern name is derived from the Caribs. (See HAMACS.) At present the hammock consists of a piece of canvas, 6 feet long and 4 feet wide, gathered together at the two ends by means of clews, formed by a grommet and knittles, whence the head-clue and foot-clue: the hammock is hung horizontally under the deck, and forms a receptacle for the bed on which the seamen sleep. There are usually allowed from 14 to 20 inches between hammock and hammock in a ship of war. In preparing for action, the hammocks, together with their contents, are all firmly corded, taken upon deck, and fixed in various nettings, so as to form a barricade against musket-balls. (See ENGAGEMENT.)

HAMMOCK-BATTENS OR RACKS. Cleats or battens nailed to the sides of a vessel's beams, from which to suspend the seamen's hammocks.

HAMMOCK-BERTHING. Forecastle-men forward, and thence passing aft, foretop-men, maintop-men, mizentop-men, waisters, after-guard, and boys. Quartermasters in the tiers.

HAMMOCK-CLOTHS. To protect them from wet while stowed in the nettings on deck.

HAMMOCK GANT-LINES. Lines extended from the jib-boom end around the ship, triced up to the lower yard-arms, for drying scrubbed hammocks.

HAMMOCK-NETTINGS. Take their distinguishing names according to their location in the ship, as forecastle, waist, quarter-deck.

HAMMOCK-RACKS. See HAMMOCK-BATTENS.

HAMPER. Things, which, though necessary, are in the way in times of gale or service. (See TOP-HAMPER.)

HAMPERED. Perplexed and troubled.

HAMRON. An archaic term, meaning the hold of a ship.

HANCES. Spandrels; the falls or descents of fife-rails. Also, the breakings of the rudder abaft. (See HAUNCH.)

HAND. A phrase often used for the word man, as, "a hand to the lead," "clap more hands on," &c.—To hand a sail, is to furl it.—To lend a hand, to assist.—Bear a hand, make haste.—Hand in the leech, a call in furling sails. To comprehend this it must be understood that the leech, or outer border of the sail, if left to belly or fill with wind, would set at naught all the powers of the men. It is therefore necessary, as Falconer has it, "the tempest to disarm;" so by handing in this leech-rope before the yard, the canvas is easily folded in, and the gasket passed round.

HAND-GRENADE. A small shell for throwing by hand. (See GRENADE.)

HAND-GUN. An old term for small arms in the times of Henry VII. and VIII.

HANDLASS. A west-country term for a small kind of windlass.

HANDLE. The title prefixed to a person's name.—To handle a ship well, is to work her in a seamanlike manner.

HAND-LEAD. A small lead used in the channels, or chains, when approaching land, and for sounding in rivers or harbours under 20 fathoms. (See LEAD.)

HANDLES OF A GUN. The dolphins.

HAND-LINE. A line bent to the hand-lead, measured at certain intervals with what are called marks and deeps from 2 and 3 fathoms to 20.

HAND MAST-PIECE. The smaller hand mast-spars.

HAND MAST-SPAR. A round mast; those from Riga are commonly over 70 feet long by 20 inches diameter.

HANDMAID. An old denomination for a tender; thus, in Drake's expedition to Cadiz, two of Her Majesty's pinnaces were appointed to attend his squadron as handmaids.

HAND-OVER-HAND. Hauling rapidly upon any rope, by the men passing their hands alternately one before the other, or one above the other if they are hoisting. A sailor is said to go hand-over-hand if he lifts his own weight and ascends a single rope without the help of his legs. Hand-over-hand also implies rapidly; as, we are coming up with the chase hand-over-hand.

HAND-PUMP. The common movable pump for obtaining fresh water, &c., from tanks or casks.

HAND-SAW. The smallest of the saws used by shipwrights, and used by one hand.

HAND-SCREW. A handy kind of single jack-screw.

HANDSOMELY. Signifies steadily or leisurely; as, "lower away handsomely," when required to be done gradually and carefully. The term "handsomely" repeated, implies "have a care; not so fast; tenderly."

HANDSPIKE. A lever made of tough ash, and used to heave round the windlass in order to draw up the anchor from the bottom, or move any heavy articles, particularly in merchant ships. The handle is round, but the other end is square, conforming to the shape of the holes in the windlass. (See GUNNER'S HANDSPIKE.)

HANDS REEF TOP-SAILS! The order to reef by all hands, instead of the watch, or watch and idlers.

HAND-TIGHT. A rope hauled as taut as it can be by hand only.

HAND-UNDER-HAND. Descending a rope by the converse of hand-over-hand ascent.

HANDY-BILLY. A small jigger purchase, used particularly in tops or the holds, for assisting in hoisting when weak-handed. A watch-tackle. (See JIGGER.)

HANDY-SHIP. One that steers easily, and can be worked with the watch; or as some seamen would express it, "work herself."

HANG. In timber, opposed to sny (which see).—To hang. Said of a mast that inclines; it hangs forward, if too much stayed; hangs aft, if it requires staying.—To hang the mast. By some temporary means, until the mast-rope be fleeted.—To hang on a rope or tackle-fall, is to hold it fast without belaying; also to pull forcibly with the whole weight.—To hang aback. To be slack on duty.

HANGER. The old word for the Persian dagger, and latterly for a short curved sword.

HANG-FIRE. When the priming burns without igniting the cartridge, or the charge does not rapidly ignite after pulling the trigger. Figuratively, to hang fire, is to hesitate or flinch.

HANGING. A word expressive of anything declining in the middle part below a straight line, as the hanging of a deck or a sheer. Also, when a ship is difficult to be removed from the stocks, or in man[oe]uvre.

HANGING-BLOCKS. These are sometimes fitted with a long and short leg, and lash over the eyes of the top-mast rigging; when under, they are made fast to a strap. The topsail-tye reeves through these blocks, the tye-block on the yard, and the standing part is secured to the mast-head.

HANGING-CLAMP. A semicircular iron, with a foot at each end to receive nails, by which it is fixed to any part of the ship to hang stages to, &c.

HANGING-COMPASS. A compass so constructed as to hang with its face downwards, the point which supports the card being fixed in the centre of the glass, and the gimbals are attached to a beam over the observer's head. There is usually one hung in the cabin, that, by looking up to it, the ship's course may be observed at any moment; whence it is also termed a tell-tale.

HANGING HOOK-POTS. Tin utensils fitted for hanging to the bars before the galley-grate.

HANGING-KNEES. Those which are applied under the lodging-knees, and are fayed vertically to the sides.

HANGING-STAGE. Any stage hung over the side, bows, or stern, for painting, caulking, or temporary repairs.

HANGING STANDARD-KNEE. A knee fayed vertically beneath a hold-beam, with one arm bolted on the lower side of the beam.

HANGING-STOVES. Used for ventilating or drying between decks.

HANGING THE RUDDER. So as to allow the pintles to fall into their corresponding braces, constantly in boats, and frequently also in whaling vessels, but seldom in other ships: the rudder after being shipped is generally secured by wood-locks to prevent its unshipping at sea.

HANG ON HER! In rowing, is the order to stretch out to the utmost to preserve or increase head-way on the boat.

HANK FOR HANK. In beating against the wind each board is thus sometimes denoted. Also, expressive of two ships which tack simultaneously and make progress to windward together in racing, &c.

HANKS. Hoops or rings of rope, wood, or iron, fixed upon the stays, to seize the luff of fore-and-aft sails, and to confine the staysails thereto, at different distances. Those of wood are used in lieu of grommets, being much more convenient, and of a later invention. They are framed by the bending of a rough piece of wood into the form of a wreath, and fastened at the two ends by means of notches, thereby retaining their circular figure and elasticity; whereas the grommets which are formed of rope are apt to relax in warm weather, and adhere to the stays, so as to prevent the sails from being readily hoisted or lowered.—Iron hanks are more generally used now that stays are made of wire.—Hank is also a skein of line or twine.—Getting into a hank, irritated by jokes.

HANSE-TOWNS. Established in the 13th century, for the mutual protection of mercantile property. Now confined to Luebeck, Hamburg, and Bremen.

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY. A reckless indifference as to danger.

HAQUE. A little hand-gun of former times.

HAQUEBUT. A form of spelling arquebuse. A bigger sort of hand-gun than the haque.

HARASS, TO. To torment and fatigue men with needless work.

HARBOUR. A general name given to any safe sea-port. The qualities requisite in a good harbour are, that it should afford security from the effects of the wind and sea; that the bottom be entirely free from rocks and shallows, but good holding ground; that the opening be of sufficient extent to admit the entrance or departure of large ships without difficulty; that it should have convenience to receive the shipping of different nations, especially those which are laden with merchandises; and that it possess establishments for refitting vessels. To render a harbour complete, there ought to be good defences, a good lighthouse, and a number of mooring and warping buoys; and finally, that it have plenty of fuel, water, provisions, and other materials for sea use. Such a harbour, if used as a place of commercial transactions, is called a port.

HARBOUR-DUES. See PORT-CHARGES.

HARBOUR-DUTY MEN. Riggers, leading men, and others, ordered to perform the dockyard or port duties, too often superannuated, or otherwise unfit.

HARBOUR-GASKETS. Broad, but short and well-blacked gaskets, placed at equal distances on the yard, for showing off a well-furled sail in port: there is generally one upon every other seam.

HARBOUR-GUARDS. Men detached from the ordinary, as a working party.

HARBOUR-LOG. That part of the log-book which consists solely of remarks, and relates only to transactions while the ship is in port.

HARBOUR-MASTER. An officer appointed to inspect the moorings, and to see that the ships are properly berthed, and the regulations of the harbour strictly observed by the different ships frequenting it.

HARBOUR-REACH. The reach or stretch of a winding river which leads direct to the harbour.

HARBOUR-WATCH. A division or subdivision of the watch kept on night-duty, when the ship rides at single anchor, to meet any emergency.

HARD. A road-path made through mud for landing at. (See ARD.)

HARD-A-LEE. The situation of the tiller when it brings the rudder hard over to windward. Strictly speaking, it only relates to a tiller which extends forward from the rudder-head; now many extend aft, in which case the order remains the same, but the tiller and rudder are both brought over to windward. Also, the order to put the tiller in this position.

HARD AND FAST. Said of a ship on shore.

HARD-A-PORT! The order so to place the tiller as to bring the rudder over to the starboard-side of the stern-post, whichever way the tiller leads. (See HARD-A-LEE.)

HARD-A-STARBOARD. The order so to place the tiller as to bring the rudder over to the port-side of the stern-post, whichever way the tiller leads. (See HARD-A-LEE.)

HARD-A-WEATHER! The order so to place the tiller as to bring the rudder on the lee-side of the stern-post, whichever way the tiller leads, in order to bear away; it is the position of the helm as opposed to hard-a-lee (which see). Also, a hardy seaman.

HARD BARGAIN. A useless fellow; a skulker.

HARD FISH. A term indiscriminately applied to cod, ling, haddock, torsk, &c., salted and dried.

HARD GALE. When the violence of the wind reduces a ship to be under her storm staysails, No. 10 force.

HARD-HEAD. The Clupea menhaden, or Alosa tyrannus, an oily fish taken in immense quantities on the American coasts, insomuch that they are used for manuring land. Also, on our coasts the father-lasher or sea-scorpion, Cottus scorpius, and in some parts the grey gurnard, are so called.

HARD-HORSE. A tyrannical officer.

HARDING. A light kind of duck canvas made in the north.

HARD UP. The tiller so placed as to carry the rudder close over to leeward of the stern-post. Also, used figuratively for being in great distress, or poverty-struck; obliged to bear up for Poverty Bay; cleared out.

HARD UP IN A CLINCH, AND NO KNIFE TO CUT THE SEIZING. Overtaken by misfortune, and no means of evading it.

HARDS. See ACUMBA.

HARLE. Mists or thick rolling fogs from the sea, so called in the north. Also, a name of the goosander (which see).

HARMATTAN. A Fantee name for a singular periodical easterly wind which prevails on the west coast of Africa, generally in December, January, and February; it is dry, though always accompanied by haze, the result of fine red dust suspended in the atmosphere and obscuring the sun; this wind is opposed to the sea-breeze, which would otherwise blow fresh from the west on to the land.

HARNESS. An old statute term for the tackling or furniture of a ship.

HARNESS-CASK. A large conical tub for containing the salt provisions intended for present consumption. Alluding to the junk, which is often called salt-horse, it has been described as the tub where the horse, and not the harness, is kept.

HARP-COCK. An old modification of the harpoon.

HARPENS. See HARPINGS.

HARPER-CRAB. See TOMMY HARPER.

HARPINGS, OR HARPENS. The fore-parts of the wales which encompass the bow of a ship, and are fastened to the stem, being thicker than the after-part of the wales, in order to strengthen the ship in that place where she sustains the greatest shock of resistance in plunging into the sea, or dividing it, under a great pressure of sail. Also, the pieces of oak, similar to ribbands, but trimmed and bolted to the shape of the body of the ship, which hold the fore and after cant bodies together, until the ship is planked. But this term is mostly applicable to those at the bow; hence arises the phrase "clean and full harpings." Harpings in the bow of a vessel are decried as rendering the ship uneasy.—Cat harpings. The legs which cross from futtock-staff to futtock-staff, below the tops, to girt in the rigging, and allow the lower yards to brace sharp up.

HARPOON, OR HARPAGO. A spear or javelin with a barbed point, used to strike whales and other fish. The harpoon is furnished with a long shank, and has at one end a broad and flat triangular head, sharpened at both edges so as to penetrate the whale with facility, but blunt behind to prevent its cutting out. To the other end a fore-ganger is bent, to which is fastened a long cord called the whale-line, which lies carefully coiled in the boat in such a manner as to run out without being interrupted or entangled. Several coils, each 130 fathoms of whale-line (soft laid and of clean silky fibre) are in readiness; the instant the whale is struck the men cant the oars, so that the roll may not immerse them in the water. The line, which has a turn round the bollard, flies like lightning, and is intensely watched. One man pours water on the smoking bollard, another is ready with a sharp axe to cut, and the others see that the lines run free. Seven or eight coils have been run out before the whale "sounds," or strikes bottom, when he rises again to breathe, and probably gets a similar dose.—Gun harpoon. A weapon used for the same purpose as the preceding, but it is fired out of a gun, instead of being thrown by hand; it is made entirely of steel, and has a chain or long shackle attached to it, to which the whale-line is fastened. Greener's harpoon-gun is a kind of wall-piece fixed in a crutch, which steps into the bow-bollard of the whale-boat. The harpoon projects about four inches beyond the muzzle. It consists of its barbed point attached to a long link, with a solid button at its opposite end to fit the gun; on one rod of this link is a ring which runs to the muzzle, and is there attached to the whale-line by a thong of seal or walrus hide, wet. The gun being fired, the harpoon is projected, the ring sliding up to the button, when the line follows. Some of these harpoons or other engines have grenades—glass globules with prussic acid or other chemicals—which sicken the whale instantly, and little trouble ensues.

HARPOONER, HARPONEER, OR HARPINEER. The expert bowman in a whale-boat, whose duty it is to throw or fire the harpoon.

HARP-SEAL. The Phoca gr[oe]nlandica, a species of seal from the Arctic seas; so called from the form of a dark-brown mark upon its back.

HARQUEBUSS, OR ARQUEBUSS. Something larger than a musket. Sometimes called caliver. (See ARQUEBUSS.)

HARR, OR HARL. A sea-storm, from a northern term for snarling, in allusion to the noise. Also, a cold thick mist or fog in easterly winds; the haar.

HARRY-BANNINGS. A north-country name for sticklebacks.

HARRY-NET. A net with such small meshes, and so formed, as to take even the young and small fish.

HARVEST-MOON. The full moon nearest the autumnal equinox, when for several successive evenings she rises at the same hour; and this name is given in consequence of the supposed advantage of the additional length of moonlight to agriculture.

HASEGA. A corruption of asseguay (which see).

HASK. An archaism for a fish-basket.

HASLAR HAGS. The nurses of the naval hospital Haslar.

HASLAR HOSPITAL. A fine establishment near Gosport, for the reception and cure of the sick and wounded of the Royal Navy.

HASP. A semicircular clamp turning in an eye-bolt in the stem-head of a sloop or boat, and fastened by a forelock in order to secure the bowsprit down to the bows. (See SPAN-SHACKLE.)

HASTAN. The Manx or Erse term for a large eel or conger.

HASTY-PUDDING. A batter made of flour or oatmeal stirred in boiling water, and eaten with treacle or sugar at sea. This dish is not altogether to be despised in need, although Lord Dorset—the sailor poet—speaks of it disparagingly:

"Sure hasty-pudding is thy chiefest dish, With bullock's liver, or some stinking fish."

HATCH. A half-door. A contrivance for trapping salmon. (See HECK.)

HATCH-BARS. To secure the hatches; are padlocked and sealed.

HATCH-BOAT. A sort of small vessel known as a pilot-boat, having a deck composed almost entirely of hatches.

HATCH-DECK. Gun brigs had hatches instead of lower decks.

HATCHELLING. The combing and preparing hemp for rope-making.

HATCHES. Flood-gates set in a river to stop the current of water. Also, coverings of grating, or close hatches to seal the holds.—To lie under hatches, stowed in the hold. Terms used figuratively for being in distress and death.

HATCHET-FASHION. Cutting at the heads of antagonists, instead of thrusting.

HATCH-RINGS. Rings to lift the hatches by, or replace them.

HATCHWAY. A square or oblong opening in the middle of the deck of a ship, of which there are generally three—the fore, main, and after—affording passages up and down from one deck to another, and again descending into the hold. The coverings over these openings are called hatches. Goods of bulk are let down into the hold by the hatchways. To lay anything in the hatchway, is to put it so that the hatches cannot be approached or opened. The hatches of a smaller kind are distinguished by the name of scuttles.

HATCHWAY-NETTINGS. Nettings sometimes placed over the hatchways instead of gratings, for security and circulation of air. They arrest the fall of any one from a deck above.

HATCHWAY-SCREENS. Pieces of fear-nought, or thick woollen cloth, put round the hatchways of a man-of-war in time of action, to screen the passages to the magazine.

HATCHWAY-STOPPERS. Those for a hempen cable are fitted as a ring-stopper, only a larger rope. They are rove through a hole on each side of the coamings, in the corner of the hatchway; and both tails, made selvagee-fashion, are dogged along the cable. When a chain-cable is used, the stopper works from a beam on the lower deck.

HAT-MONEY. A word sometimes used for primage, or the trifling payment received by the master of a ship for care of goods.

HAUBERK. See AUBERK.

HAUGH. Flat or marshy ground by the side of a river.

HAUL, TO. An expression peculiar to seamen, implying to pull or bowse at a single rope, without the assistance of blocks or other mechanical powers upon it; as "haul in," "haul down," "haul up," "haul aft," "haul together." (See BOWSE, HOIST, and ROUSE.) A vessel hauls her wind by trimming the yards and sails so as to lie nearer to, or close to the wind, and by the power of the rudder shaping her course accordingly.

HAUL ABOARD THE FORE AND MAIN TACKS. This is to haul them forward, and down to the chess-trees on the weather-side.

HAUL AFT A SHEET. To pull it in more towards the stern, so as to trim the sail nearer to the wind.

HAULAGE. A traction-way.

HAUL-BOWLINGS. The old name for the able-bodied seamen.

HAUL HER WIND. Said of a vessel when she comes close upon the wind.—Haul your wind, or haul to the wind, signifies that the ship's head is to be brought nearer to the wind—a very usual phrase when she has been going free.

HAUL IN, TO. To sail close to the wind, in order to approach nearer to an object.

HAULING DOWN VACANCY. The colloquialism expressive of the promotion of a flag-lieutenant and midshipman on an admiral's hauling down his flag.

HAULING-LINE. A line made fast to any object, to be hauled nearer or on board, as a hawser, a spar, &c.

HAULING SHARP. Going upon half allowance of food.

HAUL MY WIND. An expression when an individual is going upon a new line of action. To avoid a quarrel or difficulty.

HAUL OF ALL! An order to brace round all the yards at once—a man[oe]uvre sometimes used in tacking, or on a sudden change of wind; it requires a strong crew.

HAUL OFF, TO. To sail closer to the wind, in order to get further from any object.

HAUL OUT TO LEEWARD! In reefing top-sails, the cry when the weather earing is passed.

HAUL ROUND. Said when the wind is gradually shifting towards any particular point of the compass. Edging round a danger.

HAULS AFT, OR VEERS AFT. Said of the wind when it draws astern.

HAULSER. The old orthography for hawser.

HAULS FORWARD. Said of the wind when it draws before the beam.

HAUL UNDER THE CHAINS. This is a phrase signifying a ship's working and straining on the masts and shrouds, so as to make the seams open and shut as she rolls.

HAULYARDS. See HALLIARDS.

HAUNCES. The breakings of the rudder abaft.

HAUNCH. A sudden fall or break, as from the drifts forward and aft to the waist. The same as hance.

HAVEN [Anglo-Saxon, haefen]. A safe refuge from the violence of wind and sea; much the same as harbour, though of less importance. A good anchorage rather than place of perfect shelter. Milford Haven is an exception.

HAVENET. This word has appeared in vocabularies as a small haven.

HAVEN-SCREAMER. The sea-gull, called haefen by the Anglo-Saxons.

HAVERSACK. A coarse linen bag with a strap fitting over the shoulder worn by soldiers or small-arm men in marching order, for carrying their provision, instead of the knapsack.

HAVILLER. See HUFFLER.

HAVOC. Formerly a war cry, and the signal for indiscriminate slaughter. Thus Shakspeare,

"Cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war."

HAWK'S-BILL. Chelone imbricata, a well-known turtle frequenting the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, so named from having a small mouth like the beak of a hawk; it produces the tortoise-shell of commerce. The flesh is indifferent, but the eggs very good.

HAWSE. This is a term of great meaning. Strictly, it is that part of a vessel's bow where holes are cut for her cables to pass through. It is also generally understood to imply the situation of the cables before the ship's stem, when she is moored with two anchors out from forward, one on the starboard, and the other on the port bow. It also denotes any small distance between her head and the anchors employed to ride her, as "he has anchored in our hawse," "the brig fell athwart our hawse," &c. Also, said of a vessel a little in advance of the stem; as, she sails athwart hawse, or has anchored in the hawse. If a vessel drives at her anchors into the hawse of another she is said to "foul the hawse" of the vessel riding there; hence the threat of a man-of-war's-man, "If you foul my hawse, I'll cut your cable," no merchant vessel being allowed to approach a ship-of-war within certain limits, and never to make fast to the government buoys.—A bold hawse is when the holes are high above the water. "Freshen hawse," or "veer out more cable," is said when part of the cable that lies in the hawse is fretted or chafed, and more should be veered out, so that another part of it may rest in the hawse. "Freshen hawse" also means, clap a service on or round the cable in the hawses to prevent it from fretting; hemp cables only are rounded or cackled. Also, a dram after fatiguing duty. "Clearing hawse," is untwisting or disentangling two cables that come through different holes, and make a foul hawse.

HAWSE-BAGS. Canvas bags filled with oakum, used in heavy seas to stop the hawse-holes and prevent the water coming in.

HAWSE-BLOCKS. Bucklers, or pieces of wood made to fit over the hawse-holes when at sea, to back the hawse-plugs.

HAWSE-BOLSTERS. Planks above and below the hawse-holes. Also, pieces of canvas stuffed with oakum and roped round, for plugging when the cables are bent.

HAWSE-BOX, OR NAVAL HOOD. Pieces of plank bolted outside round each of the hawse-holes, to support the projecting part of the hawse-pipe.

HAWSE-BUCKLERS. Plugs of wood to fit the hawse-holes, and hatches to bolt over, to keep the sea from spurting in.

HAWSE-FALLEN. To ride hawse-fallen, is when the water breaks into the hawse in a rough sea, driving all before it.

HAWSE-FULL. Riding hawse-full; pitching bows under.

HAWSE-HOLES. Cylindrical holes cut through the bows of a ship on each side of the stem, through which the cables pass, in order to be drawn into or let out of the vessel, as occasion requires.

HAWSE-HOOK. A compass breast timber which crosses the hawse-timber above the ends of the upper-deck planking, and over the hawse-holes. (See BREAST-HOOKS.)

HAWSE-PIECES. The timbers which compose the bow of a vessel, and their sides look fore and aft; it is a name given to the foremost timbers of a ship, whose lower ends rest upon the knuckle-timbers. They are generally parallel to the stem, having their upper ends sometimes terminated by the lower part of the beak-head and otherwise by the top of the bow. Also, timbers through which the hawse-holes are cut.

HAWSE-PIPE. A cast-iron pipe in the hawse-holes to prevent the cable from cutting the wood.

HAWSE-PLUGS. Blocks of wood made to fit into the hawse-pipes, and put in from the outside to stop the hawses, and thereby prevent the water from washing into the manger. The plug, coated with old canvas, is first inserted, then a mat or swab, and over it the buckler or shield, which bolts upward and downward into the breast-hooks.

HAWSER. A large rope or cablet, which holds the middle degree between the cable and tow-line, being a size smaller than the former, and as much larger than the latter; curiously, it is not hawser but cable laid.

HAWSER-LAID ROPE. Is rope made in the usual way, being three or four strands of yarns laid up right-handed, or with the sun; it is used for small running rigging, as well as for standing rigging, shrouds, &c.; in the latter case it is generally tarred to keep out rain. It is supposed that this style of rope is stronger in proportion to the number of yarns than cable or water-laid rope, which is more tightly twisted, each strand being a small rope. This latter is more impervious to water, and therefore good for cables, hawsers, &c.; it is laid left-handed, or against the sun.

HAWSE-TIMBERS. The upright timbers in the bow, bolted on each side of the stem, in which the hawse-holes are cut.

HAWSE-WOOD. A general name for the hawse-timbers.

HAY. A straight rank of men drawn up exactly in a line.

HAYE. A peculiar ground-shark on the coast of Guinea.

HAYLER. An archaism for halliard.

HAZE. A grayish vapour, less dense than a fog, and therefore does not generally exclude objects from sight.

HAZE, TO. To punish a man by making him do unnecessary work.

HEAD. The upper part or end of anything, as a mast-head, a timber-head. Also, an ornamental figure on a ship's stem expressive of her name, or emblematical of her object, &c. (See BILLET-HEAD, BUST-HEAD, FAMILY-HEAD, FIDDLE-HEAD, FIGURE-HEAD, SCROLL-HEAD, &c.) Also, in a more enlarged sense, the whole fore-part of a ship, including the bows on each side; the head therefore opens the column of water through which the ship passes when advancing; hence we say, head-way, head-sails, head-sea, &c. It is evident that the fore-part of a ship is called its head, from its analogy to that of a fish, or any animal while swimming. Also, in a confined sense, to that part on each side of the stem outside the bows proper which is appropriated to the use of the sailors for wringing swabs, or any wet jobs, for no wet is permitted in-board after the decks are dried. Also, hydrographically, the upper part of a gulf, bay, or creek.—By the head, the state of a ship which, by her lading, draws more water forward than aft. This may be remedied without reference to cargo in ships-of-war, by shifting shot, guns, &c. Vessels by the head are frequently uneasy, gripe and pitch more than when by the stern.

HEAD AND GUN-MONEY. An encouragement in the prize acts by which L5 a head is given to the captors for every person on board a captured vessel of war, or pirate.

HEAD-BOARDS. The berthing or close-boarding between the head-rails.

HEAD-CLUE OF A HAMMOCK. Where the head rests. (See HAMMOCK.)

HEAD-CRINGLES. Earing-cringles at the upper clues or corners of a sail.

HEAD-EARINGS. The laniards to haul out the earings. (See EARINGS.)

HEADER. The person in the Newfoundland fishing vessels who is engaged to cut open the fish, tear out the entrails, break off the head, and pass it over to the splitter, who sits opposite to him.

HEAD-FAST. A rope or chain employed to fasten the head of a ship or boat to a wharf or buoy, or to some other vessel alongside.—Head-fast of a boat, the tow-rope or painter.

HEAD-HOLES. The eyelet-holes where the rope-bands of a sail are fitted; they are worked button-hole fashion, over grommets of twine of several thicknesses; sometimes of cod-line.

HEADING. As to ships in company, one advancing by sail or steam faster than another heads her.

HEADING UP THE LAND WATER. When the flood-tide is backed by a wind, so that the ebb is retarded, causing an overflow.

HEAD-KNEES. Pieces of moulded compass timber fayed edgeways to the cut-water and stem, to steady the former. These are also called cheek-knees.

HEADLAND. Wherever the coast presents a high cliffy salient angle to the sea, without projecting far into it, it is called a headland; but if the point be low, it is a spit, tongue, or point. (See BLUFF.)

HEADMOST. The situation of any ship or ships which are the most advanced in a fleet, or line of battle. The opposite of sternmost.

HEAD-NETTING. An ornamental netting used in merchant ships instead of the fayed planking to the head-rails.

HEAD OF A COMET. The brighter part of a comet, from which the tail proceeds.

HEAD OF A MAST, OR MAST-HEAD. The upper part of any mast, or that whereon the caps or trucks are fitted.

HEAD OF A WORK. In fortification, the part most advanced towards the enemy. In progressive works, such as siege-approaches and saps, it is the farthest point then attained.

HEAD OF WATER. Water kept to a height by winds, or by artificial dams and sluice-gates. The vertical column which dock-gates have to bear.

HEAD-PIECE. A term for the helmet.

HEAD-PUMP. A small pump fixed at the vessel's bow, its lower end communicating with the sea: it is mostly used for washing decks.

HEAD-QUARTERS. The place where the general, or commanding officer, takes up his quarters. Also, the man-of-war, or transport, which carries the staff of an expedition.

HEAD-RAILS. The short rails of the head, extending from the back of the figure to the cat-head: equally useful and ornamental. There are two on each side, one straight and the other curved. (See FALSE RAIL.) Also, used familiarly for teeth.

HEAD-ROPE. That part of the bolt-rope which terminates any sail on the upper edge, and to which it is accordingly sewed. (See BOLT-ROPE.) Also, the small rope to which a flag is fastened, to hoist it to the mast-head, or head of the ensign-staff.

HEAD-SAILS. A general name for all those sails which may be set on the fore-mast and bowsprit, jib, and flying jib-boom, and employed to influence the fore-part of the ship.

HEAD-SEA. A name given to the waves when they oppose a ship's course, as the ship must rise over, or cut through each. Their effect depends upon their height, form, and speed; sometimes they are steep, quick, and irregular, so that a ship is caught by a second before she has recovered from the first; these render her wet and uneasy.

HEAD-SHEETS. Specially jibs and staysail sheets, before the fore-mast.

HEAD-STICK. A short round stick with a hole at each end, through which the head-rope of some triangular sails is thrust, before it is sewed on. Its use is to prevent the head of the sail from twisting.

HEAD TO WIND. The situation of a ship or boat when her head is pointed directly to windward. The term is particularly applied in the act of tacking, or while lying at anchor.

HEAD-WAY. A ship is said to gather head-way when she passes any object thrown overboard at the bow, and it passes astern into her wake. A ship may also, by the action of swell, forge ahead.

HEAD-WIND. A breeze blowing from the direction of the ship's intended course. Thus, if a ship is bound N.E. a N.E. wind is a head-wind "dead on end," as seamen express it.—The wind heads us, that is, veers towards the direction of the ship's course.

HEALD. The heel over of a grounded ship.

HEALTH-GUARD. Officers appointed to superintend the due observance of the quarantine regulations.

HEART. A block of wood forming a peculiar sort of triangular dead-eye, somewhat resembling the shape of a heart; it is furnished with only one large hole in the middle, grooved for the rope instead of the three holes. It is principally used to the stays, as the dead-eyes are to the shrouds. (See DEAD-EYE.)

HEARTH. Applied to the ship's fire-place, coppers, and galley generally.

HEARTY. Open and free. "My hearties," a cheerful salute to shipmates and seamen in general. "What cheer, my hearties?" how fare ye? what's your news?

HEART-YARNS. The centre yarns of a strand. Also, the heart-yarn or centre, on which four-stranded rope is formed.

HEATH. Various broom-stuffs used in breaming.

HEAVE, TO. To throw anything overboard. To cast, as heaving the log or the lead. Also, to drag, prize, or purchase, as heaving up the anchor.

HEAVE ABOUT, TO. To go upon the other tack suddenly.

HEAVE AND A-WASH. An encouraging call when the ring of the anchor rises to the surface, and the stock stirs the water.

HEAVE AND A-WEIGH. Signifies that the next effort will start the anchor from its bed, and make it a-trip. "Heave and a-weigh, sir," from the forecastle, denotes that the anchor is a-weigh; it inspirits the men to run it to the bows rapidly.

HEAVE AND IN SIGHT. A notice given by the boatswain to the crew when the anchor is drawn up so near the surface of the water as to be seen by its muddy water surrounding it.

HEAVE AND PAUL. Is the order to turn the capstan or windlass till the paul may be put in, by which it is prevented from coming up, and is something similar to belay, applied to a running rope.

HEAVE AND RALLY! An encouraging order to the men at the capstan to heave with spirit, with a rush, and thereby force the anchor out of the ground. When there is a rising sea "heave and rally" implies, "heave and stand to your bars," the pauls taking the strain, and the next wave probably lifting the anchor.

HEAVE AND SET. The ship's motion in rising and falling to the waves when at anchor.

HEAVE HANDSOMELY. Gently.

HEAVE HEARTY. Heave strong and with a will.

HEAVE OF THE SEA. The power that the swell of the sea exerts upon a ship in driving her out of, or faster on in, her course, and for which allowance must be made in the day's work. It is a similar, or the same action in force as in a head-sea.

HEAVE OUT THERE! The order to hasten men from their hammocks.

HEAVER. A wooden bar or staff, sometimes tapered at the ends; it is employed as a lever or purchase on many occasions, such as setting up the top-mast shrouds, stropping large blocks, seizing the standing rigging, &c. Also, a name on the Kentish shores for the haviler crab.

HEAVE SHORT, TO. To heave in on the cable until the vessel is nearly over her anchor, or sufficiently near it for sail being made before the anchor is tripped. Short, is when the fore-stay and cable are in line.

HEAVE THE LEAD. To take soundings with the hand lead-line. "Get a cast of the lead," with the deep-sea lead and line.

HEAVE THE LOG. Determine the ship's velocity by the log line and glass.

HEAVE-TO, TO. To put a vessel in the position of lying-to, by adjusting her sails so as to counteract each other, and thereby check her way, or keep her perfectly still. In a gale, it implies to set merely enough sail to steady the ship; the aim being to keep the sea on the weather bow whilst the rudder has but little influence, the sail is chiefly set on the main and mizen-mast; as hove-to under a close-reefed main-topsail, or main-trysail, or driver. It is customary in a foul wind gale, and a last resource in a fair one.

HEAVING AHEAD. Is the act of advancing or drawing a ship forwards by heaving on a cable or rope made fast to some fixed point before her.

HEAVING AND SETTING. Riding hard, pitching and sending.

HEAVING ASTERN. Causing a ship to recede or go backwards, by heaving on a cable or other rope fastened to some fixed point behind her. This more immediately applies to drawing a vessel off a shoal.

HEAVING A STRAIN. Working at the windlass or capstan with more than usual exertion.

HEAVING DOWN. (See CAREENING.) The bringing one of a ship's sides down into the water, by means of purchases on the masts, in order to repair any injury which is below her water-line on the other.

HEAVING IN. Shortening in the cable. Also, the binding a block and hook by a seizing.

HEAVING IN STAYS. The act of tacking, when, the wind being ahead, great pressure is thrown upon the stays.

HEAVING KEEL OUT. The utmost effect to be produced by careening, viz. to raise the keel out of the water in order to repair or clean it. (See HEAVING DOWN.)

HEAVING OUT. The act of loosing or unfurling a sail; particularly applied to the staysails; or in the tops, footing the sail out of the top.

HEAVING TAUT. The act of turning the capstan, &c., till the rope applied thereto becomes straight and ready for action.

HEAVING THROUGH ALL. The surging or slipping of the cable when the nippers do not hold.

HEAVY DRIFT-ICE. Dense ice, which has a great depth in the water in proportion to its size, and is not in a state of decay, therefore dangerous to shipping.

HEAVY GALE. A strong wind, in which a ship is reduced to storm-staysails and close-reefed main-topsail. Force 10.

HEAVY METAL, OR HEAVY ORDNANCE. Ordnance of large calibre.

HEAVY SEA. High and strong waves.

HEBBER-MAN. An old name for a fisherman on the Thames below London Bridge, who took whitings, smelts, &c., commonly at ebbing-water.

HEBBING-WEIR. Contrivances for taking fish at ebbing-water.

HECK-BOAT. The old term for pinks. Latterly a clincher-built boat with covered fore-sheets, and one mast with a trysail.

HECKLE. Said to be from the Teutonic heckelen, to dress flax for rope-making. Also, an artificial fly for fishing.

HECKLE-BACK. A name of the fifteen-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus spinachia.

HEDA. An early term for a small haven, wharf, or landing-place.

HEDAGIUM. A toll or duty paid at the wharf for landing goods, &c.

HEDGEHOGS. A name formerly applied to vessels which rowed with many oars. Also, small stunted trees unfit for timber.

HEEL. The after end of a ship's keel, and the lower end of the stern-post to which it is connected. Also, the lower end of any mast, boom, bowsprit, or timber. Also, that part of the end of the butt of a musket which is uppermost when at the firing position.—To heel. To lie over, or incline to either side out of the perpendicular: usually applied to a ship when canted by the wind, or by being unequally ballasted. (See CRANK, STIFF, and TRIM.)

HEEL-BRACE. A piece of iron-work applicable to the lower part of a rudder, in case of casualty to the lower pintles.

HEELING GUNWALE TO. Pressing down sideways to her upper works, particularly applied to boats running before a heavy sea, when they may roll their weather gunwales to.

HEEL-KNEE. The compass-piece which connects the keel with the stern-post.

HEEL-LASHING. The rope which secures the inner part of a studding-sail boom to the yard; also, that which secures the jib-boom.

HEEL OF A MAST. The lower end, which either fits into the step attached to the keel, or in top-masts is sustained by the fid upon the trestle-trees. Heeling is the square part of the spar through which the fid hole is cut.

HEEL-ROPE. That which hauls out the bowsprit in cutters, and the jib and studding-sail booms, or anything else where it passes through the heel of the spar, except in the case of top-masts and topgallant-masts, where it becomes a mast-rope.

HEELS. Having the heels of a ship; sailing faster.

HEEL-TACKLES. The luff purchases for the heels of each sheer previous to taking in masts, or otherwise using them.

HEEVIL. An old northern term for the conger.

HEFT. The Anglo-Saxon haeft; the handle of a dirk, knife, or any edge-tool; also, the handle of an oar.

HEIGHT. Synonymous with hill, and meaning generally any ground above the common level of the place. Our early navigators used the word as a synonym of latitude.

HEIGHT OF THE HOLD. Used for the depth of the hold.

HEIGHT OF BREADTH. In ship-building, is a delineation generally in two lines—upper and lower—determining the height of the broadest place of each timber.

HELIACAL. A star rises heliacally when it first becomes visible in the morning, after having been hidden in the sun's rays; and it sets heliacally when it is first lost in the evening twilight, owing to the sun's proximity.

HELIER. A cavern into which the tide flows.

HELIOCENTRIC. As seen from, or having reference to, the centre of the sun.

HELIOMETER. An instrument designed for the accurate measurement of the diameters of the sun or planets.

HELIOSTAADT, OR HELIOTROPE. This instrument reflects the sun's rays by a silvered disc, used in the great trigonometrical surveys. It has been visible at 100 miles' distance, from Cumberland to Ireland.

HELL-AFLOAT. A vessel with a bad name for tyranny.

HELM. Properly is the tiller, but sometimes used to express the rudder, and the means used for turning it, which, in small vessels and boats, is merely a tiller, but in larger vessels a wheel is added, which supplies the leverage for pulling the tiller either way; they are connected by ropes or chains.—A-lee the helm, or Down with the helm! So place the tiller that the rudder is brought on the weather side of the stern-post. These, and the following orders, were established when tillers extended forward from the rudder-head, but now they often extend aft, which requires the motion of the tiller to be reversed. With the latter style of tiller the order "down with the helm" is carried out by bringing the tiller up to the weather side of the ship; which being done, the order "Helm's a lee" follows.—Bear up the helm. That is, let the ship go more large before the wind.—Ease the helm. To let the helm come more amidships, when it has been put hard up or down.—It is common to ease the helm before a heavy sea takes the ship when close-hauled.—Helm amidships, or right the helm. That is, keep it even with the middle of the ship, in a line with the keel.—Helm over. The position of the tiller to enable a vessel steaming ahead to describe a curve.—Port the helm. Place the tiller so as to carry the rudder to starboard. (See A-lee the helm.)—Shift the helm. Put it from port to starboard, and vice versa, or it may be amidships.—Starboard the helm. Place the tiller so as to carry the rudder to port.—Up with the helm. Place the tiller so as to carry the rudder to leeward. (See A-lee the helm.)

HELMED. An old word for steered; it is metaphorically used by Shakspeare in Measure for Measure.

HELMET. A piece of defensive armour; a covering for the head.

HELM-PORT. The round hole or cavity in a ship's counter, through which the head of the rudder passes into the trunk.

HELM-PORT TRANSOM. The piece of timber placed across the lower counter, withinside the height of the helm-port, and bolted through every timber for the security of that part of the ship.

HELMSMAN. The timoneer, or person, who guides the ship or boat by the management of the helm. The same as steersman.

HELM-WIND. A singular meteorological phenomenon which occurs in the north of England. Besides special places in Cumberland and Westmoreland, it suddenly rushes from an immense cloud that gathers round the summit of Cross-Fell, covering it like a helmet. Its effects reach the sea-board.

HELMY. Rainy [from an Anglo-Saxon phrase for rainy weather].

HELTER-SKELTER. Hurry and confusion. Defiance of good order. Privateerism.

HELVE. The handle of the carpenter's mauls, axes, and adzes; also of an oar, &c.

HELYER. See HELIER.

HEMISPHERE. Half the surface of a globe. The celestial equator divides the heavens into two hemispheres—the northern and the southern.

HEMP. Cannabis sativa. A manufactorial plant of equal antiquity with flax. The produce of hemp in fibre varies from three to six hundred weight per acre, and forms the best of all cordage and ropes. It is mixed with opium in the preparation of those rich drugs called hashishe in Cairo and Constantinople. Those who were in the constant use of them were called hashishin (herb-eaters); and being often by their stimulative properties excited almost to frenzy and to murder, the word "assassin" is said to have been derived by the crusaders from this source. While the French army was in Egypt, Napoleon I. was obliged to prohibit, under the severest penalties, the sale and use of these pernicious substances.

HENDECAGON. A right-lined figure with eleven sides; if it be regular, the sides and angles are all equal.

HEN-FRIGATE. A ship wherein the captain's wife interfered in the duty or regulations.

HEN'S-WARE. A name of the edible sea-weed Fucus esculentus.

HEP-PAH, OR HIPPA. A New Zealand fort, or space surrounded with stout palisades; these rude defences have given our soldiers and sailors much trouble to reduce. (See PAH.)

HEPTAGON. A right-lined figure with seven sides; if it be regular, the sides and angles are all equal.

HERCULES. The large mass of iron by the blows of which anchors are welded.

HERE-AWAY. A term when a look-out man announces a rhumb or bearing of any object in this quarter.

HERE-FARE [Anglo-Saxon]. An expedition; going to warfare.

HERISSON. A balanced barrier to a passage in a fort, of the nature of a turnstile.

HERLING. A congener of the salmon species found in Scotland; it is small, and shaped like a sea-trout.

HERMAPHRODITE OR BRIG SCHOONER, is square-rigged, but without a top forward, and schooner-rigged abaft; carrying only fore-and-aft sails on the main-mast; in other phrase, she is a vessel with a brig's fore-mast and a schooner's main-mast.

HERMIT-CRAB. A name applied to a group of crabs (family Paguridae), of which the hinder part of the body is soft, and which habitually lodge themselves in the empty shell of some mollusc. Also called soldier-crabs.

HERMO. A Mediterranean term for the meteor called corpo santo.

HERNE. A bight or corner, as Herne Bay, so called from lying in an angle.

HERNSHAW AND HERNE. Old words for the heron.

HERON. A large bird of the genus Ardea, which feeds on fish.

HERRING. A common fish—the Clupea harengus; Anglo-Saxon haering and hering.

HERRING-BONING. A method of sewing up rents in a sail by small cross-stitches, by which the seam is kept flat.

HERRING-BUSS. A peculiar boat of 10 or 15 tons, for the herring fishery. (See BUSS.)

HERRING-COB. A young herring.

HERRING-GUTTED. See SHOTTEN-HERRING.

HERRING-HOG. A name for the porpoise.

HERRING-POND. The Atlantic Ocean.

HETERODROMOUS LEVERS. The windlass, capstan, crank, crane, &c.

HETEROPLON. A kind of naval insurance, where the insurers only run the risk of the outward voyage; when both the going out and return of a vessel is insured, it is called amphoteroplon.

HETTLE. A rocky fishing-ground in the Firth of Forth, which gives name to the fish called Hettle-codling.

HEUGH. A craggy dry dell; a ravine without water.

HEXAGON. A right-lined figure with six sides; if it be regular, the sides and angles are all equal.

HEYS-AND-HOW. An ancient sea-cheer.

HI! Often used for hoy; as, "Hi, you there!" Also, the old term for they, as in Sir Ferumbras—

"Costroye there was, the Admiral, With vitaile great plente, And the standard of the sowdon royal, Toward Mantrible ridden hi."

HIDDEN HARBOUR. That of which the outer points so overlap as to cause the coast to appear to be continuous.

HIDE, TO. To beat; to rope's-end or drub. Also, to secrete.

HIE, TO. To flow quickly in a tide-way.

HIE ALOFT. Away aloft.

HIGH. In gunnery, signifies tightly fitting the bore; said of shot, wads, &c. Also, a gun is said to be laid high when too much elevated.

HIGH-AND-DRY. The situation of a ship or other vessel which is aground, so as to be seen dry upon the strand when the tide ebbs from her.

HIGH ENOUGH. Said in hoisting in goods, water, or masts.

HIGH FLOOD. See FLOOD.

HIGH LATITUDES. Those regions far removed from the equator towards the poles of the earth above the 50th degree.

HIGH TIDE, OR HIGH WATER. Figuratively, a full purse. Constance, in Shakspeare's King John, uses the term high tides as denoting the gold-letter days or holidays of the calendar.

HIGH-WATER. The greatest height of the flood-tide. (See TIDE.)

HIGH-WATER MARK. The line made by the water upon the shore, when at its greatest height; it is also designated the flood-mark and spring-tide mark. This constitutes the boundary line of admiralty jurisdiction as to the soil.

HIGH WIND. See HEAVY GALE.

HIGRE. See BORE and EAGRE.

HIKE. A brief equivalent to "Be off," "Go away." It is generally used in a contemptuous sense; as, he was "hiked off"—that is, dismissed at once, or in a hurry. To swing.

HIKE UP, TO. To kidnap; to carry off by force.

HILL. In use with the Anglo-Saxons. An insulated rise of the ground, usually applied to heights below 1000 feet, yet higher than a hillock or hummock (which see).

HILLOCK. A small coast-hill, differing from a hummock in having a peaked or pointed summit.

HILT. The handle and guard of a sword.

HIND-CASTLE. A word formerly used for the poop, as being opposed to fore-castle.

HIPPAGINES, OR HIPPAGOGAE. Ancient transports for carrying cavalry.

HIPPER, OR HIPPING-STONES. Large stones placed for crossing a brook.

HIPPOCAMPUS. A small fish, so termed from the head resembling that of a horse. They live among reeds and long fuci, to which they cling with prehensile tails.

HIPPODAMES. An old word for sea-horses.

HIPSY. A drink compounded of wine, water, and brandy.

HIRE, TO. To take vessel or men on service at a stipulated remuneration.

HIRECANO. An old word for hurricane.

HIRST. The roughest part of a river-ford. A bank.

HITCH. A species of knot by which one rope is connected with another, or to some object. They are various; as, clove-hitch, racking-hitch, timber-hitch (stopped), rolling-hitch, running-hitch, half-hitch, blackwall-hitch, magnus-hitch, marline-spike hitch, harness-hitch, &c. (See BEND and KNOT.) It also signifies motion by a jerk. Figuratively, it is applied to an impediment. A seaman often hitches up his trowsers, which "have no lifts or braces."—To hitch is to make fast a rope, &c., to catch with a hook. Thus of old, when a boat was to be hoisted in, they said—"Hitch the tackles into the rings of the boat."

HITCHER. An old term for a boat-hook.

HO! OR HAY! An exclamation derived from our Danish ancestors, and literally meaning stop!

HOAKY. A common petty oath—"By the hoaky!" by your hearth or fire.

HOAM. The dried fat of the cod-fish.

HOASTMEN. An ancient guild at Newcastle dealing in coals.

HOAY, OR HOY! a word frequently added to an exclamation bespeaking attention, as "Main-top, hoay!" and is chiefly used to persons aloft or without the ship.

HOB-A-NOB. To drink cosily; the act of touching glasses in pledging a health. An early and extensive custom falling into disuse.

HOBBLE. A perplexity or difficulty.—Hobbles, irons or fetters.

HOBBLER. A coast-man of Kent, a bit of a smuggler, and an unlicensed pilot, ever ready for a job in either of these occupations. Also, a man on land employed in towing a vessel by a rope. Also, a sentinel who kept watch at a beacon.

HOBITS. Small mortars of 6 or 8 inches bore mounted on gun-carriages; in use before the howitzer.

HOBRIN. A northern designation of the blue shark, Squalus glaucus.

HOC. The picked dog-fish, Squalus acanthias.

HOCK-SAW. A fermented drink along the coasts of China, partaking more of the nature of beer than of spirit, and therefore less injurious than sam-tsin.

HOD. A hole under a bank or rock, forming a retreat for fish.

HODDY-DODDY. A west-country name for a revolving light.

HODMADODS. The name among early navigators for Hottentots.

HODMANDODS. See DODMAN.

HODOMETRICAL. A method of finding the longitude at sea by dead-reckoning.

HOE. See HOWE.

HOE-MOTHER, OR HOMER. The basking shark, Squalus maximus.

HOE-TUSK. Squalus mustela, smooth hound-fish of the Shetlanders.

HOG. A kind of rough, flat scrubbing broom, serving to scrape a ship's bottom under water, particularly in the act of boot-topping (which see); formed by inclosing a multitude of short twigs of birch, or the like, between two pieces of plank, which are firmly attached to each other; the ends of the twigs are then cut off even, so as to form a brush of considerable extent. To this is fitted a long staff, together with two ropes, the former of which is used to thrust the hog under the ship's bottom, and the latter to guide and pull it up again close to the planks, so as to rub off all the dirt. This work is usually performed in the ship's boat.

HOG-BOAT. See HECK-BOAT.

HOGGED. A significant word derived from the animal; it implies that the two ends of a ship's decks droop lower than the midship part, consequently, that her keel and bottom are so strained as to curve upwards. The term is therefore in opposition to that of sagging.

HOG-IN-ARMOUR. Soubriquet for an iron-clad ship.

HOGO. From the French haut-gout, a disagreeable smell, but rather applied to ill-ventilated berths than to bilge-water.

HOISE. The old word for hoist.

HOIST. The perpendicular height of a sail or flag; in the latter it is opposed to the fly, which implies its breadth from the staff to the outer edge: or that part to which the halliards are bent.

HOIST, OR HOISE, TO. To raise anything; but the term is specially applied to the operation of swaying up a body by the assistance of tackles. It is also invariably used for the hauling up the sails along the masts or stays, and the displaying of flags and pendants, though by the help of a single block only. (See SWAY, TRACING-UP, and WHIP.)

HOISTING-TACKLE. A whip, a burton, or greater purchase, as yard-arm tackles, &c.

HOISTING THE FLAG. An admiral assuming his command "hoists his flag," and is saluted with a definite number of guns by all vessels present.

HOISTING THE PENDANT. Commissioning a ship.

HOLD. The whole interior cavity of a ship, or all that part comprehended between the floor and the lower deck throughout her length.—The after-hold lies abaft the main-mast, and is usually set apart for the provisions in ships of war.—The fore-hold is situated about the fore-hatchway, in continuation with the main-hold, and serves the same purposes.—The main-hold is just before the main-mast, and generally contains the fresh water and beer for the use of the ship's company.—To rummage the hold is to examine its contents.—To stow the hold is to arrange its contents in the most secure and commodious manner possible.—To trim the hold (see TRIM OF THE HOLD). Also, an Anglo-Saxon term for a fort, castle, or stronghold.—Hold is also generally understood of a ship with regard to the land or to another ship; hence we say, "Keep a good hold of the land," or "Keep the land well aboard," which are synonymous phrases, implying to keep near the land; when applied to a ship, we say, "She holds her own;" i.e. goes as fast as the other ship; holds her wind, or way.—To hold. To assemble for public business; as, to hold a court-martial, a survey, &c.—Hold! An authoritative way of separating combatants, according to the old military laws at tournaments, &c.; stand fast!

HOLD A GOOD WIND, TO. To have weatherly qualities.

HOLD-ALL. A portable case for holding small articles required by soldiers, marines, and small-arm men on service.

HOLD-BEAMS. The lowest range of beams in a merchantman. In a man-of-war they support the orlop-deck. (See ORLOP-BEAMS.)

HOLDERS. The people employed in the hold duties of a ship.

HOLD-FAST. A rope; also the order to the people aloft, when shaking out reefs, &c., to suspend the operation. In ship-building, it means a bolt going down through the rough tree rail, and the fore or after part of each stanchion.

HOLDING-ON. The act of pulling back the hind part of any rope.

HOLDING ON THE SLACK. Doing nothing. (See EYELIDS.)

HOLDING WATER. The act of checking the progress of a boat by holding the oar-blades in the water, and bearing the flat part strongly against the current alongside, so as to meet its resistance. (See BACK ASTERN, OAR, and ROW.)

HOLD OFF. The keeping the hove-in part of a cable or hawser clear of the capstan.

HOLD ON. Keep all you have got in pulling a rope.—Hold on a minute. Wait or stop.—Hold on with your nails and eyelids. A derisive injunction to a timid climber.

HOLD ON, GOOD STICKS! An apostrophe often made when the masts complain in a fresh squall, or are over-pressed, and it is unadvisable to shorten sail.

HOLD-STANCHIONS. Those which support the hold-beams amidships, and rest on the kelson.

HOLD UP, TO. In meteorological parlance, for the weather to clear up after a gale; to stop raining.

HOLE. A clear open space amongst ice in the Arctic seas.

HOLEBER. A kind of light horseman, who rode about from place to place in the night, to gain intelligence of the landing of boats, men, &c., on the Kentish coast.

HOLES, EYELET OR [OE]ILLET. The holes in sails for points and rope-bands which are fenced round by stitching the edge to a small log-line grommet. In the drumhead of a capstan, the holes receive the capstan-bars.

HOLIDAY. Any part left neglected or uncovered in paying or painting, blacking, or tarring.

HOLLANDS. The spirit principally distilled in Holland.

HOLLARDS. The dead branches and loppings of trees.

HOLLEBUT. A spelling of halibut.

HOLLOA, OR HOLLA. An answer to any person calling from a distance, to show they hear. Thus, if the master intends to give any order to the people in the main-top, he previously calls, "Main-top, hoay." It is also the first answer received when hailing a ship. (See HAILING and HOAY.)

HOLLOW. The bore of a rocket. In naval architecture, a name for the fifth or top-timber-sweep (which see). Also, hollow or curved leeches of sails, in contradistinction to straight.

HOLLOW BASTION. In fortification, a bastion of which the terreplein or interior terrace is not continued beyond a certain distance to the rear of the parapet, and thus leaves a central area at a lower level.

HOLLOW-MOULD. The same as floor-hollow (which see).

HOLLOWS AND ROUNDS. Plane-tools used for making mouldings.

HOLLOW SEA. The undulation of the waves after a gale; long hollow-jawed sea; ground-swell.

HOLLOW SHOT. Introduced principally for naval use before the horizontal firing of shells from guns became general. Their weight was about two-thirds that of the solid shot; thus they required less charge of powder and weight of gun than the latter, whilst their smashing effect and first ranges were supposed to be greater. It is clear, however, that if filled with powder, their destructive effect must be immensely increased.

HOLLOW SQUARE. The square generally used by British infantry; a formation to resist cavalry. Each side is composed of four ranks of men, the two foremost kneeling with bayonets forming a fence breast high; the inclosed central space affords shelter to officers, colours, &c. With breech-loading muskets this defence will become less necessary. (See also RALLYING SQUARE.)

HOLM. (See CLETT.) A name both on the shores of Britain and Norway for a small uninhabited island used for pasture; yet in old writers it sometimes is applied to the sea, or a deep water. Also, an ill-defined name applied to a low islet in a river, as well as the flat land by the river side.

HOLOMETRUM GEOMETRICUM. A nautical instrument of brass, one of which, price L4, was supplied to Martin Frobisher in 1576.

HOLSOM. A term applied to a ship that rides without rolling or labouring.

HOLSTER. A case or cover for a pistol, worn at the saddle-bow.

HOLT [from the Anglo-Saxon]. A peaked hill covered with a wood.

HOLUS-BOLUS. Altogether; all at once.

HOLY-STONE. A sandstone for scrubbing decks, so called from being originally used for Sunday cleaning, or obtained by plundering churchyards of their tombstones, or because the seamen have to go on their knees to use it.

HOME. The proper situation of any object, when it retains its full force of action, or when it is properly lodged for convenience. In the former sense it is applied to the sails; in the latter it usually refers to the stowage of the hold. The anchor is said to come home when it loosens, or drags through the ground by the effort of the wind or current. (See ANCHOR.)—Home is the word given by the captain of the gun when, by the sense of his thumb on the touch-hole, he determines that the charge is home, and no air escapes by the touch-hole. It is the word given to denote the top-sail or other sheets being "home," or butting.—Sheet home! The order to extend the clues of sails to the yard-arms.—The wind blows home. When it sets continuously over the sea and land with equal velocity. When opposed by vertical or high land, the breeze loses its force as the land is neared: then it does not blow home, as about Gibraltar and Toulon.

HOME-SERVICE. The Channel service; any force, either naval or military, stationed in and about the United Kingdom.

HOME-TRADERS. The contradistinction of foreign-going ships.

HOMEWARD-BOUND. Said of a ship when returning from a voyage to the place whence she was fitted out; or the country to which she belongs.

HOMEWARD-BOUNDER. A ship on her course home.

HOMMELIN. The Raia rubus, or rough ray.

HONEST-POUNDS. Used in contradistinction to "purser's pounds" (which see).

HONEYCOMB. A spongy kind of flaw in the metal of ordnance, generally due to faulty casting.

HONG. Mercantile houses in China, with convenient warehouses adjoining. Also, a society of the principal merchants of the place.

HONOURS OF WAR. Favourable terms granted to a capitulating enemy on evacuating a fortress; they vary in degree, according to circumstances; generally understood to mean, to march out armed, colours flying, &c., but to pile arms at a given point, and leave them, and be sent home, or give parole not to serve until duly exchanged.

HOO. See HOWE.

HOOD. A covering for a companion-hatch, skylight, &c. Also, the piece of tarred or painted canvas which used to cover the eyes of rigging to prevent water from damaging them; now seldom used. Also, the name given to the upper part of the galley chimney, made to turn round with the wind, that the smoke may always go to leeward.—Naval hoods or whood. Large thick pieces of timber which encircle the hawse-holes.

HOOD-ENDS. The ends of the planks which fit into the rabbets of the stem and stern posts.

HOOD OF A PUMP. A frame covering the upper wheel of a chain-pump.

HOODS, OR HOODINGS. The foremost and aftermost planks of the bottom, within and without. Also, coverings to shelter the mortar in bomb-vessels.

HOOK. There are several kinds used at sea, as boat-hooks, can-hooks, cat-hooks, fish-hooks, and the like. A name given to reaches, or angular points in rivers, such as Sandy Hook at New York.—Laying-hook. A winch used in rope-making.—Loof-tackle hooks, termed luffs. A tackle with two hooks, one to hitch into a cringle of the main or fore sail in the bolt-rope, and the other to hitch into a strap spliced to the chess-tree. They pull down the sail, and in a stiff gale help to hold it so that all the stress may not bear upon the tack.

HOOK AND BUTT. The scarphing or laying two ends of planks over each other. (See BUTT-AND-BUTT and HOOK-SCARPH.)

HOOK-BLOCK. Any block, of iron or wood, strapped with a hook.

HOOK-BOLTS. Those used to secure lower-deck ports.

HOOKER, OR HOWKER. A coast or fishing vessel—a small hoy-built craft with one mast, intended for fishing. They are common on our coasts, and greatly used by pilots, especially off the Irish ports. Also, Jack's name for his vessel, the favourite "old hooker." Also, a term for a short pipe, probably derived from hookah.

HOOKEY. See HOAKY.

HOOKING. In ship-carpentry this is the act of working the edge of one plank into that of another, in such a manner that they cannot be drawn asunder.

HOOK OF THE DECKS. See BREAST-HOOKS.

HOOK-POTS. Tin cans fitted to hang on the bars of the galley range.

HOOK-ROPES. A rope 6 or 8 fathoms long, with a hook and thimble spliced at one end, and whipped at the other: it is used in coiling hempen cables in the tiers, dragging chain, &c.

HOOK-SCARPH. In ship-carpentry, the joining of two pieces of wood by a strong method of hook-butting, which mode of connecting is termed hook and butt.

HOOP. The principal hoops of different kinds used for nautical purposes, are noticed under their several names, as mast-hoops, clasp-hoops, &c. In wind-bound ships in former times the left hands of several boys were tied to a hoop, and their right armed with a nettle, they being naked down to the waist. On the boatswain giving one a cut with his cat, the boy struck the one before him, and each one did the same, beginning gently, but, becoming irritated, they at last laid on in earnest. Also, a nautical punishment for quarrelsome fighters was, that two offenders, similarly fastened, thrashed each other until one gave in. The craven was usually additionally punished by the commander.

HOOPS. The strong iron bindings of the anchor-stock to the shank, though square, are called hoops.

HOPE. A small bay; it was an early term for valley, and is still used in Kent for a brook, and gives name to the adjacent anchorages. Johnson defines it to be any sloping plain between two ridges of hills.

HOPPER-PUNT. A flat-floored lighter for carrying soil or mud, with a hopper or receptacle in its centre, to contain the lading.

HOPPO. The chief of the customs in China.

HOPPO-MEN. Chinese custom-house officers.

HORARY ANGLE. The apparent time by the sun, or the sidereal time of the moon, or planets, or stars, from the meridian.

HORARY MOTION. The march or movement of any heavenly body in the space of an hour.

HORARY TABLES. Tables for facilitating the determination of horary angles.

HORIE-GOOSE. A northern name for the Anser bernicla, or brent-goose.

HORIOLAE. Small fishing-boats of the ancients.

HORIZON. The apparent or visible circle which bounds our vision at sea; it is that line which is described by the sky and water appearing to meet. This is designated as the sensible horizon; the rational, or true one, being a great circle of the heavens, parallel to the sensible horizon, but passing through the centre of the earth.

HORIZON-GLASSES. Two small speculums on one of the radii of a quadrant or sextant; the one half of the fore horizon-glass is silvered, while the other half is transparent, in order that an object may be seen directly through it: the back horizon-glass is silvered above and below, but in the middle there is a transparent stripe through which the horizon can be seen.

HORIZONTAL. A direction parallel to the horizon, or what is commonly termed lying flat. One of the greatest inconveniences navigators have to struggle with is the frequent want of a distinct sight of the horizon. To obviate this a horizontal spinning speculum was adopted by Mr. Lerson, who was lost in the Victory man-of-war, in which ship he was sent out to make trial of his instrument. This was afterwards improved by Smeaton, and consists of a well-polished metal speculum about 3-1/2 inches in diameter, inclosed within a circular rim of brass, so fitted that the centre of gravity of the whole shall fall near the point on which it spins. This is the end of a steel axis running through the centre of the speculum, above which it finishes in a square for the convenience of fitting a roller on it, bearing a piece of tape wound round it. The cup in which it spins is made of agate flint, or other hard substance. Sextants, with spirit-levels attached, have latterly been used, as well as Becher's horizon; but great dexterity is demanded for anything like an approximation to the truth; wherefore this continues to be a great desideratum in navigation.

HORIZONTAL FIRE. From artillery, is that in which the piece is laid either direct on the object, or with but small elevation above it, the limit on land being 10 deg., and afloat still less. It is the most telling under ordinary circumstances, and includes all other varieties, with the exception of vertical fire, which has elevations of from 30 deg. and upwards; and, according to some few, curved fire, an intermediate kind, of limited application.

HORIZONTAL PARALLAX. See PARALLAX.

HORIZONTAL PLAN. In ship-building, the draught of a proposed ship, showing the whole as if seen from above.

HORIZONTAL RIBBAND LINES. A term given by shipwrights to those lines, or occult ribbands, by which the cant-timbers are laid off, and truly bevelled.

HORN. The arm of a cleat or kevel.

HORN-CARD. Transparent graduated horn-plates to use on charts, either as protractors or for meteorological purposes, to represent the direction of the wind in a cyclone.

HORNED ANGLE. That which is made by a right line, whether tangent or secant, with the circumference of a circle.

HORNEL. A northern term for the largest species of sand-launce or sand-eel.

HORN-FISC. Anglo-Saxon for the sword-fish.

HORN-FISTED. Having hands inured to hauling ropes.

HORNING. In naval architecture, is the placing or proving anything to stand square from the middle line of the ship, by setting an equal distance thereon.

HORN-KECK. An old term for the green-back fish.

HORNOTINAE. Ancient vessels which were built in a year.

HORNS. The points of the jaws of the booms. Also, the outer ends of the cross-trees. Also, two extreme points of land inclosing a bay.

HORNS OF THE MOON. The extremities of the lunar crescent, in which form she is said to be horned.

HORNS OF THE RUDDER. See RUDDER-HORN.

HORNS OF THE TILLER. The pins at the extremity.

HORN-WORK. In fortification, a form of outwork having for its head a bastioned front, and for its sides two long straight faces, which are flanked by the guns of the body of the place. Sometimes it is a detached outwork.

HOROLOGIUM UNIVERSALE. An old brass nautical instrument, one of which was supplied to Martin Frobisher, at an expense of L2, 6s. 8d., when fitting out on his first voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage.

HORS DE COMBAT. A term adopted from the French, signifying so far disabled as to be incapable of taking farther share in the action.

HORSE. A foot-rope reaching from the opposite quarter of a yard to its arms or shoulders, and depending about two or three feet under the yard, for the sailors to tread on while they are loosing, reefing, or furling the sails, rigging out the studding-sail booms, &c. In order to keep the horse more parallel to the yard, it is usually attached thereto at proper distances, by certain ropes called stirrups, which have an eye spliced into their lower ends, through which the horse passes. (See STIRRUPS and FOOT-ROPES.) Also, a rope formerly fast to the fore-mast fore-shrouds, with a dead-eye to receive the spritsail-sheet-pendant, and keep the spritsail-sheets clear of the flukes of the anchor. Also, the breast-rope which is made fast to the shrouds to protect the leadsman. Also, applied to any pendant and thimble through which running-rigging was led, now commonly called a lizard. Also, a thick rope, extending in a perpendicular direction near the fore or after side of a mast, for the purpose of hoisting some yard, or extending a sail thereon; when before the mast, it is used for the square-sail, whose yard is attached to the horse by means of a traveller or bull's-eye, which slides up and down. When it is abaft the mast, it is intended for the trysail of a snow; but is seldom used in this position, except in those sloops of war which occasionally assume the appearance of snows to deceive the enemy. Also, the name of the sawyer's frame or trestle. Also, the round iron bar formerly fixed to the main-rail at the head with stanchions; a fir rail is now used, and the head berthed up. Also, in cutters or schooners, one horse is a stout iron bar, with a large thimble, which spans the vessel from side to side close to the deck before the fore-mast. To this the forestaysail-sheet is hauled, and traverses. The other horse is a similar bar abaft, on which the main-boom sheet traverses. Also, cross-pieces on the tops of standards, on which the booms or spare-spars or boats are lashed between the fore and main masts. Horses are also termed jack-stays, on which sails are hauled out, as gaff-sails. Horse is a term of derision where an officer assumes the grandioso, demanding honour where honour is not his due. Also, a strict disciplinarian, in nautical parlance. Also, tough salt beef—salt horse.—Flemish horse is the horse which has an iron thimble in one end, which goes over the iron point of the yard-arm before the studding-sail boom-iron is put on; in the other, a lashing eye, which is secured near the head earing of the top-sail. It is intended for the men at the earing in reefing, or when setting the top-gallant-studding-sails.

HORSE-ARTILLERY. A branch of field artillery specially equipped to man[oe]uvre with cavalry, having lighter guns, and all its gunners mounted on horseback. Its service demands a rare combination of soldierly qualities.

HORSE-BUCKETS. Covered buckets for carrying spirits or water in.

HORSE-BUCKLE. The great whelk.

HOUSE-COCKLE. See GAWKY.

HORSE-FOOT. A name of the Limulus polyphemus of the shores of America, where from its shape it is called the horse-shoe or lantern crab.

HORSE-LATITUDES. A space between the westerly winds of higher latitudes and the trade-winds, notorious for tedious calms. The name arose from our old navigators often throwing the horses overboard which they were transporting to America and the West Indies.

HORSE-MACKEREL. A large and coarse member of the Scomber family, remarkably greedy, and therefore easily taken, but unwholesome.

HORSE-MARINE. An awkward lubberly person. One out of place.

HORSE-MUSSEL. See DUCK-MUSSEL.

HORSE-POTATOES. The old word for yams.

HORSE-POWER. A comparative estimate of the capacity of steam-engines, by assuming a certain average effective pressure of steam, and a certain average linear velocity of the piston. The pressure multiplied by the velocity gives the effective force of the engine exerted through a given number of feet per minute; and since the force called a horse-power means 33,000 lbs. acting thus one foot per minute, it follows that the nominal power of the engine will be found by dividing the effective force exerted by the piston, multiplied by the number of feet per minute through which it acts by 33,000.

HORSES. Blocks in whalers for cutting blubber on. (See WHITE-HORSE.)

HORSE-SHOE. In old fortification, a low work of this plan sometimes thrown up in ditches.

HORSE-SHOE CLAMP. The iron or copper straps so shaped, used as the fastenings which connect the gripe with the fore-foot at the scarph of the keel and stem.

HORSE-SHOE HINGES. Those by which side-scuttles or ventilators to the cabins are hung.

HORSE-SHOE RACK. A sweep curving from the bitt-heads abaft the main-mast carrying a set of nine-pin swivel-blocks as the fair leaders of the light running gear, staysail, halliards, &c.

HORSE-TONGUE. A name applied to a kind of sole.

HORSE-UP. See HORSING-IRON.

HORSING-IRON. An iron fixed in a withy handle, sometimes only lashed to a stick or tree-nail, and used with a beetle by caulkers.—To horse-up, or harden in the oakum of a vessel's seams.

HOSE (for watering, &c.) An elastic pipe.

HOSE-FISH. A name for a kind of cuttle-fish.

HOSPITAL. A place appointed for the reception of sick and wounded men, with a regular medical establishment. (See NAVAL HOSPITALS.)

HOSPITAL-SHIP. A vessel fitted to receive the sick, either remaining in port, or accompanying a fleet, as circumstance demands. She carries the chief surgeons, &c. The Dreadnought, off Greenwich, is a free hospital-ship for seamen of all nations.

HOSTAGE. A person given up to an enemy as a pledge or security for the performance of the articles of a treaty.

HOSTILE CHARACTER is legally constituted by having landed in an enemy's territory, and by residing there, temporary absence being immaterial; by permanent trade with an enemy; and by sailing under an enemy's flag.

HOST-MEN. An ancient guild or fraternity at Newcastle, to whom we are indebted for the valuable sea-coal trade. (See HOASTMEN.)

HOT COPPERS. Dry fauces; morning thirst, but generally applied to those who were drinking hard over-night.

HOT-PRESS. When the press-gangs were instructed, on imminent emergency, to impress seamen, regardless of the protections.

HOT-SHOT. Balls made red-hot in a furnace. Amongst the savages in Bergou, the women are in the rear of the combatants, and they heat the heads of the spears, exchanging them for such as are cooled in the fight.

HOT-WELL. In a steamer, a reservoir from whence to feed the boiler with the warm water received out of the condenser; it also forms part of the discharge passage from the air-pump into the sea.