PLANE. In a general sense, a perfectly level surface; but it is a term used by shipwrights, implying the area or imaginary surface contained within any particular outlines, as the plane of elevation, or sheer-draught, &c.

PLANE-CHART. One constructed on the supposition of the earth's being an extended plane, and therefore but little in request.

PLANE OF THE MERIDIAN. See MERIDIAN.

PLANE-SAILING. That part of navigation which treats a ship's course as an angle, and the distance, difference of latitude, and easting or westing, as the sides of a right-angled triangle. The easting or westing is called departure. To convert this into difference of longitude, parallel, middle latitude, or Mercator's sailing is needed, depending on circumstances. Plane-sailing is so simple that it is colloquially used to express anything so easy that it is impossible to make a mistake.

PLANE TRIANGLE. One contained by three right lines.

PLANETS, PRIMARY. Those beautiful opaque bodies which revolve about the sun as a centre, in nearly circular orbits. (See INFERIOR, MINOR, and SUPERIOR.)

PLANETS, SECONDARY. The satellites, or moons, revolving about some of the primary planets—the moon being our satellite.

PLANIMETRY. The mensuration of plane surfaces.

PLANK. Thick boards, 18 feet long at least, from 1-1/2 to 4 inches thick, and 9 or 10 inches broad; of less dimensions, it is called board or deal (which see), the latter being 8 or 9 inches wide, by 14 feet long.

PLANKING. The outside and inside casing of the vessel.

PLANK IT, TO. To sleep on the bare decks, choosing, as the galley saying has it, the softest plank.

PLANK-SHEER. Pieces of plank covering the timber-heads round the ship; also, the gunwale or covering-board. The space between this and the line of flotation has latterly been termed the free-board.

PLAN OF THE TRANSOMS. The horizontal appearance of them, to which the moulds are made, and the bevellings taken.

PLANT. A stock of tools, &c. Also, the fixtures, machinery, &c., required to carry on a business.

PLANTER. In Newfoundland it means a person engaged in the fishery; and in the United States the naked trunk of a tree, which, imbedded in a river, becomes one of the very dangerous snag tribe.

PLASH, TO. To wattle or interweave branches.

PLASTRON. A pad used by fencers. Also, the shield on the under surface of a turtle.

PLATE. In marine law, refers to jewels, plate, or treasure, for which freight is due. Thus, plate-ship is a galleon so laden.

PLATE. Backstay-plate. A piece of iron used instead of a chain to confine the dead-eye of the backstay to the after-channel.—Foot-hook or futtock plates. Iron bands fitted to the lower dead-eyes of the topmast-shrouds, which, passing through holes in the rim of the top, are attached to the upper ends of the futtock-shrouds.

PLATE-ARMOUR. Thick coverings or coatings for ships on the new principle, to render them impervious to shot and shell, if kept just outside of breaking-plate distance.

PLATEAU. An upland flat-topped elevation.

PLATFORM. A kind of deck for any temporary or particular purpose: the orlop-deck, having store-rooms and cabins forward and aft, and the middle part allotted to the stowage of cables. Also, the flooring elevation of stone or timber on which the carriage of a gun is placed for action. Hence, in early voyages, a fort or battery, with well-mounted ordnance, is called "the platform."

PLATOON. Originally a small square body or subdivision of musketeers; hence, platoon exercise, that which relates to the loading and firing of muskets in the ranks; and platoon firing, i.e. by subdivisions.

PLAY. Motion in the frame, masts, &c. Also said of the marine steam-engine when it is in action or in play. Also, in long voyages or tedious blockades, play-acting may be encouraged with benefit; for the excitement and employment thus afforded are not only good anti-scorbutics, but also promoters of content and good fellowship: in such—

"Jack is not bound by critics' crabbed laws, But gives to all his unreserved applause: He laughs aloud when jokes his fancy please— Such are the honest manners of the seas. And never—never may he ape those fools Who, lost to reason, laugh or cry by rules."

PLAYTE. An old term for a river-boat.

PLEDGET. The string of oakum used in caulking. Also, in surgery, a small plug of lint.

PLEIADES. The celebrated cluster of stars in Taurus, of which seven or eight are visible to the naked eye; the assisted vision numbers over 200.

PLENY TIDES. Full tides.

PLICATILES. Ancient vessels built of wood and leather, which could be taken to pieces and carried by land.

PLONKETS. Coarse woollen cloths of former commerce. (See statute 1 R. III. c. 8.)

PLOT, OR PLOTT. A plan or chart. (See ICHNOGRAPHY.)

PLOTTING. The making of the plan after an actual survey of the place has been obtained.

PLOUGH. An instrument formerly used for taking the sun's altitude, and possessed of large graduations. When a ship cuts briskly through the sea she is said to plough it.

PLUCKER. The fishing frog, Lophius piscatorius.

PLUG. A conical piece of wood to let in or keep out water, when fitted to a hole in the bottom of a boat.—Hawse-plugs. To stop the hawse-holes when the cables are unbent, and the ship plunges in a head-sea.—Shot-plugs. Covered with oakum and tallow, to stop shot-holes in the sides of a ship near the water-line; being conical, they adapt themselves to any sized shot-holes.

PLUMB. Right up and down, opposed to parallel.—To plumb. To form the vertical line. Also, to sound the depth of water.

PLUMBER-BLOCKS. These, in a marine steam-engine, are Y's, wherein are fixed the bushes, in which the shafts or pinions revolve.

PLUMMET. A name sometimes given to the hand-lead, or any lead or iron weight suspended by a string, as used by carpenters, &c.

PLUNDER. A name given to the effects of the officers and crew of a prize, when pillaged by the captors, though the act directs that "nothing shall be taken out of a prize-ship till condemned." (See PILLAGE.)

PLUNGING FIRE. A pitching discharge of shot from a higher level, at such an angle that the shot do not ricochet.

PLUNGING SPLASH. The descent of the anchor into the water when let go.

PLUSH [evidently from plus]. The overplus of the grog, arising from being distributed in a smaller measure than the true one, and assigned to the cook of each mess, becomes a cause of irregularity. (See TOT.)

PLUVIOMETER, OR RAIN-GAUGE. A measurer of the quantity of rain which falls on a square foot. There are various kinds.

PLY, TO. To carry cargoes or passengers for short trips. Also, to work to windward, to beat. Also, to ply an oar, to use it in pulling.

PLYMOUTH CLIMATE.

"The west wind always brings wet weather, The east wind wet and cold together; The south wind surely brings us rain, The north wind blows it back again."

PLYMOUTH CLOAK. An old term for a cane or walking stick.

P.M. [Lat. post meridiem.] Post meridian, or after mid-day.

P.O. Mark for a petty officer.

POCHARD. A kind of wild duck.

POCKET. A commercial quantity of wool, containing half a sack. Also, the frog of a belt.

POD. A company of seals or sea-elephants.

POGGE. The miller's thumb, Cottus cataphractus.

POHAGEN. A fish of the herring kind, called also hard-head (which see).

POINT. A low spit of land projecting from the main into the sea, almost synonymous with promontory or head. Also, the rhumb the winds blow from.

POINT A GUN, TO. To direct it on a given object.

POINT A SAIL, TO. To affix points through the eyelet-holes of the reefs. (See POINTS.)

POINT-BEACHER. A low woman of Portsmouth.

POINT-BLANK. Direct on the object; "blank" being the old word for the mark on the practice-butt.

POINT-BLANK FIRING. That wherein no elevation is given to the gun, its axis being pointed for the object.

POINT-BLANK RANGE. The distance to which a shot was reckoned to range straight, without appreciable drooping from the force of gravity. It varied from 300 to 400 yards, according to the nature of gun; and was measured by the first graze of the shot fired horizontally from a gun on its carriage on a horizontal plane. The finer practice of rifled guns is much abating the use of the term, minute elevations being added to the point-blank direction for even the very smallest ranges.

POINT BRASS OR IRON. A large sort of plumb for the nice adjustment of perpendicularity for a given line.

POINT-DE-GALLE CANOE. Consists of a single stem of Dup wood, 18 to 30 feet long, from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 feet broad, and from 2 to 3 feet deep. It is fitted with a balance log at the ends of two bamboo out-riggers, having the mast, yard, and sail secured together; and, when sailing, is managed in a similar way to the catamaran. They sail very well in strong winds, and are also used by the natives of the Eastern Archipelago, especially at the Feejee group, where they are very large.

POINTER. The index or indicator of an instrument.—Station pointer. A brass graduated circle with one fixed and two radial legs; by placing them at two adjoining angles taken by a sextant between three known objects, the position of the observer is fixed on the chart.

POINTER-BOARD. A simple contrivance for duly training a ship's guns.

POINTERS. Stout props, placed obliquely to the timbers of whalers, to sustain the shock of icebergs. All braces placed diagonally across the hold of any vessel, to support the bilge and prevent loose-working, are called pointers. Also, the general designation for the stars {a} and {b} in the Great Bear, a line through which points nearly upon the pole-star.

POINT-HOLES. The eyelet-holes for the points.

POINTING. The operation of unlaying and tapering the end of a rope, and weaving some of its yarns about the diminished part, which is very neat to the eye, prevents it from being fagged out, and makes it handy for reeving in a block, &c.

POINT OF THE COMPASS. The 32d part of the circumference, or 11 deg. 15'.

POINTS. See REEF-POINTS.—Armed at all points, is when a man is defended by armour cap-a-pie.

POINTS OF SERVICE. The principal details of duty, which ought to be executed with zeal and alacrity.

POLACRE. A ship or brig of the Mediterranean; the masts are commonly formed of one spar from truck to heel, so that they have neither tops nor cross-trees, neither have they any foot-ropes to their upper yards, because the men stand upon the topsail-yards to loose and furl the top-gallant sails, and upon the lower yards to loose, reef, or furl the top-sails, all the yards being lowered sufficiently for that purpose.

POLANS. Knee-pieces in armour.

POLAR CIRCLES. The Arctic and the Antarctic; 23 deg. 28' from either pole.

POLAR COMPRESSION. See COMPRESSION OF THE POLES.

POLAR DISTANCE. The complement of the declination. The angular distance of a heavenly body from one of the poles, counted on from 0 deg. to 180 deg.

POLARIS. See POLE-STAR.

POLAR REGIONS. Those parts of the world which lie within the Arctic and Antarctic circles.

POLDAVIS, OR POLDAVY. A canvas from Dantzic, formerly much used in our navy. A kind of sail-cloth thus named was also manufactured in Lancashire from about the year 1500, and regulated by statute 1 Jac. cap. 24.

POLE. The upper end of the highest masts, when they rise above the rigging.

POLEAXE, OR POLLAX. A sort of hatchet, resembling a battle-axe, which was used on board ship to cut away the rigging of an adversary. Also in boarding an enemy whose hull was more lofty than that of the boarders, by driving the points of several into her side, one above another, and thus forming a kind of scaling-ladder; hence were called boarding-axes.

POLEMARCH. The commander-in-chief of an ancient Greek army.

POLE-MASTS. Single spar masts, also applied where the top-gallant and royal masts are in one. (See MAST.)

POLES. Two points on the surface of the earth, each 90 deg. distant from all parts of the equator, forming the extremities of the imaginary line called the earth's axis. The term applies also to those points in the heavens towards which the terrestrial axis is always directed.—Under bare poles. The situation of a ship at sea when all her sails are furled. (See SCUD and TRY.)

POLE-STAR. {a} Ursae minoris. This most useful star is the lucida of the Little Bear, round which the other components of the constellation and the rest of the heavens appear to revolve in the course of the astronomical day.

POLICY. A written contract, by which the insurers oblige themselves to indemnify sea-risks under various conditions. An interest policy, is where the insurer has a real assignable interest in the thing insured; a wager policy, is where the insurer has no substantial interest in the thing insured; an open policy, is where the amount of interest is not fixed, but left to be ascertained in case of loss; a valued policy, is where an actual value has been set on the ship or goods.

POLLACK. The Merlangus pollachius, a well-known member of the cod family.

POLLUX. {b} Geminorum. A bright and well-known star in the ancient constellation Gemini, of which it is the second in brightness.

POLRON. That part of the armour which covered the neck and shoulders.

POLTROON. Not known in the navy.

POLYGON. A geometrical figure of any number of sides more than four; regular or irregular. In fortification the term is applied to the plan of a piece of ground fortified or about to be fortified; and hence, in some countries, to a fort appropriated as an artillery and engineering school.

POLYMETER. An instrument for measuring angles.

POLYNESIA. A group of islands: a name generally applied to the islands of the Pacific Ocean collectively, whether in clusters or straggling.

POMELO, OR PUMELO. Citrus decumana. A large fruit known by this name in the East Indies, but in the West by that of shaddock, after Captain Shaddock, who introduced it there.

POMFRET. A delicate sea-fish, taken in great quantities in Bombay and Madras.

POMMELION. A name given by seamen to the cascable or hindmost knob on the breech of a cannon.

PONCHES. Small bulk-heads made in the hold to stow corn, goods, &c.

PONCHO. A blanket with a hole in the centre, large enough for the head to pass through, worn by natives of South and Western America.

POND. A word often used for a small lagoon, but improperly, for ponds are formed exclusively from springs and surface-drainage, and have no affluent. Also, a cant name for the Mediterranean. Also, the summit-level of a canal.

PONENT. Western.

PONIARD. A short dagger with a sharp edge.

PONTAGE. A duty or toll collected for the repair and keeping of bridges.

PONTONES. Ancient square-built ferry-boats for passing rivers, as described by Caesar and Aulus Gellius.

PONTOON. A large low flat vessel resembling a barge of burden, and furnished with cranes, capstans, tackles, and other machinery necessary for careening ships; they are principally used in the Mediterranean. Also, a kind of portable boat specially adapted for the formation of the floating bridges required by armies: they are constructed of various figures, and of wood, metal, or prepared canvas (the latter being most in favour at present), and have the necessary superstructure and gear packed with them for transport.

POO. A small crab on the Scottish coast.

POOD. A Russian commercial weight, equal to 36 lbs. English.

POODLE. An old Cornish name for the English Channel. Also, a slang term for the aide-de-camp of a garrison general.

POOL. Is distinguished from a pond, in being filled by springs or running water. Also, a pwll or port.

POOP. [From the Latin puppis.] The aftermost and highest part of a large ship's hull. Also, a deck raised over the after-part of a spar-deck, sometimes called the round-house. A frigate has no poop, but is said to be pooped when a wave strikes the stern and washes on board.

POOPING, OR BEING POOPED. The breaking of a heavy sea over the stern or quarter of a boat or vessel when she scuds before the wind in a gale, which is extremely dangerous, especially if deeply laden.

POOP-LANTERN. A light carried by admirals to denote the flag-ship by night.

POOP-NETTING. See HAMMOCK-NETTINGS.

POOP-RAILS. The stanchions and rail-work in front of the poop. (See BREAST-WORK and FIFE-RAILS.)

POOP-ROYAL. A short deck or platform placed over the aftmost part of the poop in the largest of the French and Spanish men-of-war, and serving as a cabin for their masters and pilots. This is the topgallant-poop of our shipwrights, and the former round-house cabin of our merchant vessels.

POOR JOHN. Hake-fish salted and dried, as well as dried stock-fish, and bad bacalao, or cod, equally cheap and coarse. Shakspeare mentions it in Romeo and Juliet.

POPLAR. The tree which furnishes charcoal for the manufacture of gunpowder.

POPLER. An old name for a sea-gull.

POPPETS. Upright pieces of stout square timber, mostly fir, between the bottom and bilge-ways, at the run and entrance of a ship about to be launched, for giving her further support. Also, poppets on the gunwale of a boat support the wash-strake, and form the rowlocks.

POPPLING SEA. Waves in irregular agitation.

PORBEAGLE. A kind of shark.

PORPESSE, PORPOISE, OR PORPUSS. The Phoc[oe]na communis. One of the smallest of the cetacean or whale order, common in the British seas.

PORT. An old Anglo-Saxon word still in full use. It strictly means a place of resort for vessels, adjacent to an emporium of commerce, where cargoes are bought and sold, or laid up in warehouses, and where there are docks for shipping. It is not quite a synonym of harbour, since the latter does not imply traffic. Vessels hail from the port they have quitted, but they are compelled to have the name of the vessel and of the port to which they belong painted on the bow or stern.—Port is also in a legal sense a refuge more or less protected by points and headlands, marked out by limits, and may be resorted to as a place of safety, though there are many ports but rarely entered. The left side of the ship is called port, by admiralty order, in preference to larboard, as less mistakeable in sound for starboard.—To port the helm. So to move the tiller as to carry the rudder to the starboard side of the stern-post.—Bar-port. One which can only be entered when the tide rises sufficiently to afford depth over a bar; this in many cases only occurs at spring-tides.—Close-port. One within the body of a city, as that of Rhodes, Venice, Amsterdam, &c.—Free-port. One open and free of all duties for merchants of all nations to load and unload their vessels, as the ports of Genoa and Leghorn. Also, a term used for a total exemption of duties which any set of merchants enjoy, for goods imported into a state, or those exported of the growth of the country. Such was the privilege the English enjoyed for several years after their discovery of the port of Archangel, and which was taken from them on account of the regicide in 1648.

PORTABLE SOUP, and other preparations of meat. Of late years a very valuable part of naval provision.

PORTAGE. Tonnage. Also, the land carriage between two harbours, often high and difficult for transport. Also, in Canadian river navigation means the carrying canoes or boats and their cargo across the land, where the stream is interrupted by rocks or rapids.

PORT ARMS! The military word of command to bring the fire-lock across the front of the body, muzzle slanting upwards; a motion preparatory for the "charge bayonets!" or for inspecting the condition of the locks.

PORT-BARS. Strong pieces of oak, furnished with two laniards, by which the ports are secured from flying open in a gale of wind, the bars resting against the inside of the ship; the port is first tightly closed by its hooks and ring-bolts.

PORT-CHARGES, OR HARBOUR-DUES. Charges levied on vessels resorting to a port.

PORTCULLIS. A heavy frame of wooden or iron bars, sliding in vertical grooves within the masonry over the gateway of a fortified town, to be lowered for barring the passage. When hastily made, it was termed a sarrazine.

PORTE. See SUBLIME PORTE.

PORT-FIRE. A stick of composition, generally burning an inch a minute, used to convey fire from the slow-match or the like to the priming of ordnance, though superseded with most guns by locks or friction-tubes. With a slightly altered composition it is used for signals; also for firing charges of mines.

PORT-FLANGE. In ship-carpentry, is a batten of wood fixed on the ship's side over a port, to prevent water or dirt going into the port.

PORT-GLAIVE. A sword-bearer.

PORT-LAST, OR PORTOISE. Synonymous with gunwale.

PORT-MEN. A name in old times for the inhabitants of the Cinque Ports; the burgesses of Ipswich are also so called.

PORT-MOTE. A court held in haven towns or ports.

PORT-NAILS. These are classed double and single: they are similar to clamp-nails, and like them are used for fastening iron work.

PORT-PENDANTS. Ropes spliced into rings on the outside of the port-lids, and rove through leaden pipes in the ship's sides, to work the port-lids up or down by the tackles.

PORT-PIECE. An ancient piece of ordnance used in our early fleets.

PORT-PIECE CHAMBER. A paterero for loading a port-piece at the breech.

PORT-REEVE. A magistrate of certain sea-port towns in olden times.

PORT-ROPES. Those by which the ports are hauled up and suspended.

PORTS, OR PORT-HOLES. The square apertures in the sides of a ship through which to point and fire the ordnance. Also, aft and forward, as the bridle-port in the bows, the quarter-port in round-stern vessels, and stern-ports between the stern-timbers. Also, square holes cut in the sides, bow, or stem of a merchant ship, for taking in and discharging timber cargoes, and for other purposes.—Gunroom-ports. Are situated in the ship's counter, and are used for stern-chasers, and also for passing a small cable or a hawser out, either to moor head and stern, or to spring upon the cable, &c. (See MOOR and SPRING.)—Half-port. A kind of shutter which hinges on the lower side of a port, and falls down outside when clear for action; when closed it half covers the port to the line of metal of the gun, and is firmly secured by iron hooks. The upper half-port is temporary and loose, will not stand a heavy sea, and is merely secured by two light inch-rope laniards.

PORT-SALE. A public sale of fish on its arrival in the harbour.

PORT-SASHES. Half-ports fitted with glass for the admission of light into cabins.

PORT-SHACKLES. The rings to the ports.

PORT-SILLS. In ship-building, pieces of timber put horizontally between the framing to form the top and bottom of a port.

PORT-TACKLES. Those falls which haul up and suspend the lower-deck ports, so that since the admiralty order for using the word port instead of larboard, we have port port-tackle falls.

PORTUGUESE. A gold coin, value L1, 16s., called also moiadobras.

PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR. A beautiful floating acalephan of the tropical seas; the Physalia pelagica.

POSITION. Ground (or water) occupied, or that may be advantageously occupied, in fighting order.

POSITION, GEOGRAPHICAL, of any place on the surface of the earth, is the determination of its latitude and longitude, and its height above the level of the sea.

POSSESSORY. A suit entered in the admiralty court by owners for the seizing of their ship.

POST. Any ground, fortified or not, where a body of men can be in a condition for defence, or fighting an enemy. Also, the limits of a sentinel's charge.

POST-CAPTAIN. Formerly a captain of three years' standing, now simply captain, but equal to colonel in the army, by date of commission.

POSTED. Promoted from commander to captain in the navy; a word no longer officially used.

POSTERN. A small passage constructed through some retired part of a bastion, or other portion of a work, for the garrison's minor communications with the town, unperceived by the enemy.

POSTING. Placing people for special duty. Also, publicly handing out a bad character.

POST OF HONOUR. The advance, and the right of the lines of any army.

POUCH. A case of strong leather for carrying ammunition, used by soldiers, marines, and small-arm men. Also, the crop of a shark.

POUCHES. Wooden bulk-heads across the hold of cargo vessels, to prevent grain or light shingle from shifting.

POULDRON. A shoulder-piece in armour. Corrupted from epauldron.

POULTERER. Called "Jemmy Ducks" on board ship; he assists the butcher in the feeding and care of the live stock, &c.

POUND. A lagoon, or space of water, surrounded by reefs and shoals, wherein fish are kept, as at Bermuda.

POUND-AND-PINT-IDLER. A sobriquet applied to the purser.

POUNDER. A denomination applied to guns according to the weight of the shot they carry; at present everything larger than the 100-pounder is described by the diameter of its bore, coupled with its total weight.

POW. A name on the Scotch shores for a small creek. Also, a mole.

POWDER. See GUNPOWDER.

POWDER, TO. To salt meat slightly; as Falstaff says, "If thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me, and eat me too, to-morrow."—Powdering-tub. A vessel used for pickling beef, pork, &c.

POWDER-BAGS. Leathern bags containing from 20 to 40 lbs. of powder; substituted for petards at the instance of Lord Cochrane, as being more easily placed. They have lately been called Ghuznee bags.

POWDER-HOY. An ordnance vessel expressly fitted to convey powder from the land magazine to a ship; it invariably carries a red distinguishing flag, and warns the ship for which the powder is intended, to put out all fires before she comes alongside.

POWDER-MAGAZINE. The prepared space allotted for the powder on board ship.

POWDER-MONKEY. Formerly the boy of the gun, who had charge of the cartridge; now powder-man.

POWDER-VESSEL. A ship used as a floating magazine.

POWER. Mechanical force; in the steam-engine it is esteemed effective, expansive, or full. (See HORSE-POWER.)

POZZOLANA. Volcanic ashes, used in cement, especially if required under water.

PRACTICABLE. Said of a breach in a rampart when its slope offers a fair means of ascent to an assaulting column.

PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY. A branch of science which includes the determination of the magnitude, distance, and phenomena of the heavenly bodies; the ready reduction of observations for tangible use in navigation and geography; and the expert manipulation of astronomical instruments.

PRAECURSORIAE. Ancient vessels which led or preceded the fleets.

PRAEDATORIAE, OR PRAEDATICAE. Long, swift, light ancient pirates.

PRAHU. [Malay for boat.] The larger war-vessels among the Malays, range from 55 to 156 feet in length, and carry 76 to 96 rowers, with about 40 to 60 fighting men. The guns range from 2 inches to 6 inches bore, are of brass, and mounted on stock-pieces, four to ten being the average. These boats are remarkable for their swiftness.

PRAIA [Sp. playa]. The beach or strand on Portuguese coasts.

PRAIRIE. The natural meadows or tracts of gently undulating, wonderfully fertile land, occupying so vast an extent of the great river-basins of North America.

PRAM, OR PRAAM. A lighter used in Holland, and the ports of the Baltic, for loading and unloading merchant ships. Some were fitted by the French with heavy guns, for defending the smaller ports.

PRANKLE. A Channel term for the prawn.

PRATIQUE. A Mediterranean term, implying the license to trade and communicate with any place after having performed the required quarantine, or upon the production of a clean bill of health.

PRAWN. A marine crustacean larger than a shrimp, much esteemed as an article of food.

PRAYER-BOOK. A smaller hand-stone than that which sailors call "bible;" it is used to scrub in narrow crevices where a large holy-stone cannot be used. (See HOLY-STONE.)

PRECEDENCE. The order and degree of rank among officers of the two services. (See RANK.)

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES. A slow motion of the equinoctial points in the heavens, whereby the longitudes of the fixed stars are increased at the present rate of about 50-1/4" annually, the equinox having a retrograde motion to this amount. This effect is produced by the attraction of the sun, moon, and planets upon the spheroidal figure of the earth; the luni-solar precession is the joint effect of the sun and moon only.

PREDY, OR PRIDDY. A word formerly used in our ships for "get ready;" as, "Predy the main-deck," or get it clear.

PRE-EMPTION. A right of purchasing necessary cargoes upon reasonable compensation to the individual whose property is thus diverted. This claim is usually restricted to neutrals avowedly bound to the enemy's ports, and is a mitigation of the former practice of seizing them. (See COMMEATUS.)

PREMIUM. Simply a reward; but in commerce it implies the sum of money paid to the underwriters on ship or cargo, or parts thereof, as the price of the insurance risk.

PREROGATIVE. A word of large extent. By the constitution of England the sovereign alone has the power of declaring war and peace. The crown is not precluded by the Prize Act from superseding prize proceedings by directing restitution of property seized, before adjudication, and against the will of the captors.

PRESENT! The military word of command to raise the musket, take aim, and fire.

PRESENT ARMS! The military word of command to salute with the musket.

PRESENT USE. Stores to be immediately applied in the fitting of a ship, as distinguished from the supply for future sea use.

PRESERVED MEAT AND VEGETABLES. The occasional use of such food and lime-juice at sea, is not only a great luxury, but in many cases essential to the health of the crew, as especially instanced by the increase of scurvy in ships where this precaution is neglected.

PRESIDENT. At a general court-martial it is usual for the authority ordering it to name the president, and the office usually falls upon the second in command.

PRESS, TO. To reduce an enemy to straits. (See IMPRESSMENT.)

PRESS-GANG. A party of seamen who (under the command of a lieutenant) were formerly empowered, in time of war, to take any seafaring men—on shore or afloat—and compel them to serve on board men-of-war. Those who were thus taken were called pressed men.

PRESS OF SAIL. As much sail as the state of the wind, &c., will permit a ship to carry.

PRESSURE-GAUGE. The manometer of a steam-engine.

PREST. Formerly signified quick or ready, and a prest man was one willing to enlist for a stipulated sum—the very reverse of the pressed man of later times. (See PRESS-GANG.)

PRESTER. An old name for a meteor.

PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. Is such as by a fair and reasonable interpretation is deducible from the facts of a case.

PREVENTER. Applied to ropes, &c., when used as additional securities to aid other ropes in supporting spars, &c., during a strong gale; as preventer-backstays, braces, shrouds, stays, &c.

PREVENTER-PLATES. Stout plates of iron for securing the chains to the ship's side; one end is on the chain-plate bolt, the other is bolted to the ship's side below it.

PREVENTER-STOPPERS. Short pieces of rope, knotted at each end, for securing the clues of sails or rigging during action, or when strained.

PREVENTIVE SERVICE. The establishment of coast-guards at numerous stations along the shores of the United Kingdom for the prevention of smuggling.

PRICKER. A small marline-spike for making and stretching the holes for points and rope-bands in sails. Also, the priming-wire of a gun. Also, a northern name for the basking-shark.

PRICKING A SAIL. The running a middle seam between the two seams which unite every cloth of a sail to the next adjoining. This is rarely done till the sails have been worn some time, or in the case of heavy canvas, storm-sails, &c. It is also called middle-stitching.

PRICKING FOR A SOFT PLANK. Selecting a place on the deck for sleeping upon.

PRICKING HER OFF. Marking a ship's position upon a chart by the help of a scale and compasses, so as to show her situation as to latitude, longitude, and bearings of the place bound to.

PRIDE OF THE MORNING. A misty dew at sunrise; a light shower; the end of the land breeze followed by a dead calm in the tropics.

PRIEST'S-CAP. An outwork which has three salient angles at the head and two inwards.

PRIMAGE. Premium of insurance. Also, a small allowance at the water side to master and mariner for each pack or bale of cargo landed by them: otherwise called hat-money.

PRIMARY PLANET. (See PLANETS, PRIMARY.)

PRIME. The fore part of the artificial day; that is, the first quarter after sunrise.

PRIME, TO. To make ready a gun, mine, &c., for instantaneous firing. Also, to pierce the cartridge with the priming-wire, and apply the quill-tube in readiness for firing the cannon.—To prime a fire-ship. To lay the train for being set on fire.—To prime a match. Put a little wet bruised powder made into the paste called devil, upon the end of the rope slow-match, with a piece of paper wrapped round it.

PRIME VERTICAL. That great circle which passes through the zenith and the east and west points of the horizon.

PRIMING-IRONS. Consist of a pointed wire used through the vent to prick the cartridge when it is "home," and of a flat-headed one similarly inserted after discharge to insure its not retaining any ignited particles.

PRIMING-VALVES. The same with escape-valves.

PRINTED INSTRUCTIONS. The name of the volume formerly issued by the admiralty to all commanders of ships and vessels for their guidance; now superseded by Queen's Regulations.

PRISE, TO. To raise, or slue, weighty bodies by means of a lever purchase or power. (See PRIZING.)

PRISE-BOLTS. Knobs of iron on the cheeks of a gun-carriage to keep the handspike from slipping when prising up the breech.

PRISM. In dioptrics, is a geometrical solid bounded by three parallelograms, whose bases are equal triangles.

PRISMATIC COMPASS. One so fitted with a glass prism for reading by reflection, that the eye can simultaneously observe an object and read its compass bearing.

PRISONER AT LARGE. Free to take exercise within bounds.

PRISONERS OF WAR. Men who are captured after an engagement, who are deprived of their liberty until regularly exchanged, or dismissed on their parole.

PRISONER UNDER RESTRAINT. Suspended from duty; deprived of command.

PRISON-SHIP. One fitted up for receiving and detaining prisoners of war.

PRITCH. A dentated weapon for striking and holding eels.

PRIVATE. The proper designation of a soldier serving in the ranks of the army, holding no special position.

PRIVATEER PRACTICE, OR PRIVATEERISM. Disorderly conduct, or anything out of man-of-war rules.

PRIVATEERS, or men-of-war equipped by individuals for cruising against the enemy; their commission (see LETTERS OF MARQUE) is given by the admiralty, and revocable by the same authority. They have no property in any prize until it is legally condemned by a competent court. The admiral on the station is entitled to a tenth of their booty. This infamous species of warfare is unhappily not yet abolished among civilized nations.

PRIVATE PROPERTY. Commissions of privateers do not extend to the capture of private property on land; a right not even granted to men-of-war. Private armed ships are not within the terms of a capitulation protecting private property generally.

PRIVATE SIGNAL. Understood by captains having the key, but totally incomprehensible to other persons.

PRIVY-COAT. A light coat or defence of mail, concealed under the ordinary dress.

PRIZE. A vessel captured at sea from the enemies of a state, or from pirates, either by a man-of-war or privateer. Vessels are also looked upon as prize, if they fight under any other standard than that of the state from which they have their commission, if they have no charter-party, and if loaded with effects belonging to the enemy, or with contraband goods. In ships of war, the prizes are to be divided among the officers, seamen, &c., according to the act; but in privateers, according to the agreement between the owners. By statute 13 Geo. II. c. 4, judges and officers failing in their duty in respect to the condemnation of prizes, forfeit L500, with full costs of suit, one moiety to the crown, and the other to the informer. Prize, according to jurists, is altogether a creature of the crown; and no man can have any interest but what he takes as the mere gift of the crown. Partial interest has been granted away at different times, but the statute of Queen Anne (A.D. 1708) is the first which gave to the captors the whole of the benefit.

PRIZE ACT OF 1793. Ordained that the officers and sailors on board every ship and vessel of war shall have the sole property in all captures, being first adjudged lawful prize, to be divided in such proportions and manner as His Majesty should order by proclamation. In 1746 a man, though involuntarily kept abroad above three years in the service of his country, was deemed to have forfeited his share to Greenwich.

PRIZE-ACTS. Though expiring with each war, are usually revived nearly in the same form.

PRIZEAGE. The tenth share belonging to the crown out of a lawful prize taken at sea.

PRIZE-COURT. A department of the admiralty court; (oyer et terminer) to hear and determine according to the law of nations.

PRIZE-GOODS. Those taken upon the high seas, jure belli, from the enemy.

PRIZE-LIST. A return of all the persons on board, whether belonging to the ship, or supernumeraries, at the time a capture is made; those who may be absent on duty are included.

PRIZE-MASTER. The officer to whom a prize is given in charge to carry her into port.

PRIZE-MONEY. The profits arising from the sale of prizes. It was divided equally by chart. 5 Hen. IV.

PRIZING. The application of a lever to lift or move any weighty body. Also, the act of pressing or squeezing an article into its package, so that its size may be reduced in stowage.

PROA, OR FLYING PROW. See PRAHU.

PROBATION. The noviciate period of cadets, midshipmen, apprentices, &c.

PROBE. A surgical sounder.—To probe. To inquire thoroughly into a matter.

PROCEEDS. The product or produce of prizes, &c.

PROCESSION. A march in official order. At a naval or military funeral, the officers are classed according to seniority, the chiefs last.

PROCURATION, LETTERS OF. Are required to be exhibited in the purchase of ships by agents in the enemy's country.

PROCYON. {a} Canis minoris, the principal star of the Lesser Dog.

PROD. A poke or slight thrust; as in persuading with a bayonet.

PRODD. A cross-bow for throwing bullets, temp. Hen. VII.

PRODUCTION. For obtaining the benefits of trading with our colonies, it is necessary that the goods be accompanied by a "certificate of production" in the manner required by marine law. (See ORIGIN.)

PROFILE DRAUGHTS. In naval architecture, a name applied to two drawings from the sheer draught: one represents the entire construction and disposition of the ship; the other, her whole interior work and fittings.

PROFILE OF A FORT. See ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION.

PROG. A quaint word for victuals. Swift says, "In town you may find better prog." It is also a spike.

PROGRESSION. See ARC OF DIRECTION.

PROJECTILES. Bodies which are driven by any one effort of force from the spot where it was applied.

PROJECTION. A method of representing geometrically on a plane surface varied points, lines, and surfaces not lying in any one plane: used in charts and maps, where it is of various kinds, as globular, orthographic, Mercator's, &c. In ship-building, an elevation taken amidship. (See BODY-PLAN.)

PROKING-SPIT. A long Spanish rapier.

PROMISCUI USUS. A law term for those articles which are equally applicable to peace or war.

PROMONTORY. A high point of land or rock projecting into a sea or lake, tapering into a neck inland, and the extremity of which, towards the water, is called a cape, or headland, as Gibraltar, Ceuta, Actium, &c.

PROMOVENT. The plaintiff in the instance-court of the admiralty.

PRONG. Synonymous with beam-arm or crow-foot (which see).

PROOF. The trial of the quality of arms, ammunition, &c., before their reception for service. Guns are proved by various examinations, and by the firing of prescribed charges; powder by examinations, and by carefully measured firings from each batch.

PROOFS OF PROPERTY. Attestations, letters of advice, invoices, to show that a ship really belongs to the subjects of a neutral state.

PROOF TIMBER. In naval architecture, an imaginary timber, expressed by vertical lines in the sheer-draught, to prove the fairness of the body.

PROPELLER. This term generally alludes to the Archimedean screw, or screw-propeller.

PROPER MOTION OF THE STARS. A movement which some stars are found to possess, independent of the apparent change of place due to the precession of the equinoxes, the accounting for which is as yet only ingenious conjecture.

PROPORTION. In naval architecture, the length, breadth, and height of a vessel, having a due consideration to her rate, and the object she is intended for.

PROPPETS. Those shores that stand nearly vertical.

PROSPECTIVE, OR PROSPECT GLASS. An old term for a deck or hand telescope, with a terrestrial eye-piece. (See SPY-GLASS.)

PROTECTIONS, ON PAPER, against impressment, were but little regarded. Yet seafaring men above 55, and under 18, were by statute exempted, as were all for the first two years of their going to sea, foreigners serving in merchant ships or privateers, and all apprentices for three years.

PROTEST. A formal declaration drawn up in writing, and attested before a notary-public, a justice of the peace, or a consul in foreign parts, by the master of a merchant-ship, his mate, and a part of the ship's crew, after the expiration of a voyage in which the ship has suffered in her hull, rigging, or cargo, to show that such damage did not happen through neglect or misconduct on their part.

PROTRACTOR. An instrument for laying off angles on paper, having an open mark at the centre of the circle, with a radial leg, and vernier, which is divided into degrees (generally 90).

PROVE, TO. To test the soundness of fire-arms, by trying them with greater charges than those used on service.

PROVEDORE [Sp.] One who provided victuals for ships.

PROVENDER. Though strictly forage, is often applied to provisions in general.

PROVISIONS. All sorts of food necessary for the subsistence of the army and navy. Those shipped on board for the officers and crew of any vessel, including merchant-ships, are held in a policy of insurance, as part of her outfit.

PROVISO. A stern-fast or hawser carried to the shore to steady by. A ship with one anchor down and a shore-fast is moored a proviso. Also, a saving clause in a contract.

PROVOST-MARSHAL. The head of the military police. An officer appointed to take charge of prisoners at a court-martial, and to carry the sentences into execution. The executive and summary police in war.

PROW. Generally means the foremost end of a vessel. Also, a name for the beak of a xebec or felucca.

PUCKA. A word in frequent use amongst the English in the East Indies, signifying sterling, of good quality.

PUCKER. A wrinkled seam in sail-making. Also, anything in a state of confusion.

PUDDENING, OR PUDDING. A thick wreath of yarns, matting, or oakum (called a dolphin), tapering from the middle towards the ends, grafted all over, and fastened about the main or fore masts of a ship, directly below the trusses, to prevent the yards from falling down, in case of the ropes by which they are suspended being shot away. Puddings are also placed on a boat's stem as a kind of fender; and also laid round the rings of anchors to prevent hempen cables or hawsers from chafing.

PUDDING AND DOLPHIN. A larger and lesser pad, made of ropes, and put round the masts under the lower yards.

PUDDLE-DOCK. An ancient pool of the Thames, the dirtiness of which afforded Jack some pointed sarcasms.

PUDDLING. A technical term for working clay to a plastic state in an inclosed space, until it is of the requisite consistence for arresting the flow of water. A term in iron furnace work.

PUFF. A sudden gust of wind. A whistle of steam.

PUFFIN. The Fratercula arctica, a sea-bird with a singular bill, formerly supposed to be a bird in show, but a fish in substance, in consequence of which notion the pope permitted its being eaten in Lent.

PULAS. An excellent twine, made by the Malays from the kaluwi, a species of nettle.

PULL-AWAY-BOYS. A name given on the West Coast of Africa to the native Kroo-men, who are engaged by the shipping to row boats and do other work not suited to Europeans in that climate.

PULL FOOT, TO. To hasten along; to run.

PULLING. The act of rowing with oars; as, "Pull the starboard oars," "Pull together."

PULL-OVER. An east-country term for a carriage-way.

PULO. The Malay word for island, and frequently met with in the islands of the Eastern seas.

PULWAR. A commodious kind of passage-boat on the Ganges.

PUMMEL. The hilt of a sword, the end of a gun, &c.—To pummel. To drub or beat.

PUMP. A well-known machine used for drawing water from the sea, or discharging it from the ship's pump-well.—Chain-pump, consists of a long chain, equipped with a sufficient number of metal discs armed with leather, fitting the cylinders closely, and placed at proper distances, which, working upon two wheels, one above deck and the other below, in the bottom of the hold, passes downward through a copper or wooden tube, and returning upward through another, continuously lifts portions of water. It is worked by a long winch-handle, at which several men may be employed at once; and it thus discharges more water in a given time than the common pump, and with less labour.—Main pumps. The largest pumps in a ship, close to the main-mast, in contradistinction to bilge pumps, which are smaller, and intended to raise the water from the bilges when a ship is laying over so that it cannot run to the main pump-well. Hand-pump, is the distinctive appellation of the common small pump. Superseded by Downton and others.

PUMP-BARREL. The wooden tube which forms the body of the machine, and wherein the piston moves.

PUMP-BOLTS. Saucer-headed bolts to attach the brake to the pump-standard and pump-spear.

PUMP-BRAKE. The handle or lever of the old and simplest form of pump.

PUMP-CARLINES. The framing or partners on the upper deck, between which the pumps pass into the wells.

PUMP-CHAINS. The chains to which the discs, &c., are attached in the chain-pump.

PUMP-CISTERNS. Are used to prevent chips and other matters getting to, and fouling the action of, the chain-pumps.

PUMP-COAT. A piece of stout canvas nailed to the pump-partners where it enters the upper deck, and lashed to the pump, to prevent the water from running down when washing decks, &c.

PUMP-DALES. Pipes or long wooden spouts extending from the chain-pumps across the ship, and through each side, serving to discharge the water without wetting the decks.

PUMP-FOOT. The lower part, or well-end, of a pump.

PUMP-GEAR. A term implying any materials requisite for fitting or repairing the pumps, as boxes, leather, &c.

PUMP-HOOK. An iron rod with an eye and a hook, used for drawing out the lower pump-box when requisite.

PUMPKIN, OR POMPION. Cucurbita pepo, a useful vegetable for sea use.

PUMP SHIP! The order to the crew to work the pumps to clear the hold of water.

PUMP-SPEAR. The rod of iron to which the upper box is attached—and to the upper end of which the brake is pinned—whereby the pump is put in motion.

PUMP SUCKS. The pump sucks is said when, all the water being drawn out of the well, and air admitted, there comes up nothing but froth and wind, with a whistling noise, which is music to the fagged seaman.

PUMP-TACKS. Small iron or copper tacks, used for nailing the leather on the pump-boxes.

PUNCH. An iron implement for starting bolts in a little, or for driving them out, called a starting or teeming punch. Also, a well-known sea-drink, now adopted in all countries. It was introduced from the East Indies, and is said to derive its name from panch, the Hindostanee word for five, in allusion to the number of its ingredients. (See BOULEPONGES.)

PUNISHMENT. The execution of the sentence against an offender, as awarded by a court-martial, or adjudged by a superior officer.

PUNISHMENT DRILL. Fatiguing exercise or extra drill for petty delinquencies.

PUNK. The interior of an excrescence on the oak-tree; used as tinder, and better known as touch-wood. (See SPUNK.)

PUNT. An Anglo-Saxon term still in use for a flat-bottomed boat, used by fishermen, or for ballast lumps, &c.

PUOYS. Spiked poles used in propelling barges or keels.

PURCHASE. Any mechanical power which increases the force applied. It is of large importance to nautical men in the combinations of pulleys, as whip, gun-tackle, luff-tackle, jeer, viol, luff upon luff, runner, double-runner, capstan, windlass, &c.

PURCHASE A COMMISSION, TO. A practice in our army, which has been aptly termed the "buying of fetters;" it is the obtaining preferment at regulated prices. At present the total value of a commission in a regiment of infantry of the line ranges from L450 for an ensigncy, up to L4540 for a lieutenant-colonelcy, and higher in the other branches of the service.

PURCHASE-BLOCKS. All blocks virtually deserve this name, but it is distinctively given to those used in moving heavy weights.

PURCHASE-FALLS. The rope rove through purchase-blocks.

PURRE. A name for the dunlin, Tringa alpina, a species of sand-piper frequenting our shores and the banks of rivers in winter.

PURSE-NET. A peculiar landing-net in fishing. It is used in the seine and trawl to bewilder the fish, and prevent their swimming out when fairly inside; like a wire mouse-trap.

PURSER. An officer appointed by the lords of the admiralty to take charge of the provisions and slops of a ship of war, and to see that they were carefully distributed to the officers and crew, according to the printed naval instruction. He had very little to do with money matters beyond paying for short allowance. He was allowed one-eighth for waste on all provisions embarked, and additional on all provisions saved; for which he paid the crew. The designation is now discarded for that of paymaster.

PURSER'S DIP. The smallest dip-candle.

PURSER'S GRINS. Sneers.

PURSER'S NAME. An assumed one. During the war, when pressed men caught at every opportunity to desert, they adopted aliases to avoid discovery if retaken, which alias was handed to the purser for entry upon the ship's books.

PURSER'S POUND. The weight formerly used in the navy, by which the purser retained an eighth for waste, and the men received only seven-eighths of what was supplied by government. One of the complaints of the mutiny was, having the purser's instead of an honest pound. This allowance was reduced to one-tenth.

PURSER'S SHIRT. "Like a purser's shirt on a handspike;" a comparison for clothes fitting loosely.

PURSER'S STEWARD. The official who superintended and noted down the exact quantity and species of provisions issued to the respective messes both of officers and men.

PURSER'S STOCKING. A slop article, which stretched to any amount put into it. (See SHOW A LEG.)

PURSUE, TO. To make all sail in chase.

PUSH, TO. To move a vessel by poles.

PUSHING FOR A PORT. Carrying all sail to arrive quickly.

PUT ABOUT. Go on the other tack.

PUT BACK, TO. To return to port—generally the last left.

PUTHAG. A name on the Scottish shores for the porpoise; it is a Gaelic word signifying the blower.

PUT INTO PORT, TO. To enter an intermediate or any port in the course of a voyage, usually from stress of weather.

PUT OFF! OR PUSH OFF. The order to boats to quit the ship or the shore.

PUTTING A SHIP IN COMMISSION. The formal ceremony of hoisting the pennant on the ship to be fitted. This act brought the crew under martial law.

PUTTING A STEAM-ENGINE IN GEAR. This is said when the gab of the eccentric rod is allowed to fall upon its stud on the gab-lever.

PUTTOCK. A cormorant; a ravenous fellow.

PUTTOCK-SHROUDS. Synonymous with futtock; a word in use, but not warranted.

PUT TO SEA, TO. To quit a port or roadstead, and proceed to the destination.

PYKAR. A herring-boat, or small vessel, treated of in statute 31 Edward III. c. 2.

PYKE, TO. A old word signifying to haul on a wind.

PYKE-MAW. The great tern, Larus ridibundus; a species of sea-gull.

PYKE OFF, TO. To go away silently.

PYPERI. A sort of vessel made of several pieces of wood merely lashed together; hardly superior to a raft, but sharp forward to cut the water.

PYRAMID. A solid, the base of which is any right-lined plane figure, and its sides are triangles, having their vertices meeting in one point, named its vertex.

PYROTECHNY. The science of artificial fire-works, including not only such as are used in war, but also those intended for amusement.



Q.

QUADE. An old word for unsteady.—Quade wind, a veering one.

QUADRANT. A reflecting instrument used to take the altitude above the horizon of the sun, moon, or stars at sea, and thereby to determine the latitude and longitude of the place, &c. &c. It was invented by Hadley. Also, in speaking of double stars, or of two objects near each other, the position of one component in reference to the other is indicated by the terms, north following, north preceding, south following, or south preceding, the word quadrant being understood.—A gunner's quadrant, for determining the gun's angle of elevation. The long arm is inserted into the bore, while the short one remains outside, with a graduated arc and plummet, showing the inclination. For depression, on the contrary, the long arm must be applied to the face of the piece. Also, a graduated arc on the carriage showing, by an index on the trunnion, the gun's elevation above the plane of its platform; first applied by the gallant Captain Broke.—The mural quadrant, was framed and fitted with telescope, divisions, and plumb-line, firmly attached to the side of a wall built in the plane of the meridian; only used in large observatories.—Senical quadrant, consists of several concentric quadratic arcs, divided into eight equal parts by radii, with parallel right lines crossing each other at right angles. It was made of brass, or wood, with lines drawn from each side intersecting one another, and an index divided by sines also, with 90 deg. on the limb, and two sights on the edge, to take the altitude of the sun. Sometimes, instead of sines, they were divided into equal parts. It was in great use among the French navigators, from its solving the problems of plane sailing.

QUADRATE, TO. To trim a gun on its carriage and its trucks; to adjust it for firing on a level range.

QUADRATURE. The moon is said to be in quadrature at the first and last quarter, when her longitude differs 90 deg. from that of the sun.

QUADROON [from L. quatuor, four]. The offspring of a mulatto woman and a white man.

QUAGMIRE. A marsh in which, from its concave and impermeable bottom, the waters remain stagnant, rendering the surface a quaking bog.

QUAKER. A false or wooden gun; so called in allusion to the "Friends" not fighting.

QUALIFIED PROPERTY. Not only those who have an absolute property in ships and goods, but those also who have but a qualified property therein, may insure them. (See EQUITABLE TITLE.)

QUALITIES. The register of the ship's trim, sailing, stowage, &c., all of which are necessary to her behaviour.

QUAMINO. A negro.

QUANT. An old term for a long pole used by the barge-men on our east coast; it is capped to prevent the immerged end from sticking in the mud.

QUARANTINE. Is, at most, a seclusion of forty days, from a free communication with the inhabitants of any country, in order to prevent the importation of the plague, or any other infectious disorder, either by persons or goods. The quarantine laws originated in the Council of Health at Venice in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. (See LAZARETTO.)

QUARRIL. The short dart or arrow shot from a cross-bow; or the bricolle of the middle ages.

QUARRY. The prey taken by whalers; a term borrowed from falconers.

QUARTE. In sword defence was one of the four guards, and also a position in fencing.

QUARTER. This term literally implies one quarter of the ship, but in common parlance applies to 45 deg. abaft the beam. Thus the log is hove over the lee-quarter; quarter boats hang abaft the mizen-mast, &c. Again, the quarters apply to the divisional batteries, as forward, main, middle, or lower-decks, forecastle, and quarter-deck, and yet these comprise both sides. Close-quarters may be on any point, and the seaman rather delights in the bow attack, using the bowsprit as his bridge.—Giving quarter. The custom of asking and giving quarter in warfare originated, it is said, between the Dutch and Spaniards, that the ransom of an officer or soldier should be a quarter of his year's pay. No quarter is given to pirates, but it is always given to a vanquished honourable opponent.—On the quarter, 45 deg. abaft the beam.

QUARTER, FIRST. When the moon appears exactly as a half-moon, 90 deg. from the sun towards the east, she is in the first quarter, with her western half illuminated.

QUARTER, LAST. When the moon appears exactly as a half-moon, and her angular distance from the sun 90 deg., but towards the west, she is said to be in the last quarter, with her eastern half illuminated.

QUARTER-BADGE. Artificial galleries; a carved ornament near the stern of those vessels which have no quarter-galleries.

QUARTER-BILL. A list containing the different stations to which the officers and crew are quartered in time of action, with their names.

QUARTER-BLOCKS. Blocks fitted under the quarters of a yard, on each side the slings, for the topsail-sheets, topsail-cluelines, and topgallant-sheets to reeve through.

QUARTER-BOAT. Any boat is thus designated which is hung to davits over the ship's quarter.

QUARTER-CASK. One-half of a hogshead, or 28 imperial gallons.

QUARTER-CLOTHS. Long pieces of painted canvas, extended on the outside of the quarter-netting, from the upper part of the gallery to the gangway.

QUARTER-DAVITS. Pieces of iron or timber with sheaves or blocks at their outer ends, projecting from a vessel's quarters, to hoist boats up to.

QUARTER-DECK. That part of the upper deck which is abaft the main-mast. (See DECKS, and JACK'S QUARTER-DECK.)

QUARTER-DECKERS. Those officers more remarkable for etiquette than for a knowledge of seamanship.

QUARTER-DECKISH. Punctilious, severe.

QUARTER-DECK NETTINGS. See NETTING.

QUARTER-DECK OFFICERS. A term implying the executive in general; officers whose places in action are there, in command.

QUARTER-FAST. See FAST.

QUARTER-FLOOD. See FLOOD.

QUARTER-GALLERY. A sort of balcony with windows on the quarters of large ships. (See GALLERY.)

QUARTER-GALLEY. A Barbary cruiser.

QUARTER-GUARD. A small guard posted in front of each battalion in camp.

QUARTER-GUNNER. See GUNNER.

QUARTER-LADDER. From the quarter-deck to the poop.

QUARTERLY ACCOUNT OF PROVISIONS. A return sent to the Admiral and Victualling Board, at the expiration of every three months.

QUARTERLY BILL. The document by which officers draw three months' personal pay.

QUARTERLY RETURNS. Those made every three months to the admiral, or senior officer, of the offences and punishments, the officers serving on board, &c.

QUARTER-MAN. A dockyard officer employed to superintend a certain number of workmen.

QUARTER-MASTER. A petty officer, appointed to assist the master and mates in their several duties, as stowing the hold, coiling the cables, attending the binnacle and steerage, keeping time by the watch-glasses, assisting in hoisting the signals, and keeping his eye on general quarter-deck movements. In the army, a commissioned officer, ranking with subalterns, charged with the more immediate supervision of quarters, camps, and the issue of arms, ammunition, rations, stores, &c., for his own regiment.

QUARTER-MASTER GENERAL. Is the head of that department of the army which has charge of the quartering, encamping, embarking, and moving of troops, and of the supply of stores connected therewith.

QUARTER-NETTINGS. The places allotted on the quarters for the stowage of hammocks, which, in action, serve to arrest musket-balls.

QUARTER-PIECES. Projections at the after-part of the quarter, forming the boundaries of the galleries.

QUARTER-POINT. A subdivision of the compass-card, equal to 2 deg. 48' 45" of the circle.

QUARTER-PORTS. Those made in the after side-timbers, and especially in round-stern vessels. They are inconvenient for warping, and generally fitted with rollers.

QUARTER-RAILS. Narrow moulded planks, reaching from the stern to the gangway, and serving as a fence to the quarter-deck, where there are no ports or bulwarks.

QUARTERS. The several stations where the officers and crew of a ship of war are posted in time of action. (See BATTLE, ENGAGEMENT, &c.) But this term differs in the army, for the soldier's quarters are his place of rest. (See HEAD-QUARTERS, WINTER-QUARTERS, &c.)

QUARTER-SIGHTS. The engraved index on the base-rings of cannon in quarter degrees from point-blank to two or three degrees of elevation.

QUARTER-SLINGS. Are supports attached to a yard or other spar at one or both sides of (but not in) its centre.

QUARTERS OF THE YARDS. The space comprehended between the slings, or middle and half-way out on the yard-arms.

QUARTER-STANCHIONS. Strong iron stanchions in a square-sterned vessel, connecting the main-rail with the taffrail; used for ridge-ropes to extend the awnings.

QUARTER-TACKLE. A strong tackle fixed occasionally upon the quarter of the main-yard, to hoist heavy bodies in or out of the ship.

QUARTER-TIMBERS. The framing timbers in a vessel's quarter.

QUARTER-WATCH. A division of one-fourth of the crew into watches, which in light winds and well-conducted ships is enough; but the officers are in three, and they must not be found nodding.

QUARTER-WIND. Blowing upon a vessel's quarter, abaft the main-shrouds.

QUASHEE. The familiar designation of a West India negro.

QUATUOR MARIA, OR BRITISH SEAS, are those four which surround Great Britain.

QUAY. See KEY.

QUEBRADA. From the Spanish for ravine, or broken ground.

QUEBRANTA HUESOS [Sp.] Literally, bone-breaker. The great petrel, Procellaria gigantea.

QUECHE. A small Portuguese smack.

QUEEN ANNE'S FREE GIFT. A sum of money formerly granted to surgeons annually, in addition to their monthly twopences from each man, or as often as they passed their accounts.

QUEEN'S COCKPIT. A mess of dissolute mates and midshipmen of the old Queen, 98, who held a sort of examination of ribaldry for a rank below that of gentleman.

QUEEN'S OWN. Sea provision (when a queen reigns); similar to king's own.

QUEEN'S PARADE. The quarter-deck.

QUERCITRON. Quercus tinctoria, the name of a North American oak, which affords a valuable yellow dye.

QUERIMAN. A mullet of Guiana, found in turbid waters, where it lives by suction.

QUERPO [Sp. cuerpo, body]. A close short jacket:

"Long-quartered pumps, with trowsers blue, And querpo jacket, which last was new."

QUICKEN, TO. In ship-building, to give anything a greater curve; as, to quicken the sheer, opposed to straightening it.

QUICKLIME. That which is unslacked, good for cleaning and white-washing ships' holds.

QUICK-MARCH, OR QUICK-STEP. The ordinary pace is 3-1/4 miles to the hour, or 110 paces (275) feet to the minute.

QUICK MATCH. Used as a train to any charge to be fired rapidly, is made of cotton threads treated with a composition of gunpowder, gum, and water; and burns nearly as would a train of loose powder.

QUICK RELIEF. One who turns out speedily to relieve the watch before the sound is out of the bell.

QUICK-SAND. A fine-grained loose sand, into which a ship sinks by her own weight as soon as the water retreats from her bottom.

QUICK SAVER. A span formerly used to prevent the courses from bellying too much when off the wind.

QUICK-STEP. See QUICK-MARCH.

QUICK-WORK. Generally signifies all that part of a ship which is under water when she is laden; it is also applied to that part of the inner upper-works of a ship above the covering board. Also, the short planks worked inside between the ports. In ship-building the term strictly applies to that part of a vessel's side which is above the chain-wales and decks, as well as to the strakes which shut in between the spirkettings and clamps. In general parlance quick-work is synonymous with spirketting.

QUID. The chaw or dose of tobacco put into the mouth at a time. Quid est hoc? asked one, tapping the swelled cheek of his messmate; Hoc est quid, promptly replied the other.

QUIETUS. A severe blow, a settler.

QUIHI. The sobriquet of the English stationed or resident in Bengal, the literal meaning being, "Who is there?" It is the customary call for a servant; one always being in attendance, though not in the room.

QUILKIN. A west-country term for a frog.

QUILL-DRIVER. Captain's clerk, purser's secretary, et hoc genus omne.

QUILL-TUBES. Those in use with port-fires for firing guns before the introduction of detonating and friction-tubes. (See TUBES.)

QUILTING. A kind of coating formed of sinnet, strands of rope, &c., outside any vessel containing water. Also, the giving a man a beating with a rope's end.

QUINCUNX. Forming a body of men chequerwise. A method of surveying a coast by five vessels in quincunx was proposed by A. Dalrymple to the admiralty, when that board would not have allowed of the employment of one.

QUINK. A name in the Orkneys for the golden-eyed duck, Anas clangula.

QUINTAL. A commercial weight of a hundred pounds.

QUINTANE. An early military sport, to try the agility of our country youth.

QUINTE. The fifth guard in fencing.

QUISCHENS. The old term for cuisses, the pieces of armour which protected the thighs.

QUITTANCE. A release or discharge in writing for a sum of money or other duty, which ought to be paid or done on the ship's account.

QUOD. Durance, prison.

QUOIN. A wooden wedge adjusted to support the breech of a gun, so as to give the muzzle the required elevation or depression. Also, one of the mechanical powers.

QUOINS. Are employed to wedge off casks of liquids from each other, and steady them, in order that their bilges may not rub at sea, and occasion leaks.

QUOST. The old spelling of coast. See Eliot's Dictionarie, 1559.

QUOTA-MEN. Those raised for the navy at enormous expense by Pitt's quota-bill, in 1795, under bounties of from L20 to L60.



R.

R. In the muster-book means run, and is placed against those who have deserted, or missed three musters.

R.A. See RIGHT ASCENSION.

RABANET, OR RABINET. A small slender piece of ordnance, formerly used for ships' barricadoes. It had a one-inch bore, which carried about a half-pound ball.

RABBET, OR REBATE. An angular incision cut longitudinally in a piece of timber, to receive the ends of a number of planks, to be securely fastened therein. Thus the ends of the lower planks of a ship's bottom terminate upon the stem afore, and on the stern-post abaft. The surface of the garboard streak, whose edge is let into the keel, is in the same manner level with the side of the keel at the extremities of the vessel. They are therefore termed stem, stern, or keel rabbets.

RACE. Strong currents producing overfalls, dangerous to small craft. They may be produced by narrow channels, crossing of tides, or uneven bottoms. Such are the races of Portland, Alderney, &c. Also, a mill-race, or tail-course.

RACE, TO. Applies to marking timber with the race-tool.

RACE-HORSE. (Alca?) A duck of the South Seas; thus named, says Cook, for "the great swiftness with which they run on the water." Now called a steamer.

RACK. The superior stratum of clouds, or that moving rapidly above the scud. The line in which the clouds are driven by the wind, is called the rack of the weather. In Shakspeare's beautiful thirty-third sonnet the sun rises in splendour, but—

"Anon permits the basest clouds to ride With ugly rack on his celestial face, And from the forlorn world his visage hide, Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace."

Also, a frame of timber containing several sheaves, as a fair leader. Also, various rails for belaying pins.—To rack. To seize two ropes together, with racking or cross-turns.

RACK-BAR. A billet of wood used for twisting the bight of a swifter round, in order to bind a raft firmly together.

RACK-BLOCK. A range of sheaves cut in one piece of wood, for running ropes to lead through.

RACK-HURRY. The tram-way on which coal-waggons run to a hurry.

RACKING. Spun-yarn or other stuff used to rack two parts of a rope together.

RACKING A TACKLE OR LANIARD. The fastening two running parts together with a seizing, so as to prevent it from rendering through the blocks.

RACKING-TURNS. See NIPPERING.

RACK-RIDER. The name of the samlet in northern fisheries, so called because it generally appears in bad weather.

RADDLE, TO. To interlace; as in making boats' gripes and flat gaskets.

RADE [Fr.] An old spelling of the sea-term road. (See ROAD.)

RADIUS. The semi-diameter of a circle, limb of a sextant, &c.

RADIUS-BAR OF PARALLEL MOTION. An intervening lever for guiding the side-rods of a steam-engine.

RADIUS-VECTOR. An imaginary line joining the centres of the sun and a planet or comet in any point of its orbit.

RADUS. A term used for the constellation Eridanus.

RAFT. A sort of float formed by an assemblage of casks, planks, or pieces of timber, fastened together with swifters and raft-dogs side by side, as well as tier upon tier. The timber and plank with which merchant ships are laden in the different ports of the Baltic, are attached together in this manner, in order to float them off to the shipping; but the rafts of North America are the most gigantic in the world. Also, a kind of floating bridge of easy construction for the passage of rivers by troops, &c.

RAFT-DOG. A broad flat piece of iron, having a sharp point at each end, with the extremities bent at right angles. There are also dog-hooks, having the shoulder bent into a hook, by which the raft-chains are secured, or suddenly thrown off and released.

RAFTING. Conveying goods by floating, as by raft-chains, lashings, &c.

RAFT-PORT. A large square hole, framed and cut through the buttocks of some ships, immediately under the counter—or forward between the breast-hooks of the bow—to load or unload timber.

RAG-BOLTS. Those which are jagged or barbed, to prevent working in their holes, and to make them hold more securely. The same as barb-bolts.

RAILS. Narrow pieces of wood, with mouldings as ornaments, mortised into the heads of stanchions, or nailed for ornament on several parts of a ship's upper works.

RAILS OF THE HEAD. Curved pieces of timber extending from the bows on each side to the continuation of the ship's stem, to support the knee of the head, &c.

RAILS OF THE STERN. (See STERN-RAILS.)

RAINBOW.

"A rainbow towards night, Fair weather in sight. Rainbow at night, Sailor's delight; Rainbow in morning, Sailors, take warning."

RAIN-CLOUD. See NIMBUS.

RAINS. Belts or zones of calms, where heavy rain prevails; they exist between the north-east and south-east trade-winds, changing their latitude several degrees, depending on the sun's declination. In India "the rains" come in with the S.W. monsoon.

RAISE, TO. To make an object subtend a larger angle by approaching it, which is the foundation of perspective, and an effect increased by the sphericity of our globe: the opposite of laying (which see).

RAISE A SIEGE, TO. To abandon or cause the abandonment of a siege.

RAISED UPON. When a vessel is heightened in her upper works.

RAISE-NET. A kind of staked net on our northern shores, so called from rising and falling with the tide.

RAISE OR RISE TACKS AND SHEETS. The lifting the clues of the courses, previously to bracing round the yards in tacking or wearing.

RAISE THE METAL TO. To elevate the breech, and depress thereby the muzzle of a gun.

RAISE THE WIND, TO. To make an exertion; to cast about for funds.

RAISING A MOUSE. The process of making a lump on a stay. (See MOUSE.)

RAISING A PURCHASE. The act of disposing certain machines, so that, by their mutual effects, they may produce sufficient force to overcome the weight or resistance of the object to which this machinery is applied.

RAKE. The projection of the upper parts of a ship, at both ends, beyond the extremities of the keel. Also, the deviation of the masts from the vertical line of position, reckoned from the keel forward or aft.

RAKING. Cannonading a ship, so that the shot shall range in the direction of her whole length between decks, called a raking fire; and is similar to military enfilading.

RAKISH. Said of a ship when she has the appearance of force and fast sailing.

RALLYING SQUARE. That formed by skirmishers or dispersed troops when suddenly menaced by cavalry, each man as he runs in successively placing himself with his back close against those already formed.

RAM. A long spar, iron-hooped at the ends, used for driving out blocks from beneath a vessel's keel, and for driving planks an end while only wedged to the ship's side. Also, a new rating in the navy. (See STEAM-RAM.)

RAMBADE. The elevated platform built across the prow of a galley, for boarding, &c.

RAMED. The state of a ship on the stocks, when all the frames are set upon the keel, the stem and stern-post put up, and the whole adjusted by the ram-line.

RAM-HEAD. An old word for halliard-block.

RAM HOME, TO. To drive home the ammunition in a gun.

RAMMER. A cylindrical block of wood nearly fitting the bore of a cannon, and fastened on a wooden staff; used in loading to drive home the charge of a cannon.

RAMP. An oblique or sloping interior road to mount the terreplein of the rampart.

RAMPART. An artificial embankment surrounding a fortified place, capable of covering the buildings from view, and of resisting the cannon of an enemy. Generally having a parapet on its top, and a wall for its front.

RAMPER-EEL. A name of the lamprey, Petromyzon marinus.

RAM-REEL. Synonymous with bull-dance.

RAMROD. In muzzle-loading, is the implement used in charging a piece, to drive home the powder and shot.

RAMSHACKLE. Out of repair and ungainly; disorderly.

RAN. Yarns coiled on a spun-yarn winch.

RANCE. The strut or support of a Congreve rocket.

RANDAN. A mode of rowing with alternate long and short oars.

RANDOM SHOT. A shot, or coup perdu, made when the muzzle is highly elevated; the utmost range may be at an angle of 45 deg., which is supposed to carry about ten times as far as the point blank; but improved gunnery has now put the term out of use.

RANGE. Placed in a line or row; a term hydrographically applied to hills, as "the coast-range." Also, galley-range, or fire-grate.

RANGE, TO. To sail in a parallel direction, and near to; as "we ranged the coast;" "the enemy came ranging up alongside of us."

RANGE-HEADS. The windlass-bitts (which see).

RANGE OF A GUN. The horizontal distance which it will send a shot, at a stated elevation, to the point of its first graze. Also, a place where gun-practice is carried on. Also, a level range implies the gun lying horizontal. The various positions between this and 45 deg. are called intermediate ranges.

RANGE OF CABLE. A sufficient quantity of cable left slack to allow the anchor to reach the ground before the cable is checked by the double turns round the bitts, the object being to let the anchor hook the bottom quickly, and to prevent the heavy shock which would be caused if its weight were suddenly brought upon the bitts.

RANGES, HORNED. Pieces of timber containing belaying pins, inside a ship. Also, pieces of oak placed round the hatchways to contain shot.

RANK. Degree of dignity; officers of the navy rank with those of the army according to the following table:—

1. The Admirals of the Fleet rank with Field-marshals. 2. Admirals " Generals. 3. Vice-admirals " Lieutenant-generals. 4. Rear-admirals " Major-generals. 5. Captains of the Fleet } 6. Commodores } " Brigadier-generals. 7. Captains of 3 years " Colonels. 8. Captains under 3 years " Lieutenant-colonels. 9. Commanders next to Do. 10. Lieutenants, 8 years rank with Majors. 11. Lieutenants, under 8 years " Captains. 12. Sub-lieutenants " Lieutenants. 13. Midshipmen " Ensigns.

Also, the order or straight line made by men drawn up side by side.

RANK AND FILE. This word includes corporals as well as privates, all below sergeants. (See FILE.)

RANSACK, TO. To pillage; but to ransack the hold is merely to overhaul its contents.

RANSOM. Money paid for the liberty of a war-prisoner, a city, or for the restoration of a captured vessel: formerly much practised at sea. It then fell into disuse, but was revived for a time in the seventeenth century. At length the greater maritime powers prohibited the offering or accepting such ransoms. By English law, all such securities shall be absolutely void; and he who enters into any such contract shall forfeit L500 on conviction. A privateer taking ransom forfeits her letters of marque, and her commander is punishable with a heavy penalty and imprisonment.

RAPER. An old term for a rope-maker.

RAP-FULL. Applies to a ship on a wind, when "keep her rap-full!" means, do not come too close to the wind, or lift a wrinkle of the sail.

RAPID. A slope, down which water runs with more than ordinary rapidity, but not enough to be called a "fall;" and sometimes navigable by boats.

RAPPAREE. A smuggler, or one who lives on forced hospitality.

RASE. An archaism for a channel of the sea, and not a mispronunciation of race (which see).

RASEE. A line-of-battle ship with her upper works taken off, or reduced a deck, to lighten her; some of the old contract-built ships of the line, yclept "Forty Thieves," were thus converted into heavy frigates, as the Duncan, America, Warspite, &c.

RASH. A disease which attacks trees that have ceased to grow.

RASING. Marking timber by the rasing-knife, which has a peculiar blade hooked at its point, as well as a centre-pin to describe circles.

RASING-IRON. A tool for clearing the pitch and oakum out of the seams, previous to their being caulked afresh.

RAT. A term for one who changes his party for interest: from rats deserting vessels about to sink. These mischievous vermin are said to have increased after the economical expulsion of cats from our dockyards. Thus, in the petition from the ships-in-ordinary, to be allowed to go to sea, even to carry passengers, we read:—

"Tho' it was hemigrants or sodgers— Anything afore them rats, Which now they is our only lodgers; For well they knows, the artful dodgers, The Board won't stand th' expense of cats."

Injury done by rats is not included in a policy of insurance. Also, a rapid stream or race, derived from sharp rocks beneath, which injure the cable.

RATCHER. An old term for a rock.

RATCHET. A saw-toothed wheel in machinery, as the winch, windlass, &c., in which the paul catches.

RATE. A tariff or customs roll. Also, the six orders into which the ships of war were divided in the navy, according to their force and magnitude. Thus the first rate comprehended all ships of 110 guns and upwards, having 42-pounders on the lower deck, diminishing to 6-pounders on the quarter-deck and forecastle. They were manned with 850 to 875 men, including officers, seamen, marines, servants, &c.—Second rate. Ships carrying from 90 to 100 guns.—Third rate. Ships from 80 to 84 guns.—Fourth rate. Ships from 60 to 74 guns; these were comprehended under the general names of frigates, and never appeared in the line of battle.—Fifth rate. Mounting from 32 to 40, or even 60 guns.—And Sixth rate. Mounting from any number, or no guns, if commanded by captains; those commanded by commanders were deemed sloops. Since the late introduction of massive iron, a captain may command but one gun.

RATE A CHRONOMETER, TO. To determine its daily gaining or losing rate on mean time.

RATED SHIP. Synonymous with post-ship in former times; the term ship alone now infers that it is a captain's command, whilst sloop means a commander's.

RATH. A Gaelic term in use for raft—a timber raft; it is also an ancient earthen fort.

RATING. The station a person holds on the ship's books.

RATION. Each man's daily allowance of provisions; including, in the army, fuel and forage to man and horse.

RATIONAL HORIZON. See HORIZON.

RATLINES, OR RATLINGS. Small lines which traverse the shrouds of a ship (at distances of 15 or 16 inches) horizontally from the deck upwards, and are made firm by jamming clove-hitches; they form a series of steps, like the rounds of a ladder.

RAT'S-TAIL. The tapering end of a rope. Also, the round tapered file for enlarging holes in metal.

RATTAN [Malay, rotan]. One of the genus Calamus, used for wicker-work, seats of chairs, &c. In the eastern seas they constitute the chief cables, even to 42 inches circumference, infinitely stronger than hemp, light, and not easily chafed by rocks; very useful also to seamen for brooms, hoops, hanks for sails, &c.

RATTLE DOWN RIGGING, TO; OR, TO RATTLE THE SHROUDS. To fix the ratlines in a line parallel to the vessel's set on the water.

RAUN. An old Manx term for a seal. In the north it implies the roe of salmon, used as a bait.

RAUNER. A northern term for the female salmon, as having the raun or roe.

RAVE-HOOK. In ship carpentry, a hooked iron tool used when enlarging the butts for receiving a sufficient quantity of oakum.

RAVELIN. In fortification, an outwork consisting of two long faces meeting in a salient angle, covering the curtain, and, generally, the shoulders of the bastions; it affords a powerful defence to the ground in front of the latter, which may rarely be approached till after the fall of the ravelin.

RAVINE. A deep chasm through which the rains are carried off elevated lands.

RAY. A line of sight. Also, a flat rhomboidal fish with a rough skin; genus, Raia.

RAZE, TO. To level or demolish (applicable to works or buildings).

RAZED. Fortifications are said to be razed when totally demolished.

RAZOR-BACK. The fin-whale (Balaenoptera), so called from its prominent dorsal fin. It usually attains the length of 70 feet.

RAZOR-BILL. A sea-fowl allied to the auks, Alca torda.

REACH, OR RATCH. A straight part of a navigable river; the distance between any two elbows on the banks, wherein the current flows in uninterrupted course.

REACHING. Sometimes used for standing off and on: a vessel is also said to be on a reach, when she is sailing by the wind upon any tack. A vessel also reaches ahead of her adversary.

READY ABOUT! OR READY OH! The order to prepare for tacking, each man to his station. (See ABOUT.)

READY WITH THE LEAD! A caution when the vessel is luffed up to deaden her way, followed by "heave."

REAL. A silver coin of Spain, value 5d. sterling. One-eighth of a dollar.

REALILLO. A small Spanish silver coin, value half a real.

REAM OR REEM OUT, TO. To enlarge the bore of a cannon with a special tool, so that it may take a larger projectile.

REAMING. Fishing vessels shifting their quarters while fishing. This word is often used for reeming (which see).

REAR. An epithet for anything situated behind another, as the hindmost portion of a fleet or army. (See DIVISION.) To rear an object in view, is to rise or approach it.

REAR-ADMIRAL. The officer in command of the third division of a fleet, whose flag is at the mizen.

REAR-GUARD. That part of the army which brings up and protects the rear.

REARING. The upper-works tumbling home, or being wall-sided.

REAR-RANK. The last rank of a body of men drawn up in simple line.

REAR-SHIP. The sternmost ship of a fleet.

RE-ASSEMBLE. To gather together a fleet, or convoy, after having been scattered.

REASTY. Rancid or rusty pork or butter, &c.

REAVEL, OR RAFFLE. To entangle; to knot confusedly together.

REBALLING. The catching of eels with earth-worms attached to a ball of lead suspended by a string from a pole.

REBATE. See DISCOUNT.

REBATES. The grooves formed on each side of the keel, stem, or stern-post, to receive the planks. (See RABBET.)

REBELS. Revolters and mutineers; in admiralty law the same as enemies.

RECEIVERS OF DROITS OF ADMIRALTY. Now termed receivers of wreck (which see).

RECEIVERS OF WRECK. Persons specially charged with wrecked property for the benefit of the shipping interests.

RECEIVING-SHIP. At any port, to receive supernumerary seamen, or entered or impressed men for the royal navy.

RECIPROCATE. The alternate motion balancing a steam-engine.

RECIPROCITY. The enlarging or contracting particular admiralty statutes, to meet the usages of foreign powers.

RECKONING, SHIP'S. The ship's position resulting from the courses steered, and distances run by log, brought up from the last astronomical observations. If unaccompanied by corrections for longitude by chronometer, and for latitude, it is termed only the dead-reckoning.

RECOIL. The running in of a gun when discharged, which backward motion is caused by the force of the fire.

RECONNAISSANCE. A word adopted from the French, as meaning a military or nautical examination of a place.

RECONNOITRING. Sailing within gun-shot of an enemy's port to ascertain his strength and capabilities for offence and defence. Also, a rapid examination of coasts and countries, for correcting the defects of many previous maps and charts.

RECREANT. This term was for him who had yielded in single combat.

RECTA PRISA REGIS. In law, the sovereign's right to prisage, or one pipe of wine before, and another behind the masts, as customary in every cargo of wine.

RECTIFIER. An instrument used for determining the variation of the compass, in order to rectify the ship's course, &c. It consists of two circles, either laid upon or let into one another, and so fastened together in their centres that they represent two compasses, the one fixed, the other movable; each is divided into 32 points of the compass, and 360 deg., and numbered both ways from the north and the south, ending at the east and west in 90 deg. The fixed compass represents the horizon, in which the north and all the other points are liable to variation.

REDAN. The simplest form of regular fortification, consisting of two faces meeting in a salient angle; generally applied in connection with other works.

REDD. The spawn of fish. Also, the burrow scooped out by salmon in which to deposit their ova.

REDD-FISH. A northern general term for fishes in the spawning state, but particularly applied to salmon.

REDEMPTIONER. One who purchases his release from obligation to the master of a ship, by his services; or one whose services are sold to pay the expenses of his passage to America or elsewhere.

REDHIBITION. An action to annul or set aside a contract of sale.

RED-HOT BALLS. Shot made red-hot in a furnace, and in that state discharged at the enemy. The loading is managed with wet wads.

REDOUBT. An inclosed work, differing from a fort, in that its parts do not flank one another.

RED PINE. Pinus rubra, the red spruce; the timber of which is preferred throughout the United States for yards, and imported for that purpose into Liverpool from Nova Scotia.

REDUCE, TO. To degrade to a lower rank; or to shorten the allowance of water or provisions.

REDUCE A CHARGE, TO. To diminish the contents of a cartridge, sometimes requisite during heavy firing.

REDUCE A PLACE, TO. To compel its commander to surrender, or vacate it by capitulation.

REDUCTION OF CELESTIAL OBSERVATIONS. The process of calculation, by which observations are rendered subservient to utility.

REEF. A certain portion of a sail comprehended between the head of a sail and any of the reef-bands. The intention of each reef is to reduce the sail in proportion to the increase of the wind; there are also reefs parallel to the foot or bottom of large sails, extended upon booms.—Close-reefed is when all the reefs of the top-sails are taken in.—Reef is also a group or continuous chain of rocks, sufficiently near the surface of the water to occasion its breaking over them. (See FRINGING REEFS and BARRIER REEFS.)

REEF-BAND. A narrow band of canvas sewed on the reef-line to support the strain of the reef-points. It is pierced with eyelet-holes, through which the points are passed each way with a running eye.

REEF-CRINGLES. See CRINGLE.

REEF-EARINGS. See EARINGS.

REEFED TOP-MAST. When a top-mast is sprung in or near the cap, the lower piece is cut off, and a new fid-hole cut, by which the mast is reefed or shortened.

REEFERS. A familiar term for midshipmen, because they have to attend in the tops during the operation of taking in reefs.

REEF-KNOT. Is one in which the ends fall always in a line with the outer parts; in fact, two loops, easy to untie, never jamming. That with the second tie across, is termed a granny's knot.

REEF-LINE. Casual aids in bad weather to help the men at the earings. When the vessel was going free, and the sail could not be "spilled," the men were, if blowing hard, often aided by passing the studding-sail halyards loosely round the sail, clewed up spirally from yard-arm to bunt.

REEF-PENDANT. A rope going through a cringle in the after-leech of a boom main-sail, and through a check sheave-hole in the boom, with a tackle attached to its end to bowse the after-leech down to the boom by which the sail is held reefed. On the lower yards it is a pendant for a similar purpose as the reef-tackle.

REEF-POINTS. Small flat pieces of plaited cordage or soft rope, tapering from the middle towards each end, whose length is nearly double the circumference of the yard, and used for the purpose of tying up the sail in the act of reefing; they are made fast by their eyes on each side of the eyelet-holes.

REEF-TACKLES, are indeed pendants and tackles. The pendant is rove through the sister-block, then a sheave in the yard-arm, and secured to a strong cringle beneath the close reef, sometimes through a block, and the end secured to the yard-arm. Within the sister-block it becomes a gun-tackle purchase, with the fall leading on deck. The reef-tackles are hauled out, and the other aids complete, before the men are sent aloft.

REEF-TACKLE SPAN. Two cringles in the bolt-rope, about a couple of feet apart, when a block is used.

REELS. Well-known wheels moving round an axis, and serving to wind various lines upon, as the log-reel for the log-line, deep-sea reel (which contains the deep-sea line, amounting to 150 or 200 fathoms), spun-yarn reel, &c. "She went 10 knots off the reel"—i.e. by the log-line.

REEMING. A term used by caulkers for opening the seams of the plank with reeming-irons, that the oakum may be more readily admitted. This may be a corruption of rimer, for opening circular holes in metal.

REEMING-BEETLE. A caulker's largest mallet.

REEMING-IRON. The larger iron used by caulkers in opening the seams.

RE-ENTERING ANGLE. In fortification, is an angle whose vertex points inward, or towards the place.

REEVE, TO. To pass the end of a rope through any cavity or aperture, as the channel of a block; to unreeve is the opposite.

REEVING. In polar voyaging, following up serpentine channels in the ice, till the vessel reaches open water, or reeves the pack.

REFITTING. Repairing any damages which a ship may have sustained.

REFLECTING CIRCLE. An instrument used instead of a sextant, quintant, or quadrant; but the quintant embraces as much—viz. 152 degrees. The instrument reflects a celestial or any distant object so as to bring the image into contact with any object seen direct, by which their angular distance is measured, as in lunar distances.

REFLECTION, ANGLE OF. Whether the instance be a ray of light or a cannon-ball, the angle of reflection will always be found equal to the angle of incidence.

REFLUX. The ebbing of the tide, or reflow of the waters, which have been pressed back.

REFORMADES. The sons of the nobility and gentry who served in the navy under letters from Charles II., and were allowed table-money and other encouragements to raise the character of the service.

REFRACTING TELESCOPE. That through which objects are seen directly through its double object-glass.

REFRACTION. An inflection of the rays of light: that property of the atmosphere which bends the rays of light in their passage to the eye from a different density, and causes the altitude of heavenly bodies to appear greater than it really is, especially near the horizon. (See TERRESTRIAL REFRACTION.)

REFUSAL OF A PILE. Its stoppage or obstruction, when it cannot be driven further in.

REGAL FISHES. In statute law, these are whales and sturgeons.

REGARDERS. Inspectors of the felling of timber.

REGATTA. A rowing-match formerly peculiar to the republic of Venice; but now the term is applied to yacht and boat races in general.

REGIMENT. A body of men commanded by a colonel, complete in its own organization, and divided into companies of infantry or troops of cavalry.

REGIMENTAL ORDERS. Such as the commanding officer may deem it necessary to issue for the discipline of the regiment.

REGIMENTALS. The regulation dress for the individuals of a regiment.

REGIMENTAL STAFF-OFFICERS. The surgeon, adjutant, paymaster, assistant-surgeon, and quarter-master of each regiment.