SEA-BRIEF. A specification of the nature and quantity of the cargo of a ship, the place whence it comes, and its destination. (See PASSPORT.)

SEA-CALF. A seal, Phoca vitulina.

SEA-CAP. The white drift or breaks of a wave. White horses of trades.

SEA-CARDS. The old name for charts.

SEA-CAT. A name of the wolf-fish, Anarrhicas lupus.

SEA-CATGUT. The Fucus filum, or sea-thread.

SEA-COAST, OR SEA-BORD. The shore of any country, or that part which is washed by the sea.

SEA COCOA-NUT, OR DOUBLE COCOA-NUT. The fruit of the Lodoicea seychellarum, a handsome palm growing in the Seychelles Islands. It was once supposed to be produced by a sea-weed, because so often found floating on the sea around.

SEA-COULTER. The puffin or coulter-neb, Fratercula arctica.

SEA-COW. One of the names given to the manatee (which see).

SEA-CRAFTS. In ship-building, a term for the scarphed strakes otherwise called clamps. For boats, see THWART-CLAMPS.

SEA-CROW. A name on our southern coast for the cormorant.

SEA-CUCKOO. The Trigla cuculus, or red gurnard, so called from the unmusical grunt which it emits.

SEA-CUNNY. A steersman in vessels manned with lascars in the East India country trade.

SEA-DEVIL. A name for the Lophius piscatorius, or angler, a fish with a large head and thick short body.

SEA-DOG. A name of the common seal.

SEA-DOGG. The meteor called also stubb (which see).

SEA-DRAGON. An early designation of the stinging-weever.

SEA-EAGLE. A large ray-fish with a pair of enormous fins stretching out from either side of the body, and a long switch tail, armed with a barbed bone, which forms a dangerous weapon. Manta of the Spaniards.

SEA-EDGE. The boundary between the icy regions of the "north water" and the unfrozen portion of the Arctic Sea.

SEA-EEL. The conger (which see).

SEA-EGG. A general name for the echinus, better known to seamen as the sea-urchin (which see).

SEA-FARDINGER. An archaic expression for a seafaring man.

SEA-FISHER. An officer in the household of Edward III.

SEA-FRET. A word used on our northern coasts for the thick heavy mist generated on the ocean, and rolled by the wind upon the land.

SEA-FROG. A name for the Lophius piscatorius, or angler.

SEA GATE OR GAIT. A long rolling swell: when two ships are thrown aboard one another by its means, they are said to be in a sea-gate.

SEA-GAUGE. An instrument used by Drs. Hale and Desaguliers to investigate the depth of the sea, by the pressure of air into a tube prepared for the purpose, showing by a mark left by a thin surface of treacle carried on mercury forced up it during the descent into what space the whole air is compressed, and, consequently, the depth of water by which its weight produced that compression. It is, however, an uncertain and difficult instrument, and superseded by Ericson's patent, working on the same principle, but passing over into another tube the volume of water thus forced in. (See WATER-BOTTLE.)

SEA-GOING. Fit for sea-service abroad.

SEA-GREEN. The colour which in ancient chivalry denoted inconstancy.

SEA-GROCER. A sobriquet for the purser.

SEA-GULL. A well-known bird. When they come in numbers to shore, and make a noise about the coast, or when at sea they alight on ships, sailors consider it a prognostic of a storm. This is an old idea; see Virg. Georg. lib. i., and Plin. lib. xviii. c. 35.

SEA-HARE. Aplysia, a molluscous animal.

SEA-HEN. A name of the fish Trigla lyra, or crooner (which see).

SEA-HOG. A common name for the porpoise, Phoc[oe]na communis.

SEA-HORSE. A name for the walrus, Trichecus rosmarus. Also, the hippocampus (which see).

SEA-ICE. Ice within which there is a separation from the land.

SEAL [from the Anglo-Saxon seolh]. The well-known marine piscivorous animal.

SEA-LAKE. Synonymous with lagoon (which see).

SEA-LAWS. The codes relating to the sea; as, the laws of Rhodes, Oleron, Wisbuy, &c.

SEA-LAWYER. An idle litigious 'longshorer, more given to question orders than to obey them. One of the pests of the navy as well as of the mercantile marine. Also, a name given to the tiger-shark.

SEALED ORDERS. Secret and sealed until the circumstances arise which authorize their being opened and acted on. Often given to prevent officers from divulging the point to which they are ordered.

SEA-LEGS. Implies the power to walk steadily on a ship's decks, notwithstanding her pitching or rolling.

SEA-LETTER. See PASSPORT.

SEA-LION. A large seal of the genus Otaria, distinguished from the sea-bear, to which it otherwise has a great resemblance, by the shaggy mane on its neck and shoulders.

SEA-LOG. That part of the log-book relating to whatever happens while the ship is at sea.

SEA-LUMP. See LUMP.

SEAM. The sewing together of two edges of canvas, which should have about 110 stitches in every yard of length. Also, the identical Anglo-Saxon word for a horse-load of 8 bushels, and much looked to in carrying fresh fish from the coast. Also, the opening between the edges of the planks in the decks and sides of a ship; these are filled with a quantity of oakum and pitch, to prevent the entrance of water. (See CAULKING.)

SEA-MALL. A name for a sea-gull.

SEAMAN. This is a term seldom bestowed among seafaring men upon their associates, unless they are known to be pre-eminent in every duty of the thorough-paced tar; one who never issues a command which he is not competent to execute himself, and is deemed an authority on every matter relating to sea-craft.—The able seaman is the seafaring man who knows all the duties of common seamanship, as to rig, steer, reef, furl, take the lead, and implicitly carry out the orders given, in a seamanlike manner. His rating is A.B.; pay in the navy, 24s. to 27s. per month.—The ordinary seaman is less qualified; does not take the weather-helm, the earing, or lead; pay about 21s. to 23s. per month.—The landsman is still less qualified.

SEAMAN'S DISGRACE. A foul anchor.

SEAMANSHIP. The noble practical art of rigging and working a ship, and performing with effect all her various evolutions at sea.

SEAMAN'S WAGES. A proper object of the admiralty jurisdiction.

SEA-MARK. A point or object distinguishable at sea, as promontories, steeples, rivers, trees, &c., forming important beacons, and noted on charts. By keeping two in a line, channels can be entered with safety, and thus the errors of steerage, effect of tide, &c., obviated. These erections are a branch of the royal prerogative, and by statute 8 Eliz. cap. 13, the corporation of the Trinity House are empowered to set up any beacons or sea-marks wherever they shall think them necessary; and, if any person shall destroy them, he shall forfeit L100, or, in case of inability to pay, he shall be, ipso facto, outlawed.

SEAMEN-GUNNERS. Men who have been trained in a gunnery ship, and thereby become qualified to instruct others in that duty.

SEA-MEW. A sea-gull.

SEA-MOUSE. The Aphrodita aculeata, a marine annelid, remarkable for the brilliant iridescence of the long silky hairs with which its sides are covered.

SEA-NETTLE. An immemorial name of several zoophytes and marine creatures of the class Acalephae, which have the power of stinging, particularly the Medusae.

SEA-OWL. A name of the lump-fish, Cyclopterus lumpus.

SEA-PAY. That due for actual service in a duly-commissioned ship.

SEA-PERIL. Synonymous with sea-risk.

SEA-PIE. The pied oyster-catcher, Haematopus ostralegus. Also, a favourite sea-dish in rough weather, consisting of an olla of fish, meat, and vegetables, in layers between crusts, the number of which denominate it a two or three decker.

SEA-PINCUSHION. The name among northern fishermen for a kind of star-fish of the genus Goniaster.

SEA-POACHER. A name of the pogge, Cottus cataphractus.

SEA-PORCUPINE. Several fish of the genera Diodon and Tetraodon, beset with sharp spines, which they can erect by inflating themselves with air.

SEA-PORK. The flesh of young whales in the western isles of Scotland; the whale-beef of the Bermudas, &c. It is also called sea-beef.

SEA-PORT. A haven near the sea, not situated up a river.

SEA-PURSE. See MERMAID'S PURSE.

SEA-QUADRANT. The old name of Jacob's cross-staff.

SEA-QUAKE. The tremulous motion and shock of an earthquake felt through the waves.

SEA-RATE. The going of a chronometer as established on board, instead of that supplied from the shore. This may be done by lunars. From motion and other causes their rates after embarkation are frequently useless, and rates for their new ever-changing position are indispensable. This rate is sometimes loosely deduced between two ports; but as the meridian distances are never satisfactorily known, even as to the spots of observation, they cannot be relied on but as comparative.

SEARCH. If the act of submitting to search is to subject neutral vessels to confiscation by the enemy, the parties must look to that enemy whose the injustice is for redress, but they are not to shelter themselves by committing a fraud upon the undoubted rights of the other country.

SEARCH, RIGHT OF. See VISITATION.

SEARCHER. A custom-house officer employed in taking an account of goods to be exported. Also, see GUN-SEARCHER.

SEA-REACH. The straight course or reach of a winding river which stretches out to sea-ward.

SEA-RISK. Liability to losses by perils of the sea (which see).

SEA-ROKE. A cold fog or mist which suddenly approaches from the sea, and rapidly spreads over the vicinity of our eastern shores, to a distance of 8 or 10 miles inland.

SEA-ROOM. Implies a sufficient distance from land, rocks, or shoals wherein a ship may drive or scud without danger.

SEA-ROVERS. Pirates and robbers at sea.

SEA-SERGEANTS. A society of gentlemen, belonging to the four maritime counties of South Wales, holding their anniversaries at sea-port towns, or one within the reach of tidal influence. It was a secret association of early date, revived in 1726, and dissolved about 1765.

SEA-SLATER. The Ligia oceanica, a small crustacean.

SEA-SLEECH. See SLEECH.

SEA-SLEEVE. A name of the flosk or squid, Loligo vulgaris.

SEA-SLUG. The Holothuria. An animal of the class Echinodermata, with elongated body, and flexible outer covering.

SEASONED TIMBER. Such as has been cut down, squared, and stocked for one season at least.

SEASONING. The keeping a vessel standing a certain time after she is completely framed, and dubbed out for planking. A great prince of this maritime country in passing a dockyard, inquired what those basket-ships were for!

SEA-SPOUT. The jetting of sea-water over the adjacent lands, when forced through a perforation in a rocky shore; both its egress and ingress are attended with a rumbling noise, and the spray is often very injurious to the surrounding vegetation.

SEA-STAR. A common rayed or star-like animal, belonging to the class Echinodermata. Also called star-fish (Asteria).

SEA-STREAM. In polar parlance, is when a collection of bay-ice is exposed on one side to the ocean, and affords shelter from the sea to whatever is within it.

SEA-SWABBER. A reproachful term for an idle sailor.

SEA-SWALLOW. The tern, a bird resembling the gull, but more slender and swift.

SEA-SWINE. The porpoise.

SEAT. A term often applied to the peculiar summit of a mountain, as the Queen of Spain's Seat near Gibraltar, the Bibi of Mahratta's Seat near Bombay, Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh, &c.

SEA-TANG. Tangle, a sea-weed.

SEAT-LOCKERS. Accommodations fitted in the cabins of merchantmen for sitting upon, and stowing cabin-stores in.

SEAT OF WATER. Applies to the line on which a vessel sits.

SEA-TRANSOM. That which is bolted to the counter-timbers, above the upper, at the height of the port-sills.

SEA-TURN. A tack into the offing.

SEA-URCHIN. The Echinus, an animal of the class Echinodermata, of globular form, and a hard calcareous outer covering, beset with movable spines, on the ends of which it crawls about.

SEA-WALLS. Elevations of stones, stakes, and other material, to prevent inundations.

SEA-WARD. Towards the sea, or offing.

SEA-WARE. The sea-weed thrown up by surges on a beach.

SEA-WATER. "The quantity of solid matter varies considerably in different seas, but we may assume that the average quantity of saline matter is 3-1/2 per cent., and the density about 1.0274" (Pereira). The composition of the water of the English Channel according to Schweitzer is—

Grains. Water 964.74372 Chloride of Sodium 27.05948 " Potassium 0.76552 " Magnesium 3.66658 Bromide of Magnesium 0.02929 Sulphate of Magnesia 2.29578 " Lime 1.40662 Carbonate of Lime 0.03301 ————— 1000.00000

SEA-WAY. The progress of a ship through the waves. Also, said when a vessel is in an open place where the sea is rolling heavily.

SEA-WAY MEASURER. A kind of self-registering log invented by Smeaton, the architect of the Eddystone lighthouse.

SEA-WEASEL. An old name of the lamprey.

SEA-WOLF. The wolf-fish, Anarrhicas lupus.

SEA-WOLVES. A name for privateers.

SEA-WORTHY. The state of a ship in everyway fitted for her voyage. It is the first stipulation in every policy of insurance, or other contract, connected with a vessel: "for she shall be tight, staunch, and strong, sufficiently manned, and her commander competent to his duty." (See OPINION.)

SEA-WRACK GRASS. Zostera marina; used in Sweden and Holland for manuring land. At Yarmouth it is thrown on shore in such abundance that mounds are made with it to arrest the encroachments of the sea. It is also used as thatch.

SECANT. A line drawn from the centre of a circle to the extremity of the tangent.

SECCA. A shoal on Italian shores and charts.

SECOND. The sixtieth part of a minute. A division of a degree of a circle. A term applied both to time and to space. Also, second in a duel; a very important part to play, since many a life may be saved without implicating honour.

SECONDARY PLANET. See SATELLITES.

SECOND-CAPTAIN. Commanders under captains in the navy, of late.

SECOND-COUNTER. See COUNTER.

SECOND-FUTTOCKS. The frame-timbers scarphed on the end of the futtock-timbers.

SECOND-HAND. A term in fishing-boats to distinguish the second in charge.

SECOND OFFICER. Second mate in merchantmen.

SECOND-RATE. Vessels of seventy-four guns (on the old scale).

SECTION. A draught or figure representing the internal parts of a ship cut by a plane at any particular place athwart ships or longitudinally.

SECTOR. See DIP-SECTOR.

SECULAR ACCELERATION. See ACCELERATION OF THE MOON.

SECULAR INEQUALITY. See INEQUALITY.

SECURE ARMS! Place them under the left arm, to guard the lock from the weather or rain.

SEDITION. Mutinous commotion against the constituted authorities, especially dangerous at sea.

SEDOW. The old English name for the fish called gilt-head; Sparus auratus.

SEDUCE, TO. To inveigle a man to desertion.

SEELING. A sudden heeling over, and quick return.

SEER. The tumbler of a gun-lock.

SEE-SAW. Reciprocating motion.

SEGE. An old law-term for the seat or berth in which a ship lies.

SEGMENT. In geometry, any part of a circle which is bounded by an arc and its chord, or so much of the circle as is cut off by that chord.

SEGMENTAL STERN. See ROUND STERN.

SEGMENT-SHELL. For use with rifled guns; an elongated iron shell having very thin sides, and built up internally with segment-shaped pieces of iron, which, offering the resistance of an arch against pressure from without, are easily separated by the very slight bursting charge within; thereby retaining most of their original direction and velocity after explosion.

SEIN, OR SEINE. The name of a large fishing-net. Also, a flat seam.

SEIN-FISH. By statute (3 Jac. I. c. 12) includes that sort taken with a sein.

SEIZING. Fastening any two ropes, or different parts of one rope together, with turns of small stuff.

SEIZINGS. The cords with which the act of seizing is performed; they vary in size in proportion to the rope on which they are used.

SEIZLING. A young carp.

SEIZURE. The right of naval officers to seize anywhere afloat, is legally established: a ship, therefore, although incapable of cruising, may still make a seizure in port.

SELCHIE. The northern name for the seal, Phoca vitulina.

SELENOCENTRIC. Having relation to the centre of the moon.

SELENOGRAPHY. The delineation of the moon's surface.

SELLING OUT. An officer in the army wishing to retire from the service, may do so by disposing of his commission.

SELLOCK. See SILLOCK.

SELVAGE. The woven edge of canvas formed by web and woof. See Boke of Curtasye (14th century):—

"The overnape shal doubulle be layde, To the utter side the selvage brade."

SELVAGEE. A strong and pliant hank, or untwisted skein of rope-yarn marled together, and used as a strap to fasten round a shroud or stay, or slings to which to hook a tackle to hoist in any heavy articles.

SEMAPHORE. An expeditious mode of communication by signal; it consists of upright posts and movable arms, now chiefly used for railway signals, electric telegraphs being found better for great distances.

SEMEBOLE. An old term for a pipe, or half a tun of wine.

SEMI-AXIS MAJOR. See MEAN DISTANCE.

SEMICIRCLE. A figure comprehended between the diameter of a circle and half the circumference.

SEMI-DIAMETER. The angle subtended by half the diameter of a heavenly body; in the cases of the sun and moon it is much used in navigation.

SEMI-DIURNAL ARC. Half the arc described by a heavenly body between its rising and setting.

SEMI-ISLET. An old term for bridge-islet (which see).

SEND, TO. To rise after pitching heavily and suddenly between two waves, or out of the trough of the sea.

SENDING, OR 'SCENDING. The act of being thrown about violently when adrift.

SENIORITY. The difference of rank, or standing in priority, according to dates of commissions; or if on the same day, the order in which they stand on the official printed lists.

SENIOR OFFICER. The commanding officer for the time being.

SENNIT. A flat cordage formed by plaiting five or seven rope-yarns together. Straw, plaited in the same way for hats, is called plat-sennit; it is made by sailors in India from the leaf of the palm, for that well-known straw-hat, adorned with flowing ribbons, which formerly distinguished the man-of-war's man.

SENSIBLE HORIZON. See HORIZON.

SENTINEL, OR SENTRY. A soldier, marine, or seaman placed upon any post, to watch and enforce any specific order with which he may be intrusted.

SENTRY GO! The order to the new sentry to proceed to the relief of the previous one.

SEQUIN. A Turkish and Venetian gold coin of the current value of 6s. 11d.

SERANG. A boatswain of Lascars.

SERASKIER. A Turkish general.

SERGEANT. The senior non-commissioned rank in the army and marines.

SERGEANT-MAJOR. The senior sergeant in a regiment, or first non-commissioned officer; usually a zealous and thorough soldier.

SERON. A commercial package of Spanish America, made of green bullock's-hide with the hair on.

SERPENTARIUS. See OPHIUCHUS.

SERPENTIN. An ancient 24-pounder gun, the dolphins of which represented serpents; it was 13 feet long, and weighed 4360 lbs.

SERPENTINE POWDER. An old term for a peculiar granulated gunpowder.

SERRATED. Notched like the edge of a saw.

SERVE, TO. To supply the gun with powder and shot. Also, to handle it through all the changes of station.

SERVE THE VENT, TO. To stop it with the thumb.

SERVICE. The profession; as a general term, expresses every kind of duty which a naval or military man can be called upon to perform. Also, implying any bold exploit.—To see service, is a common expression, which implies actual contest with the enemy.—Service, of served rope, is the spun-yarn wound round a rope by means of a serving-board or mallet.

SERVICEABLE. Both as respects men and stores, capable of or fit for duty.

SERVING-BOARD. A flattened piece of hard wood with a handle, for passing service on the smaller ropes.

SERVING-MALLET. The mallet, grooved on the under side, with which spun-yarn, or other small stuff, is wrapped tightly round a rope.

SERVING OUT SLOPS. Distributing clothing, &c. Also, a cant term to denote punishment at the gangway.

SET. The direction in which a current flows, or of the wind. (See DIRECTION.)—To set, is to observe the bearings of any distant object by the compass. (See BEARING.) Also applied to the direction of the tide, as "the tide setting to the south," is opposed to a swelling sea setting to the north-west. Also, when applied to sails, implies the loosing and spreading them, so as to force the ship through the water on weighing. When in chase, or other emergency, the term is sometimes used as synonymous with make sail.

SET-BOLTS. Used in drifting out bolts from their position. Also employed for forcing the planks and other works, bringing them close to one another, as Blake's bringing-to bolts, with wood screws, eyes, and rings.

SET FLYING. Sails that do not remain aloft when taken in, but are hauled on deck or stowed in the tops, as skysails, studding-sails, &c.

SET IN. Said when the sea-breeze or weather appears to be steady.

SET ON! The order to set the engine going on board a steamer.

SETT. A kind of shipwright's power, composed of two ring-bolts and a wrain-staff, with cleats and lashings. Also, the particular spot in a river or frith, where stationary nets are fixed.

SETTEE. A single-decked Mediterranean vessel with a long and sharp prow, without top-masts, and carrying lateen sails. They were mostly used as transports to galleys.

SET THE CHASE, TO. To mark well the position of the vessel chased by bearing, so that by standing away from her on one tack, she may be cut off on the other.

SETTING. The operation of moving a boat or raft by means of poles. Also, arranging the sights of a gun, or pointing it.

SETTING POLE. A pole, generally pointed with iron, forced into the mud, by which boats and barges are moored in shallow water.

SETTING THE WATCH. The military night guard or watch at the evening gun-fire. Naval watches are not interfered with by time.

SETTING-UP. Raising a ship from her blocks, shores, &c., by wedges driven between the heels of the shore and the dock foundation.

SETTLE. Now termed the stern-sheets [derived from the Anglo-Saxon settl, a seat].—To settle. To lower; also to sink, as "the deck has settled;" "we settled the land." (See LAYING.) "Settle the main top-sail halliards," i.e. ease them off a little, so as to lower the yard, as on shaking out a reef.

SETTLING. Sinking in the water.

SET UP. Soldiers, mariners, and small-arm men, well drilled, and instructed to be upright and soldierlike in their carriage, are "well set up."

SET UP RIGGING, TO. To take in the slack of the shrouds, stays, and backstays, to bring the same strain as before, and thus secure the masts.

SEVERALTY. The denomination under which disagreements respecting accounts amongst the part-owners of a ship are referred, either to equity courts, or the common law.

SEVERE. Effectual; as, a severe turn in belaying a rope.

SEW, OR SUE. Pronounced sue. (See SEWED.)

SEWANT. A north-country name for the plaice.

SEWARD, OR SEA-WARD. An early name for the custos maris, or he who guards the sea-coast.

SEWED. A ship resting upon the ground, where the water has fallen, so as to afford no hope of floating until lightened, or the return tide floats her, is said to be sewed, by as much as the difference between the surface of the water, and the ship's floating-mark. If not left quite dry, she sews to such a point; if the water leaves her a couple of feet, she is sewed two feet.

SEWIN. A white kind of salmon taken on the coast of Wales. Sometimes this word is used for the dish called sowens.

SEXAGESIMAL DIVISIONS. The circumference of the circle is divided into 360 degrees, each degree into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds. The Americans afterwards used 60 thirds, but European astronomers prefer decimals.

SEXTANT. A mathematical instrument for taking altitudes of, and measuring the angular distances between, the heavenly bodies. It is constructed on a principle similar to Hadley's quadrant; but the arc contains a sixth part of a circle, and measures angles up to 120 deg.

SHACKLE [from the Anglo-Saxon sceacul]. A span with two eyes and a bolt, attached to open links in a chain-cable, at every 15 fathoms; they are fitted with a movable bolt, so that the chain can there be separated or coupled, as circumstances require. Also, an iron loop-hooked bolt moving on a pin, used for fastening the lower-deck port-bars.

SHACKLE-BREECHING. Two shackles are turned into the breeching, by which it is instantly disconnected from the port-ringbolts. Also, the lug of the cascable is cut open to admit of the bight of the breeching falling into it, thus obviating the loss of time by unreeving.

SHACKLE-CROW. A bar of iron slightly bent at one end like the common crow, but with a shackle instead of a claw at the bent end. It is used for drawing bolts or deck-nails. (See also SPAN-SHACKLE.)

SHACKLE-NET. The northern term for flue-net.

SHACKLES. Semicircular clumps of iron sliding upon a round bar, in which the legs of prisoners are occasionally confined to the deck. Manacles when applied to the wrists. (See BILBOES.)

SHAD. The Clupea alosa, a well-known fish, of very disputed culinary merit, owing perhaps to its own dietetic habits.

SHADES. Coloured glasses for quadrants, sextants, and circles. (See DARK GLASSES, or SCREENS.)

SHAFT OF A MINE. The narrow perpendicular pit by which the gallery is entered, and from which the branches of the mine diverge.

SHAG. A small species of cormorant, Phalacrocorax graculus.

SHAG-BUSH. An old term for a harquebus, or hand-gun.

SHAKE, TO. To cast off fastenings, as—To shake out a reef. To let out a reef, and enlarge the sail.—To shake off a bonnet of a fore-and-aft sail.—To shake a cask. To take it to pieces, and pack up the parts, then termed "shakes." Thus the term expressing little value, "No great shakes."

SHAKE IN THE WIND, TO. To bring a vessel's head so near the wind, when close-hauled, as to shiver the sails.

SHAKES. A name given by shipwrights to the cracks or rents in any piece of timber, occasioned by the sun or weather. The same as rends or shans (which see).

SHAKING A CLOTH IN THE WIND. In galley parlance, expresses the being slightly intoxicated.

SHAKINGS. Refuse of cordage, canvas, &c., used for making oakum, paper, &c.

SHALLOP, SHALLOOP, OR SLOOP. A small light fishing vessel, with only a small main-mast and fore-mast for lug-sails. They are commonly good sailers, and are therefore often used as tenders to men-of-war. Also, a large heavy undecked boat, with one mast, fore-and-aft main-sail, and jib-foresail. The gunboats on the French coasts were frequently termed chaloupes, and carried one heavy gun, with a crew of 40 men. Also, a small boat rowed by one or two men.

SHALLOWS. A continuation of shoal water.

SHALLOW-WAISTED. Flush-decked vessels are thus termed, in contradistinction to the deep-waisted.

SHAN. A defect in spars, most commonly from bad collared knots; an injurious compression of fibres in timber: the turning out of the cortical layers when the plank has been sawed obliquely to the central axis of the tree.

SHANK. An arrangement of deep-water fishing lines. Also, a handle or shaft. Also the bar or shaft of an anchor, constituting its main piece, at one end of which the stock is fixed, and at the other the arms.

SHANK-PAINTER. The stopper which confines the shank of the anchor to the ship's side, and prevents the flukes from flying off the bill-board. Where the bill-board is not used, it bears the weight of the fluke end of the anchor.

SHANTY. A small hut on or near a beach.

SHAPE. The lines and form of a vessel.—To shape a course. To assign the route to be steered in order to prosecute a voyage.

SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE. The golden rule of all messes at sea.

SHARK. A name applied to many species of large cartilaginous fish of the family Squalidae. Their ferocity and voracity are proverbial. Also, applied to crimps, sharpers, and low attorneys.

SHARP. Prompt and attentive.—Be sharp! Make haste.—Look sharp! Lose no time. Also, an old term for a sword.

SHARP BOTTOM. Synonymous with a sharp floor; used in contradistinction to a flat floor: the epithet denotes vessels intended for quick sailing.

SHARP LOOK-OUT BEFORE! The hail for the forecastle look-out men to be extremely vigilant.

SHARP UP. Trimmed as near as possible to the wind, with the yards braced up nearly fore and aft.

SHAVE. A close run; a narrow escape from a collision.

SHEAF. A bundle of arrows, as formerly supplied to our royal ships.

SHEAL. A northern term for a fisherman's hut, whence several of them together became sheals or shields.

SHEAR. An iron spear, of three or more points, for catching eels.

SHEAR-HOOKS. A kind of sickle formerly applied to the yard-arms, for cutting the rigging of a vessel running on board.

SHEARS. See SHEERS.

SHEAR-WATER. A sea-fowl, Puffinus anglorum.

SHEATHING. Thin boards formerly placed between the ship's body and the sheets of copper, to protect the planks from the pernicious effects of the worm. Tar and hair, or brown paper dipped in tar and oil, is laid between the sheathing and the bottom. In 1613 a junk of 800 or 1000 tons was seen in Japan all sheeted with iron; and yet it was not attempted in Europe till more than a hundred years afterwards. But by 1783 ships of every class were coppered.

SHEATHING-NAILS. These are used to fasten wood-sheathing, and prevent the filling-nails from tearing it too much. Those used for copper-sheathing are of mixed metal, cast in moulds about one inch and a quarter long. The heads are flat on the upper side, and counter-sunk below, with the upper side polished to prevent the adhesion of weeds.

SHEAVE. The wheel on which the rope works in a block; it is generally formed of lignum vitae, sometimes of brass, and frequently of both; the interior part, or that which sustains the friction against the pin, being of brass, let into the exterior, which is of lignum vitae, and is then termed a sheave with a brass coak, bouche, or bush. The name also applies to a cylindrical wheel made of hard wood, movable round a stout pin as its axis; it is let through the side and chess-trees for leading the tacks and sheets. Also, the number of tiers in coiling cables and hawsers.

SHEAVE-HOLE. A channel cut in masts, yards, or timber, in which to fix a sheave, and answering the place of a block. It is also the groove cut in a block for the ropes to reeve through.

SHEBEEN. A low public-house, yet a sort of sailor trap.

SHED. A pent-house or cover for the ship's artificers to work under.

SHEDDE. An archaic term for the slope of a hill.

SHEDDERS. Female salmon. (See FOUL FISH.)

SHEDELE. A channel of water.

SHEEN-NET. A large drag-net.

SHEEPSHANK. A hitch or bend made on a rope to shorten it temporarily; and particularly used on runners, to prevent the tackle from coming block and block. It consists in making two long bights in a rope, which shall overlay one another; then taking a half hitch over the end of each bight, with the standing part, which is next to it.

SHEER. The longitudinal curve of a ship's decks or sides; the hanging of the vessel's side in a fore-and-aft direction. Also, a fishing-spear in use on the south coast. (See SHEAR.) Also, the position in which a ship is sometimes kept when at single anchor, in order to keep her clear of it [evidently from the Erse sheebh, to drift].

SHEER, TO BREAK. To deviate from that position, and thereby risk fouling the anchor. Thus a vessel riding with short scope of cable breaks her sheer, and bringing the force of the whole length of the ship at right angles, tears the anchor out of the ground, and drifts into deep water.

SHEER-BATTEN. A batten stretched horizontally along the shrouds, and seized firmly above each of their dead-eyes, serving to prevent the dead-eyes from turning at that part. This is also termed a stretcher.

SHEER-DRAUGHT. In ship-building, a section supposed to be cut by a plane passing through the middle line of the keel, the stem, and the stern-post: it is also called the plan of elevation, and it exhibits the out-board works, as the wales, sheer-rails, ports, drifts, height of water-line, &c.

SHEERED. Built with a curved sheer. (See MOON-SHEERED.)

SHEER-HULK. An old ship fitted with sheers, &c., and used for taking out and putting in the masts of other vessels.

SHEERING. The act of deviating from the line of the course, so as to form a crooked and irregular path through the water; this may be occasioned by the ship's being difficult to steer, but more frequently arises from the negligence or incapacity of the helmsman. For sheering or shearing in polar seas, see LAPPING.

SHEER-LASHING. Middle the rope, and pass a good turn round both legs at the cross. Then take one end up and the other down, around and over the cross, until half of the lashing is thus expended; then ride both ends back again on their own parts, and knot them in the middle. Frap the first and riding turns together on each side with sennit.

SHEER-MAST. The peculiar rig of the rafts on the Guayaquil river; also of the piratical prahus of the eastern seas, and which might be imitated in some of our small craft with advantage: having a pair of sheers (instead of a single mast) within which the fore-and-aft main-sail works, or is hoisted or slung.

SHEER-MOULD. Synonymous with ram-line (which see).

SHEER OFF, TO. To move to a greater distance, or to steer so as to keep clear of a vessel or other object.

SHEER-PLAN. The draught of the side of a proposed ship, showing the length, depth, rake, water-lines, &c.

SHEER-RAIL. The wrought-rail generally placed well with the sheer or top-timber line; the narrow ornamental moulding along the top-side, parallel to the sheer.

SHEERS. Two or more spars, raised at angles, lashed together near their upper ends, and supported by guys; used for raising or taking in heavy weights. Also, to hoist in or get out the lower masts of a ship; they are either placed on the side of a quay or wharf, on board of an old ship cut down (see SHEER-HULK), or erected in the vessel wherein the mast is to be planted or displaced, the lower ends of the props resting on the opposite sides of the deck, and the upper parts being fastened together across, from which a tackle depends; this sort of sheers is secured by stages extending to the stem and stern of the vessel.

SHEER-SAIL. A drift-sail.

SHEER TO THE ANCHOR, TO. To direct the ship's bows by the helm to the place where the anchor lies, while the cable is being hove in.

SHEER UP ALONGSIDE, TO. To approach a ship or other object in an oblique direction.

SHEER-WALES. Strakes of thick stuff in the top-sides of three-decked ships, between the middle and upper deck-ports. Synonymous with middle-wales.

SHEET. A rope or chain fastened to one or both the lower corners of a sail, to extend and retain the clue down to its place. When a ship sails with a side wind, the lower corners of the main and fore sails are fastened by a tack and a sheet, the former being to windward, and the latter to leeward; the tack is, however, only disused with a stern wind, whereas the sail is never spread without the assistance of one or both of the sheets; the staysails and studding-sails have only one tack and one sheet each; the staysail-tacks are fastened forward, and the sheets drawn aft; but the studding-sail tacks draw to the extremity of the boom, while the sheet is employed to extend the inner corner.

SHEET-ANCHOR. One of four bower anchors supplied, two at the bows, and one at either chest-tree abaft the fore-rigging; one is termed the sheet, the other the spare anchor; usually got ready in a gale to let go on the parting of a bower. To a sheet anchor a stout hempen cable is generally bent, as lightening the strain at the bow, and being more elastic.

SHEET-BEND. A sort of double hitch, made by passing the end of one rope through the bight of another, round both parts of the other, and under its own part.

SHEET-CABLE. A hempen cable used when riding in deep water, where the weight of a chain cable would oppress a ship.

SHEET-COPPER. Copper rolled out into sheets, for the sheathing of ships' bottoms, &c.

SHEET-FISH. The Silurus glanis, a large fish found in many European rivers and lakes.

SHEET HOME! The order, after the sails are loosed, to extend the sheets to the outer extremities of the yards, till the clue is close to the sheet-block. Also, when driving anything home, as a blow, &c.

SHEET IN THE WIND. Half intoxicated; as the sail trembles and is unsteady, so is a drunken man.

SHELDRAKE. The Anas tadorna, a large species of wild duck.

SHELF. A dangerous beach bounded by a ledge of flat rocks a-wash. In icy regions, (see TONGUE).

SHELF-PIECES. Strakes of plank running internally in a line with the decks, for the purpose of receiving the ends of the beams. They are also called stringers.

SHELKY. A name for the seal in the Shetland Isles.

SHELL. In artillery, a hollow iron shot containing explosive materials, whether spherical, elongated, eccentric, &c., and destined to burst at the required instant by the action of its fuse (which see).—Common shells are filled with powder only, those fired from mortars being spherical, and having a thickness of about one-sixth of their diameter. (See also SEGMENT-SHELL and SHRAPNEL SHELL.) Also, the hard calcareous external covering of the mollusca, crustacea, and echinoderms.

SHELL-FISH. A general term applied to aquatic animals having a hard external covering or shell, as whelks, oysters, lobsters, &c. These are not, however, properly speaking, fish.

SHELLING. The act of bombarding a fort, town, or position.

SHELL OF A BLOCK. The outer frame or case wherein the sheave or wheel is contained and traverses about its axis.

SHELL-ROOM. An important compartment in ships of war, fitted up with strong shelves to receive the shells when charged.

SHELL, SHRAPNEL. See SHRAPNEL SHELL.

SHELVES. A general name given to any dangerous shallows, sand-banks, or rocks, lying immediately under the surface of the water.

SHELVING. A term expressive of step-like rocks lying in nearly horizontal strata, or inclining very gradually; as a "shelving bottom," or a "shelving land." Applied to the shore, it means that it ascends from the sea, and passes under it at an extremely low angle, so that vessels of draught cannot approach.

SHERE. An archaic sea-term for running aground.

SHEVO. An entertainment, thought by some to be derived from the gaiety of the chevaux, or horse-guards; more probably from chez-vous.

SHIBAH. A small Indian vessel.

SHIELD-SHIP. A vessel fitted with one or more massive iron shields, each protecting a heavy gun or guns. The name was applied to an improvement on the "cupola-ship," before the latter was perfected into the "turret-ship."

SHIELD TOWER OR TURRET. A revolving armoured cover for guns.

SHIEVE, TO. To have head-way. To row the wrong way, in order to assist the steersman in a narrow channel.

SHIFT. In ship-building, when one butt of a piece of timber or plank overlaunches the butt of another, without either being reduced in length, for the purpose of strength and stability.—To shift [thought to be from the Anglo-Saxon scyftan, to divide]. To change or alter the position of; as, to shift a sail, top-mast, or spar; to shift the helm, &c. Also, to change one's clothes.

SHIFT A BERTH, TO. To move from one anchorage to another.

SHIFTED. The state of a ship's ballast or cargo when it is shaken from one side to the other, either by the violence of her rolling, or by her too great inclination to one side under a great press of sail; this accident, however, rarely happens, unless the cargo is stowed in bulk, as corn, salt, &c.

SHIFTER. A person formerly appointed to assist the ship's cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt provisions; so called from having to change the water in the steep-tub.

SHIFTING A TACKLE. The act of removing the blocks of a tackle to a greater distance from each other, in order to extend their purchase; this operation is otherwise called fleeting (which see).

SHIFTING BACKSTAYS, ALSO PREVENTER. Those which can be changed from one side of a ship to the other, as the occasion demands.

SHIFTING BALLAST. Pigs of iron, bags of sand, &c., used for ballast, and capable of being moved to trim the vessel. Also, a term applied to messengers, soldiers, and live-stock.

SHIFTING-BOARDS. One or more wooden bulk-heads in a vessel's hold, put up fore-and-aft, and firmly supported, for preventing a cargo which is stowed in bulk from shifting.

SHIFTING-CENTRE. See META-CENTRE.

SHIFTING SAND. A bank, of which the sand, being incoherent, is subject to removal or being driven about by the violence of the sea or the power of under-currents. Very accurate experiments have proved that the sands at the mouths of rivers are differently acted on during every hour of tide (or wind together); hence sands shift, and even stop up or render some channels unsafe.

SHIFTING THE MESSENGER. Changing its position on the capstan from right to left, or vice versa.

SHIFTING WINDS. Variable breezes, mostly light.

SHIFT OF WIND. Implies that it varies, or has changed in its direction.

SHIFT THE HELM! The order for an alteration of its position, by moving it towards the opposite side of the ship; that is, from port to starboard, or vice versa.

SHIMAL. A severe gale of wind from the N.W. in the Gulf of Persia and its vicinity; it is accompanied by a cloudless sky, thus differing from the shurgee.

SHINDY. A kind of dance among seamen; but also a row. Apparently modernized from the old Erse sheean, clamour.

SHINE. To take the shine out of. To excel another vessel in a man[oe]uvre. To surpass in any way.

SHINER. The familiar name for a lighthouse. Also, a name for the dace (which see). Also, money; Jack's "shiners in my sack."

SHINGLE. Coarse gravel, or stones rounded by the action of water; it is used as ballast.

SHINGLES. Thin slips of wood, used principally in America, in lieu of slate or tiles in roofing. In very old times a planked vessel was termed a "shyngled or clap-boarded ship."

SHINGLE-TRAMPER. A coast-guard man.

SHIN UP, TO. To climb up a rope or spar without the aid of any kind of steps.

SHIP [from the Anglo-Saxon scip]. Any craft intended for the purposes of navigation; but in a nautical sense it is a general term for all large square-rigged vessels carrying three masts and a bowsprit—the masts being composed of a lower-mast, top-mast, and topgallant-mast, each of these being provided with tops and yards.—Flag-ship. The ship in which the admiral hoists his flag; whatever the rank of the commander be; all the lieutenants take rank before their class in other ships.—Line-of-battle ship. Carrying upwards of 74 guns.—Ship of war. One which, being duly commissioned under a commissioned officer by the admiralty, wears a pendant. The authority of a gunboat, no superior being present, is equal to that of an admiral.—Receiving ship. The port, guard, or admiral's flag-ship, stationed at any place to receive volunteers, and bear them pro. tem. in readiness to join any ship of war which may want hands.—Store-ship. A vessel employed to carry stores, artillery, and provisions, for the use of a fleet, fortress, or Garrison.—Troop-ship. One appointed to carry troops, formerly called a transport.—Hospital-ship. A vessel fitted up to attend a fleet, and receive the sick and wounded. Scuttles are cut in the sides for ventilation. The sick are under the charge of an experienced surgeon, aided by a staff of assistant-surgeons, a proportional number of assistants, cook, baker, and nurses.—Merchant ship.—A vessel employed in commerce to carry commodities of various sorts from one port to another. (See MERCHANTMAN.)—Private ship of war. (See PRIVATEERS, and LETTERS OF MARQUE.)—Slaver, or slave-ship. A vessel employed in carrying negro slaves.—To ship. To embark men or merchandise. It also implies to fix anything in its place, as "Ship the oars," i.e. place them in their rowlocks; "Ship capstan-bars." Also, to enter on board, or engage to join a ship.—To ship a sea. A wave breaking over all in a gale. Hence the old saying—

"Sometimes we ship a sea, Sometimes we see a ship."

To ship a swab. A colloquialism for mounting an epaulette, or receiving a commission.

SHIP-BOY. Boys apprenticed to learn their sea-duties, but generally appointed as servants.

SHIP-BREAKER. A person who purchases old vessels to break them to pieces for sale.

SHIP-BROKER. One who manages business matters between ship-owners and merchants, in procuring cargoes, &c., for vessels.

SHIP-BUILDER. Synonymous with naval constructor.

SHIP-BUILDING, OR NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. The art of constructing a ship so as to answer a particular purpose either for war or commerce. It is now expanding into a science.

SHIP-CHANDLER. A tradesman who supplies ships with their miscellaneous marine stores. (See MATERIAL MEN.)

SHIP-CONTRACTOR. The charterer or freighter of a vessel.

SHIP-CRAFT. Nearly the same as the Anglo-Saxon scyp-craeft, an early word for navigation.

SHIP CUT DOWN. One which has had a deck cut off from her, whereby a three-decker is converted into a two-decker, and a two-decker becomes a frigate. They are then termed razees.

SHIP-GUNS. Those cast expressly for sea-service.

SHIP-KEEPER. An officer not much given to going on shore. Also, the man who has charge of a ship whilst she is without any part of her crew.

SHIP-LANGUAGE. The shibboleth of nautic diction, as tau'sle, fok'sle, for top-sail, forecastle, and the like.

SHIP-LAST. See LAST.

SHIP-LAUNCH. See LAUNCH.

SHIP-LOAD. The estimated lading or cargo of a vessel.

SHIP-LOG. See LOG-BOOK.

SHIP-LORD. A once recognized term for the owner of a ship.

SHIPMAN [Anglo-Saxon scyp-mann]. The master of a barge, who in the days of Chaucer had but "litel Latin in his mawe," and who, though "of nice conscience toke he no kepe," was certainly a good fellow.

SHIPMAN'S CARD. A chart; thus Shakspeare's first witch in Macbeth had winds—

"And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I' the shipman's card."

SHIPMASTER. The captain, commander, or padrone of a vessel. (See MASTER.)

SHIPMATE. A term once dearer than brother, but the habit of short cruises is weakening it.

SHIPMENT. The act of shipping goods, or any other thing, on board a ship or vessel.

SHIP-MONEY. An imposition charged throughout this realm in the time of Charles I., but which was declared illegal.

SHIP-OWNER. A person who has a right of property in a ship. The interest of part-owners is quite distinct, so that one cannot dispose of the share of the other, or effect any insurance for him, without special authority.

SHIPPER. He who embarks goods; also mentioned in some of our statutes as the master of a ship. (See SKIPPER.)

SHIPPING AFFAIRS. All business of a maritime bearing.

SHIPPING GOODS. Receiving and stowing them on board.

SHIPPING GREEN SEAS. When heavy seas tumble over the gunwale either to windward or leeward; sometimes resulting from bad steerage and seamanship, or over-pressing the vessel.

SHIPPING MANIFEST. See MANIFEST.

SHIPPING MASTERS. Persons officially appointed and licensed to attend to the entering and discharging of merchant seamen.

SHIP-PROPELLER. See SCREW-PROPELLER.

SHIP RAISED UPON. One of which the upper works have been heightened by additional timbers. About the year 1816 several creditable corvettes of 600 tons were constructed; after three had been tried, the mistaken order was issued to make them into frigates. Hence the term donkey and jackass frigates, Athol and Niemen to wit.

SHIP'S BOOKS. The roll of the crew, containing every particular in relation to entry, former ships, &c.

SHIP-SHAPE. In colloquial phrase implies, in a seamanlike manner; as, "That mast is not rigged ship-shape;" "Put her about ship-shape," &c. (See BRISTOL FASHION.)

SHIP'S HUSBAND. The agent or broker who manages her accounts with regard to work performed, repairs, &c., under refit or loading.

SHIP-SLOOP. Commanders were appointed to 24-gun sloops, but when the same sloops were commanded by captains, they were rated ships.

SHIP'S LUNGS. Dr. Hall's name for the bellows with which he forced the foul air out of ships.

SHIP'S PAPERS. Documents descriptive of a vessel, her owners, cargo, destination, and other particulars necessary for the instance court. Also, those documents required for a neutral ship to prove her such.

SHIP'S REGISTRY AND CERTIFICATE. An official record of a ship's size, the bills of lading, ownership, &c.

SHIP'S STEWARD. The person who manages the victualling or mess departments. In the navy, paymaster's steward.

SHIP-STAR. The Anglo-Saxon scyp-steora, an early name for the pole-star, once of the utmost importance in navigation.

SHIP-TIMBER. Contraband in time of war.

SHIPWRECK. The destruction of a vessel by her beating against rocks, the shore, &c.—too often including loss of life. In early times the seizure of goods, and even the murder of the mariners, was apt to be the consequence.

SHIPWRIGHT. A builder of ships. The art of bending planks by fire is attributed to Pyrrhon, the Lydian, who made boats of several configurations.

SHIPYARD. Synonymous with dockyard.

SHIVER. Synonymous with sheave.

SHIVERING. To trim a ship's yards so that the wind strikes on the edges or leaches of the sails, making them flutter in the wind. The same effect may be intentionally produced by means of the helm.

SHOAL. A danger formed by sunken rocks, on which the sea does not break; but generally applied to every place where the water is shallow, whatever be the ground. (See FLAT SHOAL, SHOLE, or SCHOLE.) Also, denotes a great quantity of fishes swimming in company—squamosae cohortes. Also, a vessel is said to shoalen, or shoal her water, when she comes from a greater into a less depth.

SHOALED-HARBOUR. That which is secured from the violence of the sea, by banks, bars, or shoals to sea-ward.

SHOD, OR SHODE. An anchor is said to be shod when, in breaking it from its bed, a quantity of clayey or oozy soil adheres to the fluke and shank.

SHOE. The iron arming to a handspike, polar-pile, &c.

SHOE OF THE ANCHOR. A flat block of hard wood, convex on the back, and having a hole sufficiently large to contain the bill of the anchor-fluke on the fore-side; used to prevent the anchor from tearing the planks on the ship's bow when fishing it, for which purpose the shoe slides up and down along the bow. Where vessels ease the anchor down to "a cock-bill," it is also sometimes used.—To shoe or clamp an anchor. To cover the palms with broad triangular pieces of thick plank, secured by iron hoops and nails. Its use is to give the anchor a greater resisting surface when the mud is very soft. Also, for transporting on shore.

SHOE OF THE FORE-FOOT. See FORE-FOOT, GRIPE, HORSE.

SHOE-PIECE. A board placed under the heel of a spar, or other weighty mass, to save the deck. In some cases intended to slip with it.

SHOLES. See SOLE.

SHOOT, TO. To move suddenly; as "the ballast shoots on one side." Also, a ship shoots ahead in stays. Also, to push off in a boat from the shore into a current; to descend a rapid. The term is well used thus amongst the powerful rivers of N. America, of which perhaps the finest example is given by the St. Lawrence at La Chine, there reported to rush in spring-time at the rate of 40 miles an hour. Thus the shooting Old London Bridge was the cause of many deaths, and gave occasion to the admirable description in the Loves of the Triangles (anti-Jacobin), when all were agreed:

"'Shoot we the bridge,' the vent'rous boatmen cry; 'Shoot we the bridge,' th' exulting fare reply."

SHOOT-FINGER. This was a term in use with the Anglo-Saxons from its necessity in archery, and is now called the trigger-finger from its equal importance in modern fire-arms. The mutilation of this member was always a most punishable offence; for which the laws of King Alfred inflicted a penalty of fifteen shillings, which at that time probably was a sum beyond the bowman's means.

SHOOTING-GLOVES. These were furnished to the navy when cross-bows, long-bows, and slur-bows were used.

SHOOTING OF NETS. The running out of nets in the water, as seins, drift-nets, herring-nets, &c.; but it does not apply to trawls.

SHOOTS, OR SHUTS. A large pipe or channel to lead away water, dirt, ballast, shot, &c., is called a shoot. The overfalls of a river, where the stream is narrowed by its banks, whether naturally or artificially, especially the arches of a bridge, constitute a shoot.

SHOOT THE COMPASS, TO. To shoot wide of the mark.

SHOOT THE SUN, TO. To take its meridional altitude; literally aiming at the reflected sun through the telescope of the instrument. "Have you obtained a shot?" applied to altitudes of the meridian, as for time, lunar distances, &c.

SHORE. A prop fixed under a ship's sides or bottom, to support her when laid aground or on the stocks. Shores are also termed legs when used by a cutter or yacht, to keep the vessel upright when the water leaves her. (See LEGS.) Also, the general name for the littoral of any country against which the waves impinge, while the word coast is applied to that part of the land which only lies contiguous to the sea.—Bold shore. A coast which is steep-to, permitting the near approach of shipping without danger; it is used in contradistinction to a shelving-shore.

SHORE-ANCHOR. That which lies between the shore and the ship when moored.

SHORE-BOATS. Small boats or wherries plying for hire at sea-ports.

SHORE-CLEATS. Heavy cleats bolted on to the sides of vessels to support the shore-head, and sustain the ship upright.

SHORE-FAST. A hawser carried out to secure a vessel to a quay, mole, or anchor buried on shore.

SHORE REEF. The same as fringing reef.

SHORT, SHORT STAY, SHORT APEEK. "Heave short," means to heave in the cable till it is nearly up and down, and would hold the vessel securely until she had set all common sail, and would not drag or upset the anchor. If, however, the wind be free, and the making sail unimportant, short would probably be short apeek, or up and down, the last move of weighing awaiting perhaps signal or permission to part.

SHORT ALLOWANCE. When the provisions will not last the period expected, they may be reduced in part, as two-thirds, half-allowance, &c., and thus short-allowance money becomes due, which is the nominal value of the provisions stopped, and paid in compensation.

SHORT BOARDS. Frequent tacking, where there is not room for long boards, or from some other cause, as weather or tide, it is required to work to windward on short tacks in a narrow space.

SHORTEN, TO. Said of a ship's sails when requisite to reduce those that are set. And shorten in, when alluding to the anchor, by heaving in cable.

SHORT-HANDED. A deficient complement of men, or short-handed by many being on the sick-list.

SHORT-LINKED CHAIN. A cable without studs, and therefore with shorter links than those of stud-chains; such are slings and chains generally used in rigging bobstays, anchor-work, &c. Cables only have studs.

SHORT-SEA. A confused cross sea where the waves assume a jerking rippling action, and set home to the bows or sides; especially tiresome to boats, hampering the oars, and tumbling in-board. Also, a race.

SHORT-SERVICE. Chafing geer put on a hemp cable for a short range.

SHORT-SHEETS. Belong to shifting sails, such as studding-sails, &c.

SHORT-TACKS. See SHORT BOARDS.

SHORT-TIME OR SAND GLASS. One of 14 seconds, used in heaving the log when the ship is going fast.

SHOT. All sorts of missiles to be discharged from fire-arms, those for great guns being mainly of iron; for small-arms, of lead. When used without prefix, the term generally means the solid shot only, as fired for a heavy blow, or for penetration. Also, a synonym of scot, a reckoning at an inn, and has immemorially been thus understood. Ben Jonson's rules are

"As the fund of our pleasure, let each pay his shot."

Also, a lot or quantity. Also, the particular spot where fishermen take a draught with their nets, and also the draught of fishes made by a net. Also, the sternmost division of a fishing-boat. Also, arrows, darts, or anything that was shot. Also, a kind of trout. Also, a foot-soldier who carried a fire-lock.—To be shot of, signifies to get rid of, turned out.—To shot the guns. In active service the guns were generally loaded, but not shotted, as, from corrosion, it was found difficult to draw the shot; and the working and concussion not unfrequently started it, and consequently, if the gun was fired before re-driving it "home," it was in danger of bursting.

SHOT-LOCKER. A compartment built up in the hold to contain the shot.

SHOT-NET. A mackerel-net.

SHOT-PLUGS. Tapered cones to stop any sized shot-hole.

SHOT-RACKS. Wooden frames fixed at convenient distances to contain shot. There are also, of recent introduction, iron rods so fitted as to confine the shot.

SHOTTEN-HERRING. A gutted herring dried for keeping. Metaphorically, a term of contempt for a lean lazy fellow.

SHOULDER OF A BASTION. The part of it adjacent to the junction of a face with a flank. The angle of the shoulder is that formed by these two lines.

SHOULDER ARMS! The military word of command to carry the musket vertically at the side of the body, and resting against the hollow of the shoulder; on the left side with the long rifle, on the right with the short.

SHOULDER-OF-MUTTON SAIL. A kind of triangular sail of peculiar form, used mostly in boats. It is very handy and safe, particularly as a mizen. It is the Bermuda or 'Mugian rig.

SHOULDER THE ANCHOR. When a seaman forgets his craft, and gives his ship too little cable to ride by, she may be thrown across tide, lift or shoulder her anchor, and drift off.

SHOUT. A light and nearly flat-bottomed boat used in our eastern fens for shooting wild-duck. (See GUNNING-BOAT.)

SHOUTE-MEN. The old name for the lightermen of the Thames.

SHOVEL. A copper implement for removing a cartridge from a gun without injuring it. Formerly used, and as late as 1816 by the Turks, to convey the powder into the chamber without using cartridges: also used to withdraw shot where windage was large. (See LADLE.)

SHOVELL, OR SHOVELLER. Spatula clypeata, a species of duck with a broad bill. Formerly written schevelard. Also applied to a hoverer or smuggler.

SHOVE OFF! The order to the bowman to put the boat's head off with his boat-hook.

SHOW A LEG! An exclamation from the boatswain's mate, or master-at-arms, for people to show that they are awake on being called. Often "Show a leg, and turn out."

SHRAB. A vile drugged drink prepared for seamen who frequent the filthy purlieus of Calcutta. (See DOASTA.)

SHRAPNEL SHELL. Invented by General Shrapnel to produce, at a long range, the effect of common case; whence they have been also called spherical case. They have a thickness of only one-tenth of their diameter; so that, on the action of the fuse, they are opened by a very small bursting charge, and allow the bullets with which they are filled to proceed with much the same direction and velocity that the shell had at the moment of explosion. They require, however, extremely nice management.

SHRIMP. The small crustacean Crangon vulgaris, well known as an article of food.

SHROUD-KNOT. See KNOT.

SHROUD-LAID. The combination in the larger cordage, also known as hawser-laid.

SHROUD-ROPE. A finer quality of hawser-laid rope than is commonly used for other purposes. It is also termed purchase-rope; but four-stranded rope is frequently used for standing rigging. All the strands are finer, of better hemp, and pass the gauge. Thus the patent shroud-laid rope, made from clean Petersburgh hemp, was found to break at a strain between 6-3/4 and 7-1/4 cwt. per inch of girth in inches squared. Thus a patent rope of 5 inches would require 175 cwt. Common rope, 25 threads in each strand, broke with 5 cwt. per inch, and fell off at 130 threads to 4 cwt. per inch. Thus,

cwt. qrs. lbs. A common 10-inch cable weighed per 100 fathoms, 19 0 21 A superior " " 21 0 3

SHROUDS. The lower and upper standing-rigging. They are always divided into pairs or couples; that is to say, one piece of rope is doubled, and the parts fastened together at a small distance from the middle, so as to leave a sort of noose or collar to fix upon the mast-head; the ends have each a dead-eye turned in, by which they are set up by laniards to the channel. (See CHAINS and DEAD-EYE.)—Bentinck-shrouds. Strong ropes fixed on the futtock-staves of the lower rigging, and extending to the opposite channels, where they are set-up by means of dead-eyes and laniards, or gun-tackle runner purchases, in the same manner as the other shrouds. Their use is to support the masts when the ship rolls.—Bowsprit shrouds are now generally made of chain. They support the bowsprit in the same way that other shrouds support the masts.—Bumkin or boomkin shrouds. Strong chains fixed as stays to the bumkin ends, to support the strain exerted by the fore-tacks upon them.—Futtock or foot-hook shrouds. Portions of rigging (now sometimes chain) communicating with the futtock-plates above the top, and the cat-harpings below, and forming ladders, whereby the sailors climb over the top-brim. Top-gallant shrouds extend to the cross-trees, where, passing through holes in the ends, they continue over the futtock-staves of the top-mast rigging, and descending almost to the top, are set up by laniards passing through thimbles instead of dead-eyes.—Topmast-shrouds extend from the top-mast head to the edges of the tops, and are set up to the futtock dead-eyes.

SHROUD-STOPPER. A stout rope-stopper made fast above and below a part of the shroud which has been damaged by an enemy's shot, or otherwise.

SHROUD-TRUCKS. Small pieces of wood with holes in them, but no sheaves; they are seized on the standing-rigging as fair leaders for the running-rigging. (See BULL'S-EYE.)

SHUNT. A term recently introduced among engineers and gunners; but traceable back to the year 931, a "zunte-stone" being placed on a spot where the road deviated.

SHURGEE. A prevailing S.E. wind in the Gulf of Persia; it is usually preceded by a heavy dew, which is quite the reverse with the shimal.

SHUT IN, TO. Said of landmarks or points of land, when one is brought to transit and overlap the other, or intercept the view of it.

SHUTTING ON. Joining the arms of an anchor to its shank. Also, welding one piece of iron to another to lengthen it.

SICK-BAY. A portion of the fore-part of the main-deck, reserved for the accommodation of the sick and wounded; any other place set apart for invalids is called the sick-berth.

SICK-BERTH ATTENDANT. See LOBLOLLY-BOY.

SICK-BOOK. An account of such officers and men as are on the sick list on board, or are sent to an hospital, hospital-ship, or sick-quarters.

SICK-FLAG. The yellow quarantine flag, hoisted to prevent communication; whence the term of the yellow flag, and yellow admirals. There are two others—one with a black ball, the other with a square in the centre—denoting plague, or actual diseases.

SICK-MESS. A table for those on the doctor's list. When seamen are thus placed, their provisions are turned over to the surgeon, who accounts for their re-purchase by government, if not consumed, and the proceeds are applied to purchase comforts beyond those allowed by the service.

SICK-TICKET. A document given to an officer, seaman, or marine, when sent to an hospital, certified by the signing officer and the surgeon, stating the entry, rank, rating, &c., together with other particulars.

SIDE. All that part of a ship which extends from stem to stern in length, and from the upper edge of the gunwale above, to the lower edge of the main-wale, below which the bottom commences.

SIDE-BOYS, OR SIDE-MEN. Those appointed to attend the gangways when boats come alongside, and offer the man-ropes to the officer ascending.

SIDE COUNTER-TIMBER. The stern timber which partakes of the shape of the top-side, and heels upon the end of the wing-transom.

SIDE-KEELSONS. A name for sister-keelsons. First used in mortar-vessels to support the bomb-beds; later they have crept in to support the engines in steamers, and furnish a free flow beneath their flooring for the water, as well as for ventilation.

SIDE-LADDER, OR ACCOMMODATION-LADDER. A complete staircase structure used in harbour by most large ships.

SIDE-LEVER. A lever on each side of the cylinder of a marine steam-engine, resembling the beam of the ordinary land-engine. (See LEVER.)

SIDE OUT FOR A BEND, TO. The old well-known term to draw the bight of a hempen cable towards the opposite side, in order to make room for the bight being twined to coil it in the tier. The most expert and powerful seamen were selected for this duty, now rare.

SIDE-PIECES. Parts of a made mast.

SIDEREAL ASTRONOMY. That branch of the science which relates to the fixed stars.

SIDEREAL DAY. The interval between the departure and return of a star to the meridian; in other words, its two successive transits.

SIDEREAL PERIOD. See REVOLUTION.

SIDEREAL TIME. The time shown by a clock regulated by the fixed stars, and compensated to accelerate upon mean time by the daily amount of 3 minutes 56.56 seconds.

SIDE-RODS. Rods hanging from each of the cross-heads, one on each side of the cylinder of a steam-engine, and connected to the pins of the side-levers below; their duty is to cause a simultaneous movement.

SIDE-SCALE. A simple graduation, adopted by Sir Philip Broke in the Shannon, for the quick elevation or depression of the guns.

SIDE-STEPS. Pieces of wood bolted to the side of a ship for the convenience of ascending; in smaller vessels they have a ladder made of rope with wooden thwarts, which hooks to the gangway.

SIDING OR SIDED. The dimensions or size of timber, the contrary way to which the mould side is placed; one side sided smooth, to work from or to fit.

SIDING DIMENSION. The breadth of any piece of timber.

SIEGE. A continued endeavour, by systematic military means, such as batteries, trenches, mines, &c., to overpower the defences of a place and take possession of it.

SIEGE-ARTILLERY. The ordnance (guns, mortars, howitzers, &c.) used for overpowering the fire and destroying the defences of a fortified place; their weight and power, limited mainly by the kind of transport at hand, seldom exceed those of the light 100-pounder rifled gun, and are mostly above those of guns of position, such as the old 18-pounder, or the 40-pounder rifle.

SIEGE-TRAIN. Properly, the whole of the material, with its transport, required for carrying on a siege; but more frequently used for the necessary siege artillery, together with its ammunition, carriages, machines, and appliances of all kinds.

SIESTA. The hour of the afternoon in hot climates, when Spaniards, Italians, &c., retire to repose during the heat of the day.

SIGHTING THE LAND. Running in to catch a view.

SIGHTS. The fixed marks on fire-arms, by which their direction is regulated in aiming: generally, two small fittings of brass or iron, that near the breech having a notched head, and that towards the muzzle a pointed one. (See DISPART.)—Astronomical sights. Observations taken to determine the time or latitude, as well as for chronometer rates.

SIGHT THE ANCHOR, TO. To heave it up in sight, in order to prove that it is clear, when, from the ship having gone over it, there is suspicion that it may be fouled by the slack cable.

SIGHT-VANES. See VANES.

SIGNALIZE, TO. To distinguish one's self; a word also degraded to the meaning of communicating intelligence by means of signals or telegraph.

SIGNAL-MAN. The yeoman of the signals; a first-class petty officer in the navy.

SIGNAL OF DISTRESS. When a ship is in imminent danger, she hoists her national flag upside down, and, if she is armed, fires minute guns; also lets fly top-gallant sheets, &c.; indeed does anything to attract observation.

SIGNAL-OFFICER. In a repeating frigate, a signal-midshipman; in a flag-ship, a flag-lieutenant.

SIGNALS. Codes of signals have been used for centuries and changed frequently. Their use is too well known to need explanation. They are conveyed by flags, semaphores, balls, guns, lights, rockets, bells, horns, whistles, &c., and half a century since were carried on with incredible ability. It may be also observed that signal officers of those days became subsequently the elite of the navy; signal-officer being then a proud term of distinction.—Fog-signals, certain operations which emit sound.—Night-signals, either lanterns disposed in certain figures, flashes, or false fires, &c.

SIGNIFER. The zodiac.

SIGNING OFFICERS. The captain, senior lieutenant, master, and purser (now paymaster); but where the document relates to the stores in charge of any stated officer, that officer is to sign it instead of the purser.

SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC. The emblems of the twelve divisions, into which the ancients divided the zodiac.

SILL. A northern term for the young of a herring.

SILLOCK. The podling, or young of the coal-fish, affording food and oil on the Scottish coasts; they are grayish, and are taken when somewhat less than a herring.

SILL OF A DOCK. The timber at the base against which the gates shut; and the depth of water which will float a vessel in or out of it, is measured from it to the surface.

SILLON. An old word for envelope. In fortification, formerly, a counterguard.

SILLS. The upper and lower parts of the framing of the ports. The bottom pieces of any ports, docks, scuttles, or hatches.

SILT. Sediment; ooze in a harbour, or at a lock-gate.

SILT-GROUNDS. Deep-water banks off Jamaica, where silt-snappers are fished for.

SILT-UP, TO. To be choked with mud or sand, so as to obstruct vessels.

SILVER-CAEDUA. A statute term for wood under twenty years' growth.

SILVER-OAR. One of the badges of the civil court afloat, conferring the power to arrest for debt if not less than L20.

SILVER-THAW. The term for ice falling in large flakes from the sails and rigging, consequent on a frost followed suddenly by a thaw.

SIMOOM. The Arabian name for the sirocco (which see). The simoom, sirocco, samiel, and kamsin seem to be modifications of the same wind from the desert.

SIMULATION. The vice of counterfeiting illness or defect, for the purpose of being invalided.

SINE. A right sine in geometry, is a right line drawn from one end of an arc perpendicularly upon the radius from the centre to the other end of the arc; or it is half the chord of twice the arc.

SINET. An old Chaucerian term for zenith.

SINGING. The chaunt by which the leadsman in the chains proclaims his soundings at each cast:—

"To heave the lead the seaman sprung, And to the pilot cheerly sung, By the deep—nine."

SINGLE, TO. To unreeve the running part of top-sail sheets, &c., to let them run freely, or for harbour duty.

SINGLE-ACTION ENGINE. See ATMOSPHERIC STEAM-ENGINE.

SINGLE ANCHOR. A ship unmoored, having hove up one bower, rides by the other.

SING SMALL. To make a bullying boaster sing small, by lowering his arrogance.

SINICAL QUADRANT. See QUADRANT.

SINNET. See SENNIT.

SIR. Once a scholastic title applied to priests and curates; now to knights. "Aye, aye, sir," is the well-known answer from seamen, denoting 'cuteness, combined with good humour and obedience.

SIRIUS. The principal star, {a}, of the constellation Canis Major, and the brightest in the heavens; the dog-star.

SIROCCO. An oppressively hot parching wind from the deserts of Africa, which in the southern part of Italy and Sicily comes from the south-east; it sometimes commences faintly about the summer solstice.

SISERARA, OR SURSERARA. A tremendous blow; or a violent rebuke.

SISSOO. An Indian timber much used in the construction of country ships.

SISTER OR CISTERN BLOCK. A turned cylindrical block having two sheave-holes, one above the other. It fits in between the first pair of top-mast shrouds on each side, and is secured by seizings below the cat-harpings. The topsail-lift reeves through the lower, and the reef-tackle pendant through the upper.

SISTER-KEELSONS. Square timbers extending along the floors, by the main keelson, leaving sufficient space on each side for the limbers. (See SIDE-KEELSONS.)

SISTROID ANGLE. One like a sistrum, the Egyptian musical instrument.

SITCH. A little current of water, generally dry in summer.

SIX-UPON-FOUR. Reduced allowance; four rations allotted to six men.

SIX-WATER GROG. Given as a punishment for neglect or drunkenness, instead of the usual four-water, which is one part rum, and four parts water, lime-juice, and sugar.

SIZE, TO. To range soldiers, marines, and small-arm men, so that the tallest may be on the flanks of a party.

SIZE-FISH. A whale, of which the whalebone blades are six feet or upwards in length; the harpooner gets a bonus for striking a "size-fish."

SIZES. A corruption for six-upon-four (which see).

SKARKALLA. An old machine for catching fish.

SKART. A name of the cormorant in the Hebrides.

SKATE. A well-known cartilaginous fish of the ray family, Raia batis.

SKATE-LURKER. A cant word for a begging impostor dressed as a sailor.

SKEDADDLE, TO. To stray wilfully from a watering or a working party. An archaism retained by the Americans.

SKEDDAN. The Manx or Erse term for herrings.

SKEEL. A cylindrical wooden bucket. A large water-kid.

SKEER, OR SCAR. A place where cockles are gathered. (See SCAR.)

SKEET. A long scoop used to wet the sides of the ship, to prevent their splitting by the heat of the sun. It is also employed in small vessels for wetting the sails, to render them more efficacious in light breezes; this in large ships is done by the fire engine.

SKEE-TACK. A northern name for the cuttle-fish.

SKEGG. A small and slender part of the keel of a ship, cut slanting, and left a little without the stern-post; not much used now, owing to its catching hawsers, and occasioning dead water. The after-part of the keel itself is also called the skegg.

SKEGG-SHORES. Stout pieces of plank put up endways under the skegg of the ship, to steady the after-part when in the act of being launched.

SKELDRYKE. An old term for a small passage-boat in the north.

SKELETON OF A REGIMENT. Its principal officers and staff.

SKELLY. The Leuciscus cephalus, or chub. In the northern lakes it is often called the fresh-water herring.

SKELP, TO. To slap with the open hand: an old word, said to have been imported from Iceland:—

"I canno' tell a'; Some gat a skelp, and some gat a claw."

SKENE, OR SKAIN. A crooked sword formerly used by the Irish.

SKENY. A northern term to express an insulated rock.

SKER, OR SKERRY. A flat insulated rock, but not subject to the overflowing of the sea: thus we have "the Skerries" in Wales, the Channel Islands, &c.

SKEW. Awry, oblique; as a skew bridge, skew angle, &c. Also, in Cornwall, drizzling rain. Also, a rude-fashioned boat.

SKEWER-PIECES. When the salt meat is cut up on board ship by the petty officers, the captain and lieutenants are permitted to select whole pieces of 8 or 16 lbs., for which they are charged 2 or 4 lbs. extra. The meat being then divided into messes, the remnants are cut into small pieces termed skewer-pieces, and being free from bone, are charged ad lib. to those who take them.

SKID-BEAMS. Raised stanchions in men-of-war over the main-deck, parallel to the quarter-deck and forecastle beams, for stowing the boats and booms upon.

SKIDDY-COCK. A west-country term for the water-rail.

SKIDER. A northern term for the skate.

SKIDS. Massive fenders; they consist of long compassing pieces of timber, formed to answer the vertical curve of a ship's side, in order to preserve it when weighty bodies are hoisted in or lowered against it. They are mostly used in whalers. Boats are fitted with permanent fenders, to prevent chafing and fretting. Also, beams resting on blocks, on which small craft are built. Also, pieces of plank put under a vessel's bottom, for launching her off when she has been hauled up or driven ashore.

SKIFF. A familiar term for any small boat; but in particular, one resembling a yawl, which is usually employed for passing rivers. Also, a sailing vessel, with fore-and-aft main-sail, jib fore-sail, and jib: differing from a sloop in setting the jib on a stay, which is eased in by travellers. They have no top-mast, and the main-sail hauls out to the taffrail, and traverses on a traveller iron horse like a cutter's fore-sail.

SKILLET. A small pitch-pot or boiler with feet.

SKILLY. Poor broth, served to prisoners in hulks. Oatmeal and water in which meat has been boiled. Hence, skillygalee, or burgoo, the drink made with oatmeal and sugar, and served to seamen in lieu of cocoa as late as 1814.

SKIN. This term is frequently used for the inside planking of a vessel, the outside being the case.

SKIN OF A SAIL. The outside part when a sail is furled. To furl in a clean skin, is the habit of a good seaman.—To skin up a sail in the bunt. To make that part of the canvas which covers the sail, next the mast when furled, smooth and neat, by turning the sail well up on the yard.

SKIP-JACK. A dandified trifling officer; an upstart. Also, the merry-thought of a fowl. Also, a small fish of the bonito kind, which frequently jumps out of the water. A name applied also to small porpoises.

SKIPPAGE. An archaism for tackle or ship furniture.

SKIPPER. The master of a merchant vessel. Also, a man-of-war's man's constant appellation for his own captain. Also, the gandanock, or saury-pike, Esox saurus.

SKIRLING. A fish taken on the Welsh coasts, and supposed to be the fry of salmon.

SKIRMISH. An engagement of a light and irregular character, generally for the purpose of gaining information or time, or of clearing the way for more serious operations.

SKIRTS. The extreme edges of a plain, forest, shoal, &c.

SKIS-THURSDAY. "The Lady-day in Lent" of the Society of Shipwrights at Newcastle, instituted in 1630.

SKIT. An aspersive inuendo or for fun.

SKIVER. A dirk to stab with.

SKOODRA. A Shetland name for the ling.

SKOOL. The cry along the coast when the herrings appear first for the season: a corruption of school.

SKOORIE. A northern term for a full-grown coal-fish.

SKOTTEFER [Anglo-Sax. scot, an arrow or dart]. Formerly, an archer.

SKOUTHER. A northern name for the stinging jelly-fish.

SKOUTS. Guillemots or auks, so called in our northern islands from their wary habits.

SKOW. A flat-bottomed boat of the northern German rivers.

SKRAE-FISH. Fish dried in the sun without being salted.

SKUA. A kind of sea-gull.

SKUNK-HEAD. An American coast-name for the pied duck.

SKURRIE. The shag, Phalacrocorax graculus. Applied to frightened seals, &c.

SKY-GAZER. The ugly hare-lipped Uranoscopus, whose eyes are on the crown of its head; the Italians call him pesce-prete, or priest-fish. Also, a sail of very light duck, over which un-nameable sails have been set, which defy classification.

SKY-LARKING. In olden times meant mounting to the mast-heads, and sliding down the royal-stays or backstays for amusement; but of late the term has denoted frolicsome mischief, which is not confined to boys, unless three score and ten includes them.—Skying is an old word for shying or throwing.

SKYLIGHT. A framework in the deck to admit light vertically into the cabin and gun-room.

SKYSAIL. A small light sail above the royal.

SKYSAIL-MAST. The pole or upper portion of a royal mast, when long enough to serve for setting a skysail; otherwise a skysail-mast is a separate spar, as sliding gunter (which see).

SKY-SCRAPER. A triangular sail set above the skysail; if square it would be a moonsail, and if set above that, a star-gazer, &c.

SLAB. The outer cut of a tree when sawn up into planks. (Alburnum.)

SLAB-LINES. Small ropes passing up abaft a ship's main-sail or fore-sail, led through blocks attached to the trestle-trees, and thence transmitted, each in two branches, to the foot of the sail, where they are fastened. They are used to truss up the slack sail, after it has been "disarmed" by the leech and buntlines.

SLACK. The part of a rope or sail that hangs loose.—To slack, is to decrease in tension or velocity; as, "Slack the laniard of our main-stay;" or "The tide slackens."

SLACK HELM. If the ship is too much by the stern, she will carry her helm too much a-lee.

SLACK IN STAYS. Slow in going about. Also applied to a lazy man.

SLACK OFF, OR SLACKEN! The order to ease away the rope or tackle by which anything is held fast; as, "Slack up the hawser."

SLACK WATER. The interval between the flux and reflux of the tide, as between the last of the ebb and first of the flood, or vice versa, during which the water remains apparently quiescent.

SLADE [the Anglo-Saxon slaed]. A valley or open tract of country.

SLAKE. An accumulation of mud or ooze in the bed of a river.

SLANT OF WIND. An air of which advantage may be taken.

SLANT TACK. That which is most favourable to the course when working to windward.

SLAVER. A vessel employed in the odious slave-trade.

SLED. The rough kind of sleigh in North America, used for carrying produce, too heavy for amusement.

SLEE. A sort of cradle placed under a ship's bottom in Holland, for drawing her up for repairs.

SLEECH. A word on our southern coasts for mud or sea-sand used in agriculture.

SLEEP. A sail sleeps when, steadily filled with wind, it bellies to the breeze.

SLEEPERS. Timbers lying fore and aft in the bottom of the ship, now generally applied to the knees which connect the transoms to the after timbers on the ship's quarter. They are particularly used in Greenland ships, to strengthen the bows and stern-frame, to enable them to resist the shocks of the ice. Also, any wooden beams used as supports. Also, ground tier casks.

SLEEVE. The word formerly used to denote the narrows of a channel, and particularly applied to the Strait of Dover, still called La Manche by the French. When Napoleon was threatening to invade England, he was represented trying to get into a coat, but one of the sleeves utterly baffled him, whence the point: "Il ne peut pas passer La Manche."

SLEEVE-FISH. A name for the calamary, Loligo vulgaris, an animal allied to the cuttle-fish.

SLICE. A bar of iron with a flat, sharp, spear-shaped end, used in stripping off sheathing, ceiling, and the like. The whaler's slice is a slender chisel about four inches wide, used to cut into, and flinch the fish.

SLICES. Tapering wedges of plank used to drive under the false keel, and between the bilge-ways, preparatory to launching a vessel.

SLICK. Smooth. This is usually called an Americanism, but is a very old sea-term. In the Book for Boys and Girls, 1686, it is aptly illustrated:

"The mole's a creature very smooth and slick, She digs i' th' dirt, but 'twill not on her stick."

SLIDE-VALVE CASING. A casing on one side of the cylinder of an engine, which covers the nozzles or steam-ports, and confines the slide-valves.

SLIDE-VALVE ROD. A rod connecting the slide-valves of an engine, to both of which it is joined; it passes through the casing cover, the opening of which is kept steam-tight.

SLIDE-VALVES. The adaptations used in a marine-engine to change the admission of the steam into, and its eduction from, the cylinder, by the upper and lower steam-ports alternately.

SLIDING BAULKS, OR SLIDING-PLANKS. Those timbers fitted under the bottom of a ship, to descend with her upon the bilge-ways when launched.

SLIDING BILGE-BLOCKS. Those logs made to slide under the bilge of a ship in order to support her.

SLIDING GUNTERS. Masts fitted for getting up and down with facility abaft the mast; generally used for kites, as royals, skysails, and the like.

SLIDING-KEEL. A contrivance to prevent vessels from being driven to leeward by a side-wind; it is composed of planks of various breadths, erected vertically, so as to slide up and down, through the keel.

SLING, TO. To pass the top-chains round the yards when going into action. Also, to set any large article, in ropes, so as to put a tackle on, and hoist or lower it. When the clues are attached to a cot or hammock, it is said to be slung; also water-kegs, buoys, &c., are slung.

SLING-DOGS. In timber lifting, a dog is an iron implement with a fang at one end, and an eye at the other, in which a rope may be made fast for hauling anything along. Two of these fastened together by a shackle through the eyes are called sling-dogs. (See DOG.) Also, an ancient piece of ordnance. (See SLYNG.)

SLING-HOOP. That which suspends the yard from the mast, by which it is hoisted and lowered.

SLINGS. A rope fitted to encircle any large article, and suspend it while hoisting and lowering. Also, leather straps made fast to both ends of a musket, serving for the men to hang them by on their shoulders, that both hands may be free.—Boat-slings. Strong ropes, furnished with hooks and iron thimbles, whereby to hook the tackles to keel, stem, and stern bolts, in order to hoist the boats in or out of the ship.—Buoy-slings are special fittings adopted in order that a buoy may securely ride on the wave, and mark the position of the anchor, the buoy-rope being attached to an eye in the slings.—Butt-slings are those used in slinging casks; they may be described as a running eye over one end, and a similar one made with two half hitches over the standing part on the other; all of which jam close home when the strain is brought on the bight.—Yard-slings. The rope or chain used to support a yard which does not travel up and down a mast. The slings of a yard also imply that part on which the slings are placed.—Slings is also a term on the American coast for drams, or a drink of spirits and water; the custom of slinging prevails there extensively, even where intoxication is despised.

SLIP. An inclined plane by the water side, on which a ship may be built. There are also slips up which vessels may be drawn for receiving repairs. Also, a short memorandum of the proposed insurance of a ship, which is sometimes offered to the underwriters for subscription, previous to the effecting of a policy. Also, in steam navigation, the difference between the pitch of the propelling screw, and the space through which the screw actually progresses in the water, during one revolution.—To slip, is to let go the cable with a buoy on the end, and quit the position, from any sudden requirement, instead of weighing the anchor.—To slip by the board. To slip down by the ship's side.

SLIP-BEND. When a man makes a false step, and slips down a hatchway, or overboard.

SLIP-KNOT, OR SLIPPERY-HITCH. One which will not bear any strain, but will either become untied, or will traverse along the other part of the rope.

SLIP-ROPE. A rope passed through anything in such a manner that it will render or may be slipped instantaneously, as in canting to make sail, &c.

SLIP-SHACKLE. A shackle with a lever-bolt, for letting go suddenly; yet, when ringed, is sufficient to secure the ship.

SLIVE, OR SLIVER. An old term for a sluice. Also, any thin piece of split wood used as a filling. Also, a short slop wrapper, formerly called a sliving.

SLOOP. In general parlance is a vessel similar to a cutter; the bowsprit, however, is not running, and the jib is set on a standing stay with hanks. In North America the sloop proper sets only a main-sail and fore-sail, the latter jib-shaped, on a short standing bowsprit, and has no top-mast. The rig is greatly used for yachts there, and is most effective in moderate weather. Sloop in the royal navy is a term depending on the rank of the officer in command. Thus, the donkey frigate Blossom was one cruise rated a ship, when commanded by a captain—the next, a sloop, because only commanded by a commander.

SLOP-BOOK. A register of the slop clothing, soap, and tobacco, issued to the men; also of the religious books supplied.

SLOPE OF WIND. A breeze favouring a long tack near to the required course, and which may be expected to veer to fair.

SLOP-ROOM. The place appointed to keep the slops in, for the ship's company; generally well aft and dry.

SLOPS. A name given to ready-made clothes, and other furnishings, for seamen, by Maydman, in 1691. In Chaucer's time, sloppe meant a sort of breeches. In a MS. account of the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth, is an order to John Fortescue for the delivery of some Naples fustian for "Sloppe for Jack Greene, our Foole."

SLOP-SHOP. A place where ready-made clothing for seamen is sold, not at all advantageously to Jack.

SLOT. An archaic term for a castle or fort. Also, a groove or hole where a pin traverses.

SLOT-HOOP. The same as truss-hoops.

SLOW HER! In steam navigation, the same as "Ease her!"

SLOW MATCH. See MATCH.

SLOW TIME. In marching, means 75 paces to a minute.

SLUDGE. A wet deposit formed by streams. Also, a stratum of young ice in rough seas. Also, in polar parlance, comminuted fragments of brash ice.

SLUDGE-HOLES. Adaptations at the ends of the water-passages between the flues of a steamer's boilers, by which the deposits can be raked out.

SLUE, TO. To turn anything round or over in situ: especially expressing the movement of a gun, cask, or ship; or when a mast, boom, or spar is turned about in its cap or boom iron.

SLUED. When a man staggers under drink; unable to walk steadily.

SLUE-ROPE. A rope peculiarly applied for turning a spar or other object in a required direction.

SLUR-BOW. A species of cross-bow formerly used for discharging fire arrows.

SLUSH. The fat of the boiled meat in the coppers, formerly the perquisite of the ship's cook. Also applied to anything like plashy ground, but most commonly to snow in a thaw. Any wet dirt.

SLUSH-BUCKET. A bucket kept in the tops, to grease the masts, sheets, &c., to make all run smoothly.

SLUSH-ICE. The first layer which forms when the surface is freezing.

SLY-GOOSE. A northern term for the sheldrake, Tadorna vulpanser.

SLYNG. An ancient piece of sea-ordnance: there were also di-slyngs.

SMACK. A vessel, sometimes like a cutter, used for mercantile purposes, or for carrying passengers; the largest of which, the Leith smacks, attained the size of 200 tons.

SMACK-SMOOTH. Level with the surface; said of a mast which has gone by the board.

SMALL. The narrow part of the tail of a whale, in front of the flukes. Also, that part of the anchor-shank which is immediately under the stock.

SMALL-ARM MEN. Those of the crew selected and trained to the use of small-arms. When they have effected their boarding, they seldom retain more than their pistol and cutlass.

SMALL-ARMS. The muskets, pistols, cutlasses, tomahawks, and boarding-pikes, in charge of the gunner, on board ship.

SMALL-HELM. One of the principal results of sound seamanship is the proper trim of the vessel and the sail carried; by which means the action of the rudder is reduced to a minimum, not requiring the tiller to be moved either hard up or hard down. Also used to denote that a turbulent jaw-me-down bully has been brought to his senses by a more vigorous mind.

SMALL SAILS. Top-gallant-studding-sails and the kites.

SMALL STUFF. The term for spun-yarn, marline, and the smallest kinds of rope, even for yarns.

SMART. Ready, active, and intelligent.

SMART-MONEY. A pension given to a wounded man, according to the extent of the injury and his rank. Thus a lieutenant gets L91, 5s. for the loss of a leg, and a captain L300.

SMART-TICKET. The certificate from a captain and surgeon, by which only the smart-money is obtainable.

SMASHERS. Anything large or powerful. Also, pieces of ordnance of large calibre, in form between the gun and the carronade. Also, a very general epithet for north-country seamen.

SMELT [Anglo-Saxon, smylt]. The fry of salmon, samlet, or Salmo eperlanus.

SMEW. The white-headed goosander, Mergus albellus.

SMITER. An archaism for a scimitar. In the legend of Captain Jones, 1659, we are told:

"His fatal smiter thrice aloft he shakes, And frowns; the sea, and ship, and canvas quakes."

SMITING-LINE. A line by which a yarn-stoppered sail is loosed, without sending men aloft. If well executed, marks the seaman.

SMOKE-BALLS. A pyrotechnical preparation, thrown to short distances from mortars, to choke men out of mines, to conceal movements, &c. They continue to smoke densely from 25 to 30 minutes.

SMOKE-BOX. A part which crosses the whole front of a marine boiler, over the furnace doors; or that part between the end of tubes furthest from the fire-place and bottom of the funnel.

SMOKES. Dense exhalations, mixed with the finer particles of sand, on the Calabar shores and borders of the Great Zahara desert, which prevail in autumn. Also, the indications of inhabitants when coasting new lands. For its meaning in Arctic voyages, see VAPOUR.

SMOKE-SAIL. A small sail hoisted against the fore-mast when a ship rides head to wind, to give the smoke of the galley an opportunity of rising, and to prevent its being blown aft on to the quarter-deck.

SMOOTH. A Cornish term applied when the surf abates its fury for a short space. Also, the lee of a ship or of a rock.

SMUG-BOATS. Contraband traders on the coast of China; opium boats.

SMUGGLING. Defrauding the public revenue by importing or exporting goods without paying the customs dues chargeable upon them.

SMURLIN. A bivalve mollusc, Mya truncata, used as food in the Shetland Islands.

SNAGGLE, TO. To angle for geese with a hook and line properly baited.

SNAGS. The old word for lopped branches and sharp protuberances, but now chiefly applied to sunken obstructions in the American rivers.

SNAIL-CREEPING. Gouging out the surfaces of timbers in crooked channels, to promote a circulation of air.

SNAKE-PIECES. See POINTERS.

SNAKING. The passing of small stuff across a seizing, with marline hitches at the outer turns; or the winding small ropes spirally round a large one, the former lying in the intervals between the strands of the latter. (See WORM.) The stays and backstays, when the Shannon engaged the Chesapeake, were snaked with half-inch rope from fathom to fathom, to prevent their falling if shot away. Also, the finishing touch to neat seizings, to prevent the parts from separating when becoming slack by drying.

SNAPE, TO. In ship-carpentry, is to hance or bevel the end of anything, so as to fay upon an inclined plane: it is also designated flinch.

SNAP-HAUNCE. An old word for a fire-lock or musket; a spring-lock for fire-arms.

SNAPING-POLE. An old term for a fishing-rod.

SNAPPER. A well-known fish of the Mesoprion tribe, highly valued as food in the West Indies and tropics generally.