FIELD-WORKS. The constructions of field-fortification (which see).

FIERY-FLAW, OR FIRE-FLAIRE. A northern designation of the sting-ray (Raia pastinaca).

FIFE-RAILS. Those forming the upper fence of the bulwarks on each side of the quarter-deck and poop in men-of-war. Also, the rail round the main-mast, and encircling both it and the pumps, furnished with belaying pins for the running rigging, though now obsolete under the iron rule.

FIFER AND FIDLER. Two very important aids in eliciting exact discipline; for hoisting, warping, and heaving at the capstan in proper time; rated a second-class petty officer styled "musician," pay L30, 8s. per annum.

FIG, OR FULL FIG. In best clothes. Full dress.

FIGALA. An East Indian craft with one mast, generally rowed with paddles.

FIGGER. The soubriquet of a Smyrna trader.

FIGGIE-DOWDIE. A west-country pudding, made with raisins, and much in vogue at sea among the Cornish and Devon men. Cant west-country term for plum-pudding—figs and dough.

FIGHT, SEA. See BATTLE, ENGAGEMENT, EXERCISE, &c.

FIGHTING-LANTERNS. Kept in their respective fire-buckets at quarters, in readiness for night action only. There is usually one attached to each gun; the bucket is fragile, but intended to screen the light, and furnished with a fire-lanyard.

FIGHTING-SAILS. Those to which a ship is reduced when going into action; formerly implying the courses and top-sails only.

FIGHTING-WATER. Casks filled and placed on the decks, expressly for use in action. When the head was broken in, vinegar was added to prevent too much being taken by one man.

FIGHTS. Waste-cloths formerly hung about a ship, to conceal the men from the enemy. Shakspeare, who knew everything, makes Pistol bombastically exclaim—

"Clap on more sails: pursue, up with your fights."

Close fights, synonymous with close quarters.

FIGURE. The principal piece of carved work or ornament at the head of a ship, whether scroll, billet, or figure-head.

FIGURE-HEAD. A carved bust or full-length figure over the cut-water of a ship; the remains of an ancient superstition. The Carthaginians carried small images to sea to protect their ships, as the Roman Catholics do still. The sign or head of St. Paul's ship was Castor and Pollux.

FIGURE OF EIGHT. A knot made by passing the end of a rope over and round the standing part, up over its own part, and down through the bight.

FIGURE OF THE EARTH. The form of our globe, which is that of an oblate spheroid with an ellipticity of about 1/299.

FIKE. See FYKE.

FILADIERE. A small flat-bottomed boat of the Garonne.

FILE. Originally a string of soldiers one behind the other, though in the present formation of British troops, the length of the string has been reduced to two.

FILE. An old file. A somewhat contemptuous epithet for a deep and cunning, but humorous person.

FILE OFF, TO. To march off to a flank by files, or with a very small front.

FILL, TO. To brace the yards so that the wind strikes the after side of the sails, and advances the ship in her course, after the sails had been shivering, or braced aback. A ship may be forced backward or forward, or made to remain in her place, with the same wind, by "backing, filling," or shivering the sails. (See BRACE, BACK, and SHIVER.) Colliers generally tide it, "backing and filling" down the Thames until they gain the reaches, where there is room for tacking, or the wind is fair enough for them to lay their course.—An idle skulker, a fellow who loiters, trying to avoid being seen by the officer of the watch, is said to be "backing and filling;" otherwise, doing nothing creditably.

FILL AND STAND ON. A signal made after "lying by" to direct the fleet to resume their course.

FILLER. A filling piece in a made mast.

FILLET. An ornamental moulding. Rings on the muzzle and cascabel of guns.

FILLET-HORSE. The horse employed in the shafts of the limbers.

FILLING. In ship-carpentry, wood fitted on a timber or elsewhere to make up a defect in the moulding way. This name is sometimes given to a chock.

FILLING A SHIP'S BOTTOM. Implies covering the bottom of a ship with broad-headed nails, so as to give her a sheathing of iron, to prevent the worms getting into the wood; sheathing with copper is found superior, but the former plan is still used for piles in salt-water.

FILLING IN. The replacing a ship's vacant planks opened for ventilation, when preparing her, from ordinary, for sea.

FILLING POWDER. Taking gunpowder from the casks to fill cartridges, when lights and fires should be extinguished.

FILLING ROOM. Formerly a small place parted off and lined with lead, in a man-of-war magazine, wherein powder may be started loosely, in order to fill cartridges.

FILLINGS. Fir fayed in between the chocks of the head, and wherever solidity is required, as making the curve fair for the mouldings between the edges of the fish-front and the sides of the mast, or making the spaces between the ribs and timbers of a vessel's frame solid.

FILLING-TIMBERS. Blocks of wood introduced in all well-built vessels between the frames, where the bilge-water may wash.

FILLING-TRANSOM, is just above the deck-transom, securing the ends of the gun-deck plank and lower-transoms.

FILL THE MAIN-YARD. An order well understood to mean, fill the main-topsail, after it has been aback, or the ship hove-to.

FILTER. A strainer to free water from its impurities, usually termed by seamen drip-stone (which see).

FILUM AQUAE. The thread or middle of any river or stream which divides countries, manors, &c.—File du mer, the high tide of the sea.

FIMBLE HEMP; female hemp, is that which is chiefly used for domestic purposes, and therefore falls to the care of the women, as carl or male hemp, which produces the flower, does to the maker of cordage.

"Wife, pluck fro thy seed hemp, the fimble hemp clean, This looketh more yellow, the other more green; Use this one for thy spinning, leave Michael the t'other, For shoe-thread and halter, for rope and such other."—Tusser.

FIN [Anglo-Saxon, Finn]. A native of Finland; those are Fins who live by fishing. We use the whole for a part, and thus lose the clue which the Fin affords of a race of fishermen.

FIN-BACK. See FINNER.

FIND, TO. To provide with or furnish.

FINDING. The verdict of a court-martial.

FINDON HADDOCK. The Finnan Haddie, a species of haddock cured by smoke-drying at Montrose and Aberdeen.

FINE. A term of comparison, as fine ship, &c., or lean (which see). Also, see FYEN.

FINE BREEZES. Said of the wind when the flying-kites may be carried, but requiring a sharp look-out.

FINISHINGS. The carved ornaments of the quarter-galleries: upper and lower, as above or below the stools.

FINNER. Whales of the genus Balaenoptera are so termed, being distinguished from the right whales by the possession of a small triangular adipose dorsal fin. There are several species, some of which grow to a greater length than any other animals of the order, viz. 80 or perhaps 90 feet. They are very active and difficult to harpoon, yield comparatively little oil, and their baleen, or "whalebone," is almost worthless; consequently, they suffer much less than the right whales from the persecutions of the whalers. The finner, or great black fish, is feared by whalers in general. It is vicious, and can only be attacked by large boats in shallow water, as at the Bermudas, where the whale-boats are about 50 or 60 feet long, and 12 feet beam. The fish yields one barrel of oil for every foot in length beyond thirty. (See RAZOR-BACK and RORQUAL.)

FINNIE. A northern name for salmon under a year old.

FINNOCK. A white kind of small salmon taken on the west coast of Scotland.

FINTRUM SPELDIN. A small dried haddock.

FIN-WHALE. See FINNER.

FIORD. A Norwegian pilot term for good channels among islets, and deep inlets of the sea.

FIRBOME. An old term for a beacon, and appears thus in the Promptorium Parvulorum.

FIR-BUILT. Constructed of fir.

FIRE! The order to put the match to the priming, or pull the trigger of a cannon or other fire-arm so as to discharge it. The act of discharging ordnance.

FIRE, LOSS BY. Is within the policy of insurance, whether it be by accident, or by the fault of the master or mariners. Also, if a ship be ordered by a state to be burnt to prevent infection, or if she be burnt to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy.

FIRE-AND-LIGHTS. Nickname of the master-at-arms.

FIRE-ARMS. Every description of arms that discharge missiles by gunpowder, from the heaviest cannon to a pistol.

FIRE-ARROWS. Missiles in olden times carrying combustibles; much used in the sea-fights of the middle ages.

FIRE-AWAY. Go on with your remarks.

FIRE-BALL. In meteorology, a beautiful phenomenon seen at times, the origin of which is as yet imperfectly accounted for. It is also the popular name for aerolites in general, because in their descent they appear to be burning.

FIRE-BALLS. Are used for destroying vessels run aground, and firing buildings. They are made of a composition of meal-powder, sulphur, saltpetre, and pitch, moulded into a mass with suet and tow.

FIRE-BARE. An old term from the Anglo-Saxon for beacon.

FIRE-BARS. The range fronting a steam-boiler.

FIRE-BILL. The distribution of the officers and crew in case of the alarm of fire, a calamity requiring judicious conduct.

FIRE-BOOMS. Long spars swung out from a ship's side to prevent the approach of fire-ships, fire-stages, or vessels accidentally on fire.

FIRE-BOX. A space crossing the whole front of the boiler over the furnace doors, opposite the smoke-box.

FIRE-BUCKETS. Canvas, leather, or wood buckets for quarters, each fitted with a sinnet laniard of regulated length, for reaching the water from the lower yards. (See FIREMEN.)

FIRE-DOOR. An access to the fire-place of an engine.

FIRE-DRAKE. A meteor, or the Corpo Santo. Also, a peculiar fire-work, which Shakspeare in Henry VIII. thus mentions: "That fire-drake did I hit three times on the head, and three times was his nose discharged against me; he stands there like a mortar-piece to blow us."

FIRE-EATER. One notoriously fond of being in action; much humbled by iron-clads.

FIRE-FLAUGHTS. The aurora borealis, or northern lights.

FIRE-HEARTH. The security base of the galley-range and all its conveniences.

FIRE-HEARTH-CARLINE. The timber let in under the beams on which the fire-hearth stands, with pillars underneath, and chocks thereon.

FIRE-HOOPS. A combustible invented by the knights of Malta to throw among their besiegers, and afterwards used in boarding Turkish galleys.

FIRE-LOCK. Formerly the common name for a musket; the fire-arm carried by a foot-soldier, marine, or small-arm man, until the general introduction of rifles. It carried a ball of about an ounce in weight.

FIREMEN. A first and second man is stationed to each gun, in readiness for active duty. The firemen, when called with the first and second division of boarders, were an effective force. If for duty aloft, each bucket had a lanyard which reached from the main-yard to the sea, so as to keep the lower sails well wet. The ship's engine was also manned by the second division of boarders, while the first division and carpenters cut away obstacles. (For firemen in a steamer, see STOKER.)

FIRE-RAFTS. Timber constructions bearing combustible matters, used by the Chinese to destroy an enemy's vessel.

FIRE-RAILS. See RAILS.

FIRE-ROLL. A peculiar beat of the drum to order people to their stations on an alarm of fire. Summons to quarters.

FIRE-SCREENS. Pieces of fear-nought, a thick woollen felt put round the hatchways in action.

FIRE-SHIP. A vessel filled with combustible materials, and fitted with grappling-irons, to hook and set fire to the enemy's ships. Notwithstanding what is said respecting the siege of Tyre, perhaps the practice of using regular fire-ships ought to be dated from the destruction of the fleet of Basilicus by the victorious Genseric near Carthage.

FIRE-SWAB. The bunch of rope-yarns sometimes secured to the tompion, saturated with water to cool the gun in action, and swab up any grains of powder.

FIRE-WORKS. See PYROTECHNY.

FIRING-PARTY. A detachment of soldiers, marines, or small-arm men selected to fire over the grave of an individual buried with military honours.

FIRMAUN. A Turkish passport.

FIRST. The appellation of the senior lieutenant; also, senior lieutenant of marines, and first captain of a gun.

FIRST FUTTOCKS. Timbers in the frame of a ship which come down between the floor-timbers almost to the keel on each side.

FIRST POINT OF ARIES. See ARIES.

FIRST QUARTER OF THE MOON. See QUARTER, FIRST.

FIRST WATCH. The men on deck-duty from 8 P.M. till midnight.

FIRTH. A corruption of frith, in Scotland applied to arms of the sea, and estuaries of various extent; also given to several channels amongst the Orkneys.

FISH, OR FISH-PIECE. A long piece of hard wood, convex on one side and concave on the other; two are bound opposite to each other to strengthen the lower masts or the yards when they are sprung, to effect which they are well secured by bolts and hoops, or stout rope called woolding. Also, colloquially, an epithet given to persons, as a prime fish, a queer fish, a shy fish, a loose fish, &c. As mute as a fish, when a man is very silent. Also, fish among whalers is expressly applied to whales. At the cry of "Fish! fish!" all the boats are instantly manned.

FISH, ROYAL. Whale and sturgeon, to which the sovereign is entitled when either thrown on shore or caught near the coasts.

FISH-DAVIT. (See DAVIT.) That which steps into a shoe in the fore-chains, and is used for fishing an anchor.

FISHER-BOYS. The apprentices in fishing vessels.

FISHER-FISH. A species of Remora, said to be trained by the Chinese to catch turtle. When a turtle is perceived basking on the surface of the sea, the men, avoiding all noise, slip one of their remoras overboard, tied to a long and fine cord. As soon as the fish perceives the floating reptile he swims towards it, and fixes himself on it so firmly that the fishermen easily pull in both together.

FISHERMAN'S BEND. A knot, for simplicity called the king of all knots. Its main use is for bending studding-halliards to the yard, by taking two turns round the yard, passing the end between them and the yard, and half hitching it round the standing part. (See STUDDING-SAIL BEND.)

FISHERMAN'S WALK. An extremely confined space; "three steps and overboard," is often said of what river yachtsmen term their quarter-decks.

FISH-FAG. A woman who fags under heavy fish-baskets, but is applied also in opprobrium to slatterns.

FISH-FLAKE. A stage covered with light spars for the purpose of drying fish in Newfoundland.

FISH-FRONT. The strengthening slab on a made mast.

FISH-GARTH. The water shut in by a dam or weir by the side of a river for securing fish.

FISH-GIG. A staff with three, four, or more barbed prongs of steel at one end, and a line fastened to the other; used for striking fish at sea. Now more generally called grains.

FISH-HACK. A name of the Gobius niger.

FISHICK. An Orkney name for the brown whistle-fish, Gadus mustela.

FISHING. In taking celestial observations, means the sweeping to find a star or other object when near its approximate place.

FISHING-BOAT. A stout fishing-vessel with two lug-sails.

FISHING-FROG. A name of the Lophius piscatorius, angler or devil-fish, eaten in the Mediterranean.

FISHING-GROUND. Any bank or shoal frequented by fish.

FISHING-SMACK. A sloop having in the hold a well wherein to preserve the fish, particularly lobsters, alive.

FISHING-TAUM. A northern designation of an angling line, or angling gear.

FISHING-VESSELS. A general term for those employed in the fisheries, from the catching of sprats to the taking of whales.

FISH-LEEP. An old term for a fish-basket.

FISH-ROOM. A space parted off by bulk-heads in the after-hold, now used for waste stores, but formerly used for stowing salt fish—an article of food long discontinued. In line-of-battle ships, a small store-room near the bread-room, in which spirits or wine, and sometimes coals, were stowed, with the stock-fish.

FISH-SPEAR. An instrument with barbed spikes.

FISH-TACKLE. A tackle employed to hook and draw up the flukes of a ship's anchor towards the top of the bow, after catting, in order to stow it; formerly composed of four parts, viz. the pendant, the block, the hook, and the tackle, for which see DAVIT.

FISH THE ANCHOR, TO. To turn up the flukes of an anchor to the gunwale for stowage, after being catted.—Other fish to fry, a common colloquialism, expressing that a person has other occupation demanding his attention.

FISH-WIFE, OR FISH-WOMAN. A female carrier and vendor of fish in our northern cities.

FIST, TO. To handle a rope or sail promptly; thus fisting a thing is readily getting hold of it.

FIT FOR DUTY. In an effective state for service.

FIT RIGGING, TO. To cut or fit the standing and running rigging to the masts, &c.

FIT-ROD. A small iron rod with a hook at the end, which is put into the holes made in a vessel's side, to ascertain the length of the bolts or tree-nails required to be driven in.

FITTED FURNITURE. Rudder-chocks, bucklers, hawse-plugs, dead-lights, pump-boxes, and other articles of spare supply, sent from the dockyard.

FITTERS. Persons in the north who vend and load coals, fitting ships with cargoes, &c.

FITTING OUT A SHIP. The act of providing a ship with sufficient masts, sails, yards, ammunition, artillery, cordage, anchors, provisions, stores, and men, so that she is in proper condition for the voyage or purpose to which she is appointed.

FIUMARA. A term common to the Italian coasts for a mountain torrent.

FIVE-FINGERS. The name given to the Asterias, or star-fish, found on our shore. Cocker in 1724 describes it thus: "Five-fingers, a fish like a spur-rowel, destructive to oysters, to be destroyed by the admiralty law." They destroy the spat of oysters.

FIVE-SHARE MEN. In vessels, as whalers, where the men enter on the chances of success, &c., in shares.

FIX BAYONETS! Ship them ready for use.

FIXED AMMUNITION. Is, complete in each round, the cartridge being attached to the projectile, to facilitate simultaneous loading. In the British service it is only used for small mountain-pieces, but in the French for field-artillery in general. It does not stow conveniently.

FIXED BLOCKS. Solid pieces of oak let through the sides of the ship, and fitted with sheaves, to lead the tacks, sheets, &c., of the courses in-board.

FIXED STAR. See STARS (FIXED).

FIZZ. The burning of priming.

FLABBERGAST, TO. To throw a person aback by a confounding assertion; to produce a state of extreme surprise.

FLADDERMUS. A base silver German coin of four kreutzers' value.

FLAG. A general name for the distinguishing colours of any nation. Also, a certain banner by which an admiral is distinguished at sea from the inferior ships of his squadron. The flags of the British navy were severally on a red, white, or blue field, and were displayed from the top of the royal pole of the main, fore, or mizen mast, according to the rank of the admiral, thus indicating nine degrees. This diversity of colour has now been long done away with. The white field, with the red St. George's cross, and the sinister upper corner occupied by the union, is now alone used in the British navy—the blue being assigned to the reserve, and the red to the mercantile navy. An admiral still displays his flag exclusively at the main truck; a vice-admiral at the fore; a rear-admiral at the mizen. The first flag in importance is the royal standard of Great Britain and Ireland, hoisted only when the king or queen is on board; the second is the anchor of hope, for the lord high-admiral, or the lords-commissioners of the admiralty; and the third is the union flag, for the admiral of the fleet, who is the next officer under the lord high-admiral. The various other departments, such as the navy board, custom-house, &c., have each their respective flags. Besides the national flag, merchant ships are permitted to bear lesser flags on any mast, with the arms or design of the firm to which they belong, but they "must not resemble or be mistaken for any of the flags or signals used by the royal navy," under certain penalties. When a council of war is held at sea, if it be on board the admiral's ship, a flag is hung on the main-shrouds; if the vice-admiral's, on the fore-shrouds; and if the rear-admiral's, on the mizen-shrouds. The flags borne on the mizen were particularly called gallants. There are also smaller flags used for signals. The word flag is often familiarly used to denote the admiral himself. Also, the reply from the boat if an admiral is on board—Flag!

FLAG-OFFICER. A term synonymous with admiral.

FLAG OF TRUCE. A white flag, hoisted to denote a wish to parley between the belligerent parties, but so frequently abused, with the design of obtaining intelligence, or to cover stratagems, &c., that officers are very strict in its admission. It is held sacred by civilized nations.

FLAG-SHARE. The admiral's share (one-eighth) in all captures made by any vessels within the limits of his command, even if under the orders of another admiral; but in cases of pirates, he has no claim unless he participates in the action.

FLAG-SHIP. A ship bearing an admiral's flag.

FLAG-SIDE OF A SPLIT FISH. The side without the bone.

FLAG-STAFF. In contradistinction to mast-head, is the staff on a battery, or on a ship's stern, where the colours are displayed. (See FLARE.)

FLAKE. A small shifting stage, hung over a ship's side to caulk or repair a breach. (See FISH-FLAKE.)

FLAM. Wedge-shaped. Also, a sudden puff of wind. Also, a shallow.

FLAM-FEW. The brilliant reflection of the moon on the water.

FLAN. An old word, equivalent to a flaw, or sudden gust of wind from the land.

FLANCHING. The bellying out; synonymous with flaring.

FLANGE. In steamers, is the projecting rim at the end of two iron pipes for uniting them. (See PORT-FLANGE.)

FLANK, TO. To defend that part; incorrectly used sometimes for firing upon a flank.

FLANK OF AN ARMY. The right or left side or end, as distinguished from the front and rear—a vulnerable point. Also, the force composing or covering that side. In fortification, a work constructed to afford flank defence.

FLANK-COMPANIES. The extreme right and left companies of a battalion, formerly called the grenadiers and light infantry, and wearing distinctive marks in their dress; now the title, dress, and duties of all the companies of a battalion are the same.

FLANK-DEFENCE. A line of fire parallel, or nearly so, to the front of another work or position.

FLANKED ANGLE. In fortification, a salient angle formed by two lines of flank defence.

FLAP. The cover of a cartridge-box or scupper.

FLAPPING. The agitation of a sail with sheet or tack carried away, or the sudden jerk of the sails in light winds and a heavy swell on.

FLARE. In ship-building, is flanching outwards, as at the bows of American ships, to throw off the bow-seas; it is in opposition to tumbling home and wall-sided.

FLARE. A name for the skate, Raia batis.

FLARE, TO. To rake back, as of a fashion-piece or knuckle-timber.

FLASH. The laminae and grain-marks in timber, when cut into planks. Also, a pool. Also, in the west, a river with a large bay, which is again separated from the outer sea by a reef of rocks.—To make a flash, is to let boats down through a lock; to flash loose powder at night to show position.

FLASHING-BOARD. To raise or set off.

FLASHING-SIGNALS. By Captain Colomb's plan, the lime light being used on shore, and a plain white light at sea, is capable of transmitting messages by the relative positions of long and short dashes of light by night, and of collapsing cones by day.

FLASH IN THE PAN. An expressive metaphor, borrowed from the false fire of a musket, meaning to fail of success after presumption.

FLASH RIM. In carronades, a cup-shaped enlargement of the bore at the muzzle, which facilitates the loading, and protects the ports or rigging of the vessel from the flash of explosion.

FLASH VESSELS. All paint outside, and no order within.

FLASK. A horn or other implement for carrying priming-powder. Smaller ones for fire-arms are usually furnished with a measure of the charge for the piece on the top.

FLAT. In ship-building, a straight part in a curve. In hydrography, a shallow over which the tide flows, and over the whole extent of which there is little or no variation of soundings. If less than three fathoms, it is called shoal or shallow.

FLAT-ABACK. When all the sails are blown with their after-surface against the mast, so as to give stern-way.

FLAT-AFT. The sheets of fore-and-aft sails may be hauled flat-aft, as the jib-sheet to pay her head off, the driver or trysail sheets to bring her head to the wind; hence, "flatten in the head-sheets."

FLAT-BOTTOMED. When a vessel's lower frame has but little upward inclination.

FLAT CALM. When there is no perceptible wind at sea.

FLAT-FISH. The Pleuronectidae, a family of fishes containing the soles, flounders, turbots, &c., remarkable for having the body greatly compressed laterally; they habitually lie on one side, which is white, the uppermost being coloured, and having both the eyes placed on it.

FLAT-NAILS. Small sharp-pointed nails with flat thin heads, longer than tacks, for nailing the scarphs of moulds and the like.

FLATS. All the floor-timbers that have no bevellings in midships, or pertaining to the dead-flat (which see). Also, lighters used in river navigation, and very flat-floored boats for landing troops.

FLAT SEAM. The two edges or selvedges of canvas laid over each other and sewed down.

FLAT SEIZING. This is passed on a rope, the same as a round seizing, but it has no riding turns.

FLATTEN IN, TO. The action of hauling in the aftmost clue of a sail to give it greater power of turning the vessel; thus, if the mizen or after sails are flatted in, it is to carry the stern to leeward, and the head to windward; and if, on the contrary, the head-sails are flatted in, the intention is to make the ship fall off when, by design or accident, she has come so near as to make the sails shiver; hence flatten in forward is the order to haul in the jib and foretop-mast staysail-sheets towards the middle of the ship, and haul forward the fore-bowline; this operation is seldom necessary except when the helm has not sufficient government of the ship, as in variable winds or inattentive steerage.

FLAUT. See FLUTE.

FLAVER. An east-country term for froth or foam of surf.

FLAWS. Sudden gusts of wind, sometimes blowing with violence; whence Shakspeare in Coriolanus:

"Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw."

But flaws also imply occasional fickle breezes in calm weather. Flaw is also used to express any crack in a gun or its carriage.

FLEACHES. Portions into which timber is cut by the saw.

FLEAK. See DUTCH PLAICE.

FLEAM. A northern name for a water-course.

FLEAT, OR FLEET. See FLEETING.

FLEATE, TO. To skim fresh water off the sea, as practised at the mouths of the Rhone, the Nile, &c. The word is derived from the Dutch vlieten, to skim milk; it also means to float. (See FLEET.)

FLECHE. The simplest form of field-work, composed of two faces meeting in a salient angle, and open at the gorge. It differs from the redan only in having no ditch.

FLECHERRA. A swift-sailing South American despatch vessel.

FLECK. An east-country term for lightning.

FLEECH. An outside portion of timber cut by the saw.

FLEET [Teut. flieffen]. The old word for float: as "we fleeted down the river with our boats;" and Shakspeare makes Antony say,

"Our sever'd navy too Have knit again, and fleet, threat'ning most sea-like."

Fleet is also an old term for an arm of the sea, or running water subject to the tide. Also, a bay where vessels can remain afloat. (See FLOAT.) A salt-water tide-creek.

FLEET. A general name given to the royal navy. Also, any number of ships, whether designed for war or commerce, keeping in company. A fleet of ships of war is usually divided into three squadrons, and these, if numerous, are again separated into subdivisions. The admiral commands the centre, the second in command superintends the vanguard, and the third directs the rear. The term in the navy was any number exceeding a squadron, or rear-admiral's command, composed of five sail-of-the-line, with any amount of smaller vessels.

FLEET-DYKE. From the Teut. vliet, a dyke for preventing inundation.

FLEETING. To come up a rope, so as to haul to more advantage; especially the act of changing the situation of a tackle when the blocks are drawn together; also, changing the position of the dead-eyes, when the shrouds are become too long, which is done by shortening the bend of the shroud and turning in the dead-eye again higher up; the use of fleeting is accordingly to regain the mechanical powers, when destroyed by the meeting of the blocks or dead-eyes.—Fleet ho! the order given at such times. (See TACKLE.)

FLEET THE MESSENGER. When about to weigh, to shift the eyes of the messenger past the capstan for the heavy heave.

FLEET-WATER. Water which inundates.

FLEMISH, TO. To coil down a rope concentrically in the direction of the sun, or coil of a watch-spring, beginning in the middle without riders; but if there must be riding fakes, they begin outside, and that is the true French coil.

FLEMISH ACCOUNT. A deficit in accounts.

FLEMISH EYE. A kind of eye-splice, in which the ends are scraped down, tapered, passed oppositely, marled, and served over with spun yarn. Often called a made-eye.

FLEMISH FAKE. A method of coiling a rope that runs freely when let go; differing from the French, and was used for the head-braces. Each bend is slipped under the last, and the whole rendered flat and solid to walk on.

FLEMISH HORSE, is the outer short foot-rope for the man at the earing; the outer end is spliced round a thimble on the goose-neck of the studding-sail boom-iron. The inner end is seized by its eye within the brace-block-strop and head-earing-cleat.

FLEMISHING. A forcing or scoring of the planks.

FLENCH-GUT. The blubber of a whale laid out in long slices.

FLENSE, TO. To strip the fat off a flayed seal, or the blubber from a whale.

FLESHMENT. Being in the first battle; and "fleshing the sword" alludes to the first time the beginner draws blood with it.

FLESH-TRAFFIC. The slave-trade.

FLET. A name of the halibut.

FLETCH, TO. To feather an arrow.

FLEUZ. A north-country term for the fagged end of a rope.

FLEXURE. The bending or curving of a line or figure.

FLIBOAT. See FLY-BOAT.

FLIBUSTIER [Fr.] A freebooter, pirate, &c.

FLICKER, TO. To veer about.

FLIDDER. A northern name for the limpet.

FLIGHERS. An old law-term meaning masts of ships.

FLIGHT. A Dutch vessel or passage-boat on canals. In ship-building, a sudden rising, or a greater curve than sheer, at the cheeks, cat-heads, &c.

FLIGHT OF A SHOT. The trajectory formed between the muzzle of the gun and the first graze.

FLIGHT OF THE TRANSOMS. As their ends gradually close downwards on approaching the keel, they describe a curve somewhat similar to the rising of the floors; whence the name.

FLINCH. In ship-building. (See SNAPE.)

FLINCH-GUT. The whale's blubber; as well as the part of the hold into which it is thrown before being barrelled up.

FLINCHING, FLENSING, OR FLINSING. See FLENSE.

FLINDERS. An old word for splinters; thus Walter Scott's Borderer—

"The tough ash-spear, so stout and true, Into a thousand flinders flew."

FLINT. The stone of a gun-lock, by which a spark was elicited for the discharge of the loaded piece.

FLIP. A once celebrated sea-drink, composed of beer, spirits, and sugar, said to have been introduced by Sir Cloudesley Shovel. Also, a smart blow.

FLIPPER. The fin-like paw or paddle of marine mammalia; it is also applied to the hand, as when the boatswain's mate exulted in having "taken a lord by the flipper."

FLITCH. The outside cut or slab of a tree.

FLITTER. The Manx name for limpet.

FLITTERING. An old English word for floating.

FLIZZING. The passage of a splinter [from the Dutch flissen, to fly].

FLO. An old English word for arrow, used by Chaucer.

FLOAT [Anglo-Saxon fleot or fleet]. A place where vessels float, as at Northfleet. Also, the inner part of a ship-canal. In wet-docks ships are kept afloat while loading and discharging cargo. Two double gates, having a lock between them, allow the entry and departure of vessels without disturbing the inner level. Also, a raft or quantity of timber fastened together, to be floated along a river by a tide or current.

FLOATAGE. Synonymous with flotsam (which see). Pieces of wreck floating about.

FLOAT-BOARDS. The same as floats of a paddle-wheel.

FLOATING ANCHOR. A simple machine consisting of a fourfold canvas, stretched by two cross-bars of iron, rivetted in the centre, and swifted at the ends. It is made to hang perpendicularly at some distance below the surface, where it presents great resistance to being dragged through the water, diminishing a ship's leeward drift in a gale where there is no anchorage.

FLOATING BATTERY. A vessel expressly fitted for action in harbours or sheltered waters, having heavier offensive and defensive dispositions (generally including much iron-plating) than would be compatible with a sea-going character. Also, a vessel used as a battery to cover troops landing on an enemy's coast. Also, one expressly fitted for harbour defence.

FLOATING BETHEL. An old ship fitted up in a commercial port for the purpose of public Worship.

FLOATING BRIDGE. A passage formed across a river or creek by means of bridges of boats, as over the Douro, Rhine, &c.

FLOATING COFFIN. (See FRAPPING A SHIP.) A term for the old 10-gun brigs.

FLOATING DAM. A caisson used instead of gates for a dry-dock.

FLOATING DOCK. See CAISSON.

FLOATING GRAVING-DOCK. A modified camel (which see).

FLOATING LIGHT. A vessel moored off rocks or sand-banks, hoisting lights at night.

FLOATING PIER. As the stage at Liverpool.

FLOATING STAGE. For caulkers, painters, &c.

FLOATS. Large flat-bottomed boats, for carrying blocks of stone. Also, the 'thwart boards forming the circumference and force of the paddle-wheels of steamers.

FLOE. A field of floating ice of any extent, as beyond the range of vision, for notwithstanding its cracks the floes pressed together are assumed as one; hence, if ships make fast to the floe-edge, and it parts from the main body, sail is made, and the ship goes to the next available floe-edge.

FLOGGING THE GLASS. Where there is no ship time-piece the watches and half-hour bells are governed by a half-hour sand-glass. The run of the sand was supposed to be quickened by vibration, hence some weary soul towards the end of his watch was said to flog the glass.

FLOME. An old word for a river or flood.

FLOOD AND FLOOD-TIDE. The flux of the tide, or the time the water continues rising. When the water begins to rise, it is called a young flood, next it is quarter-flood, half-flood, and top of flood, or high water.

FLOOD-ANCHOR. That which the ship rides by during the flood-tide.

FLOOD-MARK. The line made by the tide upon the shore at its greatest height; it is also called high-water mark. This denotes the jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty, or vice-admirals of counties.

FLOOK, OR FLUCK. The flounder; but the name, which is of very old standing, is also applied to various other pleuronects or flat-fish.

FLOOR. The bottom of a vessel on each side of the kelson; but strictly taken, it is only so much of her bottom as she rests upon when aground. Such ships as have long and withal broad floors, lie on the ground with most security; whereas others which are narrow in the floor, fall over on their sides and break their timbers.

FLOOR-GUIDE. In ship-building, is a ribband placed between the floor and the keel.

FLOOR-HEAD. This, in marine architecture, is the third diagonal, terminating the length of the floors near the bilge of the ship, and bevellings are taken from it both forward and abaft. The upper extremities of a vessel's floor-timbers, plumb to the quarter-beam.

FLOOR-HOLLOW. The inflected curve of the floor, extending from the keel to the back of the floor-sweep, which the floor does not take.

FLOOR-PLANS. In naval architecture, are longitudinal sections, whereon are represented the water-lines and ribband-lines.

FLOOR-RIBBAND. This is an important fir-timber which runs round a little below the floor-heads, for the support of the floors.

FLOOR-RIDERS. Knees brought in from side to side over the floor ceiling and kelson, to support the bottom, if bilged or weak, for heavy cargo.

FLOORS, OR FLOOR-TIMBERS. Those parts of the ship's timbers which are placed immediately across the keel, and upon which the bottom of the ship is framed; to these the upper parts of the timbers are united, being only a continuation of floor-timbers upwards.

FLOOR-SWEEPS. The radii that sweep the heads of the floors. The first in the builder's draught, which is limited by a line in the body-plan, perpendicular to the plane of elevation, a little above the keel; and the height of this line above the keel is called the dead-rising.

FLOP, TO. To fall flat down: as "soused flop in the lee-scuppers."

FLORY-BOATS. A local term for boats employed in carrying passengers to and fro from steamers which cannot get alongside of a quay at low-water.

FLOSH. A swamp overgrown with weeds.

FLOSK. The Sepia loligo, sea-sleeve, or anker-fish.

FLOTA. A Spanish fleet. (See GALLEON.)

FLOTAGES. Things accidentally floating on seas or rivers.

FLOTA NAVIUM. An old statute term for a fleet of ships.

FLOTE. An old English term for wave: thus Ariel tells Prospero that the dispersed ships—

"All have met again, And are upon the Mediterranean flote."

FLOTE-BOTE. An old term for a yawl—a rough-built river boat.

FLOTERY. Floating, used by Chaucer and others.

FLOTILLA. A fleet or squadron of small vessels.

FLOT-MANN. A very early term for sailor.

FLOTSAM. In legal phraseology, is the place where shipwrecked goods continue to float and become derelict property. Sometimes spelled flotson.

FLOUNDER. A well-known pleuronect, better to fish for than to eat. Called also floun-dab.

FLOW. In tidology, the rising of the tide; the opposite of ebb. Also, the course or direction of running waters.

FLOWER OF THE WINDS. The mariner's compass on maps and charts.

FLOWERING. The phenomenon observed usually in connection with the spawning of fish, at the distance of four leagues from shore. The water appears to be saturated with a thick jelly, filled with the ova of fish, which is known by its adhering to the ropes that the cobles anchor with while fishing, for they find the first six or seven fathom of rope free from spawn, the next ten or twelve covered with slimy matter, and the remainder again free to the bottom; this gelatinous material may supply the new-born fry with food, and protect them by clouding the water.

FLOWING-HOPE. See FORLORN HOPE.

FLOWING-SHEET. In sailing free or large, is the position of the sheets or lower clues of the principal sails when they are eased off to the wind, so as to receive it more nearly perpendicular than when they are close-hauled, although more obliquely than when going before the wind; a ship is therefore said to have a flowing-sheet, when the wind crosses the line of her course nearly at right angles; that is to say, a ship steering due north with the wind at east, or directly on her side, will have a flowing-sheet; whereas, if the sheets were hauled close aft, she would sail two points nearer the wind—viz. N.N.E. This explanation will probably be better understood by considering the yards as plane faces of wedges—the more oblique fore and aft, the less head-way force is given, until 22 deg. before the transverse line or beam. This is the swiftest line of sailing. As the wind draws aft of the beam the speed decreases (unless the wind increases), so that a vessel with the wind abeam, and every sail drawing, goes much faster than she would with the same wind before it.

FLUCTUATION OF THE TIDE. The rising and falling of the waters.

FLUE. See FLUKES.

FLUES. In a steamer's boiler, are a series of oblong passages from the furnaces for the issue of heated air. Their object being, that the air, before escaping, shall impart some of its heat to the water in the boiler, thereby economizing fuel.

FLUFFIT. The movement of fishes' fins.

FLUID COMPASS. That in which the card revolves in its bowl floated by alcohol, which prevents the needle from undue vibrations. The pin is downwards to prevent rising, as in the suspended compass-card. The body, or card, on which the points of the compass are marked, is constructed of two segments of a globe, having a diameter of 7 inches to the (double) depth of 1 inch at the poles.

FLUKES. The two parts which constitute the large triangular tail of the whale; from the power of these the phrase obtained among whalers of fluking or all-a-fluking, when running with a fresh free wind. Flukes, or palms, are also the broad triangular plates of iron on each arm of the anchor, inside the bills or extreme points, which having entered the ground, hold the ship. Seamen, by custom, drop the k, and pronounce the word flue.

FLUMMERY. A dish made of oatmeal, or oats soured, &c.

FLURRY. The convulsive movements of a dying whale. Also, a light breeze of wind shifting to different points, and causing a little ruffling on the sea. Also, hurry and confusion.

FLUSH. An old word for even or level. Anything of fair surface, or in continuous even lines. Colloquially the word means full of, or abounding in pay or prize-money.

FLUSH-DECK. A continued floor laid from the stem to the stern, upon one range, without any break.

FLUSHED. Excited by success; flushed with victory.

FLUSTERED. Performing duty in an agitated and confused manner. Also, stupefied by drink.

FLUTE, OR FLUYT. A pink-rigged fly-boat, the after-part of which is round-ribbed. Also, vessels only partly armed; as armed en flute.

FLUTTERING. Used in the same sense as flapping.

FLUVIAL, OR FLUVIATILE. Of or belonging to a river.

FLUVIAL LAGOONS. Contradistinguished from marine lagoons, in being formed by river deposits.

FLUX. The flowing in of the tide.

FLY OF A FLAG. The breadth from the staff to the extreme end that flutters loose in the wind. If an ensign, the part which extends from the union to the outer part; the vertical height, to the head-toggle of which the halliards are bent, or which is next to the staff, is called the hoist; the lower (which is a rope rove through the canvas heading, and into which the head-toggle is spliced) is the long tack; on this rope the whole strain is sustained.

FLY, OR COMPASS-CARD, placed on the magnetic-needle and supported by a pin, whereon it turns freely. (See COMPASS.)

FLY-AWAY. Fictitious resemblance of land; "Dutchman's cape," &c. (See CAPE FLY-AWAY.)

FLY-BLOCK. The block spliced into the topsail-tye; it is large and flat, and sometimes double.

FLY-BOAT. A large flat-bottomed Dutch vessel, whose burden is generally from 300 to 600 tons. It is distinguished by a remarkably high stern, resembling a Gothic turret, and by very broad buttocks below. Also, a swift canal passage-boat.

FLY-BY-NIGHT. A sort of square-sail, like a studding-sail, used in sloops when running before the wind; often a temporary spare jib set from the topmast-head to the yard-arm of the square-sail.

FLYER. A fast sailer; a clipper.

FLYING ABOUT. Synonymous with chop-about (which see).

FLYING COLUMN. A complete and mobile force kept much on the move, for the sake of covering the designs of its own army, distracting those of the enemy, or maintaining supremacy in a hostile or disaffected region.

FLYING DUTCHMAN. A famous marine spectre ship, formerly supposed to haunt the Cape of Good Hope. The tradition of seamen was that a Dutch skipper, irritated with a foul wind, swore by donner and blitzen, that he would beat into Table Bay in spite of God or man, and that, foundering with the wicked oath on his lips, he has ever since been working off and on near the Cape. The term is now extended to false reports of vessels seen.

FLYING JIB. A light sail set before the jib, on the flying jib-boom. The third jib in large ships, as the inner jib, the jib, and the flying jib, set on the flying jib-boom. (See JIB.)

FLYING JIB-BOOM. A spar which is pointed through the iron at the jib-boom end. It lies beside it, and the heel steps into the bowsprit cap.

FLYING-KITES. The very lofty sails, which are only set in fine weather, such as skysails, royal studding-sails, and all above them.

FLYING-LIGHT. The state of a ship when she has little cargo, provisions, or water on board, and is very crank.

FLYING-TO. Is when a vessel, from sailing free or having tacked, and her head thrown much to leeward, is coming to the wind rapidly, the warning is given to the helmsman, "Look out, she is flying-to."

FLY THE SHEETS, TO LET. To let them go suddenly.

FLY-UP. A sudden deviation upwards from a sheer line; the term is nearly synonymous with flight.—To fly up in the wind, is when a ship's head comes suddenly to windward, by carelessness of the helmsman.

FLY-WHEEL. The regulator of a machine.

FOAM [Anglo-Saxon, feam]. The white froth produced by the collision of the waves, or by the bow of a ship when acted on by the wind; and also by their striking against rocks, vessels, or other bodies.

FOCAL LENGTH. The distance between the object-glass and the eye-piece of a telescope.

FOCUS. A point where converging rays or lines meet.

FOEMAN. An enemy in war; now used only by poets. One of Falstaff's recruits, hight Shadow, presented no mark to the enemy: "The foeman may with as great aim level at the edge of a pen-knife."

F[OE]NUS NAUTICUM. Nautical usury, bottomry.

FOG. A mist at sea, consisting of the grosser vapours floating in the air near the surface of the sea. The fog of the great bank of Newfoundland is caused by the near proximity of warm and cold waters. The air over the Gulf Stream, being warmer than that over the banks of Newfoundland, is capable of keeping much more moisture in invisible suspension; and when this air comes in contact with that above the cold water, it parts with some of its moisture, or rather holds it in visible suspension. There are also dry fogs, which are dust held in suspension, as the so-called African dust, which often partially obscures the sun, and reddens the sails of ships as they pass through the north-east trades.

FOG-BANK. A dense haze, presenting the appearance of a thick cloud resting upon the horizon; it is known in high latitudes as the precursor of wind from the quarter in which it appears. From its frequent resemblance to land it has obtained the name of Cape Fly-away.

FOG-BOW. A beautiful natural phenomenon incidental to high latitudes. It appears opposite to the sun, and is usually broad and white, but sometimes assumes the prismatic colours. Indicative of clearing off of mists. (See FOG-EATER.)

FOG-DOGS. Those transient prismatic breaks which occur in thick mists, and considered good symptoms of the weather clearing.

FOG-EATER. A synonym of fog-dog and fog-bow. It may be explained as the clearing of the upper stratum, permitting the sun's rays to exhibit at the horizon prismatic colours; hence "sun-gall."

FOGEY. An old-fashioned or singular person; an invalid soldier or sailor. Often means a stupid but irascible fellow.

FOGGY. Not quite sober.

FOGRAM. Wine, beer, or spirits of indifferent quality; in fact, any kind of liquor.

FOG-SIGNALS. The naval code established by guns to keep a fleet together, to tack, wear, and perform sundry evolutions. Also, certain sounds made in fogs as warnings to other vessels, either with horns, bells, gongs, guns, or the improved fog-whistle.

FOIL. A blunt, elastic, sword-like implement used in fencing.—To foil means to disconcert or defeat an enemy's intention.

FOILLAN. The Manx or Erse term for a gull.

FOIN. A thrust with a pike or sword.

FOKE-SILL. Among old salts may be termed a curt or nicked form of forecastle.

FOLDER. The movable sight of a fire-arm.

FOLLIS. A net with very large meshes, principally for catching thorn-backs.

FOLLOWERS. A certain number of men permitted by the regulations of the service to be taken by the captain when he removes from one ship to another. Also, the young gentlemen introduced into the service by the captain, and reared with a father's care, moving with him from ship to ship; a practice which produced most of our best officers formerly, but innovation has broken through it, to the serious detriment of the service and the country.

FOLLOWING, NORTH OR SOUTH. See QUADRANT.

FOMALHAUT. A standard nautical star, called also {a} Piscis australis.

FOOL. "He's no fool on a march," a phrase meaning that such a person is equal to what he undertakes.

FOOLEN. The space between the usual high-water mark in a river and the foot of the wall on its banks, built to prevent its occasionally overflowing the neighbouring lands.

FOOL-FISH. A name of the long-finned file-fish, and so called from its apparently whimsical manner of swimming.

FOOLISH GUILLEMOT. The web-footed diving-bird, Uria troile, common on our coasts.

FOOT. The lower end of a mast or sail. Also, the general name of infantry soldiers. Also, the measure of 12 inches, or one-sixth of a fathom.—To foot. To push with the feet; as, "foot the top-sail out clear of the top-rim."

FOOT-BANK. Synonymous with banquette (which see).

FOOT-BOARD. The same as gang-board, but not so sailor-like. (See STRETCHERS.)

FOOT-BOAT. A west-country term for a boat used solely to convey foot passengers.

FOOT-CLUE OF A HAMMOCK. See HAMMOCK.

FOOT-HOOKS. Synonymous with futtocks.

FOOTING. A fine paid by a youngster or landsman on first mounting the top. Also, a slight payment from new comers on crossing the line, passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, entering the Arctic Seas, &c.

FOOT IT IN. An order to stow the bunt of a sail snugly in furling, executed by the bunt-men dancing it in, holding on by the topsail-tye. Frequently when a bunt-jigger has parted men have fallen on deck.

FOOT-RAILS. Narrow mouldings raised on a vessel's stern.

FOOT-ROPE. The rope to which the lower edge of a sail is sewed. (See BOLT-ROPE.)

FOOT-ROPES. Those stretching under the yards and jib-booms for the men to stand on; they are the same with horses of the yards (which see).

FOOT-SPACE-RAIL. The rail that terminates the foot of the balcony, in which the balusters step, if there be no pedestal rail.

FOOT-VALVE. A flat plate of metal filling up the passage between the air-pump and condenser. The lower valve of a steam-engine situated anywhere between the bottom of the working barrel and that of the condenser.

FOOT-WALING. The inside planking or lining of a ship over the floor-timbers; it is intended to prevent any part of her ballast or cargo from falling between her floor-timbers.

FORAD. An old corruption of foreward—in the fore-part of the ship.

FORAGE. Food for horses and cattle belonging to an army. Also, the act of a military force in collecting or searching for such forage, or for subsistence or stores for the men; or, with ill-disciplined troops, for valuables in general. Land-piracy.

FORAGE-GUARD. A party detached to cover foragers, those wooding, watering, &c.

FORAY. A plundering incursion.

FOR-BY. Near to; adjacent.

FORCAT. A rest for a musket in olden times.

FORCE. A term which implies the sudden rush of water through a narrow rocky channel, and accompanied by a fall of the surface after the obstacle is passed. It is synonymous with fall. Also, the force of each ship stated agreeably to the old usage in the navy, according to the number of guns actually carried. In these days of iron-clads, turret-ships, and heavy guns, this does not give a true estimate of a ship's force. Also, the general force, ships, men, soldiers, &c., engaged in any expedition; as expeditionary force.—Also, force of wind, now described by numbers, 0 being calm, 12 the heaviest gale.—To force, is to take by storm; to force a passage by driving back the enemy.—Colloquially, no force—gently.

FORCED MARCH. One in which the marching power of the troops is forced or exerted beyond the ordinary limit.

FORCED MEN. Those serving in pirate vessels, but who refused to sign articles.

FORCER. The piston of a forcing-pump.

FORCES. The army collectively, or naval and military forces engaged.

FORCING-PUMP. Any pump used to force water beyond that force demanded to deliver at its level, as fire-engines, &c.

FORD. The shallow part of a river, where troops may pass without injuring their arms.

FORE. The distinguishing character of all that part of a ship's frame and machinery which lies near the stem, or in that direction, in opposition to aft or after. Boarders to the fore—advance!

FORE-AND-AFT. From head to stern throughout the ship's whole length, or from end to end; it also implies in a line with the keel; and is the opposite of athwart-ships, which is from side to side.

FORE-AND-AFTER. A cocked hat worn with the peak in front instead of athwart. Also, a very usual term for a schooner with only fore-and-aft sails, even when she has a crossjack-yard whereon to set a square-sail when occasion requires.

FORE-AND-AFT SAILS. Jibs, staysails, and gaff-sails; in fact, all sails which are not set to yards. They extend from the centre line to the lee side of a ship or boat, so set much flatter than square-sails.

FORE-BAY. A rising at a lock-gate flooring. Also, the galley or the sick-bay.

FORE-BODY. An imaginary figure of that part of the ship afore the midships or dead-flat, as seen from ahead.

FORE-BOWLINE. The bowline of the fore-sail.

FORE-BRACES. Ropes applied to the fore yard-arms to change the position of the fore-sail occasionally.

FORECAST. A storm warning, or reasonable prediction of a gale from the inferences of observed meteorological instruments and phenomena.

FORECASTLE. Once a short deck placed in the fore-part of a ship above the upper deck; it was usually terminated, both before and behind, in vessels of war by a breast-work, the foremost part forming the top of the beak-head, and the hind part, of the fore-chains. It is now applied in men-of-war to that part of the upper deck forward of the after fore-shroud, or main-tack block, and which is flush with the quarter-deck and gangways. Also, a forward part of a merchantman under the deck, where the seamen live on a platform. Some vessels have a short raised deck forward, which is called a top-gallant forecastle; it extends from the bow to abaft the fore-mast, which it includes.

FORECASTLE-DECK. The fore-part of the upper deck at a vessel's bows.

FORECASTLE-JOKES. Practical tricks played upon greenhorns.

FORECASTLE-MEN. Sailors who are stationed on the forecastle, and are generally, or ought to be, prime seamen.

FORECASTLE-NETTINGS. See HAMMOCK-NETTINGS.

FORECASTLE-RAIL. The rail extended on stanchions across the after-part of the forecastle-deck in some ships.

FORE CAT-HARPINGS. See CAT-HARPINGS.

FORE-COCKPIT. See COCKPIT.

FORE-COURSE. The fore-sail (which see).

FORE-DECK. That part from the fore-mast to the bows.

FORE-FINGER, OR INDEX-FINGER. The pointing finger, which was called shoot-finger by the Anglo-Saxons, from its use in archery, and is now the trigger-finger from its duty in gunnery. (See SHOOT-FINGER.)

FORE-FOOT. The foremost piece of the keel, or a timber which terminates the keel at the forward extremity, and forms a rest for the stem's lower end; it is connected by a scarph to the extremity of the keel, and the other end of it, which is incurvated upwards into a sort of knee, is attached to the lower end of the stem; it is also called a gripe. As the lower arm of the fore-foot lies on the same level with the keel, so the upper one coincides with the middle line of the stem; its breadth and thickness therefore correspond with the dimensions of those pieces, and the heel of the cut-water is scarphed to its upper end. Also, an imaginary line of the ship's course or direction.

FORE-GANGER OF THE CHAIN BOWER CABLES. Is a length of 15 fathoms of stouter chain, in consequence of greater wear and tear near the anchor, and exposure to weather. Fore-ganger is also the short piece of rope immediately connecting the line with the shank of the harpoon, when spanned for killing.

FORE-GOER. The same as fore-ganger.

FORE-GRIPE. See GRIPE.

FORE-GUY. A rope to the swinging-boom of the lower studding-sail.

FORE-HAMMER. The sledge-hammer which strikes the iron on the anvil first, if it be heavy work, but the hand-hammer keeps time.

FORE-HOLD. The part of the hold before the fore hatchway.

FORE-HOODS. The foremost of the outside and inside planks of a vessel.

FORE-HOOKS. The same as breast-hooks (which see).

FOREIGN. Of another country or society; a word used adjectively, being joined with divers substantives in several senses.

FOREIGN-GOING. The ships bound on oceanic voyages, as distinguished from home-traders and coasters.

FOREIGN JUDGMENT. See JUDGMENT.

FOREIGN REMITTANCE. See WAGES REMITTED FROM ABROAD.

FOREIGN REMOVE-TICKET. A document for discharging men from one ship to another on foreign stations: it is drawn up in the same form as the sick-ticket (which see).

FOREIGN SERVICE. Vessels or forces stationed in any part of the world out of the United Kingdom. The opposite of home service.

FORELAND. A cape or promontory projecting into the sea: as the North and South Forelands. It is nearly the same with headland, only that forelands usually form the extremes of certain lines of sea-coast. Also, a space left between the base of a canal bank, and an adjacent drainage cut or river, so as to favour the stability of the bank.

FORE-LIGHTROOM. See LIGHT-ROOM.

FORELOCK. A flat pointing wedge of iron, used to drive through a mortise hole in the end of a bolt, to retain it firmly in its place. The forelock is sometimes twisted round the bolt's point to prevent its drawing. Also, spring-forelock, which expands as it passes through.

FORELOCK-BOLTS. Those with an eye, into which an iron forelock is driven to retain them in place. When secured in this way, the bolt is said to be forelocked.

FORELOCKS. The pins by which the cap-squares of gun-carriages are secured.

FORE-MAGAZINE. See MAGAZINE.

FORE-MAN AFLOAT. The dockyard officer in charge of the shipwrights working on board a ship not in dock.

FORE-MAST. The forward lower-mast in all vessels. (See MAST.)

FORE-MAST MAN. From "before the mast." A private seaman as distinguished from an officer of a ship.

FOREMOST. Anything which is nearer to the head of a ship than another.

FORE-NESS. An old term for a promontory.

FORE-PART OF A SHIP. The bay, or all before the fore-hatches.

FORE-PEAK. The contracted part of a vessel's hold, close to the bow; close forward under the lower deck.

FORE-RAKE. That part of the hull which rakes beyond the fore-end of the keel.

FORE-REACH, TO. To shoot ahead, or go past another vessel, especially when going in stays: to sail faster, reach beyond, to gain upon.

FORERUNNER. A precursor, an avant-courier.

FORERUNNERS OF THE LOG-LINE. A small piece of red bunting laid into that line at a certain distance from the log, the space between them being called the stray-line, which is usually from 12 to 15 fathoms, and is an allowance for the log to be entirely out of the ship's dead-water before they begin to estimate the ship's velocity, consequently the knots begin from that point. (See LOG-LINE.)

FORE-SAIL. The principal sail set on the fore-mast. (See SAIL.)

FORE-SHEET HORSE. An iron bar fastened at its ends athwart the deck before the mast of a sloop, for the foresail-sheet to traverse upon from side to side.

FORE-SHEETS OF A BOAT. The inner part of the bows, opposite to stern-sheets, fitted with gratings on which the bowman stands.

FORE-SHEET TRAVELLER. An iron ring which traverses along on the fore-sheet horse of a fore-and-aft rigged vessel.

FORE-SHIP. An archaic form of forecastle of a ship; it means the fore-part of a vessel.

FORE-SHROUDS. See SHROUDS.

FORE-STAFF. An instrument formerly used at sea for taking the altitudes of heavenly bodies. The fore-staff, called also cross-staff, takes its name hence, that the observer in using it turns his face towards the object, in contradistinction to the back-staff, where he turns his back to the object. The fore or cross staff consists of a straight square staff, graduated like a line of tangents, and four crosses or vanes which slide thereon. The first and shortest of these vanes is called the ten cross or vane, and belongs to that side of the instrument whereon the divisions begin at 3 deg. and end at 10 deg. The next longer vane is called the thirty cross, belonging to that side of the staff on which the divisions begin at 10 deg. and end at 30 deg., called the thirty scale. The next is called the sixty cross, and belongs to that side where the divisions begin at 20 deg. and end at 60 deg. The last and longest, called the ninety cross, belongs to that side whereon the divisions begin at 30 deg. and end at 90 deg.

FORE-STAGE. The old name for forecastle.

FORE-STAY. See STAY.

FORE-TACK. Weather tack of the fore-sail hauled to the fore-boomkin when on a wind.

FORE-TACKLE. A tackle on the fore-mast, similar to the main-tackle (which see). It is used for similar purposes, and also in stowing the anchor, &c.

FORE-THWART. The seat of the bowman in a boat.

FORE-TOP. See TOP.

FORETOP-GALLANT-MAST. See TOPGALLANT-MAST, to which may be added its proper sail, yard, and studding-sail.

FORETOP-MAST. See TOP-MAST.

FORETOP-MEN. Men stationed in the fore-top in readiness to set or take in the smaller sails, and to keep the upper rigging in order.

FORE-TYE. See TYE.

FORE-YARD. (See YARD.) For the yards, sails, rigging, &c., of the top-mast and topgallant-mast see those two articles.

FORFEITURE. The effect or penalty of transgressing the laws.

FORGE. A portable forge is to be found in every ship which bears a rated armourer; and it can be used either on board or ashore.

FORGE AHEAD, TO. To shoot ahead, as in coming to an anchor—a motion or moving forwards. A vessel forges ahead when hove-to, if the tide presses her to windward against her canvas.

FORGING OVER. The act of forcing a ship violently over a shoal, by the effort of a great quantity of sail, steam, or other man[oe]uvre.

FORK-BEAMS. Short or half beams to support the deck where there is no framing, as in the intervention of hatchways. The abeam arm fork is a curved timber scarphed, tabled, and bolted for additional security where the openings are large.

FORKERS. Those who reside in sea-ports for the sake of stealing dockyard stores, or buying them, knowing them to be stolen.

FORLORN HOPE. Officers and men detached on desperate service to make a first attack, or to be the first in mounting a breach, or foremost in storming a fortress, or first to receive the whole fire of the enemy. Forlorn-hopes was a term formerly applied to the videttes of the army. This ominous name (the enfants perdus of the French) is familiarized into a better one among soldiers, who call it the flowing-hope. Promotion is usually bestowed on the survivors.

FORMATION. The drawing up or arrangement of troops, or small-arm men, in certain orders prescribed as the basis of man[oe]uvres in general. Also, the particulars of a ship's build.

FORMER. The gunner's term for a small cylindrical piece of wood, on which musket or pistol cartridge-cases are rolled and formed. The name is also applied to the flat piece of wood with a hole in the centre used for making wads, but which is properly form.

FORMICAS. Clusters of small rocks [from the Italian for ants]. Also, Hormigas [Sp.]

FORMING THE LINE. See LINE.

FORMING THE ORDER OF SAILING. See SAILING, ORDER OF.

FORMS. The moulds for making wads by. (See FORMER.)

FORT. In fortification, an inclosed work of which every part is flanked by some other part; though the term is loosely applied to all places of strength surrounded by a rampart.

FORTALEZZA [Sp.] A fort on the coast of Brazil.

FORTALICE. A small fortress or fortlet; a bulwark or castle.

FORTH. An inlet of the sea.

FORTIFICATION. The art by which a place is so fortified that a given number of men occupying it may advantageously oppose a superior force. The same word also signifies the works that cover and defend a place. Fortification is defensive when surrounding a place so as to render it capable of defence against besiegers; and offensive when comprehending the various works for conducting a siege. It is natural when it opposes rocks, woods, marshes, ravines, &c., to impede the progress of an enemy; and artificial, when raised by human ingenuity to aid the advantages of the ground. The latter is again subdivided into permanent and field fortification: the one being constructed at leisure and of permanent materials, the other raised only for temporary purposes.

FORTIFYING. The strengthening a ship for especial emergency, by doubling planks, chocks, and additional timbers and knees, strongly secured.

FORT-MAJOR. An officer on the staff of a garrison or fortress, who has, under the commanding officer, general charge of the routine duties and of the works.

FORTUNE OF WAR. The usual consolation in reverses—"Fortune de la guerre," or the chances of war.

FORTY-THIEVES. A name given to forty line-of-battle ships ordered by the Admiralty at one fell swoop, to be built by contract, towards the end of the Napoleon war, and which turned out badly. The writer served in one, the Rodney 74, which fully exposed her weakness in the first gale she experienced, and was sent home, thereby weakening the blockading fleet. Many never went to sea as ships of the line, but were converted into good frigates.

FORWARD. In the fore-part of the ship; the same as afore. Also, the word of command when troops are to resume their march after a temporary interruption.

FORWARD THERE! The hail to the forecastle.

FOSSE [Ital.] Synonymous with moat or ditch.

FOTHER [Anglo-Saxon foder]. A burden; a weight of lead equal to 19-1/2 cwts. Leaden pigs for ballast.

FOTHERING. Is usually practised to stop a leak at sea. A heavy sail, as the sprit-sail, is closely thrummed with yarn and oakum, and drawn under the bottom: the pressure of the water drives the thrumming into the apertures. If one does not succeed others are added, using all the sails rather than lose the ship.

FOUGADE, OR FOUGASS. A small charged mine, from 6 to 8 feet under a post in danger of falling into the enemy's hands.

FOUL. Generally used in opposition to clear, and implies entangled, embarrassed, or contrary to: as "a ship ran foul of us," that is, entangled herself among our rigging. Also, to contaminate in any way.

FOUL AIR. May be generated by circumstances beyond control: decomposing fungi, timber injected with coal tar, hatches battened down, and ashes or coal washed about. Whole crews on the coast of Africa, and in the West Indies, have been thus swept away, despite every precaution. But generally it may be avoided by cleanliness.

FOUL ANCHOR. An anchor is said to be foul, or fouled, either when it hooks some impediment under water, or when the ship, by the wind shifting, entangles her slack cable a turn round the stock, or round the upper fluke thereof. The last, from its being avoidable by a sharp look-out, is termed the seaman's disgrace.

FOUL BERTH. When a ship anchors in the hawse of another she gives the latter a foul berth; or she may anchor on one tide so near as to swing foul on the change either of wind or tide.

FOUL BILL. See BILL OF HEALTH.

FOUL BOTTOM. A ship to which sea-weed, shells, or other encumbrances adhere. Also, the bottom of the sea if rocky, or unsafe from wrecks, and thence a danger of fouling the anchor.

FOUL COAST. One beset with reefs and breakers, offering dangerous impediments to navigation.

FOUL FISH. Applied to salmon in the spawning state, or such as have not for the current year made their way to the sea for purification; shedders.

FOUL GROUND. Synonymous with foul bottom.

FOUL HAWSE. When a vessel is riding with two anchors out, and the cables are crossed round each other outside the stem by the swinging of the ship when moored in a tide-way. (See ELBOW IN THE HAWSE.)

FOUL ROPE. A rope entangled or unfit for immediate use.

FOUL WEATHER. That which reduces a ship to snug-sail.

FOUL-WEATHER BREEDER. A name given to the Gulf Stream from such a volume of warm water occasioning great perturbations in the atmosphere while traversing the Atlantic Ocean.

FOUL-WEATHER FLAG. Denotes danger for boats leaving the shore; watermen's fares increase with these signals.

FOUL WIND. That which prevents a ship from laying her course.

FOUNDER. The fall of portions of cliff, as along the coasts of Hampshire and Dorsetshire, occasioned by land-springs.

FOUNDER, TO. To fill with water and go down.

FOUR-CANT. A rope composed of four strands.

FOWAN. The Manx term for a dry scorching wind; it is also applied by the northern fishermen to a sudden blast.

FOX. The old English broadsword. Also, a fastening formed by twisting several rope-yarns together by hand and rubbing it with hard tarred canvas; it is used for a seizing, or to weave a paunch or mat, &c. (See SPANISH FOX.)

FOXEY. A defect in timber which is over-aged or has been indifferently seasoned, and gives the defective part a reddish hue. The word is very old, and meant tainted or incipient rot.

FOY. A local term for the charge made for the use of a boat.

FOYING. An employment of fishermen or seamen, who go off to ships with provisions, or to help them in distress.

FOYST. An old name for a brigantine. The early voyagers applied the name to some large barks of India, which were probably grabs.

FRACTURES. Defects in spars which run across the fibres, being short fractures marked by jagged lines. (See SPRUNG.)

FRAISES. Principally in field fortification, palisades placed horizontally, or nearly so, along the crest of the escarp, or sometimes of the counterscarp; being generally concealed from direct artillery fire they very materially increase the difficulty of either of those slopes to an assailant. They project some 5 feet above the surface, and are buried for about the same length in the ground.

FRAME. The outer frame timbers of a vessel consist of the keel, stem, stern-posts, and ribs, which when moulded and bolted form the frame. (See TIMBERS.)

FRAME OF THE MARINE STEAM-ENGINE, is the strong supporter of the paddle-shafts and intermediate shaft; it rests on columns, and is firmly bolted to the engine bottom.

FRAMES. The bends of timbers constituting the shape of the ship's body—when completed a ship is said to be in frame.

FRAME-TIMBERS. These consist of the floor-timbers, futtocks, and top-timbers; they are placed upon the keel at right angles to it, and form the bottom and sides of the ship.

FRAMING. The placing, scarphing, and bolting of the frame-timbers of a ship. (See WARPING.)

FRANC. A French silver coin of the value of 9-1/2d., and consisting of 100 centimes. The 20-franc piece in gold, formerly called Louis, now Napoleon, is current for 15s. 10-1/2d. English.

FRANCESCONI. The dollars of Tuscany, in value 4s. 5-1/4d. sterling. They each consist of 10 paoli.

FRANK. The large fish-eating heron of our lakes and pools.

FRAP. A boat for shipping salt, used at Mayo, one of the Cape de Verde Islands.

FRAP, TO. To bind tightly together. To pass lines round a sail to keep it from blowing loose. To secure the falls of a tackle together by means of spun yarn, rope yarn, or any lashing wound round them. To snap the finger and thumb; to beat.

FRAPPING. The act of crossing and drawing together the several parts of a tackle, or other complication of ropes, which had already been strained to a great extent; in this sense it exactly resembles the operation of bracing up a drum. The frapping increases tension, and consequently adds to the security acquired by the purchase; hence the cat-harpings were no other than frappings to the shrouds.

FRAPPING A SHIP. The act of passing four or five turns of a large cable-laid rope round a ship's hull when it is apprehended that she is not strong enough to resist the violence of the sea. This expedient is only made use of for very old ships, which their owners venture to send to sea as long as possible, insuring them deeply. Such are termed, not unaptly, floating coffins, as were also the old, 10-gun brigs, or any vessel deemed doubtful as to sea-worthiness. St. Paul's ship was "undergirded" or frapped.

FRAPPING TURNS. In securing the booms at sea the several turns of the lashings are frapped in preparation for the succeeding turns; in emergency, nailed.

FRAUDS, ACT OF. A statute of Charles II., the object of which was to meet and prevent certain practices by which the navigation laws were eluded.

FREDERIC. A Prussian gold coin, value 16s. 6d. sterling.

FREE, TO.—To free a prisoner. To restore him to liberty.—To free a pump. To disengage or clear it.—To free a boat or ship. To clear it of water.

FREE. A vessel is said to be going free when the bowlines are slacked and the sheets eased; beyond this is termed large. (See SAILING LARGE.)

FREE-BOARD. See PLANK-SHEER.

FREEING. The act of pumping, or otherwise throwing out the water which has leaked into a ship's bottom. When all the water is pumped or baled out, the vessel is said to be free. Said of the wind when it exceeds 67 deg. 30' from right-ahead.

FREE PORT. Ports open to all comers free of entry-dues, as places of call, not delivery.

FREE SHIP. A piratical term for one where it is agreed that every man shall have an equal share in all prizes.

FREE TRADER. Ships trading formerly under license to India independent of the old East India Company's charter. Also, a common woman.

FREEZE, TO. To congeal water or any fluid. Thus sea-water freezes at 28 deg. 5' Fah.; fresh water at 32 deg.; mercury at 39 deg. 5' below zero. All fluids change their degree of freezing in accordance with mixtures of alcohol or solutions of salt used for the purpose. Also, according to the atmospheric pressure; and by this law heights of mountains are measured by the boiling temperature of water.

FREIGHT. By former English maritime law it became the mother of wages, as the crew were obliged to moor the ship on her return in the docks or forfeit them. So severely was the axiom maintained, that if a ship was lost by misfortune, tempest, enemy, or fire, wages also were forfeited, because the freight out of which they were to arise had perished with it. This harsh measure was intended to augment the care of the seamen for the welfare of the ship, but no longer holds, for by the merchant shipping act it is enacted that no right of wages shall be dependent on the earning of freight; in cases of wreck, however, proof that a man has not done his utmost bars his claim. Also, for the burden or lading of a ship. (See DEAD-FREIGHT.) Also, a duty of 50 sols per ton formerly paid to the government of France by the masters of foreign vessels going in or out of the several ports of that kingdom. All vessels not built in France were accounted foreign unless two-thirds of the crew were French. The Dutch and the Hanse towns were exempted from this duty of freight.—To freight a vessel, means to employ her for the carriage of goods and passengers.

FREIGHT OF A SHIP. The hire, or part thereof, usually paid for the carriage and conveyance of goods by sea; or the sum agreed upon between the owner and the merchant for the hire and use of a vessel, at the rate of so much for the voyage, or by the month, or per ton.

FREIGHTER. The party who hires a vessel or part of a vessel for the carriage of goods.

FREIGHTING. A letting out of vessels on freight or hire; one of the principal practices in the trade of the Dutch.

FRENCH FAKE. A name for what is merely a modification of the Flemish coil, both being extremely good for the object, that is, when a rope has to be let go suddenly, and is required to run freely. Fake, in contradistinction to long coil is, run a rope backward and forward in one-fathom bends, beside each other, so that it may run free, as in rocket-lines, to communicate with stranded vessels. (See FLEMISH FAKE.)

FRENCH LAKE. A soubriquet for the Mediterranean.

FRENCH LEAVE. Being absent without permission.

FRENCHMAN. Formerly a term among sailors for every stranger or outlandish man.

FRENCH SHROUD-KNOT. The shroud-knot with three strands single walled round the bights of the other three and the standing part. (See SHROUD-KNOT.)

FRENCH THE BALLAST. A term used for freshen the ballast.

FRESCA. Fresh water, or rain, and land floods; old term.

FRESH. When applied to the wind, signifies strong, but not violent; hence an increasing gale is said to freshen. (See FORCE.) Also used for sweet; as, fresh water. Also, bordering on intoxication; excited with drinking. Also, an overflowing or flood from rivers and torrents after heavy rains or the melting of mountain snows. Also, an increase of the stream in a river. Also, the stream of a river as it flows into the sea. The fresh sometimes extends out to sea for several miles, as off Surinam, and many other large rivers.

FRESH BREEZE. A brisk wind, to which a ship, according to its stability, carries double or treble or close-reefed top-sails, &c. This is a very peculiar term, dependent on the stability of the ship, her management, and how she is affected by it, on a wind or before it. It is numbered 6. Thus, a ship running down the trades, with studding-sails set, had registered "moderate and fine;" she met with a superior officer, close-hauled under close-reefed top-sails and courses, was compelled to shorten sail, and lower her boat; the log was then marked "fresh breezes."

FRESHEN, TO. To relieve a rope of its strain, or danger of chafing, by shifting or removing its place of nip.

FRESHEN HAWSE, TO. To relieve that part of the cable which has for some time been exposed to friction in one of the hawse-holes, when the ship rolls and pitches at anchor in a high sea; this is done by applying fresh service to the cable within board, and then veering it into the hawse. (See SERVICE, KECKLING, or ROUNDING.)

FRESHEN THE BALLAST. Divide or separate it, so as to alter its position.

FRESHEN THE NIP, TO. To veer a small portion of cable through the hawse-hole, or heave a little in, in order to let another part of it bear the stress and friction. A common term with tipplers, especially after taking the meridian observation.

FRESHEN WAY. When the ship feels the increasing influence of a breeze. Also, when a man quickens his pace.

FRESHES. Imply the impetuosity of an ebb tide, increased by heavy rains, and flowing out into the sea, which it often discolours to a considerable distance from the shore, as with the Nile, the Congo, the Mississippi, the Indus, the Ganges, the Rhone, Surinam, &c.

FRESHET. A word long used for pools or ponds, when swollen after rain or temporary inundations. It is also applied to a pond supplied by a spring.

FRESH GALE. A more powerful wind than a fresh breeze (which see).

FRESH GRUB. The refreshments obtained in harbour.

FRESH HAND AT THE BELLOWS. Said when a gale freshens suddenly.

FRESH SHOT. A river swollen by rain or tributaries; it also signifies the falling down of any great river into the sea, by which fresh water is often to be found on the surface a good way from the mouth of the river.

FRESH SPELL. Men coming to relieve a gang at work.

FRESH WATER. Water fit to drink, in opposition to sea or salt water; now frequently obtained at sea by distillation. (See ICEBERG.)

FRESH-WATER JACK. The same as fresh-water sailor.

FRESH-WATER SAILOR. An epithet for a green hand, of whom an old saying has it, "whose shippe was drowned in the playne of Salsbury."

FRESH-WATER SEAS. A name given to the extensive inland bodies of fresh water in the Canadas. Of these, Lake Superior is upwards of 1500 miles in circuit, with a depth of 70 fathoms near the shores, while Michigan and Huron are almost as prodigious; even Erie is 600 miles round, and Ontario near 500, and Nepigon, the head of the system geographically, though the least important at present commercially, but just now partially explored, is fully 400. Their magnitude, however, appears likely to be rivalled geographically by the lakes lately discovered in Central Africa, the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza.

FRESH WAY. Increased speed through the water; a ship is said to "gather fresh way" when she has tacked, or hove-to, and then fills her sails.

FRET. A narrow strait of the sea, from fretum.

FRET, TO. To chafe.

FRET OF WIND. A squally flaw.

FRETTUM, OR FRECTUM. The freight of a ship, or freight-money.

FRETUM BRITANNICUM. A term used in our ancient writings for the Straits of Dover.

FRIAR-SKATE. The Raia oxyrinchus, or sharp-nosed ray.

FRICTION-ROLLER. A cylinder of hard wood, or metal, with a concave surface, revolving on an axis, used to lessen the friction of a rope which is passed over it. Friction-rollers are a late improvement in the sheaves of blocks, &c., by which the pin is relieved of friction by three rollers in the coak, placed equilaterally.

FRICTION-TUBE. The means of firing a gun most in favour at present in the British service; ignition is caused by the friction on sudden withdrawal of a small horizontal metal bar from the detonating priming in the head of the tube.

FRIDAY. The dies infaustus, on which old seamen were desirous of not getting under weigh, as ill-omened.

FRIEZE-PANEL. The lower part of a gun-port.

FRIEZING. The ornamental carving or painting above the drift-rails, and likewise round the stern or the bow.

FRIGATE. In the Royal Navy, the next class vessel to a ship of the line; formerly a light nimble ship built for the purpose of sailing swiftly. The name was early known in the Mediterranean, and applied to a long kind of vessel, navigated in that sea, with sails and oars. The English were the first who appeared on the ocean with these ships, and equipped them for war as well as for commerce. These vessels mounted from 28 to 60 guns, and made excellent cruisers. Frigate is now apocryphal, being carried up to 7000 tons. The donkey-frigate was a late invention to serve patronage, and sprigs of certain houses were educated in them. They carried 28 guns, carronades, and were about 600 tons burden, commanded by captains who sometimes found a commander in a sloop which could blow him out of water.—Frigate is also the familiar name of the membranous zoophyte, Physalia pelagica, or Portuguese man-of-war.

FRIGATE-BIRD. Tachypetes aquila, a sea-bird generally seen in the tropics. It seems to live on the wing, is partially web-footed, and only visits the land at breeding time.

FRIGATE-BUILT. The disposition of the decks of such merchant ships as have a descent of some steps from the quarter-deck and forecastle into the waist, in contradistinction to those whose decks are on a continued line for the whole length of the ship, which are called galley-built. (See DECKS.)

FRIGATOON. A Venetian vessel, commonly used in the Adriatic, built with a square stern, and with only a main-mast, jigger mizen-mast, and bowsprit. Also applied to a ship sloop-of-war.