Sailor's Word-book, A - C — A - Ac
A.
A.
The highest class of the excellence of merchant ships on Lloyd's books, subdivided into A 1 and A 2, after which they descend by the vowels: A 1 being the very best of the first class.
Formerly a river-built (Thames) ship took the first rate for 12 years, a Bristol one for 11, and those of the northern ports 10. Some of the out-port built ships keep their rating 6 to 8 years, and inferior ones only 4. But improvements in ship-building, and the large introduction of iron, are now claiming longer life.
A is an Anglo-Saxonism for _in_ or _on_; as _a_'board, _a_'going, &c. A.
B.
The rating of _Able Seamen_ on the ship's books: these two letters are often used as an epithet for the person so rated.
He must be equal to all the duties required of a seaman in a ship--not only as regards the saying to "hand, reef, and steer," but also to strop a block, splice, knot, turn in rigging, raise a mouse on the main-stay, and be an example to the _ordinary seamen_ and _landsmen_.
ABAB.
A Turkish sailor who plies in coasting craft.
ABACK.
The situation of a ship's sails when the wind bears against their front surfaces.
They are _laid aback_, when this is purposely effected to deaden her way by rounding in the weather-braces; and _taken aback_, when brought to by an unexpected change of wind, or by inattention in the helmsman.
--_All aback forward_, the notice given from the forecastle, when the head-sails are pressed aback by a sudden change in the wind.
(_See_ WORK ABACK.
)--_Taken aback_, a colloquialism for being suddenly surprised or found out.
ABACUS.
A board with balls sliding on small rods, used in China, Russia, &c. , for calculating bills, &c. ABAFT.
This word, generally speaking, means behind, inferred relatively, beginning from the stem and continuing towards the stern, that is, the hinder part of the ship.
--_Abaft the beam_ implies any direction between a supposed transverse line amidships and the stern, whether in or out of the ship.
It is the relative situation of an object with the ship, when that object is placed in the arc of the horizon contained between a line at right angles with the keel and the point of the compass which is directly opposite the ship's course.
An object--as a man overboard--is described by the look-out man at the mast-head as abeam, before, or abaft the beam, by so many points of the compass.
As a vessel seen may be "three points before the beam," &c. ABAKA.
A fine vegetable fibre, with which the white Manila rope, so much used on the India station, is made.
This rope floats in water, and is not subject to rot, nor does it require tarring.
A frigate on the China station in 1805 had nearly the whole of her running rigging of this cordage.
ABANDONMENT OF A VESSEL.
Deserting and abandoning her by reason of unseaworthiness or danger of remaining in her, also when grounded and cannot be saved.
This never occurs but in imminent cases; therefore, before the insured can demand recompense from the underwriter, they must cede or _abandon_ to him the right of all property which may be recovered from shipwreck, capture, or any other peril stated in the policy.
Other parties entering and bringing the vessel into port obtain salvage.
(_Vide_ DERELICT.
) ABASE, TO.
An old word signifying to lower a flag or sail.
_Abaisser_ is in use in the French marine, and both may be derived from the still older _abeigh_.
_Abase_ literally means to cast down, to humble.
ABATE, TO.
An old Anglo-Norman word from _abattre_, to beat down or destroy; as, to _abate_ a castle or fort, is to beat it down; and a gale is said to _abate_ when it decreases.
The term is still used in law.
ABATEMENT.
A plea by which a reduction of freight is demanded, when unforeseen causes have delayed or hindered the performance of a stipulated charter-party.
ABATIS.
An obstruction used in temporary fortification, composed of felled trees deprived of their smaller branches, and secured to the ground side by side with their tops towards the enemy; applicable to the front of posts, works, or positions, and occasionally to the bars of rivers.
ABBEY-LUBBER.
This is an old term of reproach for idleness, and is here quoted only as bearing upon the nautical lubber.
In the "_Burnynge of Paule's Church_, 1563," it is thus explained--"An Abbey-lubber, that was idle, well-fed, a long lewd lither loiterer, that might worke, and would not."
ABBLAST.
Cross-bow; hence, ABBLASTER.
Cross-bow man.
ABBROCHYN.
The old term for beginning or broaching a barrel, cask, or any "vesselle of drynke."
ABEAM.
In a line at right angles to the vessel's length; opposite the centre of a ship's side.
ABEAM-ARM.
For this curved timber, _see_ FORK-BEAMS.
ABER.
An ancient British word for the mouth of a river--as Aber-brothick, Aber-avon, Aber-ystwith, and Aber-conway, &c. It also means the confluence of two or more streams.
ABERRATION.
An apparent change of place, or alteration of their mean position, in the fixed stars, caused by the earth's orbital movement.
--_Aberration of a planet_ signifies its progressive geocentric motion, or the space through which it appears to move, as seen from the earth, during the time which light occupies in passing from the planet to us.
--_Crown of aberration_ is a spurious circle surrounding the proper disc of the sun.
--_Constant of aberration_, or amount of displacement in the sun's longitude, arising from the progressive motion of light, is established at 20".
45. ABET, TO.
To excite or encourage--a common word, greatly in use at boat-racings, and other competitive acts.
ABITED.
A provincial term for _mildewed_.
ABJURATION.
The oath taken till lately by all officers on receiving their commission, by which they abjured any claim of the Stuarts to the throne, the power of the Pope, and the Romish religion.
ABLE.
A term not simply expressive of strong faculties, but as acquainted with and equal to perform the expected duty.
--_Able seaman_, a thorough or regular bred sailor.
(_See_ A. B.
)--_Able-bodied_, sound, healthy, and fit for the Royal service.
ABLE-WHACKETS.
A popular sea-game with cards, wherein the loser is beaten over the palms of the hands with a handkerchief tightly twisted like a rope.
Very popular with horny-fisted salts.
ABOARD.
Inside or upon a ship; the act of residing afloat; to hug the land in approaching the shore.
--_To fall aboard of_, is for one vessel to run foul of another.
--_To haul the tacks aboard_, is to bring their weather clues down to the chess-tree, or literally, to set the courses.
--_To lay an enemy aboard_, to run into or alongside.
ABODE.
Waited for; as, ship ran to the appointed place of rendezvous and _abode_ there for her consort.
ABORD.
An Anglo-Saxon term, meaning across, from shore to shore, of a port or river.
ABOUT.
Circularly; the situation of a ship after she has gone round, and trimmed sails on the opposite tack.
--_Ready about!
_ and _About-ship!
_ are orders to the ship's company to prepare for tacking by being at their stations.
ABOVE-BOARD.
Over the deck; a term used for open fair dealing, without artifice or trick.
ABOX.
A word used in veering for _aback_, alluding to the situation of the head-yards in paying off.
(_See_ BRACE ABACK.
)--_Lay the head-yards abox_--in former times, and even at present, many good seamen prefer to lay the head-yards square, or abox, to heave-to.
It brings the vessel more under command for sudden evolution, wearing, or staying.
ABRAHAM-MEN.
A cant term for vagabonds, who formerly begged about under pretence of having been discharged destitute from ships and hospitals;
whence an idle malingerer wanting to enter the doctor's list is said to "sham Abraham."
From a ward in Bedlam which was appropriated for the reception of idiots, which was named Abraham: it is a very old term, and was cited by Burton in the _Anatomy of Melancholy_ so far back as 1621. ABRASE, TO.
To dubb or smooth planks.
ABRASION.
The rubbing off or wearing away of the parts of a rock, or of the soil, by the impinging and friction of other bodies.
ABREAST.
Side by side, parallel, or opposite to; generally used in opposition to _abaft_ or _afore_.
--_Line abreast_ means a fleet advancing or retreating uniformly on a line parallel with the beam.
--_Abreast of a place_, is directly off it; a direction at right angles with the keel or ship's length.
In the army the term was formerly used for any number of men in front; but at present they are determined by files.
--_Abreast.
_ Within-board, signifies on a parallel with the beam.
ABRID.
A pintle-plate.
ABROACH.
On tap, in use; spoken of barrels of beer or other liquors.
ABROAD.
Synonymous with foreign, or being on a foreign station.
Also an old word for _spread_; as, all sail _abroad_.
ABRUPT.
A word applied to steep, broken, or craggy cliffs and headlands, especially such as are bold-to and precipitous.
ABSCISS.
A part either of the diameter or the transverse axis of a conic section, intercepted between the vertex or any other fixed point and a semi-ordinate.
--_Abscission of a planet_, its being outstripped by another, which joins a third one before it.
ABSENCE.
A permission occasionally obtained, on urgent affairs, by officers to quit their duties.
ABSOLUTE.
Anything free from conditions.
--_Absolute equations_, the sum of the optic and eccentric equation, or the anomalies arising from a planet's not being equally distant from the earth at all times, and its motion not being uniform.
--_Absolute gravity_ is the whole force with which a body tends downwards.
ABSORPTION.
A term formerly used for the sinking of islands and tracts of land, instead of _subsidence_.
ABSQUATULATE.
_See_ SQUATTER.
ABSTRACT.
A brief register of the warrant officer's stores, by which the supplies, expenses, and remains are duly balanced.
An _abstract log_ contains the most important subjects of a ship's log.
ABSTRACT MATHEMATICS, OR PURE.
The branch which investigates and demonstrates the properties of magnitude, figure, or quantity, absolutely and generally considered, without restriction to any species in particular; such as arithmetic and geometry.
A-BURTON.
The situation of casks when they are stowed in the hold athwart ship, or in a line with the beam.
ABUT.
When two timbers or planks are united endways, they are said to _butt_ or _abut_ against each other.
(_See_ BUTT.
) ABYME.
Places supposed to be the site of constant whirlpools, such as Charybdis, the Maelstrom, and others.
It means generally an abyss.
ABYSS.
A deep mass of waters; in hydrography it was synonymous with _gulf_.
ACADEMITE.
An old term for an officer brought up at the Royal Navy Academy at Portsmouth, afterwards named the Royal Naval College.
ACAIR-PHUILL.
Compounded of the British _acair_ or anchor, and _phuill_, a pill, or harbour, and means a safe anchorage.
ACALEPHAE.
A class of marine animals of low organization, having a translucent jelly-like structure, and frequently possessing the property of stinging, whence their name ({akalephe}, a nettle).
The common jelly-fish (_Medusa_) and the Portuguese man-of-war (_Physalia_) are the best-known examples.
ACAST.
The old word for _lost_ or _cast-away_.
In weighing anchor the head-yards are generally braced _acast_, to cause the vessel to cast in the direction.
"Does she take _acast_?"
is frequently the question of the officer abaft.
ACATER.
An old word for purveyor of victuals, whence _caterer_, or superintendent and provider of a mess.
Thus in Ben Jonson's "The Devil is an Ass"-- "He is my wardrobe-man, my _acater_, Cook, butler, and steward."
ACATES.
Victuals; provisions purchased; delicious food; dainties.
ACATIUM.
A word used in Roman naval affairs for a small boat, and also the main-mast of a ship.
ACCELERATION.
The increase of velocity in a moving body by the force of gravity.
A planet is said to be accelerated when its actual diurnal motion exceeds its mean.
In fixed stars the acceleration is the mean time by which they anticipate the sun's diurnal revolution, which is 3' 56" nearly.
--_Acceleration of the moon_ is the increase of her mean motion, caused by a slow change in the excentricity of the terrestrial orbit, and which has sensibly diminished the length of the moon's revolution since the time of the earliest observations.
ACCESS.
Means of entry on board.
ACCESSIBLE.
A place which can be approached by land or sea.
ACCLIVITY.
The upward slope of an inclined cliff.
ACCOIL, TO.
To coil together, by folding round.
(_See_ COIL.
) ACCOLADE [_ad_ and _collum_, Lat.
] The ceremony of dubbing a knight, and the consequent embrace formerly customary on the occasion.
ACCOMMODATIONS.
Cabins fitted for passengers.
--_Accommodation ladder_, a convenient flight of steps fixed at the gangway, by which officers and visitors enter the ship.
--_Accommodation_, the physical application of one thing to another by analogy.
ACCOMPANY, TO.
To sail together; to sail in convoy.
ACCOST, TO.
To pass within hail of a ship; to sail coastwise; to approach, to draw near, or come side by side.
ACCOUNT, GOING UPON.
A phrase for buccaneering.
ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL OF THE NAVY.
Superintendent of pay and general accounts of the navy.
ACCOUNTS.
The several books and registers of stores, provisions, slops, and contingents of a ship or fleet; and they are strictly enjoined to be correct, real, and precise, both in receipt and expenditure.
--_Account sales_, a form of book-keeping in commerce.
ACCOUTREMENT.
An old term for an habiliment, or part of the trappings and furniture of a soldier or knight; now generally used for the belts, pouches, and equipments of soldiers or marines.
ACCUL.
A word used by old voyagers for the end of a deep bay; it is corrupted from _cul de sac_.
ACHATOUR.
The old word for caterer of a mess.
ACHERNAR.
A star of the first magnitude in the constellation Eridanus, called by navigators the "Spring of the River."
It is invisible in our latitude.
({a} Eridani.
) Properly should be _acher nahr_.
ACHIEVEMENT.
A signal exploit; escutcheon; armorial bearings granted for achievement.
ACHROMATIC.
An optical term applied to those telescopes in which aberration of the rays of light, and the colours dependent thereon, are partially corrected.
(_See_ APLANATIC.
) ACHRONICAL.
An ancient term, signifying the rising of the heavenly bodies at sunset, or setting at sunrise.
ACKER.
_See_ EAGRE or AIGRE.
Also, an eddying ripple on the surface of flooded waters.
A tide swelling above another tide, as in the Severn.
(_See_ BORE.
) ACK-MEN, OR ACK-PIRATES.
Fresh-water thieves; those who steal on navigable rivers.
A-COCKBILL (_see_ COCK-BILL).
The anchor hangs by its ring at the cat-head, in a position for dropping.
ACOLYTE.
A term sometimes used to distinguish the smaller component of a double star.
A subordinate officer in the ancient church.
ACON.
A flat-bottomed Mediterranean boat or lump, for carrying cargoes over shoals.
ACQUITTANCE.
A commercial term, more generally called _quittance_ (which see).
ACRE, OR ACRE-FIGHT.
An old duel fought by warriors between the frontiers of England and Scotland, with sword and lance.
This duelling was also called _camp-fight_.
ACROSS THE TIDE.
A ship riding across tide, with the wind in the direction of the tide, would tend to leeward of her anchor; but with a weather tide, or that running against the wind, if the tide be strong, would tend to windward.
A ship under sail should prefer the tack that stems the tide, with the wind _across the stream_, when the anchor is let go.
ACROSTOLIUM.
A buckler, helmet, or other symbolical ornament on the prow of ancient ships; the origin of the modern figure-head.
ACT AND INTENTION.
Must be united in admiralty law.
ACTE.
A peninsula; the term was particularly applied by the ancients to the sea-coast around Mount Athos.
ACT OF COURT.
The decision of the court or judge on the verdict, or the overruling of the court on a point of law.
ACT OF GOD.
This comprehends all sudden accidents arising from physical causes, as distinguished from _human_ agency, such as from lightning, earthquakes, hurricanes, plagues, and epidemic contagion amongst the crew.
For none of these are ship-owners responsible.
ACT OF GRACE.
An act of parliament for a general and free pardon to deserters from the service and others.
ACTING COMMISSION.
When a commissioned officer is invalided, his vacancy is filled up pending the pleasure of the admiralty by an acting order.
But when an officer dies on a station, where the admiralty delegates the power to the admiral commanding in chief, the vacancy is filled by an acting commission.
Thus also rear-admirals now act on acting commissions as vice-admirals during command on their station, but return to their proper position on the navy list when it ceases.
ACTION.
Synonymous with _battle_.
Also a term in mechanics for the effort which one body exerts against another, or the effects resulting therefrom.
--_Action and reaction_, the mutual, successive, contrary impulses of two bodies.
ACTIVE SERVICE.
Duty against an enemy; operations in his presence.
Or in the present day it denotes serving on full-pay, on the active list, in contradistinction to those who are virtually retired, and placed on separate lists.
ACTIVITY.
The virtue of acting.
The sphere of _activity_ is the surrounding space to which the efficacy of a body extends, as the attraction of the magnet.
ACTO, OR ACTON.
A kind of defensive tunic, made of quilted leather, or other strong material, formerly worn under the outer dress, and even under a coat of mail.
ACTUARIAE.
Long light vessels of the ancients, especially contrived for swiftness; propelled both by sails and oars; of the latter never less than twenty.
ACUMBA.
Oakum.
The Anglo-Saxon term for the _hards_, or the coarse part, of flax or unplucked wool.
ACUTE.
Terminating in a point, and opposed to _obtuse_.
An _acute_ angle is less than a right one, or within 90 deg.
