Sailor's Word-book, A - C — Comp - Con
COMMUTE, TO.
To lighten the sentence of a court-martial, on a recommendation of the court to the commander-in-chief.
COMPANION.
The framing and sash-lights upon the quarter-deck or round-house, through which light passes to the cabins and decks below;
and a sort of wooden hood placed over the entrance or staircase of the master's cabin in small ships.
Flush-decked vessels are generally fitted with movable companions, to keep the rain or water from descending, which are unshipped when the capstan is required.
COMPANION-LADDER.
Denotes the ladder by which the officers ascend to, and descend from, the quarter-deck.
COMPANION-WAY.
The staircase, porch, or berthing of the ladder-way to the cabin.
COMPANY.
The whole crew of any ship, including her officers, men, and boys.
In the army, a small body of foot, or subdivision of a regiment, commanded by a captain.
COMPARATIVE RANK.
_See_ RANK.
COMPARISON WATCH.
The job-watch for taking an observation, compared before and after with the chronometer.
COMPARTMENT BULK-HEADS.
Some of the iron ships have adopted the admirable Chinese plan of dividing the hold athwart-ship by strong water-tight bulk-heads, into compartments, so that a leak in any one of them does not communicate with the others--thus strengthening a vessel, besides adding to its security.
Compartment bulk-heads were first directed to be fitted under the superintendence of Commander Belcher in H.
M.
ships _Erebus_ and _Terror_ at Chatham, for Arctic service in 1835. H.
M. S.
_Terror_, Commander Back, was saved entirely owing to this fitment, the after section being full of water all the passage home; and lately the mail packet _Samphire_ was similarly saved.
COMPASANT.
A corruption of _corpo santo_, a ball of electric light observed flickering about the masts, yard-arms, and rigging, during heavy rain, thunder, and lightning.
COMPASS.
An instrument employed by navigators to guide the ship's course at sea.
It consists of a circular box, containing a fly or paper card, which represents the horizon, and is suspended by two concentric rings called gimbals.
The fly is divided into thirty-two equal parts, by lines drawn from the centre to the circumference, called points or rhumbs; the interval between the points is subdivided into 360 degrees--consequently, the distance or angle comprehended between any two rhumbs is equal to 11 degrees and 15 minutes.
The four cardinal points lie opposite to each other; the north and south points form top and bottom, leaving the east on the right hand, and the west on the left; the names of all the inferior points are compounded of these according to their situation.
This card is attached to a magnetic needle, which, carrying the card round with it, points north, excepting for the local annual variation and the deviation caused by the iron in the ship; the angle which the course makes with that meridian is shown by the lubber's point, a dark line inside the box.
(_See_ ADJUSTMENT OF THE COMPASS.
) COMPASS, TO.
To curve; also to obtain one's object.
COMPASSING.
(_See_ COMPASS-TIMBERS.
) COMPASSIONATE ALLOWANCES.
Grants are made on the compassionate fund to the legitimate children of deceased officers, on its being shown to the Admiralty that they deserve them.
COMPASS-SAW.
A narrow saw, which, inserted in a hole bored by a centre-bit, follows out required curves.
COMPASS-TIMBERS.
Such as are curved, crooked, or arched, for ship-building.
COMPENSATION.
If a detained vessel is lost by the negligence and misconduct of the prize-master, compensation must be rendered, and the actual captors are responsible.
The principal being answerable in law for the agent's acts.
COMPENSATOR OF THE COMPASS.
_See_ MAGNETIC COMPENSATOR.
COMPLAIN, TO.
The creaking of masts, or timbers, when over-pressed, without any apparent external defect.
One man threatening to complain of another, is saying that he will report misconduct to the officer in charge of the quarter-deck.
COMPLEMENT.
The proper number of men employed in any ship, either for navigation or battle.
In navigation the complement of the course is what it wants of eight points; of latitude, what it is short of 90 deg.
(_See_ CO-LATITUDE.
) COMPLEMENT OF LONGITUDE.
_See_ SUPPLEMENT OF LONGITUDE.
COMPLETE BOOK.
A book which contains the names and particulars of every person borne for wages on board, as age, place of birth, rating, times of entry and discharge, &c. COMPLIMENT, TO.
To render naval or military honour where due.
COMPO.
The monthly portion of wages paid to the ship's company.
COMPOSITION NAILS.
Those which are made of mixed metal, and which, being largely used for nailing on copper sheathing, are erroneously called _copper nails_.
COMPOUND.
A term used in India for a lawn garden, or inclosed ground round a house.
COMPRADOR [Sp].
A Chinese contractor in shipping concerns, or in purchasing present supplies.
COMPRESS.
A pad of soft linen used by the surgeon for the dressing of a wound.
COMPRESSION OF THE POLES.
The amount of flattening at the polar regions of a planet, by which the polar diameter is less than the equatorial.
COMPRESSOR.
A mechanism generally adopted afloat for facilitating the working of the large guns recently introduced; the gun-carriage is thus compressed to its slide or platform during the recoil, and set free again by the turn of a handle for running up.
It is of various forms;
one of the simpler kind used to be always applied to carronade slides.
COMPRESSOR-STOPPER.
A contrivance for holding the chain-cable by compression.
COMPROMISE.
The mutual agreement of a party or parties at difference, to refer to arbitration, or make an end of the matter.
COMPTROLLER OF THE CUSTOMS.
The officer who controls and has a check on the collectors of customs.
(_See_ CONTROLLER.
) COMPTROLLER OF THE NAVY.
Formerly the chief commissioner of the navy board, at which he presided.
COMRADE.
A barrack term for a fellow-soldier, serving in the same company.
CONCEALMENT, OR SUPPRESSIO VERI.
Consists in the suppression of any fact or circumstance as to the state of the ship, the nature of her employ, and the time of sailing or expected arrival, material to the risk of insurance, and is fatal to the insured.
But it is held immaterial to disclose the secret destination of privateers, the usages of trade, or matters equally open to both parties.
CONCENTRATED FIRE.
The bringing the whole or several guns to bear on a single point.
CONCH.
A large univalve, used as a horn by pilots, fishermen, &c. , in fogs: a _strombus_, _triton_, or sometimes a _murex_.
CONCHS.
A name for the wreckers of the Bahama reefs, in allusion to the shells on those shores.
Though plunder is their object, the _Conchs_ are very serviceable to humanity, and evince both courage and address in saving the lives of the wrecked.
CONCLUDING-LINE.
A small rope hitched to the middle of the steps of the stern-ladders.
Also, a small line leading through the centre of the steps of a Jacob's ladder.
CONDEMNATION.
A captured ship declared by sentence of the admiralty court to be lawful prize.
But the transfer of a prize vessel carried into a neutral port, and sold without a condemnation, or the authority of any judicial proceedings, is null and void.
CONDEMNED.
Unserviceable, as bad provisions, old stores, &c. CONDENSER.
The chamber of a marine engine, where the steam, after having performed its duty, is instantly reduced to water.
Sailing ships frequently carry condensers, for the purpose of making fresh from salt water.
CONDER.
A watcher of fishes, the same as balker, huer, and olpis.
See statute (1 Jac.
cap.
23) relating to his employment, which was to give notice to the fishermen from an eminence which way the herring shoals were going.
CONDITIONS.
The terms of surrender.
CONDUCT-LIST.
A roll to accompany the tickets of all persons sent to a hospital for medical treatment; it details their names, numbers on the ship's books, the date of their being sent, and the nature of their ailment.
CONDUCT-MONEY.
A sum advanced to defray the travelling expenses of volunteers, and of soldiers and sailors to their quarters and ships.
(_See_ SAFE-CONDUCT.
) CONDUCTOR.
A thick metal wire, generally of copper, extending from above the main truck downwards into the water, or in the form of a chain with long links.
Its use is to defend the ship from the effects of lightning, by conveying the electric fluid into the sea.
CONE.
A solid figure having a circle for its base, and produced by the entire revolution of a right-angled triangle about its perpendicular side, which is termed the axis of the cone.
CONE-BUOY.
_See_ CAN-BUOYS.
CONEY-FISH.
A name of the burbot.
CONFIGURATION.
The relative positions of celestial bodies, as for instance those of Jupiter's satellites, with respect to the primary at any one time.
CONFINEMENT.
Inflicted restraint; an arrest.
CONFIRMED RANK.
When an officer is placed in a vacancy by "acting order," he only holds temporary rank until "confirmed" therein by the Admiralty.
An acting order given by competent authority is not disturbed by any casual superior.
CONFLICT.
An indecisive action.
CONFLUENTS.
Those streams which join and flow together.
The confluence is the point of junction of an affluent river with its recipient.
CONGER.
A large species of sea-eel, furnishing a somewhat vile viand, but eatable when strongly curried.
Not at all despised by the people of Cornwall in "fishy pie."
CONGREVE-ROCKET.
A very powerful form of rocket, invented by the late Sir William Congreve, R. A.
, and intended to do the work of artillery without the inconvenience of its weight.
In its present form, however, the rocket is so uncertain, that it is in little favour save for exceptional occasions.
CONICAL TOPS OF MOUNTAINS not unfrequently indicate their nature: the truncated sugar-loaf form is generally assumed by volcanoes, though the same is occasionally met with in other mountains.
CONIC SECTIONS.
The curved lines and plane figures which are produced by the intersection of a plane with a cone.
CONJEE.
Gruel made of rice.
CONJUGATE AXIS.
The secondary diameter of an ellipse, perpendicular to the transverse axis.
CONJUNCTION, in nautical astronomy, is when two bodies have the same longitude or right ascension.
CONN, CON, OR CUN, as pronounced by seamen.
This word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _conne_, _connan_, to know, or be skilful.
The pilot of old was skillful, and later the master was selected to conn the ship in action, that is, direct the helmsman.
The quarter-master during ordinary watches conns the ship, and stands beside the wheel at the conn, unless close-hauled, when his station is at the weather-side, where he can see the weather-leeches of the sails.
CONNECTING-ROD.
In the marine engine, the part which connects the side-levers and the crank together.
CONNINGS.
Reckonings.
CONQUER, TO.
To overcome decidedly.
CONSCRIPTION.
Not only furnishes conscripts for the French army, but also levies a number of men who are compelled to serve afloat.
CONSECRATION OF COLOURS.
A rite practised in the army, but not in the navy.
CONSIGN, TO.
To send a consignment of goods to an agent or factor for sale or disposal.
CONSIGNEE.
The party to whose care a ship or a consignment of goods is intrusted.
CONSIGNMENT.
Goods assigned from beyond sea, or elsewhere, to a factor.
CONSOLE-BRACKET.
A light piece of ornament at the fore-part of the quarter-gallery, otherwise called a _canting-livre_.
CONSORT.
Any vessel keeping company with another.
--_In consort_, ships sailing together in partnership.
CONSORTSHIP.
The practice of two or more ships agreeing to join in adventure, under which a strict division of all prizes must be made.
(_See_ TON FOR TON.
) CONSTRUCTION.
In naval architecture, is to give the ship such a form as may be most suitable for the service for which she is designed.
In navigation, it is the method of ascertaining a ship's course by trigonometrical diagrams.
(_See_ INSPECTION.
) CONSTRUCTIVE TOTAL LOSS.
When the repair of damage sustained by the perils of the sea would cost more than the ship would be worth after being repaired.
CONSUL.
An officer established by a commission from the crown, in all foreign countries of any considerable trade, to facilitate business, and represent the merchants of his nation.
They take rank with captains, but are to wait on them if a boat be sent.
Commanders wait on consuls, but vice-consuls wait on commanders (_in Etiquette_).
Ministers and _charges d'affaires_ retire in case of hostilities, but consuls are permitted to remain to watch the interests of their countrymen.
When commerce began to flourish in modern Europe, occasion soon arose for the institution of a kind of court-merchant, to determine commercial affairs in a summary way.
Their authority depends very much on their commission, and on the words of the treaty on which it is founded.
The consuls are to take care of the affairs of the trade, and of the rights, interests, and privileges of their countrymen in foreign ports.
Not being public ministers, they are liable to the _lex loci_ both civil and criminal, and their exemption from certain taxes depends upon treaty and custom.
CONTACT.
Brought in contact with, as touching the sides of a ship.
In astronomy, bringing a reflected body, as the sun, in contact with the moon or with a star.
(_See_ LUNAR DISTANCES, SEXTANT, &c. ) CONTENTS.
A document which the master of a merchantman must deliver to the custom-house searcher, before he can clear outwards; it describes the vessel's destination, cargo, and all necessary particulars.
CONTINENT.
In geography, a large extent of land which is not entirely surrounded by water, or separated from other lands by the sea, as Europe, Asia, and Africa.
It is also used in contradistinction to _island_, though America seems insulated.
CONTINGENT.
The quota of armed men, or pecuniary subsidy, which one state gives to another.
Also, certain allowances made to commanding officers to defray necessary expenses.
CONTINUED LINES.
In field-works, means a succession of fronts without any interruption, save the necessary passages; differing thus from _interrupted lines_.
CONTINUOUS SERVICE MEN.
Those seamen who, having entered for a period, on being paid off, are permitted to have leave, and return to the flag-ship at the port for general service.
CONT-LINE.
The space between the bilges of two casks stowed side by side.
CONTOUR.
The sweep of a ship's shape.
CONTRABAND.
The ship is involved in the legal fate of the cargo; the master should therefore be careful not to take any goods on board without all custom-house duties being paid up, and see that they be not prohibited by parliament or public proclamation.
Contraband is simply defined, "merchandise forbidden by the law of nations to be supplied to an enemy;" but it affords fat dodges to the admiralty court sharks.
CONTRABAND OF WAR.
Arms, ammunition, and all stores which may aid hostilities; masts, ship-timber going to an enemy's port, hemp, provisions, and even money under stipulations, pitch and tar, sail-cloth.
They must, however, be taken _in delicto_, in the actual prosecution of a voyage to the enemy's port.
CONTRACT OF AFFREIGHTMENT.
The agreement for the letting to freight the whole or any part of a vessel for one or more voyages; the _charter-party_.
CONTRACT TICKET.
A printed form of agreement with every passenger in a passenger-ship, prescribed by the legislature.
CONTRARY.
The wind when opposed to a vessel's course.
"Cruel was the stately ship that bore her love from Mary, And cruel was the fair wind that wouldn't blow contrary."
CONTRAVALLATION, LINES OF.
Continuous lines of intrenchment round the besieged fortress, and fronting towards it, to guard against any sorties from the place.
(_See_ CIRCUMVALLATION.
) CONTRIBUTION.
Money paid in order to save a place from being plundered by a hostile force.
(_See_ RANSOM.
) Also, a sum raised among merchants, where goods have been thrown overboard in stress of weather, towards the loss of the owners thereof.
CONTROLLER.
Differs from _comptroller_, which applies chiefly to the duties of an _accompt_.
But the controller of the navy controls naval matters in ship-building, fitting, &c. There is also the controller of victualling, and the controller-general of the coast-guard.
CONTUMACY.
The not appearing to the three calls of the admiralty court, after the allegation has been presented to the judge, with a schedule of expenses to be taxed, and an oath of their necessity.
CONVALESCENT.
Those men who are recovering health, but not sufficiently recovered to perform their duties, are reported by the surgeon "convalescent."
Convalescents are _amused_ by picking oakum!
CONVENIENT PORT.
A general law-term in cases of capture, within a certain latitude of discretion; a place where a vessel can lie in safety, and holding ready communication with the tribunals which have to decide the question of capture.
CONVENTION.
An agreement made between hostile troops, for the evacuation of a post, or the suspension of hostilities.
CONVERGENT.
In geography, a stream which comes into another stream, but whose course is unknown, is simply a convergent.
CONVERSION.
Reducing a vessel by a deck, thereby converting a line-of-battle ship into a frigate, or a crank three-decker into a good two-decker; or a serviceable vessel into a hulk, resembling a prison or dungeon, internally and externally, as much as possible.
CONVERSION OF STORES.
Adapting the sails, ropes, or timbers from one purpose to another, with the least possible waste.
CONVEXITY.
The curved limb of the moon; an outward curve.
CONVICT-SHIP.
A vessel appropriated to the convicts of a dockyard; also one hired to carry out convicts to their destination.
CONVOY.
A fleet of merchant ships similarly bound, protected by an armed force.
Also, the ship or ships appointed to conduct and defend them on their passage.
Also, a guard of troops to escort a supply of stores to a detached force.
CONVOY-INSTRUCTIONS.
The printed regulations supplied by the senior officer to each ship of the convoy.
