MATÉ en caravelle, fitted with pole top-masts.
Maté en chandelier, masted upright. Expressed of a ship whose masts are stayed so as neither to hang forward or aft.
Maté en frégate, the bent or inclination of the masts, when they rake forward, or stoop towards the head.
Maté en fourche, or à corne, masted for a boom and gaff; as a schooner or sloop.
Maté en galere, to be masted as a galley, with only two masts without any top-mast.
Maté en semaque, masted for a sprit which crosses the sail diagonally.
MATELOT, a sailor, or mariner; a man before the mast.
MATELOTAGE, the hire, wages, or pay of seamen.
Il est un bon Matelot, he is an able seaman.
Vaisseau Matelot, a good company-keeper, or a ship that sails well, and keeps her station in a fleet; also the ships, in a fleet of men of war, which are appointed seconds to the admirals or commanding officers.
MATELOTS-gardiens, the ordinary-men of a royal dock-yard, and its harbour or dock, including also the carpenters and calkers appointed to watch in the ships of war.
MATER, to fix or place the masts of a ship.
MATEREAU, a small mast, or end of a mast.
MATEUR, a mast-maker. See Maître-mateur.
MATURE, the art of masting ships; also a general name for the masts themselves.
La Mature, the mast-shed, or the place where the masts are made.
MAY, a sort of trough bored full of holes, wherein to drain cordage, when it is newly tarred.
MAUGERES, or Mauges, the scupper-holes.
MECHE, the match by which a cannon is fired.
Meche de cabestan, the middle-piece, or body of the capstern.
Meche de mât, the main or middle-piece of a lower-mast, which is composed of several pieces, as usual in many ships of war.
Meche du gouvernail, the principal piece of a rudder.
Meche d’une corde, the middle strand of a four stranded rope.
MEMBRES de vaisseau, the frames of a ship, or the pieces of which the ribs are composed, as floor-timbers, top-timbers, and futtocks.
MER, the sea; whence,
Pleine-Mer, full sea.
Haute-Mer, high water. See Marée.
Mer sans fond, a part of the sea where there is no anchoring-ground.
La Mer à perdu, the sea is fallen, it is falling-water.
La Mer brise, the sea breaks, or foams, by striking a rock or shore.
La Mer brûle, the sea burns, as in a dark and tempestuous night.
La Mer est courte, the sea runs short, broken, or interrupted.
La Mer est longue, the sea runs long and steddy, or without breaking.
La Mer étale, the sea is smooth, as in a calm.
La Mer mugit, the sea roars, as being turbulent.
La Mer rapporte, the spring-tides have begun, or commenced.
La Mer roule, the sea rolls.
La Mer se creuse, the sea rises and runs cross.
La Mer va chercher le vent, the wind rises against the sea.
Il y à de la Mer, the sea runs high. When the violence of the waves are abated, they say, in a contrary sense, Il n’y à plus de Mer.
Jetter à la Mer, to throw overboard.
Mettre à la Mer, or faire voiles, to put to sea, or set sail.
Tenir la Mer, to keep the sea, or hold out in the offing.
Tirer à la Mer. See Bouter au large.
Recevoir un coup de Mer, to ship a sea.
MERLIN, marline, or merline.
MERLINER une voile, to marle a sail to the foot-rope.
Arbre de MESTRE, the main-mast of a row-galley.
METTRE à bord, to bring, or carry aboard.
Mettre à la voile, to get under sail, to set sail.
Mettre un navire en rade, to carry a ship into any road.
Mettre à terre, to carry, or put ashore, to disembark.
Mettre la grande voile à l’échelle, to get the main-tack down with a passaree.
Mettre les basses voiles sur les cargues, to haul up the courses in the brails.
Mettre les voiles dedans, Mettre à sec, ou Mettre à mâts & à cordes, to take in, furl, or hand all the sails.
Mettre le linguet, to paul the capstern, or put in the paul.
Mettre un matelot à terre, to set ashore one of the crew, to turn adrift or maroon a sailor.
Mettre un ancre en place, to stow an anchor on the bow.
MEURTRIERES, ou Jalousies, the loop-holes in a ship’s sides or bulk-heads, through which they can fire musquetry on the enemy.
MI-mat. See Hunier.
MINOT, boute-dehors, defense, the davit of a ship: also a fire-boom.
MINUTE, a nautical, or astronomical mile.
MIRE & coins de Mire, the coins, or aiming wedges of a cannon.
Prendre sa Mire, to take aim with a cannon, to level, or point a cannon, or other fire-arm, to its object.
MIRER, to loom, or appear indistinctly, as the land under a cloud on the sea-coast.
MIROIR. See Ecusson.
MISAINE, the fore-mast.
Misaine, or voile de Misaine, the fore-sail.
MITRAILLES, langrage shot, or small pieces of iron, or old nails, with which cannon are sometimes charged in a sea-fight.
MODELE. See Gabarit.
MOIS de gages, the monthly pay, or wages of a sailor.
MOLE de port, a pier, or mole-head, raised across the mouth of a harbour, to break off the force of the sea.
MOLER en pouppe, ou poger, to bear away and bring the wind aft, in the dialect of Provence and Italy.
MOLLIR, une corde, to slacken, douse, or ease off a taught rope.
MONSON, or Mouson, a monsoon, or trade-wind of India.
MONTANS de poulaine, the timbers of the head, or upright rails, which are usually ornamented with sculpture.
Montans de voute, the stern-timbers.
Le MONTANT de l’eau, or le flot, flowing water, the flood tide.
MONTÉ, mounted, or equipped with a certain number of guns, or men; as,
Vaisseau Monté de 50 ou 60 canons, a ship mounting 50 or 60 guns.
Vaisseau Monté de trois cent hommes, a ship manned with three hundred hands, or whose complement consists of three hundred.
Monter le gouvernail, to hang the rudder.
Monter au vent, to spring the luff, or haul the wind.
MONTURE, the arming a ship for war, or mounting her with cannon, and other fire-arms, and manning her.
MOQUE, a heart, or dead-eye of a stay.
Moque de civadiere, a sprit-sail-sheet block.
Moque de trélingage, the dead-eye of a crow-foot.
MORDRE, to bite, or hold fast; understood of the claw or flook of an anchor which is sunk in the ground.
MORNE, a name given in America to a cape or promontory.
MORTAISE, a hole or mortise, cut to receive the end of a piece of timber, called the tenant or tenon.
Mortaise de gouvernail, the hole in the rudder-head which contains the tiller.
Mortaise de poulie, the channel, or vacant space in a block formed to contain the sheave.
Mortaise du mât de hune, the fid-hole of a top-mast.
MORTE-d’eau, or Morte-eau, nip tides, or neap-tides; also dead low water.
MORTIER, a mortar, employed to throw bombs or carcases from a ketch.
MOUFFLE de poulie, the shell of a block. See Arcasse.
MOUILLAGE, anchoring-ground.
Mauvais Mouillage, foul ground, bad anchor-ground, or foul bottom.
MOUILLE, let go the anchor! the order to let the anchor fall from the cat-head to the bottom.
Bien-Mouillé, well moored, or moored in a good birth and anchor-ground.
Vaisseau Mouillé à un ancre de flot, & un ancre de jussant, a ship moored with one anchor to the flood, and another to the ebb.
Vaisseau Mouillé entre vent & marée, a ship moored between wind and tide.
MOUILLER, or Mouiller l’ancre, to let go the anchor, to come to an anchor, or simply, to anchor.
Mouiller à la voile, to let go the anchor whilst the sails are yet abroad.
Mouiller en croupiére, to moor with a spring upon the cable, in order to cannonade a fort, &c.
Mouiller en patte d’oie, to moor with three anchors a-head, equally distant from each other, and appearing like the foot of a goose.
Mouiller l’ancre de touei, to moor with the boat, or to carry out an anchor.
Mouiller les voiles, to wet the sails; a practice usual in light winds.
Mouiller par la quille, an ironical expression to signify that a ship is fast a-ground: Our seamen then say, every nail in her bottom is an anchor.
MOULINET, a small windlass, as that of a long-boat, or lanch.
Moulinet à bittord, a spun-yarn-winch.
MOURGON, a diver, in the dialect of Provence. See Plongeur.
MOUSSE, garçon be bord, a ship-boy; one of the prentices, or officers servants.
MOUTONNER, to foam; expressed of the waves in a tempest or turbulent sea.
MOYEN-parallel, the middle latitude in navigation, or the parallel that holds the middle place between the latitude departed from, and the latitude arrived in.
MULET, a sort of Portuguese vessel with three masts, and lateen sails.
MUNITIONAIRE, an agent-victualler, or a contractor for sea provisions.
Commis du Munitionaire. See Commis.
N.
NACELLE, a skiff, or small boat, without masts or sails, used to pass a river.
NAGE, the row-lock of a boat. See also Autarelle.
Nage à bord, come aboard with the boat! the order given to the rowers in the longboat, to bring her aboard, or along-side.
Nage à faire abattre, pull to leeward! the order to the rowers in a boat, to tow the ship’s head to leeward.
Nage au vent, pull to windward, or tow the ship to windward!
Nage de force, pull chearly in the boat! hooroa in the boat!
Nage qui est paré, pull with the oars that are shipped.
Nage sec, row dry! the order to row without wetting the passengers.
Nage stribord, & scie bas-bord, pull the starboard-oars, and hold water with the larboard oars! the order given to turn the boat with her head to the left.
Nager, Ramer, or Voguer, to row, or pull with the oars, in a boat or small vessel.
Nager à sec, to touch the shore with the oars in rowing.
Nager tant d’avirons par bande, to row so many oars on a side.
Nager de bout, to row standing, or with the face towards the boat’s head.
Nager en arriere, to back a-stern with the oars.
Nager la chaloupe à bord, to row the long-boat aboard.
NATES, mats used to line the sail-room, bread-room, or the hold when a ship is laden with corn, to preserve the contents.
NAVETTE, a small Indian vessel.
NAUFRAGE, shipwreck.
Naufragé, shipwrecked.
NAVIGABLE, navigable, capable of navigation.
NAVIGATEUR, a mariner, or seaman.
NAVIGATION, the theory and practice of navigation.
Navigation impropre, coasting, or sailing along shore.
Navigation propre, the art of sailing by the laws of trigonometry. See Pilotage.
NAVIGER, to sail, or direct a ship’s course at sea.
Naviger par terre, or dans le terre, to be ashore by the dead-reckoning; to be a-head of the ship by estimation.
Naviger par un grand cercle, to sail upon the arch of a great circle.
NAVIRE, a ship. See also Vaisseau.
Beau Navire en rade, a good roader.
NEUVE, a sort of small flight, used by the Dutch in the herring-fishery, and resembling a buss. See Buche.
NEZ, the nose, beak, or head of a ship.
NOCHER, a name formerly given to a pilot.
NOCTURLABE, a nocturnal.
NOIALE. See Toile.
NOIÉ, an epithet which answers to clouded, or indistinct; being expressed of an horizon, when it cannot be discovered by an observer, when taking an altitude.
NOIRCIR, to blacken, or daub with a mixture of tar and lamp-black; as the wales and black-strakes of a ship, the yards, cutwater, &c.
NOLIS, or Nolissement, a name given in Provence and the Levant to the freight or cargo of a ship.
NON-vue, no sight of, out of sight; a phrase which implies the fog or haze of the weather, that prevents a ship from discovering contiguous objects, as the shore, rocks, &c.
NORD, the north, or north point.
Nord-est, the north-east.
Nord-est quart à l’est, north-east by east.
Nord-ester, to vary towards the east; expressed of the east-variation of the compass.
Nord-ouester, to decline towards the west; spoken also of the magnetical needle.
NOYALE. See Noiale.
NOYÉ. See Noié.
NUAISON, a trade-wind, or the period of a monsoon.
O.
OCCIDENT, or Ouest, the west.
OCEAN, a name generally given in France, to the Western, or Atlantic Ocean.
OCTANT, the octant, or quadrant invented by Hadley.
OEIL, Yeux, ou Trous, the holes in the clews of a sprit-sail to let out the water which falls into its cavity when the ship pitches.
Oeil de bœuf. See Yeux.
Oeil de bouc, a water-gall, or weather-gall.
Oeil de pie, or Yeux de pie, the eye-let holes wrought in the reef of a sail, through which the points are reeved.
Oeil de roue, the hole in the truck, or wheel of a gun-carriage, through which the axle passes.
OEILLET, an eye-splice on the end of any rope.
Oeillet d’étai, the eye of a stay which goes over the mast-head.
OEILLETS de la tournevire, the eyes in the two ends of a voyal, which are lashed together with a laniard when the voyal is brought to the capstern.
OEILS, the eyes, or hauses of a ship. See Ecubiers.
OEUVRE-mortes, the dead-work of a ship, or all that part which is above water, comprehending the fore-castle, quarter deck, and poop.
Oeuvre vives, the quick-work, or all that part of a ship which is under water.
OEUVRES de marée, the graving, calking, or repairing a ship’s bottom, when, having been laid on the ground, the tide has ebbed from her, so as to leave the bottom dry.
OFFICIERS bleu. See Bleu.
Officiers-généraux, the general officers in the French navy, as the admirals, vice-admirals, rear admirals, and commodores.
Officiers de port, the officers of a dock-yard, appointed to see that the shipping are properly moored, masted, rigged, repaired, calked, and otherwise equipped with whatever is necessary, according to their destination.
Officiers de santé, officers who superintend the affairs of the quarantine in a port.
Officiers-majors, the superior, or commissioned officers in a ship of war, as the captain, lieutenants, and ensign.
Officiers-mariniers, the mechanical or warrant-officers in a ship of war, of which the principal are, the master, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, and sail-maker; as distinguished from the military officers, called Officiers-majors. See the preceding article.
O! du navire, hola! hoa the ship, a hoay! the manner of hailing or calling to a ship whose name is not known.
O! du Soleil Royal hola! hoa, the Royal Sun ahoay!
O! d’en haut, yoa-hoa, aloft there! mast-head there! &c. the cry from the deck to those who are aloft, to attend to some order.
O! hisse, O! hale, O! saille, O! ride, the method of singing out, as a signal to hoist, haul, or rouse together, on a tackle or rope.
OINT, stuff, tallow, or such like material, used to pay the masts, tyes of the top-sail-yards, &c.
OLOFÉE, the act of spring the luff, or of hauling close upon a wind.
ORAGE. See Tempete.
ORDRE de bataille, the line or order of battle in a naval engagement.
Ordre de marche, the order of sailing.
Ordre de retraite, the order of retreat.
ORDRES des vaisseaux, the classes into which each rate of ships is subdivided, in the French navy. See Rang.
OREILLE de lievre, a three-sided, or triangular sail; as the stay-sails.
OREILLES de l’ancre, the broad parts of the fluke of an anchor.
ORGANEAU, the ring of an anchor. See Arganeau.
ORGUES, an organ, or machine, sometimes used in a sea-fight by privateers: it contains several barrels of musketoons, or small-arms, fixed upon one stock, so as to be all fired together.
ORIENTER les voiles, to trim the sails, or place them in the most advantageous manner, to receive the wind, and accelerate the ship’s course.
ORIN, the buoy-rope of an anchor.
ORSE, the larboard-side, in the dialect of Provence. Also the order to luff.
ORSER, to row against the wind, or row head-to-wind. This is likewise the language of the gallies.
ORTODROMIE, a course which lies upon a meridian or parallel.
OSSEC, the water-way, or well-room of a boat.
OSSIERES. See Haussieres.
OUAGE, the track or wake of a ship. See Houaiche.
Tirer en OUAICHE, to take a ship in tow a-stern when she is disabled.
Trainer un pavillon ennemi en Ouaiche, to drag the colours or ensign of an enemy after the ship, so as to sweep the water therewith, as a sign of victory.
OVERLANDRES, small vessels navigated on the Rhine and Meuse.
OUEST, or Occident, the west point of the compass or horizon.
OUEST-nord-ouest, &c. See Rose de vents.
OURAGAN, an hurricane.
OUVERT, etre ouvert, to have any object open in sailing past it; or to be opposite to any place, as a road, the entrance of a harbour, or river, &c.
OUVERTURE, an opening, or valley between two hills, beheld from the sea, and serving frequently as a land-mark.
OUVRIERS, the artificers, &c. in a dock-yard; or riggers of a ship.
OUVRIR, to open, or discover two objects separately at sea, when sailing at some distance from them.
P.
PACFI, ou Pafi, le grand Pacfi, the main-course, or main-sail.
Le petit Pacfi, ou Pacfi de bourcet, the fore-course or fore-sail.
Etre aux deux PACFIS, to be under the courses.
PACIFIER, to become calm; also to fall, or grow smooth, when spoken of the sea.
PAGAIE, the paddle of a canoe.
PAGE de la chambre du capitaine, the cabin-boy.
PAGES. See Mousses & garçons.
PAILLES de bittes, long iron bolts thrust into holes in the bits, to keep the cable from starting off.
PAILLOT, the steward-room in a row-galley.
PAIS somme, a shoal or shallow.
PALAMANTE, a general name given to the oars of a row-galley; which are forty feet and six inches in length.
PALAN, a tackle of any kind. See Itaque and Garant.
Palan à caliorne, a three-fold tackle. See Caliorne.
Palan à candelette. See Candelette.
Palan d’amure, a tack-tackle.
Palan d’etai, a stay-tackle.
Palan de misaine, the fore-tackle.
Grand Palan, the main tackle.
PALANQUE, the order to hoist, bowce, or set taught upon a tackle.
PALANQUER, to hoist, or bowce upon a tackle.
PALANQUIN, a jigger-tackle, tail-tackle, or burton.
PALANQUINS de ris, the reef-tackles.
Palanquins simples de racage, the nave-lines.
PALANS de bout, the sprit-sail haliards.
Palans de canon. See Drosse de canon, & Palan de retraite.
Palans de retraite, the relieving tackle, &c. of the ordnance.
PALARDEAUX, plugs made to stop holes in any part of a ship; as hause-plugs, shot-plugs, &c.
PALE, or Palme, the blade or wash of an oar.
PALÉAGE, the act of discharging any thing with shovels, baskets, &c. as corn, salt, or such like material; for which employment the ship’s crew can demand no additional pay. See also Maneage.
En PANNE, lying-by, or lying-to with some of the sails aback.
Mettre en Panne, to lay a ship to, or turn the head to windward, in order to lie by with some of the sails laid to the mast.
PANNEAU, a scuttle, or cover of any hatchway in the deck.
Panneau à boîte, the cover of a scuttle, with a border round its edge.
Panneau à vassole, a great hatch, without a border.
Le grand Panneau, the main hatch.
PANTAQUIERES, or Pantocheres, the cat-harpings, and crane lines of the shrouds.
En PANTENNE, fluttering or shivering in great disorder; expressed of the sails, when out of trim, in a storm.
Amener les voiles en Pantenne, to haul down the sails with the utmost expedition; as in a squall of wind.
PANTOIRES, pendants on the mast-heads or yard-arms, wherein to hook preventer-shrouds, or yard-tackles.
PAPIERS & enseignemens, the papers of a ship, comprehending the bills of lading, manifest, coquets, &c.
PAQUE-BOT, or Paquet-bot, a packet-boat, or packet-vessel; as those which pass between Dover and Calais, &c.
Faire la PARADE, to dress a ship, or to adorn her with a number of flags, pendants, and other colours, which are displayed from different parts of the masts, yards, and rigging.
PARADIS, or Bassin, the basin of a dock, or an inner harbour.
PARAGE, a space of the sea appointed to cruise, or rendezvous in; also a part of the sea near any coast.
Vaisseau mouillé en Parage, a ship anchored in an open road, or in the offing.
PARC, an inclosure for containing the magazines and store-houses in a royal dock-yard.
Parc dans un vaisseau, a cot or pen, wherein cattle are inclosed in a ship.
PARCLOSSES, limber-boards.
PARCOURIR les coutures, to survey or examine the seams of a ship’s sides or decks, and caulk where it is found necessary.
PARÉ, ready, clear, or prepared for any thing.
Pare à virer, see all clear to go about! the order to prepare for tacking.
PAREAU, or Parre, a sort of large bark in the Indies, whose head and stern are exactly alike, so that the rudder may be hung at either end.
PARER un cap, to double a cape. See Doubler.
Parer un ancre, to prepare the anchor for letting it go.
Se Parer, to clear for action, to prepare for battle.
PARFUMER un vaisseau, to smoke a ship, and sluice her with vinegar between decks, in order to purify her, and expel the putrified air.
PARQUET, a shot-locker on the deck; also a place where shot are kept on a gun-wharf. See Epitié.
PARTAGER le vent, to share the wind with some other ship, or hold way with her, without gaining or losing ground, or without weathering, or falling to leeward.
PARTANCE, the time of departing, or sailing from a place; also a place from whence a ship departs.
Coup de Partance, a signal-gun for sailing.
Banniere de Partance, the signal displayed for sailing.
PAS, a strait or narrow channel, as
Pas de Calais, the Streights of Dover.
PASSAGERS, the passengers of a ship.
PASSE, a canal, channel, or small streight.
Passe-port, a sea-pass or passport. See Congé.
PASSER, to perish, or be lost at sea; as by over-setting, or foundering.
Passer au vent d’un vaisseau, to pass to windward, or gain the wind of another ship.
Passer sous le beaupré, to pass under the bowsprit. This phrase, which is usual amongst English as well as French seamen, implies to go a-head of, or before a ship, and cross her course.
Passe-vogue, the effort of rowing briskly, or very hard.
Passe-volant, a false muster on the ship’s books; also a wooden gun, which may terrify a ship at a distance. See Fausses-Lances.
PATACHE, an armed tender, or vessel which attends a ship of war or fleet; also a packet-boat.
Patache d’avis, an advice-boat. See Frégate d’avis.
PATARAS, a preventer-shroud; also a spare-shroud, to be hooked on occasionally.
PATARASSE, a calking iron.
PATRON, the master or commander of a merchant-ship, or boat, in the dialect of Provence.
Patron de chaloupe, the cockswain, or coxen, of a long-boat.
PATTE d’oie. See Mouiller en patte d’oie.
Pattes d’ancre, the flukes of an anchor.
PATTES d’anspects, the claws of a gunner’s handspike.
Pattes de bouline, the bowline bridles.
Pattes de voiles, the tabling of the sails at their edges or bolt-ropes.
PAVESADE, a quarter-cloth, or waist-cloth. See Bastingage.
PAVILLON, the flag of a ship. Also a general name for colours.
Pavillon de beaupré, the jack.
Pavillon de chaloupe, the flag carried in a barge or long-boat, when a superior officer is aboard.
Pavillon de combat, the signal for engagement.
Pavillon de conseil, the signal for a general council.
Pavillon de pouppe, or enseigne de pouppe, a ship’s ensign.
Pavillon en Berne. See Berne.
Baton de Pavillon, the ensign staff, flag-staff, or jack-staff.
Vaisseau Pavillon, or simply, Pavillon, the flag-ship.
Amener le Pavillon, to strike the flag or colours.
Etre sous un tel Pavillon, to be under such a flag, or commanding officer.
Faire Pavillon blanc, to display a flag of truce.
PAUMET, a sail-maker’s palm.
PAVOIS, or rather Pavesade. See Pavesade and Bastingage.
PAVOISER, to spread the waist-cloths.
PAUSES, a sort of long and wide boats used to embark merchandise at Archangel, in Moscovy.
PECHER un ancre, to hook, and heave up from the bottom, another anchor, with that of the ship, when several anchors lie near to each other, as in a common road.
PEDAGNE, or Pedagnon, the stretchers of a row-galley. See also Banquettes.
PELLES, corn shovels, or ballast-shovels, used in trimming a ship’s hold.
PENDANT, or Flamme. See Flamme.
PENDEUR, or Pendour, the pendant of any tackle, runner, &c.
PENDOUR de caliorne, the winding tackle-pendant.
PENDOURS de balancines, the spans of the lifts.
Pendours de bras, the brace-pendants at the yard-arms.
PENES, pitch-mops. See Baton à vadel.
PENNE, the peek of a mizen, or lateen sail.
PENTURE, a googing, or the eye of a clamp, fitted to receive a goose-neck, or some bolt of iron which turns therein like a pivot in its socket.
PENTURES de gouvernail, the googings of the rudder. See Ferrure de gouvernail.
PEOTE, a light nimble Venetian wherry, used frequently as an advice-boat, to carry expresses.
PERCEINTES. See Préceintes.
PERCEUR, a person who bores the holes for the tree-nails, or bolts, in a ship’s-side.
PERROQUET, a top gallant-sail.
Mettre les PERROQUETS en banniere, to let fly the top-gallant sheets, as a particular signal to some ship in company.
Perroquets volans, flying-top-gallant-sails.
PERRUCHE, the mizen-top-gallant-sail.
PERTUIS, a dam, or channel of water, confined by a sluice.
PERTUISANE, a sort of pike or halbert, used to defend a ship from being boarded.
PESER, to hang upon, or haul downward on any rope over-head.
Peser sur un levier, to heave, or purchase with a handspike.
PHAIOFNÉE, a sort of Japonese barge, or yacht, to carry the nobility, &c.
PHARE, or tour à feu, a watch-tower, or light-house on the sea-coast.
PIC à pic sur son ancre, close a peek upon the anchor.
PIECE, a cannon. See Canon.
Piece de charpente, a general name for any pieces of timber properly hewed, to be used in the construction of a ship.
PIECES de chasse, the chase-guns, or head-chases.
PIED de vent, a clear spot of the sky, appearing under a cloud to windward.
Pied-marin, sea shoes; expressed of a man who has got sea-legs, or who treads sure and firm at sea, as being accustomed thereto.
PIÉDROITS, the Samson’s posts, erected in the hold from the kelson to the lower-deck hatchways, and notched with steps.
PIERRIER, a petrero, or small cannon, sometimes used in sea-fights, and generally charged with musquet-shot, or swivel balls.
PIÉTER le gouvernail, to mark the stern-post with feet, in order to discover how many feet of water the ship draws abaft.
PILIERS de bittes, the bitts of a ship.
PILLAGE, the plunder taken from any enemy after engagement.
PILON, or petit écore, a shore which is steep to, and but little raised above the sea.
PILOTAGE, the navigating, conducting, or steering of a ship.
PILOTE, a sea-pilot, or the conductor of a ship’s course by the art of navigation; also the master of a ship. See Hauturier.
Pilote côtier, or Pilote de havre, a coasting, or harbour pilot. See Lamaneur.
Pilote hardie, a daring or enterprising pilot.
PILOTER, to pilot a ship into, or out of, a harbour or river.
PINASSE, a square-sterned vessel, called in England a bark.
Pinasse de Biscaye, a Biscayan barca-longo.
PINCEAU à goudronner, a tar-brush.
PINCES de bois, a sort of curved handspikes. See Renard.
PINCER le vent. See Aller au plus pres.
PINNULE, the sight vanes of any instrument, for observing or setting a distant object at sea.
PINQUE, a pink, or narrow-sterned ship, with a flat floor.
PIPRIS, a sort of canoe used by the negroes in Guinea, and the Cape de Verds.
PIRATE, a pirate, or free-booter; see also Corsaire.
PIRATER, to rob at sea; to infest or scour the sea as a pirate.
PIROGUE, an American canoe.
PISTON, the spear-box of a pump.
PITONS à boucles. See Cheville à boucles.
PIVOT, an iron point which turns in a socket; as the foot of the capstern.
PIVOT de boussoule, the brass center-pin of the compass.
PLAGE, a shallow or flat shore, without any capes or head-lands to form a road or place of safety for shipping at anchor.
PLAIN, a flat, or shoal; whence,
Aller au Plain, to run ashore.
PLANCHE, the gang-board of a boat.
Mets la Planche, the order to put out the gang-board from the boat’s stern to the shore, to walk out upon.
PLAQUES de plomb, sheet lead, used for several purposes aboard-ship.
PLAT de la varangue, the flat or horizontal part of a floor-timber.
Plat de l’equipage, or un Plat des matelots, a mess or company of seven sailors who eat together. The word literally signifies a bowl or platter, in which the whole mess eat at the same time.
Plat des malades, the sick mess, under the care of the surgeon.
Plat-bord, the gunnel, or gun-wale of a ship.
Plat-bord also means wash-board or weather-board.
Plat-bord a l’eau, gunnel-in, or gunnel-to; expressed of a ship that inclines so much to one side, as to make the gunnel touch the surface of the water by crowding sail in a fresh wind.
PLATE-bands d’assuts, the clamps of a gun-carriage, which are used to confine the trunnions therein.
Plate-forme de l’éperon, the platform or grating within the rails of the head.
PLATE-formes, an assemblage of oak-planks, forming a part of the deck, near the side of a ship of war, whereon the cannons rest.
PLATINES de lumiere, the aprons of the cannons.
PLI de cables, a fake of the cable.
Filer un Pli de cable, to veer away one fake of the cable.
Vaisseau qui Plie le côté, a crank ship.
PLIER, to bend or supple the planks of a ship by heat and moisture.
Plier le côté, to lie over in the water, to heel extremely when under sail.
Plier le pavillon, Plier les voiles, to gather up the fly of the ensign, or furl the sails.
PLOC, the hair and tar put between the bottom planks of a ship and the sheathing, to fill up the interval, and preserve the bottom from the worms.
PLOCQUER, to apply the sheathing-hair to the ship’s bottom.
PLOMBER un navire, to try whether a ship is upright, or to what side she heels, by a plumb-line and level.
PLONGEUR, a diver, whose employment it is to bring any thing up from the bottom, as spunges, coral, &c.
PLONGER, to duck, or immerse any thing in the water; also to plunge or dive into the water, &c.
PLUMET de pilote, or panon, a feather-vane, or dog-vane.
POGE, ou POUGE, the order to put the helm a-weather, in order to fill the sails, or bear away. This is the language of Provence. See Arrive-tout.
POINT, a ship’s place, as pricked upon a nautical chart.
Point d’une voile, the clew of a sail.