The kedge-anchor

Aback. A sail is aback when its forward surface is acted upon by the wind.

Abaft. The hinder part of the ship. Behind, thus abaft the foremast, means anything nearer to the stern than the foremast.

Aboard. In the ship; as the cargo is aboard. A ship is said to fall aboard when she runs foul of another. To get aboard the main-tack is to bring the clew of the mainsail down to the chess-tree.

About. A ship is said to be going about, when in the act of backing; the order for which is “ready about there.”

Abreast. Opposite to.

Adrift. Broken loose from the moorings.

Afloat. Swimming; not touching the bottom.

Afore. That part of the ship nearest to the stem or head.

Aft. Behind; as stand farther aft—stand nearer to the stern.

After. Hinder, as the after ports—those ports nearest the stern—after sails, after hatchway, &c., &c.

Aground. Not having water enough to float the ship, which rests on the ground.

Ahead. Before the ship.

A-lee. The helm is a-lee when the tiller is put to the lee-side.—“Hard-a-lee,” when it is put as far as it will go.

All in the wind. When the wind blows on the leeches or outward extremities of the sails, and causes them to shake.

All hands, ahoy. This word given by the boatswain and his mates at the hatchway to assemble the ship’s company.

Aloft. Up above; in the rigging; on the yards; at the masthead, &c.

Alongside. Close to the ship’s side.

Amidships. In the middle of the ship. The helm is amidships when the tiller is not put over, either to one side or the other.

To anchor. To let the anchor fall overboard, that it may hold the ship.

To foul the anchor. To let the cable be twisted round the upper fluke, &c.

To drag the anchor. When the ship pulls it with her, from the violence of the wind.

Anchorage. Ground fit to anchor in.

The anchor is a cock bill. It is hanging by the stopper at the cat-head.

The anchor is a-peak. Near to the ship. Thus at different distances it is called a long peak, a stay peak, a short peak.

The anchor is a-weigh or a-trip. Loosened from the ground by heaving in the cable.

The anchor is backed. Another anchor is placed at a certain distance before it, and attached to it by the cable of the former being fastened to it, which fixes it firmly in the ground.

The anchor is catted. Drawn up to the cat-head.

The anchor is fished. Its inner arm is drawn up by the fish-pendant.

To weigh the anchor. To heave it up by the capstan or windlass.

The sheet-anchor, is of the same size and weight of the two bower anchors, and the spare anchor; it is a resource and dependence should either of the bowers part, for which purpose the cable is always kept ready bent with a long range, that it may be let go on an emergency.

Best bower or small bower anchors, are the two anchors which are stowed the farthest forward, or near the bows.

The stream-anchor, is used to bring the ship up with occasionally, or to steady the ship when she comes to a temporary mooring.

The kedge-anchor. The smallest of the anchors, to which a hawser or cable is generally bent, and used for warping ship.

An end. Any spar or mast placed perpendicularly. The topmasts are an end; they are swayed up and fidded above the lower masts.

All an end. All the masts are up in their proper stations.

A-peak. (See Anchor.)

Ashore. On land; aground.

Astern. Behind the ship.

Athwart. Across. Athwart hawse, across the stem; athwart ships, anything lying in a direction across the ship; athwart the fore-foot, a shot fired by another ship across the bows.

Atrip. (See Anchor.)

Avast. To cease hauling; to stop.

Aweigh. (See Anchor.)

Aweather. The helm is said to be aweather, when the tiller is put over to the windward side of the ship; hard aweather, when it is put over as far as it will go.

Awning. A canvass canopy, placed over the deck when the sun is powerful.

To back the sails. To expose their forward surfaces to the wind, by hauling in the weather braces.

Back-stays. Ropes fixed at the topmast and topgallant-mast heads, and extended to the chains on the ship’s sides.

To bag-pipe the mizen. To bring the sheet over to the weather-mizen-shrouds, in order to lay it aback.

To balance the mizen. Rolling up a portion of it at the peak.

Ballast. A quantity of iron, stone, gravel, &c., placed in the hold to give a ship proper stability when she has no cargo, or but a small quantity of goods, &c.

Bands. Pieces of canvass sewn across the sail, called reef-bands—also a piece stuck on the middle of the sail, to strengthen it when half-worn.

Bar. A shoal running across the mouth of a harbor.

Capstan bars. Pieces of timber put into the holes in the drum-head of the capstan, (where they are secured with iron pins,) to heave up the anchor, &c.

Bare poles. Having no sail up.

Battens. Slips of wood nailed on the slings of the yard, which are eight square—also over the tarpaulings of a hatchway to keep the water out in stormy weather.

Bays. In men-of-war, the starboard and larboard sides between decks, before the bitts; in small vessels, amidships.

Beams. Strong pieces of timber across the ship, under the decks, bound to the side by knees. They support and keep the ship together.

On the beam. When the wind blows at a right angle with the keel.

Before the beam. When the wind or object bears on some point less than a right angle, or ninety degrees from the ship’s head.

Abaft the beam. When the wind or object bears on some point which is more than a right angle of ninety degrees from the ship’s course.

Bearing. The point of the compass on which any object appears; it is also applied to an object which lies opposite to any part of the ship; thus the buoy, &c., bears on the beam, the bow, the quarter, &c.

Beating to windward. Tacking, and endeavoring to get to windward of some head land.

Becalmed. Having no wind to fill the sails. The ship being deprived of the power of the wind, by the intervention of high land, a large ship, &c.

Beckets. Short straps, having an eye in one end and a double walled knot on the other—for suspending a yard, &c., till wanted; such as the beckets for the royal-yards, for the bights of the sheets, &c.

To belay. To make fast.

Bend. A kind of knot—as a sheet-bend, &c., or a seizing, such as the bends of the cable.

To bend. To make fast—as to bend the sails, the cable, &c.

Bends. The streaks of thick stuff, or strongest planks in the ship’s sides, on the broadest part; these are also called the wales.

Between decks. Any part of the ship below, between two decks.

Bight. Any part of a rope between the ends, also a collar or eye formed by a rope.

Bilge. The flat part of a ship’s bottom. Bilge water, that which rests in the bilge, either from rain, shipping water, &c.

Binnacle. The frame or box which contains the compass.

Berth. A place of anchorage; a cabin or apartment.

Bitts. Large, upright pins of timber, with a cross piece, over which the bight of the cable is put, also smaller ones to belay ropes, such as topsail-sheets, &c.

To bitt. To place a bight of the cable over the bitts.

Blocks. Instruments with sheaves or pulleys, used to increase the power of ropes.

Block and block. When the two blocks of a tackle are drawn so close together that there is no more of the fall left to haul upon; it is also termed chock-a-block.

To make a board. To tack.

To make a stern board. To drive a ship stern foremost, by laying the sails aback.

Boarding. Entering an enemy’s ship by force; the men are called boarders.

Boarding netting. Net work triced round the ship to prevent the boarders from entering.

Boats. Small vessels. Those belonging to ships are the long boat, the launch, the cutter, the yawl, and the jolly-boat.

Boatswain. The officer who has charge of the cordage, boats, rigging, &c.

Bobstays. Ropes rove through the cutwater, and set up with dead-eyes under the bowsprit, to act against the power of the fore stays. Sometimes one of these is taken to the end of the bowsprit to act against the fore-topmast stays.

Bolsters. Pieces of wood or canvass stuffed, placed on the lower trestle-trees to keep the rigging from chafing.

Bolts. Iron fastenings by which the ship is secured in her hull.

Bolt-ropes. Ropes sewn round the edges of the sails.

Booms. Large poles, used to extend the studding-sails, spanker, jibs, &c.

Boom-irons. Iron caps fixed on the yard-arms for the studdingsail-booms to rest in.

Bows. The round part of the ship, forward.

To bouse. To haul upon.

Bower. (See Anchor.)

Bowlines. Ropes made fast to the leeches, or sides of the sails, to pull them forward.

Bowsprit. A mast projecting over the stem.

Box-hauling. A method of waring or turning a ship from the wind.

Boxing-off. Turning the ship’s head from the wind by backing the head sails.

Braces. Ropes fastened to the yard-arms to brace them about, also a security to the rudder, fixed to the stern-post.

Brails. Ropes applied to the after leeches of the mizen, and some of the staysails to draw them up.

To break bulk. To begin to unload.

To break the sheer. To swerve from the proper direction in which a ship should be when at anchor.

Breaming. Burning the stuff which is collected on the ship’s bottom during a long voyage.

Breast-hooks. Pieces of timber placed across the bows of a ship to keep them together.

Breast-work. Railing on the fore part of the quarter deck, where ropes are belayed.

Breeching. A stout rope fixed to the cascable of a gun, fastened to the ship’s side to prevent its running in.

Bridles. The upper part of the moorings laid in harbors for men-of-war; also ropes attached from the leeches of the square sails to the bowlines.

To bring up. To come to an anchor.

To bring to. To make a ship stationary, stopping her way by bracing some of the sails aback, and keeping others full, so as to counterpoise each other.

To bring by the lee. When a ship is sailing with the wind very large, and flies off from it so as to bring it on the other side, the sails catching aback, she is then said to be brought by the lee; this is a dangerous position in a high sea.

To broach-to. Flying up in the wind, so as to bring it on the other side when blowing fresh.

Bulk-heads. Partitions in the ship.

Bull’s-eye. A wooden thimble.

Bumkin, or boomkin. A short boom fitted to the bows of a ship for the purpose of hauling down the fore tack to; it is supported on each side by a shroud.

Bunt. The middle part of a square-sail, also the fore leech of a quadrangular staysail.

Buntlines. Ropes attached to the foot of a square-sail, to haul it up.

Burton pendants. The first piece of rigging which goes over the topmast-head, to which is hooked a tackle to set up the topmast-shrouds.

Bush. Metal in the sheaves of blocks which have iron pins.

Butt-end. The end of a plank in a ship’s side.

Buttock. That part of a ship’s hull under the stern, between the water-line and wing-transom.

By the board. Over the side. A mast is said to go by the board when it is carried or shot away just above the deck.

By the head. When a ship is deeper in the water forward than aft.

By the stern. The reverse of by the head.

By the wind. When a ship is as near to the wind as her head can lie, with the sails filled.

Cabin. A room or apartment; also a bed place.

Cable. A large rope by which the ship is secured to the anchor. Cables take their names from the anchor to which they belong; as the sheet-cable, the best bower-cable, &c. They are generally 120 fathoms in length.

To bitt the cable. (See Bitts.)

To heave in the cable. To pull it into the ship by the windlass or capstan.

To pay out the cable. To pass it out of the hawse-hole.

To veer away the cable. To slacken it so that it may run out, as in paying out.

To serve the cable. To wrap it round with rope, plait, or horse-hide, to keep it from chafing.

To slip the cable. To let it run clear out.

Cable tier. That part of the orlop-deck where the cables are coiled.

To coil the cable. To lay it on the deck in a circular form.

Caboose. The place where the victuals are dressed in merchantmen.

Call. A silver pipe or whistle used by the boatswain and his mates, by the sounding of which they call up the hands, direct them to haul, to veer, to belay, &c., &c.

Canted. Anything turned from its square position.

Canvass. Strong cloth, of which the sails are made.

Cap. A block of wood which secures the topmast to the lower mast.

Capsize. To turn over.

Capstan. A machine for drawing up the anchor by the messenger, which is taken round it and applied to the cable by the nippers.

Careening. Heaving a vessel down on one side, to clean or repair her bottom.

Carrick bend. A kind of knot.

Cast. To pay a ship’s head off by backing the head sails when heaving up the anchor, so as to bring the wind on the side required.

Cat-block. A large, double or threefold block, used for drawing the anchor up to the cat head.

Cat-head. A large piece of timber or crane, projecting over the bow, for drawing up the anchor clear from the ship’s side.

Cat-harpings. Short legs of rope seized to the upper part of the lower shrouds and futtock-staves, to keep them from bulging out by the strain of the futtock-shrouds, and to permit the bracing up of the lower yards.

Cat’s-paw. A light air, perceived by its effect upon the water, but not durable; also a twist made on the bight of a rope.

To Caulk. To drive oakum into the seams of the sides, decks, &c.

Chains. Links of iron bolted to the ship’s sides, having dead-eyes in the upper ends, to which the shrouds are connected by the lanyards.

Channels. Strong, broad planks, bolted to the sides to keep the dead-eyes in the chains from the side, to spread the rigging farther out.

Chapeling. A ship is said to build a chapel, when by neglect in light winds she turns round so as to bring the wind on the same part it was before she moved.

Chase. A ship pursued by another.

Bow-chase. A gun in the fore part of the ship.

Stern-chase. A gun pointing astern in the after part of the ship.

To chase. To pursue; to follow.

To cheer. To huzza. What cheer-ho! a salutation.

Chock-a-block. (See block and block.)

To clap on. To make fast; as, clap on the stoppers, &c.

To claw off. To beat to windward from a lee-shore.

Cleats. Pieces of wood to fasten ropes to.

Close-hauled. As anigh the wind as a ship can lie.

Club-hauling. Tacking by means of an anchor.

Clues or Clews. The lower corners of the square sails.

Coamings. The borders of the hatchways which are raised above the deck.

Coiling. Laying a rope down in a circular form.

Companion. A wooden covering over the cabin hatchway.

Course. The point of the compass on which the ship sails; the mainsail, foresail and mizen are also called courses.

Crab. A small capstan.

To cun the ship. To direct the helmsman how to steer.

Cutwater. The knee of the head.

Davit. A crane of timber used for fishing the anchors.

Dead-eye. A block with three holes in, to receive the lanyard of a shroud or stay.

Dog-vane. A small vane made of cork and feathers, and placed on the weather side of the quarter deck.

Dolphin. A wreath of rope placed round a mast. (See Pudding.)

To Douse. To let fly the halliards of a topsail; to lower away briskly, &c.

Downhauler. A rope to pull down the staysails, topmast, studdingsails, &c.

Drift. Driving to leeward; driving with the tide. Drifts are also those parts where the rails are cut off an end with scrolls.

Driver. A large sail suspended to the mizen-gaff.

Dunnage. Wood, &c. laid at the bottom of a ship to keep the cargo dry.

Earings. Small ropes to make fast the upper corners of square-sails, &c.

Ease-off. To slacken.

End-for-end. To let a rope or cable run quite out.

End-on. When a ship’s bows and head sails are only seen.

Ensign. A national flag worn by ships at their gaff-ends.

Fag-end. The end of a rope which is untwisted.

Fake. One circle of a coil of rope.

Falling-off. When a ship moves from the wind farther than she ought.

Fid. A tapered piece of wood, or iron, to splice ropes with; also a piece of wood which supports one mast upon the trestle-trees of another.

To Fill. To brace the yards so that the wind may strike the sails on their after surfaces.

Flukes. The broad parts or palms of the anchors. (See Anchor.)

Fore. That part of the ship nearest to the head.

Fore and aft. The lengthway of the ship, or in the direction of the keel.

Fore-castle. A short deck in the fore part of the ship.

Forging-a-head. Forced a-head by the wind.

Foul hawse. When the cables are twisted.

To founder. To sink.

Full and by. (See close-hauled.)

Furling. Making fast the sails to the yards by the gaskets.

Gaff. The spar or yard, to which the mizen of a ship, or the mainsail of a brig or cutter is bent.

Gang-way. A deck reaching from the quarter-deck to the forecastle; also the place where persons enter the ship.

Gasket. A piece of plat to fasten the sails to the yard.

Girt. A ship is girted when her cables are too tight, which prevents her swinging.

Goose-neck. An iron hook at the end of a boom.

Goose-wings. The outer extremities of a main or foresail, when loose, the rest of it being furled.

Goring. Cutting a sail obliquely.

Gripe. A piece of timber that joins the keel and the cut-water.

Griping. When a ship carries her helm much to windward.

Gunnel. The upper part of a ship’s side.

Guy. A rope to steady a boom.

Gybing. When (by the wind being large), it is necessary to shift the boom of a fore and aft sail.

Halliards. Tackles or ropes to hoist up the sails.

To Hand. (The same as to furl.)

Hatchway. A square hole in the deck, which communicates with the hold, or another deck.

To Haul. To pull.

To Hail. To call out to another ship.

A clear Hawse. When the cables are not twisted.

A foul Hawse. When the cables lie across, or are twisted.

Hawse-holes. The holes through which the cables pass.

Hawser. A small cable.

To Heel. To incline to one side.

Helm. A wooden bar put through the head of a rudder; also called a tiller.

To Hitch. To make fast.

The Hold. The lower apartment of a ship, where the provisions and goods are stowed.

To haul Home. To pull the clew of a sail, &c. as far as it will go.

Horse. A rope made fast to the yard, on which the men stand.

Hull. The body of a ship.

Jewel-blocks. Blocks at the topsail-yard-arms for the topmast-studding-sail halliards.

Jigger. A purchase used in merchant ships to hold on the cable.

Junk. Pieces of old cable, out of which mats, gaskets, &c. are made. (See article on Junk.)

Jury-masts. Temporary masts, when the others are carried or shot away.

Keckling. Old rope passed round the cable at short distances.

Kink. A twist or turn in a rope.

To Labor. To pitch and roll heavily.

Land-fall. Discovering the land.

Larboard. The left side.

Launch-ho. To let go the top rope when the topmast is fidded.

Leeward. That point which the wind blows.

Lee-lurch. When the ship rolls to leeward.

Lee-tide. When the wind and tide are the same way.

Lizard. A small piece of rope with a thimble spliced into a larger one.

Looming. The appearance of a distant object; such as a ship, the land, &c.

Lubber. A sailor who does not know his duty.

Luff. A direction to the steersman to put the helm to leeward.

Luff-tackle. A large tackle consisting of a double and single block.

Lying-to. (See To bring-to.)

To man the yards. To send men upon them.

To moor. To secure a ship by more than one cable.

Moorings. The place where a vessel is moored; also anchors with chains and bridles, laid in rivers for men-of-war to ride by.

Neap-tides. Those tides which happen when the moon is in her quarters, and are not so high as the Spring-tides.

Neaped. A ship is said to be neaped, when she is left on shore by these tides, and must wait for the next Spring-tides.

To Near the land. To approach the shore.

To Near. A direction to the helmsman to put the helm little “a-weather;” to keep the sails full; to let her come no nearer to the wind.

Nippers. Plaiting or selvagees, to bind the cable to the messenger.

Off-and-on. Coming near the land on one tack, and leaving it on another.

Offing. Out to sea from the land.

Orlop-deck. The lowest deck in the ship, lying on the beams of the hold. The place where the cables are coiled, and where other stores are kept.

Overboard. Out of the ship.

Overhauling. To haul a fall of rope through a block till it is slack—also examining a ship.

Painter. A rope by which a boat is made fast.

To Pass. To hand anything from one to another, or to place a rope or lashing round the yard, &c.

Pay. To rub tar, pitch, or anything, with a brush.

To pay off. To make a ship’s head recede from the wind, by backing the head-sails.

To Peak up. To raise the after end of a gaff.

Plying. Turning to windward.

Pooping. A ship is said to be pooped when she is struck by a heavy sea, on the stern or quarter.

Port. To the left side. This term is used for the helmsman to put the helm to the left, instead of the word Larboard, to make a distinction from the affinity of sound in the word Starboard.

Preventer. Anything for temporary security, as a preventer-brace, &c.

Pendant, or Pennant. A sort of long, narrow banner.

Pendant (broad). A sort of flag terminating in two points.

Pendant. The name of a piece of rope applied to different objects on ship-board; i. e., fish-pendants, rudder-pendants, &c.

Quarter. That part of a ship’s side between the main-chains and the stern.

Racking a Fall. Seizing the parts of a tackle-fall together by cross-turns.

Rake. The projection of a ship at the stem and stern, beyond the extent of the keel—also the inclination of a ship’s masts, either forward or aft from a perpendicular line.

Range of Cable. A sufficient length hauled up to permit the anchor to drop to the bottom.

To Rattle down the Shrouds. To fix the ratlings on them.

To Reef. To reduce a sail by tying it round the yard with points.

To Reeve. To put a rope through a block, &c.

To Ride. To be held by the cable; to ride easy, is when a ship does not labor much; to ride hard, is when a ship pitches with violence.

To Rig. To fit the rigging to the mast.

To Right. A ship is said to right when she rises to her upright position, after being laid down by a violent squall.

To Right the Helm. To put it a-midships, or in its fore and aft position parallel to the keel.

To Round-in. To haul in a brace, &c., which is not very tight.

To Rouse-in. To haul in the slack part of the cable.

To Run down. When one ship sinks another by running over her.

To Scud. To sail before the wind in a storm.

To Scuttle a Ship. To make holes in her bottom to sink her.

To Serve. To wind anything around a cable or rope, to prevent its being chafed.

To Seize. To make fast or bind.

To Sheer. To go in and out, and not in a direct course.

To Ship. To put anything on board; to ship a sea, when a sea breaks into a ship.

To Shiver. To make the sails shake.

The Slack of a Rope, &c. That part which hangs loose.

To Slip a Cable. To let it run out to the end.

To Slue. To turn anything about.

To Sound. To find the bottom by a leaden plummet.

To take a Spell. To be in turn on duty at the lead, the pump, &c.

To Spill. To take the wind out of the sails by the braces, &c., in order to reef or to hand them.

To Splice. To join two ropes together, by uniting the strands.

Spoon-drift. A continued flying of the spray and waves over the surface of the sea.

To Spring a Mast. To crack or split it.

A Spring. A rope made fast to the cable at the bow and taken in abaft, in order to expose the ship’s side in any direction.

Spring-tides. The highest tides at the full and change of the moon.

To Stand-on. To keep in the course.

To Stand-by. To be ready.

Starboard. The right side.

To Steer. To manage a ship by the movement of the helm.

To Stopper the Cable. To keep it from running out by fastening short ropes to it, called stoppers.

Strand. One of the divisions of a rope.

Stranded. When one of the divisions of a rope is broken—also when a ship is run on shore so that she cannot be got off, she is said to be stranded.

To Stretch. To stand on different tacks, under a press of sail

To Strike. To beat against the bottom—also to lower the flag in token of submission. Lowering the topmasts, is commonly termed striking them.

To Surge the Messenger. To slack it suddenly.

To Sway. To hoist up the yards and topmasts.

To Swing. To turn a ship from one side of her anchor to another, at the change of the tide.

To Tack. To turn a ship by the sails and rudder against the wind.

Taut. A corruption of tight.

Taunt. Long, lofty.

Tending. The movement of a vessel in swinging at anchor.

Tier. The place where cables are coiled.

Traverse. To sail on different courses. When a rope runs freely through a thimble, &c., it is said to traverse.

Trying. Laying-to in a gale of wind under a small sail.

Turning to Windward. Tacking.

Twice-laid stuff. Rope made from the yarns of a cable, &c., which has been half-worn.

To Veer and Haul. To pull a rope, and then slacken it.

To Unbend. To cast loose.

To Unmoor. To reduce a ship to a single anchor, after riding by two.

To Unreeve. To pull a rope out of a block.

To Unrig. To deprive a ship of her rigging.

To Unship. To take anything from the place in which it was fixed.

Waist of a Ship. The part between the main and fore-drifts; also a term sometimes used for the spare or waist-anchor, from its being stowed near the fore-drift, or fore part of the waist.

Wake. The track left by the ship on the water which she has passed over.

Wales. (See Bends).

To Wear. To turn a ship round from the wind.

To Warp. To move a ship by hawsers.

Watch. A division of the ship’s company, who keep the deck for a certain time. One is called starboard, and the other the larboard watch.

Water-logged. The state of a leaky ship, when she is so full of water as to be heavy and unmanageable.

Way of a Ship. Her progress through the water.

To Weather a Ship. To get to windward of her.

A Weather Tide. A tide or stream which runs to windward.

Weather-Beaten. Anything worn or damaged by bad weather.

To Weigh. To heave the anchor out of the ground.

To Whip. To bind the end of a rope with yarn to prevent its untwisting; also to hoist anything by a rope which is rove through a single block.

Wind’s-eye. That point from which the wind blows in a direct line.

Between Wind and Water. That part of the ship’s bottom which is just at the surface of the water, or what is called the water-line.

To Wind a Boat, &c. To turn it round from its original position.

Wind-Rode. When a ship is kept astern, &c., of her anchor, solely by the wind.

To Windward. Towards that point from which the wind blows.

To Work to Windward. To make progress against the wind by tacking.