C

That part of a vessel in which the officers live. The captain's cabin is a separate room.

A rope or chain secured to the anchor.

The place either in the hold or between decks in which the cable is stowed.

A nine-strand left-handed rope, laid up against the sun.

About one-tenth of a mile--100 fathoms of 6 feet each.

Also called galley. A house on deck where the cooking is done. (See Kitchen.)

A hole dug in the ground in which articles are placed for safe keeping, then the hole is…

A student in the art of military science.

The lowest grade of staff officer in the navy. A student at the Naval Academy belonging to the…

The lowest grade of line officer in the service. After graduating from the Naval Academy, two…

A rest for a rapid-fire gun, taking its name from the shape of the support.

A Levantine vessel. Also a skiff peculiar to Constantinople, used altogether for boat traffic.…

A pyramid of stones erected to serve as a landmark.

A flat-bottom passenger boat used on the Loire.

Same as Common Year, containing 365 days.

A period of from 28 to 31 days, derived from the synodical revolution of the moon.

(See Caulk.)

The silver whistle or pipe used by the boatswain and his mats, and which is always blown to…

The preface of an order issued by an officer to a boatswain, or one of his mates, to get a…

That state of the weather when there is an absence of wind. Flat Calm. Not a breath of air…

(See Quelling Oil.)

The area of a group of openings in a boiler through which the products of combustion pass. An…

Hollow or arching upwards. The decks are said to be cambered when their height increases…

Said of the flooring of a vessel when it is higher in the middle than at either end-towards…

A peculiar mechanical device for lifting a vessel over a bar; invented by the celebrated…

A machine for lifting ships over a bank or shoal, originally invented by the celebrated De…

(See Chamfer.)

A buoy formed like a cone, and found floating over shoals and obstructions in navigation.

An artificial water-course for light-draught vessels.

A flat-bottom vessel specially constructed for the navigation of canals.

A permit obtained from the State authorities at the entrance of canals. This pass must be…

A short length of chain having a flat iron hook at each end, and used for hoisting and…

A thin sheet-iron shell filled with cast-iron shot, and closed at each end by discs of wood.…

Under this head belong guns, mortars and howitzers.

A light, flat boat propelled by paddles and by sails. In the Fegee Islands a double canoe is…

A term signifying the inclination that anything has from a square or perpendicular.…

The material of which sails, awnings, etc., are made, 00 is the coarsest and strongest. It…

A leather, canvas, or metal thimble-shape placed over the ends of standing rigging, such, for…

A framing composed of coamings and head ledges, raised above the deck, with a flat or top…

Square pieces of oak, laid upon the upper blocks on which the ship is built, to receive the…

To overturn. To capsize a coil of rope is to turn it over.

A barrel-like machine placed perpendicularly on the deck. It is of great power and is used for…

A wooden bar to ship into the capstan head (bar holes) and by which the latter is hove round.

The top part of the capstan.

The title for the commander of a good-sized vessel. The commander of a small vessel is termed…

A naval captain is the next grade below a rear admiral, and the next grade above a commander.…

The flunkey appointed to wait exclusively upon the captain, keep his room tidy, etc.

This office was abolished by Act of Congress in 1878; previous to which it signified an…

Spanish and Portuguese vessels of large tonnage, or burden, and designed both for carrying…

A Turkish merchant vessels with a peculiar narrow, high stern.

A Portuguese vessel, lateen rigged--now obsolete.

A small pink sterned vessel of the Azores.

The four cardinal points of the horizon, or of the compass, are the North, South, East and…

Winds blowing from any one of the cardinal points, such as a North, South, East or a West wind.

When a vessel lies over on her side, either in sailing or from being hove down to undergo…

The goods, merchandise, or wares with which a ship is loaded.

(See Derrick.)

A jack used for lifting or forcing heavy cargo into place, such as a bale of cotton, etc. (See…

(See Lumber Port.)

Pieces of fore-and-aft timber placed between the beams.

Long pieces of timber, above four inches square, which lie fore-and-aft, in tiers, from beam…

An officer on board ship whose duty it is to have care of the hull of the vessel, masts,…

A warrant officer, whose duty it is to care for the spars, boats and hull of the vessel, under…

The support or conveyance for a gun. (See Gravity-return Carriage.)

Used for bending two hawsers together. (See engraving.)

The windlass bitts.

A short piece of ordnance, carrying a large ball, and taking its name from the place where it…

A gun is said to carry well when it propels shot a long distance.

To break or part anything, such as a spar or a rope.

(See Part V.)

An agreement for exchange of prisoners. A cartel ship is unarmed, and conveys prisoners for…

A case filled with shot to be fired from a cannon.

A case of paper, pasteboard, cloth or metal containing a charge of powder for a fire-arm.…

A term applied to cutters and boats, signifying that the seams of the bottom-planking are…

A manner of building boats so that the planking is flush, or smooth sided; the opposite to…

That part of the gun which is abaft the base of the breech.

A lighter used for carrying rubbish in the Philippines.

A vessel having guns mounted en casemate, which signifies that they are fired from behind a…

A barrel buoy. Sometimes a cask buoy consists of a barrel placed over the head of a stake…

A length of rope having either a hook or an eye in one end, and used for lifting a cask on its…

To pay a vessel's head off, either to port or starboard, in getting under way--cast to port,…

The iron as it comes from the ore by the process of smelting.

To unfurl; to throw the gaskets off a sail; to untie, etc.

Provide the order to get the battery in readiness for action.

A ship of Norwegian model used in the coal and timber trade.

A whip made of leather or rope ends used to inflict punishment. Also called cat-o'-nine-tails;…

The double or threefold block forming part of the tackle used in hoisting the anchor to the…

An open, or half-decked, one-mast sailing boat with the mast stepped in the eyes. This vessel…

An iron overhanging beam stepped like a boat davit, and used in place of a cat-head for…

(See Cat Head.)

Short lengths of rope used for binding in the rigging abreast of the topsail yards, in order…

Horizontal timbers projecting from a vessel's bows, and to which the anchor is raised (catted)…

A large hook fitted to the strop of the cat block, and which is hooked into the anchor ring,…

To lift the anchor ring to the cat-head and secure it there.

A small Spanish boat in the fishing trade.

A kind of raft. In the East Indies native made catamarans consists of three logs secured to…

A small light draught vessel, having two separate hulls of canoe shape, which are joined by…

To make a false stroke in rowing.

To take a turn with a rope quickly.

The wardroom, steerage, warrant officers' and chief petty officers' messes elect a caterer…

Long row boats used by the Portuguese for pilotage purposes, also for landing through surf.

The slight ruffling seen on the surface of the water during calm weather, being caused by…

(See Bullock Slings.)

To drive oakum into the seams of a vessel to prevent leaking.

With a special tool, driving a part of the edge of one sheet against the other sheet at a…

Forcing oakum into the seams and between the butts of the plank, etc., with iron instruments,…

A chisel-shaped instrument used for driving oakum into the seams of a vessel.

A small wooden maul used in caulking decks.

(See Signals.)

A length of timber, like a long cleat, bolted on to the bulwark stanchions in a fore-and-aft…

Timber heads when used as cavils.

The lining or inside planking of a vessel.

The inside planks of the bottom of the ship.

Opposed to terrestrial. The heavens.

The sun, moon, stars and planets.

The heavens. The terrestrial sphere is convex, while the sphere of the heavens appears to the…

The imaginary great line in the heavens over the earth's equator, from which the declination…

The declination of a heavenly body, or its distance north and south of the celestial equator.

The term sometimes applied to the right ascension of a heavenly body, which is reckoned from…

The view of a spectator on the earth is bounded by the heavens and the horizon and this is…

A gun carriage that revolves around a common centre, such as are contained in barbettes.

The centre of that part of the ship's body which is immersed in the water, and which is also…

That point about which all the parts of a body do, in any situation, exactly balance each…

(See Lateral Resistance.)

That point of a body which remains at rest whilst all the other parts are in motion about it;…

That point in the axis or line of suspension of a vibrating body, or system of bodies, in…

That point in a plane to which, if a contrary force be applied, it shall just sustain the…

The board which works on a thwartships pin up and down in the centre-board trunk, passing…

The hollow wooden wall from the keel up in which the centre-board slides up and down.

A pump which, in general, consists of a number of blades mounted on a shaft and revolving with…

Diplomas issued to masters and mates certifying to their excellence as seamen and navigators.

Rope, canvas, etc., placed upon rigging, spars, etc., to save them from being chafed.

Connected links of metal.

The cable of a vessel when it is composed of iron links.

(See Locker.)

The links of iron which are connected to the binding that surround the dead-eyes of the…

A leading pipe to the locker for the cable.

(See Chains.)

Thick iron plates, sometimes used, which are bolted to the ship's sides, instead of chains to…

A large bolt to secure the chains of the dead-eyes, for the purpose of securing the masts by…

Strong, narrow plates of iron bolted to the ship's timbers through the side. To the upper end…

A flat-bottom boat used on the Loire.

That section in the rear of the gun in which the charge is placed.

To take off the angle or edge of a timber.

Taking off the sharp edge from timber or plank, or cutting the edge or end of anything bevel…

(See Ship Chandler.)

The retard or acceleration in the running of a chronometer in relation to the rate previously…

The turn of the tide.

The plato or frame in a channel way to which the foot valve is secured.

Three or four thick strakes, worked between the upper and lower deck ports in two-decked…

The passage leading water from the bottom of the condenser to the bottom of air pump.

Plank secured edgewise to the outside of a vessel and to which the upper parts of the chain…

The broad projection or assemblage of planks fayed and bolted to the ship's sides for the…

(See Shanty.)

When taken aback in a light breeze the ship may be worn completely around until she arrives on…

A clergyman who performs divine service on board a man-o'-war. Chaplains in the U. S. Navy…

The nature and the quantity of the powder used for ordnance. Howitzer Charges. The only…

The ten-gun brigs that were built in England about 1810 for the purpose of giving command to a…

The seven stars of the "Dipper."

A marine map delineating some part of the sea and the sea coast, giving information as to the…

A hydrographic or marine map; a delineation of coasts, shoals, isles, rocks, soundings, etc.

The diagram compass (either true or magnetic) printed on charts.

Shows the dip of the magnetic needle for various localities on the earth's surface.

Shaping the course of the ship from point to point, and finding the distance contained between…

The name given to a contract in writing between the owner, agent, or master of a vessel, under…

One vessel pursued by another.

A vessel pursued. That section of a gun contained between the reinforce and the muzzle. Stern…

Guns mounted so as to fire ahead or astern.

Ports forward and aft used for chase guns.

Same as Chase Guns.

A French lugger.

A process for finding the time.

To slack off a little on a rope or brace.

Half of a shell containing the sheave bolted on to a spar, the latter acting as the missing…

A valve in a pipe which operates automatically, allowing a fluid to pass it in one direction…

Those projections which are bolted to the sides of the mast and upon which the trestle-trees…

Knees of oak timber which support the knee of the head, and which they also ornament by their…

Pieces of oak, bolted to the topsides of the vessel, containing a sheave, and used for hauling…

Pieces of oak timber fayed and bolted to the topsides, one on each side abaft the fore…

Stripes on the sleeve of a non-commissioned officer of marines, also on the sleeve of petty…

A title applied to the senior engineer of a vessel. A line of petty officers on board a…

The senior line officer attached to a flagship, whose duty it is to assist the flag officer in…

That part of the staves of a cask where they project beyond the heads.

That part of the waterways which is left the thickest and above the deckplank. It is bearded…

To drive oakum or cotton into a tight seam with a thin caulking iron.

(See Log.)

(See Log Chip.)

A solid piece used to support the weight of sliding parts, or to fill space between two or…

A wedge employed to prevent a body from rolling or moving.

When two blocks of a tackle have been drawn as close together as possible. Same as…

A rope is said to choke in the block when it fouls and will not render.

A Chinese lighter.

A quick, tumbling sea--short waves.

Where the waters of a channel and the sea meet, for instance, the Chops of the English Channel.

Delineates a particular country. Coast Survey Chart. Delineations of the coast as issued by…

A provision lighter in China.

The act of breaking a bottle of wine against the stem of a vessel in immediate anticipation to…

A marine timepiece of superior construction and accuracy.

The operation of determining the error of a chronometer by means of time-balls, observatory…

The aggregate amount of time the chronometer is either in advance of or behind the mean time…

The daily loss or gain in time of a chronometer in comparison with the mean time of the…

The ports of Dover, Hastings, Romney, Sandwich and Hythe are the five principal ports of an…

A ring; a circumference; the line that bounds a circle; a round body; a globe. Altitude…

A circle whose plane passes through a sphere and is bounded by its surface. When the plane of…

One-half of the earth's surface is illuminated by the sun when the other half is in the…

The circum-polar stars included within this circle never set.

The circum-polar stars included within this circle never rise.

An instrument for measuring the angular distance of the moon from the sun or a star, and much…

Great circles passing through the poles of the equinoctial. Declination Circles. The great…

Great circles passing through the poles of the horizon.

Great circles passing through the poles of the ecliptic.

The name given to revolving storms, such as West India hurricanes.

That pump which supplies the condensing water to a surface condenser.

That which is run through a surface condenser to absorb the heat from the exhaust steam.

An apparatus attached to a steam boiler by means of which the water is moved about in the…

An altitude of a heavenly body when it is near the meridian--either A. M. or P. M.

To sail round. To circumnavigate the globe is to sail entirely around the world.

Near the pole.

Commonly known as "mackerel" sky and "sheep in a meadow" sky, owing to the rounded woolly…

Long layers of cloud, thinner at the edges than in the centre.

The highest and least dense of cloud formation; it is of many varieties in relation to shape…

The well in the hold of fishing vessels in which the catch is preserved alive. This well or…

(See Civil Time.)

The Civil Engineer Corps of the U. S. Navy consists of one civil engineer with the relative…

The civil day commences at midnight and comprises 24 hours, which are divided into two equal…

The screw on the back of the sliding limb of an instrument of reflection by which the limb is…

An iron shape which works on a hinge and is used to confine a spar, such as a studding-sail…

Those substantial strakes worked withinside the ship upon which the ends of the beams are…

To make more sail; to lay hold of a rope and haul away.

The degree of excellence pronounced upon a merchant vessel, according to her construction and…

(See Uniform.)

The vessels of the navy are divided into classes, under the heads of first, second, third, and…

To work the vessel off a lee shore is to claw her off.

A term generally used to express the acuteness or sharpness of a ship's body; as when a ship…

A name given to an unfortunate whale or sealing ship having no oil or skins.

(See Open Hawse.)

The space between the piston when at the end of its stroke and the valve seat. Piston…

When a vessel is ready for sea the customs officials must be provided with a detailed manifest…

A piece of wood bolted to a stanchion or to the deck and used for belaying ropes to.

(See Clinker.)

The two lower corners of square sails and the after lower corner of a fore and-aft sail.

A shackle spliced into the clew of the sail which is the junction of the foot and leech.

To let go the halliards and sheet of a gaff topsail and man the clewline; the tack being kept…

The rope by which the clews of a foresail and mainsail (courses) are hauled up to the yard.…

To haul up the clew of a sail.

The ropes that lift the clews of square sails to the yards; the clewline bunches the gaff…

To clinch a bolt is to spread the end of it over a plate by riveting, so that it cannot be…

(See Clinker.)

(See Clinker.)

A term applied to the construction of some vessels and boats when the planks of the bottom are…

Spreading the point of the bolt upon a ring, etc., by beating it with a hammer in order to…

Used for crimping the powder case around the base of a shell for rapid-fire guns.

A style of building boats in which the lower edges of one plank overlaps the top edge of the…

An instrument for showing the roll of a vessel when suspended in a thwartships line. When it…

Two regular-shaped iron hooks having one side flat, suspended (reversed to one another) from a…

A vessel with a sharp bow, and built with an idea of making great speed. Said to have been…

A machine composed of a combination of wheels, which are moved either by weights or by a…

The stars employed by astronomers for determining latitude and longitude.

When a fore-and-aft vessel is sailing with her booms nearly amidships, or a square-rigger with…

(See Reef.)

Cirrus, cumulus, stratus, cirro-cumulus, cirro-stratus, cumulo-stratus, and…

This extends from 0 to 10--the first indicating a clear sky and 5 a sky half-overcast, while…

Visible vapor suspended in the atmosphere. Clouds are classed under the following heads:…

Two jamming under and overlaying turns of a line around a spar or a rope, and much used in…

(See Clip Hooks.)

The ends of a connecting rod in which the brasses are held in place by a cap, bolts and nuts.

A piece of seamanship performed while endeavoring to claw off a lee shore, and when it is…

A topsail set flying from the deck with the luff laced to a pole called a sprit, and the foot…

To drift down with the current, having an anchor on the bottom.

(See Part II.)

Uniting pieces of spar by means of tubular projections formed by cutting away the solid of one…

Apartments built in the sides of steam vessels opposite the boilers for stowage of coal.

One of the engineer force whose duty it is to take the fuel from the coal bunkers and deposit…

(See Coal Heaver.)

A tar made from bituminous coal, used sometimes to smear over a surface to prevent leaking,…

The act of filling up the ship's bunkers with coals.

Strictly speaking, coamings are the fore-and-aft framings in the hatchways and scuttles, and…

The raised borders of oak about the edge of the hatches and scuttles which prevent water from…

A man-o'-war constructed of steel, with low freeboard and carrying a heavy battery either in…

A body of men, regularly officered, whose duty it is to prevent the smuggling of dutiable…

A pilot who conducts a vessel from one part of the coast to another; a book of pilotage…

A vessel engaged in carrying cargo to coastwise ports.

Sailing along the coast.

Along the ocean shore.

A mast-coat is a piece of painted canvas fitted around a mast where it passes through the…

A flat-bottom boat used in the fisheries.

A contrivance for regulating the flow of fluids, the passage being through the movable part.…

(See A-cock-bill.)

A small rowing boat.

The depression in the deck abaft the after cabin. In cock-pit vessels the steering wheel is…

An apartment below the water-line in a vessel of war in which the wounded receive surgical…

A line made of eighteen threads.

A mechanical device met with in hydraulic engineering for exposing a portion of the bottom of…

When a rope is coiled down it is wound around and around, one turn on top of another, the mass…

Ropes made from the fibrous husks of the cocoa-nut. Coir rope will float upon the surface of…

The complement of the latitude--what it lacks of 90 deg.

A hook used on light sails in the same way as clip hooks.

The eyes in those ends of the standing rigging which go over the mastheads are sometimes…

A vessel carrying coal as a cargo.

(See Axis of Collimation.)

The national ensign, which is always flown from the stern of the vessel, either on a flagstaff…

The national ensign. In port, colors are made at 8 a. m. and hauled down at sunset. When at…

An enlarged space in a boiler, beyond the furnace, where the gases may combine more thoroughly…

To come up in the wind is to luff; To come to is to anchor; To come up on a rope is to slack…

The angular distance of the middle latitude from the nearest pole.

Said of a ship when her head approaches the direction of the wind.

The title of an officer commanding a navy yard or station, or the chief officer of a navy.

The title of the commanding officer of a naval academy.

A rank next below that of captain, and next above that of lieutenant-commander.

The President of the United States is commander-in-chief of the army and navy. This title is…

A document investing one with authority, issued by the President or sovereign, and by which an…

An officer who holds a commission issued to him by the President or sovereign. A…

The rank next below that of rear admiral, and next above that of captain.

The senior captain in a steamship line--seniority of service, not age.

A shell used against unarmored vessels.

Same as Calendar Year, containing 365 days.

The part of the armature of a dynamo or motor which transmits the current to or from the…

A wooden slide or cover over the cabin staircase. The cover to the forecastle hatch is termed…

In ships of war the framing and sash lights upon the quarter-deck or poop through which the…

A ladder leading from the main deck to the poop.

The cabin staircase; the steps leading below from the spardeck.

To observe a comparison is to note the difference in time between two timepieces.

A magnetic instrument which indicates the magnetic meridian, or the magnetic pole, and…

A magnetic needle alone, or a circular card having a magnetic needle secured across it,…

The process of correcting the compass for deviation by the employment of artificial magnets.

The direction of an object as indicated by a magnetic compass.

The hollow half-sphere in the top of the binnacle stand, and inside of which the compass is…

The painted circle, representing the 32 points of the compass, to which is fastened the…

The quantities in the way of points or degrees which must be applied to a course or bearing in…

The angle which the track of a vessel makes with the meridian as indicated by the ship's…

The deviation of the north point of the compass card from the magnetic meridian. (See Residual…

The magnetized steel bar which indicates the magnetic meridian when freely suspended and not…

One of the 32 divisions painted on the compass card.

(See Flower of the Winds.)

The diagram compass printed on charts. Azimuth Compass. A compass provided with revolving…

Such as are curved or arched.

A compass which has been corrected for deviation by the employment of magnets. Crazy Compass.…

Artificial magnets placed near a compass for the purpose of correcting the deviation.

The complement of an altitude is the zenith distance, or what an altitude lacks of 90 deg.

A composite vessel has an iron frame and wooden planking.

A combination of parallel and great circle sailing.

(See Corposant.)

The result of confining a small portion of steam in a cylinder by closing the exhaust valve…

That line traced on an indicator diagram from the time the exhaust valve closes until either…

An instrument that nips a cable and prevents it from running out.

A pilotage law exacting pilotage from vessels entering and leaving port, whether they accept…

To ascertain the ship's position by reckoning or calculation.

A small rope leading through the centre of the steps of a stern ladder or a Jacob's ladder.

The closed vessel in which steam discharged from the engine cylinder is reduced to water by…

A marine lightning-rod, being a copper wire secured to and projecting above the truck, and…

A device to check the revolutions of a gun mounted on a cone stand.

A name derived from the peculiar shape of the mount of all rapid-fire guns.

Heavenly bodies are in conjunction when they have the same longitude; that is, when they meet…

The long rod, one end of which takes hold of the wrist-pin in cross-head and the other end…

Directing the helmsman how to put the wheel when running through a channel.

A small, strong metal house, raised above the deck and furnished with peep-holes, in which the…

A group of fixed stars, bearing the name of some animal or emblem, such as the Great Bear, the…

An officer who designs and superintends the building and repairing of men-o'-war. Constructors…

Agents appointed by the government to reside in seaport towns of foreign countries, and whose…

A torpedo which is exploded by coming in contact with an object.

(See Torpedo.)

The art of lining and moulding timber, plank, etc., with the least possible waste.

A ship which carries convicts to their destination.

One or more merchant vessels sailing in company with and under the protection of a man-of-war.

There are two--the polar and rectilinear.

A system of angles and lines, by the employment of which the position of any point may be…

The true system of the universe, which represents the sun to be at rest in the centre, and the…

Turning the ends of iron lodging-knees so as they may hook into the beams.

A reddish, malleable metal extracted from various ores. Thin sheets of it are used for…

Said of a vessel when her hull is sheathed with copper.

A vessel is said to be copper-fastened when the bolts with which the vessel is fastened are of…

The boilers, or large kettles, used for cooking.

An open boat used in the Mediterranean for coral fishing.

A term applied in a general way to all the standing and running rigging.

A piece of metal screwed in to stop the holes left in hollow castings by the core supports,…

A term used to designate an amateur patron of yachting.

When the owner or some other amateur seaman acts as sailing master, the crew also, in whole or…

(See Drag.)

A volatile meteor sometimes seen about the masts and yards of a vessel just before and during…

The true geographical angle that the ship has sailed, found by applying the leeway, deviation…

The figures obtained after applying the time allowance to the actual time made in sailing over…

A piratical vessel of Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis.

(See Part V.)

A French sloop-of-war carrying from 20 to 32 guns.

(See Logarithms.)

(See Logarithms.)

Colored fireworks of private patterns used for various signaling on board vessels at sea.

(See Logarithms.)

A Scotch fishing boat.

A mechanism for registering the number of revolutions or strokes made by an engine.

A part of the stern, the lower counter being that arched part of the stern immediately above…

A bore of slightly increased diameter at each end of a cylinder bore.

To brace the head-yards one way and the after-yards another.

A sea which runs in a contrary direction to which the wind is blowing.

The concave in the after-body of a vessel which forms the run.

The hollows in iron plates, etc., which are excavated by an instrument called a counter-sunk…

The right-aft timbers which form the stern. The longest run up and form the lights, while the…

A device for securing together the adjacent ends of two pieces of shaft.

A small yawl of the Garonne.

That point of the compass toward which the vessel's head is pointed when under way.

The angle which a ship's keel makes with the meridian when she is sailing.

The bearing of the vessel from the point left.

A graduated rule or half-circle employed in shaping the course.

The blasts blown on the whistle by steam vessels to indicate to one another the respective…

The sails upon the lower yards of a vessel, thus the foresail is the fore course, the mainsail…

A court composed of military or naval officers for the purpose of trying offenders.

The arch moulding sunk in at the foot or lower part of the taffarel.

Same as plank shear.

The person who steers the boat and is in charge of same in the absence of an officer.

A seaman who steers and has charge of a boat in the absence of a line officer. In a…

The space between the backboard of the boat and the stern.

The space contained between the backboard of the boat and the stern.

A wooden machine with three claws, used in launching ships.

A sort of little capstan, formed of a kind of wooden pillar, whose lower end works in a socket…

A small winch resting on light iron standards. (See engraving.)

Made by breaking up a quantity of sea biscuit, soaking them in water until soft, then…

A framing built upon launching ways and in which the ship rests while she is being launched.

A strong frame of timber, etc., placed under the bottom of a ship in order to conduct her…

A general term for all kinds of vessels, independent of size or rig.

(See Cranze Iron.)

A flat, broad barge fitted with a crane for lifting heavy weights.

A machine used in raising or lowering great weights; a derrick. (See Cat Crane.)

A lever attached to the end of a shaft. Rectilinear motion applied to its outer extremity…

A vessel is said to be crank or tender when she heels over unduly under sail so as to be in…

A term applied to ships built too deep in proportion to their breadth, and from which they are…

(See Disc Crank.)

The cylindrical pin near the outer end of a crank, whose axis is parallel to axis of shaft and…

The space in the engine-bed through which the crank revolves.

That part of the main shaft which is contained in the enginebed and has the crank attached.

The iron band on the bowsprit end to which the bowsprit shrouds and bobstays are shackled.

An iron instrument having four claws like a grapnel and used for dragging over the bottom in…

Before sailing on a foreign voyage, or on a whaling voyage, the master of a vessel must make a…

A term applied to a well-known individual who plies seamen with liquor until they are…

A short piece of rope spliced into and forming an eye on the bolt rope on the luff, head,…

Another name for a cage mount.

A term applied to plank when it curves or compasses much in short lengths.

Bars of iron bent at each end; they are used to turn the shank of an anchor.

Bearings of two or more objects observed from the same point. The intersection of these lines…

Pieces of timber fayed across the dead-wood amidships to make good the deficiency of the heels…

The lower yard on the mizzen mast of a ship. It is pronounced as though spelled crog-ic. Some…

A method of regulating a watch at sea by observing right and left altitudes of heavenly bodies…

Pieces of timber that keep a vessel together while in frame.

A piece of timber connecting two bitts.

A sea that runs contrary to the direction of the wind; a confused, ugly sea, very dangerous…

Deals or fir plank nailed in a temporary manner to the frames of the ship at a certain height,…

Pieces of oak running thwartships which are supported by the cheeks and trestle trees, and on…

The very fine wires placed in the focus of the object-glass of a telescope.

To send yards aloft and drop them to the horizontal, and secure them with their gear.

The sliding block attached to the exposed end of piston-rod.

A wearing piece, usually of composition, in contact with the guides, held in the jaws of the…

When a ship sails over the equator she is said to cross the line. (See Neptune.)

To crowd sail upon a vessel is to set everything the ship can stagger under; or, all the sail…

When one vessel interferes with another's course by luffing or by bearing away, the former is…

The end of a boiler brace divided and spread, forming feet, each secured to shell. Also the…

A number of small lines suspending an awning, and which are either spliced into or hooked to…

The crown of an anchor is the lowest part directly beneath the shank, or where the arms are…

The sheet forming the top of a furnace.

A look-out perch at the mast-head of whalers. It is made of a barrel minus the head, so rigged…

A fast modern man-o'-war, and designed to prey upon an enemy's commerce.

A device attached to the mushroom of every breech-loading gun to ascertain the pressure on the…

The stanchion, forked at its upper end for a spar to rest in; the after-boom rests in a…

The crooked timbers fayed and bolted upon the foot-waling abaft for the security of the heels…

(See Cuckold's Neck.)

The knot by which a rope is secured to a spar, the two parts of the former crossing one…

A small cabin or pantry.

A heavenly body is said to culminate when it crosses the meridian. Upper Culmination. When a…

A mixed system of clouds. Also known as Nimbus, the rain cloud.

A blending of cumulus and stratus.

Known as the summer cloud. A species of cloud assuming more or less of a conical figure.

(See Conning.)

A solid piece of cast iron, let into the step of the capstan, and in which the iron spindle at…

A sailor's name for curiosities brought from a foreign country.

A fast sailing boat of the Malay Islands.

A current may be defined as a progressive motion of the water of the sea at certain places.

(See Ground Log.)

When a vessel sails through a sea in which a current is experienced its effect will be to set…

A progressive motion in certain places of the water of the ocean; defined streams traversing…

A Japanese whale boat.

The compressed steam in a cylinder, at or near the end of the stroke, which takes up gradually…

The legal tonnage of a vessel determined by the surveyor of customs. (See Tonnage.)

The gear for stopping the admission of steam to the cylinder before the piston has reached the…

A splice made with two ropes--one a short length. The latter has both its ends spliced into…

The space between the bilges of casks when stowed chime-and-chime.

A name given to steamers in the revenue service. Also medium-sized boats carried at the…

The elliptical curve line forming the upperside of the floor-timbers at the middle line. Also,…

The foremost part of the stern that divides the water when the vessel is sailing.

A revolution or round of time within which events recur in the same order. Cycle of the Sun.…

A period of 6,586 days--the time of revolution of the moon's node.

Also known as the metonic cycle. A period of 19 solar years, after which the new and full…

A curve traced out by any point in the plane of a circle rolled along a straight line.

A revolving wind advancing on a line.

The vessel in which the steam is brought in contact with the piston to perform useful work.

A long circular body of uniform diameter, used in connection with a piston on gun carriages to…

(See Cylinder Head.)

The plate which closes the end of a cylinder.