L

A vessel is said to labor when she strains heavily in a violent sea from rolling and pitching.

Subject to labor, or to pitch and roll violently in a heavy sea, by which the masts, and even…

The rope used to lash the head of a fore-and-aft sail to a gaff; to secure a bonnet to a sail,…

A piece of compass or knee timber fayed to the back of the figure-head and the knee of the…

Cargo carried loose in a vessel, such as wheat, corn, salt, etc.

A Russian lighter.

A Chinese name for an armed vessel.

Sinkable articles thrown overboard and buoyed so as to be recovered.

The covering of a cylinder or pipe which prevents radiation of heat.

Out of commission; not in use.

A Malay proa or swift sailing boat.

A brightness in the atmosphere in the vicinity of land covered with snow.

On the coast in the tropics a breeze begins to blow from the shore (land breeze) after sunset,…

(See Part I.)

To see the land when coming from sea. A good land fall signifies that the land sighted is the…

A sailor's name for a man who passes his life on land.

(See Part I.)

The second line of planking on a boat from the gunwale.

Surrounded by land.

Any shore object which serves as a guide to vessels. equator; the angular distance from the…

A designation for forward men on shipboard below the grade of ordinary seamen. A man who has…

A rate signifying that the person has no knowledge, or very little knowledge, of seamanship.…

A Malay vessel.

A Chinese rowboat.

A rope rove through dead eyes in setting up rigging; a rope made fast to anything for securing…

A term applied to that joint in boiler construction in which the edge of one sheet is laid…

An expression used in boat-building, signifying that the planks of the boat overlap.

The mast carlings are said to lap upon the beams by reason of their great depth, and…

A term expressive of the condition of a vessel when she will not swim upright, owing to her…

The left-hand side of a vessel in looking towards the bow (now obsolete). The word port takes…

A name once given to the men of the larboard watch.

A vessel goes large when she has the wind free. (See Flowing Sheets.)

A knot made by doubling the bight of a rope, passing it around a spar, or through a ring or…

To bind anything with ropes or chain.

The rope loops on the head of a bonnet and by which it is laced to the foot of the sail.

A rig similar to that of the lugger. excepting that the sail is triangular. A long yard which…

The resistance of the water against the sides of a vessel in a direction perpendicular to her…

The parallel of the vessel determined by dead reckoning.

The parallel of the vessel determined by the employment of a traverse table. (See Dead…

The parallel of a vessel determined by an observation of a heavenly body. (See Co-Latitude;…

A large boat. When a vessel is slid off the ways into the water. To haul a spar along the deck…

A set of planks mostly used to form the platform on each side of the ship, whereon the…

The science of the phenomena; relating to violent winds.

The direction in which the strands of a rope are twisted; the preface of an order for the men…

A vessel lavs her course when the wind allows her to point toward the place of destination.

The order to the crew individually or collectively to proceed towards the stern of the vessel.

A certain number of days agreed upon between the shippers and the master, or the agent of a…

An order for the crew to proceed towards the bows of the vessel.

An order to the boat's crew to cease rowing. but to keep their oars shipped in the thole pins…

An order to the men in the slings of the yard to go out on the yardarms.

An order to a crew to pull the boat faster through the water.

As a ship recedes from the shore she is said to lay the land.

(See Lying Along.)

To delineate the different parts of a vessel upon the mold-loft floor. When the lines of a…

The act of delineating the various parts of the ship to its true size upon the mould-loft…

(See Lie-to.)

A low-headroom space below the main deck on the afterpart of the vessel where provisions and…

An iron bar supported horizontally across the furnace or ash pit door opening to take the…

A name sometimes applied to the boom-guy or boom-pendant.

The lengths of rope rove through thimbles seized on to the boom topping lifts and made fast to…

The edge of a square sail at the sides, but the after-edge of a fore-and-aft sail. Oftentimes…

A line made fast to the leach ropes of sails, and passing up through blocks on the yards to…

The roping on the after-edge of fore-and-aft sails, but the roping on the sides of square…

The distance the port is open when the piston is at the end of its stroke.

A strip of soft metal laid on top of a journal and squeezed down by the cap, the reduced…

(See Hand Lead and Deep Sea Lead.)

(See Part I.)

(See Fairleader.)

(See Snatch Block.)

The part of the tackle that is hauled upon.

A wind which permits a vessel to lay her course with sheets started.

The seaman who heaves the lead to ascertain the depth of water.

Three miles. (See Marine League.)

A measure of distance, varying in different countries, as follows; United States, France,…

A hole in a vessel's hull which admits water. To spring a leak is to strain the vessel so that…

The name given to a sea which breaks over the bow of a vessel.

A cluster of rocks a short distance below the surface of the water.

Oak or fir scantling used in framing the decks, which are let into the carlings athwartships.…

A board arranged to fit to the lee side of flat-bottomed boats, in order to prevent leeward…

Being to leeward of another ship or object.

A vessel carries a lee helm when the tiller is put over towards the lee side of the vessel.

A sudden roll of the vessel to leeward.

The land to leeward of the ship, or the shore towards which the wind is blowing.

The opposite side to which the wind is blowing on.

A tide that runs in the same direction as the wind is blowing; tide and wind in harmony.

The assistant to the helmsman. The lee-wheelsman stands on the lee side of the wheel.

(See Leach.)

(See Deck Horse.) Also a rope made fast to the clew cringle of a jib in order to haul it flat…

(Pronounced as though spelled lu-ard.) The lee side. The opposite to windward.

The amount a vessel loses by being forced sideways through the water owing to the pressure of…

(See Part I.)

(See Screw Propeller.)

Rope laid up against the sun; i. e., twisted from left to right.

The water space about the furnace of a flue-and-return tubular boiler.

When a vessel sails close-hauled she is said to make a leg, and the terms long leg and short…

The operation of separating a ship athwartships and adding a certain portion to her length. It…

The magnifying glasses used in telescopes.

To fix or fit one timber or plank into another, as the ends of carlings into the beams, and…

A commission granted by government to a privateering vessel.

The error of a transit instrument owing to the deviation of the axis from the horizontal.

Lines determining the shape of a ship's body horizontally, or square from the middle line of…

Handles vibrating about a pin, or attached to a shaft, for actuating various parts.

To seize a vessel under admiralty process at the beginning of a suit. A vessel may be libelled…

A marine document issued to a vessel of the United States by the customs authorities. A vessel…

A vessel is said to lie along when heeled over by the weight of the wind on her sails.

To stop the progress of a vessel through the water by reducing sail and keeping her so close…

The grade next below that of lieutenant-commander, and next above that of lieutenant, junior…

A line officer one rank under a lieutenant, and one rank higher than an ensign.

A line officer one grade lower than a commander, and one grade higher than a lieutenant.

A boat built to be specially seaworthy. Air-tight tanks in either end of the boat and along…

There are several kinds of life buoys. One style is that of a ring covered with canvas,…

A tank used by the Life Saving Service for bringing shipwrecked people ashore. It will hold…

A kite made of thin sticks and muslin on board of a wrecked vessel as a means of getting a…

Ropes stretched along the decks to lay hold of, and by which the crew may save themselves from…

Forms of canvas-covered cork made either as a jacket or belt for sustaining the weight of a…

A pair of segar-shaped sheet iron cylinders connected on the same principle of a catamaran,…

Buildings erected along the coast and provided with life boats, mortar apparatus, etc., for…

A rope extending from a yard-arm to the mast to support the yard, and by means of which the…

The arms of the lifting rods of a beam engine that receive the impulse from the vibrating toes…

The four upright rods in a beam engine front that transmit the motion from the steam and…

To lift anything along is to light it along. When the jibs are to be slacked off a little the…

A tax of fifty cents per ton levied upon vessels under certain conditions by the customs…

All the sails above the topsails, also the studding sails and flying jib.

Vessels anchored in the vicinity of shoals to mark the danger, and provided with…

To lighten a vessel is to throw cargo overboard. To lighten up the head sheets is to slacken…

A flat-bottomed boat for transporting merchandise about harbors and rivers. It is generally…

A tower erected on the coast line, or upon rocks or over shoals, which acts as a beacon by day…

A copper wire fastened to and extending a short distance above each truck, thence leading down…

Small portable boards fitted to the flooring in the hold, and which are removed when it is…

A small chain rove through the limber holes, and which is used to clear them of dirt, by…

A passage or channel formed throughout the whole length of the floor, on each side of the…

The plank in the flooring of the hold which lies next to the keelson.

The holes cut in the lowest part of the floor timbers and near the keelson, so as to allow…

A term applied to English seamen owing to the Board-of-Trade law concerning the serving out of…

Those northern and southern parallels outside of which occultations of the stars or planets…

A term used in relation to the equator.

The imaginary line joining the Aphelion and Perihelion points of the orbit, also the line…

The line of chords upon the sector is used for protracting any angle when the limited size of…

The line passing through the centre of the telescope of an astronomical instrument--the…

Found upon Gunter's rule, and used to divide a given line into any number of equal parts.

Two lines on the earth's surface extending from the magnetic north to the magnetic south pole;…

That line which passes through the nodes of an orbit.

Used to inscribe a regular polygon in a circle.

Scales of several radii.

Admiral, vice-admiral, rear admiral, commodore, captain, commander, lieutenant-commander,…

An obsolete type of man-o'-war, having three rows of ports and carrying from 74 to 120 guns.

Ropes used for various purposes on board ship and known as head-lines. bow-lines,…

Drawings which show the lines of a vessel comprise three separate plans, depending one upon…

(See Steam Chimney.)

Extra pieces of canvas sewed on the back of square sails to take the chafe.

The bar which is connected at either end to the eccentric rods from each of two adjoining…

The block sliding on the link through which the motion of either eccentric at will is…

The combination of two eccentrics on the same shaft, two rods, and the link and block for…

The substance left at the ends which would otherwise become sharp and be liable to split; and…

(See Compass.)

When a vessel's masts are inclined from the perpendicular, or her decks from the horizontal…

A narrow strip cut from the edge of one of the ship's planks so as to expose the timbers…

A certain rule, named after the inventor, for determining the longitude by observation by…

A loaded primer--one that has not been used.

Steam as it comes from the boiler.

A length of rope having one or more thimbles spliced into it and used, as a leader for ropes.…

An English society of underwriters who establish the classes of vessels. This society was…

The line of flotation or immersion when a vessel is loaded.

A fuzed shell charged with powder.

A metal shelf for assisting the passage of a shell into the breech.

A stupid fellow on board ship.

The name of the forward passageway in the cabin.

A sick-bay nurse; also called bayman.

A hash composed of meat and sea-biscuit, with or without vegetables.

(See Apparent Time.)

Magnetic elements outside the ship, affecting the pointing of the compass on board.

(See Signals.)

The time confined or limited to a place; time calculated by the passage of the mean sun over…

The crossing or passage of a heavenly body over the meridian of the observer.

(See Canal.)

The lanyard used to fire the primer which explodes the charge in the gun.

A chest or small apartment used for stowing away articles of ship's stores, as the…

A safety valve whose adjusting parts are so protected that they cannot be tampered with.

A vessel with high masts.

The old-fashioned log is an apparatus employed for ascertaining the ship's rate of sailing. It…

An instrument used for measuring the rate of a vessel's speed through the water. There are…

Same as log slate.

(See Part I.)

A journal kept by the mate in which is entered the position of the ship, the winds, currents,…

(See Part I.)

A flat piece of board in the shape of a quadrant--a part of the old-fashioned log.

The register of a taffrail log.

The sand-glass belonging to the chip log.

The line belonging to the chip log, or the line which connects the propeller of a taffrail log…

The reel on which the log-line is wound.

Same as log chip.

The slate kept on deck for the mates to enter on it a record of the vessel's speed, sail…

(See Part I.)

The exponent of the power to which a fixed number, called the base, must be raised to produce…

Recorded in the log-book.

A small bitt in a whale boat, around which a turn of the harpoonline is taken.

Ascertaining the ship's speed by heaving the log.

The logarithm of the number of seconds in an hour (3,600) diminished by the log of the number…

An old English name for the boat that carried impressed seamen to the receiving ship.

A long stretch upon one tack.

The largest boat carried on a merchant-man, and is provided with mast, sail, oars, rudder, and…

A uniform motion of long waves.

Joining two ropes together by interweaving their strands, so that no bulge exists. (See…

When it is desired that the boat's crew should send the boat through the water faster by…

Timbers in the cant bodies, reaching from the dead-wood to the head of the second futtock.

A gun of great length and range as compared with the broadside gun.

A name given to the casks which are stowed next to the keelson.

The distance, expressed in degrees, or hours, east or west of a given meridian. Celestial…

The meridian of the ship determined by dead reckoning.

The meridian of the ship determined by an altitude of a heavenly body and the corresponding…

The meridian of the ship determined by the employment of a traverse table. (See Dead…

The meridian of the vessel determined by observing equal altitudes of the sun--one before and…

The meridian of the vessel determined by an observation of a heavenly body.

The meridian of the vessel determined without the aid of a sextant. In this case no altitude…

Longitude expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds of angular measure (deg ' ").

Longitude expressed in hours, minutes and seconds of time (h. m. s.)

A couplet for naming the longitude when working a chronometer altitude sight. It is as…

A vessel having a great draught of water.

A dock laborer or a member of a stevedore's crew.

One of the names by which molasses is called on shipboard.

That part of a vessel where the planks begin to bend as they approach the stern.

A vessel is said to look up when by the changing of the wind she is enabled to point closer to…

Sighting three or more objects with the eye to ascertain if they are in alignment--for…

The man on watch stationed at the bows to observe and report upon the presence and movements…

A vessel looms in a fog, or at night, when she appears indistinct to the observer. The part of…

To unfurl a sail is to loose it.

A Chinese coasting vessel. Lost the Number of his Mess. When a seaman dies he is said to lose…

(See Gained Day.) L's of Navigation. (See Part I.)

Parallels near the equator.

(See High Pressure.)

The lowest point of the tide.

(See Part I.)

To settle away; to ease down.

The second space beneath the spar deck in the interior of a vessel having two decks.

The first mast above the deck; the mast which is stepped in the keel; foremast, mainmast,…

The shrouds and the ratlines belonging to the lower fore, main, and mizzen masts.

The shrouds of the lower fore, main, and mizzen masts.

(See Topgallant Sail.)

(See Topsail.)

The passage (transit) of the sun, moon, planets and stars over the meridian 180 deg. from the…

The fore-yard, main-yard, and cross-jack.

The largest cylinder in a compound or triple expansion engine.

A clumsy fellow; a green hand on shipboard. (See Lubber's Hole.)

An opening in the top next to the mast, and through which the shrouds pass after going over…

Same as Lubbers' Point.

The black vertical line which is painted on the inside of a compass bowl, and which represents…

(See Part I).

Any substance that may be applied to wearing surfaces to reduce friction.

An apparatus for supplying a lubricant to the interior of a steam cylinder.

The forward edge of fore-and-aft sails; often called the forward leach. A vessel is luffed by…

The iron ring or shape spliced into the bolt rope of a gaff fore-and-aft sail at the junction…

(See Luff.)

A tackle formed of a length of rope and a double and single block. Luff upon Luff. One…

A flat projection from the body of a piece to which to fasten other pieces.

Vessels on one, two and three masts with quadrilateral or four-cornered fore-and-aft sails…

A square port in the bows of some vessels through which the long lengths of lumber are taken…

Pertaining to the moon.

The angular distance of the moon's centre from certain other heavenly bodies.

The variation in the moon's motion.

An observation of the moon; the angular distance of the moon from another heavenly body, the…

The period between two successive new moons; the lunar month; the synodical period.

Combining the revolutions of the sun and moon.

The period after which the eclipses return in the same order--532 years.

The interval of time existing between the moon's transit and the next following high water.

A sudden, quick rolling of the vessel.

Heeling over to leeward under a press of sail with a beam wind.

(See Lie-to.)