Crutch to Dead Calm

The stanchion, forked at its upper end for a spar to rest in; the after-boom rests in a portable crutch when the vessel is at anchor with no sail set.

(See Cuckold's Neck.)

The knot by which a rope is secured to a spar, the two parts of the former crossing one another and seized together.

A small cabin or pantry.

(See Conning.)

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

A fast sailing boat of the Malay Islands.

A progressive motion in certain places of the water of the ocean; defined streams traversing the surface of the sea; ocean rivers. (See chart engravings.)

A Japanese whale boat.

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

A splice made with two ropes--one a short length. The latter has both its ends spliced into the bight of the former, thus forming a kind of eye splice. (See engraving.)

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

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 davits. A one-masted vessel rigged almost like a sloop, the difference being mainly in the construction of the hulls.

Strictly speaking the term "Dago" refers to the children of Spanish parents, born in the State of Louisiana; but English and American seamen apply the designation to all Portuguese and Spanish sailors.

A mail boat of the East Indies.

Same as a yawl.

A kind of pudding made by men-o'-war's men.

A term applied to handcuffs.

A spray board sometimes placed in the bows of a steam launch to prevent the tops of waves coming on board.

A small block at the end of the after-gaff, used for reeving the ensign halliards.

A corruption of the word davit.

(See Davit Guy.)

A light wire rope secured in the outer eye on the side of each davit, and set taut on the rail by a lanyard so as to keep the davits at right angles to the keel. The davit check or spreader (a chain) crossing horizontally from davit to davit prevents them from turning too far when the guys are set up. Sometimes a light spar called a strongback is used for spreading the davits instead of a chain.

(See Davit Guy.)

(See Davit Guy.)

Lengths of timber or iron having blocks shackled to, or sheaves in the upper ends, and which project over the stern and side of a vessel, being employed to hang boats to. (See Fish Davit.)

A title applied to a mythical sea devil, otherwise called Jimmy Squarefoot.

Infernal regions at the bottom of the sea where Davy Jones holds court.

When two bodies fail to come into perfect contact, so that a small opening between them is seen to exist, they are said to show daylight between them.

(See Calm.)