Starboard; the right-hand side of the ship, when looking forward. - Starboard tack. A ship is said to be on the starboard tack when sailing with the wind blowing upon her starboard

side.

"Starboard the helm!" an order to push the helm to the starboard side.

To stay a ship; to arrange the sails and move the rudder so as to bring the ship's head to the direction of the wind, in order to get her on the other tack.

Stays; large ropes coming from the mast-heads down before the masts, to prevent them from springing, when the ship is sending deep.

"Steady!" instant.

the order to the helmsman to keep the ship in the direction she is going at that

Steering; the art of directing the ship's way by the movement of the helm.

Steerage-way; such degree of progressive motion of a ship as will give effect to the motion of the helm.

Stem; a circular piece of timber, into which the two sides of a ship are united at the fore end; the lower end is scarfed to the keel, and the bowsprit rests on the upper end.

To stem the tide. When a ship is sailing against the tide, at such a rate as enables her to overcome its power, she is said to stem the tide.

Steeve; turning up. The bowsprit steeves too much; that is, it is too upright.

Sternfast; a rope confining a ship by her stern to any other ship or to a wharf.
Sternmost; the farthest astern, opposed to headmost.

Stern-way; the motion by which a ship falls back with her stern foremost.

Stiff; the condition of a ship when she will carry a great quantity of sail without hazard of oversetting. It is used in opposition to crank.

Stoppers; a large kind of ropes, which, being fastened to the cable in different places abaft the bitts, are an additional security to the ship at anchor.

To stow; to arrange and dispose a ship's cargo.

Strand; one of the twists or divisions of which a rope is composed. It also implies the sea beach.

Stranded. This term, speaking of a cable or rope, signifies that one of its strands is broken: applied to a vessel, it means that she is run aground and is lost.

To stream the buoy; to let it fall from the ship's side into the water, previously to casting anchor.

"Stretch out!" a term used to men in a boat when they should pull strong.

To strike; to lower or let down any thing; used emphatically to denote the lowering of colors in token of surrender to a victorious enemy.

To strike sounding; to touch ground when endeavoring to find the depth of water.

Sued, or sewed. When a ship is on shore, and the water leaves her, she is said to be sued ;

if the water leaves her two feet, she sues or is sued two feet.

Surf; the swell of the sea that breaks upon shore or on any rock.

To surge the capstan; to slacken the rope heaved round upon it.

Sway away; hoist.

Swell; the fluctuating motion of the sea, either during or after a storm.

Sweeping; the act of dragging the bight or loose part of a rope along the surface of the ground, in a harbor or road, in order to drag up something lost.

Swinging; the act of a ship's turning round her anchor at the change of wind or tide.

T.

To tack; to turn a ship about from one tack to another, by bringing her head to the wind. Tafferel; the uppermost part of a ship's stern.

Taking in; the act of furling the sails, used in opposition to setting.

Taking aback. See Aback.

Tamkin, or tomkin; tampion, or tompion; the bung, or piece of wood, by which the mouth of a cannon is filled to keep out wet.

Tarpaulin; a cloth of canvass covered with tar or some other composition, so as to make it water proof.

Taught; improperly, though very generally, used for tight.

Taunt; high, or tall; particularly applied to masts of extraordinary length.

Tell-tale; an instrument which traverses upon an index in front of the poop-deck, to show the position of the tiller.

Tending; the turning or swinging of a ship round her anchor in a tide-way at the beginning of ebb and flood.

"Thus!" an order to the helmsman to keep the ship in her present situation, when sailing with a scant wind.

To tide; to work in or out of a river, harbor, or channel, by favor of the tide, anchoring whenever it becomes adverse.

Tide it up; to go with the tide against the wind.

Tide-way; that part of the river in which the tide ebbs and flows strongly.

Tier; a row; as, a tier of guns, a tier of casks, a tier of ships, &c.- Tier of a cable; a range of the fakes or windings of a cable which are laid within one another, in a horizontal

position.

Cable tier; the space in the midst of a cable when it is coiled; also the place in which it is coiled.

Tiller; a large piece of wood, or a beam, put into the head of the rudder, and by means of which the rudder is moved.

Topping; pulling one of the ends of a yard higher than the other.

Tort, or taught, signifies tight.

To tow; to draw a ship in the water by a rope, fixed to a boat or other ship which is rowing or sailing on.

Tow-line; a small hawser or rope, used to remove a ship from one part of a harbor to another.

Transoms; certain beams or timbers extended across the stern-post of a ship to strengthen her after-part, and to give it the figure most suitable to the service for which she is calculated.

Traverse; to go backwards and forwards.

Treenails, or trunnels; long wooden pins employed to connect the planks of the ship's side and bottom to the corresponding timbers.

Trice, trice up; to haul up and fasten.

Trim; the state or disposition by which a ship is best calculated for the purposes of navigation. To trim the hold; to arrange the cargo regularly. To trim the sails; to dispose the sails in the best arrangement for the course which a ship is steering.

To trip the anchor; to loosen the anchor from the ground, either by design or accident.
Trough of the sea; the hollow between two waves.

Truck; a round piece of wood put upon the top of flag-staves, with sheaves on each side for the halliards of the flags to reeve in.

Trysail; a small sail used by cutters and brigs in blowing weather.

Turning to windward; that operation in sailing, whereby a ship endeavors to advance against the wind.

U.

To unballast; to discharge the ballast out of a ship.

To unbend; to take the sails off from their yards and stays; to cast loose the anchor from the cable; to untie two ropes.

To unbitt; to remove the turns of a cable from off the bitts.

Under foot, is expressed of an anchor that is directly under the ship.

Under sail, or under way. When a ship is sailing, she is said to be under way.

Under the lee of the shore, is to be close under the shore which lies to windward of the ship. Unfurl; cast loose the gasket of the sail.

To unmoor; to reduce a ship to the state of riding at single anchor, after she has been moored.

To unreeve; to draw a rope from out of a block, timber, &c.

To unrig; to deprive the ship of her rigging.

Uvrou; the piece of wood by which the legs of the crow-foot are extended.

V.

Van; the foremost division of a fleet in one line. It is likewise applied to the foremost ship of a division.

Vane; a small kind of flag worn at each mast-head.

To veer or wear the ship; to change a ship's course from one tack to the other, by turning her stern to windward.

Veer; let out; as, Veer away the cable.

Veer; shift. The wind veers; that is, it shifts, changes.

To veer and haul; to pull tight and slacken alternately.

Viol, or voyal; a block through which the messenger passes in weighing the anchor. A large messenger is called a viol.

W.

Wake; the path or track impressed on the water by the ship's passing through it, leaving a smoothness in the sea behind it. A ship is said to come into the wake of another, when she follows her in the same track, and this is chiefly done in bringing ships to, or in forming the line of battle.

Wales are strong timbers that go round a ship a little above her water-line.

Warp; a small rope employed occasionally to remove a ship from one place to another.

To warp; to remove a ship by means of a warp.

Waist; that part of a ship contained between the quarter-deck and the fore-castle.

Water-line; the line made by the water's edge when a ship has her full proportion of stores, &c., on board.

Water-borne; the state of a ship, when there is barely a sufficient depth of water to float her off from the ground.

Water-logged; the state of a ship become heavy and inactive on the sea, from the great

Water-tight; the state of a ship when not leaky.

Weather. To weather any thing, is to get to windward of it. Synonymous with windward. Weather-beaten; shattered by a storm. Weather-bit; a turn of the cable about the end of the windlass. Weather-gage. When a fleet or ship is to windward of another, she is said to have the weather-gage of her. - Weather quarter; that quarter of the ship which is on the windward side. - Weather side; the side upon which the wind blows.

To weigh anchor; to heave up an anchor from the bottom.

To wind a ship; to change her position, bringing her head where her stern was.

Wind-road.

When a ship is at anchor, and the wind, being against the tide, is so strong as

to overcome its power, and keep the ship to leeward of her anchor, she is said to be windroad.

Wind's eye; the point from which the wind blows.

To windward; towards that part of the horizon from which the wind blows.

Windward tide; a tide that sets to windward.

To work a ship; to direct the movements of a ship by adapting the sails and managing the rudder according to the course the ship has to make.

To work to windward; to make a progress against the direction of the wind.

Woold; to bind round with ropes.

Y.

Yards; the spars upon which the sails are spread.

Yawing; the motion of a ship when she deviates from her course to the right or left.

EVOLUTIONS AT SEA.

Of the ballast and lading.

WHEN a ship is loading, it should be considered that her tendency to pitch or roll depends not alone on her form, but even more upon the distribution of the heaviest parts of her

cargo.

Particular attention is to be paid to moderate her pitching, as that is what most fatigues a ship and her masts; and it is mostly in one of these motions that masts are seen to break, particularly when the head rises after having pitched. Although the rolling be proportionably a more considerable movement than pitching, it is seldom any accident is seen to arise from it, as it is always a slow one. It is, however, not less proper to prevent it as much as possible. This will, in general, be easily effected, without being any way detrimental to the ship's stiff carrying of sail, if, when the ballast is iron, you stow it up to the floor-heads; because it will recall the ship with less violence after having inclined, and it will act on a point but little distant from the centre of gravity.

In the merchant service, the stowage consists, besides the ballast, of casks, cases, bales, boxes, &c., which are all carefully wedged off from the bottom, sides, pump-well, &c.; and great attention is paid that the most weighty materials are stowed nearest to the centre of gravity, or bearing of the ship, and higher or lower in the hold, agreeably to the form of the vessel. A full, low-built vessel requires them to be stowed high up, that the centre of gravity may be raised, to keep her from rolling away her masts, and from being too stiff and Taborsome; as, on the contrary, a narrow, high-built vessel requires the most weighty materials to be stowed low down, nearest the kelson, that the centre of gravity may be kept low, to enable her to carry sail, and to prevent her oversetting.

To anchor in fine weather in a place where you will ride head to wind, being crose-hauled.

Being under the three topsails, fore-topmast-staysail, and mizzen, stand on until you are within about two ship's lengths of the place where you mean to drop your anchor; then put the helm a-lee, and haul down the fore-topmast-staysail. As soon as the topsails shiver, clew them up briskly, before you lower, except the mizzen-topsail, which is to be laid to the mast, and the mizzen-sheet hauled flat aft, the instant the ship begins to have stern-way, by reason of the wind being ahead. Then shift the helm to windward, and let go the anchor, veering away the cable, to give it time to settle in the ground, until the vessel falls off, when she is to be checked, to bring her head to the wind. When that is done, right the helm, and haul up the mizzen.

To anchor in fine weather in a place where you will ride head to wind, the wind being large.

If you have the wind large, whether on the beam or more aft, the operation is still the same, only hauling up a little sooner, to keep to windward, because it is in your power to drift as much as you think requisite, and because the ship will be entirely stopped as soon as all her sails begin to catch aback, and you will have done clewing them up when they begin to shake. The mizzen-topsail is next to be heaved to the mast, the helm put a-weather, and the anchor let go, as soon as the head-way ceases; then, fter giving her a sufficiency of cable, bring the ship up. If she has been going large, she will not range precisely head to wind, since her head-way ceases as soon as the sails are taken aback, and the effort of the wind acts on all the rigging of the ship to impel her both astern and to leeward, which is indeed augmenting the effect of the rudder, as the helm is a-weather to bring the vessel to the wind: but as the power of the wind is very great to pay the ship's head off, it balances, wholly or partly, (according as the ship goes astern with more or less velocity,) the effort of the rudder and that of the mizzen; thus she drifts, and remains as it were lying to with all her sails aback. This is the reason why we keep a little to windward, and let go the anchor, to bring the ship's head to wind at the proper time, which she will do the more readily as she is withheld forward by the cable, while the wind on her side forces her to

To anchor in fine weather in a place where you are to ride head to the stream and wind, the wind being large.

If you are obliged to ride with the head to the stream, you must, when it comes from the windward, put the helm a-lee in setting the mizzen, then clew up the sails, and, when the ship's head is right in the direction of the stream, let go the anchor, provided she has quite lost her head-way; for else, you would get foul of the anchor-stock by running over it. This must never be neglected, unless you find yourself under the necessity to bring up in any situation in which you may happen to be, which is almost always the case when you are taken too short to have time to stop the vessel; and then there is often a necessity of casting a second anchor, which generally catches the ground by assistance of the first, which has begun to diminish the velocity of the ship; and as many of the sails are to be hauled down as you can, and as quick as possible.

To anchor in fine weather in a place where you will ride head to the stream, which comes from leeward, the wind being large.

When the current comes from the leeward, you must keep the ship away till her head comes to the set of the stream, and take in all the sails, to diminish as speedily as possible her head-way, which always continues of itself long enough when the wind is aft or very large; and when the ship is stopped by the effort of the water, let go the anchor without waiting for the vessel gathering stern-way, if the current is rapid; and in this case, as well as all those wherein there is a sea, or blowing fresh, the ship requires a great length of cable.

To come to an anchor with the wind aft.

First, hand the main-topsail, and then lower the fore-topsail down on the cap; and when you are within a reasonable distance of the place where you mean to drop anchor, (which distance is to be judged of from the readiness of the ship to obey the helm, and from her velocity,) the tiller may be put either one way or the other, the fore-topsail and fore-topmast-stay sail clewed up and taken in, the mizzen-topsail braced sharp up, and the mizzen sheet hauled flat aft. When the ship ranges close to the wind, she is, as it were, lying to under the mizzen and mizzen-topsails, with the last-mentioned sail full or aback, according as you may have occasion to shoot ahead or drop astern; so that, if you are too much to windward of the spot where you mean to bring to, you drift till you arrive at it: if you are precisely in the proper birth, you let go the anchor in lowering down the mizzen-topsail, which is to be furled as soon as the vessel is brought up; then the ship will come head to wind by the power of the mizzen, which must be brailed up as soon as it shakes.

Scudding under a foresail, to come to an anchor.

The foresail must be clewed up when at some distance from your birth; and, some part of the way, run under bare poles. When near enough to sheer to the wind, you execute it by putting the helm hard a lee; and as soon as the ship is come to, let go the anchor, giving her a large scope of cable, and observing to check her handsomely, in order to make her ride head to wind, as stopping her at first too short might endanger her cable or anchor. Should the first not bring her up, a second may be let go.

To anchor with a spring, in order to present the vessel's side to a place or ship you wish to cannonade.

This is executed when you know that the wind or current will bring your head, when at anchor, towards the object you mean to attack; for should the wind or tide bring your broadside to bear on the object you mean to cannonade, the spring would only be a precaution to get under way more quickly in case you were obliged to retreat, or in case the wind or tide should shift.

Get a large snatch-block in the aftermost port, or on the same side you wish to present to the wind or current, and on the same side with the anchor and cable with which you mean to bring up; then, through the block reeve a hawser, the end of which is to be clinched to the ring of the anchor you mean to let go; the other part is to be brought to the capstan with necessary ranges of the cable and hawser on deck. That done, and the ship being arrived at the birth, you are to deaden her way according to circumstances; then let go the anchor, and veer away enough cable and hawser, now a little more of the one, and then a little more of the other, according as you wish to present more head or stern; which you can do by heaving on the spring, or, what is the same, veering away more cable. Should you find it requisite to shift your position, you have only to veer out more of the hawser.

To come to anchor in roads that are often crowded with ships, and to leave clear births for others.

The best anchoring births in these places are mostly known by marks, and of course are occupied by the first ships.