GLOSSARY.
Braces. Ropes rove through blocks by which to control the yards of a square-rigged ship.
Brails. Ropes used for the purpose of shortening a ship’s canvas, as in the case of the Phœnician and Roman ships, and to-day in the Thames barge.
Careen. To lay a ship over on to her side in order to be able to caulk her lower seams.
Carvel-build. The manner of building a vessel so that the planks are laid edge to edge, and not overlapping.
Caulk. To stop the seams of a ship with oakum, so as to prevent the water entering between the planking.
Clew. The lower corners of a squaresail, and the aftermost corner of a staysail.
Clinker-build. The manner of building a vessel so that the planks overlap each other. (Compare “carvel-build.”)
Crank. An adjective applied to a ship when she is liable to capsize.
Davits. Short pieces, formerly of timber, now of iron, projecting over a vessel’s side, for hoisting up the ship’s anchors or boats.
Dhow. The term applied generally to the lateen-rigged ships of the East.
Freeboard. The amount of a ship’s hull extending from the waterline to the gunwale.
Gaff. A spar used for extending the upper edge of a fore-and-aft rectangular sail—e.g., the mainsail of a cutter.
Goaring. An old English expression in use during Elizabethan times, applied when the lower corners of the sail extended much further out than the width of the canvas stretched along the yard.
Gooseneck. A piece of bent iron fitted to the end of a boom by which to connect the latter to the ship.
Guy. A rope attached to a spar for the purpose of steadying it.
Gybe. When a ship so alters her course in running free that the wind, instead of coming from one quarter, comes from the opposite quarter, the mainsail of a fore-and-after will have swung over, and be said to have gybed.
Halyard. A rope or tackle used for hoisting or lowering sails and spars.
Jettison. To lighten a ship by throwing goods overboard.
Jib-boom. The spar which continues further forward the projection of the bowsprit.
Keelson. The piece of timber which is laid on the middle of the floor timbers over the keel.
Lanyard. A short piece of rope used for various purposes—e.g., for making fast the shrouds to a ship’s side.
Lateen. A long triangular sail bent to a long yard, a characteristic sail of the Mediterranean and dhow-rigged craft. Also carried on the mizzen and bonaventure mizzen of mediæval full-rigged ships.
Leach. The vertical edges of a sail.
Lug. A fore-and-aft sail hoisted on a yard, of which not more than about a third of its length is forward of the mast. In the dupping-lug the tack of the sail is made fast some distance forward of the mast, and because the sail must needs be set on the lee side of the mast it has to be dipped at each tack and hoisted afresh on the other side.
Mizzen. The aftermost mast of a vessel having two or more masts; sometimes called a jigger. In the case of mediæval ships having four masts, the aftermost was called the bonaventure mizzen, and the one immediately forward of this the main mizzen.
Parral. A band for keeping the end of a yard to the mast; made in different ages of basket-work or rope—in the latter case running through a number of circular pieces of wood, to prevent friction in raising and lowering the yard or gaff.
Pavisses. Shields of wood or other material placed round a ship’s side for a protection against the enemy’s missiles; used also in open boats for keeping out the spray.
Pintle. The bolt by which a rudder is attached to the stern of a ship.
Quant. A pole used extensively in Holland and East Anglia for the purpose of propelling a craft along shallow waterways. (Greek κοντὸς, Latin contus, a pole.)
Race. A rapid current of disturbed water caused by the unevenness of the bottom of the sea, frequently found off headlands—e.g., St. Alban’s Head, Portland Bill, &c.
Rocker. The curvature of a piece or pieces of wood in a vessel’s structure.
Scuttle. To cause a ship to sink by making holes in her hull below the water-line.
Sheer. The curve of a vessel’s hull from bow to stern, or vice versâ.
Spinnaker. A light, triangular-shaped sail set on the side opposite to that on which the mainsail extends, and used when running before the wind.
Sprit, Spritsail. (1) In full-rigged ships the spritsail was a square-sail set on a yard below the bowsprit; now obsolete. (2) In fore-and-aft vessels the sprit is a spar used for stretching the peak of the sail, thus extending diagonally across the mast—as, for instance, in the case of a Thames barge (see Fig. 99).
Staysail. Usually triangular in shape, though in the seventeenth century sometimes rectangular, hoisted on a stay, between the masts or forward of the foremast.
Steeving. The angle which a ship’s bowsprit makes with the horizon.
Stempost. The piece of timber to which the two sides of a ship’s planking are united at the forward end.
Step. The block of wood into which the keel of a mast is fixed.
Strut-frame. A piece of timber used in shipbuilding for strengthening the vessel.
Topping-lifts. Ropes used for the support of the boom of a sail when the latter is stowed.
Truck. A small wooden cap at the summit of a mast.
Vang. A rope leading down from the end of a gaff to the deck. A characteristic of the Dutch sloops and Thames barge rig.
Wale. One of the planks of a ship.