D.
Davit, minot, a long beam of timber, represented by a, a, plate [II]. fig. 28, and used as a crane, whereby to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the planks of the ship’s side as it ascends; an operation which by mariners is called fishing the anchor. The anchors being situated on both the bows, the davit may be occasionally shifted so as to project over either side of the ship, according to the position of that anchor on which it is to be employed. The inner-end of the davit is secured by being thrust into a square ring of iron b, which is bolted to the deck, and fore-locked under the beams. This ring, which is called the span-shackle, exhibited at large by fig. 34, is fixed exactly in the middle of the deck, and close behind the fore-mast. Upon the outer-end of the davit is hung a large block c, through which a strong rope traverses, called the fish-pendant d, to whose foremost end is fitted a large iron hook e, and to its after end a tackle or complication of pullies f, the former of which is called the fish-hook, and the latter the fish-tackle.
The davit therefore, according to the sea-phrase, is employed to fish the anchor, which being previously catted, the fish-hook is fastened upon its flukes; and the effort of the tackle, being transmitted to the hook by means of the fish-pendant, draws up that part of the anchor sufficiently high upon the bow to fasten it, which is done by the Shank-painter. See that article.
There is also a davit of a smaller kind, occasionally fixed in the longboat, and employed to weigh the anchor therein.
DAY’S-WORK, cinglage, the reckoning or account of the ship’s course, during twenty-four hours, or between noon and noon, according to the rules of trigonometry. See Dead-Reckoning.
DEAD-EYE, cap de mouton, a sort of round, flattish, wooden block, see fig. 30, plate [II]. It is usually encircled with the end of a rope, or with an iron band, fig. 31, b, and pierced with three holes through the flat, in order to receive the rope called a laniard c, which corresponding with three holes in another dead-eye a, creates a purchase employed for various uses, but chiefly to extend the shrouds and stays, otherwise called the standing-rigging.
In order to form this purchase, one of the dead-eyes is fastened in the lower-end of each shroud, and the opposite one in the upper-link of each chain on the ship’s side, which is made round to receive and encompass the hollowed outer-edge of the dead-eye. After this the laniard is passed alternately through the holes in the upper and lower dead-eyes till it becomes six-fold; and is then drawn tight by the application of mechanical powers. The general disposition of the dead eyes in their channels is represented in the Elevation, plate [I]. In merchant-ships they are generally fitted with iron plates in the room of chains. These last are exhibited in fig. 16, plate [II].
The dead-eyes used for the stays, moques, have only one hole, which, however, is large enough to receive ten or twelve turns of the laniard: these are generally termed hearts, and are expressed by fig. 32.
There are also dead-eyes of another form, employed for the crow-feet, moques de trelingage. These are long cylindrical blocks, fig. 33, with a number of small holes in them, to receive the legs or lines of which the crow-foot, fig. 28, is composed.
DEAD-LIGHTS, certain wooden ports which are made to fasten into the cabin-windows, to prevent the waves from gushing into the ship in a high sea. As they are made exactly to fit the windows, and are strong enough to resist the waves, they are always fixed in, on the approach of a storm, and the glass frames taken out, which might other wise be shattered to pieces by the surges, and suffer great quantities of water to enter the vessel.
DEAD-RECKONING, in navigation, estime, the judgment or estimation which is made of the place where a ship is situated, without any observation of the heavenly bodies. It is discovered by keeping an account of the distance she has run by the log, and of her course steered by the compass; and by rectifying these data by the usual allowances for drift, lee-way, &c. according to the ship’s known trim. This reckoning, however, is always to be corrected, as often as any good observation of the sun can be obtained.
DEAD-RISING, or RISING-LINE of the floor, fleurs, those parts of a ship’s floor, or bottom, throughout her whole length, where the floor-timber is terminated upon the lower futtock. See the article Naval Architecture.
DEAD-WATER, remoux the eddy of water which appears like little whirl-pools, closing in with the ship’s stern as she sails through it.
DEAD-WOOD, contre-quille, a name given by shipwrights to certain blocks of timber laid upon the keel, particularly at the extremities afore and abaft, where these pieces are placed one upon another to a considerable height, because the ship is there so narrow as not to admit of the two half timbers, which are therefore scored into this dead wood, where the angle of the floor-timbers gradually diminishes, as approaching the stem and stern-post. See the article Naval Architecture.
In the fore-part of the ship, the dead-wood generally extends from the stemson, upon which it is scarfed to the loof-frame; and in the after-end from the stern-post, where it is confined by the knee, to the after-ballance-frame. It is connected to the keel by strong spike-nails. Those pieces are represented by e e, Pieces of the Hull, plate [I].
The dead-wood afore and abaft is equal in depth to two-thirds of the depth of the keel, and as broad as can be procured, so as not to exceed the breadth of the keel.
DEAD-WORK, all that part of a ship which is above water when she is laden. See the article Upper-Work.
DECKS, ponts, (decken, Dan. to cover) the planked floors of a ship, which connect the sides together, and serve as different platforms to support the artillery, and lodge the men, as also to preserve the cargo from the sea in merchant-vessels.
As all ships are broader at the lower-deck than on the next above it, and as the cannon thereof are always heaviest, it is necessary that the frame of it should be much stronger than that of the others; and, for the same reason, the second or middle deck ought to be stronger than the upper deck, or forecastle.
Ships of the first and second rates are furnished with three whole decks, reaching from the stem to the stern, besides a forecastle and a quarterdeck, which extends from the stern to the main-mast, between which and the fore-castle, a vacancy is left in the middle, opening to the upper-deck, and forming what is called the waist. There is yet another deck above the hinder or aftmost part of the quarter-deck, called the poop, which also serves as a roof for the captain’s cabin or couch.
The inferior ships of the line of battle are equipped with two decks and a half, and frigates, sloops, &c. with one gun-deck and a half, with a spar deck below to lodge the crew.
The decks are formed and sustained by the beams, the clamps, the water-ways, the carlings, the ledges, the knees, and two rows of small pillars, called stanchions, &c. See those articles.
That the figure of a deck, together with its corresponding parts, may be more clearly understood, we have exhibited a plan of the lower-deck of a 74 gun-ship in plate [III]. And as both sides of the deck are exactly similar, the pieces by which it is supported appear on one side, and on the other side the planks or floor of which it is composed, as laid up on those pieces.
Explanation of the figures represented in the Deck, plate [III].
A, the principal, or main hatch-way.
B, the stern-post.
C, the stem.
D, the beams, composed of three pieces, as exhibited by D, in one of which the dotted lines shew the arrangement of one of the beams under the other side of the deck.
E, part of the vertical or hanging knees. See also e, fig. 16, in the same plate.
Plate iii. To Face Deck.
F, the horizontal or lodging knees, which fasten the beams to the sides.
G, the carlings, ranging fore and aft, from one beam to another.
H, the gun-ports.
I, the pump-dales, being large wooden tubes which return the water from the pumps into the sea.
K, the spurs of the beams; being curved pieces of timber serving as half-beams to support the decks, where a whole beam cannot be placed on account of the hatch-ways.
L, the deck-transom, which is bolted by the middle to the stern-post, and whose ends rest upon the fashion-pieces.
M, the bulk-head or partition, which encloses the manger, and prevents the water which enters at the hause-holes from running aft between decks.
N N, the fore hatch-way.
O O, the after hatch-way.
P, the drum-head of the gear cap-stern.
P p, the drum-head of the main capstern.
Q, one of the lower transom-knees.
R, one of the breast-hooks under the gun-deck.
S, the breast-hook of the gun-deck.
T T, the station of the chain-pumps.
V, the breadth and thickness of the timbers at the height of the gun-deck.
U U, scuttles leading to the gunner’s store-room, and bread-room.
W, the station of the fore-mast.
X, the station of the main-mast.
Y, the station of the mizen-mast.
Z, the ring-bolts of the decks, used to retain the cannon whilst charging.
a, a, the ring-bolts of the sides, whereon the tackles are hooked that secure the cannon at sea.
c a a d, the water-ways, through which the scupper-holes are pierced, to carry the water off from the deck into the sea.
b, b, plan of the foremost and aftmost cable-bits, with their crosspieces g, g, and their standards e, e.
Thus we have represented on one side, all the pieces which sustain the deck with its cannon; and on the other side, the deck itself, with a tier of 32 pounders planted in battery thereon. In order also to shew the use of the breeching and train-tackle, one of the guns is drawn in as ready for charging. See the articles Breeching and Cannon.
The number of beams, by which the decks of ships are supported, is often very different, according to the practice of different countries; the strength of the timber of which the beams are framed; and the services for which the ship is calculated.
As the deck which contains the train of a fire-ship is furnished with an equipage peculiar to itself, the whole apparatus is particularly described in the article Fire-ship.
Flush-Deck, or Deck-Flush fore and aft, implies a continued floor laid from stem to stern, upon one line, without any steps or intervals.
Half-Deck, corps de garde, a space under the quarter-deck of a ship of war, contained between the foremost bulk-head of the steerage, and the fore-part of the quarter-deck.
In the colliers of Northumberland the steerage itself is called the half-deck, and is usually the habitation of the ship’s crew.
DECOY, a stratagem employed by a small ship of war to betray a vessel of inferior force into an incautious pursuit, till she has drawn her within the range of her cannon, or what is called within gun-shot.
It is usually performed by painting the stern and sides in such a manner as to disguise the ship, and represent her either much smaller, and of inferior force, or as a friend to the hostile vessel, which she endeavours to ensnare, by assuming the emblems and ornaments of the nation to which the stranger is supposed to belong. When she has thus provoked the adversary to chase, in hope of acquiring a prize, she continues the decoy by spreading a great sail, as endeavouring to escape, at the same time that her course is considerably retarded by an artful alteration, of her trim till the enemy approaches.
Decoying is also performed to elude the chace of a ship of superior force in a dark night, by throwing out a lighted cask of pitch into the sea, which will burn for a considerable time, and misguide the enemy. Immediately after the cask is thrown out, the ship changes her course, and may easily escape if at any tolerable distance from the foe.
DEEP-WAISTED, encastillé, the distinguishing fabric of a ship’s decks, when the quarter-deck and fore-castle are elevated from four to six feet above the level of the upper-deck, so as to leave a vacant space, called the waiste, on the middle of the upper-deck. See the article Waiste.
DEMURRAGE, an allowance given to the commander of a trading ship by the merchants, for having detained him longer in port than the time previously appointed for his departure.
DEPARTURE, in navigation, the distance between any two places lying on the same parallel, counted in miles of the equator; or the distance of one place from the meridian of another, counted on the parallel passing over that place. See Navigation.
DEPTH of a sail, chute, the extent of any square or oblong sail from the head-rope to the foot-rope; or the length of the after-leech of any boom-sail or stay-sail. See the article Sail.
DETACHMENT of a fleet or squadron, a certain number of ships chosen by an admiral or commodore from the rest of the fleet, charged to execute some particular service.
DIFFERENCE of latitude, in navigation, the difference between any two places lying on the same meridian; or the distance between the parallels of latitude of any two places, expressed in miles of the equator.
DINNAGE, see the article Dunnage.
DISABLED, desemparé, the state of a ship when, by the loss of her masts, sails, yards, or rigging; by springing a leak, or receiving some fracture in her hull, or other disaster; she is rendered incapable of prosecuting her voyage without great difficulty and danger.
To DISCHARGE, (decharger, Fr.) when applied to a ship, signifies to unlade her, or take out her stores, ammunition, artillery, &c. When expressed of the officers or crew, it implies to disband them from immediate service.
DISMASTED, dematé, the state of a ship which has lost her masts by boisterous weather, engagement, or other misfortune.
DIVISION, a select number of ships in a fleet or squadron of men of war, distinguished by a particular flag or pendant, and usually commanded by a general officer. A squadron is commonly ranged into three divisions, the commanding officer of which is always stationed in the center.
When a fleet consists of sixty sail of the line, that is, of ships having at least sixty cannon, the admiral divides it into three squadrons, each of which has its divisions and commanding officers. Each squadron has its proper colours, according to the rank of the admiral who commands it, and every division its proper mast. Thus, the white flag denotes the first squadron of France; the white and blue the second, and the third is characterised by the blue. In England, the first admiral, or the admiral of the fleet, displays the union flag at the main-top-mast-head; next follows the white flag with St. George’s cross; and afterwards the blue. The private ships carry pendants of the same colour with their respective squadron, at the masts of their particular divisions; so that the last ship in the division of the blue squadron carries a blue pendant at her mizen-top-mast-head.
DOCK, forme, (imagined of δοχεῖον) a sort of broad and deep trench, formed on the side of a harbour, or on the banks of a river; and commodiously fitted either to build ships, or receive them to be repaired and breamed therein. These sorts of docks have generally strong flood-gates, to prevent the flux of the tide from entering the dock while the ship is under repair.
There are likewise docks of another kind, called wet-docks, where a ship can only be cleaned during the recess of the tide, or in the interval between the time when the tide left her dry a-ground, and the period when it again reaches her by the return of the flood. Docks of the latter kind are not furnished with the usual flood-gates.
DOCKING a ship, the act of drawing her into the dock, in order to give her a proper repair, and cleanse the bottom, and cover it anew with a preparation of stuff, as explained in the article Breaming.
DOCK-YARDS, arcenaux, certain magazines containing all sorts of naval stores, and timber for ship-building. In England, the royal dock-yards are at Chatham, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Deptford, Woolwich, and Sheerness. His majesty’s ships and vessels of war are generally moored at these ports, during the time of peace; and such as want repairing are taken into the docks, examined, and refitted for service. See the article Repair.
The principal dock-yards are governed by a commissioner, resident at the port, who superintends all the musters of the officers, artificers, and labourers, employed in the dock-yard, and ordinary. He also controls their payment therein; examines the accounts; contracts, and draws bills on the Navy-office to supply the deficiency of stores; and, finally, regulates whatever belongs to the dock-yard, maintaining due order in the respective offices.
These yards are generally supplied from the northern crowns with hemp, pitch, tar, rosin, canvas, oak plank, and several other species. With regard to the masts, particularly those of the largest size, they are usually imported from New-England.
DOG, a sort of iron hook, or bar, with a sharp fang at one end, so formed as to be easily driven into a plank: it is used to drag along the planks of oak when they are let into a hole under the stern of a ship, to be stowed in the hold. For this purpose there is a rope fastened to the end of the dog, upon which several men pull, to draw the plank towards the place where it is to be stowed. It is also used for the same purpose in unlading the ship.
DOGGER, dogre-bot, a Dutch fishing-vessel navigated in the German ocean. It is generally employed in the herring fishery, being equipped with two masts, viz. a main-mast and a mizen-mast, and somewhat resembling a ketch.
DOLPHIN of the mast a peculiar kind of wreath, formed of platted cordage, to be fastened occasionally round the masts, as a support to the puddening, whose use is to sustain the weight of the fore and main-yards, in case the rigging, or chains, by which those yards are suspended, should be shot away in the time of battle; a circumstance which might render their sails useless at a season when their assistance is extremely necessary. See the article Puddening.
DOUBLING, in navigation, (doubler, Fr.) the act of sailing round, or passing beyond a cape or promontory, so as that the cape or point of land separates the ship from her former situation, or lies between her and any distant observer.
DOUBLING-NAILS, amongst shipwrights, the nails commonly used to fasten the lining of the gun-ports, &c.
DOUBLING-UPON, in a naval engagement, the act of enclosing any part of a hostile fleet between two fires, or of cannonading it on both sides.
It is usually performed by the van or rear of that fleet which is superior in number, taking the advantage of the wind, or of its situation and circumstances, and tacking or veering round the van or rear of the enemy, who will thereby be exposed to great danger, and can scarcely avoid being thrown into a general confusion.
To DOUSE, molir, to lower suddenly or slacken: expressed of a sail in a squall of wind, an extended hawser, &c.
DOWN-HAWL, calebas, a rope passing up along a stay through the rings of the stay-sail, and tied to the upper-corner of the sail, to pull it down, when they are shortening sail.
Down-haul-Tackle, a complication of pullies, employed to pull down the main or fore-yard in a tempest, in order to reef the sail. It is used at this time, because the violence of the wind prevents the weight of the yard from having its natural effect, of descending, when the ropes by which it is suspended are slackened.
DRABLER, an additional part of a sail, sometimes laced to the bottom of the bonnet of a square-sail, in sloops and schooners.
DRAG, a machine consisting of a sharp square iron ring encircled with a net, and commonly used to rake the mud off from the platform or bottom of the docks. See plate [II]. fig. 35.
DRAGGING the anchor, the act of trailing it along the bottom, after it is loosened from the ground, by the effort of the wind or current upon the ship, communicated to the cable. See the article Anchor.
DRAUGHT, the depth of a body of water necessary to float a ship; hence a ship is said to draw so many feet of water, when she is borne up by a column of water of that particular depth. Thus, if it requires a body of water whose depth is equal to twelve feet, to float or buoy up a ship on its surface, she is said to draw twelve feet water; and that this draught may be more readily known, the feet are marked on the stem and stern-post, regularly from the keel upwards.
DRESSING, (faire la parade), the act of ornamenting a ship with a variety of colours; as ensigns, flags, pendants, &c. displayed from different parts of her masts and rigging on a day of festivity.
DRIFT, in navigation, derive (from drive), the angle which the line of a ship’s motion makes with the nearest meridian, when she drives with her side to the wind and waves, and is not governed by the power of the helm: it also implies the distance which the ship drives on that line.
A ship’s way is only called drift in a storm; and then, when it blows so vehemently, as to prevent her from carrying any sail, or at least restrains her to such a portion of sail as may be necessary to keep her sufficiently inclined to one side, that she may not be dismasted by her violent labouring produced by the turbulence of the sea.
DRIVER, an oblong sail, occasionally hoisted to the mizen-peak, when the wind is very fair. The lower corners of it are extended by a boom or pole, which is thrust out across the ship, and projects over the lee-quarter.
DRIVING, abattre (drifan, Sax.) the state of being carried at random along the surface of the water, as impelled by a storm, or impetuous current: it is generally expressed of a ship when, accidentally, broke loose from her anchors or moorings.
DROP, etarcure, a name sometimes given to the depth of the principal sails; as, her main-top-sail drops seventeen yards.
DUCKING, a sort of marine punishment inflicted by the French on those who have been convicted of desertion, blasphemy, or exciting sedition. It is performed as follows: the criminal is placed astride of a short thick batten, fastened to the end of a rope, which passes thro’ a block hanging at one of the yard-arms. Thus fixed, he is hoisted suddenly up to the yard, and the rope being slackened at once, he is plunged into the sea. This chastisement is repeated several times, conformable to the purport of the sentence pronounced against the culprit, who has at that time several cannon-shot fastened to his feet during the punishment, which is rendered public by the firing of a gun, to advertise the other ships of the fleet thereof, that their crews may become spectators. Aubin.
Ducking, is also a penalty which veteran sailors pretend to inflict on those, who, for the first time, pass the tropic of Cancer, the Equator, or the streights of Gibraltar, in consequence of their refusal or incapacity to pay the usual fine levied on this occasion, which would redeem them from the said penalty.
DUNNAGE, fardage, a quantity of faggots, boughs of trees, or other loose wood, laid in the bottom of a ship, either to raise the heavy goods which might make her too stiff, or to keep the cargo sufficiently above the bottom, that it may sustain no damage from the water, if the ship should prove leaky.