P.
PACFI, ou Pafi, le grand Pacfi, the main-course, or main-sail.
Le petit Pacfi, ou Pacfi de bourcet, the fore-course or fore-sail.
Etre aux deux PACFIS, to be under the courses.
PACIFIER, to become calm; also to fall, or grow smooth, when spoken of the sea.
PAGAIE, the paddle of a canoe.
PAGE de la chambre du capitaine, the cabin-boy.
PAGES. See Mousses & garçons.
PAILLES de bittes, long iron bolts thrust into holes in the bits, to keep the cable from starting off.
PAILLOT, the steward-room in a row-galley.
PAIS somme, a shoal or shallow.
PALAMANTE, a general name given to the oars of a row-galley; which are forty feet and six inches in length.
PALAN, a tackle of any kind. See Itaque and Garant.
Palan à caliorne, a three-fold tackle. See Caliorne.
Palan à candelette. See Candelette.
Palan d’amure, a tack-tackle.
Palan d’etai, a stay-tackle.
Palan de misaine, the fore-tackle.
Grand Palan, the main tackle.
PALANQUE, the order to hoist, bowce, or set taught upon a tackle.
PALANQUER, to hoist, or bowce upon a tackle.
PALANQUIN, a jigger-tackle, tail-tackle, or burton.
PALANQUINS de ris, the reef-tackles.
Palanquins simples de racage, the nave-lines.
PALANS de bout, the sprit-sail haliards.
Palans de canon. See Drosse de canon, & Palan de retraite.
Palans de retraite, the relieving tackle, &c. of the ordnance.
PALARDEAUX, plugs made to stop holes in any part of a ship; as hause-plugs, shot-plugs, &c.
PALE, or Palme, the blade or wash of an oar.
PALÉAGE, the act of discharging any thing with shovels, baskets, &c. as corn, salt, or such like material; for which employment the ship’s crew can demand no additional pay. See also Maneage.
En PANNE, lying-by, or lying-to with some of the sails aback.
Mettre en Panne, to lay a ship to, or turn the head to windward, in order to lie by with some of the sails laid to the mast.
PANNEAU, a scuttle, or cover of any hatchway in the deck.
Panneau à boîte, the cover of a scuttle, with a border round its edge.
Panneau à vassole, a great hatch, without a border.
Le grand Panneau, the main hatch.
PANTAQUIERES, or Pantocheres, the cat-harpings, and crane lines of the shrouds.
En PANTENNE, fluttering or shivering in great disorder; expressed of the sails, when out of trim, in a storm.
Amener les voiles en Pantenne, to haul down the sails with the utmost expedition; as in a squall of wind.
PANTOIRES, pendants on the mast-heads or yard-arms, wherein to hook preventer-shrouds, or yard-tackles.
PAPIERS & enseignemens, the papers of a ship, comprehending the bills of lading, manifest, coquets, &c.
PAQUE-BOT, or Paquet-bot, a packet-boat, or packet-vessel; as those which pass between Dover and Calais, &c.
Faire la PARADE, to dress a ship, or to adorn her with a number of flags, pendants, and other colours, which are displayed from different parts of the masts, yards, and rigging.
PARADIS, or Bassin, the basin of a dock, or an inner harbour.
PARAGE, a space of the sea appointed to cruise, or rendezvous in; also a part of the sea near any coast.
Vaisseau mouillé en Parage, a ship anchored in an open road, or in the offing.
PARC, an inclosure for containing the magazines and store-houses in a royal dock-yard.
Parc dans un vaisseau, a cot or pen, wherein cattle are inclosed in a ship.
PARCLOSSES, limber-boards.
PARCOURIR les coutures, to survey or examine the seams of a ship’s sides or decks, and caulk where it is found necessary.
PARÉ, ready, clear, or prepared for any thing.
Pare à virer, see all clear to go about! the order to prepare for tacking.
PAREAU, or Parre, a sort of large bark in the Indies, whose head and stern are exactly alike, so that the rudder may be hung at either end.
PARER un cap, to double a cape. See Doubler.
Parer un ancre, to prepare the anchor for letting it go.
Se Parer, to clear for action, to prepare for battle.
PARFUMER un vaisseau, to smoke a ship, and sluice her with vinegar between decks, in order to purify her, and expel the putrified air.
PARQUET, a shot-locker on the deck; also a place where shot are kept on a gun-wharf. See Epitié.
PARTAGER le vent, to share the wind with some other ship, or hold way with her, without gaining or losing ground, or without weathering, or falling to leeward.
PARTANCE, the time of departing, or sailing from a place; also a place from whence a ship departs.
Coup de Partance, a signal-gun for sailing.
Banniere de Partance, the signal displayed for sailing.
PAS, a strait or narrow channel, as
Pas de Calais, the Streights of Dover.
PASSAGERS, the passengers of a ship.
PASSE, a canal, channel, or small streight.
Passe-port, a sea-pass or passport. See Congé.
PASSER, to perish, or be lost at sea; as by over-setting, or foundering.
Passer au vent d’un vaisseau, to pass to windward, or gain the wind of another ship.
Passer sous le beaupré, to pass under the bowsprit. This phrase, which is usual amongst English as well as French seamen, implies to go a-head of, or before a ship, and cross her course.
Passe-vogue, the effort of rowing briskly, or very hard.
Passe-volant, a false muster on the ship’s books; also a wooden gun, which may terrify a ship at a distance. See Fausses-Lances.
PATACHE, an armed tender, or vessel which attends a ship of war or fleet; also a packet-boat.
Patache d’avis, an advice-boat. See Frégate d’avis.
PATARAS, a preventer-shroud; also a spare-shroud, to be hooked on occasionally.
PATARASSE, a calking iron.
PATRON, the master or commander of a merchant-ship, or boat, in the dialect of Provence.
Patron de chaloupe, the cockswain, or coxen, of a long-boat.
PATTE d’oie. See Mouiller en patte d’oie.
Pattes d’ancre, the flukes of an anchor.
PATTES d’anspects, the claws of a gunner’s handspike.
Pattes de bouline, the bowline bridles.
Pattes de voiles, the tabling of the sails at their edges or bolt-ropes.
PAVESADE, a quarter-cloth, or waist-cloth. See Bastingage.
PAVILLON, the flag of a ship. Also a general name for colours.
Pavillon de beaupré, the jack.
Pavillon de chaloupe, the flag carried in a barge or long-boat, when a superior officer is aboard.
Pavillon de combat, the signal for engagement.
Pavillon de conseil, the signal for a general council.
Pavillon de pouppe, or enseigne de pouppe, a ship’s ensign.
Pavillon en Berne. See Berne.
Baton de Pavillon, the ensign staff, flag-staff, or jack-staff.
Vaisseau Pavillon, or simply, Pavillon, the flag-ship.
Amener le Pavillon, to strike the flag or colours.
Etre sous un tel Pavillon, to be under such a flag, or commanding officer.
Faire Pavillon blanc, to display a flag of truce.
PAUMET, a sail-maker’s palm.
PAVOIS, or rather Pavesade. See Pavesade and Bastingage.
PAVOISER, to spread the waist-cloths.
PAUSES, a sort of long and wide boats used to embark merchandise at Archangel, in Moscovy.
PECHER un ancre, to hook, and heave up from the bottom, another anchor, with that of the ship, when several anchors lie near to each other, as in a common road.
PEDAGNE, or Pedagnon, the stretchers of a row-galley. See also Banquettes.
PELLES, corn shovels, or ballast-shovels, used in trimming a ship’s hold.
PENDANT, or Flamme. See Flamme.
PENDEUR, or Pendour, the pendant of any tackle, runner, &c.
PENDOUR de caliorne, the winding tackle-pendant.
PENDOURS de balancines, the spans of the lifts.
Pendours de bras, the brace-pendants at the yard-arms.
PENES, pitch-mops. See Baton à vadel.
PENNE, the peek of a mizen, or lateen sail.
PENTURE, a googing, or the eye of a clamp, fitted to receive a goose-neck, or some bolt of iron which turns therein like a pivot in its socket.
PENTURES de gouvernail, the googings of the rudder. See Ferrure de gouvernail.
PEOTE, a light nimble Venetian wherry, used frequently as an advice-boat, to carry expresses.
PERCEINTES. See Préceintes.
PERCEUR, a person who bores the holes for the tree-nails, or bolts, in a ship’s-side.
PERROQUET, a top gallant-sail.
Mettre les PERROQUETS en banniere, to let fly the top-gallant sheets, as a particular signal to some ship in company.
Perroquets volans, flying-top-gallant-sails.
PERRUCHE, the mizen-top-gallant-sail.
PERTUIS, a dam, or channel of water, confined by a sluice.
PERTUISANE, a sort of pike or halbert, used to defend a ship from being boarded.
PESER, to hang upon, or haul downward on any rope over-head.
Peser sur un levier, to heave, or purchase with a handspike.
PHAIOFNÉE, a sort of Japonese barge, or yacht, to carry the nobility, &c.
PHARE, or tour à feu, a watch-tower, or light-house on the sea-coast.
PIC à pic sur son ancre, close a peek upon the anchor.
PIECE, a cannon. See Canon.
Piece de charpente, a general name for any pieces of timber properly hewed, to be used in the construction of a ship.
PIECES de chasse, the chase-guns, or head-chases.
PIED de vent, a clear spot of the sky, appearing under a cloud to windward.
Pied-marin, sea shoes; expressed of a man who has got sea-legs, or who treads sure and firm at sea, as being accustomed thereto.
PIÉDROITS, the Samson’s posts, erected in the hold from the kelson to the lower-deck hatchways, and notched with steps.
PIERRIER, a petrero, or small cannon, sometimes used in sea-fights, and generally charged with musquet-shot, or swivel balls.
PIÉTER le gouvernail, to mark the stern-post with feet, in order to discover how many feet of water the ship draws abaft.
PILIERS de bittes, the bitts of a ship.
PILLAGE, the plunder taken from any enemy after engagement.
PILON, or petit écore, a shore which is steep to, and but little raised above the sea.
PILOTAGE, the navigating, conducting, or steering of a ship.
PILOTE, a sea-pilot, or the conductor of a ship’s course by the art of navigation; also the master of a ship. See Hauturier.
Pilote côtier, or Pilote de havre, a coasting, or harbour pilot. See Lamaneur.
Pilote hardie, a daring or enterprising pilot.
PILOTER, to pilot a ship into, or out of, a harbour or river.
PINASSE, a square-sterned vessel, called in England a bark.
Pinasse de Biscaye, a Biscayan barca-longo.
PINCEAU à goudronner, a tar-brush.
PINCES de bois, a sort of curved handspikes. See Renard.
PINCER le vent. See Aller au plus pres.
PINNULE, the sight vanes of any instrument, for observing or setting a distant object at sea.
PINQUE, a pink, or narrow-sterned ship, with a flat floor.
PIPRIS, a sort of canoe used by the negroes in Guinea, and the Cape de Verds.
PIRATE, a pirate, or free-booter; see also Corsaire.
PIRATER, to rob at sea; to infest or scour the sea as a pirate.
PIROGUE, an American canoe.
PISTON, the spear-box of a pump.
PITONS à boucles. See Cheville à boucles.
PIVOT, an iron point which turns in a socket; as the foot of the capstern.
PIVOT de boussoule, the brass center-pin of the compass.
PLAGE, a shallow or flat shore, without any capes or head-lands to form a road or place of safety for shipping at anchor.
PLAIN, a flat, or shoal; whence,
Aller au Plain, to run ashore.
PLANCHE, the gang-board of a boat.
Mets la Planche, the order to put out the gang-board from the boat’s stern to the shore, to walk out upon.
PLAQUES de plomb, sheet lead, used for several purposes aboard-ship.
PLAT de la varangue, the flat or horizontal part of a floor-timber.
Plat de l’equipage, or un Plat des matelots, a mess or company of seven sailors who eat together. The word literally signifies a bowl or platter, in which the whole mess eat at the same time.
Plat des malades, the sick mess, under the care of the surgeon.
Plat-bord, the gunnel, or gun-wale of a ship.
Plat-bord also means wash-board or weather-board.
Plat-bord a l’eau, gunnel-in, or gunnel-to; expressed of a ship that inclines so much to one side, as to make the gunnel touch the surface of the water by crowding sail in a fresh wind.
PLATE-bands d’assuts, the clamps of a gun-carriage, which are used to confine the trunnions therein.
Plate-forme de l’éperon, the platform or grating within the rails of the head.
PLATE-formes, an assemblage of oak-planks, forming a part of the deck, near the side of a ship of war, whereon the cannons rest.
PLATINES de lumiere, the aprons of the cannons.
PLI de cables, a fake of the cable.
Filer un Pli de cable, to veer away one fake of the cable.
Vaisseau qui Plie le côté, a crank ship.
PLIER, to bend or supple the planks of a ship by heat and moisture.
Plier le côté, to lie over in the water, to heel extremely when under sail.
Plier le pavillon, Plier les voiles, to gather up the fly of the ensign, or furl the sails.
PLOC, the hair and tar put between the bottom planks of a ship and the sheathing, to fill up the interval, and preserve the bottom from the worms.
PLOCQUER, to apply the sheathing-hair to the ship’s bottom.
PLOMBER un navire, to try whether a ship is upright, or to what side she heels, by a plumb-line and level.
PLONGEUR, a diver, whose employment it is to bring any thing up from the bottom, as spunges, coral, &c.
PLONGER, to duck, or immerse any thing in the water; also to plunge or dive into the water, &c.
PLUMET de pilote, or panon, a feather-vane, or dog-vane.
POGE, ou POUGE, the order to put the helm a-weather, in order to fill the sails, or bear away. This is the language of Provence. See Arrive-tout.
POINT, a ship’s place, as pricked upon a nautical chart.
Point d’une voile, the clew of a sail.
POINTAGE de la carte, the pricking of a course and distance upon the chart, to discover the ship’s place.
POINTE, a point of land projecting into the sea; a low-cape, or promontory.
Pointe de l’éperon, the beak of a prow, or cut-water.
Pointe du compas, a point of the magnetical compass.
Pointe du nord, ou du sud, &c. the north or south point.
POINTER, to direct or point a gun to its object.
Pointer à couler bas, to point a gun so as to sink a ship.
Pointer à démater, to point a gun so as to dismast a ship.
Pointer à donner dans le bois, to level the cannon so as to hull a ship, or strike the hull.
Pointer la carte, to prick the chart. See Pointage.
POINTURE, the balance of a sail, or that part which is fastened by balancing it in a storm; as the peek of the mizen, &c.
POITRINE de gabords, the filling, or convexity of a ship’s bottom, as approaching the mid-ships from the stem and stern-post.
POLACRE, a polacre, or ship so called.
Police d’assurance, a policy of insurance.
Police de chargement. See Connoissement.
POMMES, the trucks, or acorns placed on the flag-staffs, or spindles of the mast-head.
Pommes de girouettes, the acorns placed over the vanes.
Pommes de raque, or de racage, see Raque.
POMME de pavillon, the truck placed on the top of the flag-staff, or ensign-staff.
POMOYER, to under-run a cable with the long-boat.
POMPE, the pump of a ship.
Affranchir, ou franchir la Pompe, to free the ship, by discharging more water with the pumps than has entered by the leaks. See Affranchir.
A la Pompe, pump ship! the order to pump out the water from a ship’s bottom.
Charger la Pompe, to fetch the pump.
Etre à une, ou à deux Pompes, to have one or both pumps constantly employed to free the ship.
La Pompe est engorgée, the pump is choaked or foul.
La Pompe est éventée, the pump blows, or is split so as to be rendered unserviceable.
La Pompe est haute, ou la Pompe est franche, the pump sucks, or is dry.
La Pompe est prise, the pump is fetched.
La Pompe se décharge, the pump has lost water. See Décharge.
Pompe à la Vénitienne, a Venetian pump.
Pompe de mer. See Trompe.
POMPE-en bon etat, Pompe libre, a good pump, or pump in good trim.
Pompes à roue & à chaines, chain pumps.
Pompes du maître-valet, hand-pumps, used for water casks, oil-casks, wine-casks, &c.
PONENT, the west, in the language of Provence: also a name given to the Western Ocean.
PONT, the deck of a ship.
Pont à caillebotis, ou à treilles, a grating-deck.
Pont coupé, a deck open in the middle, as in some small vessels that have only part of a deck towards the stem and stern.
Pont courant devant arriere, a deck flush fore and aft.
Pont de cordes, a sort of netting to cover a ship’s waist, and prevent the impression of boarders.
Pont volant, a spar-deck, or platform.
Faux-Pont, the orlop deck.
Premier-Pont, or franc-tillac, the lower, or gun-deck.
Second Pont, the middle-deck of a ship with three decks, or the upper deck of one with two decks.
Troisieme-Pont, the upper-deck of a ship with three decks.
PONTÉ, decked, or furnished with a deck; as opposed to undecked or open.
PONTON, a pontoon, for careening or delivering ships; also a sort of bridge of boats, composed of two punts, with planks laid between them; likewise a ferry-boat.
PONTONAGE, the hire of a ferry-boat or ponton.
PONTONNIER, the master of a ponton, or lighterman.
PORQUES, riders.
Porques acculées, the after floor-riders.
Porques de fond, floor-riders.
Allonges de Porques, futtock-riders.
PORT, a haven, port, or harbour.
Port-brute, ou havre brute, a natural harbour, or port formed by nature.
Port de vaisseau, the burthen or tonnage of a ship.
PORT de barre, an harbour with a bar, that can only be passed at, or near high-water.
Port d’entrée, or Porte de tout marée. See Havre.
Avoir un Port sous le vent, to have a harbour to leeward, or under the lee.
Fermer le Ports, ou Ports fermés, to lay an embargo upon all the shipping of a harbour. See Arret.
PORTAGE, the space or room in a ship’s hold allowed to any officer, &c. to contain his venture, or private trade.
PORTE-bossoir. See Sou-barbe.
Porte d’écluse, the flood-gates of a sluice.
Porte gargousse. See Lanterne à gargousse.
Porte-haubans, ou ecotards, the channels, or chain-wales of a ship.
PORTELOTS, the thick stuff which encircles the side of a lighter under the gunnel.
Porte-plein les voiles, or simply, Porte-plein! keep full! the order to the man who steers, to keep the sails full, and prevent them from shivering in the wind.
Porte-vergues, or rather herpes, the rails of the head, reaching from the cat-head towards the cut-water. See Herpes.
Porte-voix, a speaking-trumpet.
PORTER, to sail, or conduit a ship.
Porter à route, to stand onward, upon the course.
Porter au sûd, &c. to stand to the southward, &c.
PORTEREAU, the flood-gate of a sluice.
POSTE, the quarters where the men are stationed in time of battle.
POSTILLON, an express-boat, or post-boat.
POT à brai, a pitch-pot.
Pot-à-feu, a fire-pot, or stink-pot.
Pot de pompe, the lower pump-box. See also Chopinette.
POTENCE de brinquebale, the cheeks of the pump.
POUDRIER, an half-hour watch-glass.
POUGER, or moler en pouppe, to bear up, in the dialect of Provence.
POULAINE, eperon, the knee of the head, or cutwater.
POULAINES, the props which support a ship’s stem, when she is on the stocks.
POULIE, a block of any kind to reeve a running rope through.
Poulie coupée, or à dents, a snatch block. See also Galoche.
Poulie détropée, a block shaken out of its strop.
Poulie de grand drisse, one of the main jear blocks.
Poulie de guinderesse, a top-block.
Poulie de palan, a tackle-block.
Poulie d’itague du grand hunier, the main-top-sail tye-block.
Poulie double, a double block.
Poulie simple, a single block.
POULIES de caliornes, winding tackle-blocks, or blocks furnished with three sheaves.
Poulies de drisse de misaine, the fore jear-blocks.
Poulies d’écoutes de hune, top-sail-sheet-blocks, fitted also to contain the lower-lifts.
Poulies de retour d’écoutes de hune, the quarter-blocks for the top-sail sheets.
POUPPE, the after-parts of a ship, both above and below. See Arcasse, Arriere, Dunette, &c.
Vaisseau à Pouppe quarrée, a square-sterned ship; such as are all ships of war.
Mettre vent en Pouppe, to bear away before the wind.
Mouiller en Pouppe, to moor by the stern, or get out an anchor a-stern.
Vent en Pouppe, a stern-wind, or wind right aft.
POUSSE-barre! heave chearly! heave heartily! the order or exhortation to those who heave at the capstern, to push forcibly on the bars.
Pousse-pied, or Accon, a small boat used to catch shell-fish, &c. See Accon.
PRAME, a pram, lighter, or barge of burden.
PRATIQUE, in a naval sense, implies free intercourse or communication with the natives of a country, after having performed quarantine.
PRÉCEINTES, the wales of a ship.
PRÉLART, or Prélat, a tarpauling.
PRENDRE chasse. See Chasser.
Prendre hauteur, to take the altitude of the sun, or a star. See Hauteur.
Prendre les amures, to get aboard the tacks. See Amurer.
Prendre terre. See Terre & terrir.
Prendre vent devant, to be taken with the wind a-head.
Prendre un bosse, to make sail, or clap on the stopper.
Prendre un ris, to take in a reef.
PRENEUR, vaisseau Preneur, the vessel that has taken a prize.
PRES & plein, full and by! the order to the steersman to keep the ship close to the wind, without shaking.
PRESENTER le grande bouline, to snatch the main-bowline, or put it into the snatch-block.
Presenter au vent, to sail as the ship stems, without making lee-way.
PRESSER, to press, or constrain into small compass; as cotton, wool, or such like material.
PRETER le coté, to range abreast of a ship, in order to give her the broadside. See Effacer.
PREVOT général de la marine, a provost marshal of the marine, or officer whose duty resembles that of the judge-advocate of naval courts-martial.
Prevot marinier, the swabber of a ship, who also chastises the criminals, as being usually the most abandoned of the crew: this part of his duty is performed in English ships by the boatswain.
PRIME d’assurance, insurance paid by the merchant for insuring the ship’s cargo.
PRISE, a prize, or ship taken from the enemy at sea.
PROFIT, avantureux, the interest acquired by bottomry. See Bomerie.
PROFONTIÉ, a ship that draws much water, or takes a large volume of water to float her.
PROLONGER un navire, to lay a ship along-side of some other.
PROMONTOIRE, a cape, head-land, or fore-land.
PROUE, the prow of a ship, see Avant.
Donner la Proue, to appoint the course, or rendezvous of the gallies.
PROVISIONS, a general name for the provisions, and the warlike stores, or ammunition of a ship.
PUCHOT. See Trompe.
PUISER, to leak, or make water at sea.
Puiser pour le bord, to ship seas, or take in water, either over the gunnel, or at the ports in the side.
PUITS. See Archipompe.
PUY, a great depth of the sea on a level bottom.