The Seaman's Friend / Containing a treatise on practical seamanship, with plates, a dictionary of sea terms, customs and usages of the merchant service

by Richard Henry Dana

Cat-block, the block of this tackle.

Cat-harpin. An iron leg used to confine the upper part of the rigging to the mast.

Cat-head. Large timbers projecting from the vessel's side, to which the anchor is raised and secured.

Cat's-paw. A kind of hitch made in a rope. (See Plate 5 and page 50.) A light current of air seen on the surface of the water during a calm.

Caulk. To fill the seams of a vessel with oakum.

Cavil. (See Kevel.)

Ceiling. The inside planking of a vessel.

Chafe. To rub the surface of a rope or spar.

Chafing-gear is the stuff put upon the rigging and spars to prevent their chafing.

Chains. (See Plate 1.) Strong links or plates of iron, the lower ends of which are bolted through the ship's side to the timbers. Their upper ends are secured to the bottom of the dead-eyes in the channels. Also, used familiarly for the Channels, which see. The chain cable of a vessel is called familiarly her chain.