Open hawse. When a vessel rides by two anchors, without any cross in her cables.
Hawse-hole. The hole in the bows through which the cable runs.
Hawse-pieces. Timbers through which the hawse-holes are cut.
Hawse-block. A block of wood fitted into a hawse-hole at sea.
Hawser. A large rope used for various purposes, as warping, for a spring, &c.
Hawser-laid, or Cable-laid rope, is rope laid with nine strands against the sun. (See Plate 5 and page 43.)
Haze. A term for punishing a man by keeping him unnecessarily at work upon disagreeable or difficult duty.
Head. The work at the prow of a vessel. If it is a carved figure, it is called a figure-head; if simple carved work, bending over and out, a billet-head; and if bending in, like the head of a violin, a fiddle-head. Also, the upper end of a mast, called a mast-head. (See By-the-head. See Fast.)
Head-ledges. Thwartship pieces that frame the hatchways.
Head-sails. A general name given to all sails that set forward of the fore-mast.