Leach. (See Leech.)
Leachline. A rope used for hauling up the leach of a sail.
Lead. A piece of lead, in the shape of a cone or pyramid, with a small hole at the base, and a line attached to the upper end, used for sounding. (See Hand-lead, Deep-sea-lead.)
Leading-wind. A fair wind. More particularly applied to a wind abeam or quartering.
Leak. A hole or breach in a vessel, at which the water comes in.
Ledges. Small pieces of timber placed athwart-ships under the decks of a vessel, between the beams.
Lee. The side opposite to that from which the wind blows; as, if a vessel has the wind on her starboard side, that will be the weather, and the larboard will be the lee side.
A lee shore is the shore upon which the wind is blowing.
Under the lee of anything, is when you have that between you and the wind.
By the lee. The situation of a vessel, going free, when she has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.