SOLE OF A GUN-PORT. The lower part of it, more properly called port-sill.
SOLE OF THE RUDDER. A piece of timber attached to its lower part to render it nearly level with the false keel.
SOLLERETS. Pieces of steel which formed part of the armour for the feet.
SOLSTICES. The epochs when the sun passes through the solstitial points.
SOLSTITIAL COLURE. A great circle passing through the poles and solstitial points.
SOLSTITIAL POINTS. The two points where the tropics meet the ecliptic, in longitude 90° and 270°.
SOMA. A Japan junk of burden.
SONG. The call of soundings by the leadsman in the channels. Songs are also used to aid the men in keeping time when pulling on a rope, where a fife is not available. They are very common in merchant ships. The whalers have an improvised song when cutting docks in the ice in Arctic seas.
SON OF A GUN. An epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.
SOPS. A northern term for small detached clouds, hanging about the sides of a mountain.