VALVES. See under their respective particular names.
VAMBRACE. Armour for the front of the arm.
VAN [formerly vant, contracted from avant]. That part of a fleet, army, or body of men, which is advanced in the first line or front.—Vanguard. The advanced division.
VANE. A piece of buntin extended on a wooden stock, which turns upon a spindle at the mast-head; it shows the direction of the wind.—A distinguishing vane, denotes the division of a fleet to which a ship of the line belongs, according to the mast on which it is borne.—Dog-vane. A small light vane, formed of thin slips of cork, stuck round with feathers, and strung upon a piece of twine. It is usually fastened to the top of a half-pike, and placed on the weather side of the quarter-deck, in order to show the helmsman the direction of the wind.
VANES. The sights of cross-staffs, fore-staffs, quadrants, &c., are pieces of brass standing perpendicularly to the plane of the instrument; the one opposite to the fore horizon-glass is the foresight-vane, the other the backsight-vane.
VANE-SPINDLE. The pivot on which the mast-head-vane turns; it should never be made of metal, lest it attract lightning, unless the masts be fitted with Sir W. Snow Harris's conductors.
VANFOSSE. A wet ditch at the outer foot of the glacis.
VANG. A rope leading from the end of the gaff to the rail, one on each side, so that the two form guys attached to the outer ends of the gaffs to steady them, and when the sails are not set keep them amidships.
VANGEE. A contrivance for working the pumps of a vessel by means of a barrel and crank-breaks.
VAPOUR, or Smoke. In polar parlance, a peculiar but natural result of the conversion of water into ice, which is too often supposed to indicate open water.