"And round about her tear-distained eye
Blue circles stream'd, like rainbows in the sky.
These water-galls in her dim element
Foretell new storms to those already spent."
WATER-GAVEL. A rent paid for fishing in some river, or other benefit derived therefrom.
WATER-GUARD. Custom-house officers employed to prevent fraud on the revenue in vessels arriving at, or departing from, a port.
WATER HIS HOLE. A saying used when the cable is up and down, to encourage the men to heave heartily, and raise the shank of the anchor so that the water may get down by the shank, and relieve the anchor of the superincumbent mud.
WATER-HORSE. Cod-fish stacked up in a pile to drain, under the process of cure.
WATER-LAID ROPE. The same as cablet; it coils against the sun, or to the left hand.
WATER-LINE. In former ships of war, a fine white painted line or bend, representing the deep line of flotation, on the coppered edge.—Load water-line. That which the surface of the water describes on a ship when she is loaded or ready for sea.
WATER-LINE MODEL. The same as [key-model] (which see).
WATER-LOGGED. The state of a ship full of water, having such a buoyant cargo that she does not sink. In this dangerous and unmanageable situation there is no resource for the crew except to free her by the pumps, or to abandon her by taking to the boats; for the centre of gravity being no longer fixed, the ship entirely loses her stability, and is almost totally deprived of the use of her sails, which may only operate to accelerate her destruction by over-setting her, or pressing her head under water. Timber-laden vessels, water-logged, frequently float for a very long period.
WATER-PADS. Fellows who rob ships and vessels in harbours and rivers.