WHIP, or Whip-staff. A strong staff fastened into the helm for the steersman to move the rudder thereby.
WHIP-JACK. An old term, equivalent to fresh-water sailor, or a sham-shipwrecked tar. (See [Turnpike-sailors].)
WHIPPERS. Men who deliver the cargoes of colliers in the river Thames into lighters.
WHIPPING-TWINE. Used to whip the ends of ropes.
WHIP-RAY. A ray with a long tail ending in a very fine point. It is armed with a dangerous serrated spine, jagged like a harpoon. Called also sting-ray and stingaree.
WHIP-SAW. The largest of that class of useful instruments, being that generally used at the saw-pit.
WHIP UPON WHIP. A sort of easy purchase, much used in colliers. It consists of one whip applied to the falls of another.
WHIRL, or Rope-winch. Small hooks fastened into cylindrical pieces of wood which communicate by a leather strap with a spoke-wheel, whereby three of them are set in motion at once. Used for spinning yarn for ropes. Now more commonly made of iron.
WHIRLER, or Troughton's Top. An ingenious instrument invented by Troughton, and intended to serve as an artificial horizon at sea; but it was found that its centrifugal force was incapable of counteracting the ordinary motion of a ship.
WHIRLPOOL. An eddy or vortex where the waters are continually rushing round. In rivers they are very common, from various accidents, and are usually of little consequence. In the sea they are more dangerous, as the classical Charybdis, and the celebrated Maelstrom and Saltenstrom, both on the coast of Norway.