CANTING BALLAST. Is when by a sudden gust or stress of weather a ship is thrown so far over that the ballast settles to leeward, and prevents the ship from righting.
CANTING-LIVRE. See [Console-bracket].
CANT-LINE. Synonymous with girt-line, as to cant the top over the lowermast-head.
CANTONMENTS. Troops detached and quartered in different towns and villages near each other.
CANT-PURCHASE. This is formed by a block suspended from the mainmast-head, and another block made fast to the cant cut in the whale. (See [Cant-blocks].)
CANT-RIBBONS. Those ribbons that do not lie in a horizontal or level direction.
CANT-ROPE. See [Four-cant].
CANT-SPAR. A hand-mast pole, fit for making small masts or yards, booms, &c.
CANT-TIMBERS. They derive their name from being canted or raised obliquely from the keel. The upper ends of those on the bow are inclined to the stem, as those in the after-part incline to the stern-post above. In a word, cant-timbers are those which do not stand square with the middle line of the ship. They may be deemed radial bow or stern-timbers.
CANVAS [from cannabis, hemp]. A cloth made of hemp, and used for the sails of ships. It is purchased in bolts, and numbered from 1 to 8, rarely to 9 and 10. Number 1 being the coarsest and strongest, is used for the lower sails, as fore-sail and main-sail in large ships. When a vessel is in motion by means of her sails she is said to be under canvas.