CRACK-ORDER. High regularity.
CRACK-SHIP. One uncommonly smart in her evolutions and discipline, perhaps from the old English word for a fine boy. Crack is generally used for first-rate or excellent.
CRADLE. A frame consisting of bilge-ways, poppets, &c., on the principle of the wedge, placed under the bottom of a ship, and resting on the ways on which it slips, thus launching her steadily into the water, at which time it supports her weight while she slides down the greased ways. The cradle being the support of the ship, she carries it with her into the water, when, becoming buoyant, the frame separates from the hull, floats on the surface, and is again collected for similar purposes.
CRADLES. Standing bedsteads made up for wounded seamen, that they may be more comfortable than is possible in a hammock. Boats' chocks are sometimes called cradles.
CRAFT [from the Anglo-Saxon word cræft, a trading vessel]. It is now a general name for lighters, hoys, barges, &c., employed to load or land any goods or stores.—Small craft. The small vessels of war attendant on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, gunboats, &c., generally commanded by lieutenants. Craft is also a term in sea-phraseology for every kind of vessel, especially for a favourite ship. Also, all manner of nets, lines, hooks, &c., used in fishing.
CRAG. A precipitous cliff whose strata if vertical, or nearly so, subdivide into points.
CRAGER. A small river lighter, mentioned in our early statutes.
CRAGSMAN. One who climbs cliffs overhanging the sea to procure sea-fowls, or their eggs.
CRAIG-FLOOK. The smear-dab, or rock-flounder.
CRAIK, or Crake. A ship; a diminutive corrupted from carrack.