DEPOT. A magazine in which military stores are deposited. Also, a company left in England for the purpose of recruiting when regiments are ordered abroad.
DEPRESS. The order to adjust the quoin in great-gun exercise; to depress the muzzle to point at an object below the level, in contradistinction to elevate.
DEPRESSED POLE. That end of the earth's axis which is below the horizon of the spectator according to his being in the northern or southern hemisphere. Also applied to the stars. (See [Polar Distance].)
DEPRESSION, of the Horizon. (See [Dip].) In artillery, the angle below the horizon at which the axis of a gun is laid in order to strike an object on a lower level. The depression required in batteries of very elevated site (those of Gibraltar for example), for the laying the guns on near vessels, is so great as to necessitate a peculiar carriage.
DEPTH OF A SAIL. The extent of the square sails from the head-rope to the foot-rope, or the length of the after-leech of a staysail or boom-sail; in other words, it is the extent of the longest cloth of canvas in any sail.
DEPTH OF HOLD. The height between the floor and the lower-deck; it is therefore one of the principal dimensions given for the construction of a ship. It varies, of course, according to the end for which she is designed, trade or war.
DERELICT [Lat. derelictus, abandoned]. Anything abandoned at sea. A ship is derelict either by consent or by compulsion, stress of weather, &c., and yet, to save the owner's rights, if any cat, dog, or other domestic animal be found on board alive, it is not forfeited. The owner may yet recover, on payment of salvage, within a year and a day—otherwise the whole may be awarded. (See [Salvage].)
DERIVATION. In artillery, the constant deflection of a rifled projectile. (See [Deflection].)
DERRICK. A single spar, supported by stays and guys, to which a purchase is attached, used in loading and unloading vessels. Also, a small crane either inside or outside of a ship.
DERRICK, To. A cant term for setting out on a small not over-creditable enterprise. The act is said to be named from a Tyburn executioner.