FRENCH LEAVE. Being absent without permission.
FRENCHMAN. Formerly a term among sailors for every stranger or outlandish man.
FRENCH SHROUD-KNOT. The shroud-knot with three strands single walled round the bights of the other three and the standing part. (See [Shroud-knot].)
FRENCH THE BALLAST. A term used for freshen the ballast.
FRESCA. Fresh water, or rain, and land floods; old term.
FRESH. When applied to the wind, signifies strong, but not violent; hence an increasing gale is said to freshen. (See [Force].) Also used for sweet; as, fresh water. Also, bordering on intoxication; excited with drinking. Also, an overflowing or flood from rivers and torrents after heavy rains or the melting of mountain snows. Also, an increase of the stream in a river. Also, the stream of a river as it flows into the sea. The fresh sometimes extends out to sea for several miles, as off Surinam, and many other large rivers.
FRESH BREEZE. A brisk wind, to which a ship, according to its stability, carries double or treble or close-reefed top-sails, &c. This is a very peculiar term, dependent on the stability of the ship, her management, and how she is affected by it, on a wind or before it. It is numbered 6. Thus, a ship running down the trades, with studding-sails set, had registered "moderate and fine;" she met with a superior officer, close-hauled under close-reefed top-sails and courses, was compelled to shorten sail, and lower her boat; the log was then marked "fresh breezes."
FRESHEN, To. To relieve a rope of its strain, or danger of chafing, by shifting or removing its place of nip.
FRESHEN HAWSE, To. To relieve that part of the cable which has for some time been exposed to friction in one of the hawse-holes, when the ship rolls and pitches at anchor in a high sea; this is done by applying fresh service to the cable within board, and then veering it into the hawse. (See [Service], [Keckling], or [Rounding].)
FRESHEN THE BALLAST. Divide or separate it, so as to alter its position.