GROUNDING. The act of laying a ship on shore, in order to bream or repair her; it is also applied to runnings aground accidentally when under sail.
GROUND-PLOT. See [Ichnography].
GROUND-SEA. The West Indian name for the swell called rollers, or in Jamaica the north sea. It occurs in a calm, and with no other indication of a previous gale; the sea rises in huge billows, dashes against the shore with roarings resembling thunder, probably due to the "northers," which suddenly rage off the capes of Virginia, round to the Gulf of Mexico, and drive off the sea from America, affecting the Bahama Banks, but not reaching to Jamaica or Cuba. The rollers set in terrifically in the Gulf of California, causing vessels to founder or strike in 7 fathoms, and devastating the coast-line. H.M.S. Lily foundered off Tristan d'Acunha in similar weather. In all the latter cases no satisfactory cause is yet assigned. (See [Roller].)
GROUND-STRAKE. A name sometimes used for garboard-strake.
GROUND-SWELL. A sudden swell preceding a gale, which rises along shore, often in fine weather, and when the sea beyond it is calm. (See [Roller].)
GROUND-TACKLE. A general name given to all sorts of ropes and furniture which belong to the anchors, or which are employed in securing a ship in a road or harbour.
GROUND-TIER. The lowest water-casks in the hold before the introduction of iron tanks. It also implies anything else stowed there.
GROUND-TIMBERS. Those which lie on the keel, and are fastened to it with bolts through the kelson.
GROUND-WAYS. The large blocks and thick planks which support the cradle on which a ship is launched. Also, the foundation whereon a vessel is built.
GROUP. A set of islands not ranged in a row so as to form a chain, and the word is often used synonymously with cluster.