HALSE, or Halser. Archaic spelling for hawser.
HALSTER. A west-country term for a man who draws a barge along by a rope.
HALT! The military word of command to stop marching, or any other evolution. A halt includes the period of such discontinuance.
HALVE-NET. A standing net used in the north to prevent fishes from returning with the falling tide.
HALYARDS. See [Halliards].
HAMACS. Columbus found that the inhabitants of the Bahama Islands had for beds nets of cotton suspended at each end, which they called hamacs, a name since adopted universally amongst seamen. (See [Hammock].)
HAMBER, or Hambro'-line. Small line used for seizings, lashings, &c.
HAMMACOE. Beam battens. (See [Hammock-battens].)
HAMMER. The shipwright's hammer is a well-known tool for driving nails and clenching bolts, differing from hammers in general.
HAMMER, of a Gun-lock. Formerly the steel covering of the pan from which the flint of the cock struck sparks on to the priming; but now the cock itself, by its hammer action on the cap or other percussion priming, discharges the piece. Whether the hammer will be superseded by the needle remains to be determined.