The Sailor's Word-Book / An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc.

by W. H. Smyth

NAVY TRANSPORT. See [Transport].

NAVY-YARD. A royal arsenal for the navy.

NAY-WORD. The old term for the watch-word, parole, or countersign.

NAZE. See [Ness].

NEALED. See [Arming].

NEALED-TO. A shore, with deep soundings close in.

NEAPED. The situation of a ship which, within a bar-harbour, is left aground on the spring-tides so that she cannot go to sea or be floated off till the return of the next spring-tides.

NEAP-TIDES. A term from the Ang.-Sax. nepflods. They are but medium tides, in respect to their opposites, the springs, being neither so high, so low, nor so rapid. The phenomenon is owing to the attractions of the sun and moon then partly counteracting each other.

NEAR, AND NO NEAR. Synonymous terms used as a warning to the helmsman when too near the wind, not to come closer to it, but to keep the weather-helm in hand.

NEAT. See [Net], as commercial weight.