OFFICER. A person having some command. A term applied both in the royal and mercantile navies to any one of a ship's company who ranks above the fore-mast men.
OFFICER OF THE DAY. A military officer whose immediate duty is to attend to the interior economy of the corps to which he belongs, or of those with which he may be doing duty.
OFFICER OF THE WATCH. The lieutenant or other officer who has charge of, and commands, the watch.
OFFICERS' EFFECTS. The effects of officers who die on board are not generally sold; but should they be submitted to auction, the sale is to be confined entirely amongst the officers.
OFFICIAL LETTERS. All official letters which are intended to be laid before the commander-in-chief, must be signed by the officers themselves, specifying their rank under their signatures. All applications from petty officers, seamen, and marines, relative to transfer, discharge, or other subjects of a similar nature, are to be made through the captain or commanding officer. They ought to be written on foolscap paper, leaving a margin, to the left hand, of one-fourth of the breadth, and superscribed on the cover "On H. M. Service."
OFFING. Implies to sea-ward; beyond anchoring ground.—To keep a good offing, is to keep well off the land, while under sail.
OFF-RECKONING. A proportion of the full pay of troops retained from them, in special cases, until the period of final settlement, to cover various expected charges (for ship-rations and the like).
OFF SHE GOES! Means run away with the purchase fall. Move to the tune of the fifer. The first move when a vessel is launched.
OFF THE REEL. At once; without stopping. In allusion to the way in which the log-line flies off the reel when a ship is sailing fast.
OFFWARD. The situation of a ship which lies aground and leans from the shore; "the ship heels offward," and "the ship lies with her stern to the offward," is when her stern is towards the sea.