PRESIDENT. At a general court-martial it is usual for the authority ordering it to name the president, and the office usually falls upon the second in command.
PRESS, To. To reduce an enemy to straits. (See [Impressment].)
PRESS-GANG. A party of seamen who (under the command of a lieutenant) were formerly empowered, in time of war, to take any seafaring men—on shore or afloat—and compel them to serve on board men-of-war. Those who were thus taken were called pressed men.
PRESS OF SAIL. As much sail as the state of the wind, &c., will permit a ship to carry.
PRESSURE-GAUGE. The manometer of a steam-engine.
PREST. Formerly signified quick or ready, and a prest man was one willing to enlist for a stipulated sum—the very reverse of the pressed man of later times. (See [Press-gang].)
PRESTER. An old name for a meteor.
PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. Is such as by a fair and reasonable interpretation is deducible from the facts of a case.
PREVENTER. Applied to ropes, &c., when used as additional securities to aid other ropes in supporting spars, &c., during a strong gale; as preventer-backstays, braces, shrouds, stays, &c.
PREVENTER-PLATES. Stout plates of iron for securing the chains to the ship's side; one end is on the chain-plate bolt, the other is bolted to the ship's side below it.