PROMOVENT. The plaintiff in the instance-court of the admiralty.
PRONG. Synonymous with [beam-arm] or [crow-foot] (which see).
PROOF. The trial of the quality of arms, ammunition, &c., before their reception for service. Guns are proved by various examinations, and by the firing of prescribed charges; powder by examinations, and by carefully measured firings from each batch.
PROOFS OF PROPERTY. Attestations, letters of advice, invoices, to show that a ship really belongs to the subjects of a neutral state.
PROOF TIMBER. In naval architecture, an imaginary timber, expressed by vertical lines in the sheer-draught, to prove the fairness of the body.
PROPELLER. This term generally alludes to the Archimedean screw, or screw-propeller.
PROPER MOTION OF THE STARS. A movement which some stars are found to possess, independent of the apparent change of place due to the precession of the equinoxes, the accounting for which is as yet only ingenious conjecture.
PROPORTION. In naval architecture, the length, breadth, and height of a vessel, having a due consideration to her rate, and the object she is intended for.
PROPPETS. Those shores that stand nearly vertical.
PROSPECTIVE, or Prospect Glass. An old term for a deck or hand telescope, with a terrestrial eye-piece. (See [Spy-glass].)