RATH. A Gaelic term in use for raft—a timber raft; it is also an ancient earthen fort.
RATING. The station a person holds on the ship's books.
RATION. Each man's daily allowance of provisions; including, in the army, fuel and forage to man and horse.
RATIONAL HORIZON. See [Horizon].
RATLINES, or Ratlings. Small lines which traverse the shrouds of a ship (at distances of 15 or 16 inches) horizontally from the deck upwards, and are made firm by jamming clove-hitches; they form a series of steps, like the rounds of a ladder.
RAT'S-TAIL. The tapering end of a rope. Also, the round tapered file for enlarging holes in metal.
RATTAN [Malay, rotan]. One of the genus Calamus, used for wicker-work, seats of chairs, &c. In the eastern seas they constitute the chief cables, even to 42 inches circumference, infinitely stronger than hemp, light, and not easily chafed by rocks; very useful also to seamen for brooms, hoops, hanks for sails, &c.
RATTLE DOWN RIGGING, To; or, To Rattle the Shrouds. To fix the ratlines in a line parallel to the vessel's set on the water.
RAUN. An old Manx term for a seal. In the north it implies the roe of salmon, used as a bait.
RAUNER. A northern term for the female salmon, as having the raun or roe.