Eye of a stay, oeillet, that part of a stay which is formed into a sort of collar to go round a mast-head.
EYE-BOLT, a long bar of iron with an eye in one end of it, represented by fig. 39, plate [II]. It is formed to be driven into the decks or sides of a ship for divers purposes, as to hook tackles, or fasten ropes to, as occasion requires.
EYE-LET-HOLE. See the article Sails.
EYES of a ship, oeils, a name frequently given to those parts which lie near the hause-holes, particularly in the lower apartments within the vessel.
F.
FACTOR, in commerce, an agent, or correspondent, residing beyond the seas, or in some remote part, and commissioned by merchants to buy or sell goods on their account, or assist them to carry on their trade. Hence any place where a considerable number of factors reside, to negociate for their masters, or employers, is called a factory; as the factories of Lisbon, of Leghorn, of Calcutta, &c.
FAG-END, the end of any rope, or cord, which is become untwisted and loosened by frequent use. To prevent this effect, the ends of ropes are generally well fastened by winding a piece of small line, or pack-thread, around them, which operation is called whipping.
FAIR, a general term for the disposition of the wind, when it is favourable to a ship’s course, in opposition to that which is contrary or foul.
This term, when applied to the wind, is much more comprehensive than large, since the former seems to include about eighteen points of the compass, or at least sixteen; whereas large is confined to the beam or quarter, that is, to a wind which crosses the keel at right angles, or obliquely from the stern, but never to one right a-stern. See the articles Large and Scant.
FAIR-CURVE, a winding line, used in delineating ships, whose shape is varied according to the part of the ship it is intended to describe: this curve is not answerable to any of the figures of conic sections, although it occasionally partakes of them all.