GULF, golfe, (golfo, Ital.) a broad and capacious bay, comprehended between two promontories, and sometimes taking the name of a sea, when it is very extensive, but particularly when it only communicates with the sea by means of a streight: such are the Euxine, or Black Sea, otherwise called the gulf of Constantinople; the Adriatic Sea, called also the gulf of Venice; the gulf of Sidra near Barbary, and the gulf of Lions near France: all these gulfs are in the Mediterranean: there are besides the gulf of Mexico, the gulf of St. Lawrence, and the gulf of Calliphornia, which are in North America. There are also the gulf of Persia, otherwise called the Red Sea, between Persia and Arabia; the gulf of Bengal in India, and the gulfs of Cochinchina and Kamtschatca, near the countries of the same name.
GUNNEL, or GUN-WALE, plat-bord, the upper edge of a ship’s side.
GUNNER of a ship of war, an officer appointed to take charge of the artillery and ammunition aboard; to observe that the former are always kept in order, and properly fitted with tackles and other furniture, and to teach the sailors the exercise of the cannon. See Exercise.
GUN-ROOM, an apartment on the after end of the lower, or gun-deck, of a ship of war; generally destined for the use of the gunner in large ships, but in small ones, it is used by the lieutenants as a dining-room, &c.
GUST, dragon de vent, a sudden and violent squall of wind, bursting from the hills upon the sea, so as to endanger the shipping near the shore. These are peculiar to some coasts, as those of South Barbary and Guinea.
GUTTER-LEDGE, traversier d’ecoutille, a cross-bar laid along the middle of a large hatchway in some vessels, to support the covers, and enable them the better to sustain any weighty body which may be moved or laid thereon.
GUY, a rope used to steddy any weighty body whilst it is hoisting or lowering, particularly when the ship is shaken by a tempestuous sea.
Guy is likewise a large slack rope, extending from the head of the main-mast to the head of the fore-mast, and having two or three large blocks fastened to the middle of it. This is chiefly employed to sustain the tackle used to hoist in and out the cargo of a merchant ship, and is accordingly removed from the mast-heads as soon as the vessel is laden or delivered.
GYBING, the act of shifting any boom-sail from one side of the mast to the other.
In order to understand this operation more clearly, it is necessary to remark, that by a boom-sail is meant any sail whose bottom is extended by a boom, the fore-end of which is hooked to its respective mast, so as to swing occasionally on either side of the vessel, describing an arch, of which the mast will be the center. As the wind or the course changes, it also becomes frequently necessary to change the position of the boom, together with its sail, which is accordingly shifted to the other side of the vessel as a door turns upon its hinges. The boom is pushed out by the effort of the wind upon the sail, and is restrained in a proper situation by a strong tackle communicating with the vessel’s stern, and called the sheet. It is also confined on the fore-part by another tackle, called the guy. See the preceding article.