ROAD, (rade, Fr.) a bay, or place of anchorage, at some distance from the shore, on the sea-coast, whither ships or vessels occasionally repair to receive intelligence, orders, or necessary supplies; or to wait for a fair wind, &c.
The excellence of a road consists chiefly in its being protected from the reigning winds, and the swell of the sea; in having a good anchoring-ground, and being at a competent distance from the shore. Those which are not sufficiently enclosed are termed open roads.
ROADER, a vessel riding at anchor in a road, bay, or river. If a vessel under sail strikes against any roader, and damages her in passing, the former is obliged by law to make good the damages sustained by the latter.
The roaders attentively observe to anchor, or moor, at a competent distance from each other; and that those which arrive last shall not moor in the tract of the shipping which anchored before, so as to intercept their passage when they are ready to depart.
ROBANDS, or ROPE-BANDS. See Rope-Band.
ROGUES-YARN, a name given to a rope-yarn, of a particular construction, which is placed, in the middle of every strand, in all cables and cordage in the king’s service. It differs from all the rest, as being untarred, and twisted in a contrary manner, by which it is easily discovered. The use of this contrivance is to examine whether any cordage, supposed to be stolen or embezzled, has been formed for the king’s service.
ROLLER, a cylindrical piece of timber, fixed either horizontally or perpendicularly above a ship’s deck, so as to revolve about an axis. It is used to prevent the cables, hausers, &c. from being chafed by the friction which their surfaces would otherwise encounter, from bearing against that part of the ship, where the roller is placed, whilst they are drawn into the ship, &c. by mechanical powers.
Rollers, are also moveable pieces of wood, of the same figure, which are occasionally placed under planks, or long pieces of timber, in order to move them with greater facility either in the dock-yards, or in lading and delivering merchant-ships.
ROLLING, the motion by which a ship rocks from side-to side like a cradle, occasioned by the agitation of the waves.
Rolling, therefore, is a sort of revolution about an imaginary axis, passing through the center of gravity of a ship: so that the nearer the center of gravity is to the keel, the more violent will be the rolling-motion; because the center about which the vibrations are made, is placed so low in the bottom, that the resistance made by the keel to the volume of water which it displaces in rolling, bears very little proportion to the force of the vibration above the center of gravity, the radius of which extends as high as the mast-heads.