SEWED, the situation of a ship which rests upon the ground till the depth of water sufficient to float her is diminished by the reflux of the tide. Thus if a ship runs aground on the tide of ebb, and it be required to know if she has sewed, the water-line or mark on her side, stem, or stern-post, where the surface of the water reaches when she is afloat, is examined, and this mark being found above the water, she is said to be sewed by as much as is the difference.
SHAKES, ébaroui, a name given by shipwrights to the cracks or rents in a plank, occasioned by the sun or weather.
SHANK, the beam or shaft of an anchor. See that article.
Shank-Painter, a short rope and chain which hangs the shank and flukes of the anchor up to the ship’s side, as the stopper fastens the ring and stock to the cathead.
To SHAPE the course, commander à la route, to direct or appoint the track of a ship, in order to prosecute a voyage.
SHARP. See Bottom.
SHEATHING, doublage, a sort of casing or covering laid on the outside of a ship’s bottom, to protect the planks from the pernicious effects of the worms: particularly in hot climates, as between the tropics.
Sheathing either consists of a number of boards or deals of fir, or of sheets of lead or copper; which last is a very late invention, having been only experienced on a few of his Majesty’s frigates: it seems, however, to answer the purpose much better than the fir-planks. When the sheathing is performed with boards, there is a quantity of hair and tar inserted between the outside of the bottom and the inner surface of the boards.
SHEAVE, rouet, (schijf, Dutch) a solid cylindrical wheel, fixed in a channel, and moveable about an axis, as being used to raise or increase the mechanical powers applied to remove any body.
The sheaves are either fixed in blocks, or in channels cut through the masts, caps, cat-heads, or sides of a ship. See those articles.