COW-HITCH. A slippery or lubberly hitch.
COWHORN. The seaman's appellation of the coehorn.
COWIE. A name among Scotch fishermen for the porpoise.
COWL. The cover of a funnel.
COWRIE. Small shells, _Cypraea moneta_, used for money or barter in
Africa and the East Indies.
COXSON, OR COXON. _See_ COCKSWAIN.
COX'S TRAVERSE. Up one hatchway and down another, to elude duty. (_See_
TOM COX.)
C.P. Mark for men sent by civil power.
CRAB. A wooden pillar, the lower end of which being let down through a
ship's decks, rests upon a socket like the capstan, and having in its
upper end three or four holes at different heights, long oars are thrust
through them, each acting like two levers. It is employed to wind in the
cable, or any other weighty matter. Also, a portable wooden or cast-iron
machine, fitted with wheels and pinions similar to those of a winch, of
use in loading and discharging timber-vessels, &c.--_The crab with three
claws_, is used to launch ships, and to heave them into the dock, or off
the key.--_To catch a crab._ To pull an oar too light or too deep in the
water; to miss time in rowing. This derisive phrase for a false stroke
may have been derived from the Italian _chiappar un gragno_, to express
the same action.
CRABBING TO IT. Carrying an over-press of sail in a fresh gale, by which
a ship crabs or drifts sideways to leeward.
CRABBLER. _See_ KRABLA.
CRAB-BOAT. Resembles a large jolly-boat.
CRAB-CAPSTAN. _See_ CRAB.
CRAB-WINDLASS. A light windlass for barges.
CRAB-YAWS. _See_ YAW.
CRACK. "In a crack," immediately.
CRACKER. So named from the noise it makes in exploding; it is applied
to a small pistol. Also, to a little hard cabin biscuit, so called from
its noise in breaking.
CRACKNEL. A small bark. Also, biscuits (see 1 Ki. xiv. 3).
CRACK OFFICER. One of the best class.
CRACK ON, TO. To carry all sail.
CRACK-ORDER. High regularity.
CRACK-SHIP. One uncommonly smart in her evolutions and discipline,
perhaps from the old English word for a fine boy. Crack is generally
used for first-rate or excellent.
CRADLE. A frame consisting of bilge-ways, poppets, &c., on the principle
of the wedge, placed under the bottom of a ship, and resting on the ways
on which it slips, thus launching her steadily into the water, at which
time it supports her weight while she slides down the greased ways. The
cradle being the support of the ship, she carries it with her into the
water, when, becoming buoyant, the frame separates from the hull, floats
on the surface, and is again collected for similar purposes.
CRADLES. Standing bedsteads made up for wounded seamen, that they may be
more comfortable than is possible in a hammock. Boats' chocks are
sometimes called cradles.
CRAFT [from the Anglo-Saxon word _craeft_, a trading vessel]. It is now a
general name for lighters, hoys, barges, &c., employed to load or land
any goods or stores.--_Small craft._ The small vessels of war attendant
on a fleet, such as cutters, schooners, gunboats, &c., generally
commanded by lieutenants. Craft is also a term in sea-phraseology for
every kind of vessel, especially for a favourite ship. Also, all manner
of nets, lines, hooks, &c., used in fishing.
CRAG. A precipitous cliff whose strata if vertical, or nearly so,
subdivide into points.
CRAGER. A small river lighter, mentioned in our early statutes.
CRAGSMAN. One who climbs cliffs overhanging the sea to procure
sea-fowls, or their eggs.
CRAIG-FLOOK. The smear-dab, or rock-flounder.
CRAIK, OR CRAKE. A ship; a diminutive corrupted from _carrack_.
CRAIL. _See_ KREEL.
CRAIL-CAPON. A haddock dried without being split.
CRAKERS. Choice soldiers (_temp._ Henry VIII.) Perhaps managers of the
crakys, and therefore early artillery.
CRAKYS. An old term for great guns.
CRAMP. A machine to facilitate the screwing of two pieces of timber
together.
CRAMPER. A yarn or twine worn round the leg as a remedy against cramp.
CRAMPETS. The cramp rings of a sword scabbard. Ferrule to a staff.
CRAMPINGS. A nautical phrase to express the fetters and bolts for
offenders.
CRAMPOON. _See_ CREEPER.
CRANAGE. The money paid for the use of a wharf crane. Also, the
permission to use a crane at any wharf or pier.
CRANCE. A sort of iron cap on the outer end of the bowsprit, through
which the jib-boom traverses. The name is not unfrequently applied to
any boom-iron.
CRANE. A machine for raising and lowering great weights, by which timber
and stores are hoisted upon wharfs, &c. Also, a kind of catapult for
casting stones in ancient warfare. Also, pieces of iron, or timber at a
vessel's sides, used to stow boats or spars upon. Also, as many fresh or
green unsalted herrings as would fill a barrel.
CRANE-BARGE. A low flat-floored lump, fitted for the purpose of carrying
a crane, in aid of marine works.
CRANE-LINES. Those which formerly went from the spritsail-topmast to the
middle of the fore-stay, serving to steady the former. Also, small lines
for keeping the lee backstays from chafing against the yards.
CRANG. The carcass of a whale after being flinched or the blubber
stripped off.
CRANK, OR CRANK-SIDED. A vessel, by her construction or her stowage,
inclined to lean over a great deal, or from insufficient ballast or
cargo incapable of carrying sail, without danger of overturning. The
opposite term is _stiff_, or the quality of standing well up to her
canvas.--_Cranky_ expresses a foolish capriciousness. Ships built too
deep in proportion to their breadth are notoriously crank.--_Crank by
the ground_, is a ship whose floor is so narrow that she cannot be
brought on the ground without danger.
CRANK-HATCHES. Are raised coamings on a steamer's deck, to form
coverings for the cranks of the engines below.
CRANK-PIN. In steam machinery, it goes through both arms of the crank at
their extremities; to this pin the connecting-rod is attached.
CRANKS OF A MARINE ENGINE; eccentric, as in a turning-lathe. The bend or
knee pinned on the shafts, by which they are moved round with a circular
motion. Also, iron handles for working pumps, windlasses, &c. Also,
erect iron forks on the quarter-deck for the capstan-bars, or other
things, to be stowed thereon. Also, the axis and handle of a grindstone.
Also, an old term for the sudden or frequent involutions of the planets
in their orbits.