ESCARP. In fortification, that steep bank or wall immediately in front
of and below the rampart, which is thus secured against being directly
stormed by a superior force; it is generally the inner side of the
ditch.
ESCHEATOR, THE KING'S. An officer at the exchequer of very ancient
establishment, under the lord-treasurer, whose business it is to inform
of escheats and casual profits of the crown, and to seize them into the
king's hands.
ESCORT. A guard of troops attending an individual by way of distinction.
Also, a guard placed over prisoners on a march.
ESCUTCHEON. The compartment in the middle of the ship's stern, where her
name is written. [Derived from _ex-scutum_.]
ESKIPPAMENTUM. An archaism for tackle or ship-furniture.
ESKIPPER. Anglo-Norman to ship, and _eskipped_ was used for shipped.
ESKIPPESON. An old law term for a shipping or passage by sea.
ESNECCA. In the twelfth century, a royal yacht, though some deem it to
have been a kind of transport.
ESPIALS. Night watches afloat, in dockyards and harbours; generally a
boat named by the ordinary.
ESPLANADE. Generally that space of level ground kept vacant between the
works of a fortress and neighbouring houses or other obstructions;
though originally applied to the actual surface of the glacis.
ESQUIMAUX. A name derived from _esquimantsic_, in the Albinaquis
language, _eaters of raw flesh_. Many tribes in the Arctic regions are
still ignorant of the art of cookery.
ESSARA. The prickly heat.
ESTABLISHMENT. The regulated complement or quota of officers and men to
a ship, either in time of war or peace. The equipment. The regulated
dimensions of spars, cabin, rigging, &c.--_Establishment of a port._ An
awkward phrase lately lugged in to denote the tide-hour of a port.
ESTIVAL. _See_ AESTIVAL.
ESTOC. A small stabbing sword.
ESTUARY. An inlet or shoaly arm of the sea into which a river or rivers
empty, and subject to tidal influence.
ESTURE. An old word for the rise and fall of water.
ETESIAN WINDS. The _Etesiae_ of the ancients; winds which blow constantly
every year during the time of the dog-days in the Levant.
ETIQUETTE. Naval or military observances, deemed to be law.
EUPHROE. _See_ UVROU.
EVACUATE. To withdraw from a town or fortress, in virtue of a treaty or
capitulation; or in compliance with superior orders.
EVECTION. A term for the libration of the moon, or that apparent
oscillatory inequality in her motion, caused by a change in the
excentricity of her orbit, whereby her mean longitude is sometimes
increased or diminished to the amount of 1 deg. 20', whereby we sometimes
see a little further round one side than at others.
EVE-EEL. A northern name for the conger; from the Danish _hav-aal_, or
sea-eel.
EVENING GUN. The warning-piece, after the firing of which the sentries
challenge.
EVEN KEEL. When a ship is so trimmed as to sit evenly upon the water,
drawing the same depth forward as aft. Some vessels sail best when
brought by the head, others by the stern.
EVERY INCH OF THAT! An exclamation to belay a rope without rendering it.
EVERY MAN TO HIS STATION. _See_ STATION.
EVERY ROPE AN-END. The order to coil down the running rigging, or braces
and bowlines, after tacking, or other evolution. Also, the order, when
about to perform an evolution, to see that every rope is clear for
running.
EVERY STITCH SET. All possible canvas spread.
EVOLUTION. The change of form and disposition during man[oe]uvres,
whether of men or ships; movements which should combine celerity with
precision and regularity.
EWAGE. An old law term meaning the toll paid for water-passage.
EXALTATION. A planet being in that sign in which it is supposed to exert
its utmost influence.
EXAMINATION. A searching by, or cognizance of, a magistrate, or other
authorized officer. Now strict in navy and army.
EXCENTRIC. In a steam-engine, a wheel placed on the crank-shaft, having
its centre on one side of the axis of the shaft, with a notch for the
_gab-lever_.
EXCENTRIC ANOMALY. An auxiliary angle employed to abridge the
calculations connected with the motion of a planet or comet in an
elliptic orbit.
EXCENTRICITY. In astronomical parlance, implies the deviation of an
elliptic orbit from a circle.
EXCENTRIC ROD, by its action on the gab-lever, which it catches either
way, puts the engine into gear.
EXCHANGE. A term in the mercantile world, to denote the bills by which
remittances are made from one country to another, without the
transmission of money. The removal of officers from one ship to another.
Also, a mutual agreement between contending powers for exchange of
prisoners.
EXCHEQUERED. Seized by government officers as contraband. Marked with
the broad arrow. It also refers to proceedings on the part of the crown
against an individual in the Exchequer Court, where suits for debts or
duties due to the crown are brought.
EXECUTION. The Lords of the Admiralty have a right to issue their
warrant, and direct the time and manner, without any special warrant
from the crown for that purpose.--_Military execution_ is the ravaging
and destroying of a country that refuses to pay contribution.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH. The commissioned and working officers of the ship, as
distinguished from the civilian branch.
EXERCISE. The practice of all those motions, actions, and management of
arms, whereby men are duly trained for service. Also, the practice of
loosing, reefing, and furling sails.--_Exercise_, in naval tactics, may
be applied to the forming a fleet into order of sailing, line of battle,
&c. The French term is _evolutions_ or _tactiques_, and may be defined
as the execution of the movements which the different orders and
disposition of fleets occasionally require, and which the several ships
are directed to perform by means of signals. (_See_ SIGNALS.)
EX LEX. An outlaw (a term of law).
EXPANSION-VALVE. In the marine engine, a valve which shuts off the steam
in its passage to the slide-valves, when the piston has travelled a
certain distance in the cylinder, leaving the remaining part of the
stroke to be performed by the expansion of the steam.
EXPEDIENT. A stratagem in warfare.
EXPEDITION. An enterprise undertaken either by sea or land, or both,
against an enemy; it should be conducted with secrecy and rapidity of
movement.
EXPENDED. Used up, consumed, or asserted to be so.
EXPENSE BOOKS. Accounts of the expenditure of the warrant officer's
stores, attested by the signing officers.
EXPLOITING. Transporting trees or timber by a river. Exploit was an old
verb meaning to perform.
EXPLORATOR. An examiner of a country. A scout.
EXPORT, TO. To send goods or commodities out of a country, for the
purposes of traffic, under the general name of exports.
EXPORTATION. The act of sending exports to foreign parts.
EXPORTER. The person who sends the exports abroad.
EXPOSED ANCHORAGE. An open and dangerous place, by reason of the
elements or the enemy.
EXTERIOR SIDE. The side of an imaginary polygon, upon which the plan of
a fortification is constructed.
EXTERIOR SLOPE. In fortification, that slope of a work towards the
country which is next outward beyond its superior slope.
EXTERNAL CONTACT. In a transit of Mercury or Venus over the sun's disc,
this expression means the first touch of the planet's and sun's edges,
before any part of the former is projected on the disc of the luminary.
EXTRAORDINARIES. Contingent expenses.
EXTREME BREADTH. The extent of the midships, or dead flat, with the
thickness of the bottom plank included.
EXTREMITIES. The stem and stern posts of a ship.
EY. _See_ EYGHT.
EYE. The circular loop of a shroud or stay where it goes over the
mast.--_To eye_, to observe minutely.--_Flemish eye_, a phrase
particularly applied to the eye of a stay, which is either formed at
the making of the rope; or by dividing the yarns into two equal parts,
knotting each pair separately, and pointing the whole over after
parcelling. This eye stopped by the mouse forms the collar. It is not
strong, soon rots, and seldom, if ever, used now where strength is of
more importance than neatness.
EYE-BOLTS. Those which have an eye or opening in one end, for hooking
tackles to, or fastening ropes.
EYELET-HOLES, are necessary in order to bend a sail to its yard or boom,
or to reef it; they consist of round holes worked in a sail to admit a
cringle or small rope through, chiefly the robands (or rope-bands), and
the points of the reef-line. (_See_ SAIL.)
EYE OF A BLOCK-STROP. That part by which it is fastened or suspended to
any particular place upon the sails, masts, or rigging; the eye is
sometimes formed by making two eye-splices, termed lashing eyes, on the
ends of the strop, and then seizing them together with a small line, so
as to bind both round a mast, yard, or boom, as is deemed necessary.
EYE OF AN ANCHOR. The hole in the shank wherein the ring is fixed.
EYE OF A STAY. That part of a stay which is formed into a sort of collar
to go round the mast-head; the eye and mouse form the collar.
EYE OF THE WIND. The direction to windward from whence it blows. (_See_
WIND'S-EYE.)
EYE-SHOT. Within sight.
EYES OF A MESSENGER. Eyes spliced in its ends to lash together.