GNOMON. The hand; style of a dial.
GO! A word sometimes given when all is ready for the launch of a vessel
from the stocks.
GO AHEAD! OR GO ON! The order to the engineer in a steamer.
GO ASHORE, TO. To land on leave.
GO ASHORES. The seamen's best dress.
GOBARTO. A large and ravenous fish of our early voyagers, probably a
shark.
GOBBAG. A Gaelic name for the dog-fish.
GOB-DOO. A Manx term for a mussel.
GOBISSON. _Gambesson_; quilted dress worn under the habergeon.
GOBLACHAN. A Gaelic name for the parr or samlet.
GOB-LINE. _See_ GAUB-LINE.
GOBON. An old English name for the whiting.
GOB-STICK. A horn or wooden spoon.
GO BY. Stratagem.--_To give her the go by_, is to escape by deceiving.
GOBY. A name of the _gudgeon_ (which see). It was erroneously applied to
white-bait.
GOD. We retain the Anglo-Saxon word to designate the ALMIGHTY;
signifying good, to do good, doing good, and to benefit; terms such as
our classic borrowings cannot pretend to.
GODENDA. An offensive weapon of our early times, being a poleaxe with a
spike at its end.
GO DOWN. The name given to store-houses and magazines in the East
Indies.
GODSEND. An unexpected relief or prize; but wreckers denote by the term
vessels and goods driven on shore.
GOE. A creek, smaller than a voe.
GOELETTE [Fr.] A schooner. Also, a sloop-of-war.
GOGAR. A serrated worm used in the north for fishing-bait.
GOGLET. An earthen vase or bottle for holding water.
GOILLEAR. The Gaelic for a sea-bird of the Hebrides, said to come ashore
only in January.
GOING ABOUT. Tacking ship.
GOING FREE. When the bowlines are slackened, or sailing with the wind
abeam.
GOING LARGE. Sailing off the wind.
GOING THROUGH THE FLEET. A cruel punishment, long happily abolished. The
victim was sentenced to receive a certain portion of the flogging
alongside the various ships, towed in a launch by a boat supplied from
each vessel, the drummers beating the rogue's march.
GOLDENEY. A name for the yellow gurnard among the northern fishermen.
GOLD FISH. The trivial name of the _Cyprinus auratus_, one of the most
superb of the finny tribe. It was originally brought from China, but is
now generally naturalized in Europe.
GOLD MOHUR. A well known current coin in the East Indies, varying a
little in value at each presidency, but averaging fifteen rupees, or
thirty shillings.
GOLE. An old northern word for a stream or sluice.
GOLLETTE. The shirt of mail formerly worn by foot soldiers. Also, a
French sloop-of-war, spelled goelette.
GOMER. A particular form of chamber in ordnance, consisting in a conical
narrowing of the bore towards its inner end. It was first devised for
the service of mortars, and named after the inventor, Gomer, in the late
wars.
GOMERE [Fr.] The cable of a galley.
GONDOLA. A light pleasure-barge universally used on the canals of
Venice, generally propelled by one man standing on the stern with one
powerful oar, though the larger kinds have more rowers. The middle-sized
gondolas are upwards of 30 feet long and 4 broad, with a well furnished
cabin amidships, though exclusively black as restricted by law. They
always rise at each end to a very sharp point of about the height of a
man's breast. The stem is always surmounted by the ferro, a bright iron
beak or cleaver of one uniform shape, seemingly derived from the ancient
Romans, being the "rostrisque tridentibus" of Virgil, as may be seen in
many of Hadrian's large brass medals. The form of the gondola in the
water is traced back till its origin is lost in antiquity, yet (like
that of the Turkish caiques) embodies the principles of the wave-line
theory, the latest effort of modern ship-building science. Also, a
passage-boat of six or eight oars, used on other parts of the coast of
Italy.
GONDOLIER. A man who works or navigates a gondola.
GONE. Carried away. "The hawser or cable is _gone_;" parted, broken.
GONE-GOOSE. A ship deserted or given up in despair (_in extremis_).
GONFANON [Fr.] Formerly a cavalry banneret; corrupted from the
_gonfalone_ of the Italians.
GONG. A kind of Chinese cymbal, with a powerful and sonorous tone
produced by the vibrations of its metal, consisting mainly of copper and
tutenag or zinc; it is used by some vessels instead of a bell. A
companion of Sir James Lancaster in 1605 irreverently states that it
makes "a most hellish sound."
GONGA. A general name for a river in India, whence comes Ganges.
GOOD-AT-ALL-POINTS. Practical in every particular.
GOOD-CONDUCT BADGE. Marked by a chevron on the lower part of the sleeve,
granted by the admiralty, and carrying a slight increase of pay, to
petty officers, seamen, and marines. One of a similar nature is in use
in the army.
GOOD MEN. The designation of the able, hard-working, and willing seamen.
GOOD SHOALING. An approach to the shore by very gradual soundings.
GOOLE. An old term for a breach in a sea-bank.
GOOSANDER. The _Mergus merganser_, a northern sea-fowl, allied to the
duck, with a straight, narrow, and serrated bill, hooked at the point.
GOOSE-NECK. A curved iron, fitted outside the after-chains to receive a
spare spar, properly the swinging boom, a davit. Also, a sort of iron
hook fitted on the inner end of a boom, and introduced into a clamp of
iron or eye-bolt, which encircles the mast; or is fitted to some other
place in the ship, so that it may be unhooked at pleasure. It is used
for various purposes, especially for guest-warps and swinging booms of
all descriptions.
GOOSE-WINGS OF A SAIL. The situation of a course when the buntlines and
lee-clue are hauled up, and the weather-clue down. The clues, or lower
corners of a ship's main-sail or fore-sail, when the middle part is
furled or tied up to the yard. The term is also applied to the fore and
main sails of a schooner or other two-masted fore-and-aft vessel; when
running before the wind she has these sails set on opposite sides.
GOOSE WITHOUT GRAVY. A severe starting, so called because no blood
followed its infliction.
GORAB. _See_ GRAB.
GORD. An archaism denoting a deep hole in a river.
GORES. Angular pieces of plank inserted to fill up a vessel's planking
at any part requiring it. Also, the angles at one or both ends of such
cloths as increase the breadth or depth of a sail. (_See_ GORING-CLOTH.)
GORGE. The upper and narrowest part of a transverse valley, usually
containing the upper bed of a torrent. Also, in fortification, a line
joining the inner extremities of a work.
GORGE-HOOK. Two hooks separated by a piece of lead, for the taking of
pike or other voracious fish.
GORGET. In former times, and still amongst some foreign troops, a gilt
badge of a crescent shape, suspended from the neck, and hanging on the
breast, worn by officers on duty.
GORING, OR GORING-CLOTH. That part of the skirts of a sail cut on the
bias, where it gradually widens from the upper part down to the clues.
(_See_ SAIL.)
GORMAW. A coast name for the cormorant.
GORSE. Heath or furze for breaming a vessel's bottom.
GO SLOW. The order to the engineer to cut off steam without stopping the
play of the engine.
GOSSOON. A silly awkward lout.
GOTE. _See_ GUTTER.
GOUGING. In ship-building (_see_ SNAIL-CREEPING). Also, a cruel practice
in one or two American states, now extremely rare, in which a man's eye
was squeezed out by his rival's thumb-nail, the fingers being entangled
in the hair for the necessary purchase.
GOUGINGS. A synonym of _gudgeons_ (which see).
GOUKMEY. One of the names in the north for the gray gurnard.
GOULET. Any narrow entrance to a creek or harbour, as the _goletta_ at
Tunis.
GOURIES. The garbage of salmon.
GOVERNMENT. Generally means the constitution of our country as exercised
under the legislature of king or queen, lords, and commons.
GOVERNOR. An officer placed by royal commission in command of a
fortress, town, or colony. Governors are also appointed to institutions,
hospitals, and other establishments. Also, a revolving bifurcate
pendulum, with two iron balls, whose centrifugal divergence equalizes
the motion of the steam-engine.
GOW. An old northern term for the gull.
GOWDIE. The _Callionymus lyra_, dragonet, or chanticleer.
GOWK. The cuckoo; but also used for a stupid, good-natured fellow.
GOWK-STORM. Late vernal equinoctial gales contemporary with the gowk or
cuckoo.
GOWT, OR GOTE. A limited passage for water.
GOYLIR. A small sea-bird held to precede a storm; hence seamen call them
_malifiges_. Arctic gull.
GRAB. The large coasting vessel of India, generally with two masts, and
of 150 to 300 tons.--_To grab._ In familiar language, to catch or snatch
at anything with violence.
GRABBLE, TO. To endeavour to hook a sunk article. To catch fish by hand
in a brook.
GRAB SERVICE. Country vessels first employed by the Bombay government
against the pirates; afterwards erected into the Bombay Marine.
GRACE. _See_ ACT OF GRACE.
GRADE. A degree of rank; a step in order or dignity.
GRAFTING. An ornamental weaving of fine yarns, &c., over the strop of a
block; or applied to the tapered ends of the ropes, and termed pointing.
GRAIN OF TIMBER. In a transverse section of a tree, two different
grains are seen: those running in a circular manner are called the
_silver grain_; the others radiate, and are called _bastard
grain_.--_Grain_ is also a whirlwind not unfrequent in Normandy, mixed
with rain, but seldom continues above a quarter of an hour. They may be
foreseen, and while they last the sea is very turbulent; they may return
several times in the same day, a dead calm succeeding.
GRAIN. In the _grain of_, is immediately preceding another ship in the
same direction.--_Bad-grain_, a sea-lawyer; a nuisance.
GRAIN-CUT TIMBER. That which is cut athwart the grain when the grain of
the wood does not partake of the shape required.
GRAINED POWDER. That corned or reduced into grains from the cakes, and
distinguished from mealed powder, as employed in certain preparations.
GRAINS. A five-pronged fish-spear, grains signifying branches.
GRAIN UPSET. When a mast suffers by buckles, it is said to have its
grain upset. A species of wrinkle on the soft outer grain which will be
found corresponding to a defect on the other side. It is frequently
produced by an injudicious setting up of the rigging.
GRAM. A species of pulse given to horses, sheep, and oxen in the East
Indies, and supplied to ships for feeding live-stock.
GRAMPUS. A corruption of _gran pisce_. An animal of the cetacean or
whale tribe, distinguished by the large pointed teeth with which both
jaws are armed, and by the high falcate dorsal fin. It generally attains
a length of 20 to 25 feet, and is very active and voracious.
GRAMPUS, BLOWING THE. Sluicing a person with water, especially practised
on him who skulks or sleeps on his watch.
GRAND DIVISION. A division of a battalion composed of two companies, or
ordinary divisions, in line.
GRANDSIRE. The name of a four-oared boat which belonged to Peter the
Great, now carefully preserved at St. Petersburg as the origin of the
Russian fleet.
GRANNY'S BEND. The slippery hitch made by a lubber.
GRANNY'S KNOT. This is a term of derision when a reef-knot is crossed
the wrong way, so as to be insecure. It is the natural knot tied by
women or landsmen, and derided by seamen because it cannot be untied
when it is jammed.
GRAPESHOT. A missile from guns intermediate between case-shot and solid
shot, having much of the destructive spread of the former with somewhat
of the range and penetrative force of the latter. A round of grapeshot
consists of three tiers of cast-iron balls arranged, generally three in
a tier, between four parallel iron discs connected together by a central
wrought-iron pin. For carronades, the grape, not being liable to such a
violent dispersive shock, they are simply packed in canisters with
wooden bottoms.
GRAPNEL, OR GRAPLING. A sort of small anchor for boats, having a ring at
one end, and four palmed claws at the other.--_Fire grapnel._
Resembling the former, but its flukes are furnished with strong
fish-hook barbs on their points, usually fixed by a chain on the
yard-arms of a ship, to grapple any adversary whom she intends to board,
and particularly requisite in fire-ships. Also, used to grapple ships on
fire, in order to tow them away from injuring other vessels.
GRAPNEL-ROPE. That which is bent to the grapnel by which a boat rides,
now substituted by chain.
GRAPPLE, TO. To hook with a grapnel; to lay hold of. First used by
Duilius to prevent the escape of the Carthaginians.
GRASP. The handle of a sword, and of an oar. Also, the small of the butt
of a musket.