HARD-A-LEE. The situation of the tiller when it brings the rudder hard
over to windward. Strictly speaking, it only relates to a tiller which
extends _forward_ from the rudder-head; now many extend _aft_, in which
case the _order_ remains the same, but the tiller and rudder are both
brought over to windward. Also, the order to put the tiller in this
position.
HARD AND FAST. Said of a ship on shore.
HARD-A-PORT! The order so to place the tiller as to bring the rudder
over to the starboard-side of the stern-post, whichever way the tiller
leads. (_See_ HARD-A-LEE.)
HARD-A-STARBOARD. The order so to place the tiller as to bring the
rudder over to the port-side of the stern-post, whichever way the tiller
leads. (_See_ HARD-A-LEE.)
HARD-A-WEATHER! The order so to place the tiller as to bring the rudder
on the lee-side of the stern-post, whichever way the tiller leads, in
order to bear away; it is the position of the helm as opposed to
_hard-a-lee_ (which see). Also, a hardy seaman.
HARD BARGAIN. A useless fellow; a skulker.
HARD FISH. A term indiscriminately applied to cod, ling, haddock, torsk,
&c., salted and dried.
HARD GALE. When the violence of the wind reduces a ship to be under her
storm staysails, No. 10 force.
HARD-HEAD. The _Clupea menhaden_, or _Alosa tyrannus_, an oily fish
taken in immense quantities on the American coasts, insomuch that they
are used for manuring land. Also, on our coasts the father-lasher or
sea-scorpion, _Cottus scorpius_, and in some parts the grey gurnard, are
so called.
HARD-HORSE. A tyrannical officer.
HARDING. A light kind of duck canvas made in the north.
HARD UP. The tiller so placed as to carry the rudder close over to
leeward of the stern-post. Also, used figuratively for being in great
distress, or poverty-struck; obliged to bear up for Poverty Bay; cleared
out.
HARD UP IN A CLINCH, AND NO KNIFE TO CUT THE SEIZING. Overtaken by
misfortune, and no means of evading it.
HARDS. _See_ ACUMBA.
HARLE. Mists or thick rolling fogs from the sea, so called in the north.
Also, a name of the _goosander_ (which see).
HARMATTAN. A Fantee name for a singular periodical easterly wind which
prevails on the west coast of Africa, generally in December, January,
and February; it is dry, though always accompanied by haze, the result
of fine red dust suspended in the atmosphere and obscuring the sun; this
wind is opposed to the sea-breeze, which would otherwise blow fresh from
the west on to the land.
HARNESS. An old statute term for the tackling or furniture of a ship.
HARNESS-CASK. A large conical tub for containing the salt provisions
intended for present consumption. Alluding to the junk, which is often
called salt-horse, it has been described as the tub where the horse, and
not the harness, is kept.
HARP-COCK. An old modification of the harpoon.
HARPENS. _See_ HARPINGS.
HARPER-CRAB. _See_ TOMMY HARPER.
HARPINGS, OR HARPENS. The fore-parts of the wales which encompass the
bow of a ship, and are fastened to the stem, being thicker than the
after-part of the wales, in order to strengthen the ship in that place
where she sustains the greatest shock of resistance in plunging into the
sea, or dividing it, under a great pressure of sail. Also, the pieces of
oak, similar to ribbands, but trimmed and bolted to the shape of the
body of the ship, which hold the fore and after cant bodies together,
until the ship is planked. But this term is mostly applicable to those
at the bow; hence arises the phrase "clean and full harpings." Harpings
in the bow of a vessel are decried as rendering the ship uneasy.--_Cat
harpings._ The legs which cross from futtock-staff to futtock-staff,
below the tops, to girt in the rigging, and allow the lower yards to
brace sharp up.
HARPOON, OR HARPAGO. A spear or javelin with a barbed point, used to
strike whales and other fish. The harpoon is furnished with a long
shank, and has at one end a broad and flat triangular head, sharpened at
both edges so as to penetrate the whale with facility, but blunt behind
to prevent its cutting out. To the other end a fore-ganger is bent, to
which is fastened a long cord called the whale-line, which lies
carefully coiled in the boat in such a manner as to run out without
being interrupted or entangled. Several coils, each 130 fathoms of
whale-line (soft laid and of clean silky fibre) are in readiness; the
instant the whale is struck the men cant the oars, so that the roll may
not immerse them in the water. The line, which has a turn round the
bollard, flies like lightning, and is intensely watched. One man pours
water on the smoking bollard, another is ready with a sharp axe to cut,
and the others see that the lines run free. Seven or eight coils have
been run out before the whale "sounds," or strikes bottom, when he rises
again to breathe, and probably gets a similar dose.--_Gun harpoon._ A
weapon used for the same purpose as the preceding, but it is fired out
of a gun, instead of being thrown by hand; it is made entirely of steel,
and has a chain or long shackle attached to it, to which the whale-line
is fastened. Greener's harpoon-gun is a kind of wall-piece fixed in a
crutch, which steps into the bow-bollard of the whale-boat. The harpoon
projects about four inches beyond the muzzle. It consists of its barbed
point attached to a long link, with a solid button at its opposite end
to fit the gun; on one rod of this link is a ring which runs to the
muzzle, and is there attached to the whale-line by a thong of seal or
walrus hide, wet. The gun being fired, the harpoon is projected, the
ring sliding up to the button, when the line follows. Some of these
harpoons or other engines have grenades--glass globules with prussic
acid or other chemicals--which sicken the whale instantly, and little
trouble ensues.
HARPOONER, HARPONEER, OR HARPINEER. The expert bowman in a whale-boat,
whose duty it is to throw or fire the harpoon.
HARP-SEAL. The _Phoca gr[oe]nlandica_, a species of seal from the Arctic
seas; so called from the form of a dark-brown mark upon its back.
HARQUEBUSS, OR ARQUEBUSS. Something larger than a musket. Sometimes
called caliver. (_See_ ARQUEBUSS.)
HARR, OR HARL. A sea-storm, from a northern term for snarling, in
allusion to the noise. Also, a cold thick mist or fog in easterly winds;
the _haar_.
HARRY-BANNINGS. A north-country name for sticklebacks.
HARRY-NET. A net with such small meshes, and so formed, as to take even
the young and small fish.
HARVEST-MOON. The full moon nearest the autumnal equinox, when for
several successive evenings she rises at the same hour; and this name is
given in consequence of the supposed advantage of the additional length
of moonlight to agriculture.
HASEGA. A corruption of _asseguay_ (which see).
HASK. An archaism for a fish-basket.
HASLAR HAGS. The nurses of the naval hospital Haslar.
HASLAR HOSPITAL. A fine establishment near Gosport, for the reception
and cure of the sick and wounded of the Royal Navy.
HASP. A semicircular clamp turning in an eye-bolt in the stem-head of a
sloop or boat, and fastened by a forelock in order to secure the
bowsprit down to the bows. (_See_ SPAN-SHACKLE.)
HASTAN. The Manx or Erse term for a large eel or conger.
HASTY-PUDDING. A batter made of flour or oatmeal stirred in boiling
water, and eaten with treacle or sugar at sea. This dish is not
altogether to be despised in need, although Lord Dorset--the sailor
poet--speaks of it disparagingly:
"Sure hasty-pudding is thy chiefest dish,
With bullock's liver, or some stinking fish."