HATCH-BARS. To secure the hatches; are padlocked and sealed.
HATCH-BOAT. A sort of small vessel known as a pilot-boat, having a deck
composed almost entirely of hatches.
HATCH-DECK. Gun brigs had hatches instead of lower decks.
HATCHELLING. The combing and preparing hemp for rope-making.
HATCHES. Flood-gates set in a river to stop the current of water. Also,
coverings of grating, or close hatches to seal the holds.--_To lie under
hatches, stowed in the hold._ Terms used figuratively for being in
distress and death.
HATCHET-FASHION. Cutting at the heads of antagonists, instead of
thrusting.
HATCH-RINGS. Rings to lift the hatches by, or replace them.
HATCHWAY. A square or oblong opening in the middle of the deck of a
ship, of which there are generally three--the fore, main, and
after--affording passages up and down from one deck to another, and
again descending into the hold. The coverings over these openings are
called hatches. Goods of bulk are let down into the hold by the
hatchways. To lay anything in the hatchway, is to put it so that the
hatches cannot be approached or opened. The hatches of a smaller kind
are distinguished by the name of _scuttles_.
HATCHWAY-NETTINGS. Nettings sometimes placed over the hatchways instead
of gratings, for security and circulation of air. They arrest the fall
of any one from a deck above.
HATCHWAY-SCREENS. Pieces of fear-nought, or thick woollen cloth, put
round the hatchways of a man-of-war in time of action, to screen the
passages to the magazine.
HATCHWAY-STOPPERS. Those for a hempen cable are fitted as a
ring-stopper, only a larger rope. They are rove through a hole on each
side of the coamings, in the corner of the hatchway; and both tails,
made selvagee-fashion, are dogged along the cable. When a chain-cable is
used, the stopper works from a beam on the lower deck.
HAT-MONEY. A word sometimes used for _primage_, or the trifling payment
received by the master of a ship for care of goods.
HAUBERK. _See_ AUBERK.
HAUGH. Flat or marshy ground by the side of a river.
HAUL, TO. An expression peculiar to seamen, implying to pull or bowse at
a single rope, without the assistance of blocks or other mechanical
powers upon it; as "haul in," "haul down," "haul up," "haul aft," "haul
together." (_See_ BOWSE, HOIST, and ROUSE.) A vessel _hauls her wind_ by
trimming the yards and sails so as to lie nearer to, or close to the
wind, and by the power of the rudder shaping her course accordingly.
HAUL ABOARD THE FORE AND MAIN TACKS. This is to haul them forward, and
down to the chess-trees on the weather-side.
HAUL AFT A SHEET. To pull it in more towards the stern, so as to trim
the sail nearer to the wind.
HAULAGE. A traction-way.
HAUL-BOWLINGS. The old name for the able-bodied seamen.
HAUL HER WIND. Said of a vessel when she comes close upon the
wind.--_Haul your wind_, or _haul to the wind_, signifies that the
ship's head is to be brought nearer to the wind--a very usual phrase
when she has been going free.
HAUL IN, TO. To sail close to the wind, in order to approach nearer to
an object.
HAULING DOWN VACANCY. The colloquialism expressive of the promotion of a
flag-lieutenant and midshipman on an admiral's hauling down his flag.
HAULING-LINE. A line made fast to any object, to be hauled nearer or on
board, as a hawser, a spar, &c.
HAULING SHARP. Going upon half allowance of food.
HAUL MY WIND. An expression when an individual is going upon a new line
of action. To avoid a quarrel or difficulty.
HAUL OF ALL! An order to brace round all the yards at once--a
man[oe]uvre sometimes used in tacking, or on a sudden change of wind; it
requires a strong crew.
HAUL OFF, TO. To sail closer to the wind, in order to get further from
any object.
HAUL OUT TO LEEWARD! In reefing top-sails, the cry when the weather
earing is passed.
HAUL ROUND. Said when the wind is gradually shifting towards any
particular point of the compass. Edging round a danger.
HAULS AFT, OR VEERS AFT. Said of the wind when it draws astern.
HAULSER. The old orthography for _hawser_.
HAULS FORWARD. Said of the wind when it draws before the beam.
HAUL UNDER THE CHAINS. This is a phrase signifying a ship's working and
straining on the masts and shrouds, so as to make the seams open and
shut as she rolls.
HAULYARDS. _See_ HALLIARDS.
HAUNCES. The breakings of the rudder abaft.
HAUNCH. A sudden fall or break, as from the drifts forward and aft to
the waist. The same as _hance_.
HAVEN [Anglo-Saxon, _haefen_]. A safe refuge from the violence of wind
and sea; much the same as harbour, though of less importance. A good
anchorage rather than place of perfect shelter. Milford Haven is an
exception.
HAVENET. This word has appeared in vocabularies as a small haven.
HAVEN-SCREAMER. The sea-gull, called _haefen_ by the Anglo-Saxons.
HAVERSACK. A coarse linen bag with a strap fitting over the shoulder
worn by soldiers or small-arm men in marching order, for carrying their
provision, instead of the knapsack.
HAVILLER. _See_ HUFFLER.
HAVOC. Formerly a war cry, and the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.
Thus Shakspeare,
"Cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war."
HAWK'S-BILL. _Chelone imbricata_, a well-known turtle frequenting the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans, so named from having a small mouth like the
beak of a hawk; it produces the tortoise-shell of commerce. The flesh is
indifferent, but the eggs very good.
HAWSE. This is a term of great meaning. Strictly, it is that part of a
vessel's bow where holes are cut for her cables to pass through. It is
also generally understood to imply the situation of the cables before
the ship's stem, when she is moored with two anchors out from forward,
one on the starboard, and the other on the port bow. It also denotes any
small distance between her head and the anchors employed to ride her, as
"he has anchored in our hawse," "the brig fell athwart our hawse," &c.
Also, said of a vessel a little in advance of the stem; as, she sails
_athwart hawse_, or has anchored _in the hawse_. If a vessel drives at
her anchors into the hawse of another she is said to "_foul the hawse_"
of the vessel riding there; hence the threat of a man-of-war's-man, "If
you foul my hawse, I'll cut your cable," no merchant vessel being
allowed to approach a ship-of-war within certain limits, and never to
make fast to the government buoys.--_A bold hawse_ is when the holes are
high above the water. "Freshen hawse," or "veer out more cable," is said
when part of the cable that lies in the hawse is fretted or chafed, and
more should be veered out, so that another part of it may rest in the
hawse. "Freshen hawse" also means, clap a service on or round the cable
in the hawses to prevent it from fretting; hemp cables only are rounded
or cackled. Also, a dram after fatiguing duty. "Clearing hawse," is
untwisting or disentangling two cables that come through different
holes, and make a foul hawse.
HAWSE-BAGS. Canvas bags filled with oakum, used in heavy seas to stop
the hawse-holes and prevent the water coming in.
HAWSE-BLOCKS. Bucklers, or pieces of wood made to fit over the
hawse-holes when at sea, to back the hawse-plugs.
HAWSE-BOLSTERS. Planks above and below the hawse-holes. Also, pieces of
canvas stuffed with oakum and roped round, for plugging when the cables
are bent.
HAWSE-BOX, OR NAVAL HOOD. Pieces of plank bolted outside round each of
the hawse-holes, to support the projecting part of the hawse-pipe.
HAWSE-BUCKLERS. Plugs of wood to fit the hawse-holes, and hatches to
bolt over, to keep the sea from spurting in.
HAWSE-FALLEN. To ride hawse-fallen, is when the water breaks into the
hawse in a rough sea, driving all before it.
HAWSE-FULL. Riding hawse-full; pitching bows under.
HAWSE-HOLES. Cylindrical holes cut through the bows of a ship on each
side of the stem, through which the cables pass, in order to be drawn
into or let out of the vessel, as occasion requires.
HAWSE-HOOK. A compass breast timber which crosses the hawse-timber above
the ends of the upper-deck planking, and over the hawse-holes. (_See_
BREAST-HOOKS.)
HAWSE-PIECES. The timbers which compose the bow of a vessel, and their
sides look fore and aft; it is a name given to the foremost timbers of a
ship, whose lower ends rest upon the knuckle-timbers. They are generally
parallel to the stem, having their upper ends sometimes terminated by
the lower part of the beak-head and otherwise by the top of the bow.
Also, timbers through which the hawse-holes are cut.
HAWSE-PIPE. A cast-iron pipe in the hawse-holes to prevent the cable
from cutting the wood.
HAWSE-PLUGS. Blocks of wood made to fit into the hawse-pipes, and put in
from the outside to stop the hawses, and thereby prevent the water from
washing into the manger. The plug, coated with old canvas, is first
inserted, then a mat or swab, and over it the buckler or shield, which
bolts upward and downward into the breast-hooks.
HAWSER. A large rope or cablet, which holds the middle degree between
the cable and tow-line, being a size smaller than the former, and as
much larger than the latter; curiously, it is not hawser but cable laid.
HAWSER-LAID ROPE. Is rope made in the usual way, being three or four
strands of yarns laid up right-handed, or with the sun; it is used for
small running rigging, as well as for standing rigging, shrouds, &c.; in
the latter case it is generally tarred to keep out rain. It is supposed
that this style of rope is stronger in proportion to the number of yarns
than cable or water-laid rope, which is more tightly twisted, each
strand being a small rope. This latter is more impervious to water, and
therefore good for cables, hawsers, &c.; it is laid left-handed, or
against the sun.
HAWSE-TIMBERS. The upright timbers in the bow, bolted on each side of
the stem, in which the hawse-holes are cut.
HAWSE-WOOD. A general name for the hawse-timbers.
HAY. A straight rank of men drawn up exactly in a line.
HAYE. A peculiar ground-shark on the coast of Guinea.
HAYLER. An archaism for halliard.
HAZE. A grayish vapour, less dense than a fog, and therefore does not
generally exclude objects from sight.
HAZE, TO. To punish a man by making him do unnecessary work.
HEAD. The upper part or end of anything, as a mast-head, a timber-head.
Also, an ornamental figure on a ship's stem expressive of her name, or
emblematical of her object, &c. (_See_ BILLET-HEAD, BUST-HEAD,
FAMILY-HEAD, FIDDLE-HEAD, FIGURE-HEAD, SCROLL-HEAD, &c.) Also, in a more
enlarged sense, the whole fore-part of a ship, including the bows on
each side; the head therefore opens the column of water through which
the ship passes when advancing; hence we say, _head-way_, _head-sails_,
_head-sea_, &c. It is evident that the fore-part of a ship is called its
head, from its analogy to that of a fish, or any animal while swimming.
Also, in a confined sense, to that part on each side of the stem outside
the bows proper which is appropriated to the use of the sailors for
wringing swabs, or any wet jobs, for no wet is permitted in-board after
the decks are dried. Also, hydrographically, the upper part of a gulf,
bay, or creek.--_By the head_, the state of a ship which, by her lading,
draws more water forward than aft. This may be remedied without
reference to cargo in ships-of-war, by shifting shot, guns, &c. Vessels
_by the head_ are frequently uneasy, gripe and pitch more than when _by
the stern_.
HEAD AND GUN-MONEY. An encouragement in the prize acts by which L5 a
head is given to the captors for every person on board a captured vessel
of war, or pirate.
HEAD-BOARDS. The berthing or close-boarding between the head-rails.