HORSE-SHOE. In old fortification, a low work of this plan sometimes
thrown up in ditches.
HORSE-SHOE CLAMP. The iron or copper straps so shaped, used as the
fastenings which connect the gripe with the fore-foot at the scarph of
the keel and stem.
HORSE-SHOE HINGES. Those by which side-scuttles or ventilators to the
cabins are hung.
HORSE-SHOE RACK. A sweep curving from the bitt-heads abaft the main-mast
carrying a set of nine-pin swivel-blocks as the fair leaders of the
light running gear, staysail, halliards, &c.
HORSE-TONGUE. A name applied to a kind of sole.
HORSE-UP. _See_ HORSING-IRON.
HORSING-IRON. An iron fixed in a withy handle, sometimes only lashed to
a stick or tree-nail, and used with a beetle by caulkers.--_To
horse-up_, or harden in the oakum of a vessel's seams.
HOSE (for watering, &c.) An elastic pipe.
HOSE-FISH. A name for a kind of cuttle-fish.
HOSPITAL. A place appointed for the reception of sick and wounded men,
with a regular medical establishment. (_See_ NAVAL HOSPITALS.)
HOSPITAL-SHIP. A vessel fitted to receive the sick, either remaining in
port, or accompanying a fleet, as circumstance demands. She carries the
chief surgeons, &c. The _Dreadnought_, off Greenwich, is a free
hospital-ship for seamen of all nations.
HOSTAGE. A person given up to an enemy as a pledge or security for the
performance of the articles of a treaty.
HOSTILE CHARACTER is legally constituted by having landed in an enemy's
territory, and by residing there, temporary absence being immaterial; by
permanent trade with an enemy; and by sailing under an enemy's flag.
HOST-MEN. An ancient guild or fraternity at Newcastle, to whom we are
indebted for the valuable sea-coal trade. (_See_ HOASTMEN.)
HOT COPPERS. Dry fauces; morning thirst, but generally applied to those
who were drinking hard over-night.
HOT-PRESS. When the press-gangs were instructed, on imminent emergency,
to impress seamen, regardless of the protections.
HOT-SHOT. Balls made red-hot in a furnace. Amongst the savages in
Bergou, the women are in the rear of the combatants, and they heat the
heads of the spears, exchanging them for such as are cooled in the
fight.
HOT-WELL. In a steamer, a reservoir from whence to feed the boiler with
the warm water received out of the condenser; it also forms part of the
discharge passage from the air-pump into the sea.
HOUND-FISH. The old Anglo-Saxon term for dog-fish--_hund-fisc_.
HOUNDS. Those projections at the mast-head serving as supports for the
trestle-trees of large and rigging of smaller masts to rest upon. With
lower masts they are termed _cheeks_.
HOUNSID. A rope bound round with service.
HOUR-ANGLE. The angular distance of a heavenly body east or west of the
meridian.
HOUR-GLASS. The sand-glass: a measure of the hour.
HOUSE, TO. To enter within board. To house a topgallant-mast, is to
lower it so as to prevent the rigging resting or chafing on the cap, and
securing its heel to the mast below it. This admits of double-reefed
top-sails being set beneath.
HOUSE-BOAT. One with a cabin; a _coche d'eau_.
HOUSED. The situation of the great guns upon the lower gun-decks when
they are run in clear of the port, and secured. The breech being let
down, the muzzle rests against the side above the port; they are then
secured by their tackles, muzzle-lashings, and breechings. Over the
muzzle of every gun are two strong eye-bolts for the muzzle-lashings,
which are 3-1/2-inch rope. When this operation is well performed, no
accident is feared, as every act is one of mechanical skill. A gun is
sometimes housed fore and aft to make room, as in the cabin, &c. Ships
in ordinary, not in commission, are housed over by a substantial
roofing.
HOUSEHOLD TROOPS. A designation of the horse and foot guards, who enjoy
many immunities and privileges for attending the sovereign.
HOUSEWIFE. _See_ HUZ-ZIF.
HOUSING, OR HOUSE-LINE. A small line formed of three fine strands,
smaller than rope yarn; principally used for seizings of the
block-strops, fastening the clues of sails to their bolt-ropes, and
other purposes. (_See_ MARLINE, TWINE.)
HOUSING-IN. After a ship in building is past the breadth of her bearing,
and that she is brought in too narrow to her upper works, she is said to
be _housed in_, or pinched. (_See_ TUMBLING HOME.)
HOUSING OF A LOWER MAST. That part of a mast which is below deck to the
step in the kelson; of a bowsprit, the portion within the
_knight-heads_.
HOUSING-RINGS. Ring-bolts over the lower deck-ports, through the
beam-clamps, to which the muzzle-lashings of the guns are passed when
housed.
HOUVARI. A strong land wind of the West Indies, accompanied with rain,
thunder, and lightning.
HOUZING. A northern term for lading water.
HOVE DOWN, properly _hove out_ or _careened_. The situation of a ship
when heeled or placed thus for repairs.--_Hove off_, when removed from
the ground.--_Hove up_, when brought into the slips or docks by cradles
on the gridiron, &c.
HOVE-IN-SIGHT. The anchor in view. Also, a sail just discovered.
HOVE-IN-STAYS. The position of a ship in the act of going about.
HOVE KEEL OUT. Hove so completely over the beam-ends that the keel is
above the water.
HOVELLERS. A Cinque-Port term for pilots and their boatmen; but
colloquially, it is also applied to sturdy vagrants who infest the
sea-coast in bad weather, in expectation of wreck and plunder.
HOVERING, AND HOVERING ACTS. Said of smugglers of old.
HOVE-SHORT. The ship with her cable hove taut towards her anchor, when
the sails are usually loosed and braced for canting; sheeted
home.--_Hove well short_, the position of the ship when she is drawn by
the capstan nearly over her anchor.
HOVE-TO. From the act of heaving-to; the motion of the ship stopped. It
is curious to observe that seamen have retained an old word which has
otherwise been long disused. It occurs in Grafton's _Chronicle_, where
the mayor and aldermen of London, in 1256, understanding that Henry III.
was coming to Westminster from Windsor, went to Knightsbridge, "and
_hoved_ there to salute the king."
HOW. An ancient term for the carina or hold of a ship.
HOWE, HOE, OR HOO. A knoll, mound, or elevated hillock.
HOW FARE YE? Are you all hearty? are you working together? a good old
sea phrase not yet lost.
HOWITZER. A piece of ordnance specially designed for the horizontal
firing of shells, being shorter and much lighter than any gun of the
same calibre. The rifled gun, however, throwing a shell of the same
capacity from a smaller bore, and with much greater power, is
superseding it for general purposes.
HOWKER. _See_ HOOKER.
HOWLE. An old English word for the hold of a ship. When the foot-hooks
or futtocks of a ship are scarphed into the ground-timbers and bolted,
and the plank laid up to the orlop-deck, then they say, "the ship begins
to howle."
HOY. A call to a man. Also, a small vessel, usually rigged as a sloop,
and employed in carrying passengers and goods, particularly in short
distances on the sea-coast; it acquired its name from stopping when
called to from the shore, to take up goods or passengers. In Holland the
hoy has two masts, in England but one, where the main-sail is sometimes
extended by a boom, and sometimes without it. In the naval service
there are _gun-hoy_, _powder-hoy_, _provision-hoy_, _anchor-hoy_, all
rigged sloop-fashion.
HOYSE. The old word for hoist.
HUBBLE-BUBBLE. An eastern pipe for smoking tobacco through water, which
makes a bubbling noise.
HUDDOCK. The cabin of a keel or coal-barge.
"'Twas between Ebbron and Yarrow,
There cam on a varry strong gale;
The skipper luicked out o' th' huddock,
Crying, 'Smash, man, lower the sail!'"
HUDDUM. The old northern term for a kind of whale.
HUER. A man posted on an elevation near the sea, who, by concerted
signals, directs the fishermen when a shoal of fish is in sight.
Synonymous with _conder_ (which see). Also, the hot fountains in the sea
near Iceland, where many of them issue from the land.
HUFFED. Chagrined, offended, often needlessly.
HUFFLER. One who carries off fresh provisions to a ship; a Kentish term.
HUG, TO.--_To hug the land_, to sail as near it as possible, the land
however being to windward.--_To hug the wind_, to keep the ship as
close-hauled to the wind as possible.
HUGGER-MUGGER. In its Shakspearian bearing may have meant secretly, or
in a clandestine manner, but its nautical application is to express
anything out of order or done in a slovenly way.
HUISSIERS. The flat-bottomed transports in which horses were embarked in
the Crusades.
HULCOCK. A northern name for the _Squalus galeus_, or smooth hound-fish.
HULK. Is generally applied to a vessel condemned as unfit for the risks
of the sea, and used as a store-vessel and housing for crews while
refitting the vessels they belong to. There are also hulks for convicts,
and for masting, as _sheer-hulk_. (_See_ SHEERS.)
HULL. The Gothic _hulga_ meant a husk or external covering, and hence
the body of a ship, independent of masts, yards, sails, rigging, and
other furniture, is so called.--_To hull_, signifies to hit with shot;
to drive to and fro without rudder, sail, or oar; as Milton--
"He looked and saw the ark hull on the flood."
--_To strike hull_ in a storm, is to take in her sails and lash the helm
on the lee side of the ship, which is termed _to lie a-hull_.
HULL-DOWN. Is said of a ship when at such a distance that, from the
convexity of the globe, only her masts and sails are to be seen.
HULLING. Lying in wait at sea without any sails set. Also, to hit with
shot.
HULLOCK OF A SAIL. A small part lowered in a gale.
HULL-TO. The situation of a ship when she is lying a-hull, or with all
her sails furled.
HULLY. A long wicker-trap used for catching eels.
HUMBER-KEEL. A particular clincher-built craft used on the Humber.
HUMLA-BAND. A northern term for the grommet to an oar-pin or thole.
HUMMOCK. A hill with a rounded summit or conical eminence on the
sea-coast. When in pairs they are termed _paps_ by navigators (which
see).
HUMMOCKS OF ICE. Protuberant lumps of ice thrown up by some pressure
upon a _field_ or _floe_, or any other frozen plane. The pieces which
rise when large fragments come in contact, and bits of pack are frozen
together and covered with snow.
HUMMUMS. From the Arabic word _hammam_, a bagnio or bath.
HUMP-BACKED WHALE. A species of whalebone whale, the _Megaptera
longimana_, which attains to 45 or 50 feet in length, and is
distinguished by its low rounded dorsal fin.
HURD. The strand of a rope.
HURDICES. Ramparts, scaffolds, fortifications, &c.
HURDIGERS. Particular artificers employed in constructing the castles in
our early ships.
HURLEBLAST. An archaic term for _hurricane_.
HURRICANE. _See_ TYPHOON.
HURRICANE-DECK. A light deck over the saloon of some steamers.
HURRICANE-HOUSE. Any building run up for temporary purposes; the name is
occasionally given to the round-house on a vessel's deck.
HURRICANO. Shakspeare evidently makes King Lear use this word as a
water-spout.
HURRY. A staith or wharf where coals are shipped in the north.
HURST. Anglo-Saxon to express a wood.
HURT. A wound or injury for which a compensation can be claimed.
HURTLE, TO. To send bodily on by a swell or wind.
HUSBAND, OR SHIP'S HUSBAND. An agent appointed by deed, executed by all
the owners, with power to advance and lend, to make all payments, to
receive the prices of freights, and to retain all claims. But this
office gives him no authority to insure or to borrow money; and he is to
render a full account to his employers.
HUSH. A name of the lump-fish, denoting the female.
HUSSAR, OR HUZZAR. A Hungarian term signifying "twentieth," as the first
hussars were formed by selecting from various regiments the ablest man
in every twenty; now generally a light-cavalry soldier equipped somewhat
after the original Hungarian fashion.
HUT. The same as _barrack_ (which see).
HUTT. The breech-pin of a gun.
HUZZA! This was originally the _hudsa_, or cry, of the Hungarian light
horse, but is now also the national shout of the English in joy and
triumph.
HUZ-ZIF. A general corruption of _housewife_. A very useful contrivance
for holding needles and thread, and the like.
HYDRAULIC DOCK. _See_ CAISSON.
HYDRAULIC PRESS. The simple yet powerful water-press invented by Bramah,
without which it would have been a puzzle to float the enormous _Great
Eastern_.
HYDRAULIC PURCHASE. A machine for drawing up vessels on a slip, in which
the pumping of water is used to multiply the force applied.
HYDRAULICS. _See_ HYDROLOGY.
HYDROGRAPHER. One who surveys coasts, &c., and constructs true maps and
charts founded on astronomical observations. The hydrographer to the
admiralty presides over the hydrographical office.
HYDROGRAPHICAL CHARTS OR MAPS. Usually called _sea-charts_, are
projections of some part of the sea and its neighbouring coast for the
use of navigation, and therefore the depth of water and nature of the
bottom are minutely noted.
HYDROGRAPHICAL OFFICE. A department of the admiralty where the labours
of the marine surveyors of the Royal Navy are collected and published.
HYDROGRAPHY. The science of marine surveying, requiring the principal
points to be astronomically fixed.
HYDROLOGY. That part of physics which explains the properties of water,
and is usually divided into hydrostatics and hydraulics. The former
treats of weighing water and fluids in general, and of ascertaining
their specific gravities; the latter shows the manner of conveying water
from one place to another.
HYDROMETER. An instrument constructed to measure the specific gravities
of fluids. That used at sea for testing the amount of salt in the water
is a glass tube containing a scale, the bottom of the tube swelling out
into two bulbs, of which the lower is laden with shot, which causes the
instrument to float perpendicularly, and as it displaces its own weight
of water, of course it sinks deeper as the water is lighter, which is
recorded by the scale.
HYGRE. (_See_ BORE and EAGRE.) An effect of counter-currents.
HYGROMETER. An instrument for ascertaining the quantity of moisture in
the atmosphere.
HYPERBOLA. One of the conic sections formed by cutting a cone by a plane
which is so inclined to the axis, that when produced it cuts also the
opposite cone, or the cone which is the continuation of the former, on
the opposite side of the vertex.
HYPOTHECA. A mortgage. In the civil law, was where the thing pledged
remained with the debtor.
HYPOTHECATION. An authority to the master, amounting almost to a power
of the absolute disposal of the ship in a foreign country; he may
hypothecate not only the hull, but his freight and cargo, for necessary
and urgent repairs.
HYTHE. A pier or wharf to lade or unlade wares at [from the Anglo-Saxon
_hyd_, coast or haven].