JAB, TO. To pierce fish by prodding.
JABART. A northern term for a fish out of season.
JABB. A peculiar net used for catching the fry of the coal-fish.
JACK. In the British navy the jack is a small _union_ flag, formed by
the intersection of St. George's and St. Andrew's crosses (which see),
usually displayed from a staff erected on the outer end of a ship's
bowsprit. In merchant ships the union is bordered with white or red.
(_See_ UNION-JACK.) Also, a common term for the jack or cross-trees.
Also, a young male pike, _Esox lucius_, under a foot in length. Also, a
drinking vessel of half-pint contents. (_See_ BLACK-JACK.)--_Jack_, or
_Jack Tar_, a familiar term for a sailor. A fore-mast man and an able
seaman. It was an early term for short coats, jackets, and a sort of
coat-of-mail or defensive lorica, or upper garment.
JACK ADAMS. A stubborn fool.
JACK AFLOAT. A sailor. Euripides used almost the same term in _floater_,
for a seaman.
JACKASSES. Heavy rough boats used in Newfoundland.
JACKASS PENGUIN. A bird, apt while on shore to throw its head backwards,
and make a strange noise, somewhat resembling the braying of an ass.
JACK-BARREL. A minnow.
JACK-BLOCK. A block occasionally attached to the topgallant-tie, and
through which the top-gallant top-rope is rove, to sway up or strike the
yard.
JACK-BOOTS. Large coverings for the feet and legs, outside all, worn by
fishermen.
JACK CROSS-TREES. Single iron cross-trees at the head of long
topgallant-masts, to support royal and skysail masts.
JACKEE-JA. A Greenland canoe.
JACKET. A doublet; any kind of outer coat.--_Cork jacket_, is lined with
cork in pieces, in order to give it buoyancy, and yet a degree of
flexibility, that the activity of the wearer may not be impeded in
swimming.
JACKETS. The casings of the passages by which steam is delivered into
the cylinders of steam-engines. They are non-conductors of heat to check
its escape.
JACKETTING. A starting, or infliction of the rope's-end.
JACK-HERN. A name on our southern coasts for the heron.
JACKING. Taking the skin off a seal.
JACK IN OFFICE. An insolent fellow in authority.
JACK IN THE BASKET. A sort of wooden cap or basket on the top of a pole,
to mark a sand-bank or hidden danger.
JACK IN THE BOX. A very handy engine, consisting of a large wooden male
screw turning in a female one, which forms the upper part of a strong
wooden box, shaped like the frustum of a pyramid. It is used by means of
levers passing through holes in it as a press in packing, and for other
purposes.
JACK IN THE BREAD-ROOM, OR JACK IN THE DUST. The purser's steward's
assistant in the bread and steward's room.
JACK-KNIFE. A horn-handled clasp-knife with a laniard, worn by seamen.
JACKMAN. A musketeer of former times, wearing a short mail jack or
jacket.
JACK NASTY-FACE. A cook's assistant.
JACK OF DOVER. An old sea-dish, the composition of which is now lost.
Chaucer's host in rallying the cook exclaims,
"And many a _Jack of Dover_ hast thou sold,
That hath been twies hot and twies cold."
JACK O' LANTERN. The _corpo santo_, or St. Elmo's light, is sometimes so
called.
JACK-PINS. A name applied to the fife-rail pins, also called
_Tack-pins_.
JACK ROBINSON.--_Before you could say Jack Robinson_, is a very old
expression for a short time,--
"A warke it ys as easie to be doone,
As tys to saye Jacke Robyson."
JACK'S ALIVE. A once popular sea-port dance.
JACK-SCREW. A small machine used to cant or lift weighty substances, and
in stowing cotton or other elastic goods. It consists of a wooden frame
containing cogged iron wheels of increasing powers. The outer one, which
moves the rest, is put in motion by a winch on the outside, and is
called either single or double, according to its increasing force. The
pinions act upon an iron bar called the _spear_.
JACK-SHARK. A common sobriquet of the _Squalus_ tribe.
JACK-SHARP. A small fresh-water fish, otherwise known as _prickly-back_.
JACK'S QUARTER-DECK. The deck elevation forward in some vessels, often
called a top-gallant forecastle.
JACK-STAFF. A short staff raised at the bowsprit-cap, upon which the
union-jack is hoisted.
JACK-STAYS. Ropes, battens, or iron bars placed on a yard or spar and
set taut, either for bending the head of a sail to, or acting as a
traveller. Frequently resorted to for the staysails, square-sail yard,
&c.
JACOB'S LADDER. The assemblage of shakes and short fractures, rising one
above another, in a defective single-tree spar. Also, short ladders made
with wooden steps and rope sides for ascending the rigging.
JACOB'S STAFF, OR CROSS-STAFF. A mathematical instrument to take
altitudes, consisting of a brass circle, divided into four equal parts
by two lines cutting each other in the centre; at each extremity of
either line is fixed a sight perpendicularly over the lines, with holes
below each slit for the better discovery of distant objects. The cross
is mounted on a staff or stand for use. Sometimes, instead of four
sights, there are eight.
JACULATOR. A fish whose chief sustenance is flies, which it secures by
shooting a drop of water at them from its mouth.
JAG, TO. To notch an edge irregularly.--_Jagged_, a term applied to
denticulated edges, as in jagged bolts to prevent their coming out.
JAGARA, OR JOGGAREE. A coarse brown sugar of India.
JAGS. Splinters to a shot-hole.
JAIL-BIRD. One who has been confined in prison, from the old term of
_cage_ for a prison; a felon absurdly (and injuriously to the country)
sentenced to serve in the navy.
JALIAS. Small craft on the Arracan and Pegu coasts.
JAM, TO. Anything being confined, so that it cannot be freed without
trouble and force; the term is also applied to the act of confining it.
To squeeze, to wedge, to press against. (_See_ JAMBING.)
JAMAICA DISCIPLINE. The buccaneer regulations respecting prize shares,
insisting that all prizes be divided among the captors.
JAMBEAUX. Armour to protect the legs.
JAMBING, OR JAMMING. The act of inclosing any object between two bodies,
so as to render it immovable while they continue in that position;
usually applied to a running rope, when, from pressure, it cannot travel
in the blocks; the opposite of _rendering_ (which see).
JAMBS. Door-posts in general; but in particular thick broad pieces of
oak, fixed up endways, between which the lights of the powder magazine
are fitted.
JAMMED IN A CLINCH. The same as _hard up in a clinch_ (which
see).--_Jammed in a clinch like Jackson_, involved in difficulty of a
secondary degree, as when Jackson, after feeding for a week in the
bread-room, could not escape through the scuttle.
JANGADA. A sort of fishing float, or rather raft, composed of three or
four long pieces of wood lashed together, used on the coasts of Peru and
Brazil. The owner is called a _jangadeira_, but the term is evidently an
application of _jergado_ (which see).
JANGAR. A kind of pontoon constructed of two boats with a platform laid
across them, used by the natives in the East Indies to convey horses,
cattle, &c., across rivers.
JANISSARY. A term derived from _jeni cheri_, meaning _new soldiers_, in
the Turkish service.
JANTOOK, OR CHUNTOCK. A Chinese officer with vice-regal powers: he of
Canton was called _John Tuck_ by our seamen.
JANTY, OR JAUNTY. A vessel in showy condition; dressed in flags.
JAPANESE WHALE-BOAT. A long, open, and sharp rowing-boat of Japan.
JARGANEE. A Manx term for small worms on the sea-shore, and used as
bait.
JARRING. The vibrations and tremblings occasioned in some steam-vessels
by the machinery.
JAVA POT. A kind of sponge of the species _Alcyonium_.
JAVELS. An old term for dirty, idle fellows, wandering about quays and
docks.
JAW. The inner, hollowed, semicircular end of a gaff or boom, which
presses against the mast; the points of the jaw are called _horns_.
Also, coarse and often petulant loquacity.--_Long-jawed_ applies to a
rope or cable, when by great strain it untwists, and exhibits one
revolution where four were before; similar to long and short threads of
the screw.
JAW-BREAKERS. Hard and infrequent words.
JAWING-TACKS. When a person speaks with vociferous fluency, he is said
to have hauled his jawing-tacks on board.
JAW-ME-DOWN. An arrogant, overbearing, and unsound loud arguer.
JAW OF A BLOCK. The space in the shell where the sheave revolves.
JAW-ROPE. A line attached to the horns of the jaws to prevent the gaff
from coming off the mast. It is usually furnished with bull's eyes
(perforated balls) to make it shift easily up or down the mast.
JAYLS. The cracks and fissures of timber in seasoning.
JEER-BITTS. Those to which the jeers are fastened and belayed.
JEER-BLOCKS. Are twofold or threefold blocks, through which the
jeer-falls are rove, and applied to hoist, suspend, or lower the main
and fore yards.
JEER-CAPSTAN. One placed between the fore and main masts, serving to
stretch a rope, heave upon the jeers, and take the viol to. Very seldom
used. It is indeed deemed the spare capstan, and is frequently housed in
by sheep-pens and fowl-racks.
JEERS. Answer the same purpose to the main-sail, fore-sail, and mizen,
as halliards do to all inferior sails. The tye, a sort of runner, or
thick rope, is the upper part of the jeers. Also, an assemblage of
strong tackles by which the lower yards are hoisted up along the mast,
or lowered down, as occasion requires; the former of which operations is
called _swaying_, and the latter _striking_ (both of which see).
JEFFERY'S GLUE. _See_ MARINE GLUE.
JELBA. A large coasting-boat of the Red Sea.
JELLY-FISH. A common name for the _Medusae_, soft gelatinous marine
animals, belonging to the class _Acalephae_.
JEMMY. A finical fellow in the usual sense, but adopted as a nautical
term by the mutineers of '97, to express the _nobs_, or _heads_ of
officers. Also, a handy crow-bar or lever.
JEMMY DUCKS. The ship's poulterer. A sobriquet which has universally
obtained in a man-of-war.
JERBE. _See_ JELBA.
JERGADO, OR GINGADO. An early term for a light skiff (_circa_ 1550).
JERK. A sudden snatch or drawing pull; particularly applied to that
given to the trigger of a lock. (_See_ SACCADE.)
JERKED BEEF. Charqui. Meat cured by drying in the open air, with or
without salt. Also, the name of an American coin.
JERKIN. An old name for a coatee, or skirted jacket.
JERKING. A quick break in a heavy roll of the sea.
JERME. A trading vessel of Egypt.
JERQUER. A customs officer, whose duty is to examine the land-waiters'
books, and check them.
JERQUING A VESSEL. A search performed by the jerquer of the customs,
after a vessel is unloaded, to see that no unentered goods have been
concealed.
JERSEY. Fine wool, formerly called gearnsey, ganzee, or
guernsey.--_Jersey frocks_, woollen frocks supplied to seamen.
JETSAM, OR JETSON. In legal parlance, is the place where goods thrown
overboard sink, and remain under water. Also, the goods cast into the
sea.
JETTISON, OR JETSEN. The act of throwing goods overboard to lighten a
ship in stress of weather. The loss forms a subject for general average.
JETTY, JETTEE, OR JUTTY. A name given in the royal dockyards to that
part of a wharf which projects beyond the rest, but more particularly
the front of a wharf, the side of which forms one of the cheeks of a dry
or wet dock. Such a projection, whether of wood or stone, from the outer
end of a wharf, is called a _jetty-head_.
JEW-BALANCE. A Mediterranean name of the _Zygaena malleus_, or
hammer-headed shark.
JEWEL. The starting of a wooden bridge. Also, the pivot of a
watch-wheel.
JEWEL-BLOCKS. Are attached to eye-bolts on those yards where
studding-sails are hoisted, and carry these sails to the extreme ends of
the yards. When these jewel-blocks are removed, it is understood that
there is no intention to proceed to sea, and _vice versa_. The
halliards, by which the studding-sails are hoisted, are passed through
the jewel-block, whence, communicating with a block on the several
mast-heads, they lead downwards to the top or decks, where they may be
conveniently hoisted. (_See_ SAIL.)
JEWELS. _See_ JOCALIA.
JEW'S-HARP. The shackle for joining a chain-cable to the anchor-ring.
JIB. A large triangular sail, set on a stay, forward. It extends from
the outer end of the jib-boom towards the fore top-mast head; in cutters
and sloops it is on the bowsprit, and extends towards the lower
mast-head. (_See_ SAIL.) The jib is a sail of great command with any
side wind, in turning her head to leeward. There are other jibs, as
inner jib, standing-jib, flying-jib, spindle-jib, jib of jibs,
jib-topsails, &c.--_Jib_ is also used for the expression of the face, as
the _cut of his jib_. Also, the arm of a crane.--_To jib_, is when,
before the wind, the sail takes over to the opposite quarter; dangerous
in strong breezes. (_See_ GYBING.)--_Clear away the jib!_ The order to
loose it, preparatory to its being set.--_Flying-jib._ A sail set upon
the flying jib-boom.--_Middle or inner jib._ A sail sometimes set on a
stay secured to the middle of the jib-boom.
JIB AND STAYSAIL JACK. A designation of inexperienced officers, who are
troublesome to the watch by constantly calling it unnecessarily to trim,
make, or shorten sail.
JIBBER THE KIBBER. A cant term for a diabolical trick for decoying
vessels on shore for plunder, by tying a lantern to a horse's neck, one
of whose legs is checked; so that at night the motion has somewhat the
appearance of a ship's light.--_Jib_ or _jibber_ means a horse that
starts or shrinks; and Shakspeare uses it in the sense of a worn-out
horse.
JIB-BOOM. A continuation of the bowsprit forward, being a spar run out
from the extremity in a similar manner to a top-mast on a lower-mast,
and serving to extend the foot of the jib and the stay of the
foretop-gallant-mast, the tack of the jib being lashed to it. It is
usually attached to the bowsprit by means of the cap and the saddle,
where a strong lashing confines it.--_Flying jib-boom._ A boom extended
beyond the preceding, to which it is secured by a boom-iron and
heel-lashing; to the outer end of this boom the tack of the flying-jib
is hauled out, and the fore-royal-stay passes through it.
JIB-FORESAIL. In cutters, schooners, &c., it is the stay-foresail.
JIB-GUYS. Stout ropes which act as backstays do to a mast, by supporting
the jib-boom against the pressure of its sail and the ship's motion.
JIBING, OR GYBING. A corruption of _jibbing_. The act of shifting over
the boom of a fore-and-aft sail from one side of the vessel to the
other. By a boom-sail is meant any sail the bottom of which is extended
by a boom, which has its fore-end jawed or hooked to its respective
mast, so as to swing occasionally on either side of the vessel,
describing an arc, of which the mast will be the centre. As the wind or
the course changes, the boom and its sail are jibed to the other side of
the vessel, as a door turns on its hinges.
JIB OF JIBS. A sixth jib on the bowsprit, only known to flying-kite-men:
the sequence being--storm, inner, outer, flying, spindle, jib of jibs.
JIB-STAY. The stay on which the jib is set.
JIB-TOPSAIL. A light sail set on the topmost stay of a fore-and-aft
rigged vessel.
JIB-TRAVELLER. An iron ring fitted to run out and in on the jib-boom,
for the purpose of bringing outwards or inwards the tack, or the outer
corner of the sail; to this traveller the jib-guys are lashed.
JIB-TYE. A rope rove through a sheave or block on the fore-topmast head,
for hoisting the jib.
JIFFY. A short space of time, a moment. "In a jiffy," in an instant;
equivalent with crack, trice, &c.
JIG. The weight furnished with hooks, used in _jigging_ (which see).
JIGGAMAREE. A mongrel makeshift man[oe]uvre. Any absurd attempt to
substitute a bad contrivance for what the custom of the sea may be.
JIGGER. A light tackle used to hold on the cable when it is heaved into
the ship. (_See_ HOLDING-ON.) Also, a small sail rigged out on a mast
and boom from the stern of a cutter, boat, &c.--_Fleet-jigger._ A term
used by the man who holds on the jigger, when by its distance from the
windlass it becomes necessary to _fleet_, or replace it in a proper
state for action. When the man gives the above notice, another at the
windlass immediately fixes his handspike between the deck and the cable,
so as to jam the latter to the windlass, and prevent it from running out
till the jigger is replaced on the cable near the windlass.
JIGGER, CHIGRE. A very teazing sand-flea, which penetrates and breeds
under the skin of the feet, but particularly at the toes. It must be
removed, or it occasions dreadful sores. The operation is effected by a
needle; but the sac which contains the brood must not be broken, or the
whole foot would be infected, if any remained in it.
JIGGERED-UP. Done up; tired out.
JIGGER-MAST. In large vessels it is an additional aftermost mast; thus
any sail set on the ensign-staff would be a jigger.
JIGGER-TACKLE. A small tackle consisting of a double and a single block,
and used by seamen on sundry occasions about the decks or aloft.
JIGGING. A mode of catching fish by dropping a weighted line with
several hooks set back to back amongst them, and jerking it suddenly
upwards; the weight is frequently cast in the form of a small fish.
Also, short pulls at a tackle fall.
JILALO. A large passage-boat of Manilla, fitted with out-riggers.
JILL. A fourth part of a pint measure; a seaman's daily allowance of
rum, which formerly was half a pint.
JIMMAL, OR JIMBLE. _See_ GIMBALS.
JINGAL. A kind of long heavy musket supported about the centre of its
length on a pivot, carrying a ball of from a quarter to half a pound,
and generally fired by a matchlock; much used in China and the Indies.
It is charged by a separate chamber, dropped into the breech and keyed.
JINNY-SPINNER. One of the names for the cockroach.
JIRK, TO. To cut or score the flesh of the wild hog on the inner
surface, as practised by the Maroons. It is then smoked and otherwise
prepared in a manner that gives the meat a fine flavour.
JOB. A stipulated work.
JOBATION. A private but severe lecture and reprimand.
JOB CAPTAIN. One who gets a temporary appointment to a ship, whose
regular commander is a member of parliament, &c.
JOB-WATCH, OR HACK-WATCH, for taking astronomical sights, which saves
taking the chronometer on deck or on shore to note the time.
JOCALIA. An Anglo-Norman law-term signifying jewels, which, with gold
and silver, were exempted in our smuggling enactments.
JOCKS. Scotch seamen.
JOG. The shoulder or step of the rudder.
JOGGING. A protuberance on the surface of sawn wood.
JOGGLE. The cubic joints of stones on piers, quays, and docks. Also,
notches at the ends of paddle-beam iron-knees outside, to act as a stop
to the diagonal iron-stay, which is extended between the arms of each
knee. (_See_ JUGLE.)
JOG-THE-LOO! A command in small vessels to work the pump-brake, or to
pump briskly.