L.

L. The three L's were formerly vaunted by seamen who despised the use of

nautical astronomy; viz. lead, latitude, and look-out, all of them

admirable in their way. Dr. or Captain Halley added the fourth L--the

greatly desired longitude.

LAAS. An obsolete term for an illegal net or snare.

LABARUM. A standard in early days.

LABBER, TO. To struggle in water, as a fish when caught. To splash.

LABOUR. In the relative mechanical efforts of the human body labouring

in various posture, 682-1/3 have been given for the rowing effort, 476

for the effort at a winch, and 209-1/3 for the effort at a pump.

LABOURING. The act of a ship's working, pitching, or rolling heavily,

in a turbulent sea, by which the masts, and even the hull, are greatly

endangered.

LABOURSOME. Said of a ship which is subject to roll and pitch violently

in a heavy sea, either from some defect in her construction, or improper

stowage of her hold.

LACE, TO. To apply a bonnet by lacing it to a sail. Also, to beat or

punish with a rattan or rope's-end. Also, the trimmings of uniforms.

LACHES. In law, loose practice, or where parties let matters sleep for

above seven years, when by applying to the admiralty court they might

have compelled the production of an account.

LACING. Rope or cord used to lace a sail to a gaff, or a bonnet to a

sail. Also, one of the principal pieces that compose the knee of the

head, running up as high as the top of the hair-bracket. Also, a piece

of compass or knee timber, fayed to the back of the figure-head and the

knee of the head, and bolted to each.

LACUSTRINE. Belonging or referring to a lake.

LADDER. The _accommodation ladder_ is a sort of light staircase

occasionally fixed on the gangway. It is furnished with rails and

man-ropes; the lower end of it is kept at a proper distance from the

ship's side by iron bars or braces to render it more convenient. (_See_

GANGWAY.)--_Forecastle-ladder_ and _hold-ladder_, for getting into or

out of those parts of a ship.--_Jacob's ladder_, abaft top-gallant

masts, where no ratlines are provided.--_Quarter_ or _stern ladders_.

Two ladders of rope, suspended from the right and left side of a ship's

stern, whereby to get into the boats which are moored astern.

LADDER-WAYS. The hatchways, scuttles or other openings in the decks,

wherein the ladders are placed.

LADE. Anglo-Saxon _laedan_, to pour out. The mouth of a channel or drain.

To _lade_ a boat, is to throw water out.

LADE-GORN, OR LADE-PAIL. A bucket with a long handle to lade water with.

LADEN. The state of a ship when charged with materials equal to her

capacity. If the goods be heavy, her burden is determined by weight; but

if light, she carries as much as she can conveniently stow. A ton in

measure is estimated at 2000 lbs. in weight; a vessel of 200 tons ought

therefore to carry a weight equal to 400,000 lbs.; but if she cannot

float high enough with as great a quantity of it as her hold will

contain, then a diminution of it becomes necessary. Vessels carry heavy

goods by the ton of 20 cwt., but lighter goods by a ton of cubic feet,

which varies according to the custom of the port; in London it is 40, in

India from 50 to 52, depending on the goods. Vessels can carry (not

safely) twice their tonnage.

LADEN IN BULK. A cargo neither in casks, bales, nor cases, but lying

loose in the hold, only defended from wet by mats and dunnage. Such are

usually cargoes of salt, corn, &c.

LADIA. An unwieldy boat in Russia, for transporting the produce of the

interior.

LADIE'S LADDER. Shrouds rattled too closely.

LADING. A vessel's cargo.

LADLE, FOR A GUN. An instrument for charging with loose powder; formed

of a cylindrical sheet of copper-tube fitted to the end of a long

staff.--_Paying-ladle._ An iron ladle with a long channelled spout

opposite to the handle; it is used to pour melted pitch into the seams.

LADRON. A term for thief, adopted from the Spanish.

LADRONE SHIP. Literally a pirate, but it is the usual epithet applied by

the Chinese to a man-of-war.

LADY OF THE GUN-ROOM. A gunner's mate, who takes charge of the

after-scuttle, where gunners' stores are kept.

LAGAN, OR LAGAM. Anglo-Saxon _liggan_. A term in derelict law for goods

which are sunk, with a buoy attached, that they may be recovered. Also,

things found at the bottom of the sea. Ponderous articles which sink

with the ship in wreck.

LAGGERS. On canals, men who lie on their backs on the top of the lading,

and pushing against the bridges and tunnels pass the boats through.

Also, a transported convict; a lazy fellow.--_To lag._ To loiter.

LAGGIN. The end of the stave outside a cask or tub.

LAGOON. An inland broad expanse of salt water, usually shallow, and

connected with the sea by one or more channels, or washes over the reef.

LAGOON ISLANDS. Those produced by coral animals; they are of various

shapes, belted with coral, frequently with channels by which ships may

enter, and lie safely inside. They are often studded with the cocoa-nut

palm. (_See_ ATOLLS.)

LAGUNES. The shallows which extend round Venice; their depth between the

city and the mainland is 3 to 6 feet in general; they are occasioned by

the quantities of sand carried down by the rivers which descend from the

Alps, and fall into the Adriatic along its north-western shores.

LAG-WOOD. The larger sticks from the head of an oak-tree when felled.

LAID. A fisherman's name for the pollack. Also, a term in rope-making,

the twist being the lay; single-laid, is one strand; hawser-laid, three

strands twisted into a rope; cablet-laid, three ropes laid together;

this is also termed water-laid.

LAID ABACK. _See_ ABACK.

LAID TO. A term used sometimes for _hove to_, but when a vessel lays to

the sails are kept full. As in a gale of wind, under staysails, or close

reefs, &c.

LAID UP. A vessel dismantled and moored in a harbour, either for want of

employment, or as unfit for further service.

LAKE. A large inland expanse of water, with or without communication

with the sea. A lake, strictly considered, has no visible affluent or

effluent; but many of the loughs of Ireland, and lochs of Scotland,

partake of the nature of havens or gulfs. Moreover, some lakes have

affluents without outlets, and others have an outlet without any visible

affluent; therein differing from lagoons and ponds. The water of lakes

entirely encompassed by land is sometimes _salt_; that communicating

with the sea by means of rivers is fresh.

LAKE-LAWYER. A voracious fish in the lakes of America, called also the

_mud-fish_.

LAMANTIN. A name used by the early voyagers for the manatee.

LAMB'S-WOOL SKY. A collection of white orbicular masses of cloud.

LAMBUSTING. A starting with a rope's-end.

LAMPER-EEL. A common corruption of _lamprey_.

LAMPREY. An eel-like cyclostomous fish, belonging to the genus

_Petromyzon_. There are several species, some marine, others fluviatile.

LAMPRON. The old name for the lamprey.

LAMP-SHELLS. A name applied to the _Terebratulae_ of zoologists.

LANCE-KNIGHT. A foot-soldier of old.

LANCEPESADO. From Ital. _lancia spezzata_, or broken lance; originally a

soldier who, having broken his lance on the enemy, and lost his horse in

fight, was entertained as a volunteer till he could remount himself;

hence _lance-corporal_, one doing corporal's duty, on the pay of a

private.

LANCHANG. A Malay proa, carrying twenty-five or thirty men.

LAND. In a general sense denotes _terra firma_, as distinguished from

sea; but, also, _land-laid_, or to _lay the land_, is just to lose sight

of it.--_Land-locked_ is when land lies all round the ship.--_Land is

shut in_, signifies that another point of land hides that from which the

ship came.--_The ship lies land to_, implies so far from shore that it

can only just be discerned.--_To set the land_, is to see by compass how

it bears.--_To make the land._ To sight it after an absence.--_To land

on deck._ A nautical anomaly, meaning to lower casks or weighty goods on

deck from the tackles.

LAND-BLINK. On Arctic voyages, a peculiar atmospheric brightness on

approaching land covered with snow; usually more yellow than

_ice-blink_.

LAND-BREEZE. A current of air which, in the temperate zones, and still

more within the tropics, regularly sets from the land towards the sea

during the night, and this even on opposite points of the coast. It

results from land losing its heat quicker than water; hence the air

above it becomes heavier, and rushes towards the sea to establish

equilibrium.

LANDES. The heathy track between Bordeaux and the Basses Pyrenees; but

also denoting uncultivated or unreclaimable spots.

LAND-FALL. Making the land. "A good land-fall" signifies making the land

at or near the place to which the course was intended, while "a bad

land-fall" implies the contrary.

LAND-FEATHER. A sea-cove.

LAND HO! The cry when land is first seen.

LAND-ICE. Flat ice connected with the shore, within which there is no

channel.

LANDING-STRAKE. In boats, the upper strake of plank but one.

LANDING-SURVEYOR. The custom-house officer who appoints and superintends

the landing-waiters.

LANDING-WAITERS. Persons appointed from the custom-house to inspect

goods discharged from foreign parts.

LAND-LOUPER. [Dutch.] Meaning he who flies from this country for crime

or debt, but not to be confounded with _land-lubber_ (which see).

LAND-LUBBER. A useless longshorer; a vagrant stroller. Applied by

sailors to the mass of landsmen, especially those without employment.

LANDMARK. Any steeple, tree, windmill, or other object, serving to guide

the seaman into port, or through a channel.

LAND-SHARKS. Crimps, pettifogging attorneys, slopmongers, and the

canaille infesting the slums of sea-port towns.

LAND-SLIP. The fall of a quantity of land from a cliff or declivity; the

land sliding away so as often to carry trees with it still standing

upright.

LANDSMEN. The rating formerly of those on board a ship who had never

been at sea, and who were usually stationed among the waisters or

after-guard. Some of those used to small craft are more ready about the

decks than in going aloft. The rating is now Second-class Ordinary.

LAND-TURN. A wind that blows in the night, at certain times, in most hot

countries.

LAND-WAITERS. _See_ LANDING-WAITERS.

LANE. "Make a lane there!" An order for men to open a passage and allow

a person to pass through.

LANE OR VEIN OF ICE. A narrow channel between two fields. Any open

cracks or separations of floe offering navigation.

LANGREL, OR LANGRAGE. A villanous kind of shot, consisting of various

fragments of iron bound together, so as to fit the bore of the cannon

from which it is to be discharged. It is seldom used but by privateers.

LANGUET. A small slip of metal on the hilt of a sword, which overhangs

the scabbard; the ear of a sword.

LANIARD, OR LANNIERS. A short piece of rope or line made fast to

anything to secure it, or as a handle. Such are the laniards of the

gun-locks, of the gun-ports, of the buoy, of the cat-hook, &c. The

principal laniards are those which secure the shrouds and stays, termed

laniards of lower, top-mast, or other rigging. (_See_ DEAD-EYE and

HEART.)

LANTCHA. A large Malay craft of the Indian Archipelago.

LANTERN. Ships of war had formerly three poop-lanterns, and one in the

main-top, to designate the admiral's ship; also deck-lanterns,

fighting-lanterns, magazine-lanterns, &c. The signal-lanterns are

peculiar. The great ship lantern, hanging to the poop, appears on the

Trajan Column.

LANTERN-BRACES. Iron bars to secure the lanterns.

LANTERN-FISH. A west-country name for the smooth sole.

LANTIONE. A Chinese rowing-boat.

LANYARDS. _See_ LANIARD.

LAP-JOINTED. The plates of an iron vessel overlapping each other, as in

_clincher work_.

LAPLAND WITCHES. People in Lapland who profess to sell fair winds, thus

retaining a remnant of ancient classical superstition.

LAP OVER OR UPON. The mast carlings are said to lap upon the beams by

reason of their great depth, and head-ledges at the ends lap over the

coamings.

LAPPELLE, OR LAPEL. The facing of uniform coats. Until the introduction

of epaulettes in 1812, the _white lapelle_ was used as synonymous with

lieutenant's commission. Hence the brackish poet, in the craven

midshipman's lament--

"If I had in my country staid,

I then had learnt some useful trade,

And scorned the white lapelle."

LAPPING. The undulations occasioned in the waves by the paddle-wheels of

a steam-boat. In the polar seas, lapping applies to the young or thin

ice, one plate overlapping another, so dangerous to boats and their

crews. Also, the overlaying of plank edges in working.

LAPS. The remaining part of the ends of carlings, &c., which are to bear

a great weight or pressure; such, for instance, as the capstan-step.

LAP'S COURSE. One of the oldest and most savoury of the regular

forecastle dishes. (_See_ LOBSCOUSE.)

LARBOARD. The left side of a ship, when the spectator's face is towards

the bow. The Italians derive starboard from _questa borda_, "this side,"

and larboard from, _quella borda_, "that side;" abbreviated into _sta

borda_ and _la borda_. Their resemblance caused so many mistakes that,

by order of the admiralty, larboard is now thrown overboard, and _port_

substituted. "Port the helm" is even mentioned in Arthur Pit's voyage in

1580.

LARBOARD-WATCH. The old term for port-watch. The division of a ship's

company called for duty, while the other, the starboard, is relieved

from it. (_See_ WATCH.)

LARBOLINS, OR LARBOLIANS. A cant term implying the larboard-watch, the

opposite of starboard:--

"Larbolins stout, you must turn out,

And sleep no more within;

For if you do, we'll cut your clue,

And let starbolins in."

LARGE. Sailing large: going with the wind free when studding-sails will

draw.