MAW, OR SEA-MAW. The common gull, _Larus canus_.
MAY. _See_ VENDAVAL.
MAYHEM, OR MAHIM. The law-term for maim.
MAZE. In the herring trade, 500 fishes.
MAZOLET. An Indian bark boat, caulked with moss.
MEAKER. A west-country term for a minnow.
MEAKING IRON. The tool used by caulkers to run old oakum out of the
seams before inserting new.
MEALED. Mixed or compounded.--_Mealed powder_, gunpowder pulverized by
treating with spirits of wine.
MEALES, OR MIOLS. Immense sand-banks thrown up by the sea on the coasts
of Norfolk, Lancashire, &c.
MEAN. As a general term implies the medium, but a mean of bad
observations can never make a good one.
MEAN ANOMALY. _See_ ANOMALY.
MEAN DISTANCE. The average distance of a planet from the sun; it is
equal to half the longer axis of the ellipse, and hence is frequently
termed the semi-axis major.
MEAN EQUINOX. The position of the equinox independent of the effects of
nutation.
MEAN MOTION. The rate at which a body moving in an elliptic orbit would
proceed at an equal velocity throughout.
MEAN NOON. The noon of a mean day supposing the year to be divided into
days of equal length. It differs from _apparent noon_ by the amount of
the equation of time for that date.
MEAN OBLIQUITY. The obliquity of the ecliptic, unaffected with nutation.
MEAN PLACE OF A STAR. Its position at a given time, independent of
aberration and nutation.
MEAN SUN. _See_ TIME.
MEAN TIME. _See_ TIME.
MEASURE. A comprehensive term including length, surface, time, weight,
solidity, capacity, and force of gravity.
MEASURING LINE. The old term for the first meridian reckoned off from a
ship's longitude. Also, the five-fathom line used by the boatswain.
MECHANICS. The science which explains the properties of moving bodies,
and of the machines from which they receive their impetus. The
mechanical powers consist of six primary instruments, the lever, the
balance, the pulley, the wheel, the screw, and the wedge: to which is
sometimes added the inclined plane; and of some, or all of these, every
compound machine consists.
MECK. A notched staff in a whale-boat on which the harpoon rests.
MEDICAL BOARD. A number of medical officers convened to examine sick and
wounded officers and men, for invaliding or discharge.
MEDICINE-CHEST. A large chest containing the medical necessaries that
may be required for 100 men during the cruize. Several chests are thus
fitted and supplied in proportion to the ship's crew, ready for detached
service.
MEDICINES. Merchantmen are legally bound to carry medicines in
proportion to their crew, with instructions for their use if there be no
surgeon on board.
MEDICO. A familiar appellation for the ship's surgeon.
MEDITERRANEAN OR INLAND SEA. A term applied to a sea surrounded on all
sides, except its immediate entrance, by land; as the Mediterranean, so
styled _par excellence_; also, the Baltic, the Red Sea, &c.
MEDITERRANEAN PASS. A document formerly granted by the Lords of the
Admiralty to registered vessels, which was valuable when the Barbary
powers were unchecked. (_See_ PASS.)
MEDIUM. _See_ RESISTING MEDIUM.
MEERMAID. A name given by our northern fishermen to the _Lophius
piscatorius_, or frog-fish, without reference to the _mermaid_ (which
see).
MEER-SWINE. The porpoise [from the German _meerschwein_].
MEET HER! The order to adjust the helm, so as to check any further
movement of the ship's head in a given direction.
MEGANESE [Gr.] A large portion of land, inferior in extent to a
continent, but which, though insular, is too large to be termed an
island, as New Holland.
MEMORIAL. An official petition on account of services performed.
MEN. The ship's company in general.
MEND SAILS, TO. To loose and skin them afresh on the yards.
MEND THE SERVICE. Put on more service to the cable, or any part of the
rigging chafed.
MERCANTILE MARINE. _See_ MARINE.
MERCANTILE MARINE FUND. A public fund accumulated by fees payable to the
Board of Trade on account of the merchant shipping.
MERCATOR'S CHART OR PROJECTION. Introduced by Gerard Mercator, _circa_
1556: it is a projection of the surface of the earth in the plane, with
all the meridians made parallel with each other, consequently the
degrees of longitude all equal, the degrees of latitude increasing in a
corresponding ratio towards the poles. This is the chart most commonly
used in navigation; and its use appears to have obtained quickly, for in
1576, among the items of Martin Frobisher's outfit, we find, "For a
greate Mappe Universall of Mercator, in prente, L1, 6_s._ 8_d._"
MERCATOR'S SAILING. Performed loxodromically, by means of Mercator's
charts.
MERCHANTMAN. A trading vessel employed in importing and exporting goods
to and from any quarter of the globe.
MERCHANT SERVICE. The mercantile marine.
MERCHANT-VENTURERS. A company of merchants who traded with Russia,
Turkey, and other distant parts. In the _Affectionate Shepheard_, 1594,
we find--
"Well is he tearm'd a merchant venturer,
Since he doth venter lands, and goods, and all;
When he doth travell for his traffique far,
Little he knowes what fortune may befall."
MERCURIAL GAUGE. A curved tube partly filled with mercury, to show the
pressure of steam in an engine.
MERCURY. One of the ancient inferior planets, and the nearest to the
sun, as far as we yet know. (_See_ TRANSIT OF.) Also, a name for
quicksilver; the fluid metal so useful in the construction of the marine
barometer, thermometer, and artificial horizon.
MERE. An Anglo-Saxon word still in use, sometimes meaning a lake, and
generally the sea itself.
MERIDIAN, OF THE EARTH. Is an imaginary great circle passing through the
zenith and the poles, and cutting the equator at right angles. When the
sun is on the meridian of any place, it is mid-day there, and at all
places situated under the same meridian.--_First meridian_ is that from
which the longitude is reckoned. Magnetic meridian is not a great circle
but a wavy line uniting those poles. In common acceptation, a meridian
is any line supposed to be drawn from the north to the south pole;
therefore a place being under the same meridian as another place, is
either due north or south of it.--_Plane of the meridian_ is the plane
of this great circle, and its intersection with the sensible horizon is
called the _meridian line_.--The _meridian transit_ of a heavenly body
is the act of passing over the said plane, when it is either due north
or south of the spectator.--_Ante meridiem_, or A.M., before
noon.--_Post meridiem_, or P.M., after noon.
MERIDIAN ERROR. The deviation of a transit-instrument from the plane of
the meridian at the horizon; it is also termed the _azimuthal error_.
MERLON. That part of the parapet of a battery between two adjacent
embrasures, 15 or 20 feet long in general.
MERMAID. A fabulous sea-creature of which the upper half was said to
resemble a woman, the lower half a fish.
MERMAID'S GLOVE. The name of a peculiar sponge, _Spongia palmata_,
abundant at Bermuda.
MERMAID'S PURSE. The oblong horny cases with long filiform appendages
developed from each of the four corners, found on the sea-shore, being
the outer covering of the eggs of several species of rays and sharks.
Also, the hollow root of the sea-weed _Fucus polyschides_.
MERRY DANCERS. The glancings and coruscations of the _aurora borealis_,
or northern lights.
MERRY MEN OF MAY. Dangerous currents formed by the ebb-tides.
MESON. A very old form of spelling _mizen_.
MESS. Any company of the officers or crew of a ship, who eat, drink, and
associate together. (_See_ NUMBER.) Also, the state of a ship in a
sudden squall, when everything is let go and flying, and nothing hauled
in.
MESS-DECK. The place where a ship's crew mess.
MESSENGER. A large cable-laid rope, used to unmoor or heave up the
anchor of a ship, by the aid of the capstan. This is done by binding a
part of the messenger to the cable by which the ship rides, in several
places, with pliant nippers, and by winding another part of it about
the capstan. The messenger has an eye-splice at each end, through which
several turns of a strong lashing are passed, forming an endless rope.
So that by putting on fresh nippers forward, and taking them off as they
are hove aft, the capstan may be kept constantly going, and the cable is
walked in without stopping. (_See_ VIOL.) A superior plan is now
adopted, in which the messenger, consisting of a pitch chain which has a
double and single link alternately, works in iron spurs fastened above
the lower rim of the capstan. This avoids the trouble of shifting or
fleeting the messenger while heaving in. Again, the cable itself is
commonly brought to the capstan.--_Light forward the messenger!_ is the
order to pull the slack of it towards the hawse holes, on the slack or
opposite side, so as to be ready to fasten upon the cable which is being
hove in, as it comes off the manger-roller at the bows.
MESSENGERS. Boys appointed to carry orders from the quarter-deck. In
some ships they wore winged caps of the Mercury type.
MESS-KID. A wooden tub for holding cooked victuals or cocoa.
MESSMATE. A companion of the same mess-table, hence comrades in many
ways; whence the _saw_: "Messmate before a shipmate, shipmate before a
stranger, stranger before a dog."
MESS-TRAPS. The kids, crockery, bowls, spoons, and other articles of
mess service.
META-CENTRE. That point in a ship where a vertical line drawn from the
centre of cavity cuts a line perpendicular to the keel, passing through
the centre of gravity. As this depends upon the situation of the centre
of cavity, the meta-centre is often called the _shifting-centre_. Safety
requires this point to be above the centre of gravity.
METAL. A word comprehending the great guns, or ordnance generally, of a
ship or battery.
METEINGS. The measurement and estimate of timber.
METEOR. _See_ COMPASANT, WATER-SPOUT, &c.
METEORITES. Meteoric stones which fall from the atmosphere, composed of
earthy and metallic substances, in which iron, nickel, &c., enter
largely.
METEOROLOGIC TELEGRAPHY. The sending of telegrams to various stations at
home and abroad, with the object of improving the science of
meteorology, and issuing storm warnings, &c.
METONIC CYCLE. A cycle of 19 years, which contains 235 lunations, and
results in a correspondence of the solar and lunar years. The discovery
of this astronomical period may be safely assigned to Meton in 432 B.C.
MEW [Anglo-Saxon _maew_]. A name for the sea-gull.
MIASMA. An impure effluvium in the air--proceeding from marshes or moist
ground acted upon by solar heat--by which malaria fevers, particularly
intermittents, are produced.
MICROMETER. An instrument used to measure small angles, diameters, and
distances of heavenly bodies.
MID. The intermediate or middle part of anything. Also, _per
contractionem_, a midshipman.
MID-CHANNEL. Implies half way across any river, channel, &c.
MIDDLE BAND. One of the bands of a sail, to give additional strength.
MIDDLE-LATITUDE SAILING. A method of converting departure in difference
of longitude, and _vice versa_, by using the middle latitude instead of
the meridional parts, as in Mercator's sailing.
MIDDLE-TIMBER. That timber in the stern which is placed amidships.
MIDDLE-TOPSAIL. A deep-roached sail, set in some schooners and sloops on
the heel of their top-masts between the top and the cap. A modification
of this, under the name of a lower top-sail, is now very common in
double-topsail-yarded ships. (Cunningham's top-sails.)
MIDDLE-WALES. The three or four thick strakes worked along each side
between the lower and middle-deck-ports in three-deckers.
MIDDLE-WATCH. The portion of the crew on deck-duty from midnight to 4
A.M.
MIDDLE-WATCHER. The slight meal snatched by officers of the middle-watch
about five bells (or 2.30 A.M.)
MIDDLING A SAIL. Arranging it for bending to the yard.
MIDDY. An abbreviation for the younger midshipmen, synonymous with
_mid_.
MIDRIB. A narrow canal or culvert.
MIDSHIPMAN. A naval cadet appointed by the admiralty, with the exception
of one in each ship appointed by the captain. No person can be appointed
midshipman until he has served one year, and passed his examinations;
nor a lieutenant without having previously served six years in the royal
navy as midshipman, and having further passed two severe
examinations--one in seamanship and one in gunnery. A midshipman is then
the station in which a young volunteer is trained in the several
exercises necessary to attain a knowledge of steam, machinery,
discipline, the general movements and operations of a ship, and qualify
him to command.
MIDSHIPMAN'S NUTS. Broken pieces of biscuit as dessert.
MIDSHIPMAN'S ROLL. A slovenly method of rolling up a hammock
transversely, and lashing it endways by one clue.
MIDSHIPS. The middle part of the vessel, either with regard to her
length or breadth. (_See_ AMIDSHIPS.)
MILDERNIX. A strong canvas of which courses were formerly made; it
appears in old statutes.
MILE. The statute mile is 5280 feet; but that used at sea, termed the
mean nautic mile, consists of 6075.6 feet, or 60 to a degree.
MILITARY EXECUTION. The levying contributions from a country by military
occupation and force.
MILITARY LAW. That under which soldiers and sailors are governed,
founded on the acts of parliament passed to that end.
MILITIA. A military force raised by ballot.
MILKY WAY. _See_ VIA LACTEA.