RIM-BASE. The shoulder on the stock of a musket.
RIME. Hoar-frost; condensed vapour.
RIMER. A palisade in fortification; but for its naval application, _see_
REEMING. Also, a tool for enlarging holes in metal plates, &c.
RIMS. Those pieces which form the quarter-galleries between the stools.
Also, the cast-iron frame in which the dropping pauls of a capstan
traverse, and bring up the capstan.
RING. A commercial measure of staves, or wood prepared for casks, and
containing four shocks. Also, the iron ring to which the cable is bent
to the anchor in the summit of the shank.
RING-BOLT. An iron bolt with an eye at one end, wherein is fitted a
circular ring. They are more particularly used for managing cannon, and
are for this purpose fixed on each side of the port-holes. They are
driven through the plank and the corresponding timber, and retained in
this position by a clinching ring.
RING-DOGS. Iron implements for hauling timber along: made by connecting
two common dogs by a ring through the eyes. When united with cordage
they form a _sling-dog_ (which see).
RING-ROPES. Ropes rove through the ring of the anchor, to haul the cable
through it, in order to bend or make it fast in bad weather; they are
first rove through the ring, and then through the hawse-holes, when the
end of the cable is secured to them.
RINGS. The annual circular layers in timber. Also, grommets, or circles
of metal for lifting things by hand, or securing the points of bolts,
&c., as hatch or port rings.
RING-STOPPER. A long piece of rope secured to an after ring-bolt, and
the loop embracing the cable through the next, and others in succession
nip the cable home to each ring-bolt in succession. It is a precaution
in veering cable in bad weather.
RING-TAIL. A kind of studding-sail hoisted beyond the after edge of
those sails which are extended by a gaff and a boom over the stern. The
two lower corners of this sail are stretched to a boom, called a
_ring-tail boom_, which rigs in and out upon the main or driver boom.
RINK. A space of ice devoted to certain recreations, as a skating or a
curling rink: generally roofed in from the snow in Canada.
RIONNACK. A name of the horse-mackerel among the Scottish islands.
RIP. A pannier or basket used for carrying fish.--_To rip_, to strip off
a ship's planks.
RIPARIA. A law-term for the water running between the banks of a river.
RIPARY. Inhabiting the sea-shore.
RIPE [from the Latin, _ripa_]. The banks of a tide-river, and the
sea-shore: a term in use on our southern coasts.
RIPPERS, OR RIPIERS. Men from the sea-shores, who sell fish to the
inland towns and villages.
RIPPING-IRON. A caulker's tool for tearing oakum out of a seam, or
stripping copper or sheathing from a ship's bottom. (_See_ REEMING.)
RIPPLE. The small waves raised on the surface of the water by the
passage of a slight breeze, or current, caused by foul bottom.
RIPPLE-MARKS. The ripply appearance left at low water on the flat part
of a sandy beach.
RIPPS. _See_ TIDE-RIP. Also, strange overfalls, the waves of which, even
in calm weather, will throw their crests over the bulwarks.
RISBERM. Fascines placed to oppose the violence of the surf.
RISING-FLOORS. The floor-timbers, which rise gradually from the plane of
the midship floor, so as to sharpen the form of a vessel towards the bow
and stern.
RISINGS OF BOATS. A narrow strake of board fastened withinside to
support the thwarts.
RISING-SQUARE. In ship-carpentry, a square used in the whole moulding,
upon which is marked the height of the rising line above the keel.
RISK A RUN, TO. To take chance without convoy.
RISKS. The casualties against which insurances are made on ships and
cargoes.
RITTOCH. An Orkney name for the tern, _Sterna hirundo_.
RIVAGE. An old term, from the French, for a coast or shore of the sea,
or a river.
RIVAGIUM. A law-term for a duty paid to the sovereign on some rivers for
the passage of boats or vessels.
RIVAILE. An Anglo-Norman term for a harbour.
RIVE. The sea-shore. Also, as a verb, to split wood.
RIVER-BOATS. Wherries, and the like, which ply in harbours and rivers
for the conveyance of passengers.
RIVER-HARBOUR. That which is situated in the channel of a river,
especially such as are at the embouchure with a bar in front.
RIVER-LAKES. Large pools of water occupying a portion of the valleys or
hollows through which the courses of rivers lie.
RIVER-RISK. A policy of insurance from the docks to the sea, at any
port.
RIVET. The roe of a fish. Also, a hinge-pin, or any piece of riveted
work. The soft iron pin by which the ends of a cask hoop, or the plates
of a boiler, &c., are secured by clinching.
RIVIERA. An Italian term for a coast, as the _Riviera di Genoa_.
RIX-DOLLAR. A silver coin common in northern Europe, of the average
value of 4_s._ 6_d._
ROACH. The hollow curvature of the lower parts of upper square-sails, to
clear the stays when the yards are braced up.
ROAD, OR ROADSTEAD. An off-shore well-known anchorage, where ships may
await orders, as St. Helen's at Portsmouth, Cowes, Leith, Basque Roads,
Saugor, and others, where a well-found vessel may ride out a gale.
ROADSTER, OR ROADER. Applied chiefly to those vessels which work by
tides, and seek some known road to await turn of tide or change of wind.
If a vessel under sail strike against any roader and damage her, the
former is obliged by law to make good the damages.
ROAST-BEEF DRESS. Full uniform; probably from its resemblance to that of
the royal beef-eaters.
ROAST BEEF OF OLD ENGLAND. A popular air, by which officers are summoned
to the dinner-table.