S. A bent iron, called a crooked catch, or pot-hook, in anchors, &c.
SABANDER. The familiar of _shah-bander_, an eastern title for captain or
governor of a port.
SABATINES. Steel coverings for the feet; sometimes slippers or clogs.
SABRE. A sword with a broad and rather heavy blade, thick at the back,
and curved towards the point, intended for cutting more than for
thrusting.
SABRETACHE. A flat leathern case or pocket suspended at the left side of
a cavalry officer's sword-belt.
SACCADE. The sudden jerk of the sails in light winds and a heavy swell.
SACCOLEVA, OR SACOLEGE. A Levantine small craft of great sheer, carrying
a sail with an enormous sprit, so called.
SACK, TO [from the Anglo-Saxon _saec_]. To pillage a place which has been
taken by storm.
SACKS OF COALS. The seaman's name for the black _Magellanic clouds_, or
patches of deep blue sky in the milky-way near the south pole.
SADDLE HILL. A high land visible from the coast, having a centre less
elevated than its ends, somewhat like a riding-saddle.
SADDLES. Chocks of notched wood embracing spars, to support others
attached to them; thus we have a saddle-crutch for the main or driver
boom on the taffarel; another on the bowsprit to support the heel of the
jib-boom.
SAFE-CONDUCT. A security passport granted to an enemy for his safe entry
and passage through the realm.
SAFEGUARD. Protection given to secure a people from oppression in time
of trouble.
SAFETY-KEEL. A construction of keel for further security, by Oliver
Lang.
SAFETY-PIN. To secure the head of the capstan-bar.
SAFETY-VALVE. A conical valve on the top of the steam-chest,
communicating with the boiler of a steam-engine, and opening outwardly;
it is so adapted and loaded, that when the steam in the boiler exceeds
its proper pressure, it raises the valve, and escapes by a pipe called
the waste steam-pipe.
SAGG, TO. To bend or give way from heavy weight; to press down towards
the middle; the opposite of _hogging_. In _Macbeth_ the word is
figuratively applied--
"The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear,
Shall never sagg with doubt, nor shake with fear."
SAGGING TO LEEWARD. To drift off bodily to leeward. The movement by
which a ship makes a considerable lee-way.
SAGITTA. One of the ancient northern constellations.
SAGITTARII. The name in our records for some small vessels with oars and
sails, used in the twelfth century.
SAGITTARIUS. The ninth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about
the 21st of November.
SAGUM. An ancient military cloak.
SAIC. A sort of Greek ketch, which has no top-gallant nor mizen sails,
but still spreads much canvas.
SAIL. The terms applicable to the parts of a sail comprise:--Seaming the
cloths together; cutting the gores; tabling and sewing on the reef,
belly, lining, and buntline bands, roping, and marling on the clues and
foot-rope. The _square sails_ comprise courses, top-sails,
topgallant-sails, royals, skysails on each mast. The _fore and aft_, are
jibs, staysails, trysails, boom main-sails and fore-sails, gaff
top-sails, to which may be added the studding-sails and the flying
kites. Also, a distant ship is called a sail.
SAIL BURTON. A purchase extending from topmast-head to deck, for sending
sails aloft ready for bending; it usually consists of two single blocks,
having thimbles and a hook; a leading block on the slings through which
the fall leads to bear the top-sail clear of the top-rim.
SAIL HO! The exclamation used when a strange ship is first discerned at
sea--either from the deck or from the mast-head.
SAIL-HOOK. A small hook used for holding the seams of a sail while in
the act of sewing.
SAILING. The movement of a vessel by means of her sails along the
surface of the water. _Sailing_, or the _sailings_, is a term applied to
the different ways in which the path of a ship at sea, and the
variations of its geographical position, are represented on paper, all
which are explained under the various heads of great circle sailing,
Mercator's sailing, middle latitude sailing, oblique sailing, parallel
sailing, plane sailing.
SAILING, ORDER OF. The general disposition of a fleet of ships when
proceeding on a voyage or an expedition. It is generally found most
convenient for fleets of ships of war to be formed in three parallel
lines or columns. But squadrons of less than ten sail of the line are
placed in two lines.
SAILING CAPTAIN. An officer in some navies, whose duties are similar to
those of our masters in the royal navy.
SAILING DIRECTIONS. Works supplied by the admiralty to Her Majesty's
ships, which advise the navigator as to the pilotage of coasts and
islands throughout the world.
SAILING ICE. A number of loose pieces floating at a sufficient distance
from each other, for a ship to be able to pick her way among them.
Otherwise termed _open ice_; when she forces her way, pushing the ice
aside, it is termed boring.