"Then friends and foes to battle they goes;
But what they all fights about--nobody knows."
SCULL. A short oar of such length that a pair of them, one on each side,
are conveniently managed by a single rower sitting in the middle of the
boat. Also, a light metal-helmet worn in our early fleet.--_To scull._
To row a boat with a pair of sculls. Also, to propel a boat by a
particular method of managing a single oar over the boat's stern, and
reversing the blade each time. It is in fact the half-stroke of the
screw rapidly reversed, and closely resembles the propelling power of
the horizontal tail of the whale.
SCULPTURES. The carved decorations of the head, stern, and quarter of an
old ship-of-war. Also, the copper plates which "adorned" the former
books of voyages and travels.
SCUM OF THE SEA. The refuse seen on the line of tidal change; the drift
sent off by the ebbing tide. Or (in the neighbourhood of the rains), the
fresh water running on the surface of the salt and carrying with it a
line of foam bearing numerous sickly gelatinous marine animals, and
physaliae, commonly called Portuguese men-of-war, affected by the fresh
water and other small things often met with on the surface sea.
SCUM-O'-THE-SKY. Thin atmospheric vapours.
SCUPPER-HOSE. A canvas leathern pipe or tube nailed round the outside of
the scuppers of the lower decks, which prevents the water from
discolouring the ship's sides.
SCUPPER-LEATHER. A flap-valve nailed over a scupper-hole, serving to
keep water from getting in, yet letting it out.
SCUPPER-NAILS. Short nails with very broad flat heads, used to nail the
flaps of the scuppers, so as to retain the hose under them: they are
also used for battening tarpaulins and other general purposes.
SCUPPER-PLUGS. Are used to close the scuppers in-board.
SCUPPERS. Round apertures cut through the water ways and sides of a ship
at proper distances, and lined with metal, in order to carry the water
off the deck into the sea.
SCUPPER-SHOOTS. Metal or wooden tubes which carry the water from the
decks of frigates to the sea-level.
SCURRY. Perhaps from the Anglo-Saxon _scur_, a heavy shower, a sudden
squall. It now means a hurried movement; it is more especially applied
to seals or penguins taking to the water in fright.
SCUTTLE. A small hole or port cut either in the deck or side of a ship,
generally for ventilation. That in the deck is a small hatchway.
SCUTTLE, TO. To cut or bore holes through part of a ship when she is
stranded or over-set, and continues to float, in order to save any part
of her contents. Also, a trick too often practised by boring holes below
water, to sink a ship, where fictitious cargo is embarked and the vessel
insured beyond her value. (_See_ BARRATRY.)
SCUTTLE OR SCUTTLED BUTT. A cask having a square piece sawn out of its
bilge and lashed in a convenient place to hold water for present use.
SCUTTLE-HATCH. A lid or hatch for covering and closing the scuttles when
necessary.
SEA. Strictly speaking, _sea_ is the next large division of water after
_ocean_, but in its special sense signifies only any large portion of
the great mass of waters almost surrounded by land, as the Black, the
White, the Baltic, the China, and the Mediterranean seas, and in a
general sense in contradistinction to land. By sailors the word is also
variously applied. Thus they say--"We shipped a heavy sea." "There is a
great sea on in the offing." "The sea sets to the southward," &c. Hence
a ship is said to head the sea when her course is opposed to the
direction of the waves.--_A long sea_ implies a uniform motion of long
waves, the result of a steady continuance of the wind from nearly the
same quarter.--_A short sea_ is a confused motion of the waves when they
run irregularly so as frequently to break over a vessel, caused by
sudden changes of wind. The law claims for the crown wherever the sea
flows to, and there the admiralty has jurisdiction; accordingly, no act
can be done, no bridge can span a river so circumstanced without the
sanction of the admiralty. It claims the fore-shore unless specially
granted by charter otherwise, and the court of vice-admiralty has
jurisdiction as to flotsam and jetsam on the fore-shore. But all crimes
are subject to the laws, and are tried by the ordinary courts as within
the body of a county, comprehended by the chord between two headlands
where the distance does not exceed three miles from the shore. Beyond
that limit is "the sea, where high court of admiralty has jurisdiction,
but where civil process cannot follow."
SEA-ADDER. The west-country term for the pipe-fish _Syngnathus_. The
name is also given to the nest-making stickleback.
SEA-ANCHOR. That which lies towards the offing when a ship is moored.
SEA-ATTORNEY. The ordinary brown and rapacious shark.
SEA-BANK. A work so important that our statutes make it felony, without
benefit of clergy, maliciously to cut down any sea-bank whereby lands
may be overflowed.
SEA-BEANS. Pods of the acacia tribe shed into the rivers about the Gulf
of Mexico, and borne by the stream to the coasts of Great Britain, and
even further north.
SEA-BEAR. A name applied to several species of large seals of the genus
_Otaria_, found both in the northern and southern hemispheres. They
differ from the true seals, especially in the mode in which they use
their hind limbs in walking on land.
SEA-BOARD. The line along which the land and water meet, indicating the
limit common to both.
SEA-BOAT. A good sea-boat implies any vessel adapted to bear the sea
firmly and lively without labouring heavily or straining her masts or
rigging. The contrary is called _a bad sea-boat_.
SEA-BORNE. Arrived from a voyage: said of freighted ships also afloat.
SEA-BOTTLE. The pod or vesicle of some species of _sea-wrack_ or _Fucus
gigantea_ of Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan.
SEA-BREEZE. A wind from the sea towards the land. In tropical climates
(and sometimes during summer in the temperate zone) as the day advances
the land becomes extremely heated by the sun, which causes an ascending
current of air, and a wind from the sea rushes in to restore
equilibrium. Above the sea-breeze is a counter current, which was
clearly shown in Madras, where an aeronaut waited until the sea-breeze
had set in to make his ascent, expecting to be blown inland, but after
rising to a certain height found himself going out to sea, and in his
haste to descend he disordered the machinery, and could not close the
valve which allowed the gas to escape, so fell into the sea about three
miles from the land, but clung to his balloon and was saved. Also, a
cool sea drink.
SEA-BRIEF. A specification of the nature and quantity of the cargo of a
ship, the place whence it comes, and its destination. (_See_ PASSPORT.)
SEA-CALF. A seal, _Phoca vitulina_.
SEA-CAP. The white drift or breaks of a wave. _White horses_ of trades.
SEA-CARDS. The old name for charts.
SEA-CAT. A name of the wolf-fish, _Anarrhicas lupus_.
SEA-CATGUT. The _Fucus filum_, or sea-thread.
SEA-COAST, OR SEA-BORD. The shore of any country, or that part which is
washed by the sea.
SEA COCOA-NUT, OR DOUBLE COCOA-NUT. The fruit of the _Lodoicea
seychellarum_, a handsome palm growing in the Seychelles Islands. It was
once supposed to be produced by a sea-weed, because so often found
floating on the sea around.
SEA-COULTER. The puffin or coulter-neb, _Fratercula arctica_.
SEA-COW. One of the names given to the _manatee_ (which see).
SEA-CRAFTS. In ship-building, a term for the scarphed strakes otherwise
called _clamps_. For boats, _see_ THWART-CLAMPS.
SEA-CROW. A name on our southern coast for the cormorant.
SEA-CUCKOO. The _Trigla cuculus_, or red gurnard, so called from the
unmusical grunt which it emits.
SEA-CUNNY. A steersman in vessels manned with lascars in the East India
country trade.
SEA-DEVIL. A name for the _Lophius piscatorius_, or angler, a fish with
a large head and thick short body.
SEA-DOG. A name of the common seal.
SEA-DOGG. The meteor called also _stubb_ (which see).
SEA-DRAGON. An early designation of the _stinging-weever_.
SEA-EAGLE. A large ray-fish with a pair of enormous fins stretching out
from either side of the body, and a long switch tail, armed with a
barbed bone, which forms a dangerous weapon. _Manta_ of the Spaniards.
SEA-EDGE. The boundary between the icy regions of the "north water" and
the unfrozen portion of the Arctic Sea.
SEA-EEL. The _conger_ (which see).
SEA-EGG. A general name for the _echinus_, better known to seamen as the
_sea-urchin_ (which see).
SEA-FARDINGER. An archaic expression for a seafaring man.
SEA-FISHER. An officer in the household of Edward III.
SEA-FRET. A word used on our northern coasts for the thick heavy mist
generated on the ocean, and rolled by the wind upon the land.
SEA-FROG. A name for the _Lophius piscatorius_, or angler.
SEA GATE OR GAIT. A long rolling swell: when two ships are thrown aboard
one another by its means, they are said to be in a sea-gate.
SEA-GAUGE. An instrument used by Drs. Hale and Desaguliers to
investigate the depth of the sea, by the pressure of air into a tube
prepared for the purpose, showing by a mark left by a thin surface of
treacle carried on mercury forced up it during the descent into what
space the whole air is compressed, and, consequently, the depth of water
by which its weight produced that compression. It is, however, an
uncertain and difficult instrument, and superseded by Ericson's patent,
working on the same principle, but passing over into another tube the
volume of water thus forced in. (_See_ WATER-BOTTLE.)
SEA-GOING. Fit for sea-service abroad.
SEA-GREEN. The colour which in ancient chivalry denoted inconstancy.
SEA-GROCER. A sobriquet for the purser.
SEA-GULL. A well-known bird. When they come in numbers to shore, and
make a noise about the coast, or when at sea they alight on ships,
sailors consider it a prognostic of a storm. This is an old idea; see
Virg. Georg. lib. i., and Plin. lib. xviii. c. 35.
SEA-HARE. _Aplysia_, a molluscous animal.
SEA-HEN. A name of the fish _Trigla lyra_, or _crooner_ (which see).
SEA-HOG. A common name for the porpoise, _Phoc[oe]na communis_.
SEA-HORSE. A name for the walrus, _Trichecus rosmarus_. Also, the
_hippocampus_ (which see).
SEA-ICE. Ice within which there is a separation from the land.
SEAL [from the Anglo-Saxon _seolh_]. The well-known marine piscivorous
animal.
SEA-LAKE. Synonymous with _lagoon_ (which see).
SEA-LAWS. The codes relating to the sea; as, the laws of Rhodes, Oleron,
Wisbuy, &c.
SEA-LAWYER. An idle litigious 'longshorer, more given to question orders
than to obey them. One of the pests of the navy as well as of the
mercantile marine. Also, a name given to the tiger-shark.
SEALED ORDERS. Secret and sealed until the circumstances arise which
authorize their being opened and acted on. Often given to prevent
officers from divulging the point to which they are ordered.
SEA-LEGS. Implies the power to walk steadily on a ship's decks,
notwithstanding her pitching or rolling.
SEA-LETTER. _See_ PASSPORT.
SEA-LION. A large seal of the genus _Otaria_, distinguished from the
sea-bear, to which it otherwise has a great resemblance, by the shaggy
mane on its neck and shoulders.
SEA-LOG. That part of the log-book relating to whatever happens while
the ship is at sea.
SEA-LUMP. _See_ LUMP.
SEAM. The sewing together of two edges of canvas, which should have
about 110 stitches in every yard of length. Also, the identical
Anglo-Saxon word for a horse-load of 8 bushels, and much looked to in
carrying fresh fish from the coast. Also, the opening between the edges
of the planks in the decks and sides of a ship; these are filled with a
quantity of oakum and pitch, to prevent the entrance of water. (_See_
CAULKING.)
SEA-MALL. A name for a sea-gull.
SEAMAN. This is a term seldom bestowed among seafaring men upon their
associates, unless they are known to be pre-eminent in every duty of the
thorough-paced tar; one who never issues a command which he is not
competent to execute himself, and is deemed an authority on every matter
relating to sea-craft.--The _able seaman_ is the seafaring man who knows
all the duties of common seamanship, as to rig, steer, reef, furl, take
the lead, and implicitly carry out the orders given, in a seamanlike
manner. His rating is A.B.; pay in the navy, 24_s._ to 27_s._ per
month.--The _ordinary seaman_ is less qualified; does not take the
weather-helm, the earing, or lead; pay about 21_s._ to 23_s._ per
month.--The _landsman_ is still less qualified.
SEAMAN'S DISGRACE. A foul anchor.
SEAMANSHIP. The noble practical art of rigging and working a ship, and
performing with effect all her various evolutions at sea.
SEAMAN'S WAGES. A proper object of the admiralty jurisdiction.
SEA-MARK. A point or object distinguishable at sea, as promontories,
steeples, rivers, trees, &c., forming important beacons, and noted on
charts. By keeping two in a line, channels can be entered with safety,
and thus the errors of steerage, effect of tide, &c., obviated. These
erections are a branch of the royal prerogative, and by statute 8 Eliz.
cap. 13, the corporation of the Trinity House are empowered to set up
any beacons or sea-marks wherever they shall think them necessary; and,
if any person shall destroy them, he shall forfeit L100, or, in case of
inability to pay, he shall be, _ipso facto_, outlawed.
SEAMEN-GUNNERS. Men who have been trained in a gunnery ship, and thereby
become qualified to instruct others in that duty.
SEA-MEW. A sea-gull.
SEA-MOUSE. The _Aphrodita aculeata_, a marine annelid, remarkable for
the brilliant iridescence of the long silky hairs with which its sides
are covered.
SEA-NETTLE. An immemorial name of several zoophytes and marine creatures
of the class _Acalephae_, which have the power of stinging, particularly
the _Medusae_.
SEA-OWL. A name of the lump-fish, _Cyclopterus lumpus_.
SEA-PAY. That due for actual service in a duly-commissioned ship.
SEA-PERIL. Synonymous with _sea-risk_.
SEA-PIE. The pied oyster-catcher, _Haematopus ostralegus_. Also, a
favourite sea-dish in rough weather, consisting of an olla of fish,
meat, and vegetables, in layers between crusts, the number of which
denominate it a two or three decker.
SEA-PINCUSHION. The name among northern fishermen for a kind of
star-fish of the genus _Goniaster_.
SEA-POACHER. A name of the pogge, _Cottus cataphractus_.
SEA-PORCUPINE. Several fish of the genera _Diodon_ and _Tetraodon_,
beset with sharp spines, which they can erect by inflating themselves
with air.
SEA-PORK. The flesh of young whales in the western isles of Scotland;
the whale-beef of the Bermudas, &c. It is also called sea-beef.
SEA-PORT. A haven near the sea, not situated up a river.
SEA-PURSE. _See_ MERMAID'S PURSE.
SEA-QUADRANT. The old name of Jacob's cross-staff.
SEA-QUAKE. The tremulous motion and shock of an earthquake felt through
the waves.
SEA-RATE. The going of a chronometer as established on board, instead of
that supplied from the shore. This may be done by lunars. From motion
and other causes their rates after embarkation are frequently useless,
and rates for their new ever-changing position are indispensable. This
rate is sometimes _loosely_ deduced between two ports; but as the
meridian distances are never satisfactorily known, even as to the spots
of observation, they cannot be relied on but as comparative.
SEARCH. If the act of submitting to search is to subject neutral vessels
to confiscation by the enemy, the parties must look to that enemy whose
the injustice is for redress, but they are not to shelter themselves by
committing a fraud upon the undoubted rights of the other country.
SEARCH, RIGHT OF. _See_ VISITATION.
SEARCHER. A custom-house officer employed in taking an account of goods
to be exported. Also, _see_ GUN-SEARCHER.
SEA-REACH. The straight course or reach of a winding river which
stretches out to sea-ward.
SEA-RISK. Liability to losses by _perils of the sea_ (which see).
SEA-ROKE. A cold fog or mist which suddenly approaches from the sea, and
rapidly spreads over the vicinity of our eastern shores, to a distance
of 8 or 10 miles inland.
SEA-ROOM. Implies a sufficient distance from land, rocks, or shoals
wherein a ship may drive or scud without danger.
SEA-ROVERS. Pirates and robbers at sea.
SEA-SERGEANTS. A society of gentlemen, belonging to the four maritime
counties of South Wales, holding their anniversaries at sea-port towns,
or one within the reach of tidal influence. It was a secret association
of early date, revived in 1726, and dissolved about 1765.
SEA-SLATER. The _Ligia oceanica_, a small crustacean.
SEA-SLEECH. _See_ SLEECH.
SEA-SLEEVE. A name of the flosk or squid, _Loligo vulgaris_.
SEA-SLUG. The _Holothuria_. An animal of the class _Echinodermata_, with
elongated body, and flexible outer covering.
SEASONED TIMBER. Such as has been cut down, squared, and stocked for one
season at least.
SEASONING. The keeping a vessel standing a certain time after she is
completely framed, and dubbed out for planking. A great prince of this
maritime country in passing a dockyard, inquired what those
_basket-ships_ were for!
SEA-SPOUT. The jetting of sea-water over the adjacent lands, when forced
through a perforation in a rocky shore; both its egress and ingress are
attended with a rumbling noise, and the spray is often very injurious to
the surrounding vegetation.
SEA-STAR. A common rayed or star-like animal, belonging to the class
_Echinodermata_. Also called _star-fish_ (_Asteria_).
SEA-STREAM. In polar parlance, is when a collection of bay-ice is
exposed on one side to the ocean, and affords shelter from the sea to
whatever is within it.
SEA-SWABBER. A reproachful term for an idle sailor.
SEA-SWALLOW. The tern, a bird resembling the gull, but more slender and
swift.
SEA-SWINE. The porpoise.
SEAT. A term often applied to the peculiar summit of a mountain, as the
Queen of Spain's Seat near Gibraltar, the Bibi of Mahratta's Seat near
Bombay, Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh, &c.
SEA-TANG. Tangle, a sea-weed.
SEAT-LOCKERS. Accommodations fitted in the cabins of merchantmen for
sitting upon, and stowing cabin-stores in.
SEAT OF WATER. Applies to the line on which a vessel sits.
SEA-TRANSOM. That which is bolted to the counter-timbers, above the
upper, at the height of the port-sills.
SEA-TURN. A tack into the offing.
SEA-URCHIN. The _Echinus_, an animal of the class _Echinodermata_, of
globular form, and a hard calcareous outer covering, beset with movable
spines, on the ends of which it crawls about.
SEA-WALLS. Elevations of stones, stakes, and other material, to prevent
inundations.
SEA-WARD. Towards the sea, or offing.
SEA-WARE. The sea-weed thrown up by surges on a beach.
SEA-WATER. "The quantity of solid matter varies considerably in
different seas, but we may assume that the average quantity of saline
matter is 3-1/2 per cent., and the density about 1.0274" (_Pereira_).
The composition of the water of the English Channel according to
Schweitzer is--
Grains.
Water 964.74372
Chloride of Sodium 27.05948
" Potassium 0.76552
" Magnesium 3.66658
Bromide of Magnesium 0.02929
Sulphate of Magnesia 2.29578
" Lime 1.40662
Carbonate of Lime 0.03301
----------
1000.00000
SEA-WAY. The progress of a ship through the waves. Also, said when a
vessel is in an open place where the sea is rolling heavily.
SEA-WAY MEASURER. A kind of self-registering log invented by Smeaton,
the architect of the Eddystone lighthouse.
SEA-WEASEL. An old name of the lamprey.
SEA-WOLF. The wolf-fish, _Anarrhicas lupus_.
SEA-WOLVES. A name for privateers.
SEA-WORTHY. The state of a ship in everyway fitted for her voyage. It is
the first stipulation in every policy of insurance, or other contract,
connected with a vessel: "for she shall be tight, staunch, and strong,
sufficiently manned, and her commander competent to his duty." (_See_
OPINION.)
SEA-WRACK GRASS. _Zostera marina_; used in Sweden and Holland for
manuring land. At Yarmouth it is thrown on shore in such abundance that
mounds are made with it to arrest the encroachments of the sea. It is
also used as thatch.
SECANT. A line drawn from the centre of a circle to the extremity of the
tangent.
SECCA. A shoal on Italian shores and charts.
SECOND. The sixtieth part of a minute. A division of a degree of a
circle. A term applied both to time and to space. Also, second in a
duel; a very important part to play, since many a life may be saved
without implicating honour.
SECONDARY PLANET. _See_ SATELLITES.
SECOND-CAPTAIN. Commanders under captains in the navy, of late.
SECOND-COUNTER. _See_ COUNTER.
SECOND-FUTTOCKS. The frame-timbers scarphed on the end of the
futtock-timbers.
SECOND-HAND. A term in fishing-boats to distinguish the second in
charge.
SECOND OFFICER. Second mate in merchantmen.
SECOND-RATE. Vessels of seventy-four guns (on the old scale).
SECTION. A draught or figure representing the internal parts of a ship
cut by a plane at any particular place athwart ships or longitudinally.
SECTOR. _See_ DIP-SECTOR.
SECULAR ACCELERATION. _See_ ACCELERATION OF THE MOON.
SECULAR INEQUALITY. _See_ INEQUALITY.
SECURE ARMS! Place them under the left arm, to guard the lock from the
weather or rain.
SEDITION. Mutinous commotion against the constituted authorities,
especially dangerous at sea.
SEDOW. The old English name for the fish called gilt-head; _Sparus
auratus_.
SEDUCE, TO. To inveigle a man to desertion.
SEELING. A sudden heeling over, and quick return.
SEER. The tumbler of a gun-lock.
SEE-SAW. Reciprocating motion.
SEGE. An old law-term for the seat or berth in which a ship lies.
SEGMENT. In geometry, any part of a circle which is bounded by an arc
and its chord, or so much of the circle as is cut off by that chord.
SEGMENTAL STERN. _See_ ROUND STERN.
SEGMENT-SHELL. For use with rifled guns; an elongated iron shell having
very thin sides, and built up internally with segment-shaped pieces of
iron, which, offering the resistance of an arch against pressure from
without, are easily separated by the very slight bursting charge within;
thereby retaining most of their original direction and velocity after
explosion.
SEIN, OR SEINE. The name of a large fishing-net. Also, a flat seam.
SEIN-FISH. By statute (3 Jac. I. c. 12) includes that sort taken with a
sein.
SEIZING. Fastening any two ropes, or different parts of one rope
together, with turns of small stuff.
SEIZINGS. The cords with which the act of seizing is performed; they
vary in size in proportion to the rope on which they are used.
SEIZLING. A young carp.
SEIZURE. The right of naval officers to seize anywhere afloat, is
legally established: a ship, therefore, although incapable of cruising,
may still make a seizure in port.
SELCHIE. The northern name for the seal, _Phoca vitulina_.
SELENOCENTRIC. Having relation to the centre of the moon.
SELENOGRAPHY. The delineation of the moon's surface.
SELLING OUT. An officer in the army wishing to retire from the service,
may do so by disposing of his commission.
SELLOCK. _See_ SILLOCK.
SELVAGE. The woven edge of canvas formed by web and woof. See _Boke of
Curtasye_ (14th century):--
"The overnape shal doubulle be layde,
To the utter side the selvage brade."
SELVAGEE. A strong and pliant hank, or untwisted skein of rope-yarn
marled together, and used as a strap to fasten round a shroud or stay,
or slings to which to hook a tackle to hoist in any heavy articles.
SEMAPHORE. An expeditious mode of communication by signal; it consists
of upright posts and movable arms, now chiefly used for railway signals,
electric telegraphs being found better for great distances.
SEMEBOLE. An old term for a pipe, or half a tun of wine.
SEMI-AXIS MAJOR. _See_ MEAN DISTANCE.
SEMICIRCLE. A figure comprehended between the diameter of a circle and
half the circumference.
SEMI-DIAMETER. The angle subtended by half the diameter of a heavenly
body; in the cases of the sun and moon it is much used in navigation.
SEMI-DIURNAL ARC. Half the arc described by a heavenly body between its
rising and setting.
SEMI-ISLET. An old term for _bridge-islet_ (which see).
SEND, TO. To rise after pitching heavily and suddenly between two waves,
or out of the trough of the sea.
SENDING, OR 'SCENDING. The act of being thrown about violently when
adrift.
SENIORITY. The difference of rank, or standing in priority, according to
dates of commissions; or if on the same day, the order in which they
stand on the official printed lists.
SENIOR OFFICER. The commanding officer for the time being.
SENNIT. A flat cordage formed by plaiting five or seven rope-yarns
together. Straw, plaited in the same way for hats, is called
plat-sennit; it is made by sailors in India from the leaf of the palm,
for that well-known straw-hat, adorned with flowing ribbons, which
formerly distinguished the man-of-war's man.
SENSIBLE HORIZON. _See_ HORIZON.
SENTINEL, OR SENTRY. A soldier, marine, or seaman placed upon any post,
to watch and enforce any specific order with which he may be intrusted.
SENTRY GO! The order to the new sentry to proceed to the relief of the
previous one.
SEQUIN. A Turkish and Venetian gold coin of the current value of 6_s._
11_d._
SERANG. A boatswain of Lascars.
SERASKIER. A Turkish general.
SERGEANT. The senior non-commissioned rank in the army and marines.
SERGEANT-MAJOR. The senior sergeant in a regiment, or first
non-commissioned officer; usually a zealous and thorough soldier.
SERON. A commercial package of Spanish America, made of green
bullock's-hide with the hair on.
SERPENTARIUS. _See_ OPHIUCHUS.
SERPENTIN. An ancient 24-pounder gun, the dolphins of which represented
serpents; it was 13 feet long, and weighed 4360 lbs.
SERPENTINE POWDER. An old term for a peculiar granulated gunpowder.
SERRATED. Notched like the edge of a saw.
SERVE, TO. To supply the gun with powder and shot. Also, to handle it
through all the changes of station.
SERVE THE VENT, TO. To stop it with the thumb.
SERVICE. The profession; as a general term, expresses every kind of duty
which a naval or military man can be called upon to perform. Also,
implying any bold exploit.--_To see service_, is a common expression,
which implies actual contest with the enemy.--_Service_, of served rope,
is the spun-yarn wound round a rope by means of a _serving-board_ or
_mallet_.
SERVICEABLE. Both as respects men and stores, capable of or fit for
duty.
SERVING-BOARD. A flattened piece of hard wood with a handle, for passing
service on the smaller ropes.
SERVING-MALLET. The mallet, grooved on the under side, with which
spun-yarn, or other small stuff, is wrapped tightly round a rope.
SERVING OUT SLOPS. Distributing clothing, &c. Also, a cant term to
denote punishment at the gangway.
SET. The direction in which a current flows, or of the wind. (_See_
DIRECTION.)--_To set_, is to observe the bearings of any distant object
by the compass. (_See_ BEARING.) Also applied to the direction of the
tide, as "the tide setting to the south," is opposed to a swelling sea
setting to the north-west. Also, when applied to sails, implies the
loosing and spreading them, so as to force the ship through the water on
weighing. When in chase, or other emergency, the term is sometimes used
as synonymous with _make sail_.
SET-BOLTS. Used in drifting out bolts from their position. Also employed
for forcing the planks and other works, bringing them close to one
another, as Blake's bringing-to bolts, with wood screws, eyes, and
rings.
SET FLYING. Sails that do not remain aloft when taken in, but are hauled
on deck or stowed in the tops, as skysails, studding-sails, &c.
SET IN. Said when the sea-breeze or weather appears to be steady.
SET ON! The order to set the engine going on board a steamer.
SETT. A kind of shipwright's power, composed of two ring-bolts and a
wrain-staff, with cleats and lashings. Also, the particular spot in a
river or frith, where stationary nets are fixed.
SETTEE. A single-decked Mediterranean vessel with a long and sharp
prow, without top-masts, and carrying lateen sails. They were mostly
used as transports to galleys.
SET THE CHASE, TO. To mark well the position of the vessel chased by
bearing, so that by standing away from her on one tack, she may be cut
off on the other.
SETTING. The operation of moving a boat or raft by means of poles. Also,
arranging the sights of a gun, or pointing it.
SETTING POLE. A pole, generally pointed with iron, forced into the mud,
by which boats and barges are moored in shallow water.
SETTING THE WATCH. The military night guard or watch at the evening
gun-fire. Naval watches are not interfered with by time.
SETTING-UP. Raising a ship from her blocks, shores, &c., by wedges
driven between the heels of the shore and the dock foundation.
SETTLE. Now termed the _stern-sheets_ [derived from the Anglo-Saxon
_settl_, a seat].--_To settle._ To lower; also to sink, as "the deck has
settled;" "we settled the land." (_See_ LAYING.) "Settle the main
top-sail halliards," _i.e._ ease them off a little, so as to lower the
yard, as on shaking out a reef.
SETTLING. Sinking in the water.
SET UP. Soldiers, mariners, and small-arm men, well drilled, and
instructed to be upright and soldierlike in their carriage, are "well
set up."
SET UP RIGGING, TO. To take in the slack of the shrouds, stays, and
backstays, to bring the same strain as before, and thus secure the
masts.
SEVERALTY. The denomination under which disagreements respecting
accounts amongst the part-owners of a ship are referred, either to
equity courts, or the common law.
SEVERE. Effectual; as, a _severe_ turn in belaying a rope.