STAY-BARS, OR STAY-RODS. Strong malleable iron bars for supporting the
framings of the marine steam-engine.
STAYED FORWARD. This term is applied to masts when they incline forward
out of the vertical line; the opposite of _rake_ (which see.)
STAYSAIL. A triangular sail hoisted upon a stay.
STAYSAIL-NETTING. _See_ BOWSPRIT-NETTING.
STAYSAIL-STAY. The stay on which a staysail is set.
STAY-TACKLES, FORE AND MAIN. Special movable purchases for hoisting in
and out boats, anchors, &c. They plumb the fore and main hatchways,
working in conjunction with fore and main yard tackles.
STEADY! The order given to the steersman, in a fair wind, to steer the
ship on her course without deviating; to which he answers, _Steady it
is, sir_.
STEADY-FAST. A hawser carried out to some fixed object to keep a vessel
steady in a tide-way, or in preparation for making sail from a fast.
STEADY GALE. A fresh breeze pretty uniform in force and direction.
STEALING. The gaining of a rat-line or two in height while waiting on
the lower part of the rigging for the order to go aloft. Also, a vessel
is said _to steal ahead_ when she moves with the lightest breath of air.
STEAM-CHEST. The reservoir for steam above the water of the boiler;
sometimes termed _steam-chamber_.
STEAM-CRANE. A crane worked by means of a steam-engine.
STEAM-CYLINDER. _See_ CYLINDER.
STEAM-FRIGATE. A large armed steamer commanded by a captain in the navy.
STEAM-HOIST. A machine in dockyards for driving piles, working pumps,
&c.
STEAM NAVIGATION. The management of vessels propelled by steam-power.
STEAM-PACKET. A steamer employed in trading regularly between two places
with goods and passengers.
STEAM-PIPE. _See_ WASTE STEAM-PIPE.
STEAM-PORTS. Oblong passages leading from the nozzle-faces to the inside
of the cylinder; by them the steam enters and returns, above and below
the piston.
STEAM-RAM. A new order of war-vessel, fitted for running prow on against
an enemy's ship, to stave her in by crushing.
STEAM SLOOP-OF-WAR. One commanded by a commander.
STEAM-TUG. A vessel fitted with a marine steam-engine, and expressly
employed for towing ships.
STEAM-WINCH. A machine for hoisting out cargo or working a ship's pumps.
STEATAE. Broad low vessels used by the ancient pirates.
STEELER, OR STEALER. The foremost and aftermost plank in a strake, which
drops short of the stem or stern-post.
STEEP-TO. [Anglo-Saxon _steap_.] Said of a bold shore, admitting of the
largest vessels coming very close to the cliffs without touching the
bottom. (_See_ BOLD-SHORE.)
STEEP-TUB. A large tub in which salt provisions are soaked previous to
being cooked.
STEERAGE. The act of steering. (_See_ NICE STEERAGE.) Also, that part of
the ship next below the quarter-deck, immediately before the bulk-head
of the great cabin in most ships of war. The portion of the 'tween-decks
just before the gun-room bulk-head. In some ships the second-class
passengers are called _steerage passengers_. The admiral's cabin on the
middle deck of three-deckers has been called the _steerage_.
STEERAGE-WAY. When a vessel has sufficient motion in the water to admit
of the helm being effective.
STEER HER COURSE, TO. Going with the wind fair enough to lay her course.
STEERING [Anglo-Saxon _steoran_]. The perfection of steering consists in
a vigilant attention to the motion of the ship's head, so as to check
every deviation from the line of her course in the first instant of its
commencement, and in applying as little of the power of the helm as
possible, for the action of the rudder checks a ship's speed.
STEERING-SAIL. An incorrect name for a studding-sail.
STEER LARGE, TO. To go free, off the wind. Also, to steer loosely.
STEER SMALL, TO. To steer well and within small compass, not dragging
the tiller over from side to side.
STEERSMAN. The helmsman or timoneer; the latter from the French _timon_,
helm.
STEEVING. Implies the bowsprit's angle from the horizon: formerly it
stood at an angle of 70 to 80 degrees, and was indeed almost a bow mast
or sprit. Also, the stowing of cotton, wool, or other cargo, in a
merchantman's hold with a jack-screw.
STEM. The foremost piece uniting the bows of a ship; its lower end
scarphs into the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper end. The
outside of the stem is usually marked with a scale of feet and inches,
answering to a perpendicular from the keel, in order to ascertain the
ship's draught of water forward.--_False stem._ When a ship's stem is
too flat, so that she cannot keep a wind well, a false stem, or gripe,
is fayed on before the right one, which enables her to hold a better
wind.--_From stem to stern_, from one end of the ship to the other.--_To
stem_, to make way against any obstacle. "She does not stem the tide,"
that is, she cannot make head against it for want of wind.
STEM-KNEE. In ship-building, the compass-timber which connects the keel
with the stem. (_See_ DEAD-WOOD KNEES.)
STEMSON. An arching piece of compass-timber, worked within the apron to
reinforce the scarph thereof, in the same manner as the apron supports
that of the stem. The upper end is carried as high as the upper deck,
the lower being scarphed on to the kelson.
STEP. A large clamp of timber fixed on the kelson, and fitted to receive
the tenoned heel of a mast. The steps of the main and fore masts of
every ship rest upon the kelson; that of the mizen-mast sometimes rests
upon the lower-deck beams.--_To step a boat's mast._ To erect and secure
it in its step in readiness for setting sail.
STEP OF THE CAPSTAN. A solid block of wood fixed between two of the
ship's beams to receive the iron spindle and heel of the capstan.
STEP OUT, TO. To move along simultaneously and cheerfully with a
tackle-fall, &c.
STEPPES. The specific application is to the vast level plains of
South-east and Asiatic Russia, resembling the Landes of France. (_See_
LANDES.)
STEPPING. The sinking a rabbet in the dead-wood, wherein the heels of
the timbers rest. (_See_ BEARDING-LINE.)
STEPS OF THE SIDE. Pieces of quartering nailed to the sides amidships,
from the wale upwards; for the people ascending or descending the ship.
STERE'S-MAN. A pilot or steerer, from the Anglo-Saxon _steora_.
STERE-TRE. An archaic word for rudder.
STERN. The after-part of a ship, ending in the taffarel above and the
counters below.--_By the stern._ The condition of a vessel which draws
more water abaft than forward.
STERNAGE. The after-part of a ship, and therefore Shakspeare's term is
simple enough for any but commentators. Henry V.'s fleet is sailing
away:--
"O, do but think,
You stand upon the rivage, and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical,
Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow!
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy."
STERN-ALL. A term amongst whalers, meaning to pull the boat stern
foremost, to back off after having entered an iron (_harpoon_).
STERN-BOARD. This term is familiarly known to seamen as tacking by
misadventure in stays; or purposely, as a seamanlike measure, to effect
the object. Thus a ship in a narrow channel is allowed to fly up head to
wind until her stem nearly touches a weather danger; the head-yards are
then quickly braced abox, and the helm shifted. Thus she makes stern-way
until all the sails are full, when she is again skilfully brought to the
wind before touching the danger under her lee. Generally speaking,
however, it refers to bad seamanship.
STERN-CHASERS. The guns which fire directly aft.
STERN-DAVITS. Pieces of iron or timber projecting from the stern, with
sheaves or blocks at their outer ends, for hoisting boats up to.
STERN-FAST. A rope used to confine the stern of a vessel to a wharf, &c.
STERN-FRAME. That strong and ornamental union based on the stern-post,
transom, and fashion-pieces.
STERN-KNEE. Synonymous with _stern-son_ (which see).
STERN-LADDER. Made of ropes with wooden steps, for getting in and out of
the boats astern.
STERNMOST. Implies anything in the rear, or farthest astern, as opposed
to headmost.
STERN-PORTS. The ports made between the stern-timbers.
STERN-POST. The opposite to the _stem_; scarphed into the keel, and
suspending the rudder. In steam-ships, where a screw is fitted, it works
between this and an after stern-post which carries the rudder.
STERN-SHEETS. That part of a boat between the stern and the aftmost
thwart, furnished with seats for passengers.
STERN-SON. A knee-piece of oak-timber, worked on the after dead-wood;
the fore-end is scarphed into the kelson, and the after-side fayed into
the throats of the transoms.
STERN-WALK. The old galleries formerly used to line-of-battle ships.
STERN-WAY. The movement by which a ship goes stern foremost. The
opposite of _head-way_.
STEVEDORE, OR STIVADORE. A stower; one employed in the hold in loading
and unloading merchant vessels.
STEWARD. There are several persons under this appellation in most ships,
according to their size, appointed to the charge of the sea-stores of
the various grades. The paymaster's steward has most to do, having to
serve the crew, and therefore has assistants, distinguished by the
sobriquet of Jack-o'-the-dust, &c. In large passenger ships which do not
carry a purser, part of his duties devolves upon the captain's steward.
In smaller merchant ships the special duties of the steward are not
heavy, so that he assists in the working of the ship, and in tacking;
his station is, _ex officio_, the main-sheet.
STICHLING. A grown perch, thus described by old Palsgrave: "Styckelyng,
a maner of fysshe."
STICKLEBACK. A very small fish, armed with sharp spines on its back.
STICKS. A familiar phrase for masts.
STIFF. Stable or steady; the opposite to _crank_; a quality by which a
ship stands up to her canvas, and carries enough sail without heeling
over too much.
STIFF BOTTOM. A clayey bottom.
STIFF BREEZE. One in which a ship may carry a press of sail, when a
little more would endanger the spars.
STIFFENING ORDER. A custom-house warrant for making a provision in the
shipping of goods, before the whole inward cargo is discharged, to
prevent the vessel getting too light.
STILL WATER. Another name for _slack-tide_; it is also used for water
under the lee of headlands, or where there is neither tide nor current.
STING-RAY. A fish, _Trygon pastinaca_, which wounds with a serrate bone,
lying in a sheath on the upper side of its tail; the wound is painful,
as all fish-wounds are, but not truly poisonous, and the smart is
limited by superstition to the next tide.
STINK-BALLS. A pyrotechnical preparation of pitch, rosin, nitre,
gunpowder, colophony, assaf[oe]tida, and other offensive and suffocating
ingredients, formerly used for throwing on to an enemy's decks at close
quarters, and still in use with Eastern pirates, in earthen jars or
stink-pots.
STIPULATION. A process in the instance-court of the admiralty, which is
conventional when it regards a vessel or cargo, but praetorian and
judicial in proceedings against a person.
STIREMANNUS. The term in _Domesday Book_ for the pilot of a ship or
steersman.
STIRRUP. An iron or copper plate that turns upwards on each side of a
ship's keel and dead-wood at the fore-foot, or at her skegg, and bolts
through all: it is a strengthener, but not always necessary.
STIRRUPS. Ropes with eyes at their ends, through which the foot-ropes
are rove, and by which they are supported; the ends are nailed to the
yards, and steady the men when reefing or furling sails.
STIVER. A very small Dutch coin. "Not worth a stiver" is a colloquialism
to express a person's poverty.
STOACH-WAY. The streamlet or channel which runs through the silt or sand
at low-water in tidal ports; a term principally used on our southern
shores.
STOAKED. The limber-holes impeded or choked, so that the water cannot
come to the pump-well.
STOCADO. A neat thrust in fencing.
STOCCADE. A defensive work, constructed of stout timber or trunks of
trees securely planted together. Originally written _stockade_.
STOCKADE. Now spelled _stoccade_.
STOCK AND FLUKE. The whole of anything.
STOCK-FISH. Ling and haddock when sun-dried, without salt, were called
stock-fish, and used in the navy, but are now discontinued, from being
thought to promote the scurvy.
STOCK OF AN ANCHOR. A cross-beam of wood, or bar of iron, secured to the
upper end of the shank at right angles with the flukes; by its means
the anchor is canted with one fluke down, and made to hook the
ground.--_Stock of a gun, musket, or pistol_, is the wooden part to
which the barrel is fitted, for the convenience of handling and firing
it. _Stock_ is also applied to stores laid in for a voyage, as
sea-stock, live-stock, &c.--_To stock to_, in stowing an anchor, is, by
means of a tackle upon the upper end of the stock, to bowse it into a
perpendicular direction, which tackle is hence denominated the
stock-tackle.
STOCKS. A frame of blocks and shores whereon to build shipping. It has a
gradual declivity towards the water.
STOER-MACKEREL. A name for the young tunny-fish.
STOITING. An east-country term for the jumping of fishes above the
surface of the water.
STOKE, TO. To frequent the galley in a man-of-war, or to trim fires.
STOKE-HOLE. A scuttle in the deck of a steamer to admit fuel for the
engine. Also, the space for the men to stand in, to feed and trim the
fires.
STOKER, OR FIREMAN. The man who attends to feed and trim the fires for
the boilers in a steam-vessel.
STOMACH-PIECE. _See_ APRON.
STONACRE. A sloop-rigged boat employed to carry stone on the Severn.
STONE. The old term for a gun-flint.
STONE-BOW. A cross-bow for shooting stones.
STOOL. A minor channel abaft the main channels, for the dead-eyes of the
backstays. (_See_ BACKSTAY-STOOLS.)
STOOLS. Chocks introduced under the lowest transoms of a ship's
stern-frame, to which the lower ends of the fashion-pieces are fastened;
they form the securities of the quarter-galleries. Also, the thick
pieces of plank, fayed together edgeways, and bolted to the sides of the
ship for backstays. Also, the ornamental block for the poop-lantern to
stand upon.
STOP. A small projection on the outside of the cheeks of a lower mast,
at the upper parts of the hounds. Also, the word given by him who holds
the glass in heaving the log, to check the line and determine how fast
she is going.--_To stop._ To tie up with small stuff; as a sail is
_stopped_ when sending it aloft to prevent the wind from blowing it
away; a flag is _stopped_ to make a wheft, &c.
STOP HER! An order to check the cable in being payed out. Also, a
self-explanatory phrase to direct the engineer of a steamer to stop the
action of the engines.
STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU. A valuable privilege under which an unpaid
consigner or broker may stop or countermand his goods upon their passage
to the consignee on the insolvency of the vendee.
STOPPER OF THE ANCHOR. A strong rope attached to the cat-head, which,
passing through the anchor-ring, is afterwards fastened to a
timber-head, thereby securing the anchor on the bow.
STOPPER OF THE CABLE. Commonly called a deck-stopper. A piece of rope
having a large knot at one end, and hooked or lashed to a ring-bolt in
the deck by the other; it is attached to the cable by a laniard, which
is passed securely round both, by several turns passed behind the knot,
or round the neck of the stopper, by which means the cable is restrained
from running out of the ship when she rides, and is an additional
security to the bitted cable.--_Dog-stopper._ A strong rope clenched
round the main-mast, and used on particular occasions to relieve and
assist the preceding when the ship rides in a heavy sea, or otherwise
veering with a strain on the cable.--_Wing-stoppers._ Similar pieces of
rope clenched round one of the beams near the ship's side, and serving
the same purpose as the preceding.--_Rigging-stoppers_ have a knot and a
laniard at each end; they are used when the shrouds, stays, or backstays
are stranded in action, or in a gale; they are then lashed above and
below, in the same manner as those of the cables, to the wounded parts
of the shroud, &c., which are thereby strengthened, so as to be fit for
service. Other rigging-stoppers have dead-eyes and tails, so that by
securing one dead-eye above and the other below the injury, they can be
set up by their laniard, and brought to an even strain with the other
shrouds. Stoppers are also pieces of rope used to prevent the
running-rigging from coming up whilst being belayed. Sometimes they have
a knot at one end, and a hook at the other, for various purposes about
the decks.
STOPPERING. The act of checking or holding fast any rope or cable by
means of a stopper.
STOPPER-KNOT. Single and double wall, without crowning, and the ends
stopped together.
STOP THE VENT, TO. To close it hermetically by pressing the thumb to it.
STOP-WATER. Anything tending to impede the sailing of a ship, by towing
overboard. Also, a name for particular tree-nails.
STORE-KEEPER. An officer in the royal dockyards, invested with the
general charge of naval stores, as the sails, anchors, cordage, &c.
STORES. A general term for the arms, clothing, ropes, sails, provisions,
and other outfit, with which a ship is supplied.
STORE-SHIP. A government vessel appropriated for carrying munitions and
stores.
STORM, TO. To take by vigorous assault, in spite of the resistance of
the defenders.
STORM-BREEDERS. Heavy cumulo-stratus clouds.
STORM-DRUM. A canvas cylinder 3 feet in length, expanded at each end by
a strong wooden hoop 3 feet in diameter. Fitzroy's is painted black, and
presents, when suspended, the appearance of a black square of 3 feet,
from all points of view.
STORM-FINCH. The petrel, or Mother Cary's chicken.
STORM-JIB. In cutters, the fifth or sixth size: the inner jib of
square-rigged ships.
STORM-KITE. A contrivance for sending a hawser from a stranded vessel to
the shore.
STORMS [from the Anglo-Saxon _steorm_]. Tempests, or _gales of wind_ in
nautic language, are of various kinds, and will be found under their
respective designations. But that is a storm which reduces a ship to her
storm staysails, or to her bare poles.
STORM-SAIL. A sail made of stout No. 1 canvas, of reduced dimensions,
for use in a gale.
STORM-SIGNAL. The hoisting of a danger-flag. Also, Fitzroy's drum and
cone, which show the direction of the expected gale.
STORM-TRYSAIL. A fore-and-aft sail, hoisted by a gaff, but having no
boom at its foot, and only used in foul weather.
STORM-WARNING. _See_ FORECAST.
STORM-WAVE. A wave which tumbles home without being accompanied by wind.
Sometimes the result of a gale elsewhere.
STORMY PETREL. A small dark coloured sea-bird, _Procellaria pelagica_.
STOVE. Broken in; thus, when violent damage is done to the upper part of
a ship's hull, she is said to be _stove_; when on any portion of her
bottom, she is _bilged_.--_A stove_, is a kind of kiln for warping
timber in.--_Hanging stoves_ are also used on board ship for airing the
'tween decks.
STOWAGE. An important art more practised than understood, for the stower
seldom consults the specialities of the vessel's construction; it is the
general disposition of the ballast, cargo, &c., contained in a ship's
hold, with regard to their shape, size, or solidity, agreeably to the
form of the vessel, and its probable centre of gravity. A badly stowed
vessel cannot be properly handled, and is indeed dangerous to the lives
of all on board. Owners and masters are legally liable to the losses by
bad stowage or deficient dunnage. (_See_ WET.)
STOWAGE GOODS. Those which usually pay freight according to bulk.
STOWED IN BULK. _See_ BULK.
STOWING HAMMOCKS. Placing them in a neat and symmetrical order in the
hammock-netting.
STOWING-STRAKE. _See_ STEELER.
STRAGGLING-MONEY. If a man be absent from his duty without leave, but
not absent long enough to be logged as _run_, and is brought on board, a
deduction is to be made from his wages at the discretion of the captain;
not, however, to exceed the sum of L1.
STRAIGHT OF BREADTH. The space before and abaft the dead-flat, in which
the ship is of the same uniform breadth as at the dead-flat.
STRAIN-BANDS. Bands of canvas sustaining the strain on the belly of the
sails, and reinforced by the linings, &c.
STRAIT, OR STRAIGHT. A passage connecting one part of a sea with
another; as, the Straits of Gibraltar, of Sunda, of Dover, &c. This word
is often written in the plural, but without competent reason.
STRAIT GULF. An arm of the sea running into the land through a narrow
entrance channel, as the Gulf of Venice. The Mediterranean itself is but
a vast strait gulf.
STRAKE. One breadth of plank in a ship, either within or without board,
wrought from the stem to the stern-post.--_Garboard-strake._ The lowest
range of planks, faying into the keel-rabbets.--_Wash-strake_ guards
spray.
STRAND. A number of rope-yarns twisted together; one of the twists or
divisions of which a rope is composed. The part which passes through to
form the eye of a splice. Also, a sea-margin; the portion alternately
left and covered by tides. Synonymous with _beach_. It is not altered
from the original Anglo-Saxon.
STRANDED. A rope is stranded when one of its strands is broken by
chafing, or by a strain. A vessel is stranded when driven on shore, in
which case the justices of the peace may call in assistance. The term
"stranded on the beach," is not so incorrect as has been asserted; and
comes under the usual exception in charter-parties and bills of lading,
of "all and every dangers of the seas, rivers, and navigation of
whatsoever nature or kind;" and in all policies of insurance it falls
under the general words of "all other perils, losses, or misfortunes,"
against the risk of which the insurance is made.
STRANGE SAIL. A vessel heaving in sight, of which the particulars are
unknown.
STRAPS OF THE RUDDER. _See_ PINTLES.
STRATAGEM. A plan devised to throw dust into the eyes of an enemy, in
order to deceive him.
STRATEGY. The science of the naval and military combinations which
compel movements and battles, or the contrary, but not including the
operations of actual battle, which belong to _tactics_.
STRATUS. A low cloud which forms a horizontal line. The higher cloud of
the same shape is called _cirro-stratus_.
STRAW! A word of command, now obsolete, formerly given to dismiss
soldiers who were to remain in readiness to fall in again at a moment's
notice.
STRAY LINE OF THE LOG. About 10 or 12 fathoms of line left unmarked next
the log-ship, in order that it may get out of the eddy of the ship's
wake before the measuring begins, or the glass is turned.
STRAY-MARK. The mark at the junction of the stray and log lines.
STREAM. Anglo-Saxon for _flowing water_, meaning especially the middle
or most rapid part of a tide or current.
STREAM-ANCHOR. A smaller one by two-thirds than the bowers, and larger
than the kedges, used to ride steady, or moor with occasionally. In
certain cases it is used for warping.
STREAM-CABLE. A hawser smaller than the lower cables, and used with the
stream-anchor to moor the ship in a sheltered river or haven; it is now
more generally a small chain.
STREAMER. Formerly described thus:--"A streamer shall stand in the toppe
of a shippe, or in the forecastle, and therein be putt no armes, but a
man's conceit or device, and may be of the length of 20, 30, 40, or 60
yardes."
STREAM-ICE. A collection of pieces of drift or bay ice, joining each
other in a ridge following in the line of current. (_See_ SEA-STREAM.)
STREAM-LAKE. One which communicates with, the sea by means of a river.
STREAM THE BUOY, TO. To let the buoy fall from the after-part of the
ship's side into the water, preparatory to letting go the anchor, that
it may not foul the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom.