WHITE-LAPPELLE. A sobriquet for a lieutenant, in allusion to his former
uniform. (_See_ LAPPELLE.)
WHITE-ROPE. Rope which has not been tarred. Manilla, coir, and some
other ropes, do not require tarring.
WHITE SQUALL. A tropical wind said to give no warning; it sweeps the
surface with spoon-drift.
WHITE-TAPE. A term amongst smugglers for hollands or gin.
WHITE-WATER. That which is seen over extensive sandy patches, where,
owing to the limpidity and shallowness of the sea, the light of the sky
is reflected.
WHITING. The name given in Cumberland to the _Salmo albus_, or white
salmon. Also the _Gadus merlangus_, both split or dried.
WHITTLE [from the Anglo-Saxon _hwytel_]. A knife; also used for a sword,
but contemptuously.--_To whittle._ To cut sticks.
WHITWORTH GUN. A piece rifled by having a twisted hexagonal bore, and
throwing a more elongated shot with a sharper twist than the Armstrong
gun, with results experimentally more beautiful, but not yet so
practically useful.
WHO COMES THERE? The night challenge of a sentry on his post.
WHOLE-MOULDING. The old method of forming the principal part of a
vessel. Boats are now the only vessels in which this method is
practised.
WHOLESOME SHIP. One that will try, hull, and ride well, without heavy
labouring in the sea.
WHOODINGS. Those ends of planks which are let into the rabbets of the
stem, the stern-posts, &c. (_See_ RABBET and HOOD-ENDS.)
WHO SAYS AMEN? Who will clap on with a will?
WHO SHALL HAVE THIS? An impartial sea method of distributing the shares
of short commons. One person turns his back on the portions, and names
some one, when he is asked, "_Who shall have this?_"
WICH. A port, as Harwich, Greenwich, &c.
WICK [Anglo-Saxon _wyc_]. A creek, bay, or village, by the side of a
river.
WICKET. A small door in the gate of a fortress, for use by
foot-passengers when the gate is closed.
WIDDERSHINS. A northern term signifying a motion contrary to the course
of the sun. The Orkney fishermen consider themselves in imminent danger
at sea, if, by accident, their vessel is turned _against the sun_.
WIDE-GAB. A name of the _Lophius piscatorius_, toad-fish, or
fishing-frog.
WIDOWS' MEN. Imaginary sailors, formerly borne on the books as A.B.'s
for wages in every ship in commission; they ceased with the consolidated
pay at the close of the war. The institution was dated 24 Geo. II. to
meet widows' pensions; the amount of pay and provisions for two men in
each hundred was paid over by the paymaster-general of the navy to the
widows' fund.
WILD. A ship's motion when she steers badly, or is badly steered. A
_wild roadstead_ implies one that is exposed to the wind and sea.
WILDFIRE. A pyrotechnical preparation burning with great fierceness,
whether under water or not; it is analogous to the ancient Greek fire,
and is composed mainly of sulphur, naphtha, and pitch.
WILD-WIND. An old term for _whirlwind_.
WILL, WITH A. With all zeal and energy.
WILL. A term on our northern shores for a sea-gull.
WILLICK. A northern name for the _Fratercula arctica_, or puffin.
WILLIE-POURIT. A northern name for the seal.
WILLIWAW. A sort of whirlwind, occurring in Tierra del Fuego.
WILLOCK. A name for the guillemot, _Uria troile_.
WIMBLE. The borer of a carpenter's centre-bit.
WINCH [from the Anglo-Saxon _wince_]. A purchase formed by a shaft whose
extremities rest in two channels placed horizontally or perpendicularly,
and furnished with cranks, or clicks, and pauls. It is employed as a
purchase by which a rope or tackle-fall may be more powerfully applied
than when used singly. A small one with a fly-wheel is used for making
ropes and spun-yarn. Also, a support to the windlass ends. Also, the
name of long iron handles by which the chain-pumps are worked. Also, a
small cylindrical machine attached to masts or bitts in vessels, for the
purpose of hoisting anything out of the hold, warping, &c.
WINCH-BITTS. The supports near their ends.
WIND [precisely the Anglo-Saxon word]. A stream or current of air which
may be felt. The horizon being divided into 32 points (_see_ COMPASS),
the wind which blows from any of them has an assignable name.
WINDAGE. The vacant space left between a shot and the bore of the piece
to which it belongs, generally expressed by the difference of their
diameters; it is for facility of loading, but the smaller it is the
better will be the performance of the gun.
WIND AND WATER LINE. That part of a ship lying at the surface of the
water which is alternately wet and dry by the motion of the waves.
WIND A SHIP OR BOAT, TO. To change her position by bringing her stern
round to the place where the head was. (_See_ WENDING.)
WIND AWAY, TO. To steer through narrow channels.
WIND-BANDS. Long clouds supposed to indicate bad weather.
WIND-BOUND. Detained at an anchorage by contrary winds.
WIND-FALL. A violent gust of wind rushing from coast-ranges and
mountains to the sea. Also, some piece of good luck, a turtle, fish,
vegetables, or a prize.
WIND-GAGE. _See_ ANEMOMETER.
WIND-GALL. A luminous halo on the edge of a distant cloud, where there
is rain, usually seen in the wind's eye, and looked upon as a sure
precursor of stormy weather. Also, an atmospheric effect of prismatic
colours, said likewise to indicate bad weather if seen to leeward.
WINDING A CALL. The act of blowing or piping on a boatswain's whistle,
to communicate the necessary orders. (_See_ CALL.)
WINDING-TACKLE. A tackle formed of one fixed triple three-sheaved block,
and one double or triple movable block. It is principally used to hoist
any weighty materials, as the cannon, into or out of a ship.
WINDING-TACKLE PENDANT. A strong rope made fast to the lower mast-head,
and forming the support of the winding-tackle.
WIND IN THE TEETH. Dead against a ship.
WINDLASS [from the Ang.-Sax. _windles_]. A machine erected in the
fore-part of a ship which serves to ride by, as well as heave in the
cable. It is composed of the carrick-heads or windlass-heads, which are
secured to all the deck-beams beneath, and backed by long sleeper knees
on deck. The main-piece is whelped like the capstan, and suspended at
its ends by powerful spindles falling into metal bearings in the carrick
or windlass heads. Amidships it is supported by chocks, where it is also
furnished with a course of windlass-pawls, four taking at separate
angles on a main ratchet, and bearing on one quadrant of the
circumference. The cables have three turns round this main-piece (one
cable on each side): holes are cut for the windlass-bars in each eighth
of the squared sides. The windlass may be said also to be supported or
reinforced by the pawl-bitts, two powerful bitt-heads at the
centre.--_Spanish windlass._ A machine formed of a handspike and a
small lever, usually a tree-nail, or a tree-nail and a marline-spike, to
set up the top-gallant rigging, heave in seizings, or for any other
short steady purchase.
WINDLASS-BITTS. _See_ CARRICK-BITTS.
WINDLASS-CHOCKS. Those pieces of oak or elm fastened inside the bows of
small craft, to support the ends of the windlass.
WINDLASS-ENDS. Two pieces which continue the windlass outside the
bitt-heads.
WINDLASS-LINING. Pieces of hard wood fitted round the main-piece of a
windlass to prevent chafing, and also to enable the cable to hold on
more firmly.
WINDLESTRAY. A sort of bent or seaside grass.
WINDLIPPER. The first effects of a breeze of wind on smooth water,
before waves are raised.
WIND-RODE. A ship is wind-rode when the wind overcomes an opposite tidal
force, and she rides head to wind.
WINDS. _Local_ or _peculiar_.--_Trade-winds_ occur within and beyond the
tropical parallels. They are pretty regular in the North Atlantic, as
far as 5 deg. N., where calms may be expected, or the south-east trade
may reach across, depending on the season; but when near land they yield
to the _land and sea breezes_. Thus at 10 deg. N. the land-breeze will be
at E. from 11 P.M. until 6 A.M., then calm intervenes up to 10 A.M., when
the sea-breeze sets in, probably W., and blows home fresh. Yet at 20
miles off shore the trade-wind may blow pretty strong from N.E. or
E.N.E.--The _harmattan_ is a sudden dry wind blowing off the coast of
Africa, so charged with almost impalpable dust that the sun is obscured.
It sucks up all moisture, cracks furniture and earthenware, and
prostrates animal nature. The rigging of vessels becomes a dirty brown,
and the dust adhering to the blacking cannot be removed.--The _tornado_
lasts for a short time, but is of great force during its continuance.--The
_northers_ in the Gulf of Mexico, or off the Heads of Virginia, are not
only very heavy gales, but are attended with severe cold. On a December
day, off Galveston, the temperature in a calm was at sunset 86 deg. The
norther came on about midnight, and at 8 A.M. the temperature had fallen
to 12 deg., and icicles were hanging from the eaves of the houses. The
_Tiempo di Vendavales_, or southers of Western America, is an opposite,
blowing heavily home to the coast. The _taifung_ of China, or typhoon of
the Indian seas, is indeed precisely similar to the hurricane of the
West Indies.
WIND-SAIL. A funnel of canvas employed to ventilate a ship by conveying
a stream of fresh air down to the lower decks. It is suspended by a whip
through the hatchways, and kept open by means of hoops; the upper part
is also open on one side, and guyed to the wind. Ships of war in hot
climates have generally three or four of these wind-sails.
WIND-TAUT. A vessel at anchor, heeling over to the force of the wind.
WIND-TIGHT. A cask or vessel to contain water is said to be wind-tight
and water-tight.
WINDWARD. The weather-side; that on which the wind blows; the opposite
of _leeward_ (which see). Old sailors exhort their neophytes to throw
nothing over the weather-side except ashes or hot water: a hint not
mistakable.
WINDWARD SAILING, OR TURNING TO WINDWARD. That mode of navigating a ship
in which she endeavours to gain a position situated in the direction
whence the wind is blowing. In this case progress is made by frequent
tacking, and trimming sail as near as possible to the wind.
WINDWARD SET. The reverse of _leeward set_.
WINDWARD TIDE. _See_ WEATHER-TIDE.
WINE OF HEIGHT. A former perquisite of seamen on getting safely through
a particular navigation.
WING. The projecting part of a steamer's deck before and abaft each of
the paddle-boxes, bounded by the _wing-wale_.
WING-AND-WING. A ship coming before the wind with studding-sails on both
sides; also said of fore-and-aft vessels, when they are going with the
wind right aft, the fore-sail boomed out on one side, and the main-sail
on the other.
WINGERS. Small casks stowed close to the side in a ship's hold, where
the large casks would cause too great a rising in that part of the tier.
WINGS. Those parts of the hold and orlop-deck which are nearest to the
sides. This term is particularly used in the stowage of the several
materials contained in the hold, and between the cable-tiers and the
ship's sides. In ships of war they are usually kept clear, that the
carpenter and his crew may have access round the ship to stop shot-holes
in time of action. Also, the skirts or extremities of a fleet, when
ranged in a line abreast, or when forming two sides of a triangle. It is
usual to extend the wings of a fleet in the daytime, in order to
discover any enemy that may fall in their track; they are, however,
generally summoned by signal to form close order before night. In
military parlance, the right and left divisions of a force, whether
these leave a centre division between them or not.--_Wing-transom._ The
uppermost transom in the stern-frame, to which the heels of the
counter-timbers are let on and bolted.
WING UP BALLAST, TO. To carry the dead weight from the bottom as high as
consistent with the stability of a ship, in order to ease her quick
motion in rolling.
WING-WALE. A thick plank extending from the extremity of a steamer's
paddle-beam to her side; it is also designated the _sponson-rim_.
WINNOLD-WEATHER. An eastern-county term for stormy March weather.
WINTER-FISH. This term generally alludes to cured cod and ling.
WINTER-QUARTERS. The towns or posts occupied during the winter by troops
who quit the campaign for the season. Also, the harbour to which a
blockading fleet retires in wintry gales. In Arctic parlance, the spot
where ships are to remain housed during the winter months--from the 1st
October to the 1st July or August.
WINTER-SOLSTICE. _See_ CAPRICORNUS.
WIPER. A cogged contrivance in machinery by which a rotatory motion is
converted into a reciprocating motion.
WIPER-SHAFT. An application to the valve equipoise of a marine-engine:
their journals or bearings lie in bushes, which are fixed upon the frame
of the engine.
WIRE-MICROMETER. An instrument necessary for delicate astronomical
measurements. It contains vertical and horizontal wires, or
spider-lines, acting in front of a comb or scale for distances, and on a
graduated circle on the screw-head for positions.
WIRE-ROPE. Rigging made of iron wire galvanized, and laid up like common
cordage.
WISBUY LAWS. A maritime code which, though framed at a town in the now
obscure island of Gothland, in the Baltic, was submissively adopted by
Europe.
WISHES [from the British _usk_, water]. Low lands liable to be
overflowed.
WISHY-WASHY. Any beverage too weak. Over-watered spirits.
"His food the land-crab, lizard, or the frog;
His drink a wish-wash of six-water grog."
WITH. An iron instrument fitted to the end of a boom or mast, with a
ring to it, through which another boom or mast is rigged out and
secured. Also, in mechanics, the elastic withe handles of cold chisels,
set-tools, &c., which prevent a jar to the assistant's wrist.
WITH A WILL. Pull all together.
WITHERSHINS. _See_ WIDDERSHINS.
WITHEYS. Any low places near rivers where willows grow.
WITHIN-BOARD. Inside a ship.
WITHOUT. Outside, as, studding-sail without studding-sail; or, _without
board_, outside a ship.
WITH THE SUN. Ropes coiled from the left hand towards the right; but
where the sun passes the meridian north of the observer, it is of course
the reverse.
WITNESSES, OR TEMOINS, are certain piles of earth left in digging docks,
or other foundations, to judge how many cubic feet of earth have been
removed.
WITTEE-WITTEE. The ingeniously-constructed fish-hook of the Pacific
islanders, made of mother-of-pearl, with hair tufts, serving at once
both as hook and bait.
WOARE. An old term for sea-weed. Also, the shore margin or beach.
WOBBLE, TO. In mechanics, to sway or roll from side to side. (_See_
WABBLE.)
WOLD. An extensive plain, covered with grass and herbs, but bare of
trees.
WOLF. A kind of fishing-net.
WOLF-FISH. _Anarhichas lupus_, also called cat-fish. A fish of the
northern seas, from 2 to 3 feet long, with formidable teeth, with which
it crushes the shells of the crustaceans and mollusks on which it
feeds.
WOLYING. The old way of spelling _woolding_.
WONDER-CHONE. An old term, mentioned by Blount as a contrivance for
catching fish.
WONGS. A term on our east coast, synonymous with low lands or _wishes_
(which see).
WOOD, TO. A gun is said to wood when it takes the port-sills or
port-sides, or the trucks the water-ways.--_To wood._ When
wooding-parties are sent out to cut or procure wood for a ship.
WOOD AND WOOD. When two pieces of timber are so let into each other as
to join close. Also, when a tree-nail is driven through, its point being
even with the inside surface.
WOODEN BUOYS. Buoyant constructions of wood of various shapes, with a
ring-bolt at each end, to which vessels can make fast for a time. (_See_
DOLPHIN.)
WOOD-ENDS. _See_ HOOD-ENDS.
WOODEN WALLS. A term signifying the fleet, and though thought to be
peculiarly English, was used by the Delphic oracle, when applied to by
the Athenians on the Persian invasion: "Defend yourselves by wooden
walls."
WOODEN-WINGS. The lee-boards, for keeping barges to windward.
WOOD-LOCKS OF THE RUDDER. Pieces of timber sheathed with copper, in
coppered ships, placed in the throating or scores of the stern-post, to
prevent the rudder from rising or unshipping.
WOOD-MULLS. Large thick hose worn by the men in coasters and
fishing-boats.
WOOD-SHEATHING. All plank applied to strengthen a vessel. (_See_
DOUBLE.)
WOOF. A northern name of the gray gurnard.
WOOLDERS. Bandages. The bolt of a Spanish windlass is called a woolder.
WOOLDING. The act of winding a piece of rope about a mast or yard, to
support it where it is fished, or when it is composed of several pieces.
Also, the rope employed in this service.
WOOL-PACKS. In meteorology, light clouds in a blue sky.
WORD. The watch-word; the parole and countersign, which, being issued to
the authorized persons at guard-mounting, become a test whereby spies or
strangers are detected.
WORK, TO. Said of a ship when she strains in a tempestuous sea, so as to
loosen her joints.
WORK ABACK. This is said of a steam-engine if reversed, to propel the
vessel astern.
WORK A SHIP, TO. To adapt the sails to the force and direction of the
wind.
WORK DOUBLE-TIDES, TO. Implying that the work of three days is done in
two, or at least two tides' work in twenty-four hours.
WORKING A DAY'S WORK. Reducing the dead-reckoning and meridian altitudes
to noon of each day.
WORKING A LUNAR. Reducing the observations of the sun and moon, or moon
and stars, in order to find the longitude. Also, a phrase used when a
man sleeps during a conversation.
WORKING AN OBSERVATION. Reducing the altitudes or distances of heavenly
bodies by calculation.
WORKING PARTIES. Gangs of hands employed on special duties out of the
ship or dockyard.
WORKING TO WINDWARD. Sailing against the wind by alternate tacks. (_See_
BEATING.)
WORKING UP. The keeping men at work on needless matters, beyond the
usual hours, for punishment.
WORKS. All fortificational constructions, whether permanent, field, or
makeshifts of the moment; from the most solid bastion to the rudest
rifle-pit.
WORK UP JUNK, TO. To draw yarns from old cables, &c., and therewith to
make foxes, points, gaskets, sinnet, or spun-yarn.
WORM. An iron tool shaped like a double cork-screw on the end of a long
staff, for withdrawing charges, ignited remains of cartridges, &c., from
fire-arms. Called also a wad-hook in artillery. (_See also_ TEREDO
NAVALIS.)--_To worm._ The act of passing a rope spirally between the
lays of a cable; a smaller rope is wormed with spun-yarn. Worming is
generally resorted to as a preparative for serving. (_See_ LINK WORMING.)
WORM-EATEN, OR WORMED. The state of a plank or of a ship's bottom when
perforated by a particular kind of boring mollusk, _Teredo navalis_,
which abounds in the tropics.
WORMS. Timber is preserved against worms by several coats of common
whale-oil, or by the patents of Payne, Sir W. Burnett, Kyan, and others.
WRACK. The English name for the fucus; the sea-weed used for the
manufacture of kelp, and in some places artificially grown for that
purpose.
WRACK-RIDER. A species of brandling faintly barred on both sides.
WRAIN-BOLT. A ring-bolt with two or more forelock-holes in it,
occasionally to belay or make fast towards the middle. It is used, with
the wrain-staff in the ring, for _setting-to_ the planks.
WRAIN-STAFF. A stout billet of tough wood, tapered at its ends, so as to
go into the ring of the wrain-bolt, to make the necessary setts for
bringing-to the planks or thick stuff to the timber.
WRASSE. The _Crenilabrus tinca_, a sea-fish, sometimes called old-wife.
WRECK. The destruction of a ship by stress of weather, rocks, &c.; also
the ruins of the ship after such accidents; also the goods and fragments
which drive on shore after a ship is stranded. It is said that the term
is derived from the sea-weed called _wrack_, denoting all that the sea
washes on shore as it does this weed. A ship cast on shore is no wreck,
in law, when any domestic animal has escaped with life in her. The
custody of the cargo or goods belongs to the deputy of the vice-admiral,
and they are restored to the proprietors without any fees or salvage,
but what the labour of those who saved them may reasonably deserve.
WRECKAGE. Spars, rigging, or goods floating about after a wreck.
WRECKERS. A name which includes both meritorious salvors of ships in
distress, and the felonious brutes who merely hasten to wrecks for
plunder. One of our British colonies deemed it so entirely a legal
procedure to make a wreck of or cripple a vessel on the reef, that a
naval officer was threatened with legal proceedings by a lawyer whom he
prevented from carrying out his practice afloat.
WRECK-FREE. Is to be exempt from the forfeiture of shipwrecked goods and
vessels: a privilege which Edward I. granted by charter to the barons of
the Cinque Ports.
WRIGHT'S SAILING. Synonymous with _Mercator's sailing_.
WRING A MAST, TO. To bend, cripple, or strain it out of its natural
position by setting the shrouds up too taut. The phrase, _to wring_, is
also applied to a capstan when by an undue strain the component parts of
the wood become deranged, and are thereby disunited. The head of a mast
is frequently wrung by bracing up the lower yards beyond the dictates of
sound judgment.
WRONG, TO. To out-sail a vessel by becalming her sails is said to wrong
her.
WRONG WAY. When the ship casts in the opposite direction to that
desired. Also, a ship swinging in a tide's way, out of the direction
which would keep her hawse clear.
WRUNG-HEADS. An old term for that part of a ship near the floor-heads
and second futtock-heels, which, when she lies aground, bears the
greatest strain.