YACHT. A vessel of state or pleasure: the former is usually employed to
convey great personages. One of the designs of a yacht being
accommodation, they are usually fitted up with great comfort; their
propulsion is by sails or steam. Small yachts, rigged as sloops, were
formerly used by the commissioners of the navy; they were originally
royal yachts, and one at Chatham was renowned as the yacht of Queen
Elizabeth, the same plate being in use in her up to a very late date.
Private pleasure-boats, when sufficiently large for a sea voyage, are
also termed yachts. (_See_ ROYAL YACHT.)
YACHT CLUB, ROYAL. An institution embodied by a number of noblemen and
gentlemen about the year 1820, to which certain privileges are attached.
It was originally established at Cowes, but several ports, as well as
the Thames, have their special clubs, and similar privileges.
YAM. The tubers of the _Dioscorea sativa_, and others; a valuable
vegetable on long voyages. _D. aculeata_ frequently produces tubers 3
feet long, and weighing 30 lbs. Also, the West India word for food;
"Toko for yam," the negro's punishment--blows but no food.
YANKEE. An appellation often erroneously given to North Americans in
general, whereas it is strictly applicable to those of the New England
states only; it is not used complimentarily in the back settlements.
YARD. A measure of length, consisting of 3 feet.
YARD [Anglo-Saxon _gyrde_]. A long cylindrical timber suspended upon the
mast of a vessel to spread a sail. They are termed square, lateen, or
lug: the first are suspended across the masts at right angles, and the
two latter obliquely. The square yards taper from the middle, which is
called the slings, towards the extremities, which are termed the
yard-arms; and the distance between is divided by the artificers into
quarters, called the first, second, third quarters, and yard-arms. The
middle quarters are formed into eight sides, and each of the end parts
is figured like the frustum of a cone: on the alternate sides of the
octagon, in large spars, oak battens are brought on and hooped, so as to
strengthen, and yet not greatly increase, the weight.--_To brace the
yards._ To traverse them about the masts, so as to form greater or
lesser angles with the ship's length. (_See_ BRACE.)--_To square the
yards._ (_See_ SQUARE.)
YARD-ARM. That part of a yard outside the quarter, which is on either
side of the mast beyond the battens, when it lies athwart the ship. It
generally means the extremity of the yard, and it is fitted with
sheave-holes for reeving sheets through.
YARD-ARM AND YARD-ARM. The situation of two ships lying alongside one
another, so near that their yard-arms nearly touch each other, or even
cross. The term implies close action and no mistake.
YARD-ARM CLEATS. Wooden wedges fixed on the yards at those points where
they support the lifts and braces, and where the head-earings are
secured. The reef-cleats on the topsail-yards are beyond the lifts and
braces.
YARD-ARM PIECE. An octagonal piece of timber supplied to replace a
yard-arm if shot away. It is one-third the length of the main-yard.
YARD-ROPE. Is only used for temporary purposes; the most usual
application of the term is that by which a yard is hoisted for crossing,
or sent down. Also, rove for execution. The yard-rope of the lighter
yards is the halliards, which, when the yard is crossed, is made into
tie and halliards by a peculiar mode of toggling on the halliard
purchase, as in the order, "Toggle the halliards!"
YARDS. _See_ DOCKYARDS.
YARDS APEEK. When they are topped, so as to resemble St. Andrew's cross;
it is done as a token of mourning, or for convenience when vessels lie
alongside of each other, as in the docks.
YARD-TACKLES. Tackles attached to the fore and main yards of a ship,
whereby, with the assistance of the stay-tackles, the boats and other
weights are hoisted in and out. Yard-tackles are sometimes hooked to a
pendant, which is secured to the top-mast head, and hauled out to the
yard-arm by means of a small tackle, until the yard-tackle plumbs the
spot where it is wished to work.
YARE [Ang.-Sax. for dexterous or quick]. It was formerly a favourite
nautical phrase, as "Be yare at the helm;" and is used by Shakspeare's
boatswain in the _Tempest_.
YAREMLEK. A silver Turkish coin of 20 paras, or 9_d._ sterling.
YARMOUTH CAPON. A red herring; a bloater.
YARMOUTH HERRING-BOAT. A clincher-built vessel with lug-sails, similar
to the drift or mackerel boats.
YARN. One of the threads of which ropes are composed. A number of these
are twisted together to form a strand, in proportion to the size of the
proposed rope. Three strands are then twisted into one another, which
completes the process of ordinary rope-making; but cables, hawsers, and
other ground tackling, are composed of three strands, each of which is
formed of three lesser ones. (_See_ CABLE, HAWSER, &c.)--_A tough yarn._
A long story, or tale, hard to be believed.
YARN-SPINNING. A figurative expression for telling a story.
YATAGHAN. A crooked sabre used in the Levant. Also, the knife-swords of
India.
YAUGH. An archaic term for a little bark, pinnace, or yacht.
YAW. The quick movement by which a ship deviates from the direct line of
her course towards the right or left, from unsteady steering.
YAWL. A man-of-war's boat, resembling the pinnace, but rather smaller;
it is carvel-built, and generally rowed with twelve oars. The yawl in
the Customs Act is a carvel-built vessel of the cutter class, but
having a jigger or mizen lug, the boom-mainsail being curtailed, so that
its boom traverses clear of the mizen-mast: used also by yachts. Also, a
small fishing-vessel.
YAW-SIGHTED. A nautical term for those who squint.
YAW-YAW. A nickname for the seamen of the shores of the Baltic.
YEAR. The duration of the earth's revolution round the sun, or of the
apparent revolution of the sun in the ecliptic.
YELL. An old sea-term to express a rolling motion.
YELLOW ADMIRAL. A retired post-captain, who, not having served his time
in that rank, is not entitled to his promotion to the active flag.
YELLOW-BELLY. A name given to a person born in the fens along our
eastern shores: also occasionally to half-castes, &c.
YELLOW FEVER. A cant term for drunkenness at Greenwich Hospital; the
sailors when punished wearing a parti-coloured coat, in which yellow
predominates.
YELLOW-FLAG. The signal of quarantine.
YELLOWING. The passing over of captains at a flag promotion.
YELLOW-TAIL. A well-known tropical fish, often in company with
whip-rays; it is about 4 feet long, with a great head, large eyes, and
many fins. _Leiostomas_.
YEO-HEAVE-YEOING. The chant or noise made at the windlass and
purchase-falls in a merchantman, to cheer and lighten labour, but not
permitted in a man-of-war.
YEOMAN. An experienced hand placed in charge of a store-room, who should
be able to keep the accounts of supply and expenditure.
YESTY [from the Anglo-Saxon _gist_]. A foaming breaking sea. Shakspeare
in _Macbeth_ gives great power to this state of the waters:--
"Though the yesty waves
Confound, and swallow navigation up."
YOKE. A transverse board or metal bar, a substitute for the tiller,
which crosses the head of a boat's rudder, and having two lines
extending from its opposite extremities to the stern-sheets of the boat,
whereby she is steered.
YOKE-LINES. The ropes by which the boat's steerage is managed.
YOUNG. A word often used for uninitiated.--_Young gentlemen_, a general
designation for midshipmen, whatever their age.
YOUNG FLOOD. _See_ FLOOD.
YOUNG ICE. Nearly the same as bay-ice, except that it is only applied to
ice very recently formed, or of the present season.
YOUNGSTER, OR YOUNKER [an old term; from the Anglo-Saxon _junker_]. A
volunteer of the first-class, and a general epithet for a stripling in
the service.
YOUNG WIND. The commencement of the land or sea breeze.
YOU, SIR! The irritating mode in which some officers address the seamen.
The late Lord Collingwood never permitted it.
YOW-YOW. A smaller kind of Chinese sampan.
Y'S OF AN INSTRUMENT. The Y-shaped bearings for the telescope axis, on
the precision of which the value of an astronomical observation much
depends: similar to the bearings of steam-engines, &c.