To gather. A ship is said to gather on another as she comes nearer to her. Gimbleting; the action of turning the anchor round by the stock, so that the motion of the stock appears similar to that of the handle of a gimblet, when employed to turn the wire.

Girt. The ship is girt with her cables when she is too tight moored.

To give chase to; to pursue a ship or fleet.

Goose-wings of a sail; the clews or lower corners of a ship's mainsail or foresail, when the middle part is furled or tied up to the yard.

Grappling-iron; a thing in the nature of an anchor, with four or six flukes to it.

Grave; to burn off the filth from a ship's bottom.

Gripe of a ship; that thin part of her which is under the counter, and to which the sternpost joins. The ship gripes, that is, turns her, head too much to the wind.

Grommet; a piece of rope laid into a circular form, and used for large boats' oars instead of rowlocks, and also for many other purposes.

Grounding; the laying the ship ashore, in order to repair her. It is also applied to running aground accidentally.

Ground tackle; every thing belonging to a ship's anchors, and which are necessary for anchoring or mooring; such as cables, hawsers, tow-lines, warps, buoy-ropes, &c.

Ground fier; that is, the tier of water casks which is lowest in the hold, and is among the shingle ballast.

Growing; stretching out; applied to the direction of the cable from the ship towards the anchors; as, The cable grows on the starboard bow.

Gunnel; the upper edge of a ship's side.

Gun-room; a division of the lower deck abaft, inclosed with net-work, for the use of the gunner and his stores.

Gybing; the act of shifting any boom-sail from one side of the mast to the other.

H.

Hail; to call to another ship.

Halliards; the ropes by which the sails are hoisted as, the topsail-halliards, or jibhalliards, &c.

Handing; the same as furling.

Hard a-weather; put the tiller quite up to windward.

Haul; pull.

To haul the wind; to direct the ship's course nearer to the point from which the wind

blows.

Hawse-holes; the holes in the bows of the ship through which the cables pass. - Freshen hawse; veer out more cable. Clap a service in the hawse; put somewhat round the cable at the hawse-hole to prevent its chafing.-To clear hawse, is to untwist the cables where a ship is moored, and has got a foul hawse. - Athwart hawse, is to be across or before another ship's head.

Hawser; a small kind of cable.

Head-fast; a rope employed to confine the head of a ship to a wharf or to some other ship. Headmost; the situation of any ship or ships which are the most advanced in a fleet. — Head-sails; all the sails which belong to the foremast and bowsprit.

Head-sea. When the waves meet the head of a ship in her course, they are called a headsea. It is likewise applied to a single wave coming in that direction.

Head to wind; the situation of a ship when her head is turned to the point from which the wind blows, as it must be when tacking.

Head-way; the motion of advancing, used in opposition to stern-way.

To heave; to turn about a capstan, or other machine of the like kind, by means of bars, handspikes, &c. To heave ahead; to advance the ship by heaving in the cable or other rope fastened to an anchor at some distance before her. - To heave a-peak; to heave in the cable till the anchor is a-peak. — To heave astern; to move a ship backwards by an operation similar to that of heaving ahead. To heave down; to careen. To heave in the cable; to draw the cable into the ship, by turning the capstan. To heare in stays; to bring a ship's head to the wind, by a management of the sails and rudder, in order to get on the other tack. To heave out; to unfurl or loose a sail; more particularly applied to the staysails; thus we say, Loose the topsails, and heave out the staysails. To heare short; to draw so much of the cable into the ship as that she will be almost perpendicularly over her anchor. To heave tight or taught; to turn the capstan round till the rope or cable becomes straightened. To heave the lead; to throw the lead overboard, in order to find the depth of water. To heave the log; to throw the log overboard, in order to find the velocity of the ship. Heave the capstan; that is, turn it round with the bars. Heare handsomely; heave gently or leisurely. - Heave hearty; heave strong and quick. Heave of the sea, is the power that the swell of the sea has upon a ship in driving her out, or faster on, in her course, and for which allowance is made in the day's work. Heel, or incline. - She heels to port; that is, inclines or lays down upon her larbpard or left

side.

1

Helm; the instrument by which the ship is steered, and includes both the wheel and the tiller as one general term.

High and dry; the situation of a ship when so far run aground as to be seen dry upon the

strand.

Hitch; to make fast.

Hoist; to haul, sway, or lift up.

Hold is the space between the lower deck and the bottom of the ship, where her cargo, &c., lie.

To stow the hold, is to place the things in it.

:

To hold its own, is applied to the relative situation of two ships when neither advances upon the other each is then said to hold its own. It is likewise said of a ship, which, by means of contrary winds, cannot make a progress towards her destined port, but which, however, keeps nearly the distance she had already run. Home implies the proper situation of any object; as, To haul home the topsail-sheets, is to extend the bottom of the topsail to the lower yard, by means of the sheets. In stowing a hold, a cask, &c., is said to be home, when it lies close to some other object.

Hulk; a ship without masts or rigging; also a vessel employed in the removal of masts into or out of ships by means of sheers, from whence it is called a sheer hulk.

Horse; a rope reaching from the middle of a yard to its arms or extremities, for the men to stand on when they are loosing, reefing, or furling a sail.

Hull of the ship; the body of it.- To lay a-hull, is to lay to with only a small sail, in a gale of wind. To hull a vessel, is to fire a shot into any part of her hull. Hull down, is when a ship is so far off that you can only see her masts.— To hull a ship; to fire cannon balls into her hull within the point-blank range. — Hull to; the situation of a ship when she lies with all her sails furled, as in trying.

Jamming; the act of enclosing any object between two bodies, so as to render it immovable.

Jeer-blocks; the blocks through which jeers are reeved.

Jeers; the ropes by which the lower yards are suspended.

Jib; the foremost sail of a ship, set upon a boom which runs out upon the bowsprit.
Jib-boom; a spar that runs out upon the bowsprit.

Jolly-boat; a small boat.

Junk; old cable, or old rope.

Jury-mast; a temporary or occasional mast, erected in a ship in the place of one which has been carried away by accident, &c.

Kedge; a small anchor with an iron stock.

K.

Keel; the principal piece of timber in a ship, which is usually first laid on the blocks in building.

Keel-haul; to drag a person backwards and forwards under a ship's keel for certain offences. Keckled; any part of a cable covered over with old ropes, to prevent its surface from rubbing against the ship's bow or fore-foot.

To keep away; to alter the ship's course to one rather more large, for a little time, to avoid some ship, danger, &c.-"Keep away!" is likewise said to the steersman who is apt to go to windward of the ship's course.- To keep full; to keep the sails distended by the wind. To keep hold of the land; to steer near to or in sight of the land. - To keep off; to sail off, or keep at a distance from the shore. To keep the land aboard; the same as to keep hold of the land. To keep the luff; to continue close to the wind.— To keep the wind; the same as to keep the luff.

Kelson; a piece of timber forming the interior of the keel, being laid on the middle of the
floor timbers immediately over the keel, and serving to unite the former to the latter.
Kentledge; pigs of iron for ballast, laid upon the floor, near the kelson, fore and aft.
Kenk; a sort of twist or turn in a cable or rope.

Knippers; a large kind of plaited rope, which, being twisted round the messenger and cable in weighing, binds them together.

Knot; a division of the log-line, answering, in the calculation of the ship's velocity, to one mile.

Kumatage; a bright appearance in the horizon, under the sun or moon, arising from the reflected light of those bodies from the small rippling waves on the surface of the water

L.

To labor; to roll or pitch heavily in a turbulent sea.

Laden in bulk; freighted with a cargo not packed, but lying loose, as corn, salt, &c.

Laid

up; the situation of a ship when moored in a harbor, for want of employ. Landfull; the first land discovered after a sea voyage. Thus a good landfall implies the land expected or desired; a bad landfall, the reverse.

Therefore the latitude of the southern point of Madeira, by account, is 32° 29′ N., and its longitude 17° 12′ W. These values differ but little from those in the Table of Latitudes and Longitudes; we may, therefore, conclude that the Journal is nearly correct, and the latitude and longitude of that part of Madeira well laid down.

Monday, April 11, 1836.-Pleasant gales and fair weather. At 4 P. M., came to,

EXPLANATION OF SEA TERMS.

ABACK; the situation of the sails when their surfaces are pressed aft against the mast by the force of the wind.

the stern.

Abaft, or aft; the sternmost part of the ship. - Carry aft any thing; that is, carry towards -The mast rakes aft; that is, hangs towards the stern.-"How cheer ye fore and aft?" that is, How fares all the ship's company?

-

Abaft the beam, denotes the relative situation of any object with the ship, when the object is placed in any part of that arc of the horizon which is contained between a line at right angles with the keel, and that point of the compass which is directly opposite to the ship's course. - See Bearing.

Aboard; the inside of a ship. "Aboard main tack!" the order to draw the lower corner of the mainsail down to the chess-tree.

About; the situation of a ship as soon as she has tacked, or changed her course.

"About ship!" the order to the ship's crew to prepare for tacking.

Abreast; the situation of two or more ships, lying with their sides parallel, and their heads equally advanced; in which case they are abreast of each other.

Adrift; the state of a ship broken from her moorings, and driving about without control. Afloat; buoyed up by the water from the ground.

Afore; all that part of a ship which lies forward, or near the stem. It also signifies farther forward.

After; a phrase applied to any object in the hinder part of the ship, as the after-hatchway, the after-sails, &c.

Aground; the situation of a ship when her bottom, or any part of it, rests on the ground. Ahead. Any thing which is situated on that point of the compass to which a ship's stem is directed, is said to be ahead of her. - See Bearing.

A-hull; the situation of a ship when all her sails are furled, and her helm is lashed to the lee side; by which she lies nearly with her side to the wind and sea, her head being somewhat inclined to the direction of the wind.

A-lee; the position of the helm when it is put down to the lee side.

All in the wind; the state of a ship's sails when they are parallel to the direction of the wind, so as to shake or shiver.

"All hands ahoy!" the call by which all the ship's company are summoned upon deck. Aloft; up in the tops, at the mast-heads, or any where about the higher rigging.

Along-side; side by side, or joined to a ship, wharf, &c.

Along shore; along the coast; a course which is in sight of the shore, and nearly parallel

to it.

Aloof; at a distance. - Keep aloof; that is, keep at a distance.

Amain; the old term for yield. used by a man-of-war to an enemy; but it now signifies any thing done suddenly, or at once, by a number of men.

Amidships; the middle of a ship, either with regard to her length or breadth. Anchor; the instrument by which a ship is held.- The anchor is foul; that is, the cable has got about the fluke of the anchor.- The anchor is a-peak; that is, directly under the hawse-hole of the ship. The anchor is a-cock-bill; that is, hangs up and down the ship's side.

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An-end; the position of any mast, &c., when erected perpendicularly on the deck. The top-masts are said to be an-end, when they are hoisted up to their usual station.

A-peak; perpendicular to the anchor, the cable having been drawn so tight as to bring the ship directly over it. The anchor is then said to be a-peak.

Ashore; on the shore, as opposed to aboard. It also means aground.

Astern; any distance behind a ship, as opposed to ahead.-See Bearing.

At anchor; the situation of a ship riding by her anchor.

Athwart; across the line of a ship's course.-Athwart hawse; the situation of a ship when driven by accident across the fore part of another, whether they touch or are at a small distance from each other; the transverse position of the former being principally understood.Athwart the fore-foot. When any object crosses the line of a ship's course, but ahead of her, it is said to be athwart the fore-foot.-Athwart-ships; reaching, or in direction, across the ship from one side to the other.