D. In the Complete Book, D means dead or deserted; Dsq., discharged from the service, or into another ship.

DAB. The sea-flounder. An old general term for a pleuronect or flat fish of any kind, but usually appropriated to the Platessa limanda. The word is familiarly applied to one who is expert in anything.

DABBERLACK. A kind of long sea-weed on our northern coasts.

DAB-CHICK. The little grebe, Podiceps minor. A small diving bird common in lakes and rivers.

DACOITS. See Dekoyts.

DADDICK. A west-country term for rotten-wood, touch-wood, &c.

DAGEN. A peculiar dirk or poignard.

DAGGAR. An old term for a dog-fish.

DAGGER-KNEE. A substitute for the hanging-knee, applied to the under side of the lodging-knee; it is placed out of the perpendicular to avoid a port-hole. Anything placed aslant or obliquely, now generally termed diagonal, of which, indeed, it is a corruption.

DAGGER-PIECE, or Dagger-wood. A timber or plank that faces on to the poppets of the bilge-ways, and crosses them diagonally, to keep them together. The plank securing the head is called the daggerplank.

DAGGES. An old term for pistols or hand-guns.

DAHLGREN GUN. A modification of the Paixhan gun, introduced into the United States service by Lieut., now Admiral, Dahlgren, of that navy; having, in obedience to the results of ingenious experiment on the varying force of explosion on different parts of a gun, what has been called the soda-water bottle or pear-shaped form.

DAHM. An Arab or Indian decked boat.

DAILY PROGRESS. A daily return when in port of all particulars relative to the progress of a ship's equipment.

DAIRS. Small unsaleable fish.DALE. A trough or spout to carry off water, usually named from the office it has to perform, as a pump-dale, &c. Also, a place forward, to save the decks from being wetted, now almost abolished.

DALLOP. A heap or lump in a clumsy state. A large quantity of anything.

DAM. A barrier of stones, stakes, or rubble, constructed to stop or impede the course of a stream. (See Inundations and Floating Dam.)

DAMASCENED. The mixing of various metals in the Damascus blades, the kris, or other weapons; sometimes by adding silver, to produce a watered effect.

DAMASCUS BLADE. Swords famed for the quality and temper of the metal, as well as the beauty of the jowhir, or watering of the blades.

DAMASK. Steel worked in the Damascus style, showing the wavy lines of the different metals; usually termed watered or twisted.

DAMBER. An old word for lubberly rogue.

DAMELOPRE. An ancient flat-floored vessel belonging to Holland, and intended to carry heavy cargoes over their shallow waters.

DAMMAH. A kind of turpentine or resin from a species of pine, which is used in the East Indies for the same purposes to which turpentine and pitch are applied. It is exported in large quantities from Sumatra to Bengal and other places, where it is much used for paying seams and the bottoms of vessels, for which latter purpose it is often mixed with sulphur, and answers admirably in warm climates.

DAMPER. The means by which the furnace of each boiler in a steamer can be regulated independently, by increasing or diminishing the draught to the fire.

DAMSEL. A coast name for the skate-fish.

DANCERS. The coruscations of the aurora. (See Merry Dancers.)

DANDIES. Rowers of the budgerow boats on the Ganges.

DANDY. A sloop or cutter with a jigger-mast abaft, on which a mizen-lug-sail is set.

DANGER. Perils and hazard of the sea. Any rock or shoal which interferes with navigation.

DANK. Moist, mouldy: a sense in which Shakspeare uses it; also Tusser—

DANKER. A north-country term for a dark cloud.

DANSKERS. Natives of Denmark.

DARBIES. An old cant word for irons or handcuffs; it is still retained.

DARE. An old word for to challenge, or incite to emulation; still in full use.

DARE-DEVIL. One who fears nothing, and will attempt anything.

DARKENING. Closing of the evening twilight.DARK GLASSES. Shades fitted to instruments of reflection for preventing the bright rays of the sun from hurting the eye of the observer.

DARKS. Nights on which the moon does not shine,—much looked to by smugglers.

DARKY. A common term for a negro.

DARNING THE WATER. A term applied to the action of a fleet cruising to and fro before a blockaded port.

DARRAG. A Manx or Erse term for a strong fishing-line made of black hair snoods.

DARSENA. An inner harbour or wet dock in the Mediterranean.

DARTS. Weapons used in our early fleets from the round-tops.

DASH. The present with which bargains are sealed on the coast of Africa.

DASHING. The rolling and breaking of the sea.

DATOO. West wind in the Straits of Gibraltar: very healthy. Also, a Malay term of rank, and four of whom form the council of the sultan of the Malayu Islands.

DATUM. The base level.

DAVID'S-STAFF. A kind of quadrant formerly used in navigation.

DAVIE. An old term for davit.DAVIT. A piece of timber or iron, with sheaves or blocks at its end, projecting over a vessel's quarter or stern, to hoist up and suspend one end of a boat.—Fish-davit, is a beam of timber, with a roller or sheave at its end, used as a crane, whereby to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the planks of the ship's side as it ascends, and called fishing the anchor; the lower end of this davit rests on the fore-chains, the upper end being properly secured by a tackle from the mast-head; to which end is hung a large block, and through it a strong rope is rove, called the fish-pendant, to the outer end of which is fitted a large hook, and to its inner end a tackle; the former is called the fish-hook, the latter the fish-tackle. There is also a davit of a smaller kind, occasionally fixed in the long-boat, and with the assistance of a small windlass, used to weigh the anchor by the buoy-rope, &c.

DAVIT-GUYS. Ropes used to steady boats' davits.DAVIT-ROPE. The lashing which secures the davit to the shrouds when out of use.

DAVIT-TOPPING-LIFT. A rope made fast to the outer end of a davit, and rove through a block made fast to a vessel's mast aloft, with a tackle attached. Usually employed for bringing the anchor in-board.

DAVY JONES. The spirit of the sea; a nikker; a sea-devil.

DAVY JONES'S LOCKER. The ocean; the common receptacle for all things thrown overboard; it is a phrase for death or the other world, when speaking of a person who has been buried at sea.

DAW-FISH. The Scyllium catulus, a small dog-fish.

DAWK-BOAT. A boat for the conveyance of letters in India; dawk being the Hindostanee for mail.DAY. The astronomical day is reckoned from noon to noon, continuously through the twenty-four hours, like the other days. It commences at noon, twelve hours after the civil day, which itself begins twelve hours after the nautical day, so that the noon of the civil day, the beginning of the astronomical day, and the end of the nautical day, occur at the same moment. (See the words Solar and Sidereal.)

DAY-BOOK. An old and better name for the log-book; a journal [Fr.]

DAY-MATES. Formerly the mates of the several decks—now abolished. (See Sub-lieutenant.)

DAY-SKY. The aspect of the sky at day-break, or at twilight.

DAY'S WORK. In navigation, the reckoning or reduction of the ship's courses and distances made good during twenty-four hours, or from noon to noon, according to the rules of trigonometry, and thence ascertaining her latitude and longitude by dead-reckoning (which see).

D-BLOCK. A lump of oak in the shape of a D, bolted to the ship's side in the channels to reeve the lifts through.

DEAD-ANGLE. In fortification, is an angle receiving no defence, either by its own fire or that of any other works.

DEAD-CALM. A total cessation of wind; the same as flat-calm.

DEAD-DOORS. Those fitted in a rabbet to the outside of the quarter-gallery doors, with the object of keeping out the sea, in case of the gallery being carried away.

DEADEN A SHIP'S WAY, To. To retard a vessel's progress by bracing in the yards, so as to reduce the effect of the sails, or by backing minor sails. Also, when sounding to luff up and shake all, to obtain a cast of the deep-sea lead.DEAD-EYE, or Dead Man's Eye. A sort of round flattish wooden block, or oblate piece of elm, encircled, and fixed to the channels by the chain-plate: it is pierced with three holes through the flat part, in order to receive a rope called the laniard, which, corresponding with three holes in another dead-eye on the shroud end, creates a purchase to set up and extend the shrouds and stays, backstays, &c., of the standing and top-mast rigging. The term dead seems to have been used because there is no revolving sheave to lessen the friction. In merchant-ships they are generally fitted with iron-plates, in the room of chains, extending from the vessel's side to the top of the rail, where they are connected with the rigging. The dead-eyes used for the stays have only one hole, which, however, is large enough to receive ten or twelve turns of the laniard—these are generally termed hearts, on account of their shape. The crowfeet dead-eyes are long cylindrical blocks with a number of small holes in them, to receive the legs or lines composing the crow-foot. Also called uvrous.DEAD-FLAT. The timber or frame possessing the greatest breadth and capacity in the ship: where several timbers are thrown in, of the same area, the middle one is reckoned a dead-flat, about one third of the length of the ship from the head. It is generally distinguished as the midship-bend.DEAD-FREIGHT. The sum to which a merchant is liable for goods which he has failed to ship.

DEAD-HEAD. A kind of dolphin (which see). Also, a rough block of wood used as an anchor-buoy.

DEAD-HEADED. Timber trees which have ceased growing.

DEAD-HORSE. A term applied by seamen to labour which has been paid for in advance. When they commence earning money again, there is in some merchant ships a ceremony performed of dragging round the decks an effigy of their fruitless labour in the shape of a horse, running him up to the yard-arm, and cutting him adrift to fall into the sea amidst loud cheers.

DEAD-LIFT. The moving of a very inert body.

DEAD-LIGHTS. Strong wooden shutters made exactly to fit the cabin windows externally; they are fixed on the approach of bad weather. Also, luminous appearances sometimes seen over putrescent bodies.

DEAD-LOWN. A completely still atmosphere.

DEAD-MEN. The reef or gasket-ends carelessly left dangling under the yard when the sail is furled, instead of being tucked in.

DEAD-MEN'S EFFECTS. When a seaman dies on board, or is drowned, his effects are sold at the mast by auction, and the produce charged against the purchasers' names on the ship's books.

DEAD-MONTHS. A term for winter.

DEAD-ON-END. The wind blowing directly adverse to the vessel's intended course.

DEAD-PAY. That given formerly in shares, or for names borne, but for which no one appears, as was formerly practised with widows' men.DEAD-RECKONING. The estimation of the ship's place without any observation of the heavenly bodies; it is discovered from the distance she has run by the log, and the courses steered by the compass, then rectifying these data by the usual allowance for current, lee-way, &c., according to the ship's known trim. This reckoning, however, should be corrected by astronomical observations of the sun, moon, and stars, whenever available, proving the importance of practical astronomy.DEAD-RISING. In ship-building, is that part of a ship which lies aft between the keel and her floor-timbers towards the stern-post; generally it is applied to those parts of the bottom, throughout the ship's length, where the sweep or curve at the head of the floor-timber terminates, or inflects to join the keel. (See Rising-line.)

DEAD-ROPES. Those which do not run in any block.

DEAD-SHARES. An allowance formerly made to officers of the fleet, from fictitious numbers borne on the complement (temp. Henry VIII.), varying from fifty shares for an admiral, to half a share for the cook's mate.

DEAD-SHEAVE. A scored aperture in the heel of a top-mast, through which a second top-tackle pendant can be rove. It is usually a section of a lignum-vitÆ sheave let in, so as to avoid chafe.

DEAD-TICKET. Persons dying on board, those discharged from the service, and all officers promoted, are cleared from the ship's books by a dead-ticket, which must be filled up in a similar manner to the sick-ticket (which see).

DEAD UPON A WIND. Braced sharp up and bowlines hauled.

DEAD-WATER. The eddy-water under the counter of a ship under way; so called because passing away slower than the water alongside. A ship is said to make much dead-water when she has a great eddy following her stern, often occasioned by her having a square tuck. A vessel with a round buttock at her line of floatation can have but little dead-water, the rounding abaft allowing the fluid soon to recover its state of rest.

DEAD WEIGHT. A vessel's lading when it consists of heavy goods, but particularly such as pay freight according to their weight and not their stowage.

DEAD WOOD. Certain blocks of timber, generally oak, fayed on the upper side of the keel, particularly at the extremities before and abaft, where these pieces are placed upon each other to a considerable height, because the ship is there so narrow as not to admit of the two half timbers, which are therefore scored into this dead wood, where the angle of the floor-timbers gradually diminishes on approaching the stem and stern-post. In the fore-part of the ship the dead wood generally extends from the stemson, upon which it is scarphed, to the loof-frame; and in the after-end, from the stern-post, where it is confined by the knee, to the after balance frame. It is connected to the keel by strong spike nails. The dead wood afore and abaft is equal in depth to two-thirds of the depth of the keel, and as broad as can be procured, not exceeding the breadth of the keel, i.e. continued as high as the cutting-down line in both bodies, to afford a stepping for the heels of the cant timbers.DEAD-WOOD KNEES. The upper foremost and aftermost pieces of dead wood; being crooked pieces of timber, the bolting of which connects the keel with the stem and stern posts.

DEAD WORKS. All that part of the ship which is above water when she is laden. The same as upper work, or supernatant (which see).

DEAL BEACH. This coast consists of gravelly shingle; and a man who is pock-marked, or in galley-cant cribbage-faced, is figuratively said to have been rolled on Deal beach.DEAL-ENDS. Applied to deal-planks when under 6 feet in length.

DEATH or Money Boats. So termed from the risk in such frail craft. They were very long, very narrow, and as thin as the skiffs of our rivers. During the war of 1800-14 they carried gold between Dover and Calais, and defied the custom-house officers.

DEATH-WOUND. A law-term for the starting of a butt end, or springing a fatal leak. A ship had received her death-wound, but by pumping was kept afloat till three days after the time she was insured for: it was determined that the risk was at an end before the loss happened, and that the insurer was not liable.

DEBARK, To. To land; to go on shore.

DEBENTURE. A custom-house certificate given to the exporter of goods, on which a bounty or drawback is allowed. Also, a general term for a bill or bond.

DEBOUCHE. The mouth of a river, outlet of a wood, defile, or narrow pass. In military language, troops defile or march out from.

DECAGON. A plane geometrical figure that has ten equal sides, and as many equal angles.DECAMP, To. To raise the camp; the breaking up from a place where an army has been encamped.

DECEPTIO VISUS. Any extraordinary instance of deception to the sight, occasioned by the effects of atmospheric media. (See Terrestrial Refraction and Mirage.)

DECIMATION. The punishing every tenth soldier by lot, was truly decimatio legionis.

DECIME. A small copper coin of France, equal to two sous, or one-tenth of a franc.

DECK, To. A word formerly in use for to trim, as "we deckt up our sails."

DECK-BEAM KNEES. The same as lodging-knees.

DECK-BEAMS. See Beams.

DECK-CARGO, otherwise deck-load (which see).

DECK-CLEATS. Pieces of wood temporarily nailed to the deck to secure objects in bad weather, as guns, deck-load, &c.

DECK-HOOK. The compass timber bolted horizontally athwart a ship's bow, connecting the stem, timbers, and deck-planks of the fore-part; it is part and parcel of the breast-hooks.

DECK-HOUSE. An oblong-house on the deck of some merchantmen, especially east-country vessels, and latterly in passenger steamers, with a gangway on each side of it. (Sometimes termed round-house.)DECK-LOAD. Timber, casks, or other cargo not liable to damage from wet, stowed on the deck of merchant vessels. This, with the exception of carboys of vitriol, is not included in a general policy of insurance on goods, unless it be specially stipulated.DECK-NAILS. A kind of spike with a snug head, commonly made in a diamond form; they are single or double deck-nails, and from 4 to 12 inches long.

DECK-PIPE. An iron pipe through which the chain cable is paid into the chain-locker.

DECK-PUMPS. In a steamer, are at the side of the vessel, worked with a lever by manual power, to supply additional water. In a ship-of-war, used for washing decks (one of the midship pumps).DECKS. The platforms laid longitudinally over the transverse beams; in ships of war they support the guns. The terms in use for these decks are, assuming the largest ship of the line:—Poop, the deck which includes from the mizen-mast to the taffrail. The upper or spar-deck, from stem to stern, having conventional divisions; as, quarter-deck, which is, when clear for action, the space abaft the main-mast, including the cabin; next, the waist, between the fore and main masts, on which the spars and booms are secured. In some ships guns are continued (always in flush-decked ships) along the gangway; then the forecastle, which commences on the gangway, from the main-tack chock forward to the bows. Small craft, as brigs and corvettes, are sometimes fitted with top-gallant forecastles, to shelter the men from heavy seas which wash over. Next, the main or gun-deck, the entire length of the ship. It is also divided conventionally into the various cabins, the waist (under the gangway), the galley, from the fore-hatchway to the sick bay, and bows. Next below, is the middle deck of a three-decker, or lower of a two-decker, succeeded by lower deck and the orlop-deck, which carries no guns. The guns on these several decks increase in size and number from the poop downwards. Thus, although a vessel termed a three-decker was rated 120 guns, the fact stood thus:—

But latterly, 56 and 84 pounders on the lower, and 32 on the middle, afforded a heavier weight of broadside. The Santissima Trinidada, taken from the Spaniards, carried four whole tiers of guns. Now, the tonnage of the largest of these would be insignificant. "Deckers" are exploded, and a Pallas of the same tonnage (2372) carries 8 guns, a Bellerophon (4272) carries 18 guns, ranging in size, however, from the 64-pounder up to the 300-pounder.—Flush-deck, or deck flush fore and aft, implies a continued floor laid from stem to stern, upon one line, without any stops or intervals.—Half-deck. In the Northumberland colliers the steerage itself is called the half-deck, and is usually the habitation of the ship's crew.

DECK-SEAM. The interstices between the planks.

DECK-SHEET. That sheet of a studding-sail which leads directly to the deck, by which it is steadied until set; it is also useful in taking it in, should the down-haul be carried away.DECK STANDARD-KNEES. Iron knees having two tails, the one going on the bottom of a deck-beam, the other on the top of a hold-beam, while the middle part is bolted to the ship's side.DECK-STOPPER. (See Stopper of the Cable.) A strong stopper used for securing the cable forward of the capstan or windlass while it is overhauled. Also abaft the windlass or bitts to prevent more cable from running out.

DECK-TACKLE. A purchase led along the decks.

DECLARATION OF WAR. A ceremonial frequently omitted, and esteemed by the greatest authorities rather a proof of magnanimity than a duty. The Romans proclaimed it; but except Achaia, none of the Grecian states did. It would be to the interests of humanity and courtesy were it made indispensable. It has been held (especially in the case of the Leopard and Chesapeake) that without a declaration of war, no hostile act at the order of an admiral is legal.

DECLINATION, of a celestial object, is the arc between its centre and the equinoctial: with the sun, it is its angular distance from the equator, either north or south, and is named accordingly.

DECLINATION, To Correct. A cant phrase for taking a glass of grog at noon, when the day's works are being reduced.

DECOY. So to change the aspect of a ship-of-war by striking a topgallant-mast, setting ragged sails, disfiguring the sides by whitewash or gunpowder, yellow, &c., as to induce a vessel of inferior force to chase; when, getting within gun-shot range, she becomes an easy capture. Similar manoeuvres are sometimes used by a single ship to induce an enemy's squadron to follow her into the view of her own fleet.

DEEP. A word figuratively applied to the ocean. On the coast of Germany, to the northward of Friesland, it is of the same import as gulf on the coasts of France, Spain, Italy, &c. Also, any depth over 20 fathoms.—Deep-sea fishing. In contradistinction to coast, or when the hand-lead reaches bottom at 20 fathoms.—Hand deeps. Out of ordinary leadsman's sounding.—A vessel is deep as regards her lading, and is also said to sail deep when her expenses run high.

DEEPENING. Running from shoal water by the lead.DEEP-SEA LINE. Usually a strong and water-laid line. It is used with a lead of 28 lbs., and adapted to find bottom in 200 fathoms or more. It is marked by knots every ten fathoms, and by a small knot every five. The marks are now nearly superseded by Massey's patent sounding-machine.—Marks and Deeps, &c., see Lead and Line.

DEEP-WAIST. That part of the open skids between the main and fore drifts in men-of-war. It also relates to the remaining part of a ship's deck, when the quarter-deck and forecastle are much elevated above the level of the main-deck, so as to leave a vacant space, called the waist, on the middle of the upper deck, as in many packets.

DEESE. An east-country term for a place where herrings are dried.

DEFAULTER'S BOOK. Where men's offences are registered against them, and may be magnified without appeal.

DEFECTS. An official return of the state of a ship as to what is required for her hull and equipment, and what repairs she stands in need of. Upon this return a ship is ordered to sea, into harbour, into dock, or paid out of commission.

DEFICIENCY. What is wanting of a ship's cargo at the time of delivery.

DEFILADE. In fortification, is the art of so disposing defensive works, on irregular or commanded sites, that the troops within them shall be covered from the direct fire of the enemy.

DEFILE. A narrow pass between two heights, which obliges a force marching through to narrow its front. This may prove disastrous if attacked, on account of the difficulty of receiving aid from the rear.

DEFILING. Filing off, marching past.

DEFINITIVE. Conclusive; decisive.DEFLECTION. The tendency of a ship from her true course; the departure of the magnetic needle from its true bearing, when influenced by iron or the local attraction of the mass. In artillery, the deviation of a shot from the direction in which it is fired. The term is usually reserved to lateral deviations, especially those resulting from irregular causes—those constant ones due to the regular motion of rifled projectiles coming under either of the designations "constant deflection," "derivation," borrowed from the French, or "drift," from the Americans. These latter, according to the direction usually given to the rifling in the present day, all tend away to the right, though they include some subordinate curves not yet distinctly determined.

DEFORMED BASTION. One out of shape from the irregularity of its lines and angles.

DEGRADATION. Debasement and disgrace. The suspension of a petty officer from his station; and also the depriving an officer or soldier of his arms previous to his being delivered over to the civil power for execution.

DEGREE. A degree of longitude is the 1-360th part of the great equatorial circle, or any circle parallel to it. A degree of latitude is the 90th part of the quadrant, or quarter of a great meridional circle. Each degree is divided into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds, according to the sexagesimal division of the circle. Also, rank or condition.DEKOYTS, or Dacoits. Robbers in India, and also pirates who infested the rivers between Calcutta and Burhampore, but now suppressed by the improved system of river police, and the establishment of fast rowing boats of light draught.

DEL. Saxon for part.—Del a bit, not a bit, a phrase much altered for the worse by those not aware of its antiquity.

DEL CREDERE. A percentage on a cargo, under particular circumstances of trust. Also, the commission under which brokers sometimes guarantee to the insured the solvency of the underwriters.

DELEGATES. Not heard of in the navy since the mutiny at the Nore.

DELFYN. The old form of spelling dolphin.

DELICTUM. To be actual, must unite intention and act.

DELIVER. To yield, to rescue, to deliver battle, to deliver a broadside, a shot, or a blow. Also, to take goods from the ship to the shore. To discharge a cargo from a vessel into the keeping of its consignees.

DELIVERED. The state of the harpoon when imbedded in the body of a fish, so that the barbs hold fast.

DELIVERERS. Particular artificers employed in our early ships of war, in constructing the castles.

DELL. A narrow valley, ravine, or small dale.

DELTA. A name given by the Greeks to the alluvial tract inclosed between the bifurcating branches of the Nile and the sea-line. It is well known that rivers which deposit great quantities of matter, do also very often separate into two or more branches, previous to their discharge into the sea; thus forming triangular spaces, aptly called deltas from their resemblance to the Greek letter ?.

All deltas appear by their section to be formed of matter totally different from that of the adjacent country. They are the creation of the rivers themselves, which, having brought down with their floods vast quantities of mud and sand from the upper lands, deposit them in the lowest place, the sea; at whose margin, the current which has hitherto impelled them ceasing, they are deposited by the mere action of gravity. This is particularly illustrated on the western coast of Africa by the shoals off the Rio Grande, Rio Nunez, and others. The coast, as well as the embouchures of the rivers, exhibit a deposit of deep mud, and yet far at sea banks of clean siliceous sand arise.

DEMAND. The official paper by which stores are desired for a ship, the making out of which is the duty of the officer in whose charge the stores will be placed: they must be approved by the captain and admiral before being presented to the dockyard authorities. Also, whence from? where bound?

DEMI-BASTION. In fortification, a bastion which has a flank on one side only.

DEMI-CANNON. An ancient name for a gun carrying a ball of 33 pounds weight, with a length of from 12 to 14 feet, and a diameter of bore of 61/2 inches; its point-blank range was estimated at 162 paces, and its random one at 2000.

DEMI-CULVERIN. An ancient cannon which threw a ball of 9 pounds weight, was about 9 feet long, and 4 inches in diameter of bore; its point-blank range was called 174 paces, and its random one about 1800.

DEMIHAG. A long pistol, much used in the sixteenth century.

DEMILANCE. A light horseman, who carried a light lance.

DEMILUNE. In fortification, the outwork, more properly called a ravelin (which see).

DEMI-REVETMENT. In fortification, that form of retaining wall for the face of a rampart which is only carried up as high as cover exists in front of it, leaving above it the remaining height, in the form of an earthen mound at its natural slope, exposed to, but invulnerable by shot.

DEMONSTRATION-SHIPS. Those kept in a certain state of preparation for war, though on a peace establishment.

DEMURRAGE. The compensation due to a ship-owner from a freighter for unduly delaying his vessel in port beyond the time specified in the charter-party or bill of lading. It is in fact an extended freight. A ship unjustly detained, as a prize, is entitled to demurrage. Vessels chartered to convey government stores have a term given for discharge by government aid. If not delivered within that period, demurrage, as stated in the document, is paid per diem for any "unavoidable delay."

DEN. A sandy tract near the sea, as at Exmouth and other places.

DEN AND STROND. A liberty for ships or vessels to run or come ashore. Edward I. granted this privilege to the barons of the Cinque Ports.

DE NAUTICO FŒNORE. Of nautical usury; bottomry.

DENE. The Anglo-Saxon dÆne; implying a kind of hollow or ravine through which a rivulet runs, the banks on either side being studded with trees.

DENEB. The bright star in the constellation Cygnus, well known as a standard nautical star.

DENSITY. The weight of a body in comparison with its bulk.

DENTICE. An excellent fish, so named from being well furnished with teeth. It is of the SparidÆ family, and frequents the Adriatic.

DEPARTMENT. A term by which the divisions in the public services are distinguished, as the civil, the commissariat, the military, the naval, the victualling, &c.DEPARTURE. The bearing of an object on the coast from which a vessel commences her dead-reckoning and takes her departure. The distance of any two places lying on the same parallel counted in miles of the equator.

DEPOT. A magazine in which military stores are deposited. Also, a company left in England for the purpose of recruiting when regiments are ordered abroad.

DEPRESS. The order to adjust the quoin in great-gun exercise; to depress the muzzle to point at an object below the level, in contradistinction to elevate.

DEPRESSED POLE. That end of the earth's axis which is below the horizon of the spectator according to his being in the northern or southern hemisphere. Also applied to the stars. (See Polar Distance.)

DEPRESSION, of the Horizon. (See Dip.) In artillery, the angle below the horizon at which the axis of a gun is laid in order to strike an object on a lower level. The depression required in batteries of very elevated site (those of Gibraltar for example), for the laying the guns on near vessels, is so great as to necessitate a peculiar carriage.

DEPTH OF A SAIL. The extent of the square sails from the head-rope to the foot-rope, or the length of the after-leech of a staysail or boom-sail; in other words, it is the extent of the longest cloth of canvas in any sail.

DEPTH OF HOLD. The height between the floor and the lower-deck; it is therefore one of the principal dimensions given for the construction of a ship. It varies, of course, according to the end for which she is designed, trade or war.DERELICT [Lat. derelictus, abandoned]. Anything abandoned at sea. A ship is derelict either by consent or by compulsion, stress of weather, &c., and yet, to save the owner's rights, if any cat, dog, or other domestic animal be found on board alive, it is not forfeited. The owner may yet recover, on payment of salvage, within a year and a day—otherwise the whole may be awarded. (See Salvage.)

DERIVATION. In artillery, the constant deflection of a rifled projectile. (See Deflection.)

DERRICK. A single spar, supported by stays and guys, to which a purchase is attached, used in loading and unloading vessels. Also, a small crane either inside or outside of a ship.

DERRICK, To. A cant term for setting out on a small not over-creditable enterprise. The act is said to be named from a Tyburn executioner.

DERRING-DO. A Spenserian term for deeds of arms.

DESCENDING NODE. See Nodes.

DESCENDING SIGNS. Those in which the sun appears to descend from the north pole, or in which his motion in declination is towards the south.

DESCENDING SQUALL. A fitful gust of wind issuing from clouds which are formed in the lower parts of the atmosphere. It is usually accompanied with heavy showers, and the weatherwise observe that the squall is seldom so violent when it is followed as when it is preceded by rain. (See White Squall as a forerunner.)

DESCENSION. The same as oblique ascension (which see).

DESCENT. The landing of troops for the purpose of invading a country. The passage down a river.

DESCRIPTION-BOOK. A register in which the age, place of birth, and personal description of the crew are recorded.

DESERT. An extensive tract, either absolutely sterile, or having no other vegetation than small patches of grass or shrubs. Many portions of the present deserts seem to be reclaimable.

DESERTER. One that quits his ship or the service without leave. He is marked R (run) on the books, and any clothes or other effects he may have left on board are sold by auction at the mast, and the produce borne to account.

DESERTION. The act of quitting the Army or Navy without leave, with intention not to return.

DESERTION-MONEY. The sum of three pounds paid to him who apprehends a deserter, which is charged against the offender's growing pay—his wages for previous service having become forfeited from his having run.

DESTROYING PAPERS. A ground of condemnation in the Admiralty court.

DETACHED. On detached service. A squadron may be detached under a commodore or senior officer.

DETACHED BASTION. A bastion cut off by a ditch about its gorge from the body of the place, which latter is thus rendered in a degree independent of the fall of the former.

DETACHED ESCARP. An escarp wall, originally invented by Carnot, and revived by the Prussians, removed some distance to the front of the rampart; which latter, being finished exteriorly at the natural slope of the earth, remains effective after the destruction of the wall by a besieger. It was at first intended, being kept low and covered by a near counterguard, to offer extraordinary difficulties to the besieger's breaching batteries; but improved artillery has nullified that supposed advantage.

DETACHED WORKS. Works included in the scheme of defence of a fortress, but separated from it, and beyond the glacis.

DETACHMENT. A force detached from the main body for employment on any particular service.

DETAIL OF DUTY. The captain's night orders.

DETENTION of a Vessel: on just ground, as supposed war, suspicious papers, undue number of men, found hovering, or cargo not in conformity with papers or law.

DETONATING HAMMER. A modern introduction into the Royal Navy for firing the guns. With the aid of an attached laniard, it is made to descend forcibly upon the percussion arm of the tube, and fires the piece instantaneously. It is, however, already generally superseded by the use of the friction-tube (which see).DEVIATION. A voluntary departure from the usual course of the voyage, without any necessary or justifiable cause: a step which discharges the insurers from further responsibility. Liberty to touch, stay, or trade in any particular place not in the usual course of the voyage must be expressly specified in the contract, and even this is subordinate to the voyage. The cases of necessity which justify deviation are—1, stress of weather; 2, urgent want of repairs; 3, to join convoy; 4, succouring ships in distress; 5, avoiding capture or detention; 6, sickness; 7, mutiny of the crew. It differs from a change of voyage, which must have been resolved upon before the sailing of the ship. (See Change.)—Deviation is also the attraction of a ship's iron on the needle. It is a term recently introduced to distinguish a sort of second variation to be allowed for in iron vessels.

DEVIL. A sort of priming made by damping and bruising gunpowder.

DEVIL-BOLTS. Those with false clenches, often introduced into contract-built ships.DEVIL-FISH. The Lophius piscatorius, a hideous creature, which has also obtained the name of fish-frog, monk-fish, bellows-fish, sea-devil, and other appellatives significant of its ugliness and bad manners. There is also a powerful Raia, which grows to an immense size in the tropics, known as the devil-fish, the terror of the pearl-divers. Manta of Spaniards.

DEVILRY. Spirited roguery; wanton mischief, short of crime.

DEVIL'S CLAW. A very strong kind of split hook made to grasp a link of a chain cable, and used as a stopper.

DEVIL'S SMILES. Gleams of sunshine among dark clouds, either in the heavens or captain's face!

DEVIL'S TABLE-CLOTH. See Table-cloth.

DEVIL TO PAY AND NO PITCH HOT. The seam which margins the water-ways was called the "devil," why only caulkers can tell, who perhaps found it sometimes difficult for their tools. The phrase, however, means service expected, and no one ready to perform it. Impatience, and naught to satisfy it.

DEW-POINT. A meteorological term for the degree of temperature at which the moisture of the atmosphere would begin to precipitate; it may be readily ascertained by means of the hygrometer.

DHOLL. A kind of dried split pea supplied in India to the navy.

DHONY, or Dhoney. A country trading-craft of India from 50 to 150 tons; mostly flat-bottomed. (See Doney.)

DHOW. The Arab dhow is a vessel of about 150 to 250 tons burden by measurement—grab-built, with ten or twelve ports; about 85 feet long from stem to stern, 20 feet 9 inches broad, and 11 feet 6 inches deep. Of late years this description of vessel has been well built at Cochin, on the Malabar coast, in the European style. They have a great rise of floor; are calculated for sailing with small cargoes; and are fully prepared, by internal equipment, for defence—many of them are sheathed on 21/2-inch plank bottoms, with 1-inch board, and the preparation of chunam and oil, called galgal, put between; causing the vessel to be very dry and durable, and preventing the encroachments of the worm or Teredo navalis. The worm is one of the greatest enemies in India to timber in the water, as the white ant (termites) is out of it. On the outside of the sheathing board there is a coat of whitewash, made from the same materials as that between the sheathing and planks, and renewed every season they put to sea. They have generally one mast and a lateen sail. The yard is the length of the vessel aloft, and the mast rakes forward, for the purpose of keeping this ponderous weight clear in raising and lowering. The tack of the sail is brought to the stem-head, and sheets aft in the usual way. The halyards lead to the taffrail, having a pendant and treble purchase block, which becomes the backstay, to support the mast when the sail is set. This, with three pairs of shrouds, completes the rigging, the whole made of coir rope. Several of these vessels were fitted as brigs, after their arrival in Arabia, and armed by the Arabs for cruising in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, as piratical vessels. It was of this class of vessel that Tippoo Sultan's navy at Onore consisted. The large dhows generally make one voyage in the season, to the southward of Arabia; taking advantage of the north-east monsoon to come down, and the south-west to return with an exchange cargo. The Arabs who man them are a powerful well-grown people, and very acute and intelligent in trade. They usually navigate their ships to Bengal in perfect safety, and with great skill. This was well known to Captain Collier and his officers of the Liverpool frigate, when they had the trial cruise with the Imam of Muscat's fine frigate in 1820.

DIACLE. An old term for a boat-compass.DIAGONAL BRACES, knees, planks, &c., are such as cross a vessel's timbers obliquely. (See Diagonal Trussing.)

DIAGONAL RIBBAND. A narrow plank made to a line formed on the half-breadth plan, by taking the intersections of the diagonal line with the timbers. (See Ribbands.)

DIAGONALS. A line cutting the body-plan diagonally from the timbers to the middle line. Diagonals are the several lines on the draughts, delineating the station of the harpings and ribs, to form the body by.DIAGONAL TRUSSING. A particular method of binding and strengthening a vessel internally by a series of riders and truss-pieces placed diagonally.

DIAMETER. In geometry, a right line passing through the centre of any circular figure from one point of its circumference to another.

DIAMETER, Apparent. The angle which the diameter of a heavenly body subtends at any time, varying inversely with its distance. The true is the real diameter, commonly expressed in miles.

DIAMOND-CUT. See Rhombus.

DIAMOND-KNOT. An ornamental knot worked with the strands of a rope, sometimes used for bucket-strops, on the foot-ropes of jib-booms, man-ropes, &c.

DIBBS. A galley term for ready money. Also, a small pool of water.

DICE. See Dyce.

DICHOTOMIZED. A term applied to the moon, when her longitude differs 90° from that of the sun, in which position only half her disc is illuminated.

DICKADEE. A northern name for the sand-piper.

DICK-A-DILVER. A name for the periwinkle on our eastern coasts.

DICKER-WORK. The timbering of tide-harbours in the Channel. Wattling between piles.

DICKEY. An officer acting in commission.—It's all dickey with him. It's all up with him.

DIDDLE, To. To deceive.

DIEGO. A very strong and heavy sword.

DIE ON THE FIN, To. An expression applied to whales, which when dying rise to the surface, after the final dive, with one side uppermost.

DIET. The regulated food for patients in sick-bays and hospitals.

DIFFERENCE. An important army term, meaning firstly the sum to be paid by officers when exchanging from the half to full pay; and, secondly, the price or difference in value of the several commissions.

DIFFERENCE OF LATITUDE. The distance between any two places on the same meridian, or the difference between the parallels of latitude of any two places expressed in miles of the equator.

DIFFERENCE OF LONGITUDE. The difference of any place from another eastward or westward, counted in degrees of the equator: that is, the difference between two places is an arc of the equator contained between their meridians, but measured in space on the parallel. Thus the difference of a degree of longitude in miles of the meridian would be—

DIFFERENTIAL OBSERVATION. Taking the differences of right ascension and declination between a comet and a star, the position of which has been already determined.

DIFFICULTY. A word unknown to true salts.

DIGHT [from the Anglo-Saxon diht, arranging or disposing]. Now applied to dressing or preparing for muster; setting things in order.

DIGIT. A twelfth part of the diameter; a term employed to denote the magnitude of an eclipse; as, so many digits eclipsed.

DIKE. See Dyke.

DILL. An edible dark brown sea-weed, torn from the rocks at low-water.DILLOSK. The dried leaves of an edible sea-weed. (See Dulce and Pepper-dulse.)

DILLY-WRECK. A common corruption of derelict (which see).

DIME. An American silver coin, in value the tenth of a dollar.

DIMINISHED ANGLE. In fortification, that formed by the exterior side and the line of defence.

DIMINISHING PLANK. The same as diminishing stuff (which see).

DIMINISHING STRAKES. See Black-strake.DIMINISHING STUFF. In ship-building, the planking wrought under the wales, where it is thinned progressively to the thickness of the bottom plank.

DIMINUTION OF OBLIQUITY. A slow approximation of the planes of the ecliptic and the equator, at the present rate of 0·485 annually.

DIMSEL. A piece of stagnant water, larger than a pond and less than a lake.

DING, To. To dash down or throw with violence.

DING-DONG. Ships firing into each other in good earnest.

DINGHEY. A small boat of Bombay, propelled by paddles, and fitted with a settee sail, the mast raking forwards; also, the boats in use on the Hooghly; also, a small extra boat in men-of-war and merchant ships.

DINGLE. A hollow vale-like space between two hills. A clough; also, a sort of boat used in Ireland, a coracle.

DINNAGE. See Dunnage.

DIP. The inclination of the magnetic needle towards the earth. (See Dipping-needle.) Also, the smallest candle formerly issued by the purser.

DIP, To. To lower. An object is said to be dipping when by refraction it is visible just above the horizon. Also, to quit the deck suddenly.DIP of the Horizon. The angle contained between the sensible and apparent horizons, the angular point being the eye of the observer; or it is an allowance made in all astronomical observations of altitude for the height of the eye above the level of the sea.

DIPPED. The limb of the sun or moon as it instantly dips below the horizon.

DIPPER. A name for the water-ousel (Cinclus aquaticus). A bird of the Passerine order, but an expert diver, frequenting running streams in mountainous countries.

DIPPING-LADLE. A metal ladle for taking boiling pitch from the cauldron.DIPPING-NEEDLE. An instrument for ascertaining the amount of the magnet's inclination towards the earth; it is so delicately suspended, that, instead of vibrating horizontally, one end dips or yields to the vertical force. This instrument has been so perfected by Mr. R. W. Fox of Falmouth, that even at sea in the heaviest gales of wind the dip could instantly, by magnetic deflectors, be ascertained to minutes, far beyond what heretofore could be elicited from the most expensive instruments, observed over 365 days on shore.

DIPPING-NET. A small net used for taking shad and other fish out of the water.

DIPS. See Lead-line.DIP-SECTOR. An ingenious instrument for measuring the true dip of the horizon, invented by Dr. Wollaston, and very important, not only where the nature and quantity of the atmospherical refraction are to be examined, but for ascertaining the rates of chronometers, and the exact latitude in those particular regions where accidental refractions are very great, for the difference between the calculated dip and that observed by the sector may exceed three minutes. It is a reflecting instrument, of small compass, but requiring patience and practice in its use.

DIPSY. The float of a fishing-line.

DIRECT-ACTING ENGINE. A steam engine in which the connecting rod is led at once from the head of the piston to the crank, thus communicating the rotatory motion without the intervention of side-levers.

DIRECT FIRE. One of the five varieties into which artillerists usually divide horizontal fire (which see).DIRECTION or Set of the Wind and Current. These are opposite terms; the direction of the winds and waves being named from the point of the compass whence they come; but the direction of a current is the point towards which it runs. A current running to leeward is said to have a leeward set, the opposite is a windward set.

DIRECTION. See Arc of Direction.

DIRECT MOTION. See Motion.

DIRK. A small do-little sword or dagger, formerly worn by junior naval officers on duty.

DIRT-GABARD. A large ballast-lighter.

DIRTY AULIN. A name for the arctic skua (Cataractes parasiticus), a sea-bird, allied to the gulls.

DIRTY DOG and no Sailor or Soldier. A mean, spiritless, and utterly useless rascal.

DISABLED. To be placed hors de combat by the weather or an enemy.

DISAPPOINT. To counterwork an enemy's operations in mining.

DISARM. To deprive people of their weapons and ammunition.

DISBANDED. When the officers and men of a regiment are dismissed, on a reduction of the army.

DISC, or Disk. In nautical astronomy, the circular visible surface presented by any celestial body to the eye of the observer.

DISCARCARE. [Ital.] An old term meaning to unlade a vessel.

DISCHARGED. When applied to a ship, signifies when she is unladen. When expressed of the officers or crew, it implies that they are disbanded from immediate service; and in individual cases, that the person is dismissed in consequence of long service, disability, or at his own request. When spoken of cannon, it means that it is fired off.

DISCHARGE-TICKET. On all foreign stations men are discharged by foreign remove-tickets, and in other cases by dead, sick, or unserviceable ticket, whether at home or abroad.

DISCHARGE-VALVE. In the marine engine, is a valve covering the top of the barrel of the air-pump, opening when pressed from below.

DISCIPLINARIAN. An officer who maintains strict discipline and obedience to the laws of the navy, and himself setting an example.

DISCOURSE, To. An old sea term to traverse to and fro off the proper course.

DISCOVERY SHIP. A vessel fitted for the purpose of exploring unknown seas and coasts. Discovery vessels were formerly taken from the merchant service; they have latterly been replaced by ships of war, furnished with every improved instrument, and acting, on occasion, as active pilots leading in war service.

DISCRETION. To surrender at discretion, implies an unconditional yielding to the mercy of the conquerors.

DISEMBARK. The opposite of embark; the landing of troops from any vessel or transport.

DISEMBAY. To work clear out of a gulf or bay.

DISEMBOGUE. The fall of a river into the sea; it has also been used for the passage of vessels across the mouth of a river and out of one.

DISGUISE. Ships in all times have been permitted to assume disguise to impose upon enemies, and obtain from countries in their possession commodities of which they stand in need.

DISH, To. To supplant, ruin, or frustrate.

DISLODGE. To drive an enemy from any post or station.

DI-SLYNG. See Slyng.

DISMANTLED. The state of a ship unrigged, and all her stores, guns, &c., taken out, in readiness for her being laid up in ordinary, or going into dock, &c. &c. To dismantle a gun is to render it unfit for service. The same applies to a fort.

DISMASTED. State of a ship deprived of her masts, by gales or by design.

DISMISS. Pipe down the people. To dismiss a drill from parade is to break the ranks.

DISMISSION. A summary discharge from the service; which a court-martial is empowered to inflict on any officer convicted of a breach of special laws, though it cannot for minor offences which formerly carried death!

DISMOUNT, To. To break the carriages of guns, and thereby render them unfit for service. Also, in gun exercise, to lift a gun from its carriage and deposit it elsewhere.

DISMOUNTED. The state of a cannon taken off a carriage, or when, by the enemy's shot, it is rendered unmanageable. Also, cavalry on foot acting as infantry.

DISOBEDIENCE. An infraction of the orders of a superior; punishable by a court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offence.

DISORDER. The confusion occasioned by a heavy fire from an enemy.

DISORGANIZE, To. To degrade a man-of-war to a privateer by irregularity.DISPART, or Throw of the Shot. The difference between the semi-diameter of the base-ring at the breech of a gun, and that of the ring at the swell of the muzzle. On account of the dispart, the line of aim makes a small angle with the axis; so that the elevation of the latter above the horizon is greater than that of the line of aim: an allowance for the dispart is consequently necessary in determining the commencement of the graduations on the tangent scale, by which the required elevation is given to the gun.

DISPARTING A GUN. To bring the line of sight and line of metal to be parallel by setting up a mark on the muzzle-ring of a cannon, so that a sight-line, taken from the top of the base-ring behind the touch-hole, to the mark set near the muzzle, may be parallel to the axis of the bore. (See Gun.)

DISPART-SIGHT. A gun-sight fixed on the top of the second reinforce-ring—about the middle of the piece—for point-blank or horizontal firing, to eliminate the difference of the diameters between the breech and the mouth of the cannon.

DISPATCH. All duty is required to be performed with diligence.

DISPATCHES. Not simply letters, but such documents as demand every effort for their immediate delivery. "Charged with dispatches" overrides all signals of hindrance on a voyage.

DISPLACEMENT. The centre of gravity of the displacement relates to the part of the ship under water, considered as homogeneous. The weight of water which a vessel displaces when floating is the same as the weight of the ship. (See Centre of Cavity.)

DISPOSED QUARTERS. The distribution when the camp is marked about a place besieged.

DISPOSITION. A draught representing the several timbers that compose a ship's frame properly disposed with respect to ports and other parts. Also, the arrangement of a ship's company for watches, quarters, reefing, furling, and other duties. In a military sense it means the placing of a body of troops upon the most advantageous ground.

DISRANK, or Disrate. To degrade in rank or station.

DISREPAIR. A bar to any claim on account of sea-unworthiness in a warrantry.

DISTANCE. The run which a ship has made upon the log-board. In speaking of double stars, it is the space separating the centres of the two stars, expressed in seconds of arc. (See Lunar Distances.)

DISTILLING SEA-WATER. Apparatus for the conversion of sea-water into potable fresh water have long been invented, though little used; but of late the larger ships are effectively fitted with adaptations for the purpose.

DISTINCTION. Flags of distinction, badges, honourable note of superiority.DISTINGUISHING PENDANT. In fleets and squadrons, instead of hoisting several flags to denote the number of the ship on the list of the Navy, pendants are used. Thus ten ships may be signalled separately. If more, then, as one answers, her pendant is hauled down, and then two pendants succeed. (See Signals.)

DISTRESS. A term used when a ship requires immediate assistance from unlooked-for damage or danger. (See Signal of Distress.)

DISTRICT ORDERS. Those issued by a general commanding a district.

DISTURBANCE. See Spanish Disturbance.DITCH. In fortification the excavation in front of the parapet of any work, ranging in width from a few feet in field fortification to thirty or forty yards in permanent works, having its steep side next the rampart called the escarp: the opposite one is the counterscarp. Its principal use is to secure the escarp as long as possible. There are wet ditches and dry ones, the former being less in favour than the latter, since a dry ditch so much facilitates sorties, counter-approaches, and the like. That kind which may be made wet or dry at pleasure is most useful.

DITTY-BAG. Derives its name from the dittis or Manchester stuff of which it was once made. It is in use among seamen for holding their smaller necessaries. The ditty-bag of old, when a seaman prided himself on his rig, as the result of his own ability to fit himself from clue to earing, was a treasured article, probably worked in exquisite device by his lady-love. Well can we recollect the pride exhibited in its display when "on end clothes" was a joyful sound to the old pig-tailed tar.

DITTY-BOX. A small caddy for holding a seaman's stock of valuables.DIURNAL ARC. That part of a circle, parallel to the equator, which is described by a celestial body from its rising to its setting.

DIURNAL PARALLAX. See Parallax.

DIVE, To. To descend or plunge voluntarily head-foremost under the water. To go off deck in the watch. A ship is said to be "diving into it" when she pitches heavily against a head-sea.

DIVER. One versed in the art of descending under water to considerable depths and abiding there a competent time for several purposes, as to recover wrecks of ships, fish for pearls, sponges, corals, &c. The diver is now a rating in H.M. ships; he may be of any rank of seaman, but he receives £1, 10s. 5d. per annum additional pay—one penny a-day for risking life! Also, a common web-footed sea-bird of the genus Colymbus.

DIVERGENT. A stream flowing laterally out of a river, contradistinguished from convergent.

DIVERSION. A manoeuvre to attract, wholly or partially, the enemy's attention away from some other part of the operations.

DIVIE-GOO. A northern term for the Larus marinus or black-backed gull.

DIVINE SERVICE. Ordered by the articles of war, whenever the weather on a Sunday will allow of it.

DIVING-APPARATUS. Supplied to the flag-ship, and also a man with the title of diver, to examine defects below water.

DIVING-BELL. Used in under-water operations for recovering treasure, raising ships, anchors, &c.

DIVING-DRESS. India-rubber habiliments, the head-piece is of light metal fitted with strong glass eyes, and an attached pliable pipe to maintain a supply of air. The shoes are weighted.DIVISION. A select number of ships in a fleet or squadron of men-of-war, distinguished by a particular flag, pendant, or vane. A squadron may be ranged into two or three divisions, the commanding officer of which is always stationed in the centre. In a fleet the admiral divides it into three squadrons, each of which is commanded by an admiral, and is again divided into divisions; each squadron had its proper colours (now distinguishing mark) according to the rank of the admiral who commanded it, and each division its proper mast. The private ships carried pendants of the same colour with their respective squadrons at the masts of their particular divisions, so that the ships in the last division of the blue squadron carried a blue pendant at their main topgallant-mast head, the vane at the mizen. All these are superseded by the abolition of the Red and Blue. The St. George's white ensign flag and pendant alone are used.

DIVISIONS. The sub-classification of a ship's company under the lieutenants. Also, a muster of the crew. Also, of an army, a force generally complete in itself, commanded by a major-general, of an average strength of eight or ten thousand men: it is itself composed of several brigades, each of which again is composed of several battalions, besides the complement of artillery, transport-corps, and generally also of cavalry, for the whole. Of a battalion, a term sometimes used in exercise, when the companies of a battalion have been equalized as to strength, for one of such companies.

DJERME. See Jerme.

DOA. A Persian trading vessel.DOASTA. An inferior spirit, often drugged or doctored for unwary sailors in the pestiferous dens of filthy Calcutta and other sea-ports in India.

DOB. The animal inhabiting the razor-shell (solen), used as a bait by fishermen.

DOBBER. The float of a fishing-line.

DOBBIN. A phrase on our southern coasts for sea-gravel mixed with sand.

DOCK. An artificial receptacle for shipping, in which they can discharge or take in cargo, and refit.—A dry dock is a broad and deep trench, formed on the side of a harbour, or on the banks of a river, and commodiously fitted either to build ships in or to receive them to be repaired or breamed. They have strong flood-gates, to prevent the flux of the tide from entering while the ship is under repair. There are likewise docks where a ship can only be cleaned during the recess of the tide, as she floats again on the return of the flood. Docks of the latter kind are not furnished with the usual flood-gates; but the term is also used for what is more appropriately called a float (which see). Also, in polar parlance, an opening cut out of an ice-floe, into which a ship is warped for security.

DOCK-DUES. The charges made upon shipping for the use of docks.

DOCKERS. Inhabitants of the town which sprang up between the docks and the town of Plymouth. Dock solicited and obtained the royal license, in 1823, to be called Devonport—a very inappropriate name, Plymouth being wholly within the county of Devon, while Hamoaze is equally in Devon and Cornwall.

DOCK HERSELF, To. When a ship is on the ooze, and swaddles a bed, she is said to dock herself.

DOCKING A SHIP. The act of drawing her into dock, and placing her properly on blocks, in order to give her the required repair, cleanse the bottom, and cover it anew. (See Breaming.)

DOCK UP, OR DUCK UP. To clue up a corner of a sail that hinders the helmsman from seeing.

DOCKYARD DUTY. The attendance of a lieutenant and party in the arsenal, for stowing, procuring stores, &c.

DOCKYARD MATIES. The artificers in a dockyard. In former times an established declaration of war between the mates and midshipmen versus the maties was hotly kept up. Many deaths and injuries never disclosed were hushed up or patiently borne. It terminated about 1830.DOCKYARDS. Arsenals containing all sorts of naval stores and timber for ship-building. In England the royal dockyards are at Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, Devonport, Pembroke. Those in our colonies are at the Cape of Good Hope, Gibraltar, Malta, Bermuda, Halifax, Jamaica, Antigua, Trincomalee, and Hong Kong. There Her Majesty's ships and vessels of war are generally moored during peace, and such as want repairing are taken into the docks, examined, and refitted for service. These yards are generally supplied from the north with hemp, pitch, tar, rosin, canvas, oak-plank, and several other species of stores. The largest masts are usually imported from New England. Until 1831 these yards were governed by a commissioner resident at the port, who superintended all the musters of the officers, artificers, and labourers employed in the dockyard and ordinary; he also controlled their payment, examined their accounts, contracted and drew bills on the Navy Office to supply the deficiency of stores, and, finally, regulated whatever belonged to the dockyard. In 1831 the commissioners of the Navy were abolished, and admirals and captains superintendent command the dockyards under the controller of the Navy and the Admiralty.

DOCTOR. A name which seamen apply to every medical officer. Also, a jocular name for the ship's cook.

DOCTOR'S LIST. The roll of those excused from duty by reason of illness.

DODD. A round-topped hill, generally an offshoot from a higher mountain.

DODECAGON. A regular polygon, having twelve sides and as many angles.DODECATIMORIA. The anastrous signs, or twelve portions of the ecliptic which the signs anciently occupied, but have since deserted by the precession of the equinoxes.

DODGE. A homely but expressive phrase for shuffling conduct, or cunning of purpose. Also, to watch or follow a ship from place to place.DODMAN. A shell-fish with a hod-like lump. A sea-snail, otherwise called hodmandod.

DOFF, To. To put aside.

DO FOR, To. A double-barrelled expression, meaning alike to take care of or provide for an individual, or to ruin or kill him.DOG. The hammer of a fire-lock or pistol; that which holds the flint, called also dog-head. Also, a sort of iron hook or bar with a sharp fang at one end, so as to be easily driven into a piece of timber, and drag it along by means of a rope fastened to it, upon which a number of men can pull. Dog is also an iron implement with a fang at each end, to be driven into two pieces of timber, to support and steady one of them while being dubbed, hewn, or sawn.—Span-dogs. Used to lift timber. A pair of dogs linked together, and being hooked at an extended angle, press home with greater strain.

DOG-BITCH-THIMBLE. An excellent contrivance by which the topsail-sheet-block is prevented making the half cant or turn so frequently seen in the clue when the block is secured there.

DOG-BOLT. A cap square bolt.

DOG-DRAVE. A kind of sea-fish mentioned in early charters.

DOG-FISH. A name commonly applied to several small species of the shark family.

DOGG. A small silver coin of the West Indies, six of which make a bitt. Also, in meteorology, see Stubb.

DOGGED. A mode of attaching a rope to a spar or cable, in contradistinction to racking, by which slipping is prevented; half-hitched and end stopped back, is one mode.

DOGGER. A Dutch smack of about 150 tons, navigated in the German Ocean. It is mostly equipped with a main and a mizen mast, and somewhat resembles a ketch or a galliot. It is principally used for fishing on the Dogger Bank.

DOGGER-FISH. Fish bought out of the Dutch doggers.

DOGGER-MEN. The seafaring fishermen belonging to doggers.

DOGS. The last supports knocked away at the launching of a ship.

DOG'S-BODY. Dried pease boiled in a cloth.

DOG-SHORES. Two long square blocks of timber, resting diagonally with their heads to the cleats. They are placed forward to support the bilge-ways on the ground-ways, thereby preventing the ship from starting off the slips while the keel-blocks are being taken out.

DOG-SLEEP. The uncomfortable fitful naps taken when all hands are kept up by stress.

DOG'S TAIL. A name for the constellation Ursa Minor or Little Bear.

DOG-STOPPER. Put on before all to enable the men to bit the cable, sometimes to fleet the messenger.

DOG-TONGUE. A name assigned to a kind of sole.

DOG-VANE. A small vane made of thread, cork, and feathers, or buntin, fastened on the end of a half-pike, and placed on the weather gunwale, so as to be readily seen, and show the direction of the wind. The term is also familiarly applied to a cockade.

DOG-WATCH. The half-watches of two hours each, from 4 to 6, and from 6 to 8, in the evening. By this arrangement an uneven number of watches is made—seven instead of six in the twenty-four hours; otherwise there would be a succession of the same watches at the same hours throughout the voyage or cruise. Theodore Hook explained them as cur-tailed. (See Watch.)

DOIT. A small Dutch coin, valued at about half a farthing; formerly current on our eastern shores.DOLDRUMS. Those parts of the sea where calms are known to prevail. They exist between and on the polar sides of the trade-winds, but vary their position many degrees of latitude in the course of the year, depending upon the sun's declination. Also applied to a person in low spirits.

DOLE. A stated allowance; but applied to a scanty share or portion.

DOLE-FISH. The share of fish that was given to our northern fishermen as part payment for their labour.

DOLING. A fishing-boat with two masts, on the coasts of Sussex and Kent; each of the masts carries a sprit-sail.

DO-LITTLE, OR DO-LITTLE SWORD. The old term for a dirk.

DOLLAR. For this universally known coin, see Piece of Eight.

DOLLOP. An old word for a lump, portion, or share. From the Gaelic diolab.DOLPHIN. Naturalists understand by this word numerous species of small cetaceous animals of the genus Delphinus, found in nearly all seas. They greatly resemble porpoises, and are often called by this name by sailors; but they are distinguished by having a longer and more slender snout. The word is also generally, but less correctly, applied to a fish, the dorado (CoryphÆna hippuris), celebrated for the changing hues of its surface when dying. Also, a small light ancient boat, which gave rise to Pliny's story of the boy going daily to school across the Lucrine lake on a dolphin. Also, in ordnance, especially brass guns, two handles nearly over the trunnions for lifting the guns by. Also, a French gold coin (dauphine), formerly in great currency. Also, a stout post on a quay-head, or in a beach, to make hawsers fast to. The name is also given to a spar or block of wood, with a ring-bolt at each end, through which a hawser can be rove, for vessels to ride by; the same as wooden buoys.

DOLPHIN OF THE MAST. A kind of wreath or strap formed of plaited cordage, to be fastened occasionally round the lower yards to prevent nip, or as a support to the puddening, where the lower yards rest in the sling, the use of which is to sustain the fore and main yards by the jeers, in case the rigging or chains, by which those yards are suspended, should be shot away in action. (See Puddening.)DOLPHIN-STRIKER. A short perpendicular gaff spar, under the bowsprit-end, for guying down the jib-boom, of which indeed it is the chief support, by means of the martingales. (See Martingale.)

DOLVER. The reclaimed fen-grounds of our eastern coasts.

DOMESTIC NAVIGATION. A term applied to coasting trade.

DOMINIONS. It is a settled point that a conquered country forms immediately a part of the king's dominions; and a condemnation of ships within its harbours as droits of admiralty, is valid, although the conquest may not yet have been confirmed by treaty.

DON. A general name for Spaniards. One of the "perfumed" terms of its time.—To don. To put on.

DONDERBASS. See Bombard.DONEY. The doney of the Coromandel coast is about 70 feet long, 20 feet broad, and 12 feet deep; with a flat bottom or keel part, which at the broadest place is 7 feet, and diminishes to 10 inches in the siding of the stem and stern-post. The fore and after bodies are similar in form from midships. Their light draught of water is about 4 feet, and when loaded about 9 feet. These unshapely vessels in the fine season trade from Madras and Ceylon, and many of them to the Gulf of Manar, as the water is shoal between Ceylon and the southern part of the continent. They have only one mast, and are navigated by the natives in the rudest way; their means for finding the latitude being a little square board, with a string fast to the centre, at the other end of which are certain knots. The upper edge of the board is held by one hand so as to touch the north star, and the lower edge the horizon. Then the string is brought with the other hand to touch the tip of the nose, and the knot which comes in contact with the tip of the nose tells the latitude.

DONJON. The keep, or place of retreat, in old fortifications. A redoubt of a fortress; the highest and strongest tower.

DONKEY-ENGINE. An auxiliary steam-engine for feeding the boilers of the principal engine when they are stopped; or for any other duties independent of the ship's propelling engines.

DONKEY-FRIGATE. Those of 28 guns, frigate-built; that is, having guns protected by an upper deck, with guns on the quarter-deck and forecastle; ship-sloops, in contradistinction to corvettes and sloops.

DONNY. A small fishing-net.

DOOLAH. A passage-boat on the Canton river.

DOOTED. Timber rendered unsound by fissures.

DORADO. The CoryphÆna hippuris, an oceanic fish; often called "dolphin."

DOREY. A flat-floored cargo-boat in the West Indies, named after the fish John Dory.DORNICLE. A northern name for the viviparous blenny.

DORRA. From the Gaelic dorga; a crab-net.

DORSAL FIN. The median fin placed upon the back of fishes.

DORY. A fish, Zeus faber, commonly known as "John Dory," or truly jaune dorÉe, from its golden hues.

DOTTLE. The small portion of tobacco remaining unsmoked in the pipe.DOUBLE, To. To cover a ship with an extra planking, usually of 4 inches, either internally or externally, when through age or otherwise she has become loosened; the process strengthens her without driving out the former fastenings. Doubling, however, is a term applied only where the plank thus used is not less than 2 inches thick.—To double a cape. (See Doubling a Cape.)

DOUBLE-ACTING ENGINE. One in which the steam acts upon the piston against a vacuum, both in the upward and downward movement.

DOUBLE-BANK A ROPE, To. To clap men on both sides.DOUBLE-BANKED. When two opposite oars are pulled by rowers seated on the same thwart; or when there are two men labouring upon each oar. Also, 60-gun frigates which carry guns along the gangway, as was the custom with Indiamen, are usually styled double-bankers.

DOUBLE-BITTED. Two turns of the cable round the bitts instead of one.

DOUBLE-BLOCK. One fitted with a couple of sheaves, in holes side by side.

DOUBLE-BREECHING. Additional breeching on the non-recoil system, or security for guns in heavy weather.

DOUBLE-CAPSTAN. One shaft so constructed as to be worked both on an upper and lower deck, as in ships of the line, or in Phillips' patent capstan.

DOUBLE-CROWN. A name given to a plait made with the strands of a rope, which forms part of several useful and ornamental knots.

DOUBLE DECK-NAILS. See Deck-nails.DOUBLE DUTCH coiled against the Sun. Gibberish, or any unintelligible or difficult language.

DOUBLE EAGLE. A gold coin of the United States, of 10 dollars; value £2, 1s. 8d., at the average rate of exchange.

DOUBLE-FUTTOCKS. Timbers in the cant-bodies, extending from the dead-wood to the run of the second futtock-head.

DOUBLE-HEADED MAUL. One with double faces; top-mauls in contradistinction to pin-mauls.

DOUBLE-HEADED SHOT. Differing from bar-shot by being similar to dumb-bells, only the shot are hemispherical.DOUBLE-IMAGE MICROMETER. Has one of its lenses divided, and separable to a certain distance by a screw, which at the same time moves an index upon a graduated scale. When fitted to a telescope for sea use, as in chase, it is called a coming-up glass.DOUBLE INSURANCE. Where the insured makes two insurances on the same risks and the same interest.

DOUBLE-IRONED. Both legs shackled to the bilboe-bolts.

DOUBLE-JACK. See Jack-screw.

DOUBLE-LAND. That appearance of a coast when the sea-line is bounded by parallel ranges of hills, rising inland one above the other.

DOUBLE-SIDED. A line-of-battle ship painted so as to show the ports of both decks; or a vessel painted to resemble one, as used to be frequent in the Indian marine.DOUBLE-STAR. Two stars so close together as to be separable only with a telescope. They are either optically so owing to their accidental situation in the heavens, or physically near each other in space, and one of them revolving round the other.

DOUBLE-TIDE. Working double-tides is doing extra duty. (See Work Double-tides.)

DOUBLE UPON, To. See Doubling upon.

DOUBLE WALL-KNOT. With or without a crown, or a double crown, is made by intertwisting the unlaid ends of a rope in a peculiar manner.

DOUBLE-WHIP. A whip is simply a rope rove through a single block; a double whip is when it passes through a lower tail or hook-block, and the standing end is secured to the upper block, or where it is attached.

DOUBLING. (See Rank.) Putting two ranks into one.DOUBLING A CAPE. In navigation, is to sail round or pass beyond it, so that the point of land separates the ship from her former situation.

DOUBLING-NAILS. The nails commonly used in doubling.DOUBLING UPON. In a naval engagement, the act of inclosing any part of a hostile fleet between two fires, as Nelson did at the Nile. The van or rear of one fleet, taking advantage of the wind or other circumstances, runs round the van or rear of the enemy, who will thereby be exposed to great danger and confusion.

DOUBLOON. A Spanish gold coin, value 16 dollars: £3, 3s. to £3, 6s. English.

DOUGH-BOYS. Hard dumplings boiled in salt water. A corruption of dough-balls.

DOUSE, To. To lower or slacken down suddenly; expressed of a sail in a squall of wind, an extended hawser, &c. Douse the glim, your colours, &c., to knock down.

DOUT, To. To put out a light; to extinguish; do out. Shakspeare makes the dauphin of France say in "King Henry V.:"—

DOUTER, or Douser. An extinguisher.

D'OUTRE MER. From beyond the sea.

DOVER COURT BEETLE. A heavy mallet. There is an old proverb: "A Dover court; all speakers and no hearers."

DOVE-TAIL. The fastening or letting in of one timber into another by a dove-tailed end and score, so that they hold firmly together, and cannot come asunder endwise. The operation of cutting the mortise is called dove-tailing.

DOVE-TAIL PLATES. Metal plates resembling dove-tails in form, let into the heel of the stern-post and the keel, to bind them together; and also those used for connecting the stem-foot with the fore end of the keel.

DOWAL. A coak of metal in a sheave.

DOWBREK. A northern term for the fish also called spÄrling or smelt.DOWEL. A cylindrical piece of hard wood about three inches in diameter, and the same in length, used as an additional security in scarphing two pieces of timber together. Dowels are also used to secure the joinings of the felloes, or circumferential parts of wheels; and by coopers in joining together the contiguous boards forming the heads of casks.—Dowel, or dowel-bit, is the tool used to cut the holes for the dowels.

DOWELLING. The method of uniting the butts of the frame-timbers together with a cylindrical piece or tenon let in at each end.

DOWN ALL CHESTS! The order to get all the officers' and seamen's chests down below from off the gun-decks when clearing the ship for an engagement.

DOWN ALL HAMMOCKS! The order for all the sailors to carry their hammocks down, and hang them up in their respective berths in readiness to go to bed, or to lessen top-weight and resistance to wind in chase.

DOWN ALONG. Sailing coastways down Channel.

DOWN EAST. Far away in that bearing. This term, as down west, &c., is an Americanism, recently adopted into our vernacular.

DOWNFALLS. The descending waters of rivers and creeks.

DOWN-HAUL. A rope passing up along a stay, leading through cringles of the staysails or jib, and made fast to the upper corner of the sail to pull it down when shortening sail. Also, through blocks on the outer clues to the outer yard-arms of studding-sails, to take them in securely. Also, the cockpit term for a great-coat.

DOWN-HAUL TACKLES. Employed when lower yards are struck in bad weather to prevent them from swaying about after the trusses are unrove.

DOWN IN THE MOUTH. Low-spirited or disheartened.

DOWN KILLOCK! Let go the grapnel; the corruption of keel-hook or anchor.

DOWN OARS! The order on shoving off a boat when the men have had them "tossed up."DOWNS. An accumulation of drifted sand, which the sea gathers along its shores. The name is also applied to the anchorage or sea-space between the eastern coast of Kent and the Goodwin Sands, the well-known roadstead for ships, stretching from the South to the North Foreland, where both outward and homeward-bound ships frequently make some stay, and squadrons of men-of-war rendezvous in time of war. It is defended by the castles of Sandwich, Deal, and Dover.

DOWN WIND, DOWN SEA. A proverbial expression among seamen between the tropics, where the sea is soon raised by the wind, and when that abates is soon smooth again.

DOWN WITH THE HELM! An order to put the helm a-lee.

DOWSING CHOCK. A breast-hook or piece fayed athwart the apron and lapped on the knight-heads, or inside stuff, above the upper deck; otherwise termed hawse-hook.

DOYLT. Lazy or stupid.

DO YOU HEAR THERE? An inquiry following an order, but very often needlessly.

DRABLER. A piece of canvas laced on the bonnet of a sail to give it more drop, or as Captain Boteler says—"As the bonnet is to the course, so in all respects is the drabler to the bonnet." It is only used when both course and bonnet are not deep enough to clothe the mast.

DRACHMA. A Greek coin, value sevenpence three farthings sterling; 14 cents. American or Spanish real.

DRAFT, or Draught. A small allowance for waste on goods sold by weight.

DRAFT OF HANDS. A certain number of men appointed to serve on board a particular man-of-war, who are then said to be drafted. A transfer of hands from one ship to complete the complement of another.

DRAG. A machine consisting of a sharp square frame of iron encircled with a net, and commonly used to rake the mud off from the platform or bottom of the docks, or to clean rivers, or for dragging on the bottom for anything lost. Also, a creeper.

DRAG FOR THE ANCHOR, To. The same as creep or sweep.

DRAGGING. An old word for dredging.

DRAGGING ON HER. Said of a vessel in chase, or rounding a point, when she is obliged to carry more canvas to a fresh wind than she otherwise would.

DRAG-NET. A trawl or net to draw on the bottom for flat-fish.

DRAGOMAN. The name for a Turkish interpreter; it is corrupted from tarij-mÂn.

DRAGON. An old name for a musketoon.

DRAGON BEAM or Piece. A strut or abutment.

DRAGONET. A sea-fish, the gowdie, or Callionymus lyra.

DRAGON-VOLANT. The old name for a gun of large calibre used in the French navy, whence the term was adopted into ours.DRAGOON. Originally a soldier trained to serve alike on horse or foot, or as Dr. Johnson equivocally explains it, "who fights indifferently on foot or on horseback." (See Troop.) The term is now applied to all cavalry soldiers who have no other special designation.

DRAG-ROPES. Those used in the artillery by the men in pulling the gun backwards and forwards in practice and in action.DRAGS. Whatever hangs over the ship into the sea, as shirts, coats, or the like; and boats when towed, or whatever else that after this manner may hinder the ship's way when she sails, are called drags.

DRAG-SAIL. Any sail with its clues stopped so as when veered away over the quarter to make a stop-water when veering in emergency. The drag-sail formed by the sprit-sail course was frequently used in former wars to retard the ship apparently running away until the enemy got within gun-shot.

DRAG-SAW. A cross-cut saw.

DRAG THE ANCHOR, To. The act of the anchors coming home.

DRAKE. An early piece of brass ordnance.

DRAKKAR. A Norman pirate boat of former times.

DRAUGHT, or Draft. The depth of water a ship displaces, or of a body of fluid necessary to float a vessel; hence a ship is said to draw so many feet of water when she requires that depth to float her, which, to be more readily known, are marked on the stem and stern-post from the keel upwards. Also, the old name for a chart. Also, the delineation of a ship designed to be built, drawn on a given scale, generally a quarter-inch to the foot, for the builders. (See Sheer-draught.)

DRAUGHT-HOOKS. Iron hooks fixed on the cheeks of a gun-carriage for dragging the gun along by draught-ropes.

DRAUGHTSMAN. The artist who draws plans or charts from instructions or surveys.

DRAW. A sail draws when it is filled by the wind. A ship draws so many feet of water.—To let draw a jib is to cease from flattening-in the sheet.—Draw is also a term for halliards in some of the northern fishing-boats.—To draw. To procure anything by official demand from a dockyard, arsenal, or magazine.—To draw up the courses. To take in.—To draw upon a ship is to gain upon a vessel when in pursuit of her.

DRAWBACK. An abatement or reduction of duties allowed by the custom-house in certain cases; as for stores to naval officers in commission.

DRAW-BELLOWS. A northern term for limber-holes (which see).

DRAWING. The state of a sail when there is sufficient wind to inflate it, so as to advance the vessel in her course.

DRAWING UP. Adjusting a ship's station in the line; the converse of dropping astern.

DRAWING WATER. The number of feet depth which a ship submerges.

DRAWN BATTLE. A conflict in which both parties claim the victory, or retire upon equal terms.

DRAW-NET. Erroneously used for drag-net.

DRAWN FOR THE MILITIA. When men are selected by ballot for the defence of the country.

DRAW THE GUNS. To extract the charge of wad, shot, and cartridge from the guns.

DREDGE. An iron scraper-framed triangle, furnished with a bottom of hide and stout cord net above, used for taking oysters or specimens of shells from the bottom.

DREDGER-BOAT. One that uses the net so called, for turbots, soles, sandlings, &c.

DREDGING. Fishing by dragging the dredge.

DREDGING MACHINE. A large lighter, or other flat-bottomed vessel, equipped with a steam-engine and machinery for removing the mud and silt from the bottom, by the revolution of iron buckets in an endless chain.

DREDGY. The ghost of a drowned person.

DREINT. The old word used for drowned, from the Anglo-Saxon.

DRESS, To. To place a fleet in organized order; also, to arrange men properly in ranks; to present a true continuous line in front.—To dress a ship. To ornament her with a variety of colours, as ensigns, flags, pendants, &c., of various nations, displayed from different parts of her masts, rigging, &c., on a day of festivity.DREW. A name in our northern isles for the Fucus loreus, a narrow thong-shaped sea-weed.

DRIBBLE. Drizzling showers; light rain.

DRIES. A term opposed to rains on the west coast of Africa.DRIFT. The altered position of a vessel by current or falling to leeward when hove-to or lying-to in a gale, when but little head-way is made by the action of sails. In artillery, a priming-iron of modern introduction used to clear the vent of ordnance from burning particles after each discharge. Also, a term sometimes used for the constant deflection of a rifled projectile. (See Deflection.)

DRIFTAGE. The amount due to lee-way. (See Drift.)

DRIFT-BOLTS. Commonly made of steel, are used as long punches for driving out other bolts.DRIFT-ICE. The debris of the main pack. (See Open Ice.)

DRIFTING-UP. Is used as relating to sands which are driven by the winds. As at Cape Blanco, on the coast of Africa, off the tail of the Desert of Zahara, where the houses and batteries have been thus obliterated.

DRIFT-MUD. Consisting chiefly of an argillaceous earth, brought down by the rivers, floated about, and successively deposited in banks; forming the alluvial and fertile European settlements of Guiana.

DRIFT-NET. A large net, with meshes of one inch, used in the pilchard fishery in August; also, for herrings and mackerel in March: used in drifting in the Chops of the Channel. Also, of strong gauze, for molluscs.

DRIFT-PIECES. Solid pieces fitted at the drifts, forming the scrolls on the drifts: they are commonly mitred into the gunwale.

DRIFTS. Detached masses of soil and underwood torn off the shore by floods and floating about, often mistaken for rocks and dangers. Also, in ship-building, those parts where the sheer is raised, and the rails are cut off, ending with a scroll; as the drift of the quarter-deck, poop-deck, and forecastle.

DRIFT-SAIL. A contrivance, by means of immersing a sail, to diminish the drift of a ship during a gale of wind. (See Drags.)

DRIFT-WAY. Synonymous with lee-way.

DRILL. Systematized instruction in the practice of all military exercises.

DRILL-SHIPS. A recent establishment of vessels in which the volunteers composing the Royal Naval Reserve are drilled into practice.

DRINK-PENNY. Earnest money at rendezvous houses, &c.DRIP-STONE. The name usually given to filters composed of porous stone.

DRIVE, To [from the Anglo-Saxon dryfan]. A ship drives when her anchor trips or will not hold. She drives to leeward when beyond control of sails or rudder; and if under bare poles, may drive before the wind. Also, to strike home bolts, tree-nails, &c.DRIVER. A large sail formerly used with the wind aft or quartering. It was a square sail cut like a studding-sail, and set with a great yard on the end of the spanker-boom, across the taffrail. The name latterly has been officially applied to the spanker, both being the aftermost sails of a ship, the ring-tail being only an addition, as a studding or steering sail. (See Steering-sail.) Also, the foremost spur in the bilge-ways, the heel of which is fayed to the fore-side of the foremost poppet, and the sides of it look fore and aft. Also, a sort of fishing-boat.

DRIVER-BOOM. The boom to which the driver is hauled out.

DRIVING A CHARGE. Ramming home the loading of a piece of ordnance.

DRIVING PILES. The motion of a ship bobbing in a head sea, compared to the vertical fall of monkeys on pile heads.

DROG. A Gaelic term, still in use, to express the agitation of the sea.

DROGHER. A small craft which goes round the bays of the West India Islands, to take off sugars, rum, &c., to the merchantmen.—Lumber-drogher is a vessel built solely for burden, and for transporting cotton and other articles coastwise.

DROGHING. The carrying trade of the West India coasts.

DROITS OF ADMIRALTY. Rights, or rather perquisites, which flowed originally from the king by grant or usage, and now reserved to the crown by commission. They are of two kinds—viz. the civil, or those arising from wrecks of the sea, flotsam, jetsam, and lagan, royal fishes, derelicts, and deodands, ejectamenta maris, and the goods of pirates, traitors, felons, suicides, and fugitives within the admiralty jurisdiction; and the prize droits, or those accruing in the course of war, comprehending all ships and goods taken without commission, all vessels improperly captured before hostilities have been formally declared, or found or by accident brought within the admiralty, salvage for all ships rescued, and all ships seized, in any of the ports, creeks, or roads of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland before any declaration of war or reprisals by the sovereign.

DROM-FISH. A large fish taken and cured in quantities in the Portuguese harbours of South America, as well for ship's stores as for the times of fast.DROMON. A Saracen term denoting the large king's ships from the ninth to the fifteenth century.

DROP, or Droop. When a line diverges from a parallel or a curve. It is also a name generally used to the courses, but sometimes given to the depth of the square sails in general; as, "Her main top-sail drops seventeen yards." The depth of a sail from head to foot amidships.—To drop anchor is simply to anchor:—underfoot, in calms, a kedge or stream is dropped to prevent drift.

DROP ASTERN, To. To slacken a ship's way, so as to suffer another one to pass beyond her. Also, distancing a competitor.

DROP DOWN A RIVER. Synonymous with falling (which see).

DROP-DRY. Completely water-tight.

DROPPING. An old mode of salute by lowering flags or uppermost sails.DROPS. In ship-building, are small foliages of carved work in the stern munnions and elsewhere. The term also means the fall or declivity of a deck, which is generally of several inches.

DROUD. A fish of the cod kind, frequenting the west coast of Scotland.

DROUGES. Quadrilateral pieces of board, sometimes attached to the harpoon line, for the purpose of checking in some degree the speed of the whale.

DROW. An old northern term for a severe gust of wind accompanied with rain.DROWNED LAND. Extensive marshes or other water-covered districts which were once dry and sound land.

DROWNING. An early naval punishment; Richard I. enacted that whoever killed a man on ship-board, "he should be bound to the corpse, and thrown into the sea."

DROWNING-BRIDGE. A sluice-gate for overflowing meadows.

DROWNING THE MILLER. Adding too much water to wine or spirits; from the term when too much water has been put into a bowl of flour.

DRUB. To beat. (Captain's despatch.) "We have drubbed the enemy."

DRUDGE. A name truly applied to a cabin-boy.

DRUGGERS. Small vessels which formerly exported fish from Dieppe and other Channel ports, and brought back from the Levant spices and drugs.

DRUM. See Storm-drum.

DRUM-CAPSTAN. A contrivance for weighing heavy anchors, invented by Sir S. Morland, who died in 1695.DRUMHEAD COURT-MARTIAL. Sudden court held in the field for the immediate trial of thefts or misconduct. (See Provost-Marshal.)

DRUMHEAD OF CAPSTAN. A broad cylindrical piece of elm, resembling a millstone, and fixed immediately above the barrel and whelps. On its circumference a number of square holes are cut parallel to the deck, to receive the bars.

DRUMLER. An ancient transport. (See Dromon.) Also, a small piratical vessel of war.

DRUMMER. The marine who beats the drum, and whose pay is equivalent to that of a private of fourteen years' standing. Also, a singular fish of the corvinas kind, which has the faculty of emitting musical noises, whence it has acquired the name of crocros.

DRUXY. Timber in a state of decay, the condition of which is manifested by veins or spots in it of a whitish tint.

DRY-BULB THERMOMETER. The readings of this instrument, when compared with those of a wet-bulb thermometer, indicate the amount of moisture in the air, and thence the probability of rain.

DRY DOCK. An artificial receptacle for examining and repairing vessels. (See Graving-Dock.)

DRY DUCKING. Suspending a person by a rope a few yards above the surface of the water.

DRY FLOGGING. Punishing over the clothes of a culprit.

DRY GALES. Those storms which are accompanied with a clear sky, as the northers of the Gulf of Mexico, the harmattan of Africa, &c.

DRY HOLY-STONING. See Holy-stone.

DRY-ROT. A disease destructive of timber, occasioned by a fungus, the Merulius lachrymans, which softens wood and finally destroys it; it resembles a dry pithy cottony substance, whence the name dry-rot, though when in a perfect state, its sinuses contain drops of clear water, which have given rise to its specific Latin name. Free ventilation and cleanliness appear to be the best preservatives against this costly evil.

DRY ROWING. "Row dry." Not to dash the spray with the blade of the oar in the faces of those in the stern-sheets.

D.S.Q. Means, in the complete book, discharged to sick quarters.

DUB. A northern term for a pool of deep and smooth water in a rapid river.

DUBB, To. To smooth and cut off with an adze the superfluous wood.—To dubb a vessel bright, is to remove the outer surface of the plank completely with an adze. Spotting to examine planks with the adze is also dubbing.

DUBBAH, or Dubber. A coarse leathern vessel for holding liquids in India.

DUBHE. A standard nautical star in the Great Bear.

DUCAT. A well-known coin in most parts of Europe; the average gold ducat being nine shillings and sixpence, and the silver three shillings and fourpence.

DUCATOON. A coin of the Dutch Oriental Isles, of seven shillings. Also, a silver coin of Venice, value four shillings and eightpence.

DUCK, To. To dive, or immerse another under water; or to avoid a shot.

DUCK. The finest canvas (No. 8) for small sails, is sometimes so called; but it is really a lighter cloth than canvas, and is greatly used by seamen and soldiers on tropical stations for frocks and trousers.

DUCKING. A penalty which veteran sailors inflict on those who, for the first time, pass the tropics, the equator, or formerly even the Straits of Gibraltar; and is usually performed in the grog-tub or half-butt, with the assistance of a few buckets of water; the usual fine, however, always prevents the penalty being inflicted.

DUCKING AT THE YARD-ARM. A marine punishment unknown, except by name, in the British navy; but formerly inflicted by the French for grave offences, thus: the criminal was placed astride a short thick batten, fastened to the end of a rope which passed through a block hanging at the yard-arm. Thus fixed, he was hoisted suddenly up to the yard, and the rope being then slackened at once, he was plunged into the sea. This chastisement was repeated several times; conformable to the sentence, a gun advertised the other ships of the fleet thereof that their crews might become spectators. If the offence was very great, he was drawn underneath the keel of the ship, which was called keel-hauling. (See Keel-hauling.)

DUCKS. The general name for a sailor's dress in warm climates. Also, the military English of Bombay. See also Jemmy Ducks, the keeper of the poultry on board ship. Dried herrings, or Digby ducks in N. S.

DUCK-UP! A term used by the steersman when the main-sail, fore-sail, or sprit-sail hinders his seeing to steer by a landmark, upon which he calls out, "Duck-up the clue-lines of those sails," that is, haul the sails out of the way. Also, when a shot is made by a chase-piece, if the clue of the sprit-sail hinders the sight, they call out, "Duck-up," &c.

DUDGEON. An old word for the box-handle of a dirk; it is mentioned by Shakspeare with the blade of the ideal dagger which Macbeth saw before him. It also means offence, anger.

DUDS. A cant term for clothes or personal property. The term is old, but still in common use, though usually applied to clothing of an inferior quality, and even rags and tatters.

DUEL. A single combat at a time and place appointed in consequence of a challenge; a practice which had its uses and abuses, now prohibited.

DUELLO. An Italian word expressive of duelling, long appropriated into our language.

DUFF. Pudding or dough.

DUFFERS. Low pedlars; also those women who assist smugglers. Also, cowardly fellows.

DUG-OUT. A canoe.

DUKE OF YORK. A nickname for a particular storm trysail used in the northern seas.DULCE, Dulse, Delse. Iridea dulce, one of the edible fuci. It is an article of trade in America and Holland, and is plentiful on the rocky coasts of Ireland and western England. It probably derived its name from being sweet and pleasant, not requiring cooking.

DULEDGE PLATES. An old name for the tyre-streaks or iron plates on the circumference of the wheel of a field-piece. Duledge was also used for dowel, the wooden pin connecting the felloes.

DULL'D. When said of the wind, fallen or moderated.

DULLISH. The Manx term for the marine eatable leaf dillisk.

DUMB-CHALDER. A metal cleat bolted to the back of the stern-post for one of the pintles to rest upon, to lessen both strain and friction. (See Pintles.)

DUMB-CLEAT. Synonymous with dumb-chalder and thumb-cleat.

DUMB-CRAFT. Lighters, lumps, or punts, not having sails. Also, a name for the screws used for lifting a ship on a slip.

DUMB-PINTLE. A peculiar rudder-strap. (See Pintles.)

DUMB-SCRAPING. Scraping wet decks with blunt scrapers.

DUMFOUNDER. To confuse or perplex.

DUMMY. A wood frame landing-place in front of a pier.

DUMP-BOLT. A short bolt driven in to the plank and timber as a partial security previous to the thorough fastenings being put in.

DUMPS. Nearly synonymous with down in the mouth.

DUN. A hill, an eminence.

DUNBAR MEDLAR. A salted herring.

DUNDERHEAD. A term used for the devil, as also for a stupid fellow.

DUN-DIVER. A name for the goosander (Mergus merganser) in immature plumage.

DUNES. An Anglo-Saxon word still in use, signifying mounds or ridges of drifted sands. (See Downs.)

DUN-FISH. A peculiar preparation of cod for the American market, by which it retains a dun or dark yellow colour. Dunning is extensively carried on in the spring at Portsmouth and other places in New Hampshire.

DUNGAREE-DUCK. A name given to a small dried fish in Bombay.

DUNGAREE-STUFF. A blue or striped cotton cloth much worn by the seafaring classes in India.

DUNGIYAH. A broad-beamed flat-bottomed Arabian coaster trading between the Red Sea, Gulf of Persia, and the Malabar coast.

DUN-HEAD. In east-country barges the after-planking which forms the cabin.

DUNKIRKS. The well-known name for pirates who sailed out of Dunkirk.

DUNLIN. The name of a species of sand-piper (Tringa cinclus).

DUNN, or Duin. A Gaelic word for a fort, a hill, a heap, or a knoll.DUNNAGE. Loose wood or other substances, as horns, rattan, coir, &c., to stow amongst casks and other cargo to prevent their motion. A vessel dunnages below the dry cargo to keep it from bilge-water.

DUNNAGE BATTENS. An extra floor in a merchantman to preserve the cargo from wet in the event of leakage. They are also used in magazines and sail-rooms so as to form a vacant space beneath the powder-barrels and ceiling.

DUNNAGED. Goods or packages secured with dunnage.

DUNNAGE GRATINGS. Express gratings placed on a steamer's deck to place cargo upon, serving as dunnage.

DUNTER. A northern designation of the porpoise.

DUNTER-GOOSE. A name in the Orkneys for the Somateria mollissima, or eider-duck.

DUR-MAST. An inferior oak of more rapid growth than the true English.

DUST. The refuse of biscuit in the bread-room. Also used for money. This term probably got into use in India, where the boat hire on the Ganges was added to by the GhÂt-Manjees, in the way of "Dustooree." Moreover, a tumult or uproar.

DUTCH. Language, or rather gibberish, which cannot be understood by a listener. (See Double Dutch.)

DUTCH-CAPER. A light-armed vessel of the seventeenth century, adapted for privateering, and much used by the Dutch.

DUTCH CONSOLATION. "Whatever ill befalls you, there's somebody that's worse;" or "It's very unfortunate; but thank God it's no worse."

DUTCH COURAGE. The excitement inspired by drinking spirits; false energy.DUTCH EEL-SKUYT. A flat-bottomed somewhat cutter-rigged sea-boat, carrying lee-boards, fitted with two water-tight bulk-heads, making a well for keeping live fish in, the water being admitted through perforated plates fastened on inside the ribs.

DUTCHIFYING. A term used for converting square sterns to round ones.DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES. The patch of blue sky often seen when a gale is breaking, is said to be, however small, "enough to make a pair of breeches for a Dutchman." Others assign the habiliment to a Welshman, but give no authority for the assumption.DUTCH PLAICE. The Pleuronectes platessa. When small, it is called fleak; when large, Dutch plaice.

DUTCH PUMP. A punishment so contrived that, if the prisoner would not pump hard, he was drowned.

DUTCH RECKONING. A bad day's work, all in the wrong.

DUTCH REDS. High-smoked herrings prepared in Holland.

DUTIES. Taxes levied by the custom-house upon goods exported or imported.

DUTTEES. Coarse brown calicoes of India.

DUTY. The exercise of those functions which belong to the service, and are carried out from the highest to the lowest.

DWANG-STAFF. This is otherwise the wrain-staff (which see).DYCE. A langridge for the old hail-shot pieces.

DYCE, or Thyst, "Very Well Dyce." (See Thus.)

DYELLE. A kind of mud-drag used for cleaning rivers on our eastern coasts.

DYING MAN'S DINNER. A snatch of refreshment when the ship is in extreme danger.DYKE. From the Anglo-Saxon dic, a mound or bank; yet in some parts of England the word means a ditch.

DYKE-CAM. A ditch-bank.

DYNAMOMETER. An instrument for measuring the amount of force, and used for indicating the thrust or force of a screw-propeller, or any other motor. There are many, varying in mode according to the express purpose of each, but all founded on the same principle as the name expresses—power and measure, so that a steel-yard is the simplest exponent.

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