The Sailor's Word-Book Part 127

HEN'S-WARE. A name of the edible sea-weed _Fucus esculentus_.

HEP-PAH, OR HIPPA. A New Zealand fort, or s.p.a.ce surrounded with stout palisades; these rude defences have given our soldiers and sailors much trouble to reduce. (_See_ PAH.)

HEPTAGON. A right-lined figure with seven sides; if it be regular, the sides and angles are all equal.

HERCULES. The large ma.s.s of iron by the blows of which anchors are welded.

HERE-AWAY. A term when a look-out man announces a rhumb or bearing of any object in this quarter.

HERE-FARE [Anglo-Saxon]. An expedition; going to warfare.

HERISSON. A balanced barrier to a pa.s.sage in a fort, of the nature of a turnstile.

HERLING. A congener of the salmon species found in Scotland; it is small, and shaped like a sea-trout.

HERMAPHRODITE OR BRIG SCHOONER, is square-rigged, but without a top forward, and schooner-rigged abaft; carrying only fore-and-aft sails on the main-mast; in other phrase, she is a vessel with a brig's fore-mast and a schooner's main-mast.

HERMIT-CRAB. A name applied to a group of crabs (family _Paguridae_), of which the hinder part of the body is soft, and which habitually lodge themselves in the empty sh.e.l.l of some mollusc. Also called _soldier-crabs_.

HERMO. A Mediterranean term for the meteor called _corpo santo_.

HERNE. A bight or corner, as Herne Bay, so called from lying in an angle.

HERNSHAW AND HERNE. Old words for the heron.

HERON. A large bird of the genus _Ardea_, which feeds on fish.

HERRING. A common fish--the _Clupea harengus_; Anglo-Saxon _haering_ and _hering_.

HERRING-BONING. A method of sewing up rents in a sail by small cross-st.i.tches, by which the seam is kept flat.

HERRING-BUSS. A peculiar boat of 10 or 15 tons, for the herring fishery.

(_See_ BUSS.)

HERRING-COB. A young herring.

HERRING-GUTTED. _See_ SHOTTEN-HERRING.

HERRING-HOG. A name for the porpoise.

HERRING-POND. The Atlantic Ocean.

HETERODROMOUS LEVERS. The windla.s.s, capstan, crank, crane, &c.

HETEROPLON. A kind of naval insurance, where the insurers only run the risk of the outward voyage; when both the going out and return of a vessel is insured, it is called amphoteroplon.

HETTLE. A rocky fishing-ground in the Firth of Forth, which gives name to the fish called Hettle-codling.

HEUGH. A craggy dry dell; a ravine without water.

HEXAGON. A right-lined figure with six sides; if it be regular, the sides and angles are all equal.

HEYS-AND-HOW. An ancient sea-cheer.

HI! Often used for _hoy_; as, "Hi, you there!" Also, the old term for _they_, as in Sir Ferumbras--

"Costroye there was, the Admiral, With vitaile great plente, And the standard of the sowdon royal, Toward Mantrible ridden hi."

HIDDEN HARBOUR. That of which the outer points so overlap as to cause the coast to appear to be continuous.

HIDE, TO. To beat; to rope's-end or drub. Also, to secrete.

HIE, TO. To flow quickly in a tide-way.

HIE ALOFT. Away aloft.

HIGH. In gunnery, signifies tightly fitting the bore; said of shot, wads, &c. Also, a gun is said to be laid high when too much elevated.

HIGH-AND-DRY. The situation of a ship or other vessel which is aground, so as to be seen dry upon the strand when the tide ebbs from her.

HIGH ENOUGH. Said in hoisting in goods, water, or masts.

HIGH FLOOD. _See_ FLOOD.

HIGH LAt.i.tUDES. Those regions far removed from the equator towards the poles of the earth above the 50th degree.

HIGH TIDE, OR HIGH WATER. Figuratively, a full purse. Constance, in Shakspeare's _King John_, uses the term _high tides_ as denoting the gold-letter days or holidays of the calendar.

HIGH-WATER. The greatest height of the flood-tide. (_See_ TIDE.)

HIGH-WATER MARK. The line made by the water upon the sh.o.r.e, when at its greatest height; it is also designated the _flood-mark_ and _spring-tide mark_. This const.i.tutes the boundary line of admiralty jurisdiction as to the soil.

HIGH WIND. _See_ HEAVY GALE.

HIGRE. _See_ BORE and EAGRE.

HIKE. A brief equivalent to "Be off," "Go away." It is generally used in a contemptuous sense; as, he was "hiked off"--that is, dismissed at once, or in a hurry. To swing.

HIKE UP, TO. To kidnap; to carry off by force.

HILL. In use with the Anglo-Saxons. An insulated rise of the ground, usually applied to heights below 1000 feet, yet higher than a _hillock_ or _hummock_ (which see).

HILLOCK. A small coast-hill, differing from a _hummock_ in having a peaked or pointed summit.

HILT. The handle and guard of a sword.

HIND-CASTLE. A word formerly used for the p.o.o.p, as being opposed to _fore-castle_.

HIPPAGINES, OR HIPPAGOGae. Ancient transports for carrying cavalry.