The Sailor's Word-Book Part 146

LAMp.r.o.n. The old name for the lamprey.

LAMP-Sh.e.l.lS. A name applied to the _Terebratulae_ of zoologists.

LANCE-KNIGHT. A foot-soldier of old.

LANCEPESADO. From Ital. _lancia spezzata_, or broken lance; originally a soldier who, having broken his lance on the enemy, and lost his horse in fight, was entertained as a volunteer till he could remount himself; hence _lance-corporal_, one doing corporal's duty, on the pay of a private.

LANCHANG. A Malay proa, carrying twenty-five or thirty men.

LAND. In a general sense denotes _terra firma_, as distinguished from sea; but, also, _land-laid_, or to _lay the land_, is just to lose sight of it.--_Land-locked_ is when land lies all round the ship.--_Land is shut in_, signifies that another point of land hides that from which the ship came.--_The ship lies land to_, implies so far from sh.o.r.e that it can only just be discerned.--_To set the land_, is to see by compa.s.s how it bears.--_To make the land._ To sight it after an absence.--_To land on deck._ A nautical anomaly, meaning to lower casks or weighty goods on deck from the tackles.

LAND-BLINK. On Arctic voyages, a peculiar atmospheric brightness on approaching land covered with snow; usually more yellow than _ice-blink_.

LAND-BREEZE. A current of air which, in the temperate zones, and still more within the tropics, regularly sets from the land towards the sea during the night, and this even on opposite points of the coast. It results from land losing its heat quicker than water; hence the air above it becomes heavier, and rushes towards the sea to establish equilibrium.

LANDES. The heathy track between Bordeaux and the Ba.s.ses Pyrenees; but also denoting uncultivated or unreclaimable spots.

LAND-FALL. Making the land. "A good land-fall" signifies making the land at or near the place to which the course was intended, while "a bad land-fall" implies the contrary.

LAND-FEATHER. A sea-cove.

LAND HO! The cry when land is first seen.

LAND-ICE. Flat ice connected with the sh.o.r.e, within which there is no channel.

LANDING-STRAKE. In boats, the upper strake of plank but one.

LANDING-SURVEYOR. The custom-house officer who appoints and superintends the landing-waiters.

LANDING-WAITERS. Persons appointed from the custom-house to inspect goods discharged from foreign parts.

LAND-LOUPER. [Dutch.] Meaning he who flies from this country for crime or debt, but not to be confounded with _land-lubber_ (which see).

LAND-LUBBER. A useless longsh.o.r.er; a vagrant stroller. Applied by sailors to the ma.s.s of landsmen, especially those without employment.

LANDMARK. Any steeple, tree, windmill, or other object, serving to guide the seaman into port, or through a channel.

LAND-SHARKS. Crimps, pettifogging attorneys, slopmongers, and the canaille infesting the slums of sea-port towns.

LAND-SLIP. The fall of a quant.i.ty of land from a cliff or declivity; the land sliding away so as often to carry trees with it still standing upright.

LANDSMEN. The rating formerly of those on board a ship who had never been at sea, and who were usually stationed among the waisters or after-guard. Some of those used to small craft are more ready about the decks than in going aloft. The rating is now Second-cla.s.s Ordinary.

LAND-TURN. A wind that blows in the night, at certain times, in most hot countries.

LAND-WAITERS. _See_ LANDING-WAITERS.

LANE. "Make a lane there!" An order for men to open a pa.s.sage and allow a person to pa.s.s through.

LANE OR VEIN OF ICE. A narrow channel between two fields. Any open cracks or separations of floe offering navigation.

LANGREL, OR LANGRAGE. A villanous kind of shot, consisting of various fragments of iron bound together, so as to fit the bore of the cannon from which it is to be discharged. It is seldom used but by privateers.

LANGUET. A small slip of metal on the hilt of a sword, which overhangs the scabbard; the ear of a sword.

LANIARD, OR LANNIERS. A short piece of rope or line made fast to anything to secure it, or as a handle. Such are the laniards of the gun-locks, of the gun-ports, of the buoy, of the cat-hook, &c. The princ.i.p.al laniards are those which secure the shrouds and stays, termed laniards of lower, top-mast, or other rigging. (_See_ DEAD-EYE and HEART.)

LANTCHA. A large Malay craft of the Indian Archipelago.

LANTERN. Ships of war had formerly three p.o.o.p-lanterns, and one in the main-top, to designate the admiral's ship; also deck-lanterns, fighting-lanterns, magazine-lanterns, &c. The signal-lanterns are peculiar. The great ship lantern, hanging to the p.o.o.p, appears on the Trajan Column.

LANTERN-BRACES. Iron bars to secure the lanterns.

LANTERN-FISH. A west-country name for the smooth sole.

LANTIONE. A Chinese rowing-boat.

LANYARDS. _See_ LANIARD.

LAP-JOINTED. The plates of an iron vessel overlapping each other, as in _clincher work_.

LAPLAND WITCHES. People in Lapland who profess to sell fair winds, thus retaining a remnant of ancient cla.s.sical superst.i.tion.

LAP OVER OR UPON. The mast carlings are said to lap upon the beams by reason of their great depth, and head-ledges at the ends lap over the coamings.

LAPPELLE, OR LAPEL. The facing of uniform coats. Until the introduction of epaulettes in 1812, the _white lapelle_ was used as synonymous with lieutenant's commission. Hence the brackish poet, in the craven midshipman's lament--

"If I had in my country staid, I then had learnt some useful trade, And scorned the white lapelle."

LAPPING. The undulations occasioned in the waves by the paddle-wheels of a steam-boat. In the polar seas, lapping applies to the young or thin ice, one plate overlapping another, so dangerous to boats and their crews. Also, the overlaying of plank edges in working.

LAPS. The remaining part of the ends of carlings, &c., which are to bear a great weight or pressure; such, for instance, as the capstan-step.

LAP'S COURSE. One of the oldest and most savoury of the regular forecastle dishes. (_See_ LOBSCOUSE.)

LARBOARD. The left side of a ship, when the spectator's face is towards the bow. The Italians derive starboard from _questa borda_, "this side,"

and larboard from, _quella borda_, "that side;" abbreviated into _sta borda_ and _la borda_. Their resemblance caused so many mistakes that, by order of the admiralty, larboard is now thrown overboard, and _port_ subst.i.tuted. "Port the helm" is even mentioned in Arthur Pit's voyage in 1580.

LARBOARD-WATCH. The old term for port-watch. The division of a ship's company called for duty, while the other, the starboard, is relieved from it. (_See_ WATCH.)

LARBOLINS, OR LARBOLIANS. A cant term implying the larboard-watch, the opposite of starboard:--

"Larbolins stout, you must turn out, And sleep no more within; For if you do, we'll cut your clue, And let starbolins in."

LARGE. Sailing large: going with the wind free when studding-sails will draw.

LARK. A small boat. Also, frolicsome merriment. (_See_ SKY-LARKING.)

LARRUP, TO. An old word meaning to beat with a rope's-end, strap, or colt.