The Sailor's Word-Book Part 154

LOBLOLLY. A name formerly applied to pottage, burgoo, or gruel.

LOBLOLLY-BOY. A man who attended the surgeon and his a.s.sistants, to summon the sick, and attend on them. A man is now stationed in the bay, under the designation of _sick-berth attendant_.

LOBSCOUSE. An olla-podrida of salt-meat, biscuit, potatoes, onions, spices, &c., minced small and stewed together. (_See_ LAP'S COURSE.)

LOBSTER. A well-known marine crustacean, _Astacus marinus_. Also, red-coats of old; whence _lobster-box_, a colloquialism for barracks.

LOBSTER-BOAT. A bluff, clincher-built vessel, fitted with a well, to preserve the lobsters alive.

LOBSTER-TOAD. _See_ DEEP-SEA CRAB.

LOB-TAILING. The act of the sperm whale in violently beating the water with its tail.

LOB-WORM. A worm found at low-water in sand, esteemed for bait.

LOCAL ATTRACTION. The effect of the iron in a ship on her compa.s.ses; it varies with the position of a compa.s.s in a ship, also with that of a ship on the earth's surface, and with the direction of the ship's head.

In iron ships it is affected by the line of direction in which they are built. Its detection and remedies are amongst the most important studies of navigators of iron ships and steamers.

LOCAL MARINE-BOARD. _See_ MARINE BOARDS.

LOCH. Gaelic for lake, in Scotland and Ireland. In Scotland also an arm of the sea, where the tides ebb and flow; on the east coast called a _firth_, though on the west mostly termed a _loch_.

LOCHABER AXE. A formidable weapon once used by the Highlanders.

LOCK. The striking instrument by which fire is produced for the discharge of a gun, containing the c.o.c.k, the hammer, the pan, &c. It was first introduced in naval ordnance by Sir Charles Douglas, and has now given way to the _detonating hammer_ and friction-tube, as the old match and the salamander did to the lock.

LOCK. A spelling of _loch_ (which see). Also, the general name for any works made to confine or raise the water of a river; a ca.n.a.l inclosed between the sluice-gate above and the flood-gate below.

LOCK, TO. To entangle the lower yards when tacking.

LOCKAGE. The cost of pa.s.sing vessels through ca.n.a.l-locks.

LOCKER. Divisions in cabins and store-rooms.--_Boatswain's locker._ A chest in small craft wherein material for working upon rigging is kept.--_Chain-locker_ or _chain-well_, where the chain-cables are kept; best abreast the main-mast, as central weight, but often before the fore-mast.--_Davy Jones' locker._ The bottom of the sea, where nothing is lost, because you know where it is.--_Shot-lockers_, near the pump-well in the hold. Also, the receptacle round the coamings of hatchways.

LOCKET. The chape of a sword-scabbard.

LOCK-FAST. A modified principle in the breech-loading of fire-arms.

LOCKING-IN. The alternate clues and bodies of the hammocks when hung up.

LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL. An expression derived from fire-arms, and meaning the whole.

LOC-MEN, OR LOCO-MEN. An old term for pilots.

LOCOMOTIVE-POWER. The force of sails and wind, or steam.

LODE-MANAGE, OR LODEMANSHIP. The hire of a pilot. It also meant both pilotage and seamanship; whence Chaucer--

"His herborough, his moone, and his lodemanage, There was none such from Hull to Cartage."

LODE-MEREGE. In the laws of Oleron, seems identical with _lode-manage_.

LODE-SHIP. A pilot boat, which was also employed in fishing; it is mentioned in statute 31 Edward III. c. 2.

LODESMEN. An Anglo-Saxon word for pilots.

LODE-STAR. The north star. But Spenser alludes to any star as a guide to mariners:--

"Like as a ship, whose lode-star, suddenly Cover'd with clouds, her pilot hath dismay'd."

Shakspeare coincides with this, in comparing Hermia's eyes to lode-stars.

LODGE ARMS. The word of command to an armed party preparatory to their breaking off.

LODGEMENT. In fortification, an established footing, such as a besieger makes by throwing up hasty cover, against the fire of the defenders, on any freshly gained post.

LODGING-KNEES, OR DECK-BEAM KNEES. Those riding on the hanging or dagger-knees, and fixed horizontally in the ship's frame.

LODIA. A large trading boat of the White Sea.

LOE, OR LAWE. An eminence, whether natural or artificial.

LOFTY SHIPS. Once a general name for square-rigged vessels:--

"A mackerel sky and mares' tails Make lofty ships carry low sails."

LOG-BOARD. Two boards shutting together like a book, and divided into several columns, in which to record, through the hours of the day and night, the direction of the wind and the course of the ship, with all the material occurrences, together with the lat.i.tude by observation.

From this table the officers work the ship's way, and compile their journals. The whole being written by the mate of the watch with chalk, is rubbed out every day at noon. Now a slate is more generally used.

LOG-BOOK. Mostly called the log, is a journal into which the log-board is daily transcribed, together with any other circ.u.mstance deserving notice. The intermediate divisions or watches are usually signed by the commanding officer. It is also divided into _harbour-log_ and _sea-log_.

LOG-CANOE. One hollowed out of a single log. (_See_ CANOE.)

LOGGED. Entered in the log. A very serious punishment, not long disused, as a mark of disgrace, by recording the omissions of an officer. It may yet be demanded if arrest ensues.

LOGGED. When a ship is on her beam ends, or in that state in which she is unmanageable at sea. (_See_ WATER-LOGGED.)

LOGGERHEAD, OR LOGGER-HEAT. A round ball of iron attached to a long handle with a hook at the end of it. It heats tar by being made hot in the fire, and then plunged into the tar-bucket. It was also used to pound cocoa before chocolate was supplied. Also, an upright rounded piece of wood, near the stern of a whale-boat, for catching a turn of the line to. Also, a name given to a well-known turtle, _Chelonia caouana_, from its having a great head; it is sometimes called the _whooper_ or _whapper_. (_See_ TURTLE.)

LOG-GLa.s.s. The sand-gla.s.s used at heaving the log to obtain the rate of sailing. It is a 28 seconds gla.s.s for slow sailing, and 14 seconds for fast sailing.

LOG-LINE AND LOG-SHIP. A small line about 100 fathoms long, fastened to the log-ship by means of two legs, one of which pa.s.ses through a hole at the corner, and is knotted on the opposite side, while the other leg is attached by a pin fixed into another hole so as to draw out when _stop_ is called, _i.e._ when the gla.s.s has run out. This line, from the distance of 10, 12, or 15 fathoms of the log-ship, has certain knots or divisions, which ought to be 47 feet 4 inches from each other, though it was the common practice at sea not to have them above 42 feet. The estimate of the ship's way or distance run is done by observing the length of the line unwound whilst the gla.s.s is running; for so many knots as run out in that time, so many miles the ship sails in an hour.--_To heave the log_ is to throw it into the water on the lee-side, well out of the wake, letting it run until it gets beyond the eddies, then a person holding the gla.s.s turns it up just as the first mark, or stray-line, goes out, from which the knots begin to be reckoned. The log is, however, at best, a precarious way of computing, and must be corrected by experience. The inventor of it is not known, and no mention is made of it till the year 1607, in an East India voyage, published by Purchas. The mode before, and even now in some colliers, and in native craft in the East Indies, is to throw a _log_ or chip overboard at the foremost channel-plate, and to walk aft, keeping up with it until it pa.s.ses the stern, thus estimating (and closely too by practice) the rate of motion. Other methods have been invented by various people, but _Ma.s.sey's Patent Log_ gives the most accurate measurement. The same principle is also applied to the deep-sea sounding-lead.

LOGWOOD. Dyewood, _Haematoxylon campechianum_. It occurs on both sides of the American coasts near the Isthmus of Darien, and is a great article of trade, varying from 5 to 10 per ton. Recent discoveries of the products of coal have reduced the price.

LOICH. A statute term, comprehending the fishes lobbe, ling, and cod.

LONDAGE. An old term for landing from a boat.