The Sailor's Word-Book Part 156

LOOSE FALL. The losing of a whale after an apparently good opportunity for striking it.

LOOSE ICE. A number of pieces near each other, but through which the ship can make her way.

LOOSERS. Men appointed to loose the sails.

LOOSING FOR SEA. Weighing the anchor.

LOOT. Plunder, or pillage; a term adopted from China.

LOOVERED BATTENS. The battens that inclose the upper part of the well.

(_See_ LOOVER-WAYS.)

LOOVER-WAYS. Battens or boards placed at a certain angle, so as to admit air, but not wet; a kind of Venetian-blind.

LOP AND TOP. The top and branches of a felled tree.

LOP-SIDED. Uneven; one side larger than the other.

LORCHA. A swift Chinese sailing vessel carrying guns.

LORD OF MISRULE. _See_ MASTER OF MISRULE.

LORDS COMMISSIONERS. _See_ COMMISSIONERS.

LORD WARDEN OF THE CINQUE PORTS. A magistrate who has the jurisdiction of the ports or havens so called. Generally held by one high in office, or an old minister.

LORICA. A defensive coat-armour made of leather; when iron plates were applied, it became a _jack_.

LORN. A northern name for the crested cormorant, _Phalacrocorax cristatus_.

LORRELL. An old term for a lubberly fellow.

LOSE WAY, TO. When a ship slackens her progress in the water.

LOSING THE NUMBER OF THE MESS. Dead, drowned, or killed. (_See_ NUMBER.)

LOSING GROUND. Dropping to leeward while working; the driftage.

LOSS. Total loss is the insurance recovered under peril, according to the invoice price of the goods when embarked, together with the premium of insurance. Partial loss upon either ship or goods, is that proportion of the prime cost which is equal to the diminution in value occasioned by the damage. (_See_ INSURANCE.)

LOSSAN. A Manx or Erse term for the luminosity of the sea.

LOST. The state of being foundered or cast away; said of a ship when she has either sunk, or been beat to pieces by the violence of the sea.

LOST DAY. The day which is lost in circ.u.mnavigating the globe to the westward, by making each day a little more than twenty-four hours long.

(_See_ GAINED DAY.)

LOST HER WAY. When the buoy is streamed, and all is ready for dropping the anchor.

LOST! LOST! When a whale _flukes_, _dives_, or takes tail up to "_running_," and the boats have no chance in chasing.

LOST OR NOT LOST. A phrase originally inserted in English policies of insurance, in cases where a loss was already apprehended. It is now continued by usage, and is held not to make the contract a wager, nor more hazardous.

LOT. The abbreviation of allotment, or allowance to wife or mother.

(_See_ ALLOTMENT.)

LOTMAN. An old term for pirate.

LOUGH. _See_ LOCH.

LOUND. Calm, out of wind.

LOW. An old term for a small hill or eminence.

LOW AND ALOFT. Sail from deck to truck: "every st.i.tch on her."

LOWE. A flame, blaze. The torch used in the north by fish-poachers.

LOWER, TO. The atmosphere to become cloudy. Also, to ease down gradually, expressed of some weighty body suspended by tackles or ropes, which, being slackened, suffer the said body to descend as slowly, or expeditiously, as occasion requires.

LOWER-BREADTH-SWEEP. The second on the builder's draught, representing the lower height of breadth, on which line is set off the main half-breadth of the ship at its corresponding timber.

LOWER COUNTER. The counter between the upper counter and the rail under the lights.

LOWER-DECKERS. The heaviest armament, usually on the lower deck.

LOWER-FINISHING. _See_ FINISHINGS.

LOWER HANDSOMELY, LOWER CHEERLY. Are opposed to each other; the former being the order to lower gradually, and the latter to lower expeditiously.

LOWER-HEIGHT. _See_ MAIN-BREADTH.

LOWER-HOLD. The s.p.a.ce for cargo in a merchant-vessel, fitted with 'tween-decks.

LOWER-HOLD-BEAMS. The lowest range of beams in a merchantman.

LOWER-HOPE. A well-known reach in the Thames where ships wait for the turn of the tide.

LOWER-LIFTS. The lifts of the fore, main, and crossjack-yards.

LOWER MASTS. _See_ MAST.

LOWER TRANSIT. The opposite to the upper transit of a circ.u.mpolar star: the pa.s.sage _sub polo_.

LOW LAt.i.tUDES. Those regions far removed from the poles of the earth towards the equator, 10 south or north of it.

LOW SAILS. The courses and close-reefed top-sails.

LOW WATER. The lowest point to which the tide ebbs. (_See_ TIDE.) Also, used figuratively for being in distress, without money.