The Sailor's Word-Book Part 173

NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. In familiar parlance, _non-coms._ are the sergeants, corporals, and others, appointed under special regulations, by the orders of the commanding officer.

NON-CONDENSING ENGINE. A high-pressure steam-engine.

NONIUS SCALE, OR VERNIER. That fixed to the oblong opening near the lower end of the index-bar of a s.e.xtant or quadrant; it divides degrees into minutes, and these again into parts of seconds.

NO! NO! The answer to the night-hail by which it is known that a midshipman or warrant officer is in the boat hailed.

NON-RECOIL. This was effected by securing the breeching while the gun was run out: often practised in small vessels.

NOOK. A small indentation of the land; a little cove in the inner parts of bays and harbours.

NOOK-SHOTTEN. A Shakspearian expression for a coast indented with bays; as in _Henry V._ Bourbon speaks contemptuously of "that nook-shotten isle of Albion."

NOON. Mid-day.

NOOSE. A slip or running knot.

NORE. The old word for north. Also, a ca.n.a.l or channel.

NORIE'S EPITOME. A treatise on navigation not to be easily cast aside.

NORLAND. Of, or belonging to, the north land.

NORMAL LEVEL OF A BAROMETER. A term reckoned synonymous with _par-line_ (which see).

NORMAN. A short wooden bar thrust into one of the holes of the windla.s.s or capstan in a merchantman, whereon to veer a rope or fasten the cable, if there be little strain upon it. Also fixed through the head of the rudder, in some ships, to prevent the loss of the rudder. Also, a pin placed in the bitt-cross-piece to confine the cable from falling off.

NORRIE, AND TAMMIE NORRIE. The Scotch name for the puffin.

NORTH. From the Anglo-Saxon _nord_.

NORTH-AWAY YAWL. The old term for _Norway yawl_ (which see).

NORTH-EAST Pa.s.sAGE. To the Pacific, or round the north of Europe, has been divided into three parts, thus: 1. From Archangel to the river Lena; 2. from the Lena, round Tschukotskoi-ness to Kamtschatka; and 3.

from Kamtschatka to j.a.pan. They have been accomplished at various times, but not successively.

NORTHERN DIVER. The _Colymbus glacialis_, a large diving-bird.

NORTHERN-GLANCE. The old sea-name of the _aurora borealis_ (which see).

NORTHERN LIGHTS. _See_ NORTHERN-GLANCE.

NORTHERS. Those winds so well known to all seamen who have frequented the West Indies, and which are preceded by the appearance of a vast quant.i.ty of fine cobwebs or gossamer in the atmosphere, which clings to all parts of a vessel's rigging, thus serving as a warning of an approaching gale. Northers alternate with the seasons in the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Channel, Jamaica, Cuba, &c. Their cold is intense.

NORTH FOLLOWING. For this and _north preceding_, _see_ QUADRANT.

NORTH Pa.s.sAGE TO THE INDIES. The grand object of our maritime expeditions at a remote period, prosecuted with a boldness, dexterity, and perseverance which, although since equalled in the same pursuit, have not yet been surpa.s.sed:--

"I will undertake To find the north pa.s.sage to the Indies sooner, Than plough with your proud heifer."--_Ma.s.singer._

NORTH SEA. The Jamaica name for the north swell. (_See_ GROUND-SEA.)

NORTH-WESTER. This wind in India usually commences or terminates with a violent gust from that quarter, with loud thunder and vivid lightning.

Also, gales which blow from the eastern coast of North America in the Atlantic during the autumn and winter.

NORTH-WEST Pa.s.sAGE. By Hudson's Bay into the Pacific Ocean has been more than once attempted of late years, but hitherto without success. Some greatly doubted the practicability of such an enterprise; but the north-west pa.s.sage, as far as relates to the flow of the sea beneath the ice, was satisfactorily solved by H.M.S. _Investigator_, Sir R. Maclure, reaching the western end of Barrow's Straits. The former question, up to Melville Island, which Sir R. Maclure reached and left his notice at in 1852, having been already thoroughly established by Sir E. Parry in 1820.

NORTH WIND. This wind in the British seas is dry and cold, and generally ushers in fair weather and clear skies. The barometer rises with the wind at north, and is highest at N.N.E.; the air forming this wind comes from colder lat.i.tudes, and has therefore lost most of its moisture.

NORWAY SKIFF. A particularly light and buoyant boat, which is both swift and safe in the worst weather.

NORWAY YAWL. This, of all small boats, is said to be the best calculated for a high sea; it is often met with at a distance from land, when a stout ship can hardly carry any sail. The parent of the _peter-boat_.

NOSE. Often used to denote the stem of a ship. Also, a neck of land: _naes_, or _ness_.

NOTARY. The person legally empowered to attest deeds, protests, or other doc.u.ments, in order to render them binding.

NOTCH. The gaffle of a cross-bow.

NOTCH-BLOCK. _See_ s.n.a.t.c.h-BLOCK.

NOTCH-SIGHT OF A GUN. A sight having a V-shaped notch, wherein the eye easily finds the lowest or central point.

NOTHING OFF! A term used by the man at the conn to the steersman, directing him to keep her close to the wind; or "nothing off, and very well thus!" (_See_ THUS.)

NOTIONS. An American sea-term for a cargo in sorts; thus a notion-vessel on the west coast of America is a perfect bazaar; but one, which sold a mixture--logwood, bad claret, and sugar--to the priests for sacrament wine had to run for it.

NOUD. A term in the north for fishes that are accounted of little value.

NOUP. A round-headed eminence.

NOUS. An old and very general term for intelligent perception, evidently from the Greek.

NOUST. A landing-place or indent into the sh.o.r.e for a boat to be moored in; a term of the Orkney Isles.

NOZZLE-FACES. Square plates of bra.s.s raised upon the cylinder; one round each of the steam-ports, for the valve-plates to slide upon.

NOZZLES. In steamers, the same as steam-ports; they are oblong pa.s.sages from the nozzle-faces to the inside of the cylinder; by them the steam enters and returns above and below the piston. Also pump nozzles.

NUBECULae, MAJOR AND MINOR. The _Magellanic clouds_ (which see).

NUCLEUS OF A COMET. The condensed or star-like part of the head.

NUDDEE. A Hindostanee word for a river.

NUGGAR. A term in the East Indies for a fort, and also for an alligator.

NULLAH. A ravine or creek of a stream in India.