The Sailor's Word-Book Part 174

NUMBER. The number on the ship's books is marked on the clothing of seamen; that on a man's hammock or bag corresponds with his number on the watch and station bill. The ships of the royal navy are denoted by flags expressing letters, and when pa.s.sing or nearing each other the names are exchanged by signals.--_Losing the number of the mess_, is a phrase for dying suddenly; being killed or drowned.

NUMERARY OR MARRYAT'S SIGNALS. A useful code used by the mercantile marine, by an arrangement of flags from a cypher to units, and thence to thousands. (_See_ SIGNALS.)

NUN-BUOY. A buoy made of staves, somewhat in the form of a double cone; large in the middle, and tapering rapidly to the ends; the slinging of which is a good specimen of practical rigging tact.

NURAVEE YAWL. A corruption of _Norway yawl_ (which see).

NURSE. An able first lieutenant, who in former times had charge of a young boy-captain of interest, but possessing no knowledge for command.

Also, a small kind of shark with a very rough skin; a dog-fish.

NUT. A small piece of iron with a female screw cut through the middle of it, for s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g on to the end of a bolt.

NUTATION. An oscillatory motion of the earth's axis, due chiefly to the action of the moon upon the spheroidal figure of our globe.

NUTS OF AN ANCHOR. Two projections either raised or welded on the square part of the shank, for securing the stock to its place.

NYCTALOPIA. _See_ MOON-BLINK.

O.

O. The fourth cla.s.s of rating on Lloyd's books for the comparative excellence of merchant ships. But insured vessels are rarely so low.

(_See_ A.)

O! OR HO! An interjection commanding attention or possibly the cessation of any action.

OAK. _Quercus_, the valuable monarch of the woods. "Hearts of oak are our ships," as the old song says.

OAk.u.m [from the Anglo-Saxon _aec.u.mbe_]. The state into which old ropes are reduced when they are untwisted and picked to pieces. It is princ.i.p.ally used in caulking the seams, for stopping leaks, and for making into twice-laid ropes. Very well known in workhouses.--_White Oak.u.m._ That which is formed from untarred ropes.

OAk.u.m-BOY. The caulker's apprentice, who attends to bring oak.u.m, pitch, &c.

OAR. A slender piece of timber used as a lever to propel a boat through the water. The blade is dipped into the water, while the other end within board, termed the loom, is small enough to be grasped by the rower. The _silver oar_ is a badge of office, similar to the staff of a peace-officer, which on presentation, enables a person intrusted with a warrant to serve it on board any ship he may set foot upon.--_To boat the oars_, is to cease rowing and lay the oars in the boat.--_Get your oars to pa.s.s!_ The order to prepare them for rowing, or shipping them.

OAR, TO SHOVE IN AN. To intermeddle, or give an opinion unasked.

OAR-PROPULSION. The earliest motive power for vessels; it may be by the broadside in rowlocks abeam, by sweeps on the quarters fore and aft, or by sculling with one oar in the notch of the transom amidships. (_See_ STERN-OAR.)

OARS! The order to cease rowing, by lifting the oars from the water, and poising them on their looms horizontally in their rowlocks.--_Look to your oars!_ Pa.s.sing any object or among sea-weed.--_Double-banked oars_ (which see).

OASIS. A fertile spot in the midst of a sandy desert.

OATH. A solemn affirmation or denial of anything, before a person authorized to administer the same, for discovery of truth and right.

(_See_ CORPORAL OATH.) Hesiod ascribes the invention of oaths to discord. The oath of supremacy and of the Protestant faith was formerly taken by an officer before he could hold a commission in the royal navy.

OAZE. Synonymous with the Ang.-Sax. _wase_ when applied to mud. (_See_ OOZE.)

OBEY. A word forming the fulcrum of naval discipline.

OBI. A horrible sorcery practised among the negroes in the West Indies, the infliction of which by a threat from the juggler is sufficient to lead the denounced victim to mental disease, despondency, and death.

Still the wretched trash gathered together for the obi-spell is not more ridiculous than the amulets of civilized Europe.

OBLATE. Compressed or flattened.

OBLIGATION. A bond containing a penalty, with a condition annexed for payment of money or performance of covenants.

OBLIMATION. The deposit of mud and silt by water.

OBLIQUE-ANGLED TRIANGLE. Any other than a right-angled triangle.

OBLIQUE ASCENSION. An arc between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator which comes to the horizon with a star, or other heavenly body, reckoned according to the order of signs. It is the sum or difference of the right ascension and ascensional difference.

OBLIQUE BEARINGS. Consist in determining the position of a ship, by observing with a compa.s.s the bearings of two or more objects on the sh.o.r.e whose places are given on a chart, and drawing lines from those places, so as to make angles with their meridians equal to the observed bearings; the intersection of the line gives on the chart the position of the ship. This is sometimes called the method of cross-bearings.

OBLIQUE SAILING. Is the reduction of the position of the ship from the various courses made good, oblique to the meridian or parallel of lat.i.tude. If a vessel sails north or south, it is simply a distance on the meridian. If east or west, on the parallel, and refers to parallel sailing. If oblique, it is solved by middle lat.i.tude, or Mercator sailing.

OBLIQUE STEP. A movement in marching, in which the men, while advancing, gradually take ground to the right or left.

OBLIQUITY OF THE ECLIPTIC. The angle between the planes of the ecliptic and the equator, or the inclination of the earth's equator to the plane of her annual path, upon which the seasons depend: this amounts at present to about 23 27'.

OBLONG SQUARE. A name improperly given to a parallelogram. (_See_ THREE-SQUARE.)

OBSERVATION. In nautical astronomy, denotes the taking the sun, moon, or stars' alt.i.tude with a quadrant or s.e.xtant, in order thereby to find the lat.i.tude or time; also, the lunar distances.

OBSERVE, TO. To take a bearing or a celestial observation.

OBSIDIONAL CROWN. The highest ancient Roman military honour; the decoration of the chief who raised a siege.

OBSTACLES. Chains, booms, abattis, snags, palisades, or anything placed to impede an enemy's progress. Unforeseen hindrances.

OBTURATOR. A cover or valve in steam machinery.

OBTUSE ANGLE. One measuring above 90, and therefore beyond a right angle; called by shipwrights _standing bevellings_.

OBTUSE-ANGLED TRIANGLE. That which has one obtuse angle.

OCCIDENT. The west.

OCCULTATION. One heavenly body eclipsing another; but in nautical astronomy it is particularly used to denote the eclipses of stars and planets by the moon.

OCCUPY, TO. To take military possession.

OCEAN. This term, in its largest sense, is the whole body of salt water which encompa.s.ses the globe, except the collection of inland seas, lakes, and rivers: in a word, that glorious type of omnipotent power, whether in calm or tempest:--

"Dark, heaving, boundless, endless, and sublime, The image of Eternity."