The Sailor's Word-Book Part 185

PILLAR OF THE HOLD. A main stanchion with notches for descent.

PILLAW. A dish composed at sea of junk, rice, onions, and fowls; it figured at the marriage feast of Commodore Trunnion. It is derived from the Levantine _pillaf_.

PILLOW. A block of timber whereon the inner end of the bowsprit is supported.

PILMER. The fine small rain so frequent on our western coasts.

PILOT. An experienced person charged with the ship's course near the coasts, into roads, rivers, &c., and through all intricate channels, in his own particular district.--_Branch pilot._ One who is duly authorized by the Trinity board to pilot ships of the largest draft.

PILOTAGE. The money paid to a pilot for taking a ship in or out of port, &c.

PILOT CUTTER. A very handy sharp-built sea-boat used by pilots.

PILOT-FISH. _Naucrates ductor_, a member of the _s...o...b..r_ family, the attendant on the shark.

PILOT'S-ANCHOR. A kedge used for dropping a vessel in a stream or tide-way.

PILOT'S FAIR-WAY, OR PILOT'S WATER. A channel wherein, according to usage, a pilot must be employed.

PINCH-GUT. A miserly purser.

PINCH-GUT PAY. The short allowance money.

PINE. A genus of lofty coniferous trees, abounding in temperate climates, and valuable for its timber and resin. The masts and yards of ships are generally of pine. (_See_ PITCH-PINE.)--_Pine_ is also a northern term for drying fish by exposure to the weather.

PING. The whistle of a shot, especially the rifle-bullets in their flight.

PINGLE. A small north-country coaster.

PINK. A ship with a very narrow stern, having a small square part above.

The shape is of old date, but continued, especially by the Danes, for the advantage of the quarter-guns, by the ship's being contracted abaft.

Also, one of the many names for the minnow.--_To pink_, to stab, as, between casks, to detect men stowed away.

PINKSTERN. A very narrow boat on the Severn.

PIN-MAUL. _See_ MAUL.

PINNACE. A small vessel propelled with oars and sails, of two, and even three masts, schooner-rigged. In size, as a ship's boat, smaller than the barge, and, like it, carvel-built. The armed pinnace of the French coasts was of 60 or 80 tons burden, carrying one long 24-pounder and 100 men. In _Henry VI._ Shakspeare makes the pinnace an independent vessel, though Falstaff uses it as a small vessel attending on a larger. Also, metaphorically, an indifferent character.

PINNOLD. A term on our southern sh.o.r.es for a small bridge.

PINS.--_Belaying pins._ Short cylindrical pieces of wood or iron fixed into the fife-rail and other parts of a vessel, for making fast the running-rigging.

PINTADOS. Coloured or printed chintzes, formerly in great demand from India, and among the fine goods of a cargo.

PIN-TAIL. The _Anas acuta_, a species of duck with a long pointed tail.

Also, in artillery, the iron pin on the axle-tree of the limber, to which the trail-eye of the gun-carriage is attached for travel.

PINTLES. The rudder is hung on to a ship by pintles and braces. The braces are secured firmly to the stern-post by jaws, which spread and are bolted on each side. The pintles are hooks which enter the braces, and the rudder is then wood-locked; a dumb pintle on the heel finally takes the strain off the hinging portions.

PIONEERS. A proportion of troops specially a.s.signed to the clearing (from natural impediments) the way for the main body; hence, used generally in the works of an army, its scavenging, &c. Labourers of the country also are sometimes so used.

PIPE. A measure of wine containing two hogsheads, or 125 gallons, equal to half a tun. Also, a peculiar whistle for summoning the men to duty, and directing their attention by its varied sounds. (_See_ CALL.)

PIPE-CLAY. Known to the ancients under the name of _paretonium_; formerly indispensable to soldiers as well as the jolly marines.

PIPE DOWN! The order to dismiss the men from the deck when a duty has been performed on board ship.

PIPE-FISH. A fish of the genus _Syngnathus_, with an elongated slender body and long tubular mouth.

PIPER. A half-dried haddock. Also, the sh.e.l.l _Echinus cidaris_. Also, the fish _Trigla lyra_.

PIQUET. A proportion of a force set apart and kept on the alert for the security of the whole.--The _outlying piquet_, some distance from the main body, watches all hostile approach.--The _inlying piquet_ is ready to act in case of internal disorder, or of alarm.

PIRACY. Depredation without authority, or transgression of authority given, by despoiling beyond its warrant. Fixed domain, public revenue, and a certain form of government, are exempt from that character, therefore the Barbary States were not treated by Europe as such. The Court of Admiralty is empowered to grant warrants to commit any person for piracy, only on regular information upon oath. By common law, piracy consists in committing those acts of robbery and depredation upon the high seas, which, if committed on land, would have amounted to felony, and the pirate is deemed _hostis humani generis_.

PIRAGUA [Sp. _per agua_]. _See_ PIROGUE.

PIRATE. A sea-robber, yet the word _pirata_ has been formerly taken for a sea-captain. Also, an armed ship that roams the seas without any legal commission, and seizes or plunders every vessel she meets; their colours are said to be a black field with a skull, a battle-axe, and an hour-gla.s.s. (_See_ PRAHU.)

PIRIE. An old term for a sudden gust of wind.

PIRLE. An archaic word signifying a brook or stream.

PIROGUE, OR PIRAGUA. A canoe formed from the trunk of a large tree, generally cedar or balsa wood. It was the native vessel which the Spaniards found in the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west coasts of South America; called also a dug-boat in North America.

PISCARY. A legal term for a fishery. Also, a right of fishing in the waters belonging to another person.

PISCES. The twelfth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 21st of February.

PISCIS AUSTRALIS. One of the ancient southern constellations, the lucida of which is Fomalhaut.

PISTOL. An old word for a swaggering rogue; hence Shakspeare's character in _Henry V._

PISTOLA. A Papal gold coin of the sterling value of 13_s._ 11_d._

PISTOLE. A Spanish gold coin, value 16_s._ 6_d._ sterling.

PISTOLET. This name was applied both to a small pistol and a Spanish pistole.

PISTOLIERS. A name for the heavy cavalry, _temp._ Jac. I.

PISTOL-PROOF. A term for the point of courage for which a man was elected captain by pirates.

PISTON. In the marine steam-engine, a metal disc fitting the bore of the cylinder, and made to slide up and down within it easily, in order, by its reciprocating movement, to communicate motion to the engine.

PISTON-ROD. A rod which is firmly fixed in the piston by a key driven through both.