The Sailor's Word-Book Part 187

"Jack is not bound by critics' crabbed laws, But gives to all his unreserved applause: He laughs aloud when jokes his fancy please-- Such are the honest manners of the seas.

And never--never may he ape those fools Who, lost to reason, laugh or cry by rules."

PLAYTE. An old term for a river-boat.

PLEDGET. The string of oak.u.m used in caulking. Also, in surgery, a small plug of lint.

PLEIADES. The celebrated cl.u.s.ter of stars in Taurus, of which seven or eight are visible to the naked eye; the a.s.sisted vision numbers over 200.

PLENY TIDES. Full tides.

PLICATILES. Ancient vessels built of wood and leather, which could be taken to pieces and carried by land.

PLONKETS. Coa.r.s.e woollen cloths of former commerce. (_See_ statute 1 R.

III. c. 8.)

PLOT, OR PLOTT. A plan or chart. (_See_ ICHNOGRAPHY.)

PLOTTING. The making of the plan after an actual survey of the place has been obtained.

PLOUGH. An instrument formerly used for taking the sun's alt.i.tude, and possessed of large graduations. When a ship cuts briskly through the sea she is said to plough it.

PLUCKER. The fishing frog, _Lophius piscatorius_.

PLUG. A conical piece of wood to let in or keep out water, when fitted to a hole in the bottom of a boat.--_Hawse-plugs._ To stop the hawse-holes when the cables are unbent, and the ship plunges in a head-sea.--_Shot-plugs._ Covered with oak.u.m and tallow, to stop shot-holes in the sides of a ship near the water-line; being conical, they adapt themselves to any sized shot-holes.

PLUMB. Right up and down, opposed to parallel.--_To plumb._ To form the vertical line. Also, to sound the depth of water.

PLUMBER-BLOCKS. These, in a marine steam-engine, are Y's, wherein are fixed the bushes, in which the shafts or pinions revolve.

PLUMMET. A name sometimes given to the hand-lead, or any lead or iron weight suspended by a string, as used by carpenters, &c.

PLUNDER. A name given to the effects of the officers and crew of a prize, when pillaged by the captors, though the act directs that "nothing shall be taken out of a prize-ship till condemned." (_See_ PILLAGE.)

PLUNGING FIRE. A pitching discharge of shot from a higher level, at such an angle that the shot do not ricochet.

PLUNGING SPLASH. The descent of the anchor into the water when let go.

PLUSH [evidently from _plus_]. The overplus of the grog, arising from being distributed in a smaller measure than the true one, and a.s.signed to the cook of each mess, becomes a cause of irregularity. (_See_ TOT.)

PLUVIOMETER, OR RAIN-GAUGE. A measurer of the quant.i.ty of rain which falls on a square foot. There are various kinds.

PLY, TO. To carry cargoes or pa.s.sengers for short trips. Also, _to work to windward_, to beat. Also, _to ply an oar_, to use it in pulling.

PLYMOUTH CLIMATE.

"The west wind always brings wet weather, The east wind wet and cold together; The south wind surely brings us rain, The north wind blows it back again."

PLYMOUTH CLOAK. An old term for a cane or walking stick.

P.M. [Lat. _post meridiem_.] Post meridian, or after mid-day.

P.O. Mark for a petty officer.

POCHARD. A kind of wild duck.

POCKET. A commercial quant.i.ty of wool, containing half a sack. Also, the frog of a belt.

POD. A company of seals or sea-elephants.

POGGE. The miller's thumb, _Cottus cataphractus_.

POHAGEN. A fish of the herring kind, called also _hard-head_ (which see).

POINT. A low spit of land projecting from the main into the sea, almost synonymous with promontory or head. Also, the rhumb the winds blow from.

POINT A GUN, TO. To direct it on a given object.

POINT A SAIL, TO. To affix points through the eyelet-holes of the reefs.

(_See_ POINTS.)

POINT-BEACHER. A low woman of Portsmouth.

POINT-BLANK. Direct on the object; "blank" being the old word for the mark on the practice-b.u.t.t.

POINT-BLANK FIRING. That wherein no elevation is given to the gun, its axis being pointed for the object.

POINT-BLANK RANGE. The distance to which a shot was reckoned to range straight, without appreciable drooping from the force of gravity. It varied from 300 to 400 yards, according to the nature of gun; and was measured by the first graze of the shot fired horizontally from a gun on its carriage on a horizontal plane. The finer practice of rifled guns is much abating the use of the term, minute elevations being added to the point-blank direction for even the very smallest ranges.

POINT BRa.s.s OR IRON. A large sort of plumb for the nice adjustment of perpendicularity for a given line.

POINT-DE-GALLE CANOE. Consists of a single stem of _Dup_ wood, 18 to 30 feet long, from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 feet broad, and from 2 to 3 feet deep. It is fitted with a balance log at the ends of two bamboo out-riggers, having the mast, yard, and sail secured together; and, when sailing, is managed in a similar way to the catamaran. They sail very well in strong winds, and are also used by the natives of the Eastern Archipelago, especially at the Feejee group, where they are very large.

POINTER. The index or indicator of an instrument.--_Station pointer._ A bra.s.s graduated circle with one fixed and two radial legs; by placing them at two adjoining angles taken by a s.e.xtant between three known objects, the position of the observer is fixed on the chart.

POINTER-BOARD. A simple contrivance for duly training a ship's guns.

POINTERS. Stout props, placed obliquely to the timbers of whalers, to sustain the shock of icebergs. All braces placed diagonally across the hold of any vessel, to support the bilge and prevent loose-working, are called pointers. Also, the general designation for the stars a and in the Great Bear, a line through which points nearly upon the pole-star.

POINT-HOLES. The eyelet-holes for the points.

POINTING. The operation of unlaying and tapering the end of a rope, and weaving some of its yarns about the diminished part, which is very neat to the eye, prevents it from being f.a.gged out, and makes it handy for reeving in a block, &c.

POINT OF THE COMPa.s.s. The 32d part of the circ.u.mference, or 11 15'.

POINTS. _See_ REEF-POINTS.--_Armed at all points_, is when a man is defended by armour cap-a-pie.

POINTS OF SERVICE. The princ.i.p.al details of duty, which ought to be executed with zeal and alacrity.

POLACRE. A ship or brig of the Mediterranean; the masts are commonly formed of one spar from truck to heel, so that they have neither tops nor cross-trees, neither have they any foot-ropes to their upper yards, because the men stand upon the topsail-yards to loose and furl the top-gallant sails, and upon the lower yards to loose, reef, or furl the top-sails, all the yards being lowered sufficiently for that purpose.