The Sailor's Word-Book Part 190

POWDER-MAGAZINE. The prepared s.p.a.ce allotted for the powder on board ship.

POWDER-MONKEY. Formerly the boy of the gun, who had charge of the cartridge; now powder-man.

POWDER-VESSEL. A ship used as a floating magazine.

POWER. Mechanical force; in the steam-engine it is esteemed effective, expansive, or full. (_See_ HORSE-POWER.)

POZZOLANA. Volcanic ashes, used in cement, especially if required under water.

PRACTICABLE. Said of a breach in a rampart when its slope offers a fair means of ascent to an a.s.saulting column.

PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY. A branch of science which includes the determination of the magnitude, distance, and phenomena of the heavenly bodies; the ready reduction of observations for tangible use in navigation and geography; and the expert manipulation of astronomical instruments.

PRaeCURSORIae. Ancient vessels which led or preceded the fleets.

PRaeDATORIae, OR PRaeDATICae. Long, swift, light ancient pirates.

PRAHU. [Malay for boat.] The larger war-vessels among the Malays, range from 55 to 156 feet in length, and carry 76 to 96 rowers, with about 40 to 60 fighting men. The guns range from 2 inches to 6 inches bore, are of bra.s.s, and mounted on stock-pieces, four to ten being the average.

These boats are remarkable for their swiftness.

PRAIA [Sp. _playa_]. The beach or strand on Portuguese coasts.

PRAIRIE. The natural meadows or tracts of gently undulating, wonderfully fertile land, occupying so vast an extent of the great river-basins of North America.

PRAM, OR PRAAM. A lighter used in Holland, and the ports of the Baltic, for loading and unloading merchant ships. Some were fitted by the French with heavy guns, for defending the smaller ports.

PRANKLE. A Channel term for the _prawn_.

PRATIQUE. A Mediterranean term, implying the license to trade and communicate with any place after having performed the required quarantine, or upon the production of a clean bill of health.

PRAWN. A marine crustacean larger than a shrimp, much esteemed as an article of food.

PRAYER-BOOK. A smaller hand-stone than that which sailors call "bible;"

it is used to scrub in narrow crevices where a large holy-stone cannot be used. (_See_ HOLY-STONE.)

PRECEDENCE. The order and degree of rank among officers of the two services. (_See_ RANK.)

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES. A slow motion of the equinoctial points in the heavens, whereby the longitudes of the fixed stars are increased at the present rate of about 50-1/4? annually, the equinox having a retrograde motion to this amount. This effect is produced by the attraction of the sun, moon, and planets upon the spheroidal figure of the earth; the luni-solar precession is the joint effect of the sun and moon only.

PREDY, OR PRIDDY. A word formerly used in our ships for "get ready;" as, "Predy the main-deck," or get it clear.

PRE-EMPTION. A right of purchasing necessary cargoes upon reasonable compensation to the individual whose property is thus diverted. This claim is usually restricted to neutrals avowedly bound to the enemy's ports, and is a mitigation of the former practice of seizing them.

(_See_ COMMEATUS.)

PREMIUM. Simply a reward; but in commerce it implies the sum of money paid to the underwriters on ship or cargo, or parts thereof, as the price of the insurance risk.

PREROGATIVE. A word of large extent. By the const.i.tution of England the sovereign alone has the power of declaring war and peace. The crown is not precluded by the Prize Act from superseding prize proceedings by directing rest.i.tution of property seized, before adjudication, and against the will of the captors.

PRESENT! The military word of command to raise the musket, take aim, and fire.

PRESENT ARMS! The military word of command to salute with the musket.

PRESENT USE. Stores to be immediately applied in the fitting of a ship, as distinguished from the supply for future sea use.

PRESERVED MEAT AND VEGETABLES. The occasional use of such food and lime-juice at sea, is not only a great luxury, but in many cases essential to the health of the crew, as especially instanced by the increase of scurvy in ships where this precaution is neglected.

PRESIDENT. At a general court-martial it is usual for the authority ordering it to name the president, and the office usually falls upon the second in command.

PRESS, TO. To reduce an enemy to straits. (_See_ IMPRESSMENT.)

PRESS-GANG. A party of seamen who (under the command of a lieutenant) were formerly empowered, in time of war, to take any seafaring men--on sh.o.r.e or afloat--and compel them to serve on board men-of-war. Those who were thus taken were called _pressed men_.

PRESS OF SAIL. As much sail as the state of the wind, &c., will permit a ship to carry.

PRESSURE-GAUGE. The manometer of a steam-engine.

PREST. Formerly signified quick or ready, and a _prest man_ was one willing to enlist for a stipulated sum--the very reverse of the _pressed man_ of later times. (_See_ PRESS-GANG.)

PRESTER. An old name for a meteor.

PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE. Is such as by a fair and reasonable interpretation is deducible from the facts of a case.

PREVENTER. Applied to ropes, &c., when used as additional securities to aid other ropes in supporting spars, &c., during a strong gale; as preventer-backstays, braces, shrouds, stays, &c.

PREVENTER-PLATES. Stout plates of iron for securing the chains to the ship's side; one end is on the chain-plate bolt, the other is bolted to the ship's side below it.

PREVENTER-STOPPERS. Short pieces of rope, knotted at each end, for securing the clues of sails or rigging during action, or when strained.

PREVENTIVE SERVICE. The establishment of coast-guards at numerous stations along the sh.o.r.es of the United Kingdom for the prevention of smuggling.

p.r.i.c.kER. A small marline-spike for making and stretching the holes for points and rope-bands in sails. Also, the priming-wire of a gun. Also, a northern name for the basking-shark.

p.r.i.c.kING A SAIL. The running a middle seam between the two seams which unite every cloth of a sail to the next adjoining. This is rarely done till the sails have been worn some time, or in the case of heavy canvas, storm-sails, &c. It is also called middle-st.i.tching.

p.r.i.c.kING FOR A SOFT PLANK. Selecting a place on the deck for sleeping upon.

p.r.i.c.kING HER OFF. Marking a ship's position upon a chart by the help of a scale and compa.s.ses, so as to show her situation as to lat.i.tude, longitude, and bearings of the place bound to.

PRIDE OF THE MORNING. A misty dew at sunrise; a light shower; the end of the land breeze followed by a dead calm in the tropics.

PRIEST'S-CAP. An outwork which has three salient angles at the head and two inwards.

PRIMAGE. Premium of insurance. Also, a small allowance at the water side to master and mariner for each pack or bale of cargo landed by them: otherwise called _hat-money_.

PRIMARY PLANET. (_See_ PLANETS, PRIMARY.)

PRIME. The fore part of the artificial day; that is, the first quarter after sunrise.