The Sailor's Word-Book Part 223

SKER, OR SKERRY. A flat insulated rock, but not subject to the overflowing of the sea: thus we have "the Skerries" in Wales, the Channel Islands, &c.

SKEW. Awry, oblique; as a skew bridge, skew angle, &c. Also, in Cornwall, drizzling rain. Also, a rude-fashioned boat.

SKEWER-PIECES. When the salt meat is cut up on board ship by the petty officers, the captain and lieutenants are permitted to select _whole_ pieces of 8 or 16 lbs., for which they are charged 2 or 4 lbs. extra.

The meat being then divided into messes, the remnants are cut into small pieces termed skewer-pieces, and being free from bone, are charged _ad lib._ to those who take them.

SKID-BEAMS. Raised stanchions in men-of-war over the main-deck, parallel to the quarter-deck and forecastle beams, for stowing the boats and booms upon.

SKIDDY-c.o.c.k. A west-country term for the water-rail.

SKIDER. A northern term for the skate.

SKIDS. Ma.s.sive fenders; they consist of long compa.s.sing pieces of timber, formed to answer the vertical curve of a ship's side, in order to preserve it when weighty bodies are hoisted in or lowered against it.

They are mostly used in whalers. Boats are fitted with permanent fenders, to prevent chafing and fretting. Also, beams resting on blocks, on which small craft are built. Also, pieces of plank put under a vessel's bottom, for launching her off when she has been hauled up or driven ash.o.r.e.

SKIFF. A familiar term for any small boat; but in particular, one resembling a yawl, which is usually employed for pa.s.sing rivers. Also, a sailing vessel, with fore-and-aft main-sail, jib fore-sail, and jib: differing from a sloop in setting the jib on a stay, which is eased in by travellers. They have no top-mast, and the main-sail hauls out to the taffrail, and traverses on a traveller iron horse like a cutter's fore-sail.

SKILLET. A small pitch-pot or boiler with feet.

SKILLY. Poor broth, served to prisoners in hulks. Oatmeal and water in which meat has been boiled. Hence, _skillygalee_, or burgoo, the drink made with oatmeal and sugar, and served to seamen in lieu of cocoa as late as 1814.

SKIN. This term is frequently used for the inside planking of a vessel, the outside being the _case_.

SKIN OF A SAIL. The outside part when a sail is furled. To furl in a clean skin, is the habit of a good seaman.--_To skin up a sail in the bunt._ To make that part of the canvas which covers the sail, next the mast when furled, smooth and neat, by turning the sail well up on the yard.

SKIP-JACK. A dandified trifling officer; an upstart. Also, the merry-thought of a fowl. Also, a small fish of the bonito kind, which frequently jumps out of the water. A name applied also to small porpoises.

SKIPPAGE. An archaism for tackle or ship furniture.

SKIPPER. The master of a merchant vessel. Also, a man-of-war's man's constant appellation for his own captain. Also, the gandanock, or saury-pike, _Esox saurus_.

SKIRLING. A fish taken on the Welsh coasts, and supposed to be the fry of salmon.

SKIRMISH. An engagement of a light and irregular character, generally for the purpose of gaining information or time, or of clearing the way for more serious operations.

SKIRTS. The extreme edges of a plain, forest, shoal, &c.

SKIS-THURSDAY. "The Lady-day in Lent" of the Society of Shipwrights at Newcastle, inst.i.tuted in 1630.

SKIT. An aspersive inuendo or for fun.

SKIVER. A dirk to stab with.

SKOODRA. A Shetland name for the ling.

SKOOL. The cry along the coast when the herrings appear first for the season: a corruption of _school_.

SKOORIE. A northern term for a full-grown coal-fish.

SKOTTEFER [Anglo-Sax. _scot_, an arrow or dart]. Formerly, an archer.

SKOUTHER. A northern name for the stinging jelly-fish.

SKOUTS. Guillemots or auks, so called in our northern islands from their wary habits.

SKOW. A flat-bottomed boat of the northern German rivers.

SKRAE-FISH. Fish dried in the sun without being salted.

SKUA. A kind of sea-gull.

SKUNK-HEAD. An American coast-name for the pied duck.

SKURRIE. The s.h.a.g, _Phalacrocorax graculus_. Applied to frightened seals, &c.

SKY-GAZER. The ugly hare-lipped _Uranoscopus_, whose eyes are on the crown of its head; the Italians call him _pesce-prete_, or priest-fish.

Also, a sail of very light duck, over which un-nameable sails have been set, which defy cla.s.sification.

SKY-LARKING. In olden times meant mounting to the mast-heads, and sliding down the royal-stays or backstays for amus.e.m.e.nt; but of late the term has denoted frolicsome mischief, which is not confined to boys, unless three score and ten includes them.--_Skying_ is an old word for shying or throwing.

SKYLIGHT. A framework in the deck to admit light vertically into the cabin and gun-room.

SKYSAIL. A small light sail above the royal.

SKYSAIL-MAST. The pole or upper portion of a royal mast, when long enough to serve for setting a skysail; otherwise a skysail-mast is a separate spar, as _sliding gunter_ (which see).

SKY-Sc.r.a.pER. A triangular sail set above the skysail; if square it would be a moonsail, and if set above that, a star-gazer, &c.

SLAB. The outer cut of a tree when sawn up into planks. (Alburnum.)

SLAB-LINES. Small ropes pa.s.sing up abaft a ship's main-sail or fore-sail, led through blocks attached to the trestle-trees, and thence transmitted, each in two branches, to the foot of the sail, where they are fastened. They are used to truss up the slack sail, after it has been "disarmed" by the leech and buntlines.

SLACK. The part of a rope or sail that hangs loose.--_To slack_, is to decrease in tension or velocity; as, "Slack the laniard of our main-stay;" or "The tide slackens."

SLACK HELM. If the ship is too much by the stern, she will carry her helm too much _a-lee_.

SLACK IN STAYS. Slow in going about. Also applied to a lazy man.

SLACK OFF, OR SLACKEN! The order to ease away the rope or tackle by which anything is held fast; as, "Slack up the hawser."

SLACK WATER. The interval between the flux and reflux of the tide, as between the last of the ebb and first of the flood, or _vice versa_, during which the water remains apparently quiescent.

SLADE [the Anglo-Saxon _slaed_]. A valley or open tract of country.

SLAKE. An acc.u.mulation of mud or ooze in the bed of a river.

SLANT OF WIND. An air of which advantage may be taken.