The Sailor's Word-Book Part 225

SLY-GOOSE. A northern term for the sheldrake, _Tadorna vulpanser_.

SLYNG. An ancient piece of sea-ordnance: there were also _di-slyngs_.

SMACK. A vessel, sometimes like a cutter, used for mercantile purposes, or for carrying pa.s.sengers; the largest of which, the Leith smacks, attained the size of 200 tons.

SMACK-SMOOTH. Level with the surface; said of a mast which has gone by the board.

SMALL. The narrow part of the tail of a whale, in front of the flukes.

Also, that part of the anchor-shank which is immediately under the stock.

SMALL-ARM MEN. Those of the crew selected and trained to the use of small-arms. When they have effected their boarding, they seldom retain more than their pistol and cutla.s.s.

SMALL-ARMS. The muskets, pistols, cutla.s.ses, tomahawks, and boarding-pikes, in charge of the gunner, on board ship.

SMALL-HELM. One of the princ.i.p.al results of sound seamanship is the proper trim of the vessel and the sail carried; by which means the action of the rudder is reduced to a minimum, not requiring the tiller to be moved either hard up or hard down. Also used to denote that a turbulent jaw-me-down bully has been brought to his senses by a more vigorous mind.

SMALL SAILS. Top-gallant-studding-sails and the _kites_.

SMALL STUFF. The term for spun-yarn, marline, and the smallest kinds of rope, even for yarns.

SMART. Ready, active, and intelligent.

SMART-MONEY. A pension given to a wounded man, according to the extent of the injury and his rank. Thus a lieutenant gets 91, 5_s._ for the loss of a leg, and a captain 300.

SMART-TICKET. The certificate from a captain and surgeon, by which only the smart-money is obtainable.

SMASHERS. Anything large or powerful. Also, pieces of ordnance of large calibre, in form between the gun and the carronade. Also, a very general epithet for north-country seamen.

SMELT [Anglo-Saxon, _smylt_]. The fry of salmon, samlet, or _Salmo eperla.n.u.s_.

SMEW. The white-headed goosander, _Mergus albellus_.

SMITER. An archaism for a scimitar. In the legend of Captain Jones, 1659, we are told:

"His fatal _smiter_ thrice aloft he shakes, And frowns; the sea, and ship, and canvas quakes."

SMITING-LINE. A line by which a yarn-stoppered sail is loosed, without sending men aloft. If well executed, marks the seaman.

SMOKE-b.a.l.l.s. A pyrotechnical preparation, thrown to short distances from mortars, to choke men out of mines, to conceal movements, &c. They continue to smoke densely from 25 to 30 minutes.

SMOKE-BOX. A part which crosses the whole front of a marine boiler, over the furnace doors; or that part between the end of tubes furthest from the fire-place and bottom of the funnel.

SMOKES. Dense exhalations, mixed with the finer particles of sand, on the Calabar sh.o.r.es and borders of the Great Zahara desert, which prevail in autumn. Also, the indications of inhabitants when coasting new lands.

For its meaning in Arctic voyages, _see_ VAPOUR.

SMOKE-SAIL. A small sail hoisted against the fore-mast when a ship rides head to wind, to give the smoke of the galley an opportunity of rising, and to prevent its being blown aft on to the quarter-deck.

SMOOTH. A Cornish term applied when the surf abates its fury for a short s.p.a.ce. Also, the lee of a ship or of a rock.

SMUG-BOATS. Contraband traders on the coast of China; opium boats.

SMUGGLING. Defrauding the public revenue by importing or exporting goods without paying the customs dues chargeable upon them.

SMURLIN. A bivalve mollusc, _Mya truncata_, used as food in the Shetland Islands.

SNAGGLE, TO. To angle for geese with a hook and line properly baited.

SNAGS. The old word for lopped branches and sharp protuberances, but now chiefly applied to sunken obstructions in the American rivers.

SNAIL-CREEPING. Gouging out the surfaces of timbers in crooked channels, to promote a circulation of air.

SNAKE-PIECES. _See_ POINTERS.

SNAKING. The pa.s.sing of small stuff across a seizing, with marline hitches at the outer turns; or the winding small ropes spirally round a large one, the former lying in the intervals between the strands of the latter. (_See_ WORM.) The stays and backstays, when the _Shannon_ engaged the _Chesapeake_, were snaked with half-inch rope from fathom to fathom, to prevent their falling if shot away. Also, the finishing touch to neat seizings, to prevent the parts from separating when becoming slack by drying.

SNAPE, TO. In ship-carpentry, is to hance or bevel the end of anything, so as to fay upon an inclined plane: it is also designated _flinch_.

SNAP-HAUNCE. An old word for a fire-lock or musket; a spring-lock for fire-arms.

SNAPING-POLE. An old term for a fishing-rod.

SNAPPER. A well-known fish of the Mesoprion tribe, highly valued as food in the West Indies and tropics generally.

SNAPPING-TURTLE. A well-known fresh-water tortoise of the rivers in the United States; _Chelydra serpentina_.

SNARES. The cords which pa.s.s across the diameter of one hoop at the end of a drum.

SNARLEY-YOW. A discontented, litigious grumbler. An old guard-ship authority who knows when to play the courtier.

SNARL-KNOT. A northern expression for a knot that cannot be drawn loose.

s.n.a.t.c.h. Any open lead for a rope: if not furnished with a sheave, it is termed a _dumb s.n.a.t.c.h_, as on the bows and quarters for hawsers.

s.n.a.t.c.h-BLOCK. A single iron-bound block, with an opening in one side above the sheave, in which the bight of a rope may be laid, instead of reeving the end through, which in some circ.u.mstances would be very inconvenient, as when warps are led to the capstan, &c. The same as _notch-block_.

SNEER. To "make all sneer again" is to carry canvas to such an extent as to strain the ropes and spars to the utmost.

SNEEZER. A stiff gale of wind.

SNIFTING-VALVE. In the marine engine (_see_ TAIL-VALVE).

SNIGGLING. A peculiar mode of catching eels in small streams and ponds, described by Izaak Walton.

SNIKKER-SNEE. A combat with knives; also, a large clasp-knife.

SNOGO. A c.o.c.kpit game at cards, called also _blind hookey_, apparently affording equal chances, but easily managed to his own advantage by a knavish adept.

SNOOD [Anglo-Saxon, _snod_]. A short hair-line or wire to which hooks are fastened below the lead in angling. Or the link of hair uniting the hook and fishing-line.