The Sailor's Word-Book Part 250

TURBOT. The _Pleuronectes maximus_, a flat fish in the highest esteem with all ichthyophagi.

TURKEY-GRAIN. A name for maize.

TURK'S HEAD. An ornamental knot, so called from resembling a turban, used on side-ropes, &c.; it is worked with a piece of small line by following the lead till it is formed with three parts to each cross.

TURN, TO TAKE OR CATCH A. To pa.s.s a rope once or twice round a cleat, pin, kevel, or any other thing, to keep it fast.

TURN AHEAD! A self-explanatory order to the engineer, in regulating the movement of a steamer.

TURN A TURTLE, TO. To take the animal by seizing a flipper, and throwing him on his back, which renders him quite helpless. Also applied to a vessel capsizing; or throwing a person suddenly out of his hammock.

TURN IN, TO. To go to bed.--_To turn out._ To get up.

TURN IN A DEAD-EYE OR HEART, TO. To seize the end of a shroud or stay, &c., securely round it.

TURNING IN RIGGING. The end of a vessel's shrouds carried round the dead-eyes, laid back and secured by seizings.

TURNING-ROOM. s.p.a.ce in a narrow channel for a ship to work in.

TURN IN THE HAWSE. Two crosses in a cable.

TURN OF THE TIDE. The change from ebb to flood, or the contrary.

TURN OUT THE GUARD! The order for the marines of the guard to fall in, on the quarter-deck, in order to receive a superior officer on board.

TURN OVER MEN, TO. To discharge them out of one ship into another.

TURN THE GLa.s.s. The order in throwing the log when the stray line is payed out.

TURN THE HANDS UP, TO. To summon the entire crew on deck.

TURN TO WINDWARD, TO. To gain on the wind by alternate tacking. It is when a ship endeavours to make progress against the wind by a compound course inclined to the place of her destination; otherwise called plying or beating to windward.

TURNPIKE-SAILORS. Rascals who go about dressed as sailors pretending that they have been shipwrecked, and soliciting charity.

TURPIS CAUSA. An unsustainable suit for wages, on the part of a British pilot, for navigating a foreign ship to an enemy's port.

TURRET-SHIP. A vessel, more or less armoured, fitted with one or more heavily plated revolving turrets, each carrying one or more guns of the heaviest cla.s.s, which look out above the deck; the whole worked by steam-power. It represents the present improvement on the inventions of the cupola-ship, shield-ship, and monitor.

TURTLE. The well-known marine reptile described by early navigators as "reasonable toothsom meate." The h.o.r.n.y covering of the sh.e.l.l of some species furnishes the substance commonly known as _tortoise-sh.e.l.l_.

TURTLE-CRAWL. A shallow lagoon, wherein turtles are kept.

TURTLE-PEG. A socketed pointed iron on a staff; it is slightly barbed, and is a special tool for sticking turtle.

TUSK. The _Brosmius vulgaris_, a savoury fish taken in the northern seas, about the size of the ling, but with a broader tail.

'TWEEN OR 'TWIXT DECKS. The one under the gun deck, where sailors usually mess.

TWICE-LAID. Rope made from a selection of the best yarns of old rope.

Also, a sea-dish made of the salt-fish left from yesterday's dinner, and beaten up with potatoes or yams.

TWIDDLING-LINE. A piece of small rope ornamentally fitted and used for steadying the steering-wheel when required: no longer used.

TWIG, TO. To pull upon a bowline. Also, in familiar phrase, to understand or observe.

TWIG-AIT. A river islet where osiers grow.

TWINE. A kind of strong thread used in sail-making; it is of two kinds: extra, for sewing the seams; and ordinary, for the bolt-ropes. (_See_ WHIPPING-TWINE.) Irish twine or thumb-line, like nettles, is worked by the fingers from fine yarns drawn from bolt-rope.

TWIN-SCREW. A steamer fitted with two propellers and independent engines, to enable her to turn rapidly on her own axis. The twin-screw principle is not new, but latterly it has been so perfected that speed in turning is no longer a matter of doubt.

TWO-BLOCKS. The same as _chock-a-block_ (which see).

TWO-HANDED FELLOWS. Those who are both seamen and soldiers, or artificers; as the marines and, specially, marine artillerymen.

TWO-HANDED SAW. A very useful instrument in ship-carpentry; it is much longer than the hand-saw, and requires two men to use it.

TWO-MONTHLY BOOK. A book kept by the captain's clerk, to be forwarded every two months, when possible, in order to prevent frauds; and in the event of a ship being lost, to have the accounts to the nearest period.

TWO MONTHS' ADVANCE. _See_ ADVANCE MONEY.

TWO-PENCES. A deduction from each man, per mensem, formerly a.s.signed to the surgeon for wages.

TWO-TOPSAIL-SCHOONER. _See_ TOPSAIL-SCHOONER.

TWY. A meteor squall on the coasts of Wiltshire, Hampshire, &c.

TYE. A runner of thick rope or chain, which forms part of the purchase used for hoisting the top-sail and top-gallant yards.

TYE-BLOCK. The block on the yard through which the tye is rove, and pa.s.ses on to be secured at the mast-head. The block secured to the lower end of the tye is the fly-block.

TYMOOM. A Chinese river craft.

TYNDARIDES. The ancient name of the meteor called _corpo santo_.

TYPHOON, TY-FONG, OR TAI-PHON. The Chinese word for a _great wind_, applied to hurricanes or cyclones. They are revolving storms of immense force, occurring most frequently in those parts of the world which are subject to monsoons, and take place at those seasons when the monsoons are changing. They seem to be eddies formed by the meeting of opposing currents of air--for instance, the westerly winds near the equator and the easterly winds of higher lat.i.tudes--which accounts for the important fact that these storms revolve in opposite directions in the two hemispheres--in the southern with, in the northern against, the hands of a watch; but the circular tendency in both supports the name of cyclone.

U.

UGLY. A term applied to a threatening heavy atmosphere, also to a head-sea. Also, to an ugly craft, as a mischievous foe, or a pirate.

ULCUS. An old term for the hulk of a ship of burden (_leg._ Ethelred).

ULIGINOUS CHANNELS. Those connecting the branches of rivers, by cuts through the soil.