The Sailor's Word-Book Part 256

WAR ESTABLISHMENT. Increased force of men and means.

WARM-SIDED. Mounting heavy metal, whether a ship or a fort.

WARNER. A sentinel formerly posted on the heights near sea-ports to give notice of the approach of vessels. Also, beacons, posts, buoys, lights, &c., warning vessels of danger by day as well as by night.

WARNING-SIGNAL. Hoisted to warn vessels not to pa.s.s a bar. Also, to warrant higher pay to watermen plying between Portsmouth and Spithead, &c., according to severity of weather.

WARP. A rope or light hawser, employed occasionally to transport a ship from one place to another in a port, road, or river. Also, an east-coast term for four herrings. Also, land between the sea-banks and the sea.--_Warp of lower rigging._ A term used in the rigging-loft, as, before cutting out a gang of rigging, it is warped. Also, to form the warp of spun-yarn in making sword-mats for the rigging-gripes, slings, &c.--_To warp._ To move a vessel from one place to another by warps, which are attached to buoys, to other ships, to anchors, or to certain fixed objects on sh.o.r.e. Also, to flood the lands near rivers in Yorkshire.

WARPING AND FRAMING THE TIMBERS. Putting in the beam-knees, coamings, &c., and dividing the s.p.a.ces between the beams for fitting the carlines.

WARPING-BLOCK. A block made of ash or elm, used in rope-making for warping off yarn.

WARRANT. A writ of authority, inferior to a commission; in former days it was the name given to the deed conferring power on those officers appointed by the navy board, while those granted by the admiralty were styled commissions. Also, a doc.u.ment, under proper authority, for the a.s.sembling of a court-martial, punishment, execution, &c. Also, a tabulated regulation for cutting standing and running rigging, as well as for supply of general stores, as warranted by the admiralty.--_Brown-paper warrants._ Those given by a captain, and which he can cancel.

WARRANT-OFFICER. Generally one holding his situation from particular boards, or persons authorized by the sovereign to grant it. In the royal navy it was an officer holding a warrant from the navy board, as the master, surgeon, purser, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, &c. In the year 1831, when the commissioners of the navy, or navy board, were abolished, all these powers reverted to the admiralty, but the commissions and warrants remain in effect the same.

WARRANTY. The contract of marine insurance, expressing a certain condition on the part of the insured, upon which the contract is to take effect; it is always a part of the written policy, and must appear on the face of it. In this it differs from _representation_ (which see).

WARREN-HEAD. A northern term for a dam across a river.

WAR-SCOT. A contribution for the supply of arms and armour, in the time of the Saxons.

WAR-SHIP. Any ship equipped for offence and defence; whereas _man-of-war_ generally signifies a vessel belonging to the royal navy.

WARTAKE. An archaic term for a rope-fast, or spring. In that early sea-song (_temp._ Henry VI.) which is in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, the skipper of the ship carrying a cargo of "pylgryms"

exclaims, "Hale in the wartake!"

WARTH. An old word signifying a ford. Also, a flat meadow close to a stream.

WASH. An acc.u.mulation of silt in estuaries. Also, a surface covered by floods. Also, a shallow inlet or gulf: the east-country term for the sea-sh.o.r.e. Also, the blade of an oar. Also, a wooden measure of two-thirds of a bushel, by which small sh.e.l.l-fish are sold at Billingsgate, equal to ten strikes of oysters.--_Wash_, or _a-wash_.

Even with the water's edge.

WASH-BOARD, OR WASH-STRAKE. A movable upper strake which is attached by stud-pins on the gunwales of boats to keep out the spray. Wash-boards are also fitted on the sills of the lower-deck ports for the same purpose.

WASH-BOARDS. A term for the white facings of the old naval uniform.

WASHERMAN. A station formerly for an old or otherwise not very useful person on board a man-of-war.

WASHERS. Leather, copper, lead, or iron rings interposed at the end of spindles, before a forelock or linch-pin, to prevent friction, or galling the wood, as of a gun-truck. Also used in pump-gear.

WASHING-PLACE. In 1865, baths and suitable washing-places were fitted for personal use in the ships of the royal navy. Both hot and cold water are supplied. Shades of Drake, Frobisher, and Raleigh, think of that!

WASHING THE HAND. A common hint on leaving a ship disliked.

WASH-WATER. A ford.

WATCH. The division of the ship's company into two parties, one called the starboard, and the other the larboard or port watch, alluding to the situation of their hammocks when hung up; these two watches are, however, separated into two others, a first and second part of each, making four in all. The crew can also be divided into three watches. The officers are divided into three watches, in order to lighten their duty; but it is to be borne in mind that the watch may sleep when their services are not demanded, whereas it is a crime, liable to death, for an officer to sleep on his watch. In a ship of war the watch is generally commanded by a lieutenant, and in merchant ships by one of the mates. The word is also applied to the _time_ during which the watch remains on deck, usually four hours, with the exception of the dog-watches.--_Anchor-watch._ A quarter watch kept on deck while the ship rides at single anchor, or remains temporarily in port.--_Dog-watches._ The two reliefs which take place between 4 and 8 o'clock P.M., each of which continues only two hours, the intention being to change the turn of the night-watch every twenty-four hours.--_First watch._ From 8 P.M. till midnight.--_Middle-watch._ From midnight till 4 A.M.--_Morning-watch._ From 4 to 8 A.M.--_Watch_ is also a word used in throwing the deep-sea lead, when each man, on letting go the last turn of line in his hand, calls to the next abaft him, "Watch, there, watch!" A buoy is said to _watch_ when it floats on the surface of the water.

WATCH AND WATCH. The arrangement of the crew in two watches.

WATCH-BILL. The pocket "watch and station bill," which each officer is expected to produce if required, and instantly muster the watch, or the men stationed to any specific duty.

WATCHET. A light blue, or sky-coloured cloth worn formerly by English sailors, especially by the boats' crews of men-of-war.

WATCH-GLa.s.sES. The half-hour gla.s.ses employed to measure the periods of the watch, so that the several stations therein may be regularly kept and relieved, as at the helm, pump, look-out, &c. (_See_ GLa.s.s.)

WATCHING A SMOOTH. Looking for a temporary subsidence of the waves of a head-sea, previous to easing down the helm, in tacking ship.

WATCH-SETTING. In the army, retreat, or the time for mounting the night-guards.

WATCH-TACKLE. A small luff purchase with a short fall, the double block having a tail to it, and the single one a hook. Used for various purposes about the decks, by which the watch can perform a duty without demanding additional men.

WATER, TO. To fill the casks or tanks; to complete water.

WATERAGE. The charge for using sh.o.r.e-boats.

WATER-BAILIFF. An officer in sea-port towns for the searching of vessels.

WATER-BALLAST. Water when used to stiffen a ship, whether carried in casks, tanks, bags, or otherwise. The iron screw-colliers of the present day have immense tanks constructed in their floors, on the upper part of which the coals rest; when they are discharged, the tanks are allowed to fill with water, which acts as ballast for the return voyage, and is pumped out by the engine as the coals are taken in.

WATER-BARK. A small decked vessel or tank, used by the Dutch for carrying fresh water.

WATER-BATTERY. One nearly on a level with the water--_a fleur d'eau_; a position of much power when vessels cannot get close to it.

WATER-BEWITCHED. Bad tea, _geo-graffy_, 5-water grog, and the like greatly diluted drinks.

WATER-BORNE. When a ship just floats clear of the ground. Also, goods carried by sea, or on a river.

WATER-CROW. The lesser cormorant, or s.h.a.g.

WATER-DOG. _See_ WATER-GALL.

WATER-FLEAS. The groups of crustaceous organisms cla.s.sed as _Entomostraca_.

WATER-GAGE. A sea wall or bank. Also, an instrument to measure the depth of inundations.

WATER-GALL. A name of the _wind-gall_ (which see). Shakspeare, in the _Rape of Lucrece_, uses the term thus:--

"And round about her tear-distained eye Blue circles stream'd, like rainbows in the sky.

These water-galls in her dim element Foretell new storms to those already spent."

WATER-GAVEL. A rent paid for fishing in some river, or other benefit derived therefrom.

WATER-GUARD. Custom-house officers employed to prevent fraud on the revenue in vessels arriving at, or departing from, a port.

WATER HIS HOLE. A saying used when the cable is up and down, to encourage the men to heave heartily, and raise the shank of the anchor so that the water may get down by the shank, and relieve the anchor of the superinc.u.mbent mud.

WATER-HORSE. Cod-fish stacked up in a pile to drain, under the process of cure.