The Sailor's Word-Book Part 259

WELL OFF, TO. A mode of shutting off a leak by surrounding it by timbers screwed home through the lining to the timbers, and carrying up this trunk, like a log-hut, above the water-line.

WELL-ROOM OF A BOAT. The place in the bottom where the water lies, between the ceiling and the platform of the stern-sheets, from whence it is baled into the sea.

WELL THERE, BELAY! Synonymous with _that will do_.

WELSHMAN'S BREECHES. _See_ DUTCHMAN'S BREECHES.

WEND A COURSE, TO. To sail steadily on a given direction.

WENDING. Bringing the ship's head to an opposite course. Turning as a ship does to the tide.

WENTLE. An old term signifying to roll over.

WENTLE-TRAP. The _Scalaria pretiosa_, a very elegant univalve sh.e.l.l, much valued by collectors.

WEST-COUNTRY PARSON. A fish, the hake (_Gadus merluccius_), is so called, from a black streak on its back, and from its abundance along our western coast.

WESTER, OR WASTER. A kind of trident used for striking salmon in the north.

WESTING. This term in navigation means the distance made by course or traverses to the westward; or the sun after crossing the meridian.

WESTWARD [Anglo-Saxon _weste-wearde_].--_Westward-hoe._ To the west! It was one of the cries of the Thames watermen.

WEST WIND. This and its collateral, the S.W., prevail nearly three-fourths of the year in the British seas, and though boisterous at times, are very genial on the whole.

WET. The owners and master of a ship are liable for all damage by wet.

(_See_ STOWAGE.)

WET-BULB THERMOMETER. One of which the bulb is kept moist by the capillary attraction of cotton fibres from an attached reservoir.

WET-DOCK. A term used for _float_ (which see), and also _dock_.

WETHERS. The flukes or hands of a harpoon.

WETTING A COMMISSION. Giving an entertainment to shipmates on receiving promotion.

WHALE. A general term for various marine animals of the order _Cetacea_, including the most colossal of all animated beings. From their general form and mode of life they are frequently confounded with fish, from which, however, they differ essentially in their organization, as they are warm-blooded, ascend to the surface to breathe air, produce their young alive, and suckle them, as do the land mammalia. The cetacea are divided into two sections:--1. Those having h.o.r.n.y plates, called baleen, or "whalebone," growing from the palate instead of teeth, and including the right whales and rorquals, or finners and hump-backs (see these terms). 2. Those having true teeth and no whalebone. To this group belong the sperm-whale, and the various forms of bottle-noses, black-fish, grampuses, narwhals, dolphins, porpoises, &c. To the larger species of many of these the term "whale" is often applied.

WHALE-BIRD. A beautiful little bird seen hovering in flocks over the Southern Ocean, in search of the small crustaceans which const.i.tute their food.

WHALE-BOAT. A boat varying from 26 to 56 feet in length, and from 4 to 10 feet beam, sharp at both ends, and admirably adapted to the intended purpose, combining swiftness of motion, buoyancy, and stability.

WHALE-CALF. The young whale.

WHALE-FISHERIES. The places at which the capture of whales, or "whale-fishery," is carried on. The princ.i.p.al are the coasts of Greenland and Davis Straits, for the northern right whale; Bermuda, for hump-backs; the Cape of Good Hope and the Australian seas, for the southern right whale; the North Pacific, for the j.a.panese right whale; and various places in the intertropical and southern seas, for the sperm-whale. But the constant persecution to which these animals are subjected causes a frequent change in their habitats. They have been nearly exterminated, or rendered so scarce as not to be worth following, in many districts where they formerly most abounded, and in order to make the trade remunerative, new grounds have to be continually sought.

Maury's "whale charts" give much valuable information on this subject.

WHALER. A name for a vessel employed in the whale-fisheries.

WHALE'S FOOD. The name given in the North Sea to the _Clio borealis_, a well-known mollusk, on which whales feed.

WHANGERS, OR COD-WHANGERS. Fish-curers of Newfoundland. An old term for a large sword.

WHAPPER. The largest of the turtle kind, attaining 7 or 8 cwts., off Ascension. [The name is supposed to be derived from _guapa_, Sp., grand or fine.] (_See_ LOGGERHEAD.)

WHARF, OR QUAY. An erection of wood or stone raised on the sh.o.r.e of a road or harbour for the convenience of loading or discharging vessels by cranes or other means. A wharf is of course built stronger or slighter in proportion to the effort of the tide or sea which it is intended to resist, and the size of vessels using it.--_Wharf_, in hydrography, is a scar, a rocky or gravelly concretion, or frequently a sand-bank, as Mad Wharf in Lancashire, where the tides throw up dangerous ripples and overfalls.

WHARf.a.gE DUES. The dues for landing or shipping goods at a wharf; customs charges in particular. Thus for goods not liable to duty, and forcibly taken for examination, wharf.a.ge charges are demanded even from a ship of war!

WHARFINGER. He who owns or keeps a wharf and takes account of all the articles landed thereon or removed from it, for which he receives a certain fee.

WHARF-STEAD. A ford in a river.

WHAT CHEER, HO? Equivalent among seamen to, _How fare ye?_

WHAT SHIP IS THAT? A question often put when a _jaw-breaking_ word has been intrusively uttered by _savants_.

WHAT WATER HAVE YOU? The question to the man sounding, as to the depth of water which the lead-line gives.

WHAUP. The larger curlew, _Numenius arquatus_.

WHEAT. An excellent article for sea-diet; boiled with a proportion of mola.s.ses, it makes a most nutritious breakfast. As it stows well, and would even yield nearly the same weight in bread, it should be made an article of allowance.

WHEEL. A general name for the helm, by which the tiller and rudder are worked in steering the ship; it has a barrel, round which the tiller-ropes or chains wind, and a wheel with spokes to a.s.sist in moving it.

WHEEL AND AXLE. A well-known mechanical power, to which belong all turning or wheel machines, as cranes, capstans, windla.s.ses, cranks, &c.

WHEEL-HOUSE. A small round-house erected in some ships over the steering-wheel for the shelter of the helmsman.

WHEEL-LOCK. A small machine attached to the old musket for producing sparks of fire.

WHEEL-ROPES. Ropes rove through a block on each side of the deck, and led round the barrel of the steering-wheel. Chains are also used for this purpose.

WHEELS. _See_ TRUCKS.

WHEFT. More commonly written _waft_ (which see). Although _wheft_ is given in the official signal-book, bibliophilists ignore the term.

WHELK. A well-known sh.e.l.l-fish, _Buccinum undatum_.

WHELPS. The brackets or projecting parts which rise out of the barrel or main body of the capstan, like b.u.t.tresses, to enlarge the sweep, so that a greater portion of the cable, or whatever rope encircles the barrel, may be wound about it at one turn without adding much to the weight of the capstan. The whelps reach downwards from the lower part of the drumhead to the deck. The pieces of wood bolted on the main-piece of a windla.s.s, or on a winch, for firm holding, and to prevent chafing, are also called whelps.

WHERE AWAY? In what bearing? a question to the man at the mast-head to designate in what direction a strange sail lies.

WHERRY. A name descended from the Roman _horia_, the _oare_ of our early writers. It is now given to a sharp, light, and shallow boat used in rivers and harbours for pa.s.sengers. The wherries allowed to ply about London are either scullers worked by one man with two sculls, or by two men, each pulling an oar. Also, a decked vessel used in fishing in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland: numbers of them were notorious smugglers.

WHETHER OR NO, TOM COLLINS. A phrase equivalent to, "Whether you will or not, such is my determination, not to be gainsaid."

WHICH WAY DOES THE WIND LIE? What is the matter?