The Sailor's Word-Book Part 260

WHIFF. The _Rhombus cardina_, a pa.s.sable fish of the pleuronect genus.

Also, a slight fitful breeze or transient puff of wind.

WHIFFING. Catching mackerel with a hook and line from a boat going pretty fast through the water.

WHIFFLERS. The old term for fifers, preceding the body of archers who cleared the way, but more recently applied to very trifling fellows.

Smollett named Captain Whiffle in contempt.

WHIMBREL. The smaller species of curlew, _Numenius phaeopus_.

WHIMSEY. A small crane for hoisting goods to the upper stories of warehouses.

WHINYARD. A sort of hanger, serving both as a weapon and a knife. An archaism for a cutla.s.s. See the Gentleman in the _Cobler of Canterburie_, 1590:--

"His cloake grew large and sid, And a faire winniard by his side."

WHIP. A single rope rove through a single block to hoist in light articles. Where greater and steadier power is demanded, a block is added, and the standing part is made fast near the upper block. Thus it becomes _a double whip_.--_To whip._ To hoist by a whip. Also, to tie twine, whipping fashion, round the end of a rope to prevent its untwisting.

WHIP, OR WHIP-STAFF. A strong staff fastened into the helm for the steersman to move the rudder thereby.

WHIP-JACK. An old term, equivalent to fresh-water sailor, or a sham-shipwrecked tar. (_See_ TURNPIKE-SAILORS.)

WHIPPERS. Men who deliver the cargoes of colliers in the river Thames into lighters.

WHIPPING-TWINE. Used to whip the ends of ropes.

WHIP-RAY. A ray with a long tail ending in a very fine point. It is armed with a dangerous serrated spine, jagged like a harpoon. Called also _sting-ray_ and _stingaree_.

WHIP-SAW. The largest of that cla.s.s of useful instruments, being that generally used at the saw-pit.

WHIP UPON WHIP. A sort of easy purchase, much used in colliers. It consists of one whip applied to the falls of another.

WHIRL, OR ROPE-WINCH. Small hooks fastened into cylindrical pieces of wood which communicate by a leather strap with a spoke-wheel, whereby three of them are set in motion at once. Used for spinning yarn for ropes. Now more commonly made of iron.

WHIRLER, OR TROUGHTON'S TOP. An ingenious instrument invented by Troughton, and intended to serve as an artificial horizon at sea; but it was found that its centrifugal force was incapable of counteracting the ordinary motion of a ship.

WHIRLPOOL. An eddy or vortex where the waters are continually rushing round. In rivers they are very common, from various accidents, and are usually of little consequence. In the sea they are more dangerous, as the cla.s.sical Charybdis, and the celebrated Maelstrom and Saltenstrom, both on the coast of Norway.

WHIRLWIND. A revolving current of wind of small diameter that rises suddenly, but is soon spent.

WHISKERS. Two booms, half-yards, or iron spars projecting on each side before the cat-heads; they are for spreading the guys of the jib-boom, instead of having a spritsail-yard across. In many vessels the sprit-sail (then termed spread-yard) is lashed across the forecastle so as to rest before the cat-heads on the gunwale, and the guys rove through holes bored in it, and set up in the fore-channels.

WHISTLE. From the Ang.-Sax. _wistl_. (_See_ CALL.)

WHISTLE FOR THE WIND, TO. A superst.i.tious practice among old seamen, who are equally scrupulous to avoid whistling during a heavy gale.--_To wet one's whistle._ To take a drink. Thus Chaucer tells us that the miller of Trumpington's lady had

"Hir joly whistle wel ywette."

WHISTLING PSALMS TO THE TAFFRAIL. Expending advice to no purpose.

WHITE BAIT OR BITE. The _Clupea alba_, a well-known fish caught in the Thames, but strictly a sea-fish, erroneously held to be mere fry till 1828, when Yarrell raised it to the rank of a perfect fish.

WHITE BOOT-TOP. A painted white line carried fore and aft on the hammock-netting base. It gives a longer appearance to a ship.

WHITE CAPS. Waves with breaking crests, specially between the east end of Jamaica and Kingston; but obtaining generally when the sea-breeze, coming fresh over the waves, and travelling faster, turns their tops: termed also _white-horses_.

WHITE FEATHER. The figurative symbol of cowardice: a white feather in a c.o.c.k's tail being considered a proof of cross-breeding.

WHITE-FISH. A fish of the salmon family, found in the lakes of North America; also a name of the _hard-head_ (which see). It is a general name for ling, cod, tusk, haddock, halibut, and the like, and for roach, dace, &c., from the use of their scales to form artificial pearls. Also applied to the beluga or white whale (_Beluga leucas_), a cetacean found in the Arctic seas and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is from 12 to 15 feet long.

WHITE-HERRING. A pickled herring in the north, but in other parts a fresh herring is so called.

WHITE-HORSE. A name of the _Raia fullonica_. (_See also_ WHITE CAPS.)

WHITE-LAPPELLE. A sobriquet for a lieutenant, in allusion to his former uniform. (_See_ LAPPELLE.)

WHITE-ROPE. Rope which has not been tarred. Manilla, coir, and some other ropes, do not require tarring.

WHITE SQUALL. A tropical wind said to give no warning; it sweeps the surface with spoon-drift.

WHITE-TAPE. A term amongst smugglers for hollands or gin.

WHITE-WATER. That which is seen over extensive sandy patches, where, owing to the limpidity and shallowness of the sea, the light of the sky is reflected.

WHITING. The name given in c.u.mberland to the _Salmo albus_, or white salmon. Also the _Gadus merlangus_, both split or dried.

WHITTLE [from the Anglo-Saxon _hwytel_]. A knife; also used for a sword, but contemptuously.--_To whittle._ To cut sticks.

WHITWORTH GUN. A piece rifled by having a twisted hexagonal bore, and throwing a more elongated shot with a sharper twist than the Armstrong gun, with results experimentally more beautiful, but not yet so practically useful.

WHO COMES THERE? The night challenge of a sentry on his post.

WHOLE-MOULDING. The old method of forming the princ.i.p.al part of a vessel. Boats are now the only vessels in which this method is practised.

WHOLESOME SHIP. One that will try, hull, and ride well, without heavy labouring in the sea.

WHOODINGS. Those ends of planks which are let into the rabbets of the stem, the stern-posts, &c. (_See_ RABBET and HOOD-ENDS.)

WHO SAYS AMEN? Who will clap on with a will?

WHO SHALL HAVE THIS? An impartial sea method of distributing the shares of short commons. One person turns his back on the portions, and names some one, when he is asked, "_Who shall have this?_"

WICH. A port, as Harwich, Greenwich, &c.

WICK [Anglo-Saxon _wyc_]. A creek, bay, or village, by the side of a river.

WICKET. A small door in the gate of a fortress, for use by foot-pa.s.sengers when the gate is closed.

WIDDERSHINS. A northern term signifying a motion contrary to the course of the sun. The Orkney fishermen consider themselves in imminent danger at sea, if, by accident, their vessel is turned _against the sun_.