The Sailor's Word-Book Part 264

YARD-TACKLES. Tackles attached to the fore and main yards of a ship, whereby, with the a.s.sistance of the stay-tackles, the boats and other weights are hoisted in and out. Yard-tackles are sometimes hooked to a pendant, which is secured to the top-mast head, and hauled out to the yard-arm by means of a small tackle, until the yard-tackle plumbs the spot where it is wished to work.

YARE [Ang.-Sax. for dexterous or quick]. It was formerly a favourite nautical phrase, as "Be yare at the helm;" and is used by Shakspeare's boatswain in the _Tempest_.

YAREMLEK. A silver Turkish coin of 20 paras, or 9_d._ sterling.

YARMOUTH CAPON. A red herring; a bloater.

YARMOUTH HERRING-BOAT. A clincher-built vessel with lug-sails, similar to the drift or mackerel boats.

YARN. One of the threads of which ropes are composed. A number of these are twisted together to form a strand, in proportion to the size of the proposed rope. Three strands are then twisted into one another, which completes the process of ordinary rope-making; but cables, hawsers, and other ground tackling, are composed of three strands, each of which is formed of three lesser ones. (_See_ CABLE, HAWSER, &c.)--_A tough yarn._ A long story, or tale, hard to be believed.

YARN-SPINNING. A figurative expression for telling a story.

YATAGHAN. A crooked sabre used in the Levant. Also, the knife-swords of India.

YAUGH. An archaic term for a little bark, pinnace, or yacht.

YAW. The quick movement by which a ship deviates from the direct line of her course towards the right or left, from unsteady steering.

YAWL. A man-of-war's boat, resembling the pinnace, but rather smaller; it is carvel-built, and generally rowed with twelve oars. The yawl in the Customs Act is a carvel-built vessel of the cutter cla.s.s, but having a jigger or mizen lug, the boom-mainsail being curtailed, so that its boom traverses clear of the mizen-mast: used also by yachts. Also, a small fishing-vessel.

YAW-SIGHTED. A nautical term for those who squint.

YAW-YAW. A nickname for the seamen of the sh.o.r.es of the Baltic.

YEAR. The duration of the earth's revolution round the sun, or of the apparent revolution of the sun in the ecliptic.

YELL. An old sea-term to express a rolling motion.

YELLOW ADMIRAL. A retired post-captain, who, not having served his time in that rank, is not ent.i.tled to his promotion to the active flag.

YELLOW-BELLY. A name given to a person born in the fens along our eastern sh.o.r.es: also occasionally to half-castes, &c.

YELLOW FEVER. A cant term for drunkenness at Greenwich Hospital; the sailors when punished wearing a parti-coloured coat, in which yellow predominates.

YELLOW-FLAG. The signal of quarantine.

YELLOWING. The pa.s.sing over of captains at a flag promotion.

YELLOW-TAIL. A well-known tropical fish, often in company with whip-rays; it is about 4 feet long, with a great head, large eyes, and many fins. _Leiostomas_.

YEO-HEAVE-YEOING. The chant or noise made at the windla.s.s and purchase-falls in a merchantman, to cheer and lighten labour, but not permitted in a man-of-war.

YEOMAN. An experienced hand placed in charge of a store-room, who should be able to keep the accounts of supply and expenditure.

YESTY [from the Anglo-Saxon _gist_]. A foaming breaking sea. Shakspeare in _Macbeth_ gives great power to this state of the waters:--

"Though the yesty waves Confound, and swallow navigation up."

YOKE. A transverse board or metal bar, a subst.i.tute for the tiller, which crosses the head of a boat's rudder, and having two lines extending from its opposite extremities to the stern-sheets of the boat, whereby she is steered.

YOKE-LINES. The ropes by which the boat's steerage is managed.

YOUNG. A word often used for uninitiated.--_Young gentlemen_, a general designation for midshipmen, whatever their age.

YOUNG FLOOD. _See_ FLOOD.

YOUNG ICE. Nearly the same as bay-ice, except that it is only applied to ice very recently formed, or of the present season.

YOUNGSTER, OR YOUNKER [an old term; from the Anglo-Saxon _junker_]. A volunteer of the first-cla.s.s, and a general epithet for a stripling in the service.

YOUNG WIND. The commencement of the land or sea breeze.

YOU, SIR! The irritating mode in which some officers address the seamen.

The late Lord Collingwood never permitted it.

YOW-YOW. A smaller kind of Chinese sampan.

Y'S OF AN INSTRUMENT. The Y-shaped bearings for the telescope axis, on the precision of which the value of an astronomical observation much depends: similar to the bearings of steam-engines, &c.

Z.

ZAFAR. A coil of Spanish rope.

ZAMBO. A term on the Spanish Main for a race produced by the union of the negro and the Indian; it literally means _bow-legged_.

ZEAL. A quality essentially requisite in forming the character of an efficient officer, since it comprehends ardour for the service, prompt obedience to orders, cheerful disposition, and a studious application to professional science.

ZECCHINO [from _zecca_, a mint]. A gold coin of Italy; average value, 9_s._ 6_d._

ZECHIN. A Turkish coin. (_See_ SEQUIN.)

ZENITH. The pole of the horizon, or that point in the heavens directly overhead, as nadir is that which is directly under our feet.

ZENITH-DISTANCE. The angular distance of any celestial object from the zenith at the time of observation. In navigation the meridional zenith-distance of a heavenly body is much used for finding the lat.i.tude.

ZEPHYR. The west wind, but generally considered to apply to any light pleasant breeze.

ZERO. The cypher or nought at the beginning of a graduated arc.

ZETETIC. The a.n.a.lytic method of investigating a mathematical problem.

ZIG-ZAG. The winding trench of approach of a besieger, directed by short turns alternately right and left of the defences of the place, to avoid being enfiladed by them. Called also a _boyau_.