The Sailor's Word-Book Part 49

CARR. _See_ CAR.

CARRAC, CARRACA, CARRACK, OR CARRICKE. A name given by the Spaniards and Portuguese to the vessels they sent to Brazil and the East Indies; large, round built, and fitted for fight as well as burden. Their capacity lay in their depth, which was extraordinary. English vessels of size and value were sometimes also so called.

CARRARA. The great northern diver, _Colymbus glacialis_.

CARREE. A Manx or Gaelic term for the scud or small clouds that drive with the wind.

CARRIAGE OF A GUN. The frame on which it is mounted for firing, constructed either exclusively for this purpose, or also for travelling in the field. Carriages for its transport only, are not included under this term. The first kind only is in general use afloat, where it usually consists of two thick planks (called brackets or cheeks) laid on edge to support the trunnions, and resting, besides other transverse connections, on two axle-trees, which are borne on low solid wooden wheels called trucks, or sometimes, to diminish the recoil, on flat blocks called chocks. The hind axle-tree takes, with the intervention of various elevating arrangements, the preponderance of the breech. The second kind is adapted for field and siege work: the shallow brackets are raised in front on high wheels, but unite behind into a solid beam called the trail, which tapers downwards, and rests on the ground when in action, but for travel is connected to a two-wheeled carriage called a _limber_ (which see). Gun-carriages are chiefly made of elm for ship-board, as less given to splinter from shot, and of oak on sh.o.r.e; wrought-iron, however, is being applied for the carriages of the large guns recently introduced, and even cast-iron is economically used in some fortresses little liable to sudden counter-battery.

CARRICK. An old Gaelic term for a castle or fortress, as well as for a rock in the sea.

CARRICK-BEND. A kind of knot, formed on a bight by putting the end of a rope over its standing part, and then pa.s.sing it.

CARRICK-BITTS. The bitts which support the ends or spindles of the windla.s.s, whence they are also called windla.s.s-bitts.

CARRIED. Taken, applied to the capture of forts and ships.

CARRONADE. A short gun, capable of carrying a large ball, and useful in close engagements at sea. It takes its name from the large iron-foundry on the banks of the Carron, near Falkirk, in Scotland, where this sort of ordnance was first made, or the principle applied to an improved construction. Shorter and lighter than the common cannon, and having a chamber for the powder like a mortar, they are generally of large calibre, and carried on the upper works, as the p.o.o.p and forecastle.

CARRONADE SLIDE. Composed of two wide balks of elm on which the carronade carriage slides. As the slide is bolted to the ship's side, and is a radius from that bolt or pivot, carronades were once the only guns which could be truly concentrated on a given object.

CARRY, TO. To subdue a vessel by boarding her. To move anything along the decks. (_See_ LASH AND CARRY, as relating to hammocks.) Also, to obtain possession of a fort or place by force. Also, the direction or movement of the clouds. Also, a gun is said to carry its shot so many yards. Also, a ship carries her canvas, and her cargo.

CARRY AWAY, TO. To break; as, "That ship has carried away her fore-topmast," _i.e._ has broken it off. It is customary to say, we carried away this or that, when knocked, shot, or blown away. It is also used when a rope has been parted by violence.

CARRYING ON DUTY. The operations of the officer in charge of the deck or watch.

CARRYING ON THE WAR. Making suitable arrangements for carrying on the lark or amus.e.m.e.nt.

CARRY ON, TO. To spread all sail; also, beyond discretion, or at all hazards. In galley-slang, to joke a person even to anger; also riotous frolicking.

CARRY THE KEG. _See_ KEG.

CARTE BLANCHE. In the service sense of the term, implies an authority to act at discretion.

CARTEL. A ship commissioned in time of war to exchange the prisoners of any two hostile powers, or to carry a proposal from one to the other; for this reason she has only one gun, for the purpose of firing signals, as the officer who commands her is particularly ordered to carry no cargo, ammunition, or implements of war. Cartel also signifies an agreement between two hostile powers for a mutual exchange of prisoners.

In late wars, ships of war fully armed, but under cartel, carried commissions for settling peace, as flags of truce. Cartel-ships, by trading in any way, are liable to confiscation.

CARTHOUN. The ancient cannon royal, carrying a 66-lb. ball, with a point blank range of 185 paces, and an extreme one of about 2000. It was 12 feet long and of 8-1/2 inches diameter of bore.

CARTOUCH-BOX. The accoutrement which contains the musket-cartridges: now generally called a pouch.

CARTOW. _See_ CART-PIECE.

CART-PIECE. An early battering cannon mounted on a peculiar cart.

CARTRIDGE. The case in which the exact charge of powder for fire-arms is made up--of paper for small-arms, of flannel for great guns, or of sheet metal for breech-loading muskets. For small-arms generally the cartridge contains the bullet as well as the powder, and in the case of most breech-loaders, the percussion priming also; in the case of some very light pieces the shot is included, and then named a round of "fixed ammunition;" and for breech-loading guns some sort of lubricator is generally inclosed in the forward end of the cartridge.

CARTRIDGE-BOX. A cylindrical wooden box with a lid sliding upon a handle of small rope, just containing one cartridge, and used for its safe conveyance from the magazine to the gun--borne to and fro by powder-monkeys (boys) of old. The term is loosely applied to the ammunition pouch.

CARUEL. _See_ CARVEL.

CARVED WORK. The ornaments of a ship which are wrought by the carver.

CARVEL. A light lateen-rigged vessel of small burden, formerly used by the Spaniards and Portuguese. Also, a coa.r.s.e sea-blubber, on which turtles are said to feed.

CARVEL-BUILT. A vessel or boat, the planks of which are all flush and smooth, the edges laid close to each other, and caulked to make them water-tight: in contradistinction to clinker-built, where they overlap each other.

CARY. _See_ MOTHER CARY'S CHICKEN. _Procellaria pelagica_.

CASCABLE. That generally convex part of a gun which terminates the breech end of it. The term includes the usual b.u.t.ton which is connected to it by the neck of the cascable.

CASCADE. A fall of water from a considerable height, rather by successive stages than in a single ma.s.s, as with a cataract.

CASCO. A rubbish-lighter of the Philippine Islands.

CASE. The outside planking of the ship.

CASE-BOOK. A register or journal in which the surgeon records the cases of all the sick and wounded, who are placed under medical treatment.

CASEMATE. In fortification, a chamber having a vaulted roof capable of resisting vertical fire, and affording embrasures or loop-holes to contribute to the defence of the place: without these it would be merely a bomb-proof.

CASERNES. Often considered as synonymous with _barracks_; but more correctly small lodgments erected between the ramparts and houses of a fortified town, to ease the inhabitants by quartering soldiers there, who are also in better condition for duty than if living in various parts.

CASE-SHOT, COMMON. Called also canister-shot. Adapted for close quarters if the enemy be uncovered. It consists of a number of small iron b.a.l.l.s, varying in weight and number, packed in a cylindrical tin case fitting the bore of the gun from which it is to be fired. Burrel, langrage, and other irregular subst.i.tutes, may be included under the term. Spherical case-shot are officially called _shrapnel sh.e.l.l_ (which see).

CASHIERED. Sentenced by a court-martial to be dismissed the service. By such sentence an officer is rendered ever after incapable of serving the sovereign in any position, naval or military.

CASING. The lining, veneering, or planking over a ship's timbers, especially for the cabin-beams; the sheathing of her. Also a bulk-head round a mast to prevent the interference of cargo, or shifting materials.

CASING-COVER. In the marine steam-engine is a steam-tight opening for the slide-valve rod to pa.s.s through.

CASK. A barrel for fluid or solid provisions. (_See_ STOWAGE.)

CASKETS (properly GASKETS). Small ropes made of sinnet, and fastened to grummets or little rings upon the yards. Their use is to make the sail fast to the yard when it is to be furled.

Ca.s.sAVA, OR Ca.s.sADA. A species of the genus _Jatropha janipha_, well known to seamen as the ca.s.sava bread of the West Indies. Tapioca is produced from the _Jatropha manihot_. Caution is necessary in the use of these roots, as the juice is poisonous. The root used as chewsticks, to cleanse the teeth and gums, by the negroes, produces a copious flow of frothy saliva.

CAST. A coast term meaning four, as applied to haddocks, herrings, &c.

Also, the appearance of the sky when day begins to break. A cast of pots, &c.--_A'cast_, when a ship's yards are braced a'cast preparatory to weighing. Also condemned, cast by survey, &c.

CAST, TO. To fall off, so as to bring the direction of the wind on one side of the ship, which before was right ahead. This term is particularly applied to a ship riding head to wind, when her anchor first loosens from the ground. To pay a vessel's head off, or turn it, is getting under weigh on the tack she is to sail upon, and it is casting to starboard, or port, according to the intention.--_To cast anchor._ To drop or let go the anchor for riding by--synonymous with to anchor.--_To cast a traverse._ To calculate and lay off the courses and distances run over upon a chart.--_To cast off._ To let go at once. To loosen from.

CAST. A short boat pa.s.sage.

CAST-AWAY. Shipwrecked.

CAST-AWAYS. People belonging to vessels stranded by stress of weather.