The Sailor's Word-Book Part 59

COBLE. A low flat-floored boat with a square stern, used in the cod and turbot fishery, 20 feet long and 5 feet broad; of about one ton burden, rowed with three pairs of oars, and furnished with a lug-sail; it is admirably constructed for encountering a heavy swell. Its stability is secured by the rudder extending 4 or 5 feet under her bottom. It belonged originally to the stormy coast of Yorkshire. There is also a small boat under the same name used by salmon fishers.

COBOOSE. _See_ CABOOSE.

c.o.c.k. That curved arm affixed to the lock of small arms, which, when released by the touch of the trigger, flies forward and discharges the piece by percussion, whether of flint and steel, fulminating priming, needles ab.u.t.ting on the latter, &c.

c.o.c.kADE. First worn by St. Louis on his unfortunate crusade.

c.o.c.k-A-HOOP. In full confidence, and high spirits.

c.o.c.kANDY. A name on our northern sh.o.r.es for the puffin, otherwise called _Tom Noddy_ (_Fratercula arctica_).

c.o.c.k-BILL. The situation of the anchor when suspended from the cat-head ready for letting go. Also said of a cable when it hangs right up and down. To put the yards a-c.o.c.kbill is to top them up by one lift to an angle with the deck. The symbol of mourning.

c.o.c.k-BOAT. A very small boat used on rivers or near the sh.o.r.e. Formerly the c.o.c.k was the general name of a yawl: it is derived from _coggle_ or _cog_ (which see).

c.o.c.kETS, OR COQUETS. An official custom-house warrant descriptive of certain goods which the searcher is to allow to pa.s.s and be shipped.

Also, a galley term for counterfeit ship-papers.--_c.o.c.ket bread._ Hard sea-biscuit.

c.o.c.k-PADDLE. A name of the paddle or lump-fish (_Cyclopterus lumpus_).

c.o.c.kLE. A common bivalve mollusc (_Cardium edule_), often used as food.

c.o.c.kLING SEA. Tumbling waves dashing against each other with a short and quick motion.

c.o.c.kPIT. The place where the wounded men are attended to, situated near the after hatchway, and under the lower gun-deck. The midshipmen alone inhabited the c.o.c.kpit in former times, but in later days commission and warrant officers, civilians, &c., have their cabins there.--_Fore c.o.c.kpit._ A place leading to the magazine pa.s.sage, and the boatswain's, gunner's, and carpenter's store-rooms; in large ships, and during war time, the boatswain and carpenter generally had their cabins in the fore c.o.c.kpit, instead of being under the forecastle.

c.o.c.kPITARIAN. A midshipman or master's mate; so called from messing in the c.o.c.kpit of a line-of-battle ship.

c.o.c.kSETUS. An old law-term for a boatman or c.o.xswain.

c.o.c.kSWAIN, OR c.o.xSWAIN. The person who steers a boat; after the officer in command he has charge of the crew, and all things belonging to it. He must be ready with his crew to man the boat on all occasions.

COCOA, OR CHOCOLATE NUTS, commonly so termed. (_See_ CACAO.) It is the breakfast food of the navy.

COCOA-NUT TREE. The _Palma cocos_ yields _toddy_; the nut, a valuable oil and milky juice; the stem, bark, branches, &c., also serve numerous purposes. (_See_ PALMETTO.)

COD. The centre of a deep bay. The bay of a trawl or seine. Also, the _Gadus morrhua_, one of the most important of oceanic fishes. The cod is always found on the submerged hills known as banks; as the Dogger Bank, and banks of Newfoundland. (_See_ LING.)

COD-BAIT. The large sea-worm or lug, dug from the wet sands. The squid or cuttle, herrings, caplin, any meat, or even a false fish of bright tin or pewter. (_See_ JIG.)

CODDY-MODDY. A gull in its first year's plumage.

CODE OF SIGNALS. Series of flags, &c., for communicating at sea.

COD-FISHER'S CREW. The crew of a banker, or fishing-vessel, which anchors in 60 or 70 fathoms on the Great Bank of Newfoundland, and remains fishing until full, or driven off by stress of weather. Season from June until October. (_See_ FISHERIES.)

CODGER. An easy-going man of regularity. Also, a knowing and eccentric hanger-on; one who will not move faster than he pleases.

COD-LINE. An eighteen-thread line.

COD-SOUNDS. The swim-bladders of the cod-fish, cured and packed for the market; the palates also of the fish are included as "tongues and sounds."

COEHORN. A bra.s.s mortar, named after the Dutch engineer who invented it.

It is the smallest piece of ordnance in the service, having a bore of 4-1/2 inches diameter, a length of 1 foot, and a weight of 3/4 cwt. They throw their 12-pounder sh.e.l.ls with much precision to moderate distances, and being fixed to wooden beds, are very handy for ships' gangways, launches, &c., afloat, and for advanced trenches, the attack of stockades, &c., ash.o.r.e.

COFFER, OR COFFRE. A depth sunk in the bottom of a dry ditch, to baffle besiegers when they attempt to cross it.

COFFER-DAM. A coffer-dam consists of two rows of piles, each row boarded strongly inside, and being filled with clay within well rammed, thereby resists outward pressure, and is impenetrable by the surrounding water.

(_See_ CAISSON.)

COGGE. An Anglo-Saxon word for a c.o.c.k-boat or light yawl, being thus mentioned in _Morte Arthure_--

"Then he covers his cogge, and caches one ankere."

But coggo, as enumerated in an ordinance of parliament (_temp._ Rich.

II.), seems to have been a vessel of burden used to carry troops.

COGGE-WARE. Goods carried in a cogge.

COGGLE, OR COG. A small fishing-boat upon the coasts of Yorkshire, and in the rivers Ouse and Humber. Hence the _cogmen_, who after shipwreck or losses by sea, wandered about to defraud people by begging and stealing, until they were restrained by proper laws.

COGGS. The same with _coaks_ or _dowels_ (which see).

COGS OF A WHEEL; applies to all wheel machinery now used at sea or on sh.o.r.e: thus _windla.s.s-cogs_, _capstan-cogs_, &c.

COGUING THE NOSE. Making comfortable over hot negus or grog.

COIGN. _See_ QUOIN.

COIL. A certain quant.i.ty of rope laid up in ring fashion. The manner in which all ropes are disposed of on board ship for convenience of stowage. They are laid up round, one fake over another, or by concentric turns, termed _Flemish coil_, forming but one tier, and lying flat on the deck, the end being in the middle of it, as a snake or worm coils itself.

COILING. A sort of serpentine winding of a cable or other rope, that it may occupy a small s.p.a.ce in the ship. Each of the windings of this sort is called a _fake_, and one range of _fakes_ upon the same line is called a _tier_. There are generally from five to seven fakes in a tier, and three or four tiers in the whole length of the cable. The smaller ropes employed about the sails are coiled upon cleats at sea, to prevent their being entangled.

COIR. Cordage made from the fibrous husks of the cocoa-nut; though cables made of it are disagreeable to handle and coil away, they have the advantage of floating in water, so that vessels ride easily by them; they are still used by the Calcutta pilot-brigs. True coir is from the _Bora.s.sus gomutus_, the long fibrous black cloth-like covering of the stem. It is from this that the black cables in the East are made; the cocoa-nut fibre being of a reddish hue. It is used for strong brushes, being cylindrical and smooth, with a natural gloss.

c.o.kERS. The old name for cocoa-nut trees.

CO-LAt.i.tUDE. The abbreviation for complement of lat.i.tude, or what it is short of 90.

COLD-CHISEL. A stout chisel made of steel, used for cutting iron when it is cold.

COLD-EEL. The _Gymnotus electricus_.

COLE [from the German _kohl_]. Colewort or sea-kale; a plant in its wild state peculiar to the sea-coast.

COLE-GOOSE. A name for the cormorant (_Phalacrocorax carbo_).

COLLAR. An eye in the end or bight of a shroud or stay, to go over the mast-head. The upper part of a stay. Also, a rope formed into a wreath, with a heart or dead-eye seized in the bight, to which the stay is confined at the lower part. Also, the neck of a bolt.