The Sailor's Word-Book Part 62

CONE-BUOY. _See_ CAN-BUOYS.

CONEY-FISH. A name of the burbot.

CONFIGURATION. The relative positions of celestial bodies, as for instance those of Jupiter's satellites, with respect to the primary at any one time.

CONFINEMENT. Inflicted restraint; an arrest.

CONFIRMED RANK. When an officer is placed in a vacancy by "acting order," he only holds temporary rank until "confirmed" therein by the Admiralty. An acting order given by competent authority is not disturbed by any casual superior.

CONFLICT. An indecisive action.

CONFLUENTS. Those streams which join and flow together. The confluence is the point of junction of an affluent river with its recipient.

CONGER. A large species of sea-eel, furnishing a somewhat vile viand, but eatable when strongly curried. Not at all despised by the people of Cornwall in "fishy pie."

CONGREVE-ROCKET. A very powerful form of rocket, invented by the late Sir William Congreve, R.A., and intended to do the work of artillery without the inconvenience of its weight. In its present form, however, the rocket is so uncertain, that it is in little favour save for exceptional occasions.

CONICAL TOPS OF MOUNTAINS not unfrequently indicate their nature: the truncated sugar-loaf form is generally a.s.sumed by volcanoes, though the same is occasionally met with in other mountains.

CONIC SECTIONS. The curved lines and plane figures which are produced by the intersection of a plane with a cone.

CONJEE. Gruel made of rice.

CONJUGATE AXIS. The secondary diameter of an ellipse, perpendicular to the transverse axis.

CONJUNCTION, in nautical astronomy, is when two bodies have the same longitude or right ascension.

CONN, CON, OR CUN, as p.r.o.nounced by seamen. This word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _conne_, _connan_, to know, or be skilful. The pilot of old was skillful, and later the master was selected to conn the ship in action, that is, direct the helmsman. The quarter-master during ordinary watches conns the ship, and stands beside the wheel at the conn, unless close-hauled, when his station is at the weather-side, where he can see the weather-leeches of the sails.

CONNECTING-ROD. In the marine engine, the part which connects the side-levers and the crank together.

CONNINGS. Reckonings.

CONQUER, TO. To overcome decidedly.

CONSCRIPTION. Not only furnishes conscripts for the French army, but also levies a number of men who are compelled to serve afloat.

CONSECRATION OF COLOURS. A rite practised in the army, but not in the navy.

CONSIGN, TO. To send a consignment of goods to an agent or factor for sale or disposal.

CONSIGNEE. The party to whose care a ship or a consignment of goods is intrusted.

CONSIGNMENT. Goods a.s.signed from beyond sea, or elsewhere, to a factor.

CONSOLE-BRACKET. A light piece of ornament at the fore-part of the quarter-gallery, otherwise called a _canting-livre_.

CONSORT. Any vessel keeping company with another.--_In consort_, ships sailing together in partnership.

CONSORTSHIP. The practice of two or more ships agreeing to join in adventure, under which a strict division of all prizes must be made.

(_See_ TON FOR TON.)

CONSTRUCTION. In naval architecture, is to give the ship such a form as may be most suitable for the service for which she is designed. In navigation, it is the method of ascertaining a ship's course by trigonometrical diagrams. (_See_ INSPECTION.)

CONSTRUCTIVE TOTAL LOSS. When the repair of damage sustained by the perils of the sea would cost more than the ship would be worth after being repaired.

CONSUL. An officer established by a commission from the crown, in all foreign countries of any considerable trade, to facilitate business, and represent the merchants of his nation. They take rank with captains, but are to wait on them if a boat be sent. Commanders wait on consuls, but vice-consuls wait on commanders (_in Etiquette_). Ministers and _charges d'affaires_ retire in case of hostilities, but consuls are permitted to remain to watch the interests of their countrymen. When commerce began to flourish in modern Europe, occasion soon arose for the inst.i.tution of a kind of court-merchant, to determine commercial affairs in a summary way. Their authority depends very much on their commission, and on the words of the treaty on which it is founded. The consuls are to take care of the affairs of the trade, and of the rights, interests, and privileges of their countrymen in foreign ports. Not being public ministers, they are liable to the _lex loci_ both civil and criminal, and their exemption from certain taxes depends upon treaty and custom.

CONTACT. Brought in contact with, as touching the sides of a ship. In astronomy, bringing a reflected body, as the sun, in contact with the moon or with a star. (_See_ LUNAR DISTANCES, s.e.xTANT, &c.)

CONTENTS. A doc.u.ment which the master of a merchantman must deliver to the custom-house searcher, before he can clear outwards; it describes the vessel's destination, cargo, and all necessary particulars.

CONTINENT. In geography, a large extent of land which is not entirely surrounded by water, or separated from other lands by the sea, as Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is also used in contradistinction to _island_, though America seems insulated.

CONTINGENT. The quota of armed men, or pecuniary subsidy, which one state gives to another. Also, certain allowances made to commanding officers to defray necessary expenses.

CONTINUED LINES. In field-works, means a succession of fronts without any interruption, save the necessary pa.s.sages; differing thus from _interrupted lines_.

CONTINUOUS SERVICE MEN. Those seamen who, having entered for a period, on being paid off, are permitted to have leave, and return to the flag-ship at the port for general service.

CONT-LINE. The s.p.a.ce between the bilges of two casks stowed side by side.

CONTOUR. The sweep of a ship's shape.

CONTRABAND. The ship is involved in the legal fate of the cargo; the master should therefore be careful not to take any goods on board without all custom-house duties being paid up, and see that they be not prohibited by parliament or public proclamation. Contraband is simply defined, "merchandise forbidden by the law of nations to be supplied to an enemy;" but it affords fat dodges to the admiralty court sharks.

CONTRABAND OF WAR. Arms, ammunition, and all stores which may aid hostilities; masts, ship-timber going to an enemy's port, hemp, provisions, and even money under stipulations, pitch and tar, sail-cloth. They must, however, be taken _in delicto_, in the actual prosecution of a voyage to the enemy's port.

CONTRACT OF AFFREIGHTMENT. The agreement for the letting to freight the whole or any part of a vessel for one or more voyages; the _charter-party_.

CONTRACT TICKET. A printed form of agreement with every pa.s.senger in a pa.s.senger-ship, prescribed by the legislature.

CONTRARY. The wind when opposed to a vessel's course.

"Cruel was the stately ship that bore her love from Mary, And cruel was the fair wind that wouldn't blow contrary."

CONTRAVALLATION, LINES OF. Continuous lines of intrenchment round the besieged fortress, and fronting towards it, to guard against any sorties from the place. (_See_ CIRc.u.mVALLATION.)

CONTRIBUTION. Money paid in order to save a place from being plundered by a hostile force. (_See_ RANSOM.) Also, a sum raised among merchants, where goods have been thrown overboard in stress of weather, towards the loss of the owners thereof.

CONTROLLER. Differs from _comptroller_, which applies chiefly to the duties of an _accompt_. But the controller of the navy controls naval matters in ship-building, fitting, &c. There is also the controller of victualling, and the controller-general of the coast-guard.

CONTUMACY. The not appearing to the three calls of the admiralty court, after the allegation has been presented to the judge, with a schedule of expenses to be taxed, and an oath of their necessity.

CONVALESCENT. Those men who are recovering health, but not sufficiently recovered to perform their duties, are reported by the surgeon "convalescent." Convalescents are _amused_ by picking oak.u.m!

CONVENIENT PORT. A general law-term in cases of capture, within a certain lat.i.tude of discretion; a place where a vessel can lie in safety, and holding ready communication with the tribunals which have to decide the question of capture.

CONVENTION. An agreement made between hostile troops, for the evacuation of a post, or the suspension of hostilities.