The Sailor's Word-Book Part 71

DAGGER-KNEE. A subst.i.tute for the hanging-knee, applied to the under side of the lodging-knee; it is placed out of the perpendicular to avoid a port-hole. Anything placed aslant or obliquely, now generally termed diagonal, of which, indeed, it is a corruption.

DAGGER-PIECE, OR DAGGER-WOOD. A timber or plank that faces on to the poppets of the bilge-ways, and crosses them diagonally, to keep them together. The plank securing the head is called the daggerplank.

DAGGES. An old term for pistols or hand-guns.

DAHLGREN GUN. A modification of the Paixhan gun, introduced into the United States service by Lieut., now Admiral, Dahlgren, of that navy; having, in obedience to the results of ingenious experiment on the varying force of explosion on different parts of a gun, what has been called the soda-water bottle or pear-shaped form.

DAHM. An Arab or Indian decked boat.

DAILY PROGRESS. A daily return when in port of all particulars relative to the progress of a ship's equipment.

DAIRS. Small unsaleable fish.

DALE. A trough or spout to carry off water, usually named from the office it has to perform, as a pump-dale, &c. Also, a place forward, to save the decks from being wetted, now almost abolished.

DALLOP. A heap or lump in a clumsy state. A large quant.i.ty of anything.

DAM. A barrier of stones, stakes, or rubble, constructed to stop or impede the course of a stream. (_See_ INUNDATIONS and FLOATING DAM.)

DAMASCENED. The mixing of various metals in the Damascus blades, the kris, or other weapons; sometimes by adding silver, to produce a watered effect.

DAMASCUS BLADE. Swords famed for the quality and temper of the metal, as well as the beauty of the _jowhir_, or watering of the blades.

DAMASK. Steel worked in the Damascus style, showing the wavy lines of the different metals; usually termed watered or twisted.

DAMBER. An old word for lubberly rogue.

DAMELOPRE. An ancient flat-floored vessel belonging to Holland, and intended to carry heavy cargoes over their shallow waters.

DAMMAH. A kind of turpentine or resin from a species of pine, which is used in the East Indies for the same purposes to which turpentine and pitch are applied. It is exported in large quant.i.ties from Sumatra to Bengal and other places, where it is much used for paying seams and the bottoms of vessels, for which latter purpose it is often mixed with sulphur, and answers admirably in warm climates.

DAMPER. The means by which the furnace of each boiler in a steamer can be regulated independently, by increasing or diminishing the draught to the fire.

DAMSEL. A coast name for the skate-fish.

DANCERS. The coruscations of the aurora. (_See_ MERRY DANCERS.)

DANDIES. Rowers of the budgerow boats on the Ganges.

DANDY. A sloop or cutter with a jigger-mast abaft, on which a mizen-lug-sail is set.

DANGER. Perils and hazard of the sea. Any rock or shoal which interferes with navigation.

DANK. Moist, mouldy: a sense in which Shakspeare uses it; also Tusser--

"_Dank_ ling forgot will quickly rot."

DANKER. A north-country term for a dark cloud.

DANSKERS. Natives of Denmark.

DARBIES. An old cant word for irons or handcuffs; it is still retained.

DARE. An old word for to challenge, or incite to emulation; still in full use.

DARE-DEVIL. One who fears nothing, and will attempt anything.

DARKENING. Closing of the evening twilight.

DARK GLa.s.sES. Shades fitted to instruments of reflection for preventing the bright rays of the sun from hurting the eye of the observer.

DARKS. Nights on which the moon does not shine,--much looked to by smugglers.

DARKY. A common term for a negro.

DARNING THE WATER. A term applied to the action of a fleet cruising to and fro before a blockaded port.

DARRAG. A Manx or Erse term for a strong fishing-line made of black hair snoods.

Da.r.s.eNA. An inner harbour or wet dock in the Mediterranean.

DARTS. Weapons used in our early fleets from the round-tops.

DASH. The present with which bargains are sealed on the coast of Africa.

DASHING. The rolling and breaking of the sea.

DATOO. West wind in the Straits of Gibraltar: very healthy. Also, a Malay term of rank, and four of whom form the council of the sultan of the Malayu Islands.

DATUM. The base level.

DAVID'S-STAFF. A kind of quadrant formerly used in navigation.

DAVIE. An old term for davit.

DAVIT. A piece of timber or iron, with sheaves or blocks at its end, projecting over a vessel's quarter or stern, to hoist up and suspend one end of a boat.--_Fish-davit_, is a beam of timber, with a roller or sheave at its end, used as a crane, whereby to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the planks of the ship's side as it ascends, and called fishing the anchor; the lower end of this davit rests on the fore-chains, the upper end being properly secured by a tackle from the mast-head; to which end is hung a large block, and through it a strong rope is rove, called the fish-pendant, to the outer end of which is fitted a large hook, and to its inner end a tackle; the former is called the fish-hook, the latter the fish-tackle. There is also a davit of a smaller kind, occasionally fixed in the long-boat, and with the a.s.sistance of a small windla.s.s, used to weigh the anchor by the buoy-rope, &c.

DAVIT-GUYS. Ropes used to steady boats' davits.

DAVIT-ROPE. The lashing which secures the davit to the shrouds when out of use.

DAVIT-TOPPING-LIFT. A rope made fast to the outer end of a davit, and rove through a block made fast to a vessel's mast aloft, with a tackle attached. Usually employed for bringing the anchor in-board.

DAVY JONES. The spirit of the sea; a nikker; a sea-devil.

DAVY JONES'S LOCKER. The ocean; the common receptacle for all things thrown overboard; it is a phrase for death or the other world, when speaking of a person who has been buried at sea.

DAW-FISH. The _Scyllium catulus_, a small dog-fish.