The Sailor's Word-Book Part 90

FACK. _See_ FAKE.

FACTOR. A commercial superintendent, or agent residing beyond sea, commissioned by merchants to buy or sell goods on their account by a letter of attorney.

FACTORAGE. A certain percentage paid to the factor by the merchant on all he buys or sells.

FACTORY. A place where a considerable number of factors reside; as Lisbon, Leghorn, Calcutta, &c. Factory comprehends the business of a firm or company, as that of the India Company at Canton, or the Hudson's Bay Fur Company in North America.

FACULae. Luminous streaks upon the disc of the sun, among which the maculae, or dark spots, usually appear.

FADOME. The old form used for _fathom_ (which see).

FAFF, TO. To blow in flaws.

f.a.g, TO. To tire.--_A f.a.g._ A deputy labouring-man, or one who works hard for another.

f.a.g-END. Is the end of any rope. This term is also applied to the end of a rope when it has become untwisted.

f.a.gGOTS. Men who used to be hired to answer to names on the books, when the crew were mustered by the clerk of the cheque. Such cheating was once still more prevalent in the army.

f.a.gOT. A billet for stowing casks. A _fascine_ (which see).

f.a.g-OUT, TO. To wear out the end of a rope or end of canvas.

FAIK, OR FALK. A name in the Hebrides for the sea-fowl razor-bill (_Alca torda_).

FAIR. A general term for the wind when favourable to a ship's course, in opposition to contrary or foul; _fair_ is more comprehensive than _large_, since it includes about 16 points, whereas large is confined to the beam or quarter, that is, to a wind which crosses the keel at right angles, or obliquely from the stern, but never to one right astern.

(_See_ LARGE and SCANT.)--_Fair_, in ship-building, denotes the evenness or regularity of a curve or line.--_To fair_, means to clip the timbers fair.

FAIR-CURVE. In delineating ships, is a winding line whose shape is varied according to the part of the ship it is intended to describe.

This curve is not answerable to any of the figures of conic sections, although it occasionally partakes of them all.

FAIRING. Sheering a ship in construction. Also, the draught of a ship.

To run off a great number of different lines or curves, in order to ascertain the fairness in point of curvature of every part, and the beauty of the whole.

FAIR-LEAD. Is applied to ropes as suffering the least friction in a block, when they are said to lead fair.

FAIR-LEADER. A thimble or cringle to guide a rope. A strip of board with holes in it, for running-rigging to lead through, and be kept clear, so as to be easily distinguished at night.

FAIR-MAID. A west-country term for a dried pilchard.

FAIR-WAY. The navigable channel of a harbour for ships pa.s.sing up or down; so that if any vessels are anch.o.r.ed therein, they are said to lie in the fair-way. (_See_ PILOT'S FAIR-WAY.) Also, when the proper course is gained out of a channel.

FAIR-WEATHER. That to which a ship may carry the small sails.

FAKE. One of the circles or windings of a cable or hawser, as it lies disposed in a coil. (_See_ COILING.) The fakes are greater or smaller in proportion to the s.p.a.ce which a cable is allowed to occupy.

FALCON. In early times a small cannon, having a length of about 7 feet, a diameter of bore of 3 inches, and throwing a ball of nearly 3 lbs.

weight, with a point-blank range of 130 paces, and a random one of 1500.

FALCONET. A primitive cannon smaller than the falcon; it threw a ball of 1-1/2 lb.

FALK. _See_ FAKE.

FALL. A vertical descent of a river through a narrow rocky pa.s.s, or over a ledge, to the impediment of navigation. Also, the loose end of a tackle, or that part to which the power is applied in hoisting, and on which the people pull. Also, in ship-building, the descent of a deck from a fair-curve lengthwise, as frequently seen in merchantmen and yachts, to give height to the commander's cabin, and sometimes forward at the hawse-holes. Also, a large cutting down of timber. Also, North American English for autumn, when the navigation of northern inland waters is about to close till the succeeding spring.

FALL, TO. A town or fortress is said to fall when it is compelled to surrender to besiegers.

FALL ABOARD OF, TO. To strike another vessel, or have a collision with it. Usually applied to the motion of a disabled ship coming in contact with another.

FALL! A FALL! The cry to denote that the harpoon has been effectively delivered into the body of a whale.

FALL ASTERN, TO. To lessen a ship's way so as to allow another to get ahead of her. To be driven backwards.

FALL BACK, TO. To recede from any position previously occupied.

FALL CALM, TO. Speaking of the weather, implies a total cessation of the wind.

FALL CLOUD. _See_ STRATUS.

FALL DOWN, TO. To sail, drift, or be towed to some lower part nearer a river's mouth or opening.

FALLEN-STAR. A name for the jelly-fish or _medusa_, frequently thrown ash.o.r.e in summer and autumn.

FALL FOUL OF, TO. To reprimand severely. (_See_ FALL ABOARD OF.)

FALL IN, TO. The order to form, or take a.s.signed places in ranks. (_See_ a.s.sEMBLY.)

FALLING GLa.s.s. When the mercury of the barometer is sinking in the tube.

FALLING HOME. When the top-sides are inclined within the perpendicular; opposite of _wall-sided_. (_See_ TUMBLING HOME.)

FALLING OFF. The opposite of _griping_, or _coming up to the wind_; it is the movement or direction of the ship's head to leeward of the point whither it was lately directed, particularly when she sails near the wind, or lies by. Also, the angle contained between her nearest approach to the direction of the wind, and her furthest declination from it when _trying_.

FALLING OUT. When the top-sides project beyond a perpendicular, as in flaring.

FALLING STARS. Meteors which have very much the appearance of real stars. They were falsely regarded as foreboders of wind, as Seneca in _Hippolytus_, "Ocior cursum rapiente flamma stella c.u.m ventis agitata longos porrigit ignes." Some are earthy, others metallic.

FALLING TIDE, OR EBB OF TIDE. This phrase, implying a previous flow of tide towards high-water, requires here only a partial explanation: the sea, after swelling for about six hours, and thus entering the mouths of rivers, and rising along the sea-sh.o.r.e more or less, according to the moon's age and other circ.u.mstances, rests for a quarter of an hour, and then retreats or ebbs during the next six hours. After a similar pause the phenomenon recommences,--occupying altogether about twelve hours and fifty minutes. A table of the daily time of high-water at each port is requisite for the shipping. There are curious variations to this law, as when strong rivers rise and fall, and yet do not admit salt water. Their currents, indeed, of fresh water, are found far off the land, as in the Tiber, and off several in the West Indies, South America, &c. (_See_ TIDE.)

FALL IN WITH, TO. To meet, when speaking of a ship; to discover, when speaking of the land.

FALL OF TIDE. An ebb.

FALL OUT, TO. To increase in breadth. Among soldiers and small-arm men, to quit the ranks of a company.

FALLS. When a ship is not flush, this is the term given to those risings of some parts of her decks (which she may have) more than others.

FALL-WIND. A sudden gust.