The Seaman's Friend Part 23

POPPETS. Perpendicular pieces of timber fixed to the fore-and-aft part of the bilge-ways in launching.

PORT. Used instead of _larboard_.

_To port the helm_, is to put it to the larboard.

PORT, or PORT-HOLE. Holes in the side of a vessel, to point cannon out of. (See BRIDLE.)

PORTOISE. The gunwale. The yards are _a-portoise_ when they rest on the gunwale.

PORT-SILLS. (See SILLS.)

PREVENTER. An additional rope or spar, used as a support.

p.r.i.c.k. A quant.i.ty of spunyarn or rope laid close up together.

p.r.i.c.kER. A small marlinspike, used in sail-making. It generally has a wooden handle.

PUDDENING. A quant.i.ty of yarns, matting or oak.u.m, used to prevent chafing.

PUMP-BRAKE. The handle to the pump.

PURCHASE. A mechanical power which increases the force applied.

_To purchase_, is to raise by a purchase.

QUARTER. The part of a vessel's side between the after part of the main chains and the stern. The _quarter_ of a yard is between the slings and the yard-arm.

The wind is said to be _quartering_, when it blows in a line between that of the keel and the beam and abaft the latter.

QUARTER-BLOCK. A block fitted under the quarters of a yard on each side the slings, for the clewlines and sheets to reeve through.

QUARTER-DECK. That part of the upper deck abaft the main-mast.

QUARTER-MASTER. A petty officer in a man-of-war, who attends the helm and binnacle at sea, and watches for signals, &c., when in port.

QUICK-WORK. That part of a vessel's side which is above the chain-wales and decks. So called in ship-building.

QUILTING. A coating about a vessel, outside, formed of ropes woven together.

QUOIN. A wooden wedge for the breech of a gun to rest upon.

RACE. A strong, rippling tide.

RACK. To seize two ropes together, with cross-turns. Also, a _fair-leader_ for running rigging.

RACK-BLOCK. A course of blocks made from one piece of wood, for fair-leaders.

RAKE. The inclination of a mast from the perpendicular.

RAMLINE. A line used in mast-making to get a straight middle line on a spar.

RANGE OF CABLE. A quant.i.ty of cable, more or less, placed in order for letting go the anchor or paying out.

RATLINES. (p.r.o.nounced _rat-lins_.) Lines running across the shrouds, horizontally, like the rounds of a ladder, and used to step upon in going aloft.

RATTLE DOWN RIGGING. To put ratlines upon rigging. It is still called rattling _down_, though they are now rattled _up_; beginning at the lowest. (See page 23.)

RAZEE. A vessel of war which has had one deck cut down.

REEF. To reduce a sail by taking in upon its head, if a square sail, and its foot, if a fore-and-aft sail.

REEF-BAND. A band of stout canva.s.s sewed on the sail across, with points in it, and earings at each end for reefing.

A _reef_ is all of the sail that is comprehended between the head of the sail and the first reef-band, or between two reef-bands.

REEF-TACKLE. A tackle used to haul the middle of each leech up toward the yard, so that the sail may be easily reefed.

REEVE. To pa.s.s the end of a rope through a block, or any aperture.

RELIEVING TACKLE. A tackle hooked to the tiller in a gale of wind, to steer by in case anything should happen to the wheel or tiller-ropes.

RENDER. To pa.s.s a rope through a place. A rope is said to _render_ or not, according as it goes freely through any place.

RIB-BANDS. Long, narrow, flexible pieces of timber nailed to the outside of the ribs, so as to encompa.s.s the vessel lengthwise.

RIBS. A figurative term for a vessel's timbers.

RIDE AT ANCHOR. To lie at anchor. Also, to bend or bear down by main strength and weight; as, to _ride down_ the main tack.

RIDERS. Interior timbers placed occasionally opposite the princ.i.p.al ones, to which they are bolted, reaching from the keelson to the beams of the lower deck. Also, casks forming the second tier in a vessel's hold.

RIGGING. The general term for all the ropes of a vessel. (See RUNNING, STANDING.) Also, the common term for the shrouds with their ratlines; as, the _main rigging_, _mizzen rigging_, &c.

RIGHT. To _right_ the helm, is to put it amidships.

RIM. The edge of a top.

RING. The iron ring at the upper end of an anchor, to which the cable is bent.

RING-BOLT. An eye-bolt with a ring through the eye. (See EYE-BOLT.)

RING-TAIL. A small sail, shaped like a jib, set abaft the spanker in light winds.

ROACH. A curve in the foot of a square sail, by which the clews are brought below the middle of the foot. The _roach_ of a fore-and-aft sail is in its forward leech.

ROAD, or ROADSTEAD. An anchorage at some distance from the sh.o.r.e.