The Seaman's Friend Part 24

ROBANDS. (See ROPE-BANDS.)

ROLLING TACKLE. Tackles used to steady the yards in a heavy sea.

ROMBOWLINE. Condemned canva.s.s, rope, &c.

ROPE-BANDS, or ROBANDS. Small pieces of two or three yarn spunyarn or marline, used to confine the head of the sail to the yard or gaff.

Rope-yarn. A thread of hemp, or other stuff, of which a rope is made.

(See page 43.)

ROUGH-TREE. An unfinished spar.

ROUND IN. To haul in on a rope, especially a weather-brace.

ROUND UP. To haul up on a tackle.

ROUNDING. A service of rope, hove round a spar or larger rope.

ROWLOCKS, or ROLLOCKS. Places cut in the gunwale of a boat for the oar to rest in while pulling.

ROYAL. A light sail next above a topgallant sail. (See PLATE 2.)

ROYAL YARD. The yard from which the royal is set. The fourth from the deck. (See PLATE 1.)

RUBBER. A small instrument used to rub or flatten down the seams of a sail in sail-making.

RUDDER. The machine by which a vessel or boat is steered.

RUN. The after part of a vessel's bottom, which rises and narrows in approaching the stern-post.

_By the run._ To let go _by the run_, is to let go altogether, instead of slacking off.

RUNG-HEADS. The upper ends of the floor-timbers.

RUNNER. A rope used to increase the power of a tackle. It is rove through a single block which you wish to bring down, and a tackle is hooked to each end, or to one end, the other being made fast.

RUNNING RIGGING. The ropes that reeve through blocks, and are pulled and hauled, such as braces, halyards, &c.; in opposition to the _standing rigging_, the ends of which are securely seized, such as stays, shrouds, &c. (See page 43.)

SADDLES. Pieces of wood hollowed out to fit on the yards to which they are nailed, having a hollow in the upper part for the boom to rest in.

SAG. To _sag to leeward_, is to drift off bodily to leeward.

SAILS are of two kinds: _square sails_, which hang from yards, their foot lying across the line of the keel, as the courses, topsails, &c.; and _fore-and-aft sails_, which set upon gaffs, or on stays, their foot running with the line of the keel, as jib, spanker, &c.

SAIL HO! The cry used when a sail is first discovered at sea.

SAVE-ALL. A small sail sometimes set under the foot of a lower studdingsail. (See WATER SAIL.)

SCANTLING. A term applied to any piece of timber, with regard to its breadth and thickness, when reduced to the standard size.

SCARF. To join two pieces of timber at their ends by shaving them down and placing them over-lapping.

SCHOONER. (See PLATE 4.) A small vessel with two masts and no tops.

A _fore-and-aft schooner_ has only fore-and-aft sails.

A _topsail schooner_ carries a square fore topsail, and frequently, also, topgallant sail and royal. There are some schooners with three masts. They also have no tops.

A _main-topsail schooner_ is one that carries square topsails, fore and aft.

SCORE. A groove in a block or dead-eye.

SCOTCHMAN. A large batten placed over the turnings-in of rigging. (See BATTEN.)

Sc.r.a.pER. A small, triangular iron instrument, with a handle fitted to its centre, and used for sc.r.a.ping decks and masts.

SCROWL. A piece of timber bolted to the knees of the head, in place of a figure-head.

SCUD. To drive before a gale, with no sail, or only enough to keep the vessel ahead of the sea. Also, low, thin clouds that fly swiftly before the wind.

SCULL. A short oar.

_To scull_, is to impel a boat by one oar at the stern.

SCUPPERS. Holes cut in the water-ways for the water to run from the decks.

SCUTTLE. A hole cut in a vessel's deck, as, a hatchway. Also, a hole cut in any part of a vessel.

_To scuttle_, is to cut or bore holes in a vessel to make her sink.

SCUTTLE-b.u.t.t. (See b.u.t.t.)

SEAMS. The intervals between planks in a vessel's deck or side.

SEIZE. To fasten ropes together by turns of small stuff.

SEIZINGS. (See page 51.) The fastenings of ropes that are seized together.

SELVAGEE. A skein of rope-yarns or spunyarn, marled together. Used as a neat strap. (See page 50.)

SEND. When a ship's head or stern pitches suddenly and violently into the trough of the sea.

SENNIT, or SINNIT. (See page 52.) A braid, formed by plaiting rope-yarns or spunyarn together. Straw, plaited in the same way for hats, is called sennit.

SERVE. (See page 44.) To wind small stuff, as rope-yarns, spunyarn, &c., round a rope, to keep it from chafing. It is wound and hove round taut by a serving-board or mallet.

SERVICE, is the stuff so wound round.