The Seaman's Friend Part 25

SET. To _set up rigging_, is to tauten it by tackles. The seizings are then put on afresh.

SHACKLES. Links in a chain cable which are fitted with a movable bolt so that the chain can be separated.

SHAKES. The staves of hogsheads taken apart.

SHANK. The main piece in an anchor, at one end of which the stock is made fast, and at the other the arms.

SHANK-PAINTER. A strong rope by which the lower part of the shank of an anchor is secured to the ship's side.

SHARP UP. Said of yards when braced as near fore-and-aft as possible.

SHEATHING. A casing or covering on a vessel's bottom.

SHEARS. Two or more spars, raised at angles and lashed together near their upper ends, used for taking in masts. (See page 52.)

SHEAR HULK. An old vessel fitted with shears, &c., and used for taking out and putting in the masts of other vessels.

SHEAVE. The wheel in a block upon which the rope works.

_Sheave-hole_, the place cut in a block for the ropes to reeve through.

SHEEP-SHANK. A kind of hitch or bend, used to shorten a rope temporarily. (See PLATE 5 and page 50.)

SHEER, or SHEER-STRAKE. The line of plank on a vessel's side, running fore-and-aft under the gunwale. Also, a vessel's position when riding by a single anchor.

SHEET. A rope used in setting a sail, to keep the clew down to its place. With square sails, the sheets run through each yard-arm. With boom sails, they haul the boom over one way and another. They keep down the inner clew of a studdingsail and the after clew of a jib. (See HOME.)

SHEET ANCHOR. A vessel's largest anchor: not carried at the bow.

Sh.e.l.l. The case of a block.

SHINGLE. (See BALLAST.)

SHIP. A vessel with three masts, with tops and yards to each. (See PLATE 4.) To enter on board a vessel. To fix anything in its place.

SHIVER. To shake the wind out of a sail by bracing it so that the wind strikes upon the leech.

SHOE. A piece of wood used for the bill of an anchor to rest upon, to save the vessel's side. Also, for the heels of shears, &c.

SHOE-BLOCK. A block with two sheaves, one above the other, the one horizontal and the other perpendicular.

Sh.o.r.e. A prop or stanchion, placed under a beam. To _sh.o.r.e_, to prop up.

SHROUDS. A set of ropes reaching from the mast-heads to the vessel's sides, to support the masts.

SILLS. Pieces of timber put in horizontally between the frames to form and secure any opening; as, for ports.

SISTER BLOCK. A long piece of wood with two sheaves in it, one above the other, with a score between them for a seizing, and a groove around the block, lengthwise.

SKIDS. Pieces of timber placed up and down a vessel's side, to bear any articles off clear that are hoisted in.

SKIN. The part of a sail which is outside and covers the rest when it is furled. Also, familiarly, the sides of the hold; as, an article is said to be stowed _next the skin_.

SKYSAIL. A light sail next above the royal. (See PLATE 2.)

SKY-Sc.r.a.pER. A name given to a _skysail_ when it is triangular.

SLABLINE. A small line used to haul up the foot of a course.

SLACK. The part of a rope or sail that hangs down loose.

_Slack in stays_, said of a vessel when she works slowly in tacking.

SLEEPERS. The knees that connect the transoms to the after timbers on the ship's quarter.

SLING. To set a cask, spar, gun, or other article, in ropes, so as to put on a tackle and hoist or lower it.

SLINGS. The ropes used for securing the centre of a yard to the mast.

_Yard-slings_ are now made of iron. Also, a large rope fitted so as to go round any article which is to be hoisted or lowered.

SLIP. To let a cable go and stand out to sea. (See page 90.)

SLIP-ROPE. A rope bent to the cable just outside the hawse-hole, and brought in on the weather quarter, for slipping. (See page 90.)

SLOOP. A small vessel with one mast. (See PLATE 4.)

SLOOP OF WAR. A vessel of any rig, mounting between 18 and 32 guns.

SLUE. To turn anything round or over.

SMALL STUFF. The term for spunyarn, marline, and the smallest kinds of rope, such as ratline-stuff, &c.

SNAKE. To pa.s.s small stuff across a seizing, with marling hitches at the outer turns.

s.n.a.t.c.h-BLOCK. A single block, with an opening in its side below the sheave, or at the bottom, to receive the bight of a rope.

SNOTTER. A rope going over a yard-arm, with an eye, used to bend a tripping-line to in sending down topgallant and royal yards in vessels of war.

SNOW. A kind of brig, formerly used.

SNUB. To check a rope suddenly.

SNYING. A term for a circular plank edgewise, to work in the bows of a vessel.

SO! An order to 'vast hauling upon anything when it has come to its right position.

SOLE. A piece of timber fastened to the foot of the rudder, to make it level with the false keel.