The Seaman's Friend Part 29

TREENAILS, or TRUNNELS. Long wooden pins, used for nailing a plank to a timber.

TREND. The lower end of the shank of an anchor, being the same distance on the shank from the throat that the arm measures from the throat to the bill.

TRESTLE-TREES. Two strong pieces of timber, placed horizontally and fore-and-aft on opposite sides of a mast-head, to support the cross-trees and top, and for the fid of the mast above to rest upon.

TRIATIC STAY. A rope secured at each end to the heads of the fore and main masts, with thimbles spliced into its bight, to hook the stay tackles to.

TRICE. To haul up by means of a rope.

TRICK. The time allotted to a man to stand at the helm.

TRIM. The condition of a vessel, with reference to her cargo and ballast. A vessel is _trimmed_ by the head or by the stern.

_In ballast trim_, is when she has only ballast on board.

Also, to arrange the sails by the braces with reference to the wind.

TRIP. To raise an anchor clear of the bottom.

TRIPPING LINE. A line used for tripping a topgallant or royal yard in sending it down.

TRUCK. A circular piece of wood, placed at the head of the highest mast on a ship. It has small holes or sheaves in it for signal halyards to be rove through. Also, the wheel of a gun-carriage.

TRUNNIONS. The arms on each side of a cannon by which it rests upon the carriage, and on which, as an axis, it is elevated or depressed.

TRUSS. The rope by which the centre of a lower yard is kept in toward the mast.

TRYSAIL. A fore-and-aft sail, set with a boom and gaff, and hoisting on a small mast abaft the lower mast, called a _trysail-mast_. This name is generally confined to the sail so carried at the mainmast of a full-rigged brig; those carried at the foremast and at the mainmast of a ship or bark being called _spencers_, and those that are at the mizzenmast of a ship or bark, _spankers_.

TUMBLING HOME. Said of a ship's sides when they fall in above the bends. The opposite of _wall-sided_.

TURN. Pa.s.sing a rope once or twice round a pin or kevel, to keep it fast. Also, two crosses in a cable.

_To turn in_ or _turn out_, nautical terms for going to rest in a berth or hammock, and getting up from them.

_Turn up!_ The order given to send the men up from between decks.

TYE. A rope connected with a yard, to the other end of which a tackle is attached for hoisting.

UNBEND. To cast off or untie. (See BEND.)

UNION. The upper inner corner of an ensign. The rest of the flag is called the _fly_. The _union_ of the U.S. ensign is a blue field with white stars, and the _fly_ is composed of alternate white and red stripes.

_Union-down._ The situation of a flag when it is hoisted upside down, bringing the union down instead of up. Used as a signal of distress.

_Union-jack._ A small flag, containing only the union, without the fly, usually hoisted at the bowsprit-cap.

UNMOOR. To heave up one anchor so that the vessel may ride at a single anchor. (See _Moor_.)

UNSHIP. (See SHIP.)

UVROU. (See EUVROU.)

VANE. A fly worn at the mast-head, made of feathers or buntine, traversing on a spindle, to show the direction of the wind. (See DOG VANE.)

VANG. (See PLATE 1.) A rope leading from the peak of the gaff of a fore-and-aft sail to the rail on each side, and used for steadying the gaff.

'VAST. (See AVAST.)

VEER. Said of the wind when it changes. Also, to slack a cable and let it run out. (See PAY.)

_To veer and haul_, is to haul and slack alternately on a rope, as in warping, until the vessel or boat gets headway.

VIOL, or VOYAL. A larger messenger sometimes used in weighing an anchor by a capstan. Also, the block through which the messenger pa.s.ses.

WAIST. That part of the upper deck between the quarter-deck and forecastle.

_Waisters._ Green hands, or broken-down seamen, placed in the waist of a man-of-war.

WAKE. The track or path a ship leaves behind her in the water.

WALES. Strong planks in a vessel's sides, running her whole length fore and aft.

WALL. A knot put on the end of a rope. (See PLATE 5 and page 46.)

WALL-SIDED. A vessel is _wall-sided_ when her sides run up perpendicularly from the bends. In opposition to _tumbling-home_ or _flaring out_.

WARD-ROOM. The room in a vessel of war in which the commissioned officers live.

WARE, or WEAR. To turn a vessel round, so that, from having the wind on one side, you bring it upon the other, carrying her stern round by the wind. In _tacking_, the same result is produced by carrying a vessel's head round by the wind.

WARP. To move a vessel from one place to another by means of a rope made fast to some fixed object, or to a kedge.

A _warp_ is a rope used for warping. If the warp is bent to a kedge which is let go, and the vessel is hove ahead by the capstan or windla.s.s, it would be called _kedging_.

WASH-BOARDS. Light pieces of board placed above the gunwale of a boat.

WATCH. (See page 167.) A division of time on board ship. There are seven watches in a day, reckoning from 12 M. round through the 24 hours, five of them being of four hours each, and the two others, called _dog watches_, of two hours each, viz., from 4 to 6, and from 6 to 8, P.M. (See DOG WATCH.) Also, a certain portion of a ship's company, appointed to stand a given length of time. In the merchant service all hands are divided into two watches, larboard and starboard, with a mate to command each.

A _buoy_ is said to _watch_ when it floats on the surface.

WATCH-AND-WATCH. The arrangement by which the watches are alternated every other four hours. In distinction from keeping all hands during one or more watches. (See page 167.)

_Anchor watch_, a small watch of one or two men, kept while in port.