A. (continued 2)

AREOMETER. An instrument for measuring the specific gravity of fluids.

ARGIN. An old word for an embankment.

ARGO. A name famous from Jason's romantic expedition, but absurdly quoted as the first ship, for the fleets of Danaus and Minos are mentioned long before, and the Argo herself was chased by a squadron under Æetes.

ARGO NAVIS. The southern constellation of the Ship, containing 9 clusters, 3 nebulæ, 13 double and 540 single stars, of which about 64 are easily visible. As most of these were invisible to the Greeks, the name was probably given by the Egyptians.

ARGOL. The tartaric acid or lees adhering to the sides of wine-casks, particularly of port-wine; an article of commerce; supertartrate of potass.

ARGOLET. A light horseman of the middle ages.

ARGONAUTA. The paper-nautilus. The sail which it was supposed to spread to catch the wind, is merely a modified arm which invests the outer surface of the shell.

ARGONAUTS. A company of forty-four heroes who sailed in the Argo to obtain the golden fleece; an expedition which fixes one of the most memorable epochs in history. Also a Geographical Society instituted at Venice, to whom we owe the publication of all the charts, maps, and directories of Coronelli.

ARGOSY. A merchant ship or carrack of burden, principally of the Levant; the name is by some derived from Ragusa, but by others with more probability from the Argo. Shakspeare mentions "argosies with portly sail." Those of the Frescobaldi were the richest and most adventurous of those times.

ARGOZIN, or Argnesyn. The person whose office it was to attend to the shackles of the galley-slaves, over whom he had especial charge.

ARGUMENT. An astronomical quantity upon which an equation depends,—or any known number by which an unknown one proportional to the first may be found.

ARGUMENT OF LATITUDE. The distance of a celestial body from one of the nodes of its orbit, upon which the latitude depends.

ARIES. The most important point of departure in astronomy. A northern constellation forming the first of the twelve signs of the zodiac, into which the sun enters about the 20th of March. With Musca, Aries contains 22 nebulæ, 8 double and 148 single stars, but not above 50 are visible to the unassisted eye. The commencement of this sign, called the first point of Aries, is the origin from which the right ascensions of the heavenly bodies are reckoned upon the equator, and their longitudes upon the ecliptic.

ARIS. Sharp corner of stones in piers and docks.

ARIS PIECES. Those parts of a made mast which are under the hoops.

ARITHMETIC. The art of computation by numbers; or that branch which considers their powers and properties.

ARK. The sacred and capacious vessel built by Noah for preservation against the flood. It was 300 cubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in height; and of whatever materials it was constructed, it was pitched over or pay'd with bitumen. Ark is also the name of a mare's-tail cloud, or cirrhus, when it forms a streak across the sky.

ARLOUP. An archaism for the deck, now called orlop (which see).

ARM. A deep and comparatively narrow inlet of the sea. That part of an anchor on which the palm is shut. The extremity of the bibbs which support the trestle-trees. Each extremity or end of a yard, beam, or bracket.—To arm, to fit, furnish, and provide for war; to cap and set a loadstone; to apply putty or tallow to the lower end of the lead previous to sounding, in order to draw up a specimen of the bottom.—To arm a shot, is to roll rope-yarns about a cross-bar-shot, in order to facilitate ramming it home, and also to prevent the ends catching any accidental inequalities in the bore.

ARMADA. A Spanish term signifying a royal fleet; it comes from the same root as army. The word armado is used by Shakspeare.

ARMADILLA. A squadron of guarda-costas, which formerly cruized on the coasts of South America, to prevent smuggling.

ARMADOR. A Spanish privateer.

ARMAMENT. A naval or military force equipped for an expedition. The arming of a vessel or place.

ARMAMENTA. The rigging and tackling of an ancient ship. It included shipmen and all the necessary furniture of war.

ARMATÆ. Ancient ships fitted with sails and oars, but which fought under the latter only.

ARM-CHEST. A portable locker on the upper deck or tops for holding arms, and affording a ready supply of cutlasses, pistols, muskets or other weapons.

ARMED. Completely equipped for war.—Armed at all points, covered with armour.—Armed "en flute," see Flute.—Armed mast, made of more than one tree.—Armed ship, a vessel fitted out by merchants to annoy the enemy, and furnished with letters of marque, and bearing a commission from the Admiralty to carry on warlike proceedings.

ARMED STEM. See Beak.

ARMILLARY SPHERE. An instrument composed of various circles, to assist the student in gaining a knowledge of the arrangement and motions of the heavenly bodies. A brass armilla tolomæi was one of the instruments supplied to Martin Frobisher in 1576, price £4, 6s. 8d.

ARMING. A piece of tallow placed in the cavity and over the bottom of a sounding lead, to which any objects at the bottom of the sea become attached, and are brought with the lead to the surface.

ARMINGS. Red dress cloths which were formerly hung fore and aft, outside the upper works on holidays; still used by foreigners. (See Top-armings.) It was also the name of a kind of boarding-net.

ARMIPOTENT. Powerful in war.

ARMISTICE. A cessation of arms for a given time; a short truce for the suspension of hostilities.

ARMLET. A narrow inlet of the sea; a smaller branch than the arm. Also the name of a piece of armour for the arm, to protect it from the jar of the bow-string.

ARMOGAN. An old term for good opportunity or season for navigation, which, if neglected, was liable to costs of demurrage. It is a Mediterranean word for fine weather.

ARMORIC. The language of Brittany, Cornwall, and Wales: the word in its original signification meant maritime.

ARMOUR. A defensive habit to protect the wearer from his enemy; also defensive arms. In old statutes this is frequently called harness.

ARMOUR-CLAD. A ship of war fitted with iron plates on the outside to render her shot-proof.

ARMOURER. In a man-of-war, is a person appointed by warrant to keep the small arms in complete condition for service. As he is also the ship's blacksmith, a mate is allowed to assist at the forge.

ARMOURY. A place appropriated for the keeping of small arms.

ARM-RACK. A frame or fitting for the stowage of arms (usually vertical) out of harm's way, but in readiness for immediate use. In the conveyance of troops by sea arm-racks form a part of the proper accommodation.

ARMS. The munitions of war,—all kinds of weapons whether for offence or defence. Those in a ship are cannons, carronades, mortars, howitzers, muskets, pistols, tomahawks, cutlasses, bayonets, and boarding-pikes.

ARMS of a great Gun. The trunnions.

ARMSTRONG GUN. Invented by Sir William Armstrong. In its most familiar form, a rifled breech-loading gun of wrought iron, constructed principally of spirally coiled bars, and occasionally having an inner tube or core of steel; ranging in size from the smallest field-piece up to the 100 pounder; rifled with numerous shallow grooves, which are taken by the expansion of the leaden coating of its projectile. Late experiments however, connected with iron-plated ships are developing muzzle-loading Armstrong guns, constructed on somewhat similar principles, but with simpler rifling, ranging in size up to the 600 pounder weighing 23 tons.

ARMY. A large body of disciplined men, with appropriate subdivisions, commanded by a general. A fleet is sometimes called a naval army.—Flying army, a small body sent to harass a country, intercept convoys, and alarm the enemy.

ARMYE. A early term for a naval armament.

ARNOT. A northern name for the shrimp.

ARONDEL. A light and swift tartan: probably a corruption of hirondelle (swallow).

ARPENT. A French measure of land, equal to 100 square rods or perches, each of 18 feet. It is about 1⁄7th less than the English acre.

ARQUEBUSS. A word sometimes used for carbine, but formerly meant a garrison-piece, carrying a ball of 31⁄2 ounces; it was generally placed in loop-holes. (See Hagbut.)

ARRACK. An Indian term for all ardent liquors, but that which we designate thus is obtained by the fermentation of toddy (a juice procured from palm-trees), of rice, and of sugar. In Turkey arrack is extracted from vine-stalks taken out of wine-presses.

ARRAIER. The officer who formerly had the care of the men's armour, and whose business it was to see them duly accoutred.

ARRAY. The order of battle.—To array. To equip, dress, or arm for battle.

ARREARS. The difference between the full pay of a commissioned officer, and what he is empowered to draw for till his accounts are passed.

ARREST. The suspension of an officer's duty, and restraint of his person, previous to trying him by a court martial. Seamen in Her Majesty's service cannot be arrested for debts under twenty pounds, and that contracted before they entered the navy. Yet it is held in law, that this affords no exemption from arrests either in civil or criminal suits.

ARRIBA. [Sp. pronounced arriva]. Aloft, quickly.—Agir contre son gré, montar arriba, to mount aloft, which has passed into seamen's lingo as areevo, up, aloft, quickly:—mount areevo, or go on deck.

ARRIBAR, To. To land, to attain the bank, to arrive.

ARRIVE, To. In the most nautical sense, is to come to any place by water, to reach the shore.

ARROBA. A Portuguese commercial weight of 32 lbs. Also, a Spanish general wine measure of 41⁄4 English gallons. The lesser arroba, used for oil, is only 31⁄3 English gallons. A Spanish weight of 25 lbs. avoirdupois; one-fourth of a quintal. Also, a rough country cart in Southern Russia.

ARROW. A missive weapon of offence, and whether ancient or modern, in the rudest form among savages or refined by art, is always a slender stick, armed at one end, and occasionally feathered at the other. The natives of Tropical Africa feather the metal barb.

ARROW. In fortification, a work placed at the salient angles of the glacis, communicating with the covert way.—Broad arrow. The royal mark for stores of every kind. (See Broad Arrow.)

ARSENAL. A repository of the munitions of war. Some combine both magazines of naval and military stores, and docks for the construction and repair of ships.

ARSHEEN. A Russian measure of 2 feet 4 in. = 2·333—also Chinese, four of which make 3 yards English.

ART. A spelling of airt (which see). Also, practice as distinguished from theory.

ARTEMON. The main-sail of ancient ships.

ARTHUR. A well-known sea game, alluded to by Grose, Smollet, and other writers.

ARTICLES. The express stipulations to which seamen bind themselves by signature, on joining a merchant ship.

ARTICLES OF WAR. A code of rules and orders based on the act of parliament for the regulation and government of Her Majesty's ships, vessels, and forces by sea: and as they are frequently read to all hands, no individual can plead ignorance of them. It is now termed the New Naval Code.—The articles of war for the land forces have a similar foundation and relation to their service; the act in this case, however, is passed annually, the army itself having, in law, no more than one year's permanence unless so periodically renewed by act of parliament.

ARTIFICER. One who works by hand in wood or metal; generally termed an idler on board, from his not keeping night-watch, and only appearing on deck duty when the hands are turned up.

ARTIFICIAL EYE. An eye worked in the end of rope, which is neater but not so strong as a spliced eye.

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON. An artificial means of catching the altitude of a celestial body when the sea horizon is obscured by fog, darkness, or the intervention of land; a simple one is still the greatest desideratum of navigators. Also a trough filled with pure mercury, used on land, wherein the double altitude of a celestial body is reflected.

ARTIFICIAL LINES. The ingenious contrivances for representing logarithmic sines and tangents, so useful in navigation, on a scale.

ARTILLERY was formerly synonymous with archery, but now comprehends every description of ordnance, guns, mortars, fire-arms, and all their appurtenances. The term is also applied to the noble corps destined to that service: as also to the theory and practice of the science of projectiles: it was moreover given to all kinds of missile weapons, and the translators of the Bible make Jonathan give his "artillery unto his lad."

ARTILLERY, ROYAL MARINE. Formerly a select branch of the R. Marines, specially instructed in gunnery and the care of artillery stores; assigned in due proportion to all ships of war. It is now separate from the other branch (to whose original title the denomination of Light Infantry has been added), and rests on its own official basis; its relation to ships of war, however, remaining the same as before, although while on shore the Royal Marine forces are regulated by an annual act of parliament. (See Royal Marine Artillery.)

ARTIST. A name formerly applied to those mariners who were also expert navigators.

ARTIZAN. A mechanic or operative workman. (See Artificer.)

ARX. A fort or castle for the defence of a place.

ASCENDANT. The part of the ecliptic above the horizon.

ASCENDING NODE. See Nodes.

ASCENDING SIGNS. Those in which the sun appears to ascend towards the north pole, or in which his motion in declination is towards the north.

ASCENSION. The act of mounting or rising upwards. (See Right Ascension.)

ASCENSIONAL DIFFERENCE. The equinoctial arc intercepted between the right and oblique ascensions (which see).

ASCENSION OBLIQUE. See Oblique Ascension.

ASCENSION RIGHT. See Right Ascension.

ASCII. The inhabitants of the torrid zone, who twice a year, being under a vertical sun, have no shadow.

AS DEAF AS THE MAIN-MAST. Said of one who does not readily catch an order given. Thus at sea the main-mast is synonymous with the door-post on shore.

ASHES. See Windward.

ASHLAR. Blocks of stone masonry fronting docks, piers, and other erections; this term is applied to common or freestone as they come of various lengths, breadths, and thicknesses from the quarry.

ASHORE. Aground, on land.—To go ashore, to disembark from a boat. Opposed to aboard.

ASH-PIT. A receptacle for ashes before the fire-bars in a steamer, or under them in most fire-places.

ASIENTO [Sp.] A sitting, contract, or convention; such as that between Spain and other powers in relation to the supply of stores for South America.

ASK, or Asker. A name of the water-newt.

ASKEW. Awry, crooked, oblique.

ASLANT. Formed or placed in an oblique line, as with dagger-knees, &c.—To sail aslant, turning to windward.

ASLEEP. The sail filled with wind just enough for swelling or bellying out,—as contrasted with its flapping.

ASPECT. The looming of the land from sea-ward.

ASPER. A minute Turkish coin in accounts, of which three go to a para.

ASPIC. An ancient 12-pounder piece of ordnance, about 11 feet long.

ASPIRANT DE MARINE. Midshipman in the French navy.

ASPORTATION. The carrying of a vessel or goods illegally.

ASSAIL, To. To attack, leap upon, board, &c.

ASSAULT. A hostile attack. The effort to storm a place, and gain possession of a post by main force.

ASSEGAI. The spear used by the Kaffirs in South Africa; it is frequently feather-bent to revolve in its flight.

ASSEGUAY. The knife-dagger used in the Levant.

ASSEMBLY. That long roll beat of the drum by which soldiers, or armed parties, are ordered to repair to their stations. It is sometimes called the fall-in.

ASSES'-BRIDGE. The well-known name of prop. 5, b. i. of Euclid, the difficulty of which makes many give in.

ASSIEGE, To. To besiege, to invest or beset with an armed force.

ASSIGNABLE. Any finite geometrical ratio, or magnitude that can be marked out or denoted.

ASSILAG. The name given in the Hebrides to a small sea-bird with a black bill. The stormy petrel.

ASSISTANCE. Aid or help: strongly enjoined to be given whenever a signal is made requiring it.

ASSISTANT-SURGEON. The designation given some years ago to those formerly called "surgeon's mates," and considered a boon by the corps.

ASSORTMENT. The arrangement of goods, tools, &c., in a series.

ASSURANCE. (See Marine Insurance.) Conveyance or deed: in which light Shakspeare makes Tranio say that his father will "pass assurance."

ASSURGENT. A heraldic term for a man or beast rising out of the sea.

ASSUROR. He who makes out the policy of assurance for a ship: he is not answerable for the neglect of the master or seamen.

A-STARBOARD. The opposite to a-port.

A-STAY. Said of the anchor when, in heaving in, the cable forms such an angle with the surface as to appear in a line with the stays of the ship.—A long stay apeek is when the cable forms an acute angle with the water's surface, or coincides with the main-stay—short stay when it coincides with the fore-stay.

ASTELLABRE. The same as astrolabe.

ASTERIA. See Sea-star.

ASTERISM. Synonymous with constellation, a group of stars.

ASTERN. Any distance behind a vessel; in the after-part of the ship; in the direction of the stern, and therefore the opposite of ahead.—To drop astern, is to be left behind,—when abaft a right angle to the keel at the main-mast, she drops astern.

ASTEROIDS. The name by which the minor planets between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars were proposed to be distinguished by Sir W. Herschel. They are very small bodies, which have all been discovered since the commencement of the present century; yet their present number is over eighty.

ASTRAGAL. A moulding formerly round a cannon, at a little distance from its breech, the cascabel, and another near the muzzle. It is a half round on a flat moulding.

ASTRAL. Sidereal, relating to the stars.

ASTROLABE. An armillary sphere.—Sea-astrolabe, a useful graduated brass ring, with a movable index, for taking the altitude of stars and planets: it derived its name from the armillary sphere of Hipparchus, at Alexandria.

ASTROMETRY. The numerical expression of the apparent magnitudes of the so-called fixed stars.

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK. A capital bit of horology, the pendulum of which is usually compensated to sidereal time, for astronomical purposes. (See Sidereal Time.)

ASTRONOMICAL HOURS. Those which are reckoned from noon or midnight of one natural day, to noon or midnight of another.

ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. There have been occasional slight records of celestial phenomena from the remotest times, but the most useful ones are those collected and preserved by Ptolemy. Since 1672, science has been enriched with a continued series of astronomical observations of accuracy and value never dreamed of by the ancients.

ASTRONOMICAL PLACE OF A STAR OR PLANET. Its longitude or place in the ecliptic, reckoned from the first point of Aries, according to the natural order of the signs.

ASTRONOMICAL TABLES. Tables for facilitating the calculation of the apparent places of the sun, moon, and planets.

ASTRONOMICALS. The sexagesimal fractions.

ASTRONOMY. The splendid department of the mixed sciences which teaches the laws and phenomena of the universal system. It is practical when it treats of the magnitudes, periods, and distances of the heavenly bodies; and physical when it investigates the causes. In the first division the more useful adaptation nautical is included (which see).

ASTROSCOPIA. Skill in examining the nature and properties of stars with a telescope.

ASTRUM, or Astron. Sirius, or the Dog-star. Sometimes applied to a cluster of stars.

ASWIM. Afloat, borne on the waters.

ASYLUM. A sanctuary or refuge; a name given to a benevolent institution at Greenwich, for 800 boys and 200 girls, orphans of seamen and marines. The Royal Military Asylum is also an excellent establishment of a similar nature at Chelsea, besides numerous others.

ASYMMETRY. A mathematical disproportion. The relation of two quantities which have no measure in common.

ASYMPTOTES. Lines which continually approximate each other, but can never meet.

ATABAL. A Moorish kettle-drum.

ATAGHAN. See Yataghan.

AT ANCHOR. The situation of a vessel riding in a road or port by her anchor.

ATAR. A perfume of commerce, well known as atar-of-roses; atar being the Arabic word for fragrance, corrupted into otto.

A'TAUNTO, or All-a-taunt-o. Every mast an-end and fully rigged.

ATEGAR. The old English hand-dart, named from the Saxon aeton, to fling, and gar, a weapon.

ATHERINE. A silvery fish used in the manufacture of artificial pearls; it is 4 or 5 inches long, inhabits various seas, but is taken in great numbers in the Mediterranean. It is also called argentine.

ATHILLEDA. The rule and sights of an astrolabe.

ATHWART. The transverse direction; anything extending or across the line of a ship's course.—Athwart hawse, a vessel, boat, or floating lumber accidentally drifted across the stem of a ship, the transverse position of the drift being understood.—Athwart the fore-foot, just before the stem; ships fire a shot in this direction to arrest a stranger, and make her bring-to.—Athwart ships, in the direction of the beam; from side to side: in opposition to fore-and-aft.

ATHWART THE TIDE. See Across the Tide.

ATLANTIC. The sea which separates Europe and Africa from the Americas, so named from the elevated range called the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

ATLANTIDES. The daughters of Atlas; a name of the Pleiades.

ATLAS. A large book of maps or charts; so called from the character of that name in ancient mythology, son of Uranus, and represented as bearing the world on his back. Also the Indian satin of commerce.

ATMOSPHERE. The ambient air, or thin elastic fluid which surrounds the globe, and gradually diminishing in gravity rises to an unknown height, yet by gravitation partakes of all its motions.

ATMOSPHERIC or Single-action Steam-engine. A condensing machine, in which the downward stroke of the piston is performed by the pressure of the atmosphere acting against a vacuum.

ATMOSPHERICAL TIDES. The motions generated by the joint influence of the sun and moon; and by the rotatory and orbital course of the earth,—as developed in trade-winds, equinoctial gales, &c.

ATOLLS. An Indian name for those singular coral formations known as lagoon-islands, such as the Maldive cluster, those in the Pacific, and in other parts within the tropics, where the apparently insignificant reef-building zoophytes reside.

ATRIE. To bring the ship to in a gale.

A-TRIP. The anchor is a-trip, or a-weigh, when the purchase has just made it break ground, or raised it clear. Sails are a-trip when they are hoisted from the cap, sheeted home, and ready for trimming. Yards are a-trip when swayed up, ready to have the stops cut for crossing: so an upper-mast is said to be a-trip, when the fid is loosened preparatory to lowering it.

ATTACHED. Belongs to; in military parlance an officer or soldier is attached to any regiment or company with which he is ordered to do duty.

ATTACK. A general assault or onset upon an enemy. Also the arrangement for investment or battle. (See False Attack.)

ATTEMPT, To. To endeavour to carry a vessel or place by surprise; to venture at some risk, as in trying a new channel, &c.

ATTENDANT MASTER. A dockyard official. (See Master-attendant.)

ATTENTION. A military word of command, calling the soldier from the quiescent position of "at ease" into readiness for any exercise or evolution. Also the erect posture due to that word of command, and which is assumed by a private soldier in the presence of an officer. The attending to signals.

ATTERRAGE. The land-fall, or making the land. Usually marked on French charts and plans to show the landing-place.

ATTESTATION. In Admiralty courts the attestation of a deed signifies the testifying to the signing or execution of it.

ATTESTED. Legally certified; proved by evidence.

ATTILE. An old law term for the rigging or furniture of a ship.

ATTORNEY. See Sea-attorney.

ATTRACTION. The power of drawing, or the principle by which all bodies mutually tend towards each other; the great agent in nature's wonderful operations.—Attraction of mountains, the deviating influence exercised on the plumb-line by the vicinity of high land. But exerting also a marvellous effect on all floating bodies, for every seaman knows that a ship stands inshore faster than she stands out, the distances being similar.

ATWEEN, or Atwixt. Betwixt or between, shortened into 'tween, that is, in the intermediate space. The word 'tween decks is usually applied to the lower deck of a frigate, and orlop to that of a line-of-battle ship.

AUBERK, or Hauberk. One who held land to be ready with a coat of mail and attend his lord when called upon so to do. Thus the old poet:—

AUDIT. The final passing of accounts.

AUDITORS OF THE IMPREST. Officers who had the charge of the great accounts of the royal customs, naval and military expenses, &c.; they are now superseded by the commissioners for auditing the public accounts.

AUGES. An astronomical term, synonymous with apsides.

AUGET. A tube filled with powder for firing a mine.

AUGMENTATION of the Moon's Diameter. The increase of her apparent diameter occasioned by an increase of altitude: or that which is due to the difference between her distance from the observer and the centre of the earth.

AUGRE, or Auger. A wimble, or instrument for boring holes for bolts, tree-nails, and other purposes.

AUK, or Awk. A sea-bird with short wings. The great auk or gair-fowl (Alca impennis) was formerly common on all the northern coasts, where they laid their eggs, ingeniously poised, on the bare rocks. They were very good eating, and having been taken in great numbers by the Esquimaux, and by European sailors on whaling voyages, the species is now supposed to be exterminated.

AULIN. An arctic gull (Cataractes parasiticus), given to make other sea-birds mute through fear, and then eat their discharge—whence it is termed dirty aulin by the northern boatmen.

AUMBREY. An old north-country term for a bread and cheese locker.

AUNE. Contraction of ulna. French cloth measure: at Rouen it is equal to the English ell—at Paris 0·95—at Calais 1·52 of that measure.

AURIGA. A northern constellation, and one of the old 48 asterisms; it is popularly known as the Waggoner: α Auriga, Capella.

AURORA. The faint light which precedes sunrising. Also the mythological mother of the winds and stars.

AURORA AUSTRALIS or Borealis. The extraordinary and luminous meteoric phenomenon which by its streaming effulgence cheers the dreary nights of polar regions. It is singular that these beautiful appearances are nowhere mentioned by the ancients. They seem to be governed by electricity, are most frequent in frosty weather, and are proved to be many miles above the surface of the earth, from some of them being visible over 30° of longitude and 20° of latitude at the same instant! In colour they vary from yellow to deep red; in form they are Proteus-like, assuming that of streamers, columns, fans, or arches, with a quick flitting, and sometimes whizzing noises. The aurora is not vivid above the 76th degree of north latitude, and is seldom seen before the end of August. Cook was the first navigator who recorded the southern lights.

AUSTER. The south wind of the ancients, gusts from which quarter are called autan.

AUSTRAL. Relating to the south.—Austral signs, those on the south side of the equator, or the last six of the zodiac.

AUTHORITY. The legal power or right of commanding.

AUTOMATIC BLOW-OFF APPARATUS. See Blow-off-pipe.

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX. The time when the sun crosses the equator, under a southerly motion, and the days and nights are then everywhere equal in length. (See Libra.)

AUTUMNAL POINT. That part of the ecliptic whence the sun descends southward.

AUTUMNAL SIGNS. Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius.

AUXILIARIES. Confederates, an assisting body of allies; or, physically speaking, vessels using steam as an auxiliary to wind.

AUXILIARY SCREW. A vessel in which the screw is used as an auxiliary force. Such a vessel is usually fully masted for sailing purposes.

AVANIA. The fine or imposition imposed on Christians residing under Turkish governors, when they break the laws.

AVANT-FOSSE. In fortification, an advanced ditch without the counterscarp, and stretching along the foot of the glacis.

AVAST. The order to stop, hold, cease, or stay, in any operation: its derivation from the Italian basta is more plausible than have fast.

AVAST HEAVING! The cry to arrest the capstan when nippers are jammed, or any other impediment occurs in heaving in the cable, not unfrequently when a hand, foot, or finger, is jammed;—stop!

AVENTAILE. The movable part of a helmet.

AVENUE. The inlet into a port.

AVERAGE. Whether general or particular, is a term of ambiguous construction, meaning the damage incurred for the safety of the ship and cargo; the contribution made by the owners in general, apportioned to their respective investments, to repair any particular loss or expense sustained; and a small duty paid to the master for his care of the whole. Goods thrown overboard for the purpose of lightening the ship, are so thrown for the good of all, and the loss thus sustained must be made up by a general average or contribution from all the parties interested. (See General Average.)

AVERAGE-ADJUSTER. A qualified person engaged in making statements to show the proper application of loss, damage, or expenses in consequence of the accidents of a sea adventure.

AVERAGE-AGREEMENT. A written document signed by the consignees of a cargo, binding themselves to pay a certain proportion of general average that may from accident arise against them.

AVERAGE-STATER. See Average-adjuster.

AVIST. A west-country term for "a fishing."

AVVISO. An Italian advice-boat. [Aviso, Sp.] Despatch-boat or tender.

AWAFT, or Awheft. The displaying of a stopped flag. (See Wheft.)

AWAIT. Ambush; cutting off vessels by means of boats hidden in coves which they must pass in their course.

AWARD. A judgment, in maritime cases, by arbitration; and the decision or sentence of a court-martial.

A-WASH. Reefs even with the surface. The anchor just rising to the water's edge, in heaving up.

AWAY ALOFT. The order to the men in the rigging to start up.

AWAY OFF. At a distance, but in sight.

AWAY SHE GOES. The order to step out with the tackle fall. The cry when a vessel starts on the ways launching; also when a ship, having stowed her anchor, fills and makes sail.

AWAY THERE. The call for a boat's crew; as, "away there! barge-men."

AWAY WITH IT. The order to walk along briskly with a tackle fall, as catting the anchor, &c.

AWBLAST. The arbalest, or cross-bow.

AWBLASTER. The designation of a cross-bowman.

A-WEATHER. The position of the helm when its tiller is moved to the windward side of the ship, in the direction from which the wind blows. The opposite of a-lee.

A-WEIGH. The anchor being a-trip, or after breaking out of the ground.

AWK. See Auk.

AWKWARD SQUAD. A division formed of those men who are backward in gaining dexterity. (See Squad.)

AWL. A tool of a carpenter, sail-maker, and cobbler.

AWME. A tierce of 39 gallons. A Dutch liquid measure.

AWNING. A cover or canvas canopy suspended by a crow-foot and spread over a ship, boat, or other vessel, to protect the decks and crew from the sun and weather. (See Euphroe.) Also that part of the poop-deck which is continued forward beyond the bulk-head of the cabin.

AWNING-ROPES. The ridge and side ropes for securing the awning.

AXE. A large flat edge-tool, for trimming and reducing timber. Also an Anglo-Saxon word for ask, which seamen still adhere to, and it is difficult to say why a word should be thought improper which has descended from our earliest poets; it may have become obsolete, but without absolutely being vulgar or incorrect.

AXIOM. A self-evident truth or proposition, that cannot be made plainer by demonstration.

AXIS. The imaginary line upon which a planet revolves, the extremities of which are termed the poles,—therefore a line joining the north and south poles. The real or imaginary line that passes through the centre of any cylindrical or spherical body on which it may revolve. Also a right line proceeding from the vertex of a cone to the middle of its base. Also, an imaginary right line passing through the middle of a ship perpendicularly to its base, and equally distant from its sides;—an imaginary line passing through the centre of a gun's bore, parallel with its position.—Axis of a telescope. (See Collimation, Line of.)

AXLE-TREES. The two cross-pieces of a gun-carriage, fixed across and under the fore and hinder parts of the cheeks. The cylindrical iron which goes through the wheel of the chain-pump, and bears the weight of it.

AYE, AYE, SIR. A prompt reply on receiving an order. Also the answer on comprehending an order. Aye-aye, the answer to a sentinel's hail, from a boat which has a commissioned officer on board below the rank of captain. The name of the ship in reply from the boat indicates the presence of a captain. The word "flag," indicates the presence of an admiral.

AYLET. The sea-swallow.

AYONT. Beyond.

AYR. An open sea-beach, and also a bank of sand. (See Aire.) The mediæval term for oar.

AYT. See Eyght.

AZIMUTH. A word borrowed from the Arabic. The complement of the amplitude, or an arc between the meridian of a place and any given vertical line.

AZIMUTHAL ERROR. See Meridian Error.

AZIMUTH CIRCLES. See Vertical Circles.

AZIMUTH COMPASS. A superior graduated compass for ascertaining the amount of magnetic variation, by amplitude or azimuth, when the sun is from 8° to 15° high, either after its rising or before its setting. (See Magnetic Azimuth.) It is fitted with vertical sight vanes for the purpose of observing objects elevated above the horizon.

AZOGUE. [Sp.] Quicksilver.

AZOGUES. Spanish ships fitted expressly for carrying quicksilver.

AZUMBRE. A Spanish wine-measure, eight of which make an arroba.

AZURE. The deep blue colour of the sky, when perfectly cloudless.