The Sailor's Word-Book Part 182

PAVISER. Formerly a soldier who was armed with a pavise or buckler.

PAWK. A young lobster.

PAWL. _See_ PAULS.

PAY. A buccaneering principle of hire, under the notion of plunder and sharing in prizes, was, _no purchase no pay_.

PAY, TO [from Fr. _poix_, pitch]. To pay a seam is to pour hot pitch and tar into it after caulking, to defend the oak.u.m from the wet. Also, to beat or drub a person, a sense known to Shakspeare as well as to seamen.

PAY A MAST OR YARD, TO. To anoint it with tar, turpentine, rosin, tallow, or varnish; tallow is particularly useful for those masts upon which the sails are frequently hoisted and lowered, such as top-masts and the lower masts of sloops, schooners, &c.

PAY A VESSEL'S BOTTOM, TO. To cover it with tallow, sulphur, rosin, &c.

(_See_ BREAMING.)

PAY AWAY. The same as _paying out_ (which see). To pa.s.s out the slack of a cable or rope.--_Pay down._ Send chests or heavy articles below.

PAYING OFF. The movement by which a s.h.i.+p's head falls off from the wind, and drops to leeward. Also, the paying off the s.h.i.+p's officers and crew, and the removal of the s.h.i.+p from active service to ordinary.

PAYING OUT. The act of slackening a cable or rope, so as to let it run freely. When a man talks grandiloquently, he is said to be "paying it out."

PAYMASTER. The present designation of the station formerly held by the purser; the officer superintending the provisioning and making payments to the crew.

PAY ROUND, TO. To turn the s.h.i.+p's head.

PAY-SERJEANT, IN THE ARMY. A steady non-commissioned officer, selected by the captain of each company, to pay the subsistence daily to the men, after the proper deductions.

PEA-BALLAST. A coa.r.s.e fresh-water sand used by s.h.i.+ps in the China trade for stowing tea-chests upon.

PEA OR P.-JACKET. A skirtless loose rough coat, made of Flus.h.i.+ng or pilot cloth.

PEAK. The more or less conical summit of a mountain whether isolated or forming part of a chain. Also, the upper outer corner of those sails which are extended by a gaff.

PEAK, TO. To raise a gaff or lateen yard more obliquely to the mast. _To stay peak_, or _ride a short stay peak_, is when the cable and fore-stay form a line: a long peak is when the cable is in line with the main-stay.

PEAK DOWN-HAUL. A rope rove through a block at the outer end of the gaff to haul it down by.

PEAK HALLIARDS. The ropes or tackles by which the outer end of a gaff is hoisted, as opposed to the _throat-halliards_ (which see).

PEAK OF AN ANCHOR. The bill or extremity of the palm, which, as seamen by custom drop the _k_, is p.r.o.nounced pea; it is tapered nearly to a point in order to penetrate the bottom.

PEAK PURCHASE. A purchase fitted in cutters to the standing peak-halliards to sway it up taut.

PEARL. A beautiful concretion found in the interior of the sh.e.l.ls of many species of mollusca, resulting from the deposit of nacreous substance round some nucleus, mostly of foreign origin. The _Meleagrina margaritifera_, or pearl oyster of the Indian seas, yields the most numerous and finest specimens.

PECTORAL FINS. The pair situated behind the gills of fishes, corresponding h.o.m.ologically to the fore limbs of quadrupeds and the wings of birds.

PEDESTAL-BLOCKS. Synonymous with _plumber-blocks_ (which see).

PEDESTAL-RAIL. A rail about two inches thick, wrought over the foot-s.p.a.ce rail, and in which there is a groove to steady the heel of the bal.u.s.ters of the galleries.

PEDRO. An early gun of large calibre for throwing stone-b.a.l.l.s.

PEDRO-A-PIED [_Pedro-pee_]. The balance on one leg in walking a plank as a proof of sobriety. A man placed one foot on a seam and flourished the other before and behind, singing, "How can a man be drunk when he can dance Pedro-pee," at which word he placed the foot precisely before the other on the seam, till he proved at least he had not lost his equilibrium. This was an old custom.

PEECE. An old term for a fortified position.

PEEGAGH. The Manx or Erse term for a large skate.

PEEK. _See_ PEAK.

PEEL. A stronghold of earth and timber for defence. Also, the wash of an oar.

PEGASUS. One of the ancient northern constellations, of which the lucida is Markab.

PEKUL. A Chinese commercial weight of about 130 or 132 lbs.

PELAGIANS. Fishes of the open sea.

PELICAN. A well-known water-bird. Also, the old six-pounder culverin.

PELL [from the British _pwll_]. A deep hole of water, generally beneath a cataract or any abrupt waterfall. Also, a large pond.

PELLET. An old word for shot or bullet.

PELLET-POWDER. Has its grains much larger and smoother, and is intended to act more gradually than service gunpowder, but by the English it is at present considered rather weak.

PELTA. An ancient s.h.i.+eld or buckler, formed of scales sewed on skins.

PEMBLICO. A small bird whose cry was deemed ominous at sea as presaging wind.

PEMMICAN. Condensed venison, or beef, used by the hunters around Hudson's Bay, and largely provided for the Arctic voyages, as containing much nutriment in a small compa.s.s. Thin slices of lean meat are dried over the smoke of wood fires; they are then pounded and mixed with an equal weight of their own fat. It is generally boiled and eaten hot where fire is available.

PEN. A cape or conical summit. Also, the Creole name for houses and plantations in the country. Also, an inclosure for fis.h.i.+ng on the coast.

PENA, OR PENON. High rocks on the Spanish coasts.

PENANG LAWYER. A cane, with the administration of which debts were wont to be settled at Pulo-Penang.

PENCEL. A small streamer or pennon.

PENDANT. _See_ PENNANT.

PENDANT. A strop or short piece of rope fixed on each side, under the shrouds, upon the heads of the main and fore masts, from which it hangs as low as the cat-harpings, having an iron thimble spliced into an eye at the lower end to receive the hooks of the main and fore tackles.

There are besides many other pendants, single or double ropes, to the lower extremity of which is attached a block or tackle; such are the fish-pendant, stay-tackle-pendant, brace-pendant, yard-tackle-pendant, reef-tackle-pendant, &c., all of which are employed to transmit the efforts of their respective tackles to some distant object.--_Rudder-pendants._ Strong ropes made fast to a rudder by means of chains. Their use is to prevent the loss of the rudder if by any accident it should get uns.h.i.+pped.

PENDULUM. A gravitating instrument for measuring the motion of a s.h.i.+p and thereby a.s.sisting the accuracy of her gunnery in regulating horizontal fire.

PENGUIN. A web-footed bird, of the genus _Aptenodytes_, unable to fly on account of the small size of its wings, but with great powers of swimming and diving: generally met with in high southern lat.i.tudes.