The Sailor's Word-Book Part 231

STANDING-JIB. The jib, as distinguished from the other jibs.

STANDING-LIFTS. Ropes from the mast-heads to the ends of the upper yards, to keep them square and steady when the sail is not set.

STANDING ORDERS. Special regulations remaining constant for some particular branch of service.

STANDING PART OF A HOOK. That part which is attached to a block, chain, or anything which is to heave the hook up, with a weight hanging to it; the part opposite to the point.

STANDING PART OF A SHEET. That part which is secured to a ring at the s.h.i.+p's bow, quarter, side, &c.

STANDING PART OF A TACKLE OR ROPE. The part which is made fast to the mast, deck, or block, in contradistinction to that which is pulled upon, and is called the fall, or running part.

STANDING PULL. One with the face towards the tackle, being about 2 feet each pull.

STANDING RIGGING. That part which is made fast, and not hauled upon; being the shrouds, backstays, and stays for the support of the masts.

STANDING UP. A s.h.i.+p in good trim, and well attended to, is said _to stand well up to her canvas_.

STANDING WARRANTS. Those officers who remain with a s.h.i.+p in ordinary, or on the stocks, as the gunner, carpenter, boatswain, and cook, and till 1814 the purser.

STANDING WATER. Water where there is no current or tide.

STAND IN Sh.o.r.e, TO. To sail directly for the land.

STAND OF ARMS. A complete set for one man; now-a-days, simply a musket and bayonet. Also, an arm-stand holding the muskets and cutla.s.ses on the quarter-deck--ornamental, and ready for salute or service.

STAND RIGHT UNDER! Jocularly, "Get out of the way."

STAND SQUARE, TO. To stand or be at right angles relatively to some object.

STANGS. Poles put across a river. Also, eel-spears.

STANK. An old statute term for _staunch_ (which see).

STAPLE. _Merchants of the staple_ formerly meant those who exported the staple wares of the country.

STAPLE-KNEES, OR STAPLE-LODGING KNEES. The same as _deck standard-knees_ (which see).

STAR, DOUBLE. _See_ DOUBLE-STAR.

STAR, TEMPORARY. _See_ TEMPORARY STARS.

STAR, VARIABLE. _See_ VARIABLE STARS.

STARBOARD. The opposite of _larboard_ or _port_; the distinguis.h.i.+ng term for the right side of a s.h.i.+p when looking forward [from the Anglo-Saxon _steora-bord_].

STARBOARD THE HELM! So place the helm that the rudder is brought on the port side of the stern-post. (_See_ HARD-A-STARBOARD.)

STARBOLINS. The old familiar term for the men of the starboard watch, as larbolin was for the larboard or port watch.

STAR-FISHES. _See_ SEA-STAR.

STAR-FORTS. Those traced in the form of a star, with alternate salient and re-entering angles. They are not in much favour, being expensive in construction, of small interior s.p.a.ce, and having much dead s.p.a.ce in their ditches.

STAR-GLINT. A meteorite.

STAR-PAG.o.dA. A gold coin of the East Indies. In Madras its value is 7_s._ 6_d._

STARS, FIXED. Those innumerable bodies bespangling the heavens from pole to pole, distinguishable from the planets by their apparent fixity; it is, however, certain that many of them move through s.p.a.ce at a rate vastly greater than that of the earth in her orbit, though, from their enormous distance, we can with difficulty perceive it.

START. A long handle or tail; whence, by a.n.a.logy, "start point." But sometimes applied by navigators to any point from which a departure is taken. Also, the expected place of a struck whale's rising, after having plunged or sounded.--_To start_, applied to liquids, is to empty; but if to any weight, as the anchor, &c., implies to move.--_To start bread._ To turn it out of bags or casks, and stow it in bulk.--_To start a b.u.t.t-end._ When a plank has loosened or sprung at the b.u.t.t-end, by the s.h.i.+p's labouring, or other cause.--_To start a tack or sheet._ To slack it off, as in tacking or manuvring, "raise tacks and sheets."

STARTING. An irregular and arbitrary mode of punishment with canes or ropes' ends, long since illegal in the British navy.

STARTING-BOLT, OR DRIFT-BOLT. A bolt used to drive out another; it is usually a trifle smaller.

STASH IT THERE! An old order to cease or be quiet.

STATE-ROOM. A sleeping cabin, or small berth, detached from the main cabin of merchantmen or saloon of pa.s.senger vessels.

STATION. The allotted places of the duties of each person on board. In most merchantmen the cry of "Every man to his station, and the cook to the fore-sheet," is calling the hands and the idlers.

STATIONARIae. Those vessels of a Roman fleet ordered to remain at anchor.

STATIONARY POINTS. Those points in a planet's...o...b..t in which, as viewed from the earth, it appears to have no motion amongst the stars.

STATION-BILL. A list containing the appointed posts of the crew when performing any evolution but action.

STATIONER. One who has had experience, or who has been some time on a particular station.

STATIONING A s.h.i.+P'S COMPANY. Arranging the crew for the ready execution of the evolutionary duties of a s.h.i.+p.

STATION-POINTER. A circular instrument furnished with one standard radius, and two movable. By laying off two observed angles right and left from a central object, and laying the instrument over the objects on a chart, the position of the observer is instantly fixed.

STATIONS FOR STAYS! Repair to your posts to tack s.h.i.+p.

STAUNCH. A flood-gate crossing a river to keep up a head of water, and, by producing a rush in dry weather, floating the lighters over the adjacent shallows.

STAVE, TO. To break a hole in any vessel. Also, to drive in the head of a cask, as of spirits, to prevent the crew from misusing it in case of wreck.--_To stave off._ To boom off; to push anything off with a pole.

STAVES. Wood prepared for the component parts of a cask. In 1781, staves were ruled not to be a naval store, unless it were shown that the French at Brest were in some peculiar want of casks. Also, the wood of lances, formerly an object of great care, insomuch that Shakspeare makes Richard III. say:--

"Look that my staves be sound, and not too heavy."

STAY. A large strong rope extending from the upper end of each mast towards the stem of the s.h.i.+p, as the shrouds are extended on each side.

The object of both is to prevent the masts from springing, when the s.h.i.+p is pitching deep. Thus stays are fore and aft; those which are led down to the vessel's side are _backstays_.--_The fore-stay_ is that which reaches from the foremast-head towards the bowsprit end.--_The main-stay_ is that which extends to the s.h.i.+p's stem.--_The mizen-stay_ is that which is stretched to a collar on the main-mast, immediately above the quarter-deck.--_The fore-topmast stay_ is that which comes to the end of the bowsprit, a little beyond the fore-stay, on which the fore-topmast staysail runs on hanks.--_The main-topmast stay_ is attached to the hounds of the fore-mast, or comes on deck.--_The mizen-topmast stay_ is that which comes to the hounds of the main-mast.

The top-gallant, royal, or any other masts, have each a stay, named after their respective masts.--_Spring-stay_ is a kind of subst.i.tute nearly parallel to the princ.i.p.al stay, and intended to help the princ.i.p.al stay to support its mast.--_Stay of a steamer._ An iron bar between the two knees which secure the paddle-beams. (_See_ FUNNEL-STAYS.)--_To stay._ To tack, to bring the s.h.i.+p's head up to the wind for going about; hence to _miss stays_, is to fail in the attempt to go about.--_In stays_, or _hove in stays_, is the situation of a vessel when she is staying, or in the act of going about; a vessel in bad trim, or lubberly handled, is sure to be _slack in stays_, and _refuses stays_, when she has to wear.

STAY APEEK. When the cable and fore-stay form a line. (_See_ APEEK.)