The Sailor's Word-Book Part 239

TACES. _See_ TAISHES.

TACK. A rope to confine the weather lower corners of the courses and staysails when the wind crosses the s.h.i.+p's course obliquely. Also, the rope employed to haul out the lower outer clue of a studding-sail to the boom-end. With jibs and fore-and-aft sails, the tack confines them amids.h.i.+ps. A s.h.i.+p is said to be _on the tack_ of the side from which the wind comes: even if it be on the quarter.--_To tack._ To go about, to change the course from one board to another from the starboard to the port tack, or _vice versa_. It is done by turning the s.h.i.+p's head suddenly to the wind, whereby her head-sails are thrown aback, and cause her to fall off from the wind to the other tack. The opposite to _wearing_.

TACK AND HALF-TACK. Working to windward, or along sh.o.r.e, by long and short boards, or legs, alternately.

TACKLE. A purchase formed by the connection of a fall, or rope, with two or more blocks. When a power sustains a weight by a rope over a fixed sheave, the weight and power will be equal; but if one end of the rope be fixed, and the sheave be movable with the weight, then the power will be but half the weight; but in a combination of sheaves, or pulleys, the power will be to the weight as 1 to the numbers of parts of the fall.--_Ground-tackle._ Anchors, cables, &c.--_Tack-tackle._ A small tackle used to pull down the tacks of the princ.i.p.al sails to their respective stations, and particularly attached to the main-sails of brigs, sloops, cutters, and schooners.

TACKLE-FALL. The part hauled upon in any tackle, simple or compound.

TACK OR SHEET. A man's saying that he will not start tack or sheet implies resolution.

TACK-PINS. The belaying pins of the fife-rail; called also Jack-pins.

TACTICS. The art of disposing and applying naval or military forces in action with the enemy, in whose presence strategy gives place to tactics.

TAFFIA. A bad spirit, made and sold at Mauritius.

TAFFRAIL, OR TAFFAREL. The upper part of a s.h.i.+p's stern, a curved railing, the ends of which unite to the quarter-pieces.

TAIL. A rope spliced into the strop or round of any block, leaving a long end for making fast to rigging, spars, &c.--_To tail on to a bank._ To be aground abaft only.--_To tail up_ or _down a stream_. When at anchor in a river, is as a s.h.i.+p's stern swings.

TAIL-BLOCK. A rope-stropped block, having an end of rope attached to it as a tail, by which it may be fastened to any object at pleasure.

TAIL OF A GALE. The latter part of a gale, when its violence is dying out.

TAIL ON, OR TALLY ON. The order to clap on to a rope.

TAIL-RACE. The water which leaves the paddles of a steam-boat. Also, the water-course of a mill beyond the water-wheel.

TAIL-TACKLE. A luff-tackle purchase, with a hook in the end of the single block, and a tail to the upper end of the double block.

Synonymous with _watch-tackle_.

TAIL UP. When a whale dives perpendicularly. In this case whalers expect the fish to rise near the same spot. Also termed _fluking_.

TAIL-VALVE. A valve in the air-pump at the opposite side from the condenser, and connected with the latter by a pipe under the air-pump: it opens when pressed by steam entering the condenser by the blow-through valve, but the weight of the atmosphere is sufficient to keep it shut so long as there is a vacuum in the condenser.

TAINT. By admiralty law, the taint of contraband extends to all property on board belonging to the owners of detected contraband articles.

TAISHES. Armour for the thighs.

TAISTE. A northern name for the black guillemot.

TAJASO. The jerked beef supplied to s.h.i.+ps on some parts of the coast of America.

TAKE. The draught of fishes in a single drag of the net. Also, _to take_, in a military sense, to take or adopt any particular formation, as to take open order, or to take ground to the right or the left.--To _take_ an astronomical observation, so to ascertain the position of a celestial body as to learn from it the place of the s.h.i.+p.

TAKEL [Anglo-Saxon]. The arrows which used to be supplied to the fleet; the _takill_ of Chaucer.

TAKEN AFT. Complained of on the quarter-deck.

TAKE-UP. The part between the smoke-box and the bottom of the funnel in a marine boiler. Also, a seaman _takes up slops_ when he applies to the purser for articles of ready-made clothes, to be charged against his wages. Also, an officer _takes up the gauntlet_ when he accepts a challenge, though no longer in the form of a glove.

TAKE WATER ON BOARD, TO. To s.h.i.+p a sea.

TAKING A DEPARTURE. Determining the place of a s.h.i.+p by means of the bearing and distance of a known object, and a.s.suming it as the point to be calculated from.

TAKING IN. The act of brailing up and furling sails at sea; generally used in opposition to setting. (_See_ FURL and SHORTEN.) Also said of a s.h.i.+p when loading.

TAKING OFF. Said of tides, when decreasing from the spring-tides.

TALARO. A silver coin of Ragusa, value 3_s._ sterling: also of Venice, value 4_s._ 2_d._

TALE [from Anglo-Saxon _tael_, number]. Taylor thus expressed it in 1630--

"Goods in and out, which daily s.h.i.+ps doe fraight By guesse, by tale, by measure, and by weight."

TALLANT. The upper hance, or break of the rudder abaft.

TALL s.h.i.+P. A phrase among the early voyagers for square-rigged vessels having top-masts.

TALLY, TO. To haul the sheets aft; as used by Falconer--

"And while the lee clue-garnet's lower'd away, Taut aft the sheet they tally, and belay."

TALUS. The old word in fortification for slope.

TAMBOUR. A projecting kind of stockade, attached to ill-flanked walls, &c.

TAN AND TANNED SAILS. Those steeped in oak-bark.

TANG, OR TANGLE. _Fucus digitatus_, and other sea-weed, which are used as manure.

TANGENT. A right line raised perpendicularly on the extremity of a radius, touching the circle without cutting it.

TANGENT-SCALE. Fitted to the breech of a gun for admeasuring its elevation; it is a sliding pillar marked with degrees and their subdivisions (according to the distance between the sights on the gun), and bears a notch or other sight on its head. With rifled guns a vernier, reading the minutes, is generally added.

TANGENT-SCREW. A screw acting tangentially to a circle, by means of which a slow motion may be given to the vernier of any instrument.

TANG-FISH. A northern name for the seal.

TANK. A piece of deep water, natural as well as artificial. Also, an iron cistern for containing fresh water--a great improvement on wooden casks for keeping water sweet.

TANKA. A covered Chinese sh.o.r.e-boat for conveying pa.s.sengers to s.h.i.+ps; worked by women only.

TANTARA. An old word for the noise of a drum.

TAPERED. A term applied to ropes which decrease in size towards one end, as tacks and sheets. Also termed _rat-tailed_.

TAPERED CLEAT. A piece of wood bolted under the beams, to support them when pillars are not used.