The Sailor's Word-Book Part 84

DUTCH PUMP. A punishment so contrived that, if the prisoner would not pump hard, he was drowned.

DUTCH RECKONING. A bad day's work, all in the wrong.

DUTCH REDS. High-smoked herrings prepared in Holland.

DUTIES. Taxes levied by the custom-house upon goods exported or imported.

DUTTEES. Coa.r.s.e brown calicoes of India.

DUTY. The exercise of those functions which belong to the service, and are carried out from the highest to the lowest.

Dw.a.n.g-STAFF. This is otherwise the _wrain-staff_ (which see).

DYCE. A langridge for the old hail-shot pieces.

DYCE, OR THYST, "VERY WELL DYCE." (_See_ THUS.)

DYELLE. A kind of mud-drag used for cleaning rivers on our eastern coasts.

DYING MAN'S DINNER. A s.n.a.t.c.h of refreshment when the s.h.i.+p is in extreme danger.

d.y.k.e. From the Anglo-Saxon _dic_, a mound or bank; yet in some parts of England the word means a ditch.

d.y.k.e-CAM. A ditch-bank.

DYNAMOMETER. An instrument for measuring the amount of force, and used for indicating the thrust or force of a screw-propeller, or any other motor. There are many, varying in mode according to the express purpose of each, but all founded on the same principle as the name expresses--_power_ and _measure_, so that a steel-yard is the simplest exponent.

E.

E. The second cla.s.s of rating on Lloyd's books for the comparative excellence of merchant s.h.i.+ps. (_See_ A.)

EAGER. _See_ EAGRE.

EAGLE. The insignia of the Romans, borrowed also by moderns, as Frederic of Prussia and Napoleon. Also, a gold coin of the United States, of the value of five dollars, or 1, 0_s._ 10_d._ sterling, at the average rate of exchange.

EAGLE, OR SPREAD-EAGLE. A punishment inflicted by _seizing_ the offender by his arms and legs to the shrouds, and there leaving him for a specified time.

EAGRE, OR HYGRE. The reciprocation of the freshes of various rivers, as for instance the Severn, with the flowing tide, sometimes presenting a formidable surge. The name seems to be from the Anglo-Saxon _eagor_, water, or _aegir_, the Scandinavian G.o.d of the sea. (_See_ BORE and HYGRE.)

EAR. A west-country term for a place where hatches prevent the influx of the tide.

EARING-CRINGLE, AT THE HEAD OF A SAIL. In sail-making it is an eye spliced in the bolt-rope, to which the much smaller head-rope is attached. The earings are hauled out, or lashed to cleats on the yards pa.s.sing through the head corners or cringles of the sails.

EARINGS. Certain small ropes employed to fasten the upper corners of a sail to its yard, for which purpose one end of the earing is pa.s.sed through itself; and the other end is pa.s.sed five or six times round the yard-arm, and through the cringle; the two first turns, which are intended to stretch the head of the sail tight along the yard, are pa.s.sed beyond the lift and rigging on the yard-arm, and are called outer turns, while the rest, which draw it close up to the yard, and are pa.s.sed within the lift, &c., are called inner turns. Below the above are the _reef-earings_, which are used to reef the sail when the reef-tackles have stretched it to take off the strain.

EARNE. _See_ ERNE.

EARNEST. A sum paid in advance to secure a seaman's service.

EARS. In artillery the lugs or ear-shaped rings fas.h.i.+oned on the larger bombs or mortar-sh.e.l.ls for their convenient handling with sh.e.l.l-hooks.

The irregularity of surface caused by the ears is intended to be modified in future construction by the subst.i.tution of _lewis-holes_ (which see).

EAR-SHOT. The distance or range of hearing.

EARS OF A BOAT. The knee-pieces at the fore-part on the outside at the height of the gunwale.

EARS OF A PUMP. The support of the bolt for the handle or break.

EARTH. One of the primary planets, and the third in order from the sun.

EARTH-BAGS. _See_ SAND-BAGS.

EAR-WIGGING. Feeding an officer's ear with scandal against an absent individual.

EASE, TO STAND AT. To remain at rest.

EASE AWAY! To slacken out a rope or tackle-fall.

EASE HER! In a steamer, is the command to reduce the speed of the engine, preparatory to "stop her," or before reversing for "turn astern."

EASE OFF! EASE OFF HANDSOMELY, OR EASE AWAY THERE! To slacken out a rope or tackle-fall carefully.

EASE THE HELM! An order often given in a vessel close-hauled, to put the helm down a few spokes in a head sea, with the idea that if the s.h.i.+p's way be deadened by her coming close to the wind she will not strike the opposing sea with so much force. It is thought by some that extreme rolling as well as pitching are checked by s.h.i.+fting the helm quickly, thereby changing the direction of the s.h.i.+p's head, and what is technically called "giving her something else to do."

EASE UP, TO. To come up handsomely with a tackle-fall.

EAST. From the Anglo-Saxon, _y'st_. One of the cardinal points of the compa.s.s. Where the sun rises due east, it makes equal days and nights, as on the equator.

EAST-COUNTRY. A term applied to the regions bordering on the Baltic.

EAST-COUNTRY s.h.i.+PS. The same as _easterlings_.

EASTERLINGS. Traders of the Baltic Sea. Also, natives of the Hanse Towns, or of the east country.

EASTERN AMPLITUDE. An arc of the horizon, intercepted between the point of the sun's rising and the east point of the magnetic compa.s.s.

EAST INDIA HOY. A sloop formerly expressly licensed for carrying stores to the E. I. Company's s.h.i.+ps.

EASTING. The course made good, or gained, to the eastward.

EASTINTUS. From the Saxon, _east-tyn_, an easterly coast or country.

_Leg. Edward I._

EAST WIND. This, in the British seas, is generally attended with a hazy atmosphere, and is so ungenial as to countenance the couplet--