The Seaman's Friend Part 15

DOG. A short iron bar, with a fang or teeth at one end, and a ring at the other. Used for a purchase, the fang being placed against a beam or knee, and the block of a tackle hooked to the ring.

DOG-VANE. A small vane, made of feathers or buntin, to show the direction of the wind.

DOG-WATCHES. Half watches of two hours each, from 4 to 6, and from 6 to 8, P.M. (See WATCH.)

DOLPHIN. A rope or strap round a mast to support the puddening, where the lower yards rest in the slings. Also, a spar or buoy with a large ring in it, secured to an anchor, to which vessels may bend their cables.

DOLPHIN-STRIKER. The martingale. (See PLATE I.)

DOUSE. To lower suddenly.

DOWELLING. A method of coaking, by letting pieces into the solid, or uniting two pieces together by tenons.

DOWNHAUL. A rope used to haul down jibs, staysails, and studdingsails.

DRABLER. A piece of canva.s.s laced to the bonnet of a sail, to give it more drop.

DRAG. A machine with a bag net, used for dragging on the bottom for anything lost.

DRAUGHT. The depth of water which a vessel requires to float her.

DRAW. A sail _draws_ when it is filled by the wind.

_To draw a jib_, is to s.h.i.+ft it over the stay to leeward, when it is aback.

DRIFTS. Those pieces in the sheer-draught where the rails are cut off.

DRIVE. To scud before a gale, or to drift in a current.

DRIVER. A spanker.

DROP. The depth of a sail, from head to foot, amids.h.i.+ps.

DRUM-HEAD. The top of the capstan.

DUB. To reduce the end of a timber.

DUCK. A kind of cloth, lighter and finer than canva.s.s; used for small sails.

DUNNAGE. Loose wood or other matters, placed on the bottom of the hold, above the ballast, to stow cargo upon.

EARING. A rope attached to the cringle of a sail, by which it is bent or reefed.

EIKING. A piece of wood fitted to make good a deficiency in length.

ELBOW. Two crosses in a hawse. (See page 89.)

ESCUTCHEON. The part of a vessel's stern where her name is written.

EVEN-KEEL. The situation of a vessel when she is so trimmed that she sits evenly upon the water, neither end being down more than the other.

EUVROU. A piece of wood, by which the legs of the crow-foot to an awning are extended. (See UVROU.)

EYE. The circular part of a shroud or stay, where it goes over a mast.

_Eye-bolt._ A long iron bar, having an eye at one end, driven through a vessel's deck or side into a timber or beam, with the eye remaining out, to hook a tackle to. If there is a ring through this eye, it is called a _ring-bolt_.

_An Eye-splice_ is a certain kind of splice made with the end of a rope. (See PLATE 5 and page 45.)

_Eyelet-hole._ A hole made in a sail for a cringle or roband to go through.

_The Eyes of a vessel._ A familiar phrase for the forward part.

FACE-PIECES. Pieces of wood wrought on the fore part of the knee of the head.

FACING. Letting one piece of timber into another with a rabbet.

f.a.g. A rope is _f.a.gged_ when the end is untwisted.

FAIR-LEADER. A strip of board or plank, with holes in it, for running rigging to lead through. Also, a block or thimble used for the same purpose.

FAKE. One of the circles or rings made in coiling a rope.

FALL. That part of a tackle to which the power is applied in hoisting.

FALSE KEEL. Pieces of timber secured under the main keel of vessels.

FANCY-LINE. A line rove through a block at the jaws of a gaff, used as a downhaul. Also, a line used for cross-hauling the lee topping-lift.

FAs.h.i.+ON-PIECES. The aftermost timbers, terminating the breadth and forming the shape of the stern.

FAST. A rope by which a vessel is secured to a wharf. There are _bow_ or _head_, _breast_, _quarter_, and _stern_ fasts.

FATHOM. Six feet.

FEATHER. _To feather an oar_ in rowing, is to turn the blade horizontally with the top aft as it comes out of the water.

FEATHER-EDGED. Planks which have one side thicker than another.

FENDERS. Pieces of rope or wood hung over the side of a vessel or boat, to protect it from chafing. The fenders of a neat boat are usually made of canva.s.s and stuffed.

FID. A block of wood or iron, placed through the hole in the heel of a mast, and resting on the trestle-trees of the mast below. This supports the mast. Also, a wooden pin, tapered, used in splicing large ropes, in opening eyes, &c.

FIDDLE-BLOCK. A long sh.e.l.l, having one sheave over the other, and the lower smaller than the upper.

FIDDLE-HEAD. (See HEAD.)