The Seaman's Friend Part 9

TO GET UNDER WAY WIND-RODE, WITH A WEATHER TIDE; that is, a tide setting to windward.--Suppose you wish to cast to port. Heave short, loose the sails, and set the topsails. Square the after yards, and haul in the starboard head-braces. Heave again, and, when you are a-weigh, put the helm to port and hoist the jib. When she has payed off enough, fill away the head yards and s.h.i.+ft the helm for headway.

TO GET UNDER WAY, TIDE-RODE, CASTING TO WINDWARD.--Suppose the wind to be a little on the starboard bow, and you wish to cast to starboard, standing out on the larboard tack. Having hove short and set the topsails, brace up the after yards for the larboard tack, and brace the head yards aback. Weigh the anchor, keeping your helm to port, and hauling the spanker boom well over to starboard. When she comes head to the wind, hoist the jib, with the sheet to port. s.h.i.+ft the helm for sternway. As she falls off, draw the jib, fill the head yards, and s.h.i.+ft the helm for headway.

TO GET UNDER WAY, TIDE-RODE, WEARING ROUND.--Suppose you have the wind on your starboard quarter, and are obliged to wear her round and stand out on the larboard tack. Set the topsails, square the head yards, and s.h.i.+ver the after yards. When the anchor is a-weigh, put the helm hard a-starboard, and give her the foresail, if necessary. Having headway, she will go round on her keel, and you may proceed as in wearing.

If a vessel is in a confined situation, without room to cast by her sails or by the tide, she may be cast by a spring upon her cable, leading in at that which will be the weather quarter. The spring may be bent to the ring of the anchor before it is let go, or it may be seized to the cable just outside the hawse-hole.

It will be remembered that when a vessel is riding head to the tide, the helm is to be put as though she had headway; and when the tide sets from astern, as though she had sternway. But you should be reminded that when you have the wind and tide both ahead, if the vessel, after you weigh your anchor, goes astern faster than the current, the helm must be used as for stern-board.

DICTIONARY OF SEA TERMS.

ABACK. The situation of the sails when the wind presses their surfaces against the mast, and tends to force the vessel astern.

ABAFT. Toward the stern of a vessel.

ABOARD. Within a vessel.

ABOUT. On the other tack.

ABREAST. Alongside of. Side by side.

ACCOMMODATION. (See LADDER.)

A-c.o.c.k-BILL. The situation of the yards when they are topped up at an angle with the deck. The situation of an anchor when it hangs to the cathead by the ring only.

ADRIFT. Broken from moorings or fasts. Without fasts.

AFLOAT. Resting on the surface of the water.

AFORE. Forward. The opposite of abaft.

AFT--AFTER. Near the stern.

AGROUND. Touching the bottom.

AHEAD. In the direction of the vessel's head. _Wind ahead_ is from the direction toward which the vessel's head points.

A-HULL. The situation of a vessel when she lies with all her sails furled and her helm lashed a-lee.

A-LEE. The situation of the helm when it is put in the opposite direction from that in which the wind blows.

ALL-ABACK. When all the sails are aback.

ALL HANDS. The whole crew.

ALL IN THE WIND. When all the sails are shaking.

ALOFT. Above the deck.

ALOOF. At a distance.

AMAIN. Suddenly. At once.

AMIDs.h.i.+PS. In the centre of the vessel; either with reference to her length or to her breadth.

ANCHOR. The machine by which, when dropped to the bottom, the vessel is held fast.

ANCHOR-WATCH. (See WATCH.)

AN-END. When a mast is perpendicular to the deck.

A-PEEK. When the cable is hove taut so as to bring the vessel nearly over her anchor. The _yards_ are _a-peek_ when they are topped up by contrary lifts.

Ap.r.o.n. A piece of timber fixed behind the lower part of the stem, just above the fore end of the keel. A covering to the vent or lock of a cannon.

ARM. YARD-ARM. The extremity of a yard. Also, the lower part of an anchor, crossing the shank and terminating in the flukes.

ARMING. A piece of tallow put in the cavity and over the bottom of a lead-line.

A-STERN. In the direction of the stern. The opposite of ahead.

A-TAUNT. (See TAUNT.)

ATHWART. Across.

_Athwart-s.h.i.+ps._ Across the line of the vessel's keel.

_Athwart-hawse._ Across the direction of a vessel's head. Across her cable.

ATHWART-s.h.i.+PS. Across the length of a vessel. In opposition to fore-and-aft.

A-TRIP. The situation of the anchor when it is raised clear of the ground. The same as a-weigh.

AVAST, or 'VAST. An order to stop; as, "Avast heaving!"

A-WEATHER. The situation of the helm when it is put in the direction from which the wind blows.

A-WEIGH. The same as a-trip.

AWNING. A covering of canva.s.s over a vessel's deck, or over a boat, to keep off sun or rain.

BACK. _To back an anchor_, is to carry out a smaller one ahead of the one by which the vessel rides, to take off some of the strain.

_To back a sail_, is to throw it aback.