The Sailor's Word-Book Part 129

HOLD OFF. The keeping the hove-in part of a cable or hawser clear of the capstan.

HOLD ON. Keep all you have got in pulling a rope.--_Hold on a minute._ Wait or stop.--_Hold on with your nails and eyelids._ A derisive injunction to a timid climber.

HOLD ON, GOOD STICKS! An apostrophe often made when the masts complain in a fresh squall, or are over-pressed, and it is unadvisable to shorten sail.

HOLD-STANCHIONS. Those which support the hold-beams amids.h.i.+ps, and rest on the kelson.

HOLD UP, TO. In meteorological parlance, for the weather to clear up after a gale; to stop raining.

HOLE. A clear open s.p.a.ce amongst ice in the Arctic seas.

HOLEBER. A kind of light horseman, who rode about from place to place in the night, to gain intelligence of the landing of boats, men, &c., on the Kentish coast.

HOLES, EYELET OR ILLET. The holes in sails for points and rope-bands which are fenced round by st.i.tching the edge to a small log-line grommet. In the drumhead of a capstan, the holes receive the capstan-bars.

HOLIDAY. Any part left neglected or uncovered in paying or painting, blacking, or tarring.

HOLLANDS. The spirit princ.i.p.ally distilled in Holland.

HOLLARDS. The dead branches and loppings of trees.

HOLLEBUT. A spelling of _halibut_.

HOLLOA, OR HOLLA. An answer to any person calling from a distance, to show they hear. Thus, if the master intends to give any order to the people in the main-top, he previously calls, "Main-top, hoay." It is also the first answer received when hailing a s.h.i.+p. (_See_ HAILING and HOAY.)

HOLLOW. The bore of a rocket. In naval architecture, a name for the fifth or _top-timber-sweep_ (which see). Also, hollow or curved leeches of sails, in contradistinction to straight.

HOLLOW BASTION. In fortification, a bastion of which the terreplein or interior terrace is not continued beyond a certain distance to the rear of the parapet, and thus leaves a central area at a lower level.

HOLLOW-MOULD. The same as _floor-hollow_ (which see).

HOLLOWS AND ROUNDS. Plane-tools used for making mouldings.

HOLLOW SEA. The undulation of the waves after a gale; long hollow-jawed sea; ground-swell.

HOLLOW SHOT. Introduced princ.i.p.ally for naval use before the horizontal firing of sh.e.l.ls from guns became general. Their weight was about two-thirds that of the solid shot; thus they required less charge of powder and weight of gun than the latter, whilst their smas.h.i.+ng effect and first ranges were supposed to be greater. It is clear, however, that if filled with powder, their destructive effect must be immensely increased.

HOLLOW SQUARE. The square generally used by British infantry; a formation to resist cavalry. Each side is composed of four ranks of men, the two foremost kneeling with bayonets forming a fence breast high; the inclosed central s.p.a.ce affords shelter to officers, colours, &c. With breech-loading muskets this defence will become less necessary. (_See also_ RALLYING SQUARE.)

HOLM. (_See_ CLETT.) A name both on the sh.o.r.es of Britain and Norway for a small uninhabited island used for pasture; yet in old writers it sometimes is applied to the sea, or a deep water. Also, an ill-defined name applied to a low islet in a river, as well as the flat land by the river side.

HOLOMETRUM GEOMETRIc.u.m. A nautical instrument of bra.s.s, one of which, price 4, was supplied to Martin Frobisher in 1576.

HOLSOM. A term applied to a s.h.i.+p that rides without rolling or labouring.

HOLSTER. A case or cover for a pistol, worn at the saddle-bow.

HOLT [from the Anglo-Saxon]. A peaked hill covered with a wood.

HOLUS-BOLUS. Altogether; all at once.

HOLY-STONE. A sandstone for scrubbing decks, so called from being originally used for Sunday cleaning, or obtained by plundering churchyards of their tombstones, or because the seamen have to go on their knees to use it.

HOME. The proper situation of any object, when it retains its full force of action, or when it is properly lodged for convenience. In the former sense it is applied to the sails; in the latter it usually refers to the stowage of the hold. The anchor is said _to come home_ when it loosens, or drags through the ground by the effort of the wind or current. (_See_ ANCHOR.)--_Home_ is the word given by the captain of the gun when, by the sense of his thumb on the touch-hole, he determines that the charge is home, and no air escapes by the touch-hole. It is the word given to denote the top-sail or other sheets being "home," or b.u.t.ting.--_Sheet home!_ The order to extend the clues of sails to the yard-arms.--_The wind blows home._ When it sets continuously over the sea and land with equal velocity. When opposed by vertical or high land, the breeze loses its force as the land is neared: then it does not blow home, as about Gibraltar and Toulon.

HOME-SERVICE. The Channel service; any force, either naval or military, stationed in and about the United Kingdom.

HOME-TRADERS. The contradistinction of foreign-going s.h.i.+ps.

HOMEWARD-BOUND. Said of a s.h.i.+p when returning from a voyage to the place whence she was fitted out; or the country to which she belongs.

HOMEWARD-BOUNDER. A s.h.i.+p on her course home.

HOMMELIN. The _Raia rubus_, or rough ray.

HONEST-POUNDS. Used in contradistinction to "_purser's pounds_" (which see).

HONEYCOMB. A spongy kind of flaw in the metal of ordnance, generally due to faulty casting.

HONG. Mercantile houses in China, with convenient warehouses adjoining.

Also, a society of the princ.i.p.al merchants of the place.

HONOURS OF WAR. Favourable terms granted to a capitulating enemy on evacuating a fortress; they vary in degree, according to circ.u.mstances; generally understood to mean, to march out armed, colours flying, &c., but to pile arms at a given point, and leave them, and be sent home, or give parole not to serve until duly exchanged.

HOO. _See_ HOWE.

HOOD. A covering for a companion-hatch, skylight, &c. Also, the piece of tarred or painted canvas which used to cover the eyes of rigging to prevent water from damaging them; now seldom used. Also, the name given to the upper part of the galley chimney, made to turn round with the wind, that the smoke may always go to leeward.--_Naval hoods or whood._ Large thick pieces of timber which encircle the hawse-holes.

HOOD-ENDS. The ends of the planks which fit into the rabbets of the stem and stern posts.

HOOD OF A PUMP. A frame covering the upper wheel of a chain-pump.

HOODS, OR HOODINGS. The foremost and aftermost planks of the bottom, within and without. Also, coverings to shelter the mortar in bomb-vessels.

HOOK. There are several kinds used at sea, as boat-hooks, can-hooks, cat-hooks, fish-hooks, and the like. A name given to reaches, or angular points in rivers, such as Sandy Hook at New York.--_Laying-hook._ A winch used in rope-making.--_Loof-tackle hooks_, termed _luffs_. A tackle with two hooks, one to hitch into a cringle of the main or fore sail in the bolt-rope, and the other to hitch into a strap spliced to the chess-tree. They pull down the sail, and in a stiff gale help to hold it so that all the stress may not bear upon the tack.

HOOK AND b.u.t.t. The scarphing or laying two ends of planks over each other. (_See_ b.u.t.t-AND-b.u.t.t and HOOK-SCARPH.)

HOOK-BLOCK. Any block, of iron or wood, strapped with a hook.

HOOK-BOLTS. Those used to secure lower-deck ports.

HOOKER, OR HOWKER. A coast or fis.h.i.+ng vessel--a small hoy-built craft with one mast, intended for fis.h.i.+ng. They are common on our coasts, and greatly used by pilots, especially off the Irish ports. Also, Jack's name for his vessel, the favourite "old hooker." Also, a term for a short pipe, probably derived from _hookah_.

HOOKEY. _See_ HOAKY.

HOOKING. In s.h.i.+p-carpentry this is the act of working the edge of one plank into that of another, in such a manner that they cannot be drawn asunder.