The Sailor's Word-Book Part 172

NET AND COBLE. The means by which sa.s.ses or flood-gates are allowed in fis.h.i.+ngs on navigable rivers.

NETTING. Network of rope or small line for the purpose of securing hammocks, sails, &c.--_Boarding netting._ A stout netting formerly extended fore and aft from the gunwale to a proper height up the rigging. Its use was to prevent an enemy from jumping on board.--_Splinter netting._ Is stretched from the main-mast aft to the mizen-mast, in a horizontal position, about 12 feet above the quarter-deck. It secures those engaged there from injury by the fall of any objects from the mast-heads during an action:

"And has saved the lives of many men Who have fallen from aloft."

NETTLES. Small line used for seizings, and for hammock-clues. (_See_ KNITTLE.)--_To nettle_, is to provoke.

NEUTRALS. Those who do not by treaty owe anything to either party in war; for if they do they are confederates. They are not to interfere between contending powers; and the right of security justifies a belligerent in enforcing the conditions. They are not allowed to trade from one port of the enemy to another, nor to be habitually employed in his coasting trade. Indeed the simple conveyance of any article to the opponent of the blockading squadron, at once settles the non-admission, or even hovering.

NEVER SAY DIE! An expressive phrase, meaning do not despair, there is hope yet.--_Nil desperandum!_ As Cowper says,

"Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Wait till to-morrow, will have pa.s.sed away."

NEW ACT. The going on sh.o.r.e without leave, and which though thus termed new, is an old trick.

NEWCOME. An officer commencing his career. Any stranger or fresh hand newly arrived.

NEWELL. An upright piece of timber to receive the tenon of the rails that lead from the breast-hook to the gangway.

NEWGATE BIRDS. The men sent on board s.h.i.+p from prisons; but the term has also been immemorially used, as applied to some of the _Dragon's_ men in the voyage of Sir Thomas Roe to Surat, 1615.

NEW MOON. The moon is said to be new when she is in conjunction with the sun, or between that luminary and the earth.

NEWS. "Do you hear the news?" A formula used in turning up the relief watch.

NICE STEERAGE. That which is required in tide-ways and intricate channels, chasing or chased.

NIDGET. A coward. A term used in old times for those who refused to join the royal standard.

NIGHT-CAP. Warm grog taken just before turning in.

NIGHTINGALES. _See_ SPITHEAD NIGHTINGALES.

NIGHT ORDER-BOOK. A doc.u.ment of some moment, as it contains the captain's behests about change of course, &c., and ought to be legibly written.

NIGHT-WALKER. A fish of a reddish colour, about the size of a haddock, so named by Cook's people from the greatest number being caught in the night; probably red-snapper.

NIGHT WARD. The night-watch.

NILL. Scales of hot iron at the armourer's forge. Also, the stars of rockets.

NIMBUS. Ragged and hanging clouds resolving into rain. (_See_ c.u.mULO-CIRRO-STRATUS.)

NINE-PIN BLOCK. A block in that form, mostly used for a _fair-leader_ under the cross-pieces of the forecastle and quarter-deck bitts.

NINES, TO THE. An expression to denote complete.

NINGIM. A corruption of _ginseng_ (which see).

NIP. A short turn in a rope. Also, a fis.h.i.+ng term for a bite. In Arctic parlance, a nip is when two floes in motion crush by their opposite edges a vessel unhappily entrapped. Also, the parts of a rope at the place bound by the seizing, or caught by jambing. Also, _Nip in the hawse_; hence "freshen the nip," by veering a few feet of the service into the hawse.

NIPCHEESE. The sailor's name for a purser's steward.

NIPPER. The armourer's pincers or tongs. Also, a hammock with so little bedding as to be unfit for stowing in the nettings.

NIPPERING. Fastening nippers by taking turns crosswise between the parts to jam them; and sometimes with a round turn before each cross. These are called racking-turns.

NIPPER-MEN. Foretop-men employed to bind the nippers about the cables and messenger, and to whom the boys return them when they are taken off.

NIPPERS. Are formed of clean, unchafed yarns, drawn from condemned rope, unlaid. The yarns are stretched either over two bolts, or cleats, and a fair strain brought on each part. They are then "marled" from end to end, and used in various ways, viz. to bind the messenger to the cable, and to form slings for wet spars, &c. The nipper is pa.s.sed at the manger-board, the fore-end pressing itself against the cable; after pa.s.sing it round cable and messenger spirally, the end is pa.s.sed twice round the messenger, and a foretop-man holds the end until it reaches the fore-hatchway, when a maintop-man takes it up, and at the main-hatchway it is taken off, a boy carrying it forward ready coiled for further use.--_Selvagee nippers_ are used when from a very great strain the common nippers are not found sufficiently secure; selvagees are then put on, and held fast by means of tree-nails. (_See_ SELVAGEE and TREE-NAILS.)--_Buoy and nipper._ Burt's patent for sounding. By this contrivance any amount of line is loosely veered. So long as the lead descends, the line runs through the nipper attached to a canvas inflated buoy. The instant it is checked or the lead touches bottom, the back strain nips the line, and indicates the vertical depth that the lead has descended.

NIPPLE. In s.h.i.+p-building. Another name for _knuckle_ (which see). Also, the nipple of a gun or musket lock; the perforated projection which receives the percussion-cap.

NISSAK. The Shetland name for a small porpoise.

NITRE. _Pota.s.sae nitras_, a salt formed by the union of nitric acid with potash; the main agent in gunpowder.

NITTY. A troublesome noise; a squabble.

NOAH'S ARK. Certain clouds elliptically parted, considered a sign of fine weather after rain.

n.o.b. The head; therefore applied to a person in a high station of life.

(_See_ k.n.o.b.)

NOCK. The forward upper end of a sail that sets with a boom. Also, a term used for _notch_.

NOCTURNAL, NOCTURLABIUM. An instrument chiefly used at sea, to take the alt.i.tude or depression of some of the stars about the pole, in order to find the lat.i.tude and the hour of the night.

NOCTURNAL ARC. That part of a circle, parallel to the equator, which is described by a celestial object, between its setting and rising.

NODDY. The _Sterna solida_, a dark web-footed sea-bird, common about the West Indies. Also, a simpleton; so used by Shakspeare in the _Two Gentlemen of Verona_.

NODES. Those points in the orbit of a planet or comet where it intersects the ecliptic. The ascending node is the point where it pa.s.ses from the south to the north side of the ecliptic; the descending node is the opposite point, where the lat.i.tude changes from north to south. (_See_ LINE OF NODES.)

NOG. A tree-nail driven through the heels of the sh.o.r.es, to secure them.

NOGGIN. A small cup or spirit-measure, holding about 1/4 of a pint.

NOGGING. The act of securing the sh.o.r.es by tree-nails. Also, warming beer at the galley-fire.

NO HIGHER! _See_ NEAR.

NO-HOWISH. Qualmy; feeling an approaching ailment without being able to describe the symptoms.

NO-MAN'S LAND. A s.p.a.ce in mids.h.i.+ps between the after-part of the belfry and the fore-part of a boat when it is stowed upon the booms, as is often done in a deep-waisted vessel; this s.p.a.ce is used to contain any blocks, ropes, tackles, &c., which may be necessary on the forecastle, and probably derives its name from being neither on the starboard nor port side, neither in the waist, nor on the forecastle.

NONAGESIMAL DEGREE. The point of the ecliptic which is at the greatest alt.i.tude above the horizon.

NON-COMBATANTS. A term applied erroneously to the purser, master surgeon, &c., of a man-of-war, for all men on board may be called on, more or less, to fight.