The Sailor's Word-Book Part 263

WORKING A LUNAR. Reducing the observations of the sun and moon, or moon and stars, in order to find the longitude. Also, a phrase used when a man sleeps during a conversation.

WORKING AN OBSERVATION. Reducing the alt.i.tudes or distances of heavenly bodies by calculation.

WORKING PARTIES. Gangs of hands employed on special duties out of the s.h.i.+p or dockyard.

WORKING TO WINDWARD. Sailing against the wind by alternate tacks. (_See_ BEATING.)

WORKING UP. The keeping men at work on needless matters, beyond the usual hours, for punishment.

WORKS. All fortificational constructions, whether permanent, field, or makes.h.i.+fts of the moment; from the most solid bastion to the rudest rifle-pit.

WORK UP JUNK, TO. To draw yarns from old cables, &c., and therewith to make foxes, points, gaskets, sinnet, or spun-yarn.

WORM. An iron tool shaped like a double cork-screw on the end of a long staff, for withdrawing charges, ignited remains of cartridges, &c., from fire-arms. Called also a wad-hook in artillery. (_See also_ TEREDO NAVALIS.)--_To worm._ The act of pa.s.sing a rope spirally between the lays of a cable; a smaller rope is wormed with spun-yarn. Worming is generally resorted to as a preparative for serving. (_See_ LINK WORMING.)

WORM-EATEN, OR WORMED. The state of a plank or of a s.h.i.+p's bottom when perforated by a particular kind of boring mollusk, _Teredo navalis_, which abounds in the tropics.

WORMS. Timber is preserved against worms by several coats of common whale-oil, or by the patents of Payne, Sir W. Burnett, Kyan, and others.

WRACK. The English name for the fucus; the sea-weed used for the manufacture of kelp, and in some places artificially grown for that purpose.

WRACK-RIDER. A species of brandling faintly barred on both sides.

WRAIN-BOLT. A ring-bolt with two or more forelock-holes in it, occasionally to belay or make fast towards the middle. It is used, with the wrain-staff in the ring, for _setting-to_ the planks.

WRAIN-STAFF. A stout billet of tough wood, tapered at its ends, so as to go into the ring of the wrain-bolt, to make the necessary setts for bringing-to the planks or thick stuff to the timber.

WRa.s.sE. The _Crenilabrus tinca_, a sea-fish, sometimes called old-wife.

WRECK. The destruction of a s.h.i.+p by stress of weather, rocks, &c.; also the ruins of the s.h.i.+p after such accidents; also the goods and fragments which drive on sh.o.r.e after a s.h.i.+p is stranded. It is said that the term is derived from the sea-weed called _wrack_, denoting all that the sea washes on sh.o.r.e as it does this weed. A s.h.i.+p cast on sh.o.r.e is no wreck, in law, when any domestic animal has escaped with life in her. The custody of the cargo or goods belongs to the deputy of the vice-admiral, and they are restored to the proprietors without any fees or salvage, but what the labour of those who saved them may reasonably deserve.

WRECKAGE. Spars, rigging, or goods floating about after a wreck.

WRECKERS. A name which includes both meritorious salvors of s.h.i.+ps in distress, and the felonious brutes who merely hasten to wrecks for plunder. One of our British colonies deemed it so entirely a legal procedure to make a wreck of or cripple a vessel on the reef, that a naval officer was threatened with legal proceedings by a lawyer whom he prevented from carrying out his practice afloat.

WRECK-FREE. Is to be exempt from the forfeiture of s.h.i.+pwrecked goods and vessels: a privilege which Edward I. granted by charter to the barons of the Cinque Ports.

WRIGHT'S SAILING. Synonymous with _Mercator's sailing_.

WRING A MAST, TO. To bend, cripple, or strain it out of its natural position by setting the shrouds up too taut. The phrase, _to wring_, is also applied to a capstan when by an undue strain the component parts of the wood become deranged, and are thereby disunited. The head of a mast is frequently wrung by bracing up the lower yards beyond the dictates of sound judgment.

WRONG, TO. To out-sail a vessel by becalming her sails is said to wrong her.

WRONG WAY. When the s.h.i.+p casts in the opposite direction to that desired. Also, a s.h.i.+p swinging in a tide's way, out of the direction which would keep her hawse clear.

WRUNG-HEADS. An old term for that part of a s.h.i.+p near the floor-heads and second futtock-heels, which, when she lies aground, bears the greatest strain.

X.

XEBEC, OR ZEBEC. A small three-masted vessel of the Mediterranean, distinguished from all other European vessels by the great projection of her bow and overhanging of her stern. Being generally equipped as a corsair, the xebec was constructed with a narrow floor, for speed, and of great breadth, to enable her to carry a great press of sail. On the Barbary coast the xebec rig was deemed to vary from the felucca, which in hull is the same, by having the fore-mast square-rigged.

XERAFEEM. A Malabar coin of the value of 1_s._ 4_d._ sterling.

XEROONITZ. A Russian coin of two roubles, or 9_s._ sterling.

XERO-POTAMO. A term common on the coasts of Greece for fiumare, or torrents, which are dry at certain seasons.

XUGIA. The second bank of rowers in an ancient trireme.

XYLOSTROMA. Oak-leather, a peculiar fungus found within growing oaks.

Y.

YACHT. A vessel of state or pleasure: the former is usually employed to convey great personages. One of the designs of a yacht being accommodation, they are usually fitted up with great comfort; their propulsion is by sails or steam. Small yachts, rigged as sloops, were formerly used by the commissioners of the navy; they were originally royal yachts, and one at Chatham was renowned as the yacht of Queen Elizabeth, the same plate being in use in her up to a very late date.

Private pleasure-boats, when sufficiently large for a sea voyage, are also termed yachts. (_See_ ROYAL YACHT.)

YACHT CLUB, ROYAL. An inst.i.tution embodied by a number of n.o.blemen and gentlemen about the year 1820, to which certain privileges are attached.

It was originally established at Cowes, but several ports, as well as the Thames, have their special clubs, and similar privileges.

YAM. The tubers of the _Dioscorea sativa_, and others; a valuable vegetable on long voyages. _D. aculeata_ frequently produces tubers 3 feet long, and weighing 30 lbs. Also, the West India word for food; "Toko for yam," the negro's punishment--blows but no food.

YANKEE. An appellation often erroneously given to North Americans in general, whereas it is strictly applicable to those of the New England states only; it is not used complimentarily in the back settlements.

YARD. A measure of length, consisting of 3 feet.

YARD [Anglo-Saxon _gyrde_]. A long cylindrical timber suspended upon the mast of a vessel to spread a sail. They are termed square, lateen, or lug: the first are suspended across the masts at right angles, and the two latter obliquely. The square yards taper from the middle, which is called the slings, towards the extremities, which are termed the yard-arms; and the distance between is divided by the artificers into quarters, called the first, second, third quarters, and yard-arms. The middle quarters are formed into eight sides, and each of the end parts is figured like the frustum of a cone: on the alternate sides of the octagon, in large spars, oak battens are brought on and hooped, so as to strengthen, and yet not greatly increase, the weight.--_To brace the yards._ To traverse them about the masts, so as to form greater or lesser angles with the s.h.i.+p's length. (_See_ BRACE.)--_To square the yards._ (_See_ SQUARE.)

YARD-ARM. That part of a yard outside the quarter, which is on either side of the mast beyond the battens, when it lies athwart the s.h.i.+p. It generally means the extremity of the yard, and it is fitted with sheave-holes for reeving sheets through.

YARD-ARM AND YARD-ARM. The situation of two s.h.i.+ps lying alongside one another, so near that their yard-arms nearly touch each other, or even cross. The term implies close action and no mistake.

YARD-ARM CLEATS. Wooden wedges fixed on the yards at those points where they support the lifts and braces, and where the head-earings are secured. The reef-cleats on the topsail-yards are beyond the lifts and braces.

YARD-ARM PIECE. An octagonal piece of timber supplied to replace a yard-arm if shot away. It is one-third the length of the main-yard.

YARD-ROPE. Is only used for temporary purposes; the most usual application of the term is that by which a yard is hoisted for crossing, or sent down. Also, rove for execution. The yard-rope of the lighter yards is the halliards, which, when the yard is crossed, is made into tie and halliards by a peculiar mode of toggling on the halliard purchase, as in the order, "Toggle the halliards!"

YARDS. _See_ DOCKYARDS.

YARDS APEEK. When they are topped, so as to resemble St. Andrew's cross; it is done as a token of mourning, or for convenience when vessels lie alongside of each other, as in the docks.