The Sailor's Word-Book Part 87

END OF A TRENCH. The place where the trenches are opened.

END-ON. Said particularly of a s.h.i.+p when only her bows and head-sails are to be seen, but generally used in opposition to _broadside-on_.

ENEMY. The power or people against whom war is waged.

ENFIELD RIFLE. The name of the present regulation musket for infantry, as made at the government works at Enfield, on an improvement of the Minie principle; whether the breach-loading rifle, which it is intended to subst.i.tute for this arm, will acquire the same t.i.tle, remains to be determined.

ENFILADE FIRE. Is that which sweeps a line of works or men from one end to the other; it is on land nearly the equivalent to "raking fire" at sea.

ENGAGEMENT. In a naval sense, implies a battle at sea, or an action of hostility between single s.h.i.+ps, squadrons, or fleets of men-of-war.

Also, a conflict between two contending armies.

ENGINE, MARINE. (_See_ MARINE ENGINES.) Engine was of old a military machine for warfare.

ENGINE-BEARERS. Sleepers, or pieces of timber placed between the keelson, in a steamer, and the boilers of the steam-engine, to form a proper seat for the boilers and machinery.

ENGINEER. A duly qualified officer appointed to plan and direct the attack or defence of a fortification, as well as the construction of fortified works. Engineers are also persons in charge of the machinery of steam-vessels. In government steamers they are in three cla.s.ses, under warrant from the admiralty.

ENGINE-ROOM TELEGRAPH. A dial-contrivance by which the officer on deck can communicate with the engineer below.

ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY. This is introduced into a naval vocabulary, not as wanting explanation, but that in recording the most remarkable signal ever made to a fleet, we may remind the tyro, that these words of Nelson are admirably adapted for all the varying changes of sea-life, whether in times of war or peace.

ENGLISH. A term applied to the vessels and men of the whole empire, and its maritime population. "Indeed," says Burke in a letter to Admiral Keppel, "I am perfectly convinced that _Englishman_ and _seaman_ are names that must live and die together."

ENLARGE. The wind is said to enlarge when it veers from the side towards the stern.

ENLISTMENT. The engaging recruits for the army or marines.

ENNEAGON. A figure that has nine sides and as many angles.

ENNIS, OR INNIS. A term for island on the west coast of Ireland and in some parts of Scotland.

ENROL, TO. To enter the name on the roll of a corps.

ENSCONCE, TO. To intrench; to protect by a slight fortification.

ENSENADA [Sp. bay]. This term is frequently used on the coasts of Chili and Peru.

ENSIGN. [From the Anglo-Saxon _segn_.] A large flag or banner, hoisted on a long pole erected over the stern, and called the ensign-staff. It is used to distinguish the s.h.i.+ps of different nations from each other, as also to characterize the different squadrons of the navy; it was formerly written _ancient_. Ensign is in the army the t.i.tle of the junior rank of subaltern officers of infantry; from amongst them are detailed the officers who carry the colours.

ENTERING AT CUSTOM-HOUSE. The forms required of the master of a merchant s.h.i.+p before her cargo can be discharged.

ENTERING-LADDERS. Are of two sorts; one of them being used by the vessel's side in harbour or in fair weather, the other is made of ropes, with small staves for steps, and is hung out of the gallery to come aboard by, when the sea runs so high as to risk staving the boat if brought alongside; the latter are termed stern-ladders.

ENTERING-PORTS. Ports cut down on the middle gun-deck of three-deckers, to serve as door-ways for persons going in and out of the s.h.i.+p.

ENTERING-ROPES, OR SIDE-ROPES. Three are sometimes used to aid in climbing the s.h.i.+p's side. They hang from the upper part on the right, left, and middle of the steps. (_See_ GANGWAY.) The upper end of an entering-rope is rove through an eye in the iron stanchion at the gangway; it is walled, crowned, and otherwise ornamentally fitted.

ENTERPRISE. An undertaking of difficulty and danger.

ENTRANCE. A term for the bow of a vessel, or form of the _fore-body_ under the load water-line; it expresses the figure of that which encounters the sea, and is the opposite of _run_. Also, the first appearance of a person on board after entry on the s.h.i.+p's books. Also, the fore-foot of a s.h.i.+p. Also, the mouth of a harbour.

ENTRANCE MONEY. Payment on entering a mess.

ENTRY. In the s.h.i.+p's books; first putting down the appearance or day on which a man joins. Also, the forcing into an enemy's s.h.i.+p.

ENVELOPE. In astronomy, a band of light encircling the head of a comet on the side near the sun, and pa.s.sing round it, so as to form the commencement of the tail.--In fortification, a work of single lines thrown up to inclose a weak ground; usually a mere earth-work.

EPAULE, OR SHOULDER. In fortification, that part of a bastion adjacent to the junction of a face with a flank. The actual meeting of these two lines forms the "angle of the shoulder."

EPAULEMENT. In fortification, a covering ma.s.s raised to protect from the fire of the enemy, but differing from a parapet in having no arrangement made for the convenient firing over it by defenders. It is usually adopted for side-pa.s.sages to batteries and the like.

EPAULET. The bullion or mark of distinction worn on the shoulders by officers, now common to many grades, but till recently worn only by captains and commanders, whence the brackish poet--

"Hail, magic power that fills an _epaulet_, No wonder hundreds for thee daily fret!"

the meaning of which is now pointless.

EPHEMERIS, OR NAUTICAL ALMANAC. This in its wide sense, and recognizing its value to navigators and astronomers, must be p.r.o.nounced one of the most useful of publications. How Drake and Magellan got on is matter of marvel, for sailors were not especially administered to till 1675, when the _Kalendarium Nautic.u.m_, by Henry Seaman, Mariner, appeared; it comprised the usual matter of annual almanacs, and was enriched with such precepts and rules in the practice of navigation and traffic as are in daily use. But in 1767 our nautical almanac, a tabular statement of the geocentric planetary positions, which may be said to have created a new era in voyaging, was published; and this book, with certain alterations, was in force up to 1830, when a commission of the Royal Society and astronomers established the present _Ephemeris_, now so much valued. It is published annually, but computed to four years in advance, to accommodate those proceeding on long voyages. Attempts have been made in other countries to publish _The Nautical Almanac_, improved and corrected, but they are mere copies, corrected by the errata furnished annually in advance.

EPICYCLOID. A geometrical curve generated by making a circle roll upon the circ.u.mference of another circle; it is found useful in determining the figure of the teeth of wheel-work, and other purposes in mechanics.

If the generating circle proceeds along the convexity of the periphery, it is called an upper or exterior epicycloid; if along the concavity, a lower or interior epicycloid.

EPOCH. The time to which certain given numbers or quant.i.ties apply.

EPROUVETTE. A small piece of ordnance specially fitted for testing the projectile force of samples of gunpowder.

EQUATED ANOMALY. This is also called the true anomaly, and is the distance of the sun from the apogee, or a planet from its aphelion, seen from the sun.

EQUATION, ANNUAL. _See_ ANNUAL EQUATION.

EQUATION OF EQUINOXES. The difference between the mean and apparent places of the equinox.

EQUATION OF THE CENTRE. The difference between the true and mean anomalies of a planet.

EQUATION OF TIME. The difference between mean and apparent time, or the acceleration or r.e.t.a.r.dation of the sun's return to the meridian.

EQUATOR. Called also the equinoctial line, or simply the line, being an imaginary circle round the earth, dividing the globe into two equal parts, and equally distant from both poles. Extended to the heavens, it forms a circle called the celestial equator, which in like manner divides the heavens into two equal parts, the northern and southern hemispheres.

EQUATORIAL CURRENT. The set, chiefly westerly, so frequently met with near the equator, especially in the Atlantic Oceans.

EQUATORIAL DOLDRUMS. _See_ DOLDRUMS.

EQUATORIAL SECTOR. An instrument of large radius for finding the difference in the right ascension and declination of two heavenly bodies.

EQUATORIAL TELESCOPE. A gla.s.s so mounted that it enables the observer to follow the stars as they move equatorially.

EQUES AURATUS. An heraldic term for a knight.