The Sailor's Word-Book Part 9

ANAS. A genus of water-birds of the order _Natatores_. Now restricted to the typical ducks.

ANASTROUS. _See_ DODECATIMORIA.

ANAUMACHION. The crime amongst the ancients of refusing to serve in the fleet--the punishment affixed to which was infamy.

ANCHIROMACHUS.--A kind of vessel of the middle ages used for transporting anchors and naval stores.

ANCHOR. A large and heavy instrument in use from the earliest times for holding and retaining s.h.i.+ps, which it executes with admirable force.

With few exceptions it consists of a long iron shank, having at one end a ring, to which the cable is attached, and the other branching out into two arms, with flukes or palms at their bill or extremity. A stock of timber or iron is fixed at right angles to the arms, and serves to guide the flukes perpendicularly to the surface of the ground. According to their various form and size, anchors obtain the epithets of the _sheet_, _best bower_, _small bower_, _spare_, _stream_, _kedge_, and _grapling_ (which see under their respective heads).

_Anchor floating_, _see_ FLOATING ANCHOR.--_At anchor_, the situation of a s.h.i.+p which rides by its anchor.--_To anchor_, to cast or to let go the anchor, so that it falls into the ground for the s.h.i.+p to ride thereby.--_To anchor_ with a spring on the cable, _see_ SPRING. _Anchor_ is also used figuratively for anything which confers security or stability.

ANCHORABLE. Fit for anchorage.

ANCHORAGE. Ground which is suitable, and neither too deep, shallow, or exposed for s.h.i.+ps to ride in safety upon; also the set of anchors belonging to a s.h.i.+p; also a royal duty levied from vessels coming to a port or roadstead for the use of its advantages. It is generally marked on the charts by an anchor, and described according to its attributes of good, snug, open, or exposed.

ANCHOR-BALL. A pyrotechnical combustible attached to a grapnel for adhering to and setting fire to s.h.i.+ps.

ANCHOR-CHOCKS. Pieces indented into a wooden anchor-stock where it has become worn or defective in the way of the shank; also pieces of wood or iron on which an anchor rests when it is stowed.

ANCHOR-DAVIT. _See_ DAVIT.

ANCh.o.r.eD. Held by the anchor; also the act of having cast anchor.

ANCHOR-HOLD. The fastness of the flukes on the ground; also the act of having cast anchor, and taken the ground. (_See_ HOME.)

ANCHOR-HOOPS. Strong iron hoops, binding the stock to the end of the shank and over the nuts of the anchor.

ANCHOR-ICE. The ice which is formed on and incrustates the beds of lakes and rivers: the _ground-gru_ of the eastern counties of England. (_See_ ICE-ANCHOR.)

ANCHORING. The act of casting anchor.--_Anchoring ground_ is that where anchors will find bottom, fix themselves, and hold s.h.i.+ps securely: free from rocks, wrecks, or other matters which would break or foul the anchor or injure the cable. In legal points it is not admitted as either port, creek, road, or roadstead, unless it be _statio tutissima nautis_.

A vessel dropping anchor in known foul ground, or where any danger is incurred by inability to recover the anchor, or by being there detained until driven off by stress of weather, is not legally anch.o.r.ed.

ANCHOR-LINING. The short pieces of plank fastened to the sides of the s.h.i.+p, under the fore-channels, to prevent the bill of the anchor from tearing the s.h.i.+p's side when fis.h.i.+ng or drawing it up. (_See also_ BILL-BOARDS.)

ANCHOR-RING. Formerly the great ring welded into the hole for it. Recent anchors have Jew's-harp shackles, easily replaced, and not so liable to be destroyed by chain-cables.

ANCHOR-SEAT. An old term for the prow of a s.h.i.+p, still in use with eastern nations--Chinese, j.a.panese, &c.

ANCHOR-SHACKLE. An open link of iron which connects the chain with the anchor--a "Jew's-harp" shackle.

ANCHOR-SMITH. A forger of anchors.

ANCHOR-STOCK. A bar at the upper end of the shank, crossing the direction of the flukes transversely, to steady their proper direction.

In small anchors it is made of iron, but in large ones it is composed of two long cheeks or beams of oak, strongly bolted and tree-nailed together, secured with four iron hoops. It is now generally superseded by the iron stock.

ANCHOR-STOCK-FAs.h.i.+ON. The method of placing the b.u.t.t of one wale-plank nearly over the middle of the other; and the planks being broadest in the middle, and tapered to the ends, they resemble an anchor-stock, with which it is more in keeping than is the method called _top-and-b.u.t.t_; also pursued in fis.h.i.+ng spars, making false rudder-heads, &c.

ANCHOR-STOCKING is a mode of securing and working planks in general with tapered b.u.t.ts.

ANCHOR-STOCK TACKLE. A small tackle attached to the upper part of the anchor-stock when stowing the anchor, its object being to bring it perpendicular and closer to the s.h.i.+p.

ANCHOR-WATCH. A subdivision of the watch kept constantly on deck during the time the s.h.i.+p lies at single anchor, to be in readiness to hoist jib or staysails, to keep the s.h.i.+p clear of her anchor; or in readiness to veer more cable or let go another anchor in case the s.h.i.+p should drive or part her anchor. This watch is also in readiness to avoid collision in close rivers by veering cable, setting sail, using the helm, &c., which formerly involved the essence of seamans.h.i.+p.

ANCHOVY. The _Engraulis encrasicholus_. A small fish of the family _Clupeidae_, about four inches in length, much used in sauces and seasoning when cured. It is migratory, but princ.i.p.ally taken in the Mediterranean, where those of Gorgona are most esteemed in commerce.

ANCIENT. A term formerly used for the colours and their bearer, as ensign is now. Shakspeare's Nym was only a corporal, but Pistol was an ancient.

ANCON. A corner or angle of a knee-timber.--_Ancon_ [Sp.] Harbour, bay, or anchorage.

ANCOR-STRENG. A very old designation of a cable.

ANCYLE. A kind of dart thrown with a leathern thong.

ANDREA-FERRARA. _See_ FERRARA.

ANDREW, OR ANDREW MILLAR. A cant name for a man-of-war, and also for government and government authorities.

ANDROMEDA. A hemispherical medusa found in the Indian and Red Seas. The body is transparent and brownish, with a black cross in the middle, and has foliaceous white arms on the under part.

ANDROMEDae a. (Alpheratz.) A star of the first magnitude in the constellation of Andromeda.

ANELACE. The early name for a dirk or dagger usually worn at the girdle.

ANEMOMACHIA. A whirlwind or hurricane in old writers.

ANEMOMETER, OR WIND-GAUGE. An instrument wherewith to measure the direction and velocity of wind under its varying forces--a desideratum at sea.

ANEMONE. _See_ ANIMAL FLOWERS.

ANEMOSCOPE. A vane index with pointers to tell the changes of the wind without referring to the weather-c.o.c.k.

AN-END. The position of any spar when erected perpendicularly to the deck. The top-masts are said to be _an-end_ when swayed up to their usual stations and fidded. To strike a spar or plank _an-end_ is to drive it in the direction of its length. (_See_ EVERY ROPE AN-END.)

ANENT, OR ANENST. Opposite to; over against.

ANEROID. A portable barometer or instrument for showing variations of the weather by the pressure of the atmosphere upon a metallic box hermetically sealed.

ANEROST. A coast-word of the western counties for _nigh_ or _almost_.

ANEW. Enough, as relating to number.

ANGEL-FISH. The _Squatina angelus_, of the shark family. It inhabits the northern seas, is six or eight feet long, with a cinereous rough back and white smooth belly; the mouth is beneath the anterior part of the head, and the pectoral fins are very large. (Also, _Chaetodon_.)

ANGEL-HEAD. The hook or barb of an arrow; probably _angle-head_.

ANGEL-SHOT. A ball cut in two, and the halves joined by a chain.

ANGIL. An old term for a fis.h.i.+ng-hook [from the Anglo-Saxon _ongul_, for the same]. It means also a red worm used for a bait in angling or fis.h.i.+ng.