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From Complete Book of The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc.
By Unknown Author
GUNNERY-SHIP. A ship fitted for training men in the practice of charging, pointing, and firing guns and mortars for the Royal Navy. (See Seamen-gunners.)
GUNNING. An old term for shooting; it is now adopted by the Americans. After the wreck of the Wager, on hearing the pistols fired at Cozens, "it was rainy weather, and not fit for gunning, so that we could not imagine the meaning of it. "—Gunning a ship. Fitting her with[358] ordnance.
—Gunning, in mining, is when the blast explodes and does not rend the mass. —Gunning, signals enforced by guns.
GUNNING-BOAT, or Gunning-shout. A light and narrow boat in which the fen-men pursue the flocks of wild-fowl.
GUNNY. Sackcloth or coarse canvas, made of fibres used in India, chiefly of jute.
GUNNY-BAGS. The sacks used on the India station for holding rice, biscuit, &c.; often as sand-bags in fortification.
GUN-PENDULUM. See Ballistic Pendulum.
GUN-PORTS. See Ports.
GUNPOWDER. The well-known explosive composition which, for its regularity of effect and convenience in manufacture and use, is still preferred for general purposes to all the new and more violent but more capricious agents. In England it is composed of 75 parts saltpetre to 10 sulphur and 15 charcoal; these proportions are varied slightly in different countries. The ingredients are mixed together with great mechanical nicety, and the compound is then pressed and granulated. On the application of fire it is converted into gas with vast explosive power, but subject to tolerably well-known laws.
GUN-ROOM. A compartment on the after-end of the lower gun-deck of large ships of war, partly occupied by the junior officers; but in smaller vessels it is below the gun-deck, and the mess-room of the lieutenants.
GUNROOM-PORTS. In frigates, stern-ports cut through the gun-room.
GUN-SEARCHER. An iron instrument with several sharp-pointed prongs and a wooden handle: it is used to find whether the bore is honey-combed.
GUN-SHOT. Formerly, the distance up to which a gun would throw a shot direct to its mark, without added elevation; as the "line of metal" (which see) was generally used in laying, this range was about 800 yards. But now that ranges are so greatly increased, with but slight additions to the elevation, the term will include the distances of ordinary "horizontal fire" (which see); as between ships, with rifled guns, it will not quite reach two miles: though when the mark is large, as a town or dockyard, it is still within long range at five miles' distance.
GUN-SIGHT. See Dispart, or Sights.
GUN-SLINGS. Long rope grommets used for hoisting in and mounting them.
GUN-STONES. An old term for cannon-balls, from stones having been first supplied to the ordnance and used for that purpose. Shakspeare makes Henry V. tell the French ambassadors that their master's tennis-balls shall be changed to gun-stones. This term was retained for a bullet, after the introduction of iron shot.
GUN-TACKLE PURCHASE. A tackle composed of a rope rove through two single blocks, the standing part being made fast to the strop of one of the blocks. It multiplies the power applied threefold.
GUNTEN. A boat of burden in the Moluccas.
GUNTER'S LINE. Called also the line of numbers, and the line of lines,[359] is placed upon scales and sectors, and named from its inventor, Edmund Gunter. It is a logarithmic scale of proportionals, wherein the distance between each division is equal to the number of mean proportionals contained between the two terms, in such parts as the distance between 1 and 10 is 10,000, &c.
GUNTER'S QUADRANT. A kind of stereographic projection on the plane of the equinoctial; the eye is supposed in one of the poles, so that the tropic, ecliptic, and horizon form the arches of the circles, but the hour-circles are all curves, drawn by means of several altitudes of the sun, for some particular latitude, for every day in the year. The use of this instrument is to find the hour of the day, the sun's azimuth, and other common problems of the globe; as also to take the altitude of an object in degrees.
GUNWALE, or Gunnel. Nearly synonymous with plank-sheer (which see); but its strict application is that horizontal plank which covers the heads of the timbers between the main and fore drifts. The gunwale of a boat is a piece of timber going round the upper sheer-strake as a binder for its top-work. —Gunwale-to. Vessels heeling over, so that the gunwale is even with the water.
When a boat sails with a free wind, and rolls each side, or gunwale, to the water's edge, she rolls gunwale-to.
GURGE. A gulf or whirlpool.
GURNARD. A fish of the genus Trigla, so called from its peculiar grunt when removed from the water. Falstaff uses the term "soused gurnet" in a most contemptuous view, owing to its poorness; and its head being all skin and bone gave rise to the saying that the flesh on a gurnard's head is rank poison.
GURNET-PENDANT. A rope, the thimble of which is hooked to the quarter-tackle of the main-yard; it is led through a hole in the deck, for the purpose of raising the breech of a gun, when hoisting in, to the level required to place it on its carriage.
GUSSOCK. An east-country term for a strong and sudden gust of wind.
GUST, or Gush. A sudden violent wind experienced near mountainous lands; it is of short duration, and generally succeeded by fine breezes.
GUT. A somewhat coarse term for the main part of a strait or channel, as the Gut of Gibraltar, Gut of Canso.
GUTTER [Anglo-Saxon géotan, to pour out or shed]. A ditch, sluice, or gote.
GUTTER-LEDGE. A cross-bar laid along the middle of a large hatchway in some vessels, to support the covers and enable them the better to sustain any weighty body.
GUY. A rope used to steady a weighty body from swinging against the ship's side while it is hoisting or lowering, particularly when, there is a high sea. Also, a rope extended from the head of sheers, and made fast at a distance on each side to steady them. The jib-boom is supported by its guys. Also, the name of a tackle used to confine a boom forward, when a vessel is going large, and so prevent the sail from gybing, which would endanger the springing of the boom, or perhaps the upsetting of the vessel.
[360] Also, a large slack rope, extending from the head of the main-mast to the head of the fore-mast, and sustaining a temporary tackle to load or unload a ship with.
GYBING. Another form for jibing (which see).
GYE. A west-country term for a salt-water ditch.
GYMMYRT. The Erse or Manx for rowing with oars.
GYMNOTUS ELECTRICUS. An eel from the Surinam river, several feet in length, which inflicts electrical shocks.
GYN. A three-legged machine fitted with a windlass, heaving in the fall from a purchase-block at the summit, much used on shore for mounting and dismounting guns, driving piles, &c. (See Gibraltar Gyn.)
GYP. A strong gasp for breath, like a fish just taken out of the water.
GYVER. An old term for blocks or pulleys.
GYVES. Fetters; the old word for handcuffs.
G., Part 7
GUNNERY-SHIP. A ship fitted for training men in the practice of charging, pointing, and firing guns and mortars for the Royal Navy. (See Seamen-gunners.)
GUNNING. An old term for shooting; it is now adopted by the Americans. After the wreck of the Wager, on hearing the pistols fired at Cozens, "it was rainy weather, and not fit for gunning, so that we could not imagine the meaning of it. "—Gunning a ship. Fitting her with[358] ordnance.
—Gunning, in mining, is when the blast explodes and does not rend the mass. —Gunning, signals enforced by guns.
GUNNING-BOAT, or Gunning-shout. A light and narrow boat in which the fen-men pursue the flocks of wild-fowl.
GUNNY. Sackcloth or coarse canvas, made of fibres used in India, chiefly of jute.
GUNNY-BAGS. The sacks used on the India station for holding rice, biscuit, &c.; often as sand-bags in fortification.
GUN-PENDULUM. See Ballistic Pendulum.
GUN-PORTS. See Ports.
GUNPOWDER. The well-known explosive composition which, for its regularity of effect and convenience in manufacture and use, is still preferred for general purposes to all the new and more violent but more capricious agents. In England it is composed of 75 parts saltpetre to 10 sulphur and 15 charcoal; these proportions are varied slightly in different countries. The ingredients are mixed together with great mechanical nicety, and the compound is then pressed and granulated. On the application of fire it is converted into gas with vast explosive power, but subject to tolerably well-known laws.
GUN-ROOM. A compartment on the after-end of the lower gun-deck of large ships of war, partly occupied by the junior officers; but in smaller vessels it is below the gun-deck, and the mess-room of the lieutenants.
GUNROOM-PORTS. In frigates, stern-ports cut through the gun-room.
GUN-SEARCHER. An iron instrument with several sharp-pointed prongs and a wooden handle: it is used to find whether the bore is honey-combed.
GUN-SHOT. Formerly, the distance up to which a gun would throw a shot direct to its mark, without added elevation; as the "line of metal" (which see) was generally used in laying, this range was about 800 yards. But now that ranges are so greatly increased, with but slight additions to the elevation, the term will include the distances of ordinary "horizontal fire" (which see); as between ships, with rifled guns, it will not quite reach two miles: though when the mark is large, as a town or dockyard, it is still within long range at five miles' distance.
GUN-SIGHT. See Dispart, or Sights.
GUN-SLINGS. Long rope grommets used for hoisting in and mounting them.
GUN-STONES. An old term for cannon-balls, from stones having been first supplied to the ordnance and used for that purpose. Shakspeare makes Henry V. tell the French ambassadors that their master's tennis-balls shall be changed to gun-stones. This term was retained for a bullet, after the introduction of iron shot.
GUN-TACKLE PURCHASE. A tackle composed of a rope rove through two single blocks, the standing part being made fast to the strop of one of the blocks. It multiplies the power applied threefold.
GUNTEN. A boat of burden in the Moluccas.
GUNTER'S LINE. Called also the line of numbers, and the line of lines,[359] is placed upon scales and sectors, and named from its inventor, Edmund Gunter. It is a logarithmic scale of proportionals, wherein the distance between each division is equal to the number of mean proportionals contained between the two terms, in such parts as the distance between 1 and 10 is 10,000, &c.
GUNTER'S QUADRANT. A kind of stereographic projection on the plane of the equinoctial; the eye is supposed in one of the poles, so that the tropic, ecliptic, and horizon form the arches of the circles, but the hour-circles are all curves, drawn by means of several altitudes of the sun, for some particular latitude, for every day in the year. The use of this instrument is to find the hour of the day, the sun's azimuth, and other common problems of the globe; as also to take the altitude of an object in degrees.
GUNWALE, or Gunnel. Nearly synonymous with plank-sheer (which see); but its strict application is that horizontal plank which covers the heads of the timbers between the main and fore drifts. The gunwale of a boat is a piece of timber going round the upper sheer-strake as a binder for its top-work. —Gunwale-to. Vessels heeling over, so that the gunwale is even with the water.
When a boat sails with a free wind, and rolls each side, or gunwale, to the water's edge, she rolls gunwale-to.
GURGE. A gulf or whirlpool.
GURNARD. A fish of the genus Trigla, so called from its peculiar grunt when removed from the water. Falstaff uses the term "soused gurnet" in a most contemptuous view, owing to its poorness; and its head being all skin and bone gave rise to the saying that the flesh on a gurnard's head is rank poison.
GURNET-PENDANT. A rope, the thimble of which is hooked to the quarter-tackle of the main-yard; it is led through a hole in the deck, for the purpose of raising the breech of a gun, when hoisting in, to the level required to place it on its carriage.
GUSSOCK. An east-country term for a strong and sudden gust of wind.
GUST, or Gush. A sudden violent wind experienced near mountainous lands; it is of short duration, and generally succeeded by fine breezes.
GUT. A somewhat coarse term for the main part of a strait or channel, as the Gut of Gibraltar, Gut of Canso.
GUTTER [Anglo-Saxon géotan, to pour out or shed]. A ditch, sluice, or gote.
GUTTER-LEDGE. A cross-bar laid along the middle of a large hatchway in some vessels, to support the covers and enable them the better to sustain any weighty body.
GUY. A rope used to steady a weighty body from swinging against the ship's side while it is hoisting or lowering, particularly when, there is a high sea. Also, a rope extended from the head of sheers, and made fast at a distance on each side to steady them. The jib-boom is supported by its guys. Also, the name of a tackle used to confine a boom forward, when a vessel is going large, and so prevent the sail from gybing, which would endanger the springing of the boom, or perhaps the upsetting of the vessel.
[360] Also, a large slack rope, extending from the head of the main-mast to the head of the fore-mast, and sustaining a temporary tackle to load or unload a ship with.
GYBING. Another form for jibing (which see).
GYE. A west-country term for a salt-water ditch.
GYMMYRT. The Erse or Manx for rowing with oars.
GYMNOTUS ELECTRICUS. An eel from the Surinam river, several feet in length, which inflicts electrical shocks.
GYN. A three-legged machine fitted with a windlass, heaving in the fall from a purchase-block at the summit, much used on shore for mounting and dismounting guns, driving piles, &c. (See Gibraltar Gyn.)
GYP. A strong gasp for breath, like a fish just taken out of the water.
GYVER. An old term for blocks or pulleys.
GYVES. Fetters; the old word for handcuffs.