STOP. A small projection on the outside of the cheeks of a lower mast, at the upper parts of the hounds. Also, the word given by him who holds the glass in heaving the log, to check the line and determine how fast she is going.—To stop. To tie up with small stuff; as a sail is stopped when sending it aloft to prevent the wind from blowing it away; a flag is stopped to make a wheft, &c.

STOP HER! An order to check the cable in being payed out. Also, a self-explanatory phrase to direct the engineer of a steamer to stop the action of the engines.

STOPPAGE in Transitu. A valuable privilege under which an unpaid consigner or broker may stop or countermand his goods upon their passage to the consignee on the insolvency of the vendee.

STOPPER of the Anchor. A strong rope attached to the cat-head, which, passing through the anchor-ring, is afterwards fastened to a timber-head, thereby securing the anchor on the bow.

STOPPER of the Cable. Commonly called a deck-stopper. A piece of[659] rope having a large knot at one end, and hooked or lashed to a ring-bolt in the deck by the other; it is attached to the cable by a laniard, which is passed securely round both, by several turns passed behind the knot, or round the neck of the stopper, by which means the cable is restrained from running out of the ship when she rides, and is an additional security to the bitted cable. —Dog-stopper. A strong rope clenched round the main-mast, and used on particular occasions to relieve and assist the preceding when the ship rides in a heavy sea, or otherwise veering with a strain on the cable.

—Wing-stoppers. Similar pieces of rope clenched round one of the beams near the ship's side, and serving the same purpose as the preceding. —Rigging-stoppers have a knot and a laniard at each end; they are used when the shrouds, stays, or backstays are stranded in action, or in a gale; they are then lashed above and below, in the same manner as those of the cables, to the wounded parts of the shroud, &c. , which are thereby strengthened, so as to be fit for service. Other rigging-stoppers have dead-eyes and tails, so that by securing one dead-eye above and the other below the injury, they can be set up by their laniard, and brought to an even strain with the other shrouds.

Stoppers are also pieces of rope used to prevent the running-rigging from coming up whilst being belayed. Sometimes they have a knot at one end, and a hook at the other, for various purposes about the decks.

STOPPERING. The act of checking or holding fast any rope or cable by means of a stopper.

STOPPER-KNOT. Single and double wall, without crowning, and the ends stopped together.

STOP THE VENT, To. To close it hermetically by pressing the thumb to it.

STOP-WATER. Anything tending to impede the sailing of a ship, by towing overboard. Also, a name for particular tree-nails.

STORE-KEEPER. An officer in the royal dockyards, invested with the general charge of naval stores, as the sails, anchors, cordage, &c.

STORES. A general term for the arms, clothing, ropes, sails, provisions, and other outfit, with which a ship is supplied.

STORE-SHIP. A government vessel appropriated for carrying munitions and stores.

STORM, To. To take by vigorous assault, in spite of the resistance of the defenders.

STORM-BREEDERS. Heavy cumulo-stratus clouds.

STORM-DRUM. A canvas cylinder 3 feet in length, expanded at each end by a strong wooden hoop 3 feet in diameter. Fitzroy's is painted black, and presents, when suspended, the appearance of a black square of 3 feet, from all points of view.

STORM-FINCH. The petrel, or Mother Cary's chicken.

STORM-JIB. In cutters, the fifth or sixth size: the inner jib of square-rigged ships.

STORM-KITE. A contrivance for sending a hawser from a stranded vessel to the shore.[660]

STORMS [from the Anglo-Saxon steorm]. Tempests, or gales of wind in nautic language, are of various kinds, and will be found under their respective designations. But that is a storm which reduces a ship to her storm staysails, or to her bare poles.

STORM-SAIL. A sail made of stout No. 1 canvas, of reduced dimensions, for use in a gale.

STORM-SIGNAL. The hoisting of a danger-flag. Also, Fitzroy's drum and cone, which show the direction of the expected gale.

STORM-TRYSAIL. A fore-and-aft sail, hoisted by a gaff, but having no boom at its foot, and only used in foul weather.

STORM-WARNING. See Forecast.

STORM-WAVE. A wave which tumbles home without being accompanied by wind. Sometimes the result of a gale elsewhere.

STORMY PETREL. A small dark coloured sea-bird, Procellaria pelagica.

STOVE. Broken in; thus, when violent damage is done to the upper part of a ship's hull, she is said to be stove; when on any portion of her bottom, she is bilged.—A stove, is a kind of kiln for warping timber in.—Hanging stoves are also used on board ship for airing the 'tween decks.

STOWAGE. An important art more practised than understood, for the stower seldom consults the specialities of the vessel's construction; it is the general disposition of the ballast, cargo, &c. , contained in a ship's hold, with regard to their shape, size, or solidity, agreeably to the form of the vessel, and its probable centre of gravity. A badly stowed vessel cannot be properly handled, and is indeed dangerous to the lives of all on board. Owners and masters are legally liable to the losses by bad stowage or deficient dunnage.

(See Wet.

STOWAGE GOODS. Those which usually pay freight according to bulk.

STOWED IN BULK. See Bulk.

STOWING HAMMOCKS. Placing them in a neat and symmetrical order in the hammock-netting.

STOWING-STRAKE. See Steeler.

STRAGGLING-MONEY. If a man be absent from his duty without leave, but not absent long enough to be logged as run, and is brought on board, a deduction is to be made from his wages at the discretion of the captain; not, however, to exceed the sum of £1.

STRAIGHT OF BREADTH. The space before and abaft the dead-flat, in which the ship is of the same uniform breadth as at the dead-flat.

STRAIN-BANDS. Bands of canvas sustaining the strain on the belly of the sails, and reinforced by the linings, &c.

STRAIT, or Straight. A passage connecting one part of a sea with another; as, the Straits of Gibraltar, of Sunda, of Dover, &c. This word is often written in the plural, but without competent reason.

STRAIT GULF. An arm of the sea running into the land through a narrow entrance channel, as the Gulf of Venice. The Mediterranean itself is but a vast strait gulf.[661]

STRAKE. One breadth of plank in a ship, either within or without board, wrought from the stem to the stern-post.—Garboard-strake. The lowest range of planks, faying into the keel-rabbets.—Wash-strake guards spray.

STRAND. A number of rope-yarns twisted together; one of the twists or divisions of which a rope is composed. The part which passes through to form the eye of a splice. Also, a sea-margin; the portion alternately left and covered by tides. Synonymous with beach.

It is not altered from the original Anglo-Saxon.

STRANDED. A rope is stranded when one of its strands is broken by chafing, or by a strain. A vessel is stranded when driven on shore, in which case the justices of the peace may call in assistance. The term "stranded on the beach," is not so incorrect as has been asserted; and comes under the usual exception in charter-parties and bills of lading, of "all and every dangers of the seas, rivers, and navigation of whatsoever nature or kind;" and in all policies of insurance it falls under the general words of "all other perils, losses, or misfortunes," against the risk of which the insurance is made.

STRANGE SAIL. A vessel heaving in sight, of which the particulars are unknown.

STRAPS OF THE RUDDER. See Pintles.

STRATAGEM. A plan devised to throw dust into the eyes of an enemy, in order to deceive him.

STRATEGY. The science of the naval and military combinations which compel movements and battles, or the contrary, but not including the operations of actual battle, which belong to tactics.

STRATUS. A low cloud which forms a horizontal line. The higher cloud of the same shape is called cirro-stratus.

STRAW! A word of command, now obsolete, formerly given to dismiss soldiers who were to remain in readiness to fall in again at a moment's notice.

STRAY LINE OF THE LOG. About 10 or 12 fathoms of line left unmarked next the log-ship, in order that it may get out of the eddy of the ship's wake before the measuring begins, or the glass is turned.

STRAY-MARK. The mark at the junction of the stray and log lines.

STREAM. Anglo-Saxon for flowing water, meaning especially the middle or most rapid part of a tide or current.

STREAM-ANCHOR. A smaller one by two-thirds than the bowers, and larger than the kedges, used to ride steady, or moor with occasionally. In certain cases it is used for warping.

STREAM-CABLE. A hawser smaller than the lower cables, and used with the stream-anchor to moor the ship in a sheltered river or haven; it is now more generally a small chain.

STREAMER. Formerly described thus:—"A streamer shall stand in the toppe of a shippe, or in the forecastle, and therein be putt no armes, but a man's conceit or device, and may be of the length of 20, 30, 40, or 60 yardes."[662]

STREAM-ICE. A collection of pieces of drift or bay ice, joining each other in a ridge following in the line of current. (See Sea-stream.)

STREAM-LAKE. One which communicates with, the sea by means of a river.

STREAM THE BUOY, To. To let the buoy fall from the after-part of the ship's side into the water, preparatory to letting go the anchor, that it may not foul the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom.

STREMES. An old English word for "the rays of the sun."

STRENGTH. In naval architecture, means giving the various pieces of a ship their proper figures, so that by their combination and disposition they may be united into a firm and compact frame. In regimental affairs it implies merely the number of men actually serving.

STRENGTH OF THE TIDE. Where it runs strongest, which in serpentine courses will be found in the hollow curves.

STRESS. Hard pressure by weather or other causes. Stress of weather often compels a ship to put back to the port whence she sailed.

STRETCH. A word frequently used instead of tack; as, "We shall make a good stretch."—To stretch. To sail by the wind under a crowd of canvas.

STRETCH ALONG A BRACE, To. To lay it along the decks in readiness for the men to lay hold of; called manning it.

STRETCHER. See Sheer-pole.

STRETCHERS. Narrow pieces of wood placed athwart the bottom of a boat, for the rowers to place their feet against, that they may communicate greater effort to their oars. Also, cross-pieces placed between a boat's sides to keep them apart when hoisted up and griped. Colloquially, a stretcher means a lie exaggerated to absurdity.

STRETCH OUT! In rowing, is the order to pull strong; to bend forward to the utmost.

STRICTLAND. An archaic term for an isthmus.

STRIKE, To. A ship strikes when she in any way touches the bottom. Also, to lower anything, as the ensign or top-sail in saluting, or as the yards, topgallant-masts, and top-masts in a gale. It is also particularly used to express the lowering of the colours in token of surrender to a victorious enemy.

STRIKE DOWN! The order to lower casks, &c., into the hold.

STRIKERS. Men furnished with harpoons or grains to attack fish; hence the term dolphin-striker (which see), where these men place themselves.