LIPPING. Making notches on the edge of a cutlass or sword.

LIPS OF SCARPHS. The substance left at the ends, which would otherwise become sharp, and be liable to split.

LIQUORS. A term applicable to all fluids, but at sea it is expressly applied to alcoholic spirits.

LIRA. An Italian coin. A silver coin of about tenpence sterling.

LISBONINE. A national denomination for the moidore.

LISSOM. Active, supple.

LIST, To. To incline to one side; as "the ship has a list to port," i.e. leans over to that side.

LIST. A roll of names, as the army and navy lists; but usually at sea it means the doctor's list. Also, the abbreviation for enlist. "Why did you list?" said when a man is grumbling who has entered a service voluntarily.

LIST AND RECEIPT. The official document sent with officers or men of any description, discharged from one ship to another; it merely states the names and qualities, with the date of discharge.

LISTER. A sort of three-pronged harpoon used in the salmon fisheries; also, a light spear for killing fish in general.

LISTING. A narrow strip cut off the edge of a plank, in order to expose for examination, and get at, a vessel's timbers.

LITTER. A sort of hurdle bed, on which to carry wounded men from the field to the boats.

LITTORAL. Relating to a coast; often used as synonymous with sea-board.

LITTORARIÆ. Ancient coasting vessels.

LIVE, To. To be able to withstand the fury of the elements; said of a boat or ship, &c.

LIVE-LUMBER. Passengers, ladies, landsmen, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry.

LIVELY. To lift lightly to the sea; as a boat, &c.

LIVER-FACED. Mean and cowardly, independent of complexion.

LIVERY-ARROW. A missile formerly supplied to our ships of war.

LIVE-SHELL. One filled with its charge of powder or other combustible. It is also called a loaded shell.

LIVID SKY. That blackish red and blue which pervade the sky, previous to an easterly gale, at sea:—

LIZARD. A piece of rope, sometimes with two legs, and one or more iron thimbles spliced into it. It is used for various purposes; one is often made fast to the topsail-tye, for the buntlines to reeve through, to[450] confine them to the centre of the yard. A lizard with a tail and thimble is used as a fair lead, to lead out where the lift runs in a line with the object. The lower boom topping-lift is thus helped by carrying the lizard out to the fore-brace block.

In yards sent aloft ready for crossing, the lizard confines the yard rope until the order is given, "Sway across," when, letting the lizard run, all cross simultaneously.

LIZIERE. In fortification, a word sometimes used for berm (which see). A narrow bank of earth supporting the parapet when deformed by fire.

LLANOS [Sp. plains]. Immense plains in S. America, with alternate arid patches and verdure.

LLOYD'S. An establishment which, from a subscription coffee-house, has grown to a society which has transacted the bulk of the British insurance business regularly since 1601; and even before that period assurers had met there "time out of mind." A register is kept of every ship, whether foreign or English, with the place where it was built, the materials used in its construction, its age, state of repair, and general character.

LLOYD'S AGENTS. Persons appointed in all parts of the commercial world, to forward accounts of the arrivals and departures of vessels, or any information interesting to the underwriters.

LLOYD'S LIST. A gazette, published formerly twice a week, but latterly daily, under the superintendence of a committee chosen by the subscribers, and transmitted over the whole world.

LLOYD'S REGISTER. An annual list of British and foreign shipping, ranked by letter and number in different classes.

LLOYD'S SURVEYORS. Practical persons specially appointed in London, and most of the out-ports of the United Kingdom, to investigate the state and condition of merchant-ships for the underwriters.

LOADED-SHELL. A shell filled with lead, to be thrown from a mortar. The term is also used for live-shells.

LOADING-CHAMBER. The paterero, or inserting piece in breech-loading.

LOADING OF A SHIP. See Cargo and Lading.

LOADSMAN. A pilot, or person who conducts into or out of harbours.

LOADSTONE. See Magnet and Dipping-needle.

LOAD WATER-LINE. The draught of water exhibited when the ship is properly loaded; in a word, her proper displacement, not always sufficiently considered.

LOAD WATER-SECTION. A horizontal section at the load water-line in the ship-builder's draught.

LOAFER. One who hangs about a dock, ready for every job except a hard one.

LOATH TO DEPART. Probably the first line of some favourite song; formerly the air was sounded in men-of-war, when going foreign, for the women and children to quit the ship.

LOB. A sluggish booby; whence lubber. Also, that part of a tree where it first divides into branches.[451]

LOBBY. A name sometimes given to an apartment close before the great cabin bulk-head.

LOB-COCK. A lubber; an old term of utter contempt.

LOBLOLLY. A name formerly applied to pottage, burgoo, or gruel.

LOBLOLLY-BOY. A man who attended the surgeon and his assistants, to summon the sick, and attend on them. A man is now stationed in the bay, under the designation of sick-berth attendant.

LOBSCOUSE. An olla-podrida of salt-meat, biscuit, potatoes, onions, spices, &c., minced small and stewed together. (See Lap's Course.)

LOBSTER. A well-known marine crustacean, Astacus marinus. Also, red-coats of old; whence lobster-box, a colloquialism for barracks.

LOBSTER-BOAT. A bluff, clincher-built vessel, fitted with a well, to preserve the lobsters alive.

LOBSTER-TOAD. See Deep-sea Crab.

LOB-TAILING. The act of the sperm whale in violently beating the water with its tail.

LOB-WORM. A worm found at low-water in sand, esteemed for bait.

LOCAL ATTRACTION. The effect of the iron in a ship on her compasses; it varies with the position of a compass in a ship, also with that of a ship on the earth's surface, and with the direction of the ship's head. In iron ships it is affected by the line of direction in which they are built. Its detection and remedies are amongst the most important studies of navigators of iron ships and steamers.

LOCAL MARINE-BOARD. See Marine Boards.

LOCH. Gaelic for lake, in Scotland and Ireland. In Scotland also an arm of the sea, where the tides ebb and flow; on the east coast called a firth, though on the west mostly termed a loch.

LOCHABER AXE. A formidable weapon once used by the Highlanders.

LOCK. The striking instrument by which fire is produced for the discharge of a gun, containing the cock, the hammer, the pan, &c. It was first introduced in naval ordnance by Sir Charles Douglas, and has now given way to the detonating hammer and friction-tube, as the old match and the salamander did to the lock.

LOCK. A spelling of loch (which see). Also, the general name for any works made to confine or raise the water of a river; a canal inclosed between the sluice-gate above and the flood-gate below.

LOCK, To. To entangle the lower yards when tacking.

LOCKAGE. The cost of passing vessels through canal-locks.

LOCKER. Divisions in cabins and store-rooms. —Boatswain's locker. A chest in small craft wherein material for working upon rigging is kept. —Chain-locker or chain-well, where the chain-cables are kept; best abreast the main-mast, as central weight, but often before the fore-mast.

—Davy Jones' locker. The bottom of the sea, where nothing is lost, because you know where it is. —Shot-lockers, near the pump-well in the hold. Also, the receptacle round the coamings of hatchways.

LOCKET. The chape of a sword-scabbard.[452]

LOCK-FAST. A modified principle in the breech-loading of fire-arms.

LOCKING-IN. The alternate clues and bodies of the hammocks when hung up.

LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL. An expression derived from fire-arms, and meaning the whole.

LOC-MEN, or Loco-men. An old term for pilots.

LOCOMOTIVE-POWER. The force of sails and wind, or steam.

LODE-MANAGE, or Lodemanship. The hire of a pilot. It also meant both pilotage and seamanship; whence Chaucer—

LODE-MEREGE. In the laws of Oleron, seems identical with lode-manage.

LODE-SHIP. A pilot boat, which was also employed in fishing; it is mentioned in statute 31 Edward III. c. 2.

LODESMEN. An Anglo-Saxon word for pilots.

LODE-STAR. The north star. But Spenser alludes to any star as a guide to mariners:—

Shakspeare coincides with this, in comparing Hermia's eyes to lode-stars.

LODGE ARMS. The word of command to an armed party preparatory to their breaking off.

LODGEMENT. In fortification, an established footing, such as a besieger makes by throwing up hasty cover, against the fire of the defenders, on any freshly gained post.

LODGING-KNEES, or Deck-beam Knees. Those riding on the hanging or dagger-knees, and fixed horizontally in the ship's frame.

LODIA. A large trading boat of the White Sea.

LOE, or Lawe. An eminence, whether natural or artificial.

LOFTY SHIPS. Once a general name for square-rigged vessels:—

LOG-BOARD. Two boards shutting together like a book, and divided into several columns, in which to record, through the hours of the day and night, the direction of the wind and the course of the ship, with all the material occurrences, together with the latitude by observation. From this table the officers work the ship's way, and compile their journals. The whole being written by the mate of the watch with chalk, is rubbed out every day at noon. Now a slate is more generally used.

LOG-BOOK. Mostly called the log, is a journal into which the log-board is daily transcribed, together with any other circumstance deserving notice. The intermediate divisions or watches are usually signed by the commanding officer. It is also divided into harbour-log and sea-log.

LOG-CANOE. One hollowed out of a single log. (See Canoe.)[453]

LOGGED. Entered in the log. A very serious punishment, not long disused, as a mark of disgrace, by recording the omissions of an officer. It may yet be demanded if arrest ensues.

LOGGED. When a ship is on her beam ends, or in that state in which she is unmanageable at sea. (See Water-logged.)

LOGGERHEAD, or Logger-heat. A round ball of iron attached to a long handle with a hook at the end of it. It heats tar by being made hot in the fire, and then plunged into the tar-bucket. It was also used to pound cocoa before chocolate was supplied. Also, an upright rounded piece of wood, near the stern of a whale-boat, for catching a turn of the line to.

Also, a name given to a well-known turtle, Chelonia caouana, from its having a great head; it is sometimes called the whooper or whapper. (See Turtle.

LOG-GLASS. The sand-glass used at heaving the log to obtain the rate of sailing. It is a 28 seconds glass for slow sailing, and 14 seconds for fast sailing.

LOG-LINE AND LOG-SHIP. A small line about 100 fathoms long, fastened to the log-ship by means of two legs, one of which passes through a hole at the corner, and is knotted on the opposite side, while the other leg is attached by a pin fixed into another hole so as to draw out when stop is called, i. e. when the glass has run out. This line, from the distance of 10, 12, or 15 fathoms of the log-ship, has certain knots or divisions, which ought to be 47 feet 4 inches from each other, though it was the common practice at sea not to have them above 42 feet.