LETTERS OF MART or Marque. A commission formerly granted by the lords of the admiralty, or by the admiral of any distant station, to a merchant-ship or privateer, to cruize against and make prizes of the enemy's ships. The ship so commissioned is also called a letter of marque. The act of parliament requires that on granting letters of marque and reprisal, the captain and two sureties shall appear and give security. In 1778 it was decided that all the ships taken from France by vessels having letters of marque only against the Americans, became droits of admiralty.

This commission was forfeitable for acts of cruelty or misconduct.

LETTERS OF REPRISAL. The same as letters of marque.

LETTUCE-LAVER. The edible sea-weed Ulva lactuca.

LEVANT. A wind coming from the east, which freshens as the sun rises, and subsides as it declines—To levant, to desert.

LEVANTER. A strong and raw easterly wind in the Mediterranean.

LEVANTS. Land-springs on the coasts of Sussex and Hampshire.

LEVEE. A French word for a mole or causeway, adopted of late for river embankments of magnitude, as those of the Po, the Thames, and the Mississippi.[441]

LEVEL-ERROR. The microscopic deviation of the axis of a transit instrument from the horizontal position.

LEVELING. The art of finding how much higher or lower horizontally any given point on the earth's surface is, than another point on the same; practised in various ways.

LEVELLED OUT. Any line continued out from a given point, or intersection of an angle, in a horizontal direction.

LEVEL-LINES. Lines determining the shape of a ship's body horizontally, or square from the middle line of the ship.

LEVELS. Horizontal lines; or as a base square to a perpendicular bob.

LEVER. In the marine steam-engine, the lever and counter-balance weight are fixed upon the wiper-shaft, to form an equipoise to the valves. There is one on each side of the cylinder. (See Spanner. )—Also, an inflexible bar of iron or wood to raise weights, which takes rank as the first and most simple of the mechanical powers.

—To lever. An old word for unloading a ship.

LEVERAGE. The amount of a lever power.

LEVES. Very light open boats of the ancients.

LEVET. The blast of a trumpet or horn.

LEVIN. The old term for lightning.

LEVY. An enrolment or conscription.—To levy. To raise recruits.

LEWER. A provincialism for handspike; a corrupt form of lever.

LEWIS-HOLES. Two holes in the surface of a mortar, superseding ears.

LEWTH [from the Anglo-Saxon lywd]. A place of shelter from the wind.

LEX, or Leax. The Anglo-Saxon term for salmon.

L.G. These uncials on a powder-barrel mean large-grain powder.

LIBERA PISCARIA. A law-term denoting a fishery free to any one.

LIBERTY. Permission to go on shore or ship-visiting.

LIBERTY-DAY. A day announced for permitting a part of the crew to go ashore.

LIBERTY-LIQUOR. Spirits formerly allowed to be purchased when seamen had visitors; now forbidden.

LIBERTY-MEN. Those on leave of absence.

LIBERTY-TICKET. A document specifying the date and extent of the leave granted to a seaman or marine proceeding on his private affairs.

LIBRA. The seventh sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 21st of September; the commencement of this constellation, where the equator intersects the ecliptic, is called the autumnal equinox, from night and day being equal.

LIBRATION OF THE MOON. See Evection.

LIBURNA, or Liburnica. Light ancient galliots, both for sails and oars; of the latter from one rank to five; so called from the Liburni, pirates of the Adriatic.

LICENSE. An official permission from the Board of Trade, to such persons as it thinks fit to supply seamen or apprentices for merchant-ships in the United Kingdom. (See Runner, Licensed.)[442]

LICK. In common parlance is a blow. To do anything partially, is to give it a lick and a promise, as in painting or blacking.—To lick, to surpass a rival, or excel him in anything.—Lick of the tar-brush, a seaman.

LICORN. An old name for the howitzer of the last century, then but a kind of mortar fitted on a field-carriage to fire shells at low angles.

LIDO. A borrowed term signifying the shore or margin of the sea.

LIE A HULL. Synonymous with hull to, or hulling.

LIE ALONG, To. (See Along.) A ship is said to lie along when she leans over with a side wind.—To lie along the land, is to keep a course parallel with it.

LIE ATHWART, To. When the tide slackens, and the wind is across tide, it makes a vessel ride athwart.

LIE BY, To. Dodging under small sail under the land.

LIE IN! The order to come in from the yards when reefing, furling, or other duty is performed.

LIEN. A claim to property, and a consequent right of retention. But ships cannot be the subjects of a specific lien to the creditors who supply them with necessaries, because a lien presumes possession by the creditor, and therein the power of holding it till his demands are satisfied. To prevent manifest impediment to commerce, the law of England rejects almost wholly the doctrine of lien as regards ships.

LIE OFF! An order given to a boat to remain off on her oars till permission is given for her to come alongside.

LIE OUT! The order to the men aloft to distribute themselves on the yards for loosing, reefing, or furling sails.

LIE OVER. A ship heeling to it with the wind abeam.

LIESTER. See Lister.

LIE THE COURSE, To. When the vessel's head is in the direction wished.

LIE-TO, To. To cause a vessel to keep her head steady as regards a gale, so that a heavy sea may not tumble into her. She has perhaps a main-topsail or trysails, and comes up to within six points, and falls off to wind abeam, forging rather ahead, but should not altogether fall too much to leeward.

LIE UNDER ARMS, To. To remain in a state of preparation for immediate action.

LIEUTENANT, in the Royal Navy. The officer next in rank and power below the commander. There are several lieutenants in a large ship, and they take precedence according to the dates of their commissions. The senior lieutenant, during the absence of the commander, is charged with the command of the ship, as also with the execution of whatever orders he may have received from the commander relating to the queen's service; holding another's place, as the name implies in French. —Lieutenant in the army.

The subaltern officer next in rank below the captain.

LIEUTENANT-AT-ARMS. Formerly the junior lieutenant, who, with the master-at-arms, was charged with the drilling of the small-arm men.[443]

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL. The next below the colonel, generally having the active command in the regiment, whether in cavalry, infantry, or artillery, the full colonels being mostly on staff employ, or even in retirement.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. The officer taking the next place to a general, ranking with vice-admiral.

LIEUTENANT'S STORE-ROOM. More commonly called the ward-room store-room (which see).

LIFE-BELT. An india-rubber or cork girdle round a person's waist to buoy him up in the water.

LIFE-BOAT. One of such peculiar construction that it cannot sink or be swamped. It is equipped for attending wherever a wreck may happen, and saving the lives of the crew: really one of the greatest blessings conferred by civilization and humanity on mariners. Life-boats were invented by Admiral Samuel Graves, who died in 1787. The Royal National Life-boat Institution has saved by its boats, or by special exertions for which it has granted rewards, 14,980 lives, from the year of its establishment, 1824, to the end of 1865.

LIFE-BUOYS. Are of various descriptions. A very useful one, patented by Cook, is supplied to all Her Majesty's ships. It is composed of two copper cylinders, and has a balanced stem carrying a fuse, burning twenty minutes. It is kept suspended on the quarter, can be let go, and ignited instantaneously, and will support two men for a considerable time.

LIFE-GUARDS. A greatly-privileged body of cavalry, specially assigned to the guarding of the sovereign's person.

LIFE-KITE. A contrivance for saving the lives of shipwrecked persons by forming a communication between the wreck and a lee-shore.

LIFE-LINES. Stretched from gun to gun, and about the upper deck in bad weather, to prevent the men being washed away. The life-lines aloft are stretched from the lifts to the masts to enable seamen to stand securely when manning yards, as in a salute to admirals, &c.

LIFE-PRESERVER. An air-tight apparatus for saving people in cases of wreck.

LIFT. A term applied to the sails when the wind catches them on the leeches and causes them to ruffle slightly. Also implies help in work in hand, as "give us a lift."

LIFT AN ANCHOR, To. Either by the purchase; or a ship if she has not sufficient cable on a steep bank lifts, or shoulders, her anchor.

LIFTED. Promoted somewhat unexpectedly.

LIFTER. See Wiper.

LIFTING. The rising of fog or haze from the surface of the water.

LIFTING-JACK. A portable machine for lifting heavy objects, acting by the power either of the lever, the tooth and pinion, or the screw.

LIFTS. Ropes which reach from each mast-head to their respective yard-arms to steady and suspend the ends. Their use is to keep the yard in equilibrium, or to raise one of its extremities higher than the other if[444] necessary, but particularly to support the weight when a number of men are employed on it, furling or reefing the sail. The yards are said to be squared by the lifts when they hang at right angles with the masts. —Topping-lifts.

(See Topping-lifts.

LIG. A fish-hook, with lead cast round its upper part in order to sink it.

LIGAN. See Lagan.

LIGGER. A line with a float and bait, used for catching pike. A night-hook laid for a pike or eel.

LIGHT, To. To move or lift anything along; as "light over to windward," the cry for helping the man at the weather-earing when taking in a reef. Each man holding by a reef-point helps it over, as the lee-earing cannot be passed until the man to windward calls out, "Haul out to leeward."

LIGHT AIRS. Unsteady and faint flaws of wind.

LIGHT ALONG! Lend assistance in hauling cables, hawsers, or large ropes along, and lifting some parts in a required direction.

LIGHT-BALLS. Are thrown from mortars at night to discover the enemy's working parties, &c. They are composed of saltpetre, sulphur, resin, and linseed-oil, and burn with great brilliancy. The parachute light-ball, which suspends itself in the air by the action of the heated gas from the light against the parachute, is most convenient.

LIGHT BOBS. The old soubriquet for light infantry (which see).

LIGHT BREEZES. When light airs have become steady.

LIGHTEN, To. To throw ballast, stores, cargo, or other things, overboard in stress of weather, to render the vessel more buoyant.

LIGHTER. A large, open, flat-bottomed boat, with heavy bearings, employed to carry goods to or from ships. —Ballast lighter. A vessel fitted up to raise ballast from the bottom of a harbour. —Covered or close lighter.

One furnished with a deck throughout her whole length, in order to secure such merchandise as might be damaged by wet, and to prevent pillage.

LIGHTERAGE. The charge made for the hire of a lighter.

LIGHTERMAN. A man employed in a lighter.

LIGHT-HANDED. Short of the complement of men.

LIGHT-HORSE. A name formerly given to all mounted men who were not encumbered with armour.

LIGHT-HORSEMAN. An old name for the light boat, since called a gig. (See Wallmia.)

LIGHTHOUSE. A sort of tower, erected upon a headland, islet, or rock, whose lights may be seen at a great distance from the land to warn shipping of their approach to these dangers.—A floating light, or light vessel, strongly moored, is used to mark dangers under water. Lights are variously distinguished, as by the number, colour, and continuity of their lights, whether flashing, revolving, &c.