HETEROPLON. A kind of naval insurance, where the insurers only run the risk of the outward voyage; when both the going out and return of a vessel is insured, it is called amphoteroplon.

HETTLE. A rocky fishing-ground in the Firth of Forth, which gives name to the fish called Hettle-codling.

HEUGH. A craggy dry dell; a ravine without water.

HEXAGON. A right-lined figure with six sides; if it be regular, the sides and angles are all equal.

HEYS-AND-HOW. An ancient sea-cheer.

HI! Often used for hoy; as, "Hi, you there!" Also, the old term for they, as in Sir Ferumbras—

HIDDEN HARBOUR. That of which the outer points so overlap as to cause the coast to appear to be continuous.

HIDE, To. To beat; to rope's-end or drub. Also, to secrete.

HIE, To. To flow quickly in a tide-way.

HIE ALOFT. Away aloft.

HIGH. In gunnery, signifies tightly fitting the bore; said of shot, wads, &c. Also, a gun is said to be laid high when too much elevated.

HIGH-AND-DRY. The situation of a ship or other vessel which is aground, so as to be seen dry upon the strand when the tide ebbs from her.

HIGH ENOUGH. Said in hoisting in goods, water, or masts.

HIGH FLOOD. See Flood.

HIGH LATITUDES. Those regions far removed from the equator towards the poles of the earth above the 50th degree.

HIGH TIDE, or High Water. Figuratively, a full purse. Constance, in Shakspeare's King John, uses the term high tides as denoting the gold-letter days or holidays of the calendar.

HIGH-WATER. The greatest height of the flood-tide. (See Tide.)

HIGH-WATER MARK. The line made by the water upon the shore, when at its greatest height; it is also designated the flood-mark and spring-tide mark. This constitutes the boundary line of admiralty jurisdiction as to the soil.

HIGH WIND. See Heavy Gale.

HIGRE. See Bore and Eagre.

HIKE. A brief equivalent to "Be off," "Go away." It is generally used in a contemptuous sense; as, he was "hiked off"—that is, dismissed at once, or in a hurry. To swing.[383]

HIKE UP, To. To kidnap; to carry off by force.

HILL. In use with the Anglo-Saxons. An insulated rise of the ground, usually applied to heights below 1000 feet, yet higher than a hillock or hummock (which see).

HILLOCK. A small coast-hill, differing from a hummock in having a peaked or pointed summit.

HILT. The handle and guard of a sword.

HIND-CASTLE. A word formerly used for the poop, as being opposed to fore-castle.

HIPPAGINES, or Hippagogæ. Ancient transports for carrying cavalry.

HIPPER, or Hipping-stones. Large stones placed for crossing a brook.

HIPPOCAMPUS. A small fish, so termed from the head resembling that of a horse. They live among reeds and long fuci, to which they cling with prehensile tails.

HIPPODAMES. An old word for sea-horses.

HIPSY. A drink compounded of wine, water, and brandy.

HIRE, To. To take vessel or men on service at a stipulated remuneration.

HIRECANO. An old word for hurricane.

HIRST. The roughest part of a river-ford. A bank.

HITCH. A species of knot by which one rope is connected with another, or to some object. They are various; as, clove-hitch, racking-hitch, timber-hitch (stopped), rolling-hitch, running-hitch, half-hitch, blackwall-hitch, magnus-hitch, marline-spike hitch, harness-hitch, &c. (See Bend and Knot. ) It also signifies motion by a jerk.

Figuratively, it is applied to an impediment. A seaman often hitches up his trowsers, which "have no lifts or braces. "—To hitch is to make fast a rope, &c. , to catch with a hook. Thus of old, when a boat was to be hoisted in, they said—"Hitch the tackles into the rings of the boat.

HITCHER. An old term for a boat-hook.

HO! or Hay! An exclamation derived from our Danish ancestors, and literally meaning stop!

HOAKY. A common petty oath—"By the hoaky!" by your hearth or fire.

HOAM. The dried fat of the cod-fish.

HOASTMEN. An ancient guild at Newcastle dealing in coals.

HOAY, or Hoy! a word frequently added to an exclamation bespeaking attention, as "Main-top, hoay!" and is chiefly used to persons aloft or without the ship.

HOB-A-NOB. To drink cosily; the act of touching glasses in pledging a health. An early and extensive custom falling into disuse.

HOBBLE. A perplexity or difficulty.—Hobbles, irons or fetters.

HOBBLER. A coast-man of Kent, a bit of a smuggler, and an unlicensed pilot, ever ready for a job in either of these occupations. Also, a man on land employed in towing a vessel by a rope. Also, a sentinel who kept watch at a beacon.

HOBITS. Small mortars of 6 or 8 inches bore mounted on gun-carriages; in use before the howitzer.[384]

HOBRIN. A northern designation of the blue shark, Squalus glaucus.

HOC. The picked dog-fish, Squalus acanthias.

HOCK-SAW. A fermented drink along the coasts of China, partaking more of the nature of beer than of spirit, and therefore less injurious than sam-tsin.

HOD. A hole under a bank or rock, forming a retreat for fish.

HODDY-DODDY. A west-country name for a revolving light.

HODMADODS. The name among early navigators for Hottentots.

HODMANDODS. See Dodman.

HODOMETRICAL. A method of finding the longitude at sea by dead-reckoning.

HOE. See Howe.

HOE-MOTHER, or Homer. The basking shark, Squalus maximus.

HOE-TUSK. Squalus mustela, smooth hound-fish of the Shetlanders.

HOG. A kind of rough, flat scrubbing broom, serving to scrape a ship's bottom under water, particularly in the act of boot-topping (which see); formed by inclosing a multitude of short twigs of birch, or the like, between two pieces of plank, which are firmly attached to each other; the ends of the twigs are then cut off even, so as to form a brush of considerable extent. To this is fitted a long staff, together with two ropes, the former of which is used to thrust the hog under the ship's bottom, and the latter to guide and pull it up again close to the planks, so as to rub off all the dirt. This work is usually performed in the ship's boat.

HOG-BOAT. See Heck-boat.

HOGGED. A significant word derived from the animal; it implies that the two ends of a ship's decks droop lower than the midship part, consequently, that her keel and bottom are so strained as to curve upwards. The term is therefore in opposition to that of sagging.

HOG-IN-ARMOUR. Soubriquet for an iron-clad ship.

HOGO. From the French haut-gout, a disagreeable smell, but rather applied to ill-ventilated berths than to bilge-water.

HOISE. The old word for hoist.

HOIST. The perpendicular height of a sail or flag; in the latter it is opposed to the fly, which implies its breadth from the staff to the outer edge: or that part to which the halliards are bent.

HOIST, or Hoise, To. To raise anything; but the term is specially applied to the operation of swaying up a body by the assistance of tackles. It is also invariably used for the hauling up the sails along the masts or stays, and the displaying of flags and pendants, though by the help of a single block only. (See Sway, Tracing-up, and Whip.)

HOISTING-TACKLE. A whip, a burton, or greater purchase, as yard-arm tackles, &c.

HOISTING THE FLAG. An admiral assuming his command "hoists his flag," and is saluted with a definite number of guns by all vessels present.

HOISTING THE PENDANT. Commissioning a ship.[385]

HOLD. The whole interior cavity of a ship, or all that part comprehended between the floor and the lower deck throughout her length. —The after-hold lies abaft the main-mast, and is usually set apart for the provisions in ships of war. —The fore-hold is situated about the fore-hatchway, in continuation with the main-hold, and serves the same purposes. —The main-hold is just before the main-mast, and generally contains the fresh water and beer for the use of the ship's company.

—To rummage the hold is to examine its contents. —To stow the hold is to arrange its contents in the most secure and commodious manner possible. —To trim the hold (see Trim of the Hold). Also, an Anglo-Saxon term for a fort, castle, or stronghold. —Hold is also generally understood of a ship with regard to the land or to another ship; hence we say, "Keep a good hold of the land," or "Keep the land well aboard," which are synonymous phrases, implying to keep near the land; when applied to a ship, we say, "She holds her own;" i.

e. goes as fast as the other ship; holds her wind, or way. —To hold. To assemble for public business; as, to hold a court-martial, a survey, &c. —Hold!

An authoritative way of separating combatants, according to the old military laws at tournaments, &c. ; stand fast!

HOLD A GOOD WIND, To. To have weatherly qualities.

HOLD-ALL. A portable case for holding small articles required by soldiers, marines, and small-arm men on service.

HOLD-BEAMS. The lowest range of beams in a merchantman. In a man-of-war they support the orlop-deck. (See Orlop-beams.)

HOLDERS. The people employed in the hold duties of a ship.

HOLD-FAST. A rope; also the order to the people aloft, when shaking out reefs, &c., to suspend the operation. In ship-building, it means a bolt going down through the rough tree rail, and the fore or after part of each stanchion.

HOLDING-ON. The act of pulling back the hind part of any rope.

HOLDING ON THE SLACK. Doing nothing. (See Eyelids.)

HOLDING WATER. The act of checking the progress of a boat by holding the oar-blades in the water, and bearing the flat part strongly against the current alongside, so as to meet its resistance. (See Back Astern, Oar, and Row.)

HOLD OFF. The keeping the hove-in part of a cable or hawser clear of the capstan.

HOLD ON. Keep all you have got in pulling a rope. —Hold on a minute. Wait or stop. —Hold on with your nails and eyelids.

A derisive injunction to a timid climber.

HOLD ON, GOOD STICKS! An apostrophe often made when the masts complain in a fresh squall, or are over-pressed, and it is unadvisable to shorten sail.

HOLD-STANCHIONS. Those which support the hold-beams amidships, and rest on the kelson.

HOLD UP, To. In meteorological parlance, for the weather to clear up after a gale; to stop raining.[386]

HOLE. A clear open space amongst ice in the Arctic seas.

HOLEBER. A kind of light horseman, who rode about from place to place in the night, to gain intelligence of the landing of boats, men, &c., on the Kentish coast.

HOLES, Eyelet or Œillet. The holes in sails for points and rope-bands which are fenced round by stitching the edge to a small log-line grommet. In the drumhead of a capstan, the holes receive the capstan-bars.

HOLIDAY. Any part left neglected or uncovered in paying or painting, blacking, or tarring.

HOLLANDS. The spirit principally distilled in Holland.

HOLLARDS. The dead branches and loppings of trees.

HOLLEBUT. A spelling of halibut.

HOLLOA, or Holla. An answer to any person calling from a distance, to show they hear. Thus, if the master intends to give any order to the people in the main-top, he previously calls, "Main-top, hoay." It is also the first answer received when hailing a ship. (See Hailing and Hoay.)

HOLLOW. The bore of a rocket. In naval architecture, a name for the fifth or top-timber sweep (which see). Also, hollow or curved leeches of sails, in contradistinction to straight.

HOLLOW BASTION. In fortification, a bastion of which the terreplein or interior terrace is not continued beyond a certain distance to the rear of the parapet, and thus leaves a central area at a lower level.

HOLLOW-MOULD. The same as floor-hollow (which see).

HOLLOWS AND ROUNDS. Plane-tools used for making mouldings.

HOLLOW SEA. The undulation of the waves after a gale; long hollow-jawed sea; ground-swell.